Notes & Reference for XII Students (C.English)
Summaries (The Heritage of Words)
1. THE GRANDMOTHER
In this poem, “The Grandmother,” Bear concentrates on his grandmother. The poem can be read both literally and metaphorically[1]. Literally, he draws a picture of his all-loving and all-inspiring grandmother, and metaphorically, the poet tries to reflect upon the vanished[2] communities of Native American tribes in general and the Mesquaki tribe in particular. Ray Young. Bear, draws a realistic picture of his grandmother, all-loving, all-inspiring and remember the remarkable shape, movement, voice and activities, of his grandmother. He shows deep love towaras her. Though his grandmother is no longer in this world, the Images of her ‘wearing a purple scarf round her head and holding a plastic shopping bag in her hand’ often comes to the poet.
The poet says that he can not see my grandmother’s shape, nor feel her hands on my head, nor hear her voice coming from the rock. He can only think what he would do if he saw her shape, felt her hands on my head and heard her voice. She is no more with him. If he could see her face from a distance, from a mile away, he would quickly know that it was his grandmother with the purple scarf and plastic shopping bag. If he could feel hand on my head, he would know her warm and damp hands from where she would come with the smell of roots. If he could hear a voice coming from the rock he would know that it was my grandmother’s voice. He would feel her words flowing inside him. The flow of her words would be like the light coming out of the sleeping fie at night.
The poet says that her voice would be the source of inspiration for him. The memory of his grandmother takes the poet back to his childhood when they shivered (trembled) with cold at night and his grandmother would move the fire from the thick ashes to create warmth. Though the poet’s grandmother left him many years before. But her images, voice, love, inspiration and memory are still animating in the mind and heart of the poet. Likewise the activities, behaviours, intructions, shape and so many other memory of his grandmother are the source of living which encourage him at all the moment.
Interpretations from your English Teacher
-
- The grandmother of the poet is the prominent and highly regarded women of contemporary America who represent the difficulties in Mesquaki tribe.
- The poet assumes and senses that he would see the shape of his grandmother from the miles away.
- Poet sees his grandmother from his inner eyes, that it is his merely assumption only, and he would recognize his grandmother instantly who is coming from the long distance. He even assumes that if he would see from his outer eyes, he would see his grandmother coming from the long distance or from the mile away by wearing purple scarf and carrying plastic shopping bag.
- The poet assumes that if he felt hand on his head, the poet know that those hands were his grandmother’s which are warm and damp with the smell of roots.
- Again, the poet assumes that if he heard a voice from the rock, he would know that he words are resounded in his heart with instant flow inside him like the light of someone stirring ashes from a sleeping fire at night.
- The poet implies the rigid suppression to the Mesquaki tribe by the Americans, especially the white Americans.
- In spite of suppression, discrimination and contempt, the tribe strongly existed in the American states.
- The poet sustains the cultural ethics, values and norms of Mesquaki tribe.
- The poet reveals the difficulties of women in that tribe, the poem shows that women in that tribe faces great struggle to sustain their lives.There is the rustic scene of American countryside where the tribes reside.
- ABOUT LOVE
Plot (Analysis)
§ Alyohin – narrator/speaker of the story
§ Talking with his guests Burkin and Ivan Ivanych about Russina perspective of love.
§ Initiates the story of two servents Nikanor, the cook and the beautiful girl Palageya. Its like a mismatch of love. The girl Palageya was so beautiful whereas Nikanor was clumsy, fat and very bad looking.
§ Alyohin present the violent love affair between two servants where the cook Nikanor was high temper. She didn’t want to marry him but live with him. When he was in drunk; he used to swear and beat her and she would hide in down stair and sob.
§ Alyohin analyses the love between the servants. Why did not she fall in love with somebody more like herself inwardly and outwardly? Personal happiness does not count in love and it uncertain and vague as well as mysterious. Love is not the absolute solution of happiness and several questions regarding love are unanswered.
§ The speaker continues to state more about love on Russian perspective. “Russians who are cultivated have a weakness for these questions that remained unanswered. Love is usually poeticized, embellished with roses, nightingales; but we Russians embellish our love with these fatal questions, and choose the least interesting of them, at that.”
§ He recalled that he was fallen in love with a girl when he was a student in Moscow but she did not perform the act of love. “When we are in love, we never stop asking ourselves whether it is honorable or dishonorable, sensible or stupid, what this love will lead to, and so on”
§ When Alyohin was telling a story about love to his guest; the atmosphere was not good. There was grey sky and drenched (wet) tree and he was telling a story being so lonely.
§ He continued that he returned to his home at Safyino; after graduated from the University and started farming to pay off the debt of his father for his education. While staying in village; he was a bookish fellow who read The Messenger of Europe.
§ He was elected as honorary justice of peace and went to town for circuit court and met several educated people; lawyers including Luganovich; the assistant president of circuit court.
§ Luganovich invited the Alyohin for dinner where he had an opportunity to meet with Anna Alexeyevna; wife of Luganovich. Alyohin was fascinated by the beauty of Anna even after she gave birth to child in the age of 22.
§ Both husband and wife were so fond of him. He regularly visited their home for dinner. Alyohin was quite positive to save innocent people from the arson (firing in house) case in the court.
§ Alyohin was restless because of the natural; and elegant beauty of Anna; so he couldn’t stop without meeting her and soon returned to town from his home Safyino. He was in love with her despite the fact that she was married.
§ He received the parcel from Anna and remained so much excited. He thought that the Luganovichs understood his loneliness. So they became his friends. They also asked him if he required money; they would happy to help him.
§ He said that he was always thinking of Anna why she married the dull and simple hearted man of over forty and had children for him. Alyohin said the beauty of Anna didn’t match with her husband Luganovich.
§ He said that he had loved her tenderly, deeply, but he had reflected and kept asking himself what their love could lead to if they did not have the strength to fight against it.
§ Alyohin said that if she said her feeling to him and her husband; the result would be terrible.
§ As time rolled on; Anna had two children and the grown up children hung on his neck saying Uncle Pavel Konstantinovich.
§ He recalled that they had gone to theatre together and watched opera sitting side by side.
§ Anna tried to run away from her husband and children and stayed at her mother or sister. It was the dissatisfaction towards her own life and means of approach to Alyohin.
§ They did not utter their love to each other and remained silent.
§ Later Luganovich received an appointment in Western Province and they had to sell their villa and everything to go there. Several people were there to bid good bye to Anna Alexeyevna.
§ Alyohin rushed to station to bid good bye and to give her the forgotten basket.
§ Finally they met; and embraced with burning pain in their hearts. Alyohin finally confess his love to her. Before they parted forever; he kissed her and pressed her hands. The train was moiving and he was wandering here and there in the station and crying.
§ At last; according to Alyohin; he went to Sofyino missing her much. Burking and Ivan Ivanych were expressed pity over him whose condition was like the squirrel in the cage.
Summary
“About Love” is a famous Russian story written by a famous story-writer, Anton Chekhov. In the story, Chekhov presents the difference between two love stories and tries to prove that “Love” like that is not bound by conjugal relations. He views that love is true and spiritual. Happiness, unhappiness, morality, sin, virtue, social status, class, prestige etc. have nothing to do with love. Alyohin is the narrator in this story. He had been living as a poor farmer at Sofyino since he graduated from the university. The story begins when the narrator and his two guests-Bufkin and Ivan were hav,ing breakfast in a country house. Alyohin told about the violent love affair between his two servants Nikanor and Pelageya. According to the narrator, pelageya didn’t want to marry Nikanor but she was ready to live with him just so. On the other hand, Nikanor couldn’t stay with her before marriage for religious reasons. Alyohin says that love is a hindrance and a source of dissatisfaction and irritation. To justify his statement, he began his own story.
Alyohin had to work hard at Sofyino to payoff his debt·as his father had spent a lot of money on his education by mortgaging the land. Though he was a landowner, Alyohin had to work hard in the farm with his servants. Many years before, he had been elected honorary magistrate and sometimes he had to go to the town to participate in the court session. Unexpectedly, one of his friends, Luganovich invited him for dinner. There, he was very much attracted by t.he young and beautiful Ana Alexeyevna, the wife of Luganovich. In the later days, he frequently visited her and they spent much time together falking for hours and going to the theatre. Though they couldn’t miss the company (mtr) of each other, they didn’t express their desires, love and feedings. They hid feelings fearing that it would ruin both of their lives.
At last, as a result of unexpressed feelings, Anna had got mental sickness and she had to go to Cremea for treatment. Many people gathered at the railway station to say goodbye to Anna. When the train started to move, Alyohin ran toAnna with her basket which she had forgotten. Their emotional eyes met together and their spiritual strength couldn’t stop them falling in each other’s arms. They kissed each other and expressed their deep love. However, they parted forever and Alyohin returned to his farm land (village) being sad and he would never meet her again in his life. The true love of Alyohin is the means of living. The moment of her memory often relieved Alyohin in his life.
- Summary and Analysis of The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner by W.B. Yeats
Summary
The poem is spoken from the point of view of an old man who looks upon the political and romantic obsessions of the young Irish. He suggests that once upon a time he too “talked of love and politics” but that now, with his age perspective, his thoughts rest on Time and eternal questions. In the final stanza, we learn that these meditations are not pleasant, as he suggests that no woman pay him attention due to his age, thought he still recalls the women he once loved. The poem ends as he curses Time, which has changed him from young to old.
The Poem “The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner ” is a revised version of Yeats’s earlier poem “The old pensioner” (1890). The speaker of the poem is no longer a young man but an old pensioner who can but only think how beautiful the youth was. In his youth, he used to sit round the fire with his friends and they used to talk of love or politics. The young people, even now, are engaged in warfare and struggle to fight against the human tyranny. However, the speaker’s attention is, deeply focused on Time (’R'1J that has changed him into an old and incapacitated (W1nl) man (broken tree). Therefore, at the best, he carr only remember and express his sorrow for that passing youth, vigor, zeal and beauty. The title is apt because it states the condition of the speaker (an old pensioner) and what the poem is about lamentation.
Analysis
The poem is based on a conversation that Yeats had with an elderly poet. He wrote in a letter that the poem was :little more than a translation into verse of the very words of an old Wicklow peasant.”
Wicklow, by the way, is a green, rural county south of Dublin. This precise technique of observation of peasants is what Yeats later recommended to J.M. Sybge upon meeting him in Paris, and which led to successful works like The Playboy of the Western World.
The elderly peasant’s lamentation is that time has transformed him into someone that is no longer important or viable. This is in contrast to Yeats’s other, more wistful and gentle portrayal of age in the rest of the collection. The pikes to which the “old pensioner” refers are the weapons traditionally used in nationalist uprisings against the British, which the man is too old for, so regards as futile.
The poem complicates Yeats’s earlier poems, many of which exhort the Irish to contemplate eternal questions like Time rather than take up their pikes, so to speak, for a passing political issue. This old man, who is forced away from politics and love, shows the downside of such contemplative non-participation in life. Of course, he is still tormented by the passions of his youth for women and conservation, and so his mediations aren’t exactly what Yeats has in mind in poems like “Who Goes With Fergus?” and “The Man Who Dreamed of Faeryland.”
- Two Long-Term Problems:
Too Many People, Too Few Trees
- Moti Nissani
The significant writer and processor Moti Nissani has raised the two long-term problems in his essay, they are: over population and deforestation. Because of industrialization, nutrition, sanitation and modern medicine, people are living longer and the world population is increasing rapidly. The writer is worried by the fact that over populating will have a bad impact to the natural world. To produce more food for more people, the trees will be cut down and forests will be cultivated. Moreover, the growing population will pollute rivers, lakes, air, drinking water, soil and the whole natural world. Such environmental pollution will cause different kinds of diseases such as cancer, asthma and respiratory diseases. Overpopulation causes deforestation. Deforestation will cause floods, landslides, soil-erosion, droughts, greenhouse effects and the loss of various species of plants, birds and animals.
Nissani further says that every year there are 80 million more people in the world. He presents the realistic pictures of Nepal. In 1951, there were nine million people In Nepal. After less than 50 years, the . population grew to 23 million. As an average Nepalese woman gives birth to five ·children, Nepal’s population growth rate is high. If this high birth rate continues, Nissani says that Nepal’s population will reach 368 million after 140 years. If such overpopulation .is not checked, Nepal will have to face various devastating problems in the near future.
In the essay, Moti Nissani encourages us to protect trees for the future generation. He has recommended few steps from where we can prevent chopping down of the trees and restore healthy atmosphere. we need wisdom, courage and compassion (concerns) to control the problems of overpopulati9n and deforestation. We can control deforestation by controlling population and by educating them about the bad impacts of deforestation. We can solve this problem by deforestation and using smokeless stove. Effective family planning is the main remedy (treatment) of controlling over population. People should be encouraged to plant trees and they should be discouraged to cut trees. Concluding the essay; Nissani stresses that we should have willingness and passion to reduce population and plant trees which will help us to live healthier and our future will also be bright and safe.
5. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies
- William Shakespeare
The poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies” is a song sung by the Spirit Ariel in Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. The Spirit sings this song to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that his father is drowned.
The speaker of this poem is Ariel who is very powerful spirit of wind who flies lightly and invisibly playing music and singing songs. Here he sings the song about the death of Ferdinand’s father. According to him, Ferdinand’s father lies thirty feet below the surface of the sea. Ferdinand is very worried about the death of his father. Giving him sympathy Ariel says that his father has got quite meaningful death. His body is not decayed. Every part of his body has been changed into something beautiful, valuable and strange. His eyes are transformed into pearls and bones are’ changed into coral. The sea nymphs welcome his death by ringing the death bell “Ding-dong” every hour.
In this poem, the spirit Ariel has presented very artful and melodious description about the death of Ferdinand’s father. The prince of Naples is worried thinking that his father is drowned. He is very sad about the meaningless death of his father. However, Ariel gives him sympathy by making the death meaningful through his powerful and magical description. He says that nothing of the dead body has decayed or rotten wastefully. Everything of the dead body is changed into meaningful and precious objects at the bottom of the sea. Ariel finally requests Ferdinand to listen to the death-bell rung by the sea nymphs to welcome his father’s beautiful and meaningful death.
- M. Lilla and C. Bishop Barry
This is an essay written by the two American geographers M. Lilla and C. Bishop Barry present an exploration of the Karnali region which they did on foot for 15 adventurous months. After Christmas the two authors start their trip to know how Karnali is economically linked with Nepalgunj. Their fellow travelers bring medicinal herbs, hashish (1J1;;fT) hand-knit sweaters and blankets in their baskets ~ to sell them in Nepalgunj.
During their trip on foot, the two geographers see and learn many things about the life and culture of the people of Karnali region. On their way, a chhetri woman of 30 asks them whether they are going to Nepalgunj. According to her, her husband left her 15 years ago to find job in the plains The woman requests the authors to send him back if they find him. In a forest at 9,000 feet, they see some people processing Silajit sell it in Nepalgunj. Instead of processing it in their homes, they do it on the way because they have made a hurried trip to avoid a bad star The people of the Karnali regions are superstitious as they believe that a bad star may have evil influence on them.
They continue their journey, and notice some women cutting the branches of the ‘Sal’ trees to feed their goats. Almost all the trees have become bare. This shows that the people of Karnali zone are not aware of the possible environmental damage. They are ignorant about landslides, soil erosion, droughts etc. in the future. When the authors reach terai, they sit beside a campfire and listen to the night sounds of jackals, bats, mules and bullock carts. They walk on the paved streets and see the vehicles. Their fellow travelers or the people of Karnali region buy collon clothes, spice, jewelry, iron ware, aluminum and sweets to sell them in Karnali. The authors complete their exploration in Jumla.
While they got back to the Terai region, the two American geographers learn a lot about the geographical condition and the life of people of the Karnali region. The authors observe all the seasons and the people who have been living in harmony with nature. They have been living very difficult life. As their cultivation can not support them, they have to..Lnvolve them in trade. Some people go’to the plains in search of job. Thus, the people of Karnali zone are uneducated, conservative and they earn their living by the various traditional works.
- William Stafford
“Traveling Through the Dark” is an ironical and sentimental poem composed by William Stafford. In this poem, the poet presents a great tension between two realities, two systems of life. On one hand, we think and say that we have to fulfill our responsibility. On the other hand, there are emotions warmer) than responsibility and deeper than good judgments. The poet treats equally to the both sides of the conflict.
In this poem, the poet describes how he is moved by the death of pregnant doe. The poem is split into five stanzas. In the first stanza, the poet is driving along the mountain road at night. Suddenly, he sees a deer lying dead on the edge of the Wilson River road. He thinks to remove it from then narrow road. In the second stanza, the speaker stops his car and goes near the deer. He finds that it is a pregnant doe which is recently killed. Her body is already stiff, almost cold. He drags the doe off. In the third stanza, the poet thinks seriously about the fate of the fawn still living and waiting to be born in the womb of the dead doe (female deer). The poet is filled with pity as it is impossible for the fawn to be born. For some time, the poet hesitates to do anything. In the fourth stanza, the poet describes the engine of his care. The warm and living engine contrasts with the cold and dead doe. In the final stanza, the poet solves the problem or tension by pushing the doe over the edge into the river.
The poem is ironical and suggestive. The irony is directed towards those nature lovers who drive carelessly and put the life of innocent animals in danger. Tough they show pity to the unborn fawn, they have no sympathy for the dead doe. The reference to the fate of alive but never-to-be born fawn makes the readers very sad and sentimental.
- A Story by Dylan Thomas
“A Story” is very humorous story written by Dylan Thomas where he presents the, adult’s world from the point of view of a boy. The story is about a days outing narrated by a boy. The narrator lives with his uncle and aunt. In the beginning of the story, the narrator gives very humorous description of his uncle Thomas and aunt. His uncle was big and noisy but his aunt was small and quiet. They loved each others very much. Some times, being angry, the aunt beat her husband on his head with a china dog. She didn’t like his annual outing as he would come home heavily drunk on such occasions, she would go to her mother’s house. . This story is an account of a trip to Porthcawl made by the narrator’s uncle and s.ome of his friends. The narrator was also involved in the trip. One Sunday morning, when Thomas and his friends decided to go to Porthcawl for outing by a comfortable motor-coach, the aunt became angry with her husband as she didn’t like the annual outing. She threatened her husband that she would go to her mother house if he went for outing. He didn’t care her threat as she would do it every year. His friends Will Sentry and Mr. Benjamin Franklyn came in with a list of friends who were ready to go for outing. The narrator found that his aunt already left the house.
Everyone was ready for the trip. The narrator, his uncle and his friends started their outing to Porthcawl by a bus, charabanc. When they were out of the village, they found that Mr. Old O’ Jones was left behind. They drove back to the village to pick Old O’Jones up. When they continued their Journey, another friend, Mr. Weazley wanted to go back to take his teeth but everybody said that his teeth were not necessary in the journey. They stopped outside a small public house. The owner of the inn welcomed them as the wolf welcomes the sheep. They spent 45 minutes in the bar drinking a lot. They sang, shouted and quarreled after being drunk. When they emptied the inn, they continued their journey. On the way, whenever a public house passed, they had to stop as Mr. Weazley wanted to drink. Even when the bar was closed, they would drink behind the locked doors.
In the meantime of their journey, they saw a river on the way, and stopped the bus and went into the cool water. As they were drunk, some of them slipped on the stone. They forgot Portheawl. The river was better than Porthcawl for them. It was already evening. They wanted to return back instead of going to Porthcawl. It was dusk. All the 30 members of the outing were wet and drunk. They stopped at a public house for rum to keep the cold out. On the way back, Mr. Old O’Jones began to cook supper in the middle of the bus. Mr. Weazley wanted to drink more but there were no inns. They brought out the cases of beer, sat in the field in a circle and drank. The narrator began to sleep against his uncle’s waistcoat. The moon as already up and their outing was over but they didn’t reach Porthcawl.
9. The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship
- Gabriel Garcia
“The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship” is the imaginative story of the development of a boy into manhood written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The story states the illusion of ghost in reality. She describes the growth of an ordinary boy to a bold, matured and assertive young man. The Story deals with a boy’s miraculous observation of the Ghost Ship. At first the boy has been presented as a new man but he gradually changes towards manhood.
The boy is the central figure in the story who used to see the ghost ships many years before, when the boy was very small, he saw a large ship without any lights and sound. One night, the ship passed by his village. It was long and tall. The ship sailed to the wrong direction. When the lights of the lighthouse fell on it, it disappeared and when the lights were off, it appeared. The next day, the boy saw no any sign of the ship and realized that it was his dream. The boy was growing up everyday. In the next March, the boy again saw the Ghost Ship in the sea. This time, the boy was sure that it was not mere dream but a reality. He told his mother and other people in the surrounding about the existence of the ship. However, ‘no body believed him. His mother thought that his mind was out of order. She sent a boatman to observe whether there was ship or not. The boatman saw nothing more than the fish and the hares. The mother of the boy brought a chair from the town, sat on it thinking about her dead husband and then she died.
After the death of his mother, the boy became orphan. Nobody loved and cared him. When he saw the Ghost Ship and shouted, people beat him. Some other women also died who sat on the chair brought by his mother from the town. People threw the evil chair on the sea. They hated the boy as his mother was widow who brought the evil chair in the village. The boy didn’t want to live on the charity (~. He began to steal fish out of the boat. He had to face many difficulties in his lonely life. However, he never accepted defeat. He grew stronger and determined. Isolation and anger made him firm and assertive. He took a strong decision, stole a boat and waited for the Ghost Ship in the channel. He wanted to show the disbelievers who he was. The large Ghost Ship reappeared. He guided the ship to the village church. The cowards and disbelievers were surprised to see the large ghost ship. In this way, the boy proved his adventure and bravery. He was never confused by emotion and frightened by miracle. He faced the troubles and accepted the challenges. In the beginning, the boy was like mud.
Towards the end of the story, he grew into a firm rock. He proved his manhood or maturity by showing the existence of the gigantic (large) Ghost Ship. The story presents how the confidence and determination leads the boy to reach in the destination of his journey to search the ghost ship as he used to see from his boyhood. It proves that the boy’s efforts and sufferings as well as determination support him to reach his destination.
10. God’s Grandeur
- Gerard Manley Hopkins
God’s Grandeur by G.M. Hopkins (An Analysis)
The first four line of the octave (first eight line stanza in Italian sonnet) describe natural world through which God’s presence runs like an electronic current, becoming momentarily visible in the flashes like the refracted glinting of lights produced by metal foil when rumpled or quickly moved. Alternatively, god’s presence is rich oil, a kind of sap that wells up “to a greatness” which tapped with a certain kind of patient pressure. Given there, clear, strong proof of God’s presence in the world, the poet asks how that human fail to heed (pay attention to; listen to or reck) His divine authority (his rod).
The second quatrain within the octave describes the state of contemporary human life - the blind repetitiveness of human labour, and the sordidness and train of “toil” and “trade”. The landscape in its natural state reflects God and its creator. But industry and the prioritization of the economic over the spiritual have transformed the landscape and robbed humans of their sensitivity to those few beauties of nature still left. The shoes people wear saver physical connection between our feet and the earth they walk on, symbolizing an ever-increasing spiritual alienation from nature.
The sestet (the final six lines of the sonnet, enacting a turn or shift in argument) asserts that, in spite of the fallen of Hopkins’s contemporary Victorian world, nature does not cease offering up its spiritual indices (index). Permeating (fill) the world is a deep “freshness” that testifies to the continual renewing power of God’s creation. This power of renewal is seen in the way morning always waits on the other side of dark night. The source of this constant regeneration is the grace of a God who “broods” over a seemingly lifeless world with the patient nurture of a mother hen. This final image one of the God’s guarding the potential of the world and contains with Himself the power and promise of rebirth. With the final exclamation “ah! bright wings”, Hopkins suggests both an awed intuition (instinct; insight) of the beauty of God’s grace, and the joyful suddenness of a hatching bird emerging out of God’s loving incubation (hatching).
Simple Synopsis
The world is full of God’s magnificence. The electrical images (charged, shining) convey danger as well as power of God. The poet constantly emphasizes that God’s glory is hidden except to the inquiring eye or on special occasions. In comparing the lightening to’ shaken gold foil, he may possibly have been influenced by the gold-leaf electroscope. The opening lines convey Hopkin’s sense of the power ·and glory of god latent in the world. The question describes what man has done to the world that should shine with God’s grandeur. Next comes the suggestion of ruin and dirtiness with the vowel run seared, bleared, smeared. The process is continued by smudge and smell, which pick up the initial consonant sound ’smear’ and, with new intensification, makes man’s smell indeed foul. One can also notice, in Line 7, the intensifying effect in the rhyme of wears and shares and the repetition of man’s with each: the earth is doubly infected (wears, shares) with man’s filth (dirtiness) as it were. The first four lines thus carry the imagery of the thunderstorm at first, the sense of brooding expectancy and then the burst of lighting. Here, Hopkins is concerned with why other people do not respond as he did, and the answer is suggested in the next four lines, beginning with “Generations have trod, have trod, have trod.” Generations of men, ignoring the miraculous quality of life, have lost touch with the grandeur of god and become callous (heartless) to it. Their efforts have all been away from what is most essential to them. Man has betrayed his inborn nature instead of developing it, and has given himself up to trade, industrialization and materialism. He has isolated himself from the sources of knowledge to be found in nature, allowing his greed to destroy his, natural sensitivity to beauty. The poets sweeping condemnation of 19th century industrialization comes very close to his condemnation of man himself .”Shares man’s smell” although it could possibly refer to smells in manufacturing, it suggests physical loathing (hateful). But even at this stage there is hope and faith.
“And for all this, nature is never spent there lives the dearest freshness deep down things”. Natural beauty is still a loving force to him, and a constant reassurance of God’s concern for the world. Explicitly, Hopkins contrasts here the beauty of nature with the ugliness of mankind’s deeds.
Thus, the poem is a protest against the materialism of the Victorian age. Although man is greedy and wasteful, he may still hope to be saved as long as God is there. This is an explicitly religious poem.
11. I HAVE A DREAM
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have A Dream’ is an unforgettable speech delivered (given) by Martin Luther King to millions of American blacks and whites on August 28, 1963. This speech represents the hopes and dreams of all American blacks who have been struggling for their rights and freedom. Though the American constitution and the Declaration of Independence have promised equal rights, justice and freedom to all the blacks and whites, this is not implemented in practice. In the American Societies, there is still strong racial discrimination, injustice, hatred and other inequalities between whites and blacks. The Blacks are hated, neglected and tortured in practice. In the American societies, there is still strong racial discrimination, injustice, hatred and other inequalities between whites and blacks. The Blacks are hated, neglected and tortured because of their black skin. They are deprived of their rights, freedom, equality and justice. They are treated to be slaves and are exiled in their own country. They live very poor and miserable life among the rich whites. Only the whites enjoy rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Luther king addresses the American Blacks and says that they should continue their struggle until they establish equality, peace and brotherhood in America. However, their struggle should be without violence. He says that they should fight for their rights without causing physical violence which may cause bitterness and hatred. They should follow the path and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. If they keep on struggling in a disciplined way, they will achieve their aims. Luther king hopes that one day; the chains of hatred, racial discrimination, injustice and Inequalities will be broken. The new sun will rise with the rays of liberty, equality, peace and brotherhood.
Luther King urges that there should be immediate change in the conception of whites. The racial and color discrimination will weaken the foundation of America. Luther King says that his dream is the dream of America. His dream is the dream of freedom, justice and equality. The color of the skin is not important. What is important in humanity. Therefore one day, all discrimination and inequality will disappear. All the blacks and whites will walk together joining hands as brother and sister. At last, not only blacks, all the American people will be free. There will be sweet music of liberty, justice and equality all over America.
12. Women’s Business
- Ilene Kantrov
The writer Ilene Kantov is feminist writer who supports the most of the ideas of the women and their notion in the essay in the modern trend of globalization. She portrays a portrait of Lydia Pinkham and she goes on to tell about other business women who follow her footsteps. Lydia Pinkham combines her business with social service. She supports women’s rights, temperance and their social as well as economic reform. Her kind and beautiful face shines in the pages of papers to advertise her medicinal products to cure the diseases of women. She expects a militant feminist would support the business policy of Pinkham. She would certainly support women’s rights, independence as well as social and economic upliftment. She would react positively to Lydia’s advertising to champion women’s rights, temperance and fiscal reform. She would equally support the women’s advice on nutrition, exercise, hygiene and child rearing. She would, thus praise the activities of Pinkham and other women who tried to make the women race socially aware and economically independent. Lydia Pinkham and many other women of her time played different roles to promote women’s business. They competed with their male counterparts and didn’t hesitate to go to the court of law like male businessmen. A militant feminist would no doubt praise and support all these activities of women in this essay.
However; there are some debatable statements of the writer which are not digestible for a militant feminist. Lydia Pinkham suggests her women customers not to go to the male physicians. A true feminist wouldn’t support such idea. She also wouldn’t support the altitudes of Helena and Elizabeth who attracted women to use cosmetics in the hope of getting married to European aristocrats. She would object the idea of limiting women’s business within their own race. A true feminist may think that men and women are interdependent. In the absence of either men or women, the world will not run. Thus, the business women should focus on the equality of men and women.
“Women’s Business” differs in many ways from their male counterparts. The business women combined their business with social service. They displayed their images to advertise their products. The women offered their customers more than their products. They supported women’s rights, temperance, and social and economic reform. They gave advice to their customers about diet, exercise, hygiene etc. They printed reports for the women to cure physical problems, infertility nervousness, hysteria and even marital conflict. They used their images as women to promote their business. Helena and Elizabeth, for example, took advantage of their images as women to promote their business of cosmetics. Some business women tried to show their roles as mother and grandmother and some other developed their images as glamorous fashionable women. They advertised their products, promoted their business and earned a lot of money as well. Some women even invested some part of their profit into good works and social reform. However, women were more sex conscious. They helped only women and promoted traditional women’s skills. Lydia Pinkham, the leading American Business woman of that time advised her customers to avoid male physicians. In the realities of the market place, some business-women didn’t support feminism.
13. The Children Who Wait
- Marsha Taugot
Marsha Traugot wrote the essay “The Children who wait”, in the prevalent trend of child adoption in few decade in America context. Marsha Traugot suggests reasons for a new trend in adoption. Now a wider variety of Families can open their homes to children who in the past would have been leveled unadoptable. In setting forth the causes for this phenomenon, Traugot draws from specific case histories.
The writer begins her essay with an example of a 51/2 years old black homeless girl named Tammy who is suffering from fatal alcohol syndrome which can stop her intellectual growth at any time. By this, Traugot wants to prove that she is not dealing with fiction but a specific case study. In the past, especially before 1960, the black, disabled, handicapped and sick children were unadoptable. Tammy has recently been legally freed for adoption which shows the changes that have taken place in the American adoption scene. Before 1960, only healthy white infants could be adopted. But now, the American adoption scene has been completely changed due to different civil rights movements, birth control, changing social values and social science research. Because of civil rights movements, the attitudes of American people towards Negro children changed. Due to birth control and legalized abortion, fewer unwanted babies were born. Even the unmarried women could keep their babies with them because of the changing social values. As a result, healthy babies were hardly available for adoption and people turned their attention to other children like Tammy.
Due of massive growth of population, the number of homeless children is in the increasing trend. Between 1960 and 1978, the number of children in the foster home reached nearly half a million. Many states have no idea about the number of children who lived with their biological parents, who lived in foster homes and those children who could be adopted. If such children were left in the foster homes more than 18 months, they would suffer from different kinds of illnesses and social crimes. It would make their life more troublesome, complicated and worse. The politicians also wouldn’t invest any fund to begin new programs for such children as the children have no rights to vote. So, the homeless children were neglected and uncared. According to the child care specialists, the cost of keeping an average child in foster home was. $3,600 to $24,000. This shows that the foster home was expensive and cruel. The writer suggests that the social workers should change their attitudes. They should accept even disabled children for adoption. They should open child care centres and hold meetings.
Now, the social workers write down the characteristics of the child and the profile of a suitable family and then they try to match. To find the possible adoptive parents, the social workers first look to their lists. They give detailed information about the children to the regional exchange offices. They organize meetings and parties for children and possible parents to meet informally. If they still can t find adopters by personal contact, they advertise on T.V. and publish the child’s profile in the newspapers. Thus, the child welfare specialists and the social workers can do a lot for the children who wait for adoption.
14. A Child is Born
- Germaine Greer
The writer shows many differences between a traditional and modern society in matters of pregnancy, childbirth and childbearing. The traditional society is full of different customs, tradition~ rituals and superstition. A pregnant woman has to follow all such rites. She doesn’t get proper respect at home and society unless she gives birth to a child. Because of the customs, traditions and the culture of the traditional society, pregnant women are loved, cared and supported by her husbands, members of her family and all the relatives. Because of this, she doesn’t worry much about the possible pain and danger in childbirth.
The traditional behaviors are responsible to increase her sense of security. However, in modern western societies, a pregnant woman is not cared like this. Since the people in the modern western society don’t believe much on different rites, traditions and superstitions, the pregnant woman is not attended by her husband and relatives. She is not free from mental burden. She is always worried about the possible danger and pain of the childbirth. She has to practice pregnantal exercises and make other preparations herself. She frequently visits doctors for advice and to get her pregnancy checked up. Her pregnancy is not given much importance by her family, relatives and the society.
In the traditional eastern societies, the infant and mother mortality rate is higher because of the lack of modern methods and equipments. The traditional childbirths are conducted among various superstitions, customs, rites, rituals and traditions. The pregnant women don’t visit hospitals for check up. Because of this, a large number of women and their infants die untimely in the traditional society. In the modern western society, however, the infant and mother mortality rate is very low. The pregnant women shouldn’t carryon various customs, traditions and superstitions. They frequently visit doctors and follow their suggestions. They practice many modern methods and equipments for the childbirth. If the life of the mother or the infant is in danger, the doctors conduct operations to save them. Thus, the women in the modern society give birth very easily and safely among the modern methods and facilities.
After the childbirth, the women in the traditional Eastern society are respected and praised much for their courage. Many people attend her with gifts to see the child and to congratulate the mother. People organize parties to celebrate the birth ceremony. There is feasting, singing and dancing. The mother is given permission to go to her mother’s house for few months. The whole family helps her to rear the child. However, there is no such system in the modern western society. In such society, there is no one t home to welcome the child and to praise the courage of the mother.
15. THE TELL -TALE HEART
- Edgar Allan Poe
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a psychological and strange story written by Edger Allan Poe. The unnammed narrator of the story is probably a boy who lives in an old man’s house. He is suffering from the nervous disease. He is Over sensitive to hearing. According to him, the old man has the eye like vulture. The narrators fears from the eyes of old man. When the eye of the old man falls upon the narrator, his blood becomes cold. To overcome these fear, the narrator wants to kill the old man to destroy the eye. Every night, the boy tries to kill the old man but becomes unsuccessful. On the eighth night, when he opens the door of the old man, he suddenly has a feeling of power. He kills the old man to be free from the eye of vulture He cuts off the head and arms of the old man and hides the dead body under the wooden floor. The boy neglects to remove the watch from the wrist of the old man. He leaves no sign of blood and other proofs of murder.
After the murder the three police officers have arrived to the house for investigation. They search the house but find no evidence of the murder. The narrator hides his inner feelings and behaves very politely and pleasantly to the police officers. He talks with a smile and shows the policemen the treasure (money) and the room of the old man. He answers the questions of the officers very carefully and happily. They believe the narrator and they talk in a friendly way about other things. Then suddenly, the boy hears the tick-tick sound that comes actually from the watch of the old man. However, the narrator mistakes it for the heart beating of the dead body. The boy tries to kill the sound by talking loudly but the sound becomes louder and louder. He becomes angry and excited. He throws his chairs across the room. The policemen still talk and smile. The boy thinks that they have already known the hidden truth. He realizes that they are making fun of him, Then in his mad sense, the narrator confesses his crime. He says that he has murdered the old man and hidden the dead body under the wooden floor.
Finally, the boy kills an innocent old man because of his madness. His nervous disease leads him to be a murderer. Again, because of his mad sense, he mistakes the clock sound of the watch to be the heart beating of the dead body and thus he confesses his guilt in front of police officers.
16. Purgatory
- William Butler Yeats
W.B. Yeats’s play “Purgatory” depicts the restlessness of spirit after the death and bothers the living beings. Purgatory refers the place or state into which the soul passes after death to become purified of pardonable sins before going to heaven. In the play, there are two characters as old man and his son. Besides that there is dead spirit who hovers here and there for his part. The play basically concerns with the sorrow of the dead and the consequences of the crimes of the dead upon the living ones. The father of the old man committed a great crime by wasting the property by drinking and destroying the honorable house and deprived his son (the old man) from education and inheritance of the property. As a result, the old man, when he was sixteen, murdered his own father. In the play, the ruined house is often visited by the remorseful spirit of old man’s father and mother. The suffering spirit is not purified to enter the heaven because of its crimes and sins during alive.
The groom (one who looks after the horse) marries a rich lady and the couples have a son. The lady dies after the birth of a child and the groom wastes her property by spending a lot and drinking. When the son becomes 16 years old, he murders his own father who burns the honoured house, wastes the property and makes his son deprived of education and inheritance (legal rights) of the property. The son has become old now and he has a bastard son (born out of wedlock). The scene of the play is a ruined house and a bare (naked) tree in the background. The old man and his bastard son stand in the moonlight before the house.
During the anniversary of the old man’s mother’s wedding night, the old man finds that the suffering spirit visits the house again and again in the ruined house. The old man sees the ghost of his mother and hears the hoof-beats (sound from animal foots) of his father’s horse. The boy sees nothing and calls his father mad. The old man discloses the history of the destroyed house to his son. The boy steals the bag of money from the old man and tries to run away. They fight for the money that is scattered (spread) on the ground. The boy threatens to kill the old man. Now the old man is afraid of his own son who has become 16 years old. The old man thinks that his son may repeat the disgraceful tradition of his father. The old man decides to stop the polluted tradition which may last for generations. In the meantime, the boy also sees the spirit of his grandparents and he becomes shocked. The old man suddenly stabs (kills by knife) his son to death to finish all the consequences. The stage is darkened and the bare tree appears “like a purified soul’ in the white light. The old man at the tree and explains why he has killed the boy. He wants to put an end to the chain of consequences, the polluted blood and its consequence. When he bends to pick up the scattered money, he again hears the hoof-beats of the dead spirit and sadly thinks that the consequence has not come to an end. He laments that he has killed his own father and son without any obvious purpose. Finally, the old man prays to God to free the tormented soul and calm them.
17. Hansel and Gretel
[From the Transforming Text]
- Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Once in a time, nearby the large forest, a poor woodcutter lived with his wife and two children. The son’s name was called Hansel and the daughter was Gretel. The children were always neglected by their step-mother. She didn’t love them and wanted to get rid of them and felt burden because of their presence at the house. There was the scarcity of food and famine in the region, so their father was unable to give food to the children. The step-mother was cruel and unkind to the children. That is why the stepmother made a plan to leave the children in the forest and for that reason she compelled her husband to leave the children in the forest. The children also understood the plan of their parents but didn’t do anything and accepted the bitter reality. They were suffering from hunger. The boy Hansel was very clever and he had gone out at night, filled his pocket with pebbles so as to scatter in the way of their trip to the forests.
One day in the morning, the poor family had begun their trip to forest with the intention to leave the innocent children. Hansel threw the pebbles on the road one by one. When they reached the forest, their father and mother left them were sleeping nearby the fireside. As the children woke up at night, found them alone and their parents had not there, so they waited until the moon rose and followed the road where the pebbles shone like silver pieces. They were able to come in to their house because of the pebbles. Their step-mother was restless to see them but the father was happy. The parents made another plan to leave them into more dense forest and the children had overhead the conversation of their parents but they couldn’t do anything as they were trapped in the room and given some breadcrumbs by the stepmother for the next day and went to a thick forest. But this time Hansel threw the pieces of bread on the road. When the father and mother came back home like before leaving the children in the forest in their deep sleep, the children woke up at night, followed the road but the pieces of bread were not there They missed the road, were tired and fell asleep under a tree. They followed a singing bird when they woke up. They reached a house. The roof of the house was made up of bread and the windows of sugar. The hungry children began to eat the house. An old woman came out from the house. She took them inside the house. They felt that it was heaven. The woman was wicked witch. She wanted to kill and eat them. So she imprisoned Hansel in the stable, gave good food to fatten him. But once, Gretel pushed the woman into the oven and bolted the door of oven and the woman burnt to death. Then Gretel being very happy freed her brother.
The children were extremely excited when they found a lot of pearls and jewels in that house. They put it into their pockets and headed towards the home. But in their way there was a huge body of the water and began singing a son. Then the duck came and rescued them to the side of the river. When they walked a bit more, they knew that the river was familiar and while walking far they had seen their father’s home. They ran and found their father in the home but their step-mother was died. They gave the precious stone, jewels and pearls to their father and lived happily afterwards.
18. The Gingerbread House
[From the Transforming Text]
Robert Coover
Robert Coover’s story “The Gingerbread House” consists of forty-two numbered paragraphs which shows the parts of the story and it is an adoption of “Hansel and Gretel”. In the mid afternoon, an old man leads two children to the pine forest. The boy is dropping the pieces of bread and the girl is singing nursery songs and carrying a basket of flowers. The old man seems poor and miserable who wears the torn clothes is very poor, weak and thin. The children are also wearing torn clothes and walking with bare feet. The eyes of the old man are blue and his face is wrinkled. He is looking for the chance to leave the children in the thick forest. He feels guilty. Though he loves his children, he has no food to feed them. As they are walking, they encounter terrible witch who has worn black clothes. Her face is pale, her body is thin and twisted and her eyes are like burning coals. She cries madly and stretches her hand in the empty space. She catches a white dove and tears its red heart out.
When they are on their way to their journey, they reach into the “Gingerbread House”. The house can be reached walking on the biscuits through the garden of sugared fruits. The house is made of sweets, chocolates and sugar. There is sticky I garden of sweets. The door of the house is heart shaped and red. It is shining like a ruby. The door is half-open. The place is sunny and beautiful. The air is fresh. There is river of honey and lollipops grow like daisies. The boy looks back and finds that the breadcrumbs that he drops are eaten up by the white birds. He is sad as his plan to return back home fails. The old man and the children spend the night in the forest. The next day, the old man tries to return back home silently but the children see and follow him. He pushes the girl and strikes the boy. The children weep but the old man returns home leaving the children in the dense forest.
There are several obstacles in the story that are faced by the children. Numerous problems and difficulties in the forest are common for them. However, they don’t lose their heart. They come to the gingerbread house. They fall on the sticky garden of sweets. They lick each other clean and are happy. The boy climbs up the roof of chocolate. They enjoy eating bread and sweets. Beyond the door of the house, there is the terrible sound of the witch flapping her black rags.
19. Gretel
[From the Transforming Text]
- Garrison Keillor
“Gretel” is the contemporary adaptation of the writer Garrison Keillor. In this adaptation, the writer strongly states the statement given by Gretel in their going to forest. Gretel explores various feeling related to her bother Hansel, father and stepmother as well as the witch in the gingerbread house. Gretel is a radical or militant feminist. In the fairy tale “Gretel”, Keillor has sketched her character as a strong and dominant person. She blames the male characters who want to exploit her and her step-mother. She has to get half of the profits earned by selling the book according to the contract. However, the lawyers of Hansel put her under a spell and make her sign another contract. Then she gets very little money and the book is regarded to be pure imagination.
Gretel is a benevolent as well as strong girl. She advocates the women’s rights and seems to be a feminist and wanted to raise her voice against the patriarchal society (male-dominated society). She wants to make the women aware and raises the voice against; injustice and inequality. She believes that women should get equal property right. When her brother makes a conspiracy not to share the money after selling the book, she becomes angry and evaluates that males are very cruel. She learns so many things from her own experience. The more she faces problems and suffers, the stronger she becomes. She is very sympathetic to the condition of women in the society. She is even sympathetic to the witch and her stepmother. She criticizes her father and brother. She always supports justice, equality and liberty. She is strong minded, clever, brave and courageous girl. She is very hopeful about her life and future. She thinks that her step mother and the witch are not completely wrong but they show kind behaviour towards the children due to the tradition. So tradition or faith is wrong. She is hopeful because she thinks that a girl like her may be the pray of various animals as well as birds. She may be bothered by fairies, shepherds, hermits as well. Gretel after all cope the circumstances with her wise sense and cleverness.
Gretel expresses her different opinion to the cruel character too. Her step-mother is presented to be wicked and cruel, she is not so according to Gretel. Gretel says that it is the plan of the cruel father to leave her and her brother in the dense forest. She has to beat her brother to make him walk. She has to carry him on her back. Her father is a drunkard and the step mother can do nothing against his will. She blames her father and brother for being cruel and selfish. They live happily in a large building but Gretel and her step-mother have no home of their own. Gretel raises her hand against the male domination. She supports the principle that women should have the equal rights as men. She raises her voice against injustice. She supports feminism. She goes against male superiority. She proves that Hansel, being male, is unable to do anything. He is tired, nervous and afraid. She proves his weakness by carrying him on her back.
Gretel criticizes her father also says he is selfish, unkind and irresponsible. He dominates his wife and doesn’t give her the share of property. Gretel is not afraid of anything. She has even sympathy to the witch. She thinks that the witch and the step-mother are not as bad as they are supposed to be. She feels sorry for the witch as she has pushed her without good reason. She thinks that the witch suffers most. In this way Gretel is a strong feminist who criticizes the existing male superiority in the society. She suffers because of the injustice of males. However, she is never hopeless. She believes that no children suffer permanently in the lap of nature. In this way. We can strongly states that Gretel is the strong supporter of justice, equality and she often condemns (criticizes) injustice, male domination, sex discrimination and other social inequalities.
20. The Little Brother and The Little Sister
[From the Transforming Text]
- Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
It is transformation fairy tale written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s. “The Little Brother and the Little Sister” is all about the account of “Hansel and Gretel” in a different way. The children are not identified by their names but by their relation. So, the title is not “Hansel and Gretel” but “The Little Brother and The Little Sister”. In this fairy tale, a poor woodcutter lives by a great forest. He lives very difficult life with his second-wife and two children. Once, there is a famine (food shortage) and the family has no bread to eat. The step-mother is very cruel who forces her husband to leave the children in the forest. The children know the plan of their parents. The brother goes out of the house at night in the moonlight and fills his pocket with the shining pebbles. The next morning, the little brother and his sister are taken to the forest. On the way, the brother keeps on dropping the shining stones one by one. In the forest, the parents make a great fire and ask the children to wait until they come back. However, the parents don’t come back. The children are worried and they wait for the moon. When the moon shines at night, they came back home following the shining pebbles. The father who loves them very much becomes happy but the cruel step mother becomes angry.
In the meantime, there is the scarcity of food. The step mother again compels the father to get rid of the children. They again take the children to the forest. This time the little brother drops the pieces of bread on the ways. The parents again make a great fire and come back home leaving the children in the forest. The little sister and her brother wait until the moon shines at night. However they don’t find the pieces of bread as they are eaten up by the birds. Then they are lost in the dense forest. They walk on and on for three days and finally they reach a house made of bread. The Window is made of sugar. When they begin to eat, an old witch comes and takes them inside the house She provides them with good food and nice bed. The next day, she imprisons the boy in the stable and makes the little sister work hard.
After making Hansel fat, she wants to kill the brother and roast the little sister. One day the witch asks the sister to go into the oven to see if it is hot or not for the cakes. The clever sister says that she doesn’t know how to go into the oven. When the witch shows how to go in, the little girl pushes the witch inside the oven and closes the door of the oven. The witch burns to death. The little sister frees her little brother and they return home with a lot of jewels. The step mother is already dead. The father becomes happy and rich.
21. The Boarding House
- James Joyce
James Joyce’s “The Boarding House” is the suspense story which ends with the strategic techniques of Mrs. Mooney, central character in the story. She plays the significant role to settle the love affair of her young daughter and Mr. Doren with whom she had an affair and special relationship. The story is all about the character sketch of a strong determined woman named Mrs. Mooney and her persuasive strategies to settle her daughter’s affair with Mr. Doran.
Mrs. Mooney is the daughter of a butcher. She marries a man who works for her father. After the death of her father, her husband starts drinking and taking money from the shop. He fights with her in front of the customers. After a short time, he finishes almost all the property and falls into heavy debt. One night, he runs after her with a knife to kill her. She escapes and saves her life spending the night in the neighboring house. Then, they can’t live together any more. Mrs Mooney takes her children and the remaining money of the shop and starts a Boarding House in Hardwick Street.
Many tourists, musicians and the visitors from the city come to stay in the boarding house. The young men live and eat in the house. They talk about horses and sing songs on Sunday nights. Polly Mooney, the daughter of Mrs. Mooney also sings with them. Polly is a beautiful girl of nineteen with light soft hair and grey eyes. Her mother gives her housework to do so that she comes in contact with the young men. The intention of Mrs. Money is to trap a young man for her daughter. She watches her daughter and the young men carefully but none of them look serious in the beginning. When Mrs. Mooney notices something between Polly and one young man named Mr. Doran, she watches them carefully. Though people begin to talk about them, Mrs. Mooney keeps silent as she is waiting for the right time to talk about the affair openly. Finally, Mrs. Mooney makes a decision. She thinks that Mr. Doran must pa for his enjoyment. The money is not enough, he must marry her daughter.
One evening, she calls her daughter about the affair. Though Polly seems uncomfortable, she tells every detail of their relationship. The mother calls Mr. Doran in her drawing room to talk about the affair. Mr. Doran is helpless and confused. Though he accepts his relationship with Polly, he does like to marry her. He knows that Polly is not educated and her family background is not good. People talk badly about her drunkard father and the bad reputation of the boarding house. His family will not accept her and his friends will laugh at him. He also knows that if he refuses to marry, he will lose his job. He remembers the hard face of his boss. Though he tries to be free by paying a lot of money as compensation, Mrs. Mooney makes him in a trap by saying that she doesn’t want to sell her daughter’s virtues. She uses strong reasons and persuasive strategies and reminds Mr. Doran of his happy moment with Polly. In this way, Mrs. Mooney very c1everly compels Mr. Doran to marry her daughter.
At last, Mrs. Mooney called Mr. Doran to her house. She started to pressurize him to marry Poly at any case. But he refused at first. She even threatened him. But she reminded him all those happiest moments that he had spent with her daughter Polly. After remembering all the moments, he agreed to marry Polly. This is a type of strategy and technique from which Mrs. Mooney settled her daughter’s affair with Mr. Doren.
22. Jack Zipes’s Interpretation of Hansel and Gretel
Jack Zipes interprets story ‘Hansel and Gretel from the different perspective. He chooses to interpret the story from the Marxist point of view. He expresses that this story is a story of hope and victory. All the character in the story is very low level but supporting traditional cultural values. A poor man wood-cutter who has not sufficient food to feed his family. He has got a second Wife but she also negates the children and shows her rude behavior. The children are so kind and lovely, they are Hansel and Gretel. Because of famine in the region, the woodcutter and his wife decide to leave the children in the dense forest to get rid of them and survive easily. They leave the children according to their previous plan and the children suffer much in the forest and later came to the grip of witch.
According to Marxist theory, there is always conflict between two class, upper class and lower class. Jack describes children as lower class and oppressed and step-mother and witch as high class and oppressor. But the children save themselves because of their cleverness and trick; they kill the witch and returned home with a lot of jewels and pearls. The witch’s house is made up bread and sugar to attract the poor children.
In the story there are two classes higher and lower class. The lower class also represents the woodcutter family and higher class represents the with and stepmother. This story shows the famine and poverty of 18th and the struggle between the two classes where the lower class always wins at last. At the end of the 18th century the people wanted the change from feudalism to capitalism. The feudal ideology was proved wrong. The people were ready to struggle and they hoped their bright future in capitalism. The poor family changes their lifestyle from extreme poverty to the richness from the jewels the children carries from witch’s house is one of the best example of transition phase from feudalism to early capitalism and this is exactly what Karl Marx predicts.
23. Bruno Bettelheim’s Interpretation of Hansel and Gretel
Bruno Bettelheim interprets the folk-tale “Hansel and Gretel” revealing (showing) various social and cultural meanings. The story reveals the bitter truth that poverty, scarcity and hardships lead people towards selfishness, cruelty and bad deeds (bad works). Hansel and Gretel have always· a fear in their minds that their own parents want to abandon (leave) them because of the lack of food. The step-mother is cruel and selfish. Though the father loves the children, he can’t go against his wife. He feels guilty and his heart becomes heavy when he leaves the children in the dense forest. The children come back to the house though their parents are selfish. In our society also, the step-mothers are generally selfish, cruel and jealous. They usually hate their step children and force their husbands to do whatever they want. The same thing happens in this story. Because of the cruelty of the step mother, the children ‘(Hansel and Gretel) suffer a lot. However, the suffering and hardships make the children bold and mature. Facing many difficulties, they reach the house of witch. They are tempted by the bread and sugar of the house. When they are welcomed by the witch, they become happy. But, when the witch plans to kill them, they realize the danger of greed and temptation. They learn that to be greedy is to invite risk. When the children kill the witch and return with jewels and pearls, they realize that one must bear pain to have a gain. They learn the fact that without facing danger and without taking risk, they can achieve nothing. The treasure is the reward for the danger, pain, hardships etc. faced by the children. After killing the witch, the children learn the social fact that everything can be done by co-operation. At the time of danger, one should use reason (mind) instead of passions.
The story has a great cultural significance. The witch welcomes the children to eat them. The house gives shelter to the children but they can’t control their desires and eat the house which brings danger to them. The white bird which leads the children to the house of the witch is culturally the symbol of peace and kindness. The white duck which helps them to cross the river is the symbol of co-operation and selflessness. The expanse of water is the symbol of maturity. After crossing the river, the children reach a higher stage of development. They become economically strong. They are no longer the burden of the family. They become independent, wise, matured and happy.
Critical Interpretation of Hansel and Gretel
- From your English Teacher
A story can be interpreted in many different ways deriving various meanings.
The main purpose of interpretation is to dig out the hidden elements, complications, meanings and finally to say what is story really about. We can interpret the folk-tale “Hansel and Gretel” from different angles such as Marxist’s point of view, Freud’s psychological point of view, feminist point of view and so on.
According to Marxist’s point of view, there is a class conflict between the aristocratic people and the working class. The witch in the story represents the entire feudal system and the children and their parents represent the poor working class: In the feudal system, the rich landlords exploit the poor peasants. They capture the whole production and the working class people have always scarcity of food·. I n the story, the witch has collected a lot of treasure and food. Though the wood cutter and his children are suffering from famine, the witch has the house made of bread and sugar. In Marxist’s point of view, the working class people always fight to fulfill their hunger and other basic needs. Similarly, in this story, the two children Hensel and Gretel fight with the witch and finally they murder her. The murder of the witch stands for the hatred and anger of the working class towards the aristocrats.
If we read the story from psychological point of view, we can dig out many hidden meanings. We find that the house of the witch, which is made of bread and sweets, is nothing but a mother. As the children suck the breasts of their mother, the children in this story feed on the house. On the other hand, the children eat the same house which gives shelter to them. Because of their greed, they have to face a great danger. This shows that the life of human beings is full of danger. When the children murder the witch, we understand the fact that we can overcome the dangerous situation if we act very carefully and wisely. The children gain a lot of treasure and return back. Their treasure is the reward for their hardships and pain. When they reach the river, they have to face another danger. The white duck comes for their help. They again use their reason (mind) by crossing the river one by one. When they cross the wide expanse of water, they become more mature. They feel free and happy. They become wise, bold, independent and rich. Though their parents have abandoned them, the children have now understood their compulsion. This shows that human beings can experience many things when they go out of their house. Suffering, hardships, dangers, etc make man bold, ‘experienced, mature and independent.
We can even interpret the story from feminist point of view. There are more female characters in the story than the male. The roles played by female characters are highly dominant. The step mother plays the main role to lead the children in the dense forest. However, they are in the lap of nature. The forest or the nature itself is the female character. When they reach the gingerbread house, the house itself is a mother who provides food for the children. The witch is also female character who wants to kill and eat the children. When the boy is imprisoned by the witch, the female character,
Gretel saves him by killing the witch. Thus, the female roles are dominant and significant in the story.
[1] Metaphor n. 1 application of a name or description to something to which it is not literally applicable
[2] Vanish v. 1 disappear. 2 cease to exist.
