Showing posts with label Heritage of Words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heritage of Words. Show all posts

Friday, February 24, 2012

2/24/2012 07:57:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - The Boarding House

17. The Boarding House

“The Boarding House” is a social story written by James Joyce. The writer deals with the experience of adolescence. The story is about an Irish middle class family living in Dublin. Mrs. Mooney, one of the main characters of the story, was a butcher’s daughter. She was very much confident and independent woman. She was married to her father’s foreman (helper). After marriage she started a butcher’s shop which she ran successfully. But her husband was very stupid and drunkard. He drank all the time and finished most of the property. He fell into a heavy debt. He quarreled with his wife and sometimes attacked her with a cleaver. So she had to go to neighbor’s house to sleep. Therefore she got divorced from her husband and opened a boarding house where many tourists, office workers, artists would come to stay.     

Mrs. Mooney had a son and a daughter. Her daughter, Polly Mooney was a beautiful girl of 19. She fell in love with Mr. Doran, one of the young boys living at the boarding house. Mrs. Mooney suspected their relation but kept quiet watching their activities. One day she asked Miss  Polly about went to Mr. Doran’s room and informed him that her mother had known their secret relation.

Mr. Doran fell in confusion not knowing what to do. In fact, he was not in mind of marrying Polly, she was not educated and her language was not good. She was the daughter of a butcher and her boarding house had no good fame. On the other hand, he was from gentle family and he had a good job. He thought that if he married her all his friends would laugh at him. Miss Polly began to weep but he asked her not to lose patience. At the same time maid (servant) came in his room and said that Mrs. Mooney wanted to talk to him. Wearing a coat he went to see her. Miss Polly sat alone in the room thinking about what he and her mother would make the decision. After sometime her mother called her and said that Mr. Doran wanted to speak to her.

Thus, the story ends in suspense. We don’t know what decision has been made. However, we can say that Mr. Doran must have agreed to marry Miss Polly.      

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

2/21/2012 05:47:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - Purgatory

16. Purgatory

In the Christian religion, purgatory is a place where souls of people that cannot go straight to heaven go to get purged because their sins have not been forgiven. Purgatory is the gateway to heaven where souls have to face the rest and purification. If the souls cannot purge up at purgatory, they come back to the earth and roam around in the familiar places as ghost and spirits. They suffer and cause other to suffer. They then take rebirth as lives and continue the good or bad deeds.

“Purgatory” is one act play. The scene of the play is a ruined house and a bare tree in the background. The play opens with the conversation between an old man and a boy. The boy is the old man’s son. They are standing in front of the ruined house. The old man tells the boy the history of the ruined house and the tragedy of a reputed family. The house belonged to the old man’s mother, a lady from aristocratic family. She fell in love with a groom (the old man’s father). She had died at giving birth of a child (the old man in the drama). After her death, the old man’s father began to waste money drinking wine, playing card and on women. He neither educated the old man nor left property to him. One day he burnt down the house being mad drinking wine. The house had a long and glorious history in which the reputed and great people of the nation were born. So the old man stabbed him to death and ran away from the village and worked as a peddler. After several years he came back to his house with his son (the boy).

As he is telling the story of his parents, the old man hears the hoof-beats of his father’s horse and sees his mother’s figure at the window of the ruined house he asks his son to hear the sound and  see the figure. The old man believes his mother’s soul is suffering in Purgatory. He believes she constantly repeats the wedding night. However, the boy neither hears sound nor sees any figure. He thinks his father to be mad. Therefore, he tries to run away stealing money from the old man. The old man sees it and grabs it. The boy asks for his right share and insists that it’s his right to get the money and spend it as he wishes. His behavior resembled his grandfather’s habits. The old man realizes that his mother’s soul can never get purged till her criminal generation survives. So to release his mother’s soul from the purgatory the old man stabs the boy to death. He says that if he is left alone, he will be more dangerous than his father. If the boy had been left, he would have married and passed the pollution on. He again hears the sound of hoof-beats and he wishes his mother’s spirit for emancipation and prays with God to appease the misery of the living and the remorse of the dead. There is darkness everywhere but the trees are bright which is the symbol of purified spirit. He did what a man could do for Purgatory of soul.

Thus, the old man tries his best for the purification of his mother’s soul. Here, the ruined house is symbolically the country, Ireland and the old man’s father is the symbol of people of new generation who have lost the sense of nationality. The old man is symbol of patriotism.          

Monday, February 20, 2012

2/20/2012 11:39:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - The Tell - Tale Heart

15. The Tell - Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart is a psychological story based on the obsession of the narrator of the story. The narrator kills an old man and confesses to the policemen but still he tries to prove that he is not mad. He claims that crazy people cannot tell their story calmly. In the story the narrator tells us how he murdered the old man, how the idea cropped up in his mind and how he committed the action and finally why he confessed his crime to the policemen.

The narrator and the old man lived in the same house. Every time they met they talked in a friendly way. He loved the old man. The old man had also remained very kind and friendly to the narrator, but the writer hated the old man’s vulture eyes and his looks. For an unknown reason, the old man’s cloudy, pale blue eye incited madness in him. Whenever the old man looked at him his blood turned cold. Thus, he thought of getting himself rid of the old man’s eye by murdering him. So making up his mind to murder the old man, he would get up at midnight and sneak into the old man’s room. For the past seven nights he tried to gain courage to get into the room and murder him. But he could not bring himself to kill the man without seeing his “evil eyes”. Every next morning he used to talk to the old man about how he slept at night.

On the eighth night he was there again to kill the old man. He entered the old man’s room quietly opening the door and lighting the lantern to its minimum so that the tiny ray of light would pass to see the old man’s vulture eyes. Then suddenly he tapped the lantern and the old man sprang up and cried “Who’s there?” In the dark room, the narrator waited silently for an hour. The man did not go back to sleep; instead, he gave out a slight groan, realized that ‘Death’ was approaching eventually; the narrator shone his lamp on the old man’s eye. The narrator immediately became furious at the ‘damned spot’ i.e. the vulture eye, but soon he heard the beating of a heart so loud that he feared the neighbors would hear it. With a yell, he leapt into the room and killed the old man pressing the bed over him. Despite the murder, he continued to hear the old man’s relentless (constant) heartbeat.

After the murder, the narrator dismembered (cut into pieces) the corpse and hid the body parts beneath the planks of floorboards. He then cleaned and brushed the room in such a way that there wasn’t even a stain of blood left behind. By then it was 4 in the morning. He heard a knock on the door. To his surprise he found three policemen standing at the gate. They had come as a routine work to investigate the shriek the neighbor had reported. The narrator invited them to search the premises (area). He explained that it was his shriek due to the bad dream and the old man was out of the town. The officers were satisfied but not ready to leave. Soon the sound of the heartbeat resumed, growing more and more distinct. He became pale blue and turned red with nervousness and superstition that that might be the sound of the dead man’s heart. He grew so nervous that it was intolerable for him. So he raised his voice to muffle the sound at last, unable to stand it any longer, the narrator screamed: I admit the deed! – tear up the planks, here, here! It is beating of his hideous (frightful) heart!

Thus, the story revolves around a young man and his obsession, his intense hatred for an old man’s diseased pale blue eyes, which lead him to kill the old man. True to its little, the protagonist commits a crime and confesses his crime due to his guilt-ridden heart.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

2/11/2012 06:46:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - A Child Is Born


14. A Child Is Born

Germaine Greer is a feminist writer and lecturer. ‘A Child Is Born’ is an extract from her book ‘Sex and Destiny’. In the essay Greer presents the comparison between traditional and modern societies in the matter of pregnancy and child bearing system.

In the traditional societies childbirth is accepted culturally and collectively so that the mothers do not feel any psychic burden. The potential misfortunes and anxieties are managed if they follow the ritual approach to pregnancy which limits them with taboos and prohibitions. Many of the ritual observances involve the participation of husband, relatives, and members of the society. The pregnant woman feels secure. She doesn’t need to think about the pain of delivery. The traditional societies are superstitious but the western societies are also not untouched by it. In the western societies a child is born unattended but in non-technocratic societies (traditional), except for remarkable accidents, childbirth is always attended. Child and mother mortality rate is greater in the traditional societies which is a great tragedy and should be prevented. Modern medicinal care for pregnant women in the hospitals has helped to decrease the mortality rate.

In some societies, women are not accepted as members of their new family until they have borne a child. So they wish for a child who provides them recognition in the family. In some traditional societies, the women are known as the mother of her first born child. She loses her identity. In such societies the relationship between the mother and the child is more important than the relationship between husband and wife.

In the Rajput society, to give birth to a child for a woman is a great success in her life. It is an occasion of joy for the whole family. In Bengal, the reward of the pregnancy is that she is allowed to go to her maternal home. The birth of a child is celebrated by feasting and singing by the women of the community. Similarly, in Bangladesh, children under the age of five or six are looked after by the whole family.

The traditional societies are affected by the modernization and technological change. All the emotions have been lost. The allopathic doctors depend only on drugs, equipment and electricity. The labouring women are ignored and treated only as patient or a case without any compassion. Though the chance of live birth is greater, the women will no longer continue to offer their bodies and minds to such brutality, specially if there is no one at home to welcome the child, to praise the mother for her courage and to help her raise it.

At last Greer suggests that if we do not feel so much proud and dignified out of child bearing, the population growth will be controlled. Thus the essay presents a comparison between the parent-child relationship in the affluent (rich) western and traditional agricultural Eastern societies.       


Question

What differences does Greer show between a traditional society and a modern society in matters of pregnancy, child birth and child bearing in her essay “A Child Is Born”?

According to the writer, eastern society is called a traditional society and western society is called a modern society. There are many differences between a traditional society and modern society in matters of pregnancy, child birth and child bearing. In the traditional society, people believe in superstition. Women are prohibited to do something in pregnancy. They have to follow the tradition, customs and religion. They are made sure to think that they are secured and helped by their husbands, relatives and others. They have to follow the rules and restrictions. If a pregnant woman does so, she does not have psychic burden. But in a western society, the pregnant women can do anything that she likes.

In traditional societies, woman is not taken as a member of family until she gets a baby birth but in western societies it is criticized bitterly. In traditional societies, the death rate of child and mother is higher but in modern societies it has decreased.

In traditional societies, a woman satisfies her members of family by giving a baby birth. Family members are eager to see the child. They are happy to celebrate the birth of baby. The mother is visited by her relatives and friends. She gets well treatment and is looked after well. There are many ritual functions after the baby is born in traditional societies but, however, in western and modern societies these all traditions are not found. Therefore, there are some fundamental differences between traditional and modern society concerning child bearing system.     
   

Sunday, January 8, 2012

1/08/2012 01:33:00 AM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - The Children Who Wait

12. The Children Who Wait

The essay The Children Who Wait talks about the adoption system of children. She talks about the children adoption system before and after 1960 (present).

Until about 1960 there was a trend to adopt only the healthy white infants. A child should be white, healthy and in small age to be adopted. All the disabled and diseased children, blacks, children beyond infancy (grown up) minority and mixed racial children were almost ignored. The family did not adopt them. However, in the last two decades, i.e. 1960-1980, the field of adoption has undergone a radical change. Such ignored children, who waited to be adopted, are being placed with different types of family. Such changes are due to the Black Civil Rights movements, birth control, legalized abortion, women’s movements, social science research and many more.

Due to the Black Civil Rights movements, liberal whites adopted black and mixed race infants and toddlers (children). This mode was criticized but left no effect on this. The women’s movement legalized abortion and changed the attitudes towards sexual behavior and marriage. Therefore, the number of healthy infants drastically reduced and moreover the unmarried mothers decided to keep their babies without caring the social stigma.

The researchers show that between 1960 and 1978 the number of children in foster care centers doubled to a half millions or more. The children who are kept in such centers are not all sure to be adopted. If they live in foster care till their maturity, they suffer from several problems like pseudo-mental retardation, learning disabilities, mental illness, sexual perversions etc that can root in the children’s personalities and plague their adult lives and be passed on to their children. To establish them, those foster centers need financial support but unfortunately funding for children’s services had always been scarce. So, it became clear that foster caring was both expensive and cruel.

Traugot in her essay says that today’s buzz word is ‘matching’. It is a process of seeking to match a child and a foster family. First the workers evaluate the child’s personality, cultural background, existing relationships with biological or foster family and emotional state. Based on these factors the workers draw up a profile and seek an appropriate family. Traugot presents two examples: An unmarried man or a single strong male might adopt a badly behaved 15 years old boy and a religious family with older siblings adopts a handicapped child suffering from down’s syndrome, hearing disabilities etc.

Now, some agencies work to find the potential adoptive family or parents by distributing their photos and description (or video-tape) to all other agencies. Their names are sent in the regional or state adoption exchange centers and there they try to match with the prospective parents. If they are not still adopted, the description or profiles of waiting children are published in newspaper or broadcasted through media. The media is the final solution for those children who are waiting to be adopted.

Tammy, a 5 and a half years old black girl who is suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome is waiting for the warm and supportive family. The writer hopes that Tammy would find a warm and supportive family because of the changes appeared in the children adoption system in US after 1960.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

1/07/2012 11:48:00 PM - , 1 comment

Heritage of Words - Women’s Business


11. Women’s Business

Women’s Business is an essay written by Ilene Kantrov. In this essay, the writer presents the entrepreneurship of some women from USA, and their entry into the so-called male world of business. The women were not only the businesswomen. However, they helped the problem facing women by educating them as well as helping them solve their problems. Some of them contributed lavishly to hospitals, schools, and cultural organizations. These women tried to transform the home craft into a thriving business. Women’s business grew out of traditional women’s skill and provided for the needs mostly of women. Lydia E. Pinkham was the pioneer of the women business in USA.

The first women entrepreneurship of USA Lydia E. Pinkham started business to provide support to her family when her husband’s real estate business collapsed. She was a radical feminist and wanted to help the females rather than the males. Within two three years her company earned $200,000. She had launched a home remedy product called ‘Lydia E. Pinkham’s vegetables compound’ for all weakness of women. Her bold marketing strategies made her success in her business. She advertised her product herself creating the image of a gentle and kind woman who appealed to fellow women ‘to feel good’ and to improve the quality of their lives. In her advertisement she claimed that her medicine is the ‘greatest remedy of the world’. Thus, her customers were convinced that she was selling more than a product. Her ‘Department of Advise’ dispensed suggestions for all kinds of feminine problems (about diet, exercise and hygiene) along with prescribing her own remedies. She proclaimed herself as the “Savior of her sex.” Thus, she created history in America’s business. Many women later followed in her footsteps.

Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden were the rivals. They sold cosmetics. They were also married to rich and famous aristocrats from Europe. Margaret Rudkin began to sell additive-free wheat bread (healthy foods) that she first used to help her asthmatic son. Similarly, Jennie Grossinger owned a successful resort hotel that began serving 150,000 guests a year. Gertrude Muller, on the other hand, sold things to help people look after their babies, such as ‘toidey seats’. She put small books explaining her ideas about child raising in the packages of the things she sold. In the field of business, black women also showed their entrepreneurship. Annie Turnbo-Malone was a black American. She established a school for training for hairdressing, named it ‘Poro College’, and advertised it as a vehicle for the uplift of her race (blacks) and a passport to economic independence for women.

Thus, the thesis of this essay is that business women in the USA, from the later part of nineteenth century, tried to help women as well as to make money by selling things to them. Often, their methods of helping women, for example, through giving advices, helped them to sell more products. Sometimes, when feminine ideals collided with the realities of the market place, however, the businesswomen often bested the lady.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

9/22/2011 03:17:00 PM - , 1 comment

Heritage of Words - I Have a Dream


13. I Have a Dream

I Have a Dream is one of the best, powerful, and unforgettable speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr., who is one of the most influential personalities of the 20th Century and the leader of the Black Civil Right’s Movement. This speech was delivered in the centenary (100 years) celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation on August 28, 1963 at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in front of 200 thousand people, both Black and Whites. Apparently, the crowd was gathered to celebrate/mark the hundred years of emancipation of the Blacks. However, in reality they had gathered to unite and revive the rights of the Blacks stated by the American Constitution. 

The speech creates the significant light of hope among millions of Blacks. He says that there is racial discrimination, separation and injustice among the black and white American people. The blacks are marginalized and dominated by the whites. They are put in the chain of discrimination segregation. They are considered as second class people. However, the American Constitution has stated rights to the Black: they are exiled in their own land.

King Jr. brings the reference of the past and points out that the Emancipation Proclamation had brought a great hope for millions of Blacks. It heralded (new beginning) the end of 250 years and more of Black slavery. But 100 years later, America had failed to keep the promise and the promissory note turned out to be a bad cheque. It was evident from the conditions of the Blacks that had remained unchanged. No, just the Emancipation Proclamation, the American constitution and the Independence Declaration had both failed to pay the promises of equality, happiness and liberty. Blacks were deprived of all Civil Rights and opportunities. They have been facing racial discrimination and injustice everywhere in America. They were still dominated in the different opportunities by the Whites.

King Jr. uses the analogy of the bad cheque to describe these two historic documents. King Martin refuses to believe that the vault of justice in America is bankrupt. He asserts that the blacks have gathered to cash the cheque (i.e. the emancipation proclamation) that America had granted them. He further reminds that Blacks would no longer wait for gradualism (a policy of gradual change in society).

King Jr. emphasizes on the urgency to achieve to achieve their Civil Rights ‘now’. In order to achieve the Black Civil Rights, King appeals to his fellowmen to unite for the struggle to revive the Blacks’ rights. He requested all the people to fight for the rights in a disciplined way rather than destructive way. He further appeals to the entire crowd to go back to their states and continue the struggle raising awareness amongst all and ringing the bell of freedom from every corner of America. At the end, he shares his dreams, his concrete goals with all fellowmen.

1.      Implementation of constitution
2.      Removal of racial discrimination, developing feelings of brotherhood
3.      Man to be judged by his character and not by colour, and abolition of segregation
4.      Laws and liberty for all the Blacks

He uses a musical analogy to express his aspiration, “We will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation in to a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”. His repetition of lines “I have a dream……go back to……Let freedom ring…..now…..etc express the intensity of his feelings and faith on the civil rights movement of Blacks.  

9/22/2011 03:08:00 PM - , 3 comments

Heritage of Words - The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship


10. The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship

The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship is an interesting story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In the story, the writer describes the growth of an ordinary boy (the narrator) to an assertive man. The writer here wants to prove that one can not be great in life without courage and determination.

According to the story, a small boy saw a ghost ship in the sea at night in the month of March. The ship was quite big and wonderful. It had no sound and light. It was moving without any control. The surprising thing was that it would disappear when there was light and would appear when there was no light. The boy was surprised with the ship but he thought he might have seen it in the dream.

The boy saw the same ship in the next March and told his mother about it. She didn’t believe him. She said that his mind was rotting. However, she had to send a boatman to confirm whether it was the ship or not. The boatman saw nothing except some fish playing in the water. She became sad and worried about her son. One day, she bought a chair and began to see the sea sitting on it. She remembered her dead husband. She became excited and died. Other four women also died so it was a accursed chair. Finally, the chair was thrown into the sea.

The boy became orphan and he didn’t want to live with anyone’s mercy. As an orphan he lived on stealing fish. He was all alone. Villagers did not help him.

In the next March again he saw the same ship and talked to the villagers about it. The villagers also thought him to be mad and he was severely beaten. Then, he decided not to talk anyone about it but he tried to show who he was. In the next year, he saw the same ship and followed it rowing a boat. When the light of lighthouse fell upon it, it disappeared and the boy fell in problem. He lit a lantern and saw the ship again. He rowed his boat near to the ship and brought it under control. He found nobody in the ship and brought it at the harbor near his village. He called the villagers and the villager’s were surprised at seeing the ship larger than the village.

Thus, the boy proved himself to be an assertive Youngman. He showed the villagers who he was. It means that if a person works hard to develop his career without losing patience, he can certainly get success in his life.

The story describes the growth of an ordinary boy to an assertive young man. It presents the boy’s inner journey from the innocence to experience and how he gains manhood. The ships stand for the child’s imagination and his encounter with the ship many times indicates his growing vision which finally makes him a strong man with strong voice and confidence. In fact, this story brings out the child’s inner consciousness. The whole story is a psychological study which describes the boy’s attainment of maturity. Thus, the story deals with the mental growth of the child in proportion with his physical growth. Both the growth combined makes him confident about what he says and does.

9/22/2011 03:06:00 PM - , 1 comment

Heritage of Words - A Story


9. A Story

A story is a sort story by Dylan Thomas. The story humorously presents the adult’s world from a boy’s perspective (point of view).

A story is all about a day’s outing by a small boy made with his uncle and his friends, by Charabanc to Porthcawl where they never reached. The boy was staying with his uncle and aunt. There was a great contrast between his uncle and aunt. His uncle was a huge man who used to fill every inch of the hot little house like an old buffalo squeezed into an airing cupboard but on the other hand his aunt whom he prefers to say his uncle’s wife, was small, quiet, and efficient and was like a mouse. She walked quietly like a mouse and got all her work done. The uncle was very big and trumpeting and ate greedily, littering his waistcoat. The aunt was so small that she could hit the uncle on his head only if his uncle lifted her onto a chair and on his arms. The argument between them was quiet common and comic to the boy. Despite the quarrel, the love existed between them. His aunt didn’t like the outing. When they talked about outing she used to be angry. She threatened her husband that she would go to her mother’s house if he went on the outing. However, he did not care for it because it was not new for him.

His uncle and his uncle’s friend used to make an annual all-male outing. That particular year Mr. Benjamin Franklyn was a treasurer who was watched and followed every time by Will Sentry. Will Sentry followed him because he didn’t feel the outing fund safe with Franklyn.

The narrator got a chance to go for the outing with his uncle and his friends who were all noisy, filthy, vulgar, dirty, and drunkards and full of strange behaviors. It was a beautiful August morning as the thirty odd men set out for the trip to Porthcawl missing Old O. Jones behind. The trip was delayed as they drove back to pick old O. Jones. Again Mr. Weazley cried, “I left my teeth” and asked them to go home to take his teeth. However, they did not return saying that his teeth were not necessary in the journey. As they reached the first inn, the Mountain Sheep, they stopped the Charbanc and went inside leaving the boy outside to watch the Charbanc. The master of the public house welcomed them as the wolf welcomes the sheep. Everyone was drunk inside. The boy found them behaving worse than animals.

In the inn, they continued noise and argued each other. The boy had nothing to do so he chased the cows with stone. They, then, left the inn. Then they stopped at different pub houses on the way and were completely pickled. On the way they reached near a river. They liked the cool water of the river. In the river, some of them slipped the stone. It was a better place than Porthcawl. All of them were there and they were drunk. They didn’t have any idea how the world was going on. It was evening. They cancelled the trip to Porthcawl and returned towards home. On the way home, Mr. Weazley coughed and they stopped the Charbanc and drank the remaining cases of beers making a circle.

In fact, the purpose of the outing was to drink and making merry without the care of the world. Therefore, they stopped at every inn and public house until, by dusk, all the men were pickled. Some were shouting, some laughing, splashing in the water and dancing. None cared for food except Mr. O. Jones. They never reached their destination as everybody decided to stop at an open space for more drinks and merrymaking. The narrator, the small boy, was tired and hungry who fell asleep under his uncle’s waistcoat. The moon was already up. Thus, the story ends abruptly. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

9/08/2011 05:42:00 PM - , 1 comment

Heritage of Words - God’s Grandeur


8. God’s Grandeur

God’s Grandeur is a short religious poem composed by G.M. Hopkins. In this poem, the poet praises the greatness and glory of God in the world.

G.M. Hopkins believes in the existence of God in the world. He says that God is everywhere. The glory and greatness or magnificence of the god is manifested in everything and everywhere. The poet says that the world is charged with the grandeur of God. It flames out like shining from gold tinsel (shook foil) and oozes from the crushed seeds. The God is omnipresent and yet human beings ignore and deny the presence of god’s greatness. Many generations have passed through this world. The poet says, “Generations have trod, have trod, have trod…” which shows the ignorance of human beings towards God.

The poet presents the miserable state of the world and nature. In the running after money, man toils and suffers miseries and unhappiness. However, human beings are living after money and artificiality. Though modern human beings are living in the well equipped world, they are still not satisfied. Their unlimited desires are leading them towards endless destination. A man’s life has become a tale of sorrow and unhappiness because in this material world he finds no peace and contentment (satisfaction). The real peace is in God’s arms. Human beings are busy in trade and material world so they are in the world of miseries and dissatisfaction. They cannot understand the greatness of God and they do not pay attention to the command of God. Everything is affected by human activities. Man is regardless to the soil and the Nature. Man is running away from nature towards the material world.

Nature is never spent. The God blesses everybody with bountiful nature and his greatness, which is evident from the gifts of God. Though humans are destroying nature, it is never spent. The dearest freshness lies in the deep down the Nature. The poet is aesthetically inspired by the grandeur of nature too. Nature is always fresh and new. For sometimes the nature may be bare, but that bareness is soon recovered with the greatness of God. The darkness prevails but the next morning a new brightness arises from the east. Irrespective of men’s behaviors, the God blesses man with life enhancing gifts of the dawn and dusk, the sun, the moon, the fertile land and bountiful nature. God has provided us warmth and love of his breast and wings. The God is always kind for the world and all the creatures. Hopkins presents us with an inspired vision of the beauty of nature infused with the glory of God.
     

9/08/2011 05:18:00 PM - , 2 comments

Heritage of Words - Travelling Through the Dark


7. Travelling Through the Dark

“Travelling Through the Dark” is a short beautiful poem composed by William Stafford. The poem is about making decision between two realities of life: efficiency and responsibility on one hand and emotion and sentiment on the other. So, it is about dilemma we face in life while making decision. Responsibility is dry and unglamorous virtue whereas emotion is warmer than responsibility. The poet has tried to present the idea that decision made on the basis of responsibility and efficiency is always the best and practical whereas emotional or sentimental decision is impractical which shows human weakness. The poem also deals on the relationship between the nature and human beings and their activities. Because of our own activities we are over exploiting the nature and travelling towards the dark future.

POEM

The poem has been written in the first person narrative. While the poet is travelling alone through the dark he sees a dead deer on the edge of Wilson river road. He stops his car and moves back to see the deer. He later knows that it is a doe and has an unborn fawn in its belly. Now he shows sympathy to the doe. This is one system of life. In one system he has sympathy to the dead doe and in the next system: he feels his responsibility that he has to clear the road throwing the dead doe in the gorges. When the speaker touches the dead doe, he finds that the doe is pregnant and her fawn is waiting inside her womb. The fawn is alive. Though it is alive, it will never be born. He feels his mistake and feels pity on the fawn and becomes sad. He realizes the fate of the fawn inside the dead doe. He now finds a contrast between the doe and his car. His car looks life – life where as the doe is cold and stiff. The poet is in dilemma. He thinks different possible course of actions. The physical action ceases at this point and is replaced by the mental action. He starts thinking about the suitable way out. He finds himself in conflict between the practical and the sentimental decision. At last, the speaker pushes the doe into the gorges and solves the problem. The great tension of the dead doe and the living but never to be born fawn is now solved. On the other hand there are efficiency and responsibility and on the other hand there are emotions warmer than efficiency and responsibility and deeper than good judgment. In this way the poem gives full justice to both sides of the tension.        

9/08/2011 04:44:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - Hurried Trip to Avoid a Bad Star


6. Hurried Trip to Avoid a Bad Star

The people of Karnali zone depend economically upon the lowland regions to the south, especially Nepalgunj. Most of the people are farmers. But their farm product is not sufficient to them because it can’t support them. So they have to sell and buy things for their day to day livelihood. According to the writers, the people of Karnali carry different local products such as herbs, sweaters, baskets, blankets and so on to Nepalgunj to sell them there. Some people take Silajit with them and sell it Nepalgunj. After selling their products, they return with cotton cloths, jewelry, pots, spice and distillery equipment to Karnali. Some people go to the lowland regions to get government and private jobs. However, mostly people are uneducated and superstitious. People of Karnali, moreover, combine their farming with trading. They have been struggling for their livelihood.

People of Karnali are conservative and they follow the good star when they leave their homes. Similarly, they are not aware of ecological and environmental degradation. The skeletal looking SAL trees indicate about the exploitation of nature. It shows that they are indifferently cutting down the trees and they are not worried about the jungle and their own future. They are only solving the present problem. It seems that they are not conscious of their future. They don’t know the fatal consequences of the degradation of nature. Actually they are hopeless because they must solve their present problem. 

9/08/2011 04:28:00 PM - , 16 comments

Heritage of Words - Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies


5. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies

“Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies” is beautiful song taken from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, Act I Scene II. The Spirit Ariel sings the song to Ferdinand, a prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that his father is drowned into the sea.

Ariel is a spirit who is a very comic and miraculous character. He flies up invisibly and plays music and song. In the given poem, he gives sympathy to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who is very sad on the death of his father. The Spirit Ariel tries to make the death meaningful with his melodious description. The Spirit Ariel says that Ferdinand’s father has been drowned into the sea. His body has been lying 30 feet below at the bottom of the sea. His bones have been changed into corals and eyes into pearls due to sea – change process. Nothings of his parts of the body have been destroyed. But his whole body has changed the sea into something valuable and strange. The sea nymphs are hourly ringing the death bell producing song ‘Ding-dong’. At last, the Spirit Ariel asks Ferdinand to listen the sound of the bell.

Thus, William Shakespeare through the song of Spirit Ariel talks about immortality of life. He means to say than life does not die but changes to other forms. So, the death of Ferdinand’s father is meaningful. Death is nothing but just a medium of changing life from one form to another. Life after death is permanent whereas life itself is ephemeral.


Essay on “life and art”

It seems to be difficult to define ‘life’ and ‘art’. Life is mysterious and art is the imitation (copy) of life. So life and art are interrelated parts. Life creates art and art provides delight to life. Without any interest in art is a dead life, so art and life are inseparable.

Art is related to creation and life is related to experience of happiness, sadness, laughter, tears, joy, certainties and uncertainties. But art brings success in life.

Life is transitory. It changes in different phrases in course of time. A small baby of yesterday becomes a young man today and old tomorrow. Eventually, he disappears from the world resting on the lap of death. Life comes across different sweet and sour events. Life is mixture of tears and smiles. Pain and pleasure are the friends of life. In other words, life is full of emotions, feelings, ideas and sentiments.

Art is the creation of life. It is permanent and immortal. Art makes life beautiful and meaningful. Art makes artist immortal. An artist lives in memory of people all the time after his death. Many literary artists show the relation between art and life. Some say that art is for the sake of life where as some say that art is only for art’s sake. However, life is itself the source of art and art is the source of joy. Art is life and life is art. Without art life seems to be meaningless and unattractive. The different forms of art like music, writing, singing, drawing, acting, dancing etc. make our life fruitful.


Friday, August 26, 2011

8/26/2011 06:38:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - Two Long term Problems: Too Many People, Too Few Trees


4) Two Long term Problems: Too Many People, Too Few Trees

Moti Nissani says that the two long term problems are the problems of and deforestation. At the present time these problems have become the great challenge to the whole humanity. Now, the population of the world is increasing rapidly due to the nutrition, modern medicine, lower death rate, modernization and sanitation. Every year, in fact, the world's population grows by more than 80 million people. In every one hour 10,000 people are added to our total population. More people will need more food. To produce more food, we have to cut down the trees. Both town and villages will be over crowed and the quality of life will fall down. The land, water and air will be polluted. The environment will be polluted. At the present time, due to the over population humans have been facing different kinds of diseases like cancer, asthma, hearing loss problem, contract epidemics and so many others. On the other hand, due to deforestation the world is loosing creatures such as salamanders, species of frogs, penguins, dodo etc. Similarly, the deforestation will bring the frightening problems as desertification, depletion of nonrenewable resources (eg: petrol, natural gas, helium), acid rain, loss of wild species and plant, ozone layer depletion and green house effects.

Moti Nissani brings the issue of 1500 world's scientists' World's Scientists Warning to Humanity and the joint statement of U.S. National Academy and Royal Society of London regarding the condition of the present world. They are worried about the present condition of the world. According to the essay, Moti Nissani says that growth rate of population of Nepal is 2.5% because the average Nepali women gives birth to 5 children. In 1951 the population of Nepal was 9 million but less than a half century later the population rose to 21 millions. If this rate is not checked, the total population of Nepal will be doubled in just 28 years. With the overpopulation, Nepal has to face all kinds of problems. Therefore, the future of Nepal seems to be very dark if the population is not controlled in time.

However, there are many remedies to solve these long term problems. We can save our forests by controlling the population and our appetite. Each person should be conscious about the environmental and ecological change. The people should be given education on deforestation and overpopulation. The government should invests lot of money for effective family planning to control the over population. There should be media campaigns to create awareness about the effects of overpopulation and deforestation. The conserver should be awarded. There should be greater efficiency in the use of wood - products and recycling. Reforestation and massive tree plantation can be done in the bare lands. People should smokeless Chulo that needs less fire woods. Moreover, Nissani states that we have to be conscious ourselves. He says that we know how and why to control overpopulation and deforestation but still we are lacking this knowledge to convert in to the reality.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

8/16/2011 04:49:00 PM - , 3 comments

Heritage of Words - The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner

         3)   The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner

      The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” is a philosophical poem composed by W.B. Yeats, a famous 20th century modern Irish poet. In the poem, the poet has proven that time is supreme and nothing can stand before time. The poet also suggests that everybody likes to be young and nobody likes to be old. But it is time that makes us old one day. So, the poet presents his reminiscences of the past events and experiences of his young life. He becomes very sad when he compares and contrasts his time of youth with the present old age. He finds old age more painful and lonely than his young life.

According to the poem, the poet has now become old. He takes shelter under a broken tree because he has not got any other places for shelter. He remembers his good old unforgettable days with friends. In the past while he was young, he used to talk about love and politics among his friends. Many beautiful women loved him. So, his past was romantic and unforgettable. Now, he laments over his life because not a single woman comes near to him to talk about love. Nobody likes him and lives near him. At the present moment, he has become a matter of hatred. Therefore, he is sad and dissatisfied with his old age. His bygones days are like a dream to him.

At present people are busy to make weapons to fulfill their treacherous plan. They are busy to do some conspiracy. They are raising their voices against human tyranny. But the mind of the old man is filled with the experiences of the unforgettable past. When he compares present life with the past life he realizes that ‘Time has transfigured him from strong, energetic, vigorous and high spirited youth to a helpless, lonely and weak creature. Now, he has completely changed due to the course of ‘Time’ because it has the power to change us from young to old. At the present moment, his condition is miserable. He realizes that everything is changed because of time. So, he becomes angry to the time and wants to spit into the face of ‘Time’. He says, “I want to spit into the face of time/that has transfigured me”.

Though the cruel time reduces a person from young to old one, it cannot seize one’s memories. So, at this point the poet feels superior to the time and does not want to surrender in front of the time – rather wants to spit into the face of the time.
Thus, the poem makes us aware that we all become old one day and lament like the old pensioner due to the nature of ‘Time’. But we should not lament over the old age rather we should try to celibate it.

Essay on “Youth & Age"

            Life is a journey from womb to tomb. A person has to cross different phases of life where if he lives a full life. A child of yesterday becomes a young today and old tomorrow. Eventually he or she disappears from the world and lives in his permanent home, the grave. So youth and old age are two sides of life. They are completely different but inseparable just like two sides of paper.
            Youth is the most interesting and important phase of human life. A person becomes physically healthy and mentally sound in the phase. He or she becomes courageous to do any adventurous (risky) work. Youth is energetic and romantic too, young people keep interest in love and politics. Most of them don’t care about past and future but try to make the present perfect. They spend much time with friends in entertainment and creative activities too. If they make the best use of this phase, they can make their future bright. We find some young people misusing their time of youth and damaging their future.

            Old age is rather miserable phase of human life. A person becomes physically weak and mentally forgetful. He or she spends much time at home remembering the happy days of his/her youth. He or she expects help from young people to do any work. He or she keeps interest not in romantic love but in family, love and religion. He or she wants to visit temples and so many other holy places. He or she likes to tell young people the story of young people according to his or her own experiences. However, unlike joyous youth, old age is bitter and painful. So, old people are very much passive, dull and pessimistic.   

Thursday, August 4, 2011

8/04/2011 07:09:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - About Love

2) 
About Love

“About Love” is a famous and interesting love story written by Russian short story writer Anton Chekhov. In this story, the writer has proved that love is not bound with martial relation. The writer also claims that love is so strange and mysterious that whenever we have read and heard about love can’t solve the problem of love. Similarly, the writer has declared that love is not happiness. It becomes a source of dissatisfaction and irritation if we start reasoning about love.

In this story, Alyohin, a narrator is a main character. He is a graduated person but he chose to be busy in farming with his servants because his land was heavily mortgaged by his parents partly for his study. He was working and living his own land, a large state. One morning Alyohin was having breakfast with his friends (Burkin and Ivan). Alyohin told them about the love affairs first about his servants and then about his own.  In the story, the writer talks about expressed love of Nikanor and Palegeya and unexpressed love of Alyohin and Anna.

According to Alyohin, a cook Nikanor and maid Palegeya, are in love. Their love is an expressed, physical and romantic. Nikanor loves Palegeya and wants to marry her. However, he is a religious one, he drinks alcohol and beats her. Paleyega also loves him very much. Nevertheless, on contrary, she wants to live with him just so without marriage. Paleyega has western concept of love because she doesn’t want to marry Nikanor.

Then he tells his own love affair with a girl with whom he lived while he was studying in Moscow. He loved her but the girl would only think about the money that he would provide her for house keeping and for other purposes since their love was conditioned by money it can be categorized under material love, a selfish love.

At the same time while he was telling the love story of Nikanor and Paleyega and his own, he remembers about his love affair to Anna, a young married woman. One Alyohin was elected honorary justice and he had to go to the town. There he had a good friendship with Mr. Luganovich, an assistant president of the circuit court. Alyohin was invited by Luganovich to have a dinner at his home and Alyohin got opportunity to see his beautiful wife, Anna Alexeyevna. Alyohin was influenced by her beauty and she was also influenced by his physical structure. They fell in love but couldn’t express their love. Anna, the mother of a baby, was really younger and beautiful. Her image began to move in Alyohin’s mind all the time. Anna also found Alyohin younger and smarter than her husband.   

One day, Alyohin met her in a party. He found her more beautiful than before. They would go to see a play in theatre. Then Alyohin visited her frequently. He didn’t express his love because he did not like to destroy the conjugal life of his friend. He was uncertain about his own economic condition and love for her. Anna also could not express her love because she was married. Slowly and gradually, she began moody because of her unfulfilled desire. In fact, she became psychologically ill. According to the doctor’s suggestion, she had to go to Crimea for mental treatment.

As Anna set out to Crimea, many people came to see her off. She boarded the train. She had forgotten to take her basket so Alyohin rushed to her with the basket. She was desperately sitting in the compartment. When their eyes met, the spiritual strength deserted both of them. Then he embraced her in his arm. She pressed her face on his breast. He kissed her and confessed his love. Then he realized that their love was hindered by some unimportant but fatal questions. Both of them cried and departed. Actually, Alovohin did not give any importance to her physical or economic condition but simply loved her. So, we can say that it was a pure love or spiritual love.

His condition, therefore was like a squirrel that rushes around in a cage because just like the squirrel can not come out of the cage breaking iron bars, Alyohin could not come out of his poor economic condition and could not fight against the fatal questions that were the hindrance of his love. Despite being a scholar he was condemned to work in his field being penniless and despite being young he was a lovelorn bachelor.  

Friday, July 15, 2011

7/15/2011 09:14:00 PM - , 1 comment

Heritage of Words - Grandmother

1)    Grandmother


The poem ‘Grandmother’ was composed by an American Indian poet Ray Young Bear. He was born in 1950 in mesquaki tribe. In the poem, the poet depicts a picture of his grandmother: all-loving and all-inspiring. Metaphorically, the poem ‘Grandmother’ has connection with Mesquaki tribe and the identity of the poet.

The poet expresses his attachment and intimacy with his grandmother. Though his grandmother is no more with him, her image with the purple scarf and the plastic shopping bag, her impression and behavior lead him to the past. At the present moment the image becomes vivid and as fresh as earlier. He loves her so much because she is loving and inspiring. He claims that he could easily recognize her shape from a mile away. When she touched on his head with her hands, he would feel warm and damp hands with the smell of roots. Not only this, he would also easily know her words coming from the rock. These words would flow inside him and inspire him to choose the right path. Therefore, her image, words and love creates nostalgic feeling to the poet. Still now, there is deep stamp of grandmother’s love and reminiscences in to his mind.

Metaphorically, the poet is Ray Young Bear’s attempt to reflect the vanishing native roots of the Native American tribes, specially the Mesquaki tribe. Metaphorically, ‘Grandmother’ is the representative of Mesquaki tribe and its culture, values and traditions. The rituals, culture and traditions of Native Americans are being overtaken by the white people and the natives have been marginalized. ‘The smell of roots’ refers to the vanishing ancestral culture and tradition lying dead in the grave. ‘A voice coming from the rock’ suggests that his grandmother has died now so her words are coming from the tombstone. Similarly, ‘sleeping fire’ refers to the vanishing Red Indian culture as well as poor condition of the poet in Mesquaki tribe. Overall, the poem gives a metaphorical expression of the painful awareness of the identity loss.

The poem in a sense deals with the images that appear to our different senses. For instance, the images of purple scarf plastic shopping bag, sleeping fire and night appeal to our sense of sight. The smell of roots refers to our sense of smell. Similarly, the voice coming from the rock and her words appeals to our sense of sound. ‘Warm and damp hands’ appeals to our sense of touch. Thus, all his senses are affected by the memory of his grandmother excepting the sense of taste.    

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