Two Leaves and a Bud by Mulk Raj Anand | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Two Leaves and a Bud was a novel by Mulk Raj Anand that was published in the year 1937. It was his third novel after the huge success of Untouchable, and Coolie in which he depicted the oppression of the poor section of India under the British government. Mulk Raj Anand was a lifelong socialist and in this novel, he raised the issue of Indian indentured labor. It is a proletariat novel that ends in a tragic clash of interests and destinies while exploring the extent of exploitation and oppression of Indian common people under the burden of colonialism.

Characters of Two Leaves and a Bud

The title Two Leaves and a Bud represents Gangu, a Punjabi farmer, forced to work in a tea plantation in Assam as an indentured laborer, his wife Sajani (the two leaves), and their young, adolescent daughter, Leila (the bud). The fourth member of the family is Budhu, the young son of Gangu who is a little kid. Gangu is a farmer in Hoshiyarpur, Punjab. Because of drought and illnesses in the family, he is burdened with the debt of Seth Badri Das, a corrupt money lender. A tout barber named Buta traps him in false promises. Buta is the Sardar who transfers ill-fated Indians to Tea Plantations in Assam as indentured laborers. Buta suggests Gangu move to a tea plantation in Assam to work there as life is much easier and more prosperous. He further says that if he goes to Assam, he will be offered nice accommodation, high wages, and free land of his own to farm. Narain and Neogi Gurkha are other workers among many. Babu Shashi Bhushan Bhattacharya is the supervisor of the tea plantation and works under Mr. Croft Cooke, the manager of the Macpherson Tea Estate. Croft Cooke doesn’t even consider Indian indentured laborers as human beings. Mrs. Croft Cooke is no better in her attitude toward the native Indians and considers them born liars. Barbara is the daughter of Croft Cooke who is the same age as Leila. Unlike her parents, she is humble and soft towards Indian laborers. Reggie Hunt is the assistant manager of the tea plantation who is much more vicious and cruel than Croft Cooke. He prefers to be addressed as ‘Raja-Sahib’ by the laborers. Reggie is a sadist who is always drunk. He represents untamed animality and unmitigated evil. He treats all Indian indentured laborers as inferior and flogs them at his will. But his preferred prey are women, wives, daughters, and mothers of indentured laborers at the plantation. Reggie keeps three Indian women forcibly at his bungalow. Reggie exercises illegal power and cast his lustful eyes on the young coolie’s women’s half-naked body—vaguely covered with tattered clothes. Doctor John de la Havre is the physician at the tea plantation who is the only philanthropist who remains ready to help Indian laborers at difficult times.

Summary of Two Leaves and a Bud

The novel begins with the philosophic note “Life is like a journey.” The tragic journey of a hapless peasant Gangu – the protagonist, starts with the naturally beautiful Assam from a village near Hoshiarpur in Punjab. At Hoshiyarpur, Gangu had some farmland. However, drought and illnesses in the family forced him to take debts from local moneylender Seth Badri Das who had an eye on Gangu’s land. The interest on loans is continually increasing and Gangu has no way to pay it back. A barber named Buta approaches Gangu with a helping hand and suggests he try his luck in Assam at some tea plantation. He says that Assam is a land of plenty where he will be paid high wages and good accommodation. Buta has taken many other people to Assam as laborers in past. He says that Gangu will get some free land as a gift to farm if he agrees to work at the tea plantation. Gangu knows that the tea plantations of Assam are managed and controlled by the British people, so he asks whether the Sahibs of the estate are kind, Buta replies, “Just like mai-bap (mother and father)”. Gangu decides to move to Assam with his wife Sajani, young adolescent daughter Leila, and son Buddhu.

Gangu finds himself at Macpherson Tea Plantation in Assam and soon he realizes that his life is doomed forever. From the exploitative clutches of Seth Bari Das, he takes his family to the iron grip of the British imperialist machinery of Tea Plantation. Buta introduces Gangu to Shashi Bhushan, the supervisor who appears greedy and corrupt. Soon he sees Croft Cooke, the manager of the tea plantation who rudely shouts at the laborers. However, the tension erupts as assistant manager Reggie Hunt arrives at the plantation as every worker becomes extra cautious and alert. Gangu sees Reggie beating a plantation worker mercilessly for a minor mistake. Gangu is offered a hut on the plantation which has been constructed without any heed to the hygienic requirements of the occupants. He meets Narain, his neighbor who tells him about life on the plantation. Narain was brought to Assam on a three-month contract but he failed to return to his home for the last 12 years. Narain tells Gangu that it is like a prison with no bars, but is unbreakable. Gangu learns more when after working for the whole week along with his wife and daughter Leila, he is offered eight annas, which is not even enough to manage two-time meals for a family of four. Excessive heat, lack of fresh air in the hut, inadequate food, scarcity of drinking water, and filthy living start breaking Gangu and Sajani but they decide to fight back.

Doctor John de La Havre meets Croft Cooke and informs him about the increasing mosquitoes and unhygienic conditions in the coolie’s lanes and huts and asks him to provide mosquito nets for the coolies so that they may avoid malaria that may turn into a pandemic. But Croft Cooke isn’t ready to spend even a penny for the Indian coolies, who for him, are no more than animals. Mrs. Croft Cooke retorts to John de La Harve’s sympathy towards Indian laborers and says that Indians are born liars and thieves. She informs how a girl of laborers tried to steal a flower from her garden. Doctor John informs Cooke about the contaminated water and asks him to arrange for the supply of clean water in coolie’s lane. He offers a researched survey for the expenditure and says that it would cost around one and a half lakh for the provision of clean and healthy water but Cooke ignores him. Doctor John warns him of impending cholera in the coolie quarters.

Narain realizes that Gangu is finding it difficult to stay at the plantation but he informs him that there is no escape. He says that more than 3000 Indians are waiting at the station but no train will take them. He informs how chowkidars check every hut at night to ascertain that no laborer is missing. Gangu observes a pandamonium among the working women at the plantation. Two women were arguing and started to fight. Gangu learns that Reggie Hunt abducted an Indian woman and took her to his bungalow. When her husband NeogiGurkha approached the bungalow to take his wife back, Reggie denied letting his wife go back and offered him five acres of land and some money for his wife. Neogi Gurkha had no other option but to take the money as he couldn’t fight Reggie, nor he could complain to anybody about it as the police and plantation management work together. However, this caused other women of coolies to feel jealous and they are arguing now. Earlier that day, Gangu saw Reggie chasing a woman who was feeding her baby, she was later raped by bim. Narain informs him that the coolies get land from Reggie Hunt to farm for offering their wives to him. This reminds Gangu of Buta who promised free land as a gift from Sahib and his heart fills with hatred for Buta. He promises himself to save his wife Sajani and daughter Leila against any such onslaught. Meanwhile, the argument between women turns into a quarrel. Reggie decides to end the argument by directing the chowkidars to beat the women laborers. Some of them run to Doctor John’s clinic to save themselves who intervenes and stops chowkidars from beating the laborers. He asks the coolies to go to Croft Cooke to ask for justice. Reggie isn’t very happy about this interference in his work and he decides to complain against Doctor John to higher officials. Doctor John is soon dismissed from his job.

Meanwhile, there is a burst of cholera among the coolies and Gangu finds his wife Sajani terminally ill. He tries to find some help but Doctor John has been dismissed and transferred somewhere else. Gangu himself suffers from high fever as he is a victim of malaria. Gangu roams in the whirlpool of his destiny and passes through various moods from theism to atheism, godlessness to a god-fearing attitude, acceptance to realization, selfishness to sacrifice, and from illusion to reality. He sees his beloved wife Sajani dying in her arms as he fails to find any help to cure her cholera. He is ill but he has the burden of responsibility for his daughter Leila and son Buddhu, and he has to arrange for the cremation of his dead wife whose body is lying in the small hut. He has no money for the red cloth and wood for cremation. He tries to get money from Narain and other workers but nobody has any money as they hardly earn anything. This reminds Gangu of Buta and he goes to him to ask for help. Buta says that Gangu may get a loan from Croft Cooke if Babu Shashi Bhushan requests him to help Gangu. Gangu promises to give a part of the loan to Buta, Shashi Bhushan, and the Sikh chowkidar of Croft Cooke if they help him in getting a loan from Croft Cooke. However, when Gangu goes to Croft Cooke’s bungalow to demand money, he orders his chowkidars to throw him away as he fears Gangu will spread cholera as his wife died of cholera. Gangu then goes to a local Bania to ask for money on interest to complete the last rites of Sajani and does so.

Meanwhile, Leila finds it difficult to see Buddhu crying for food and decides to go and work on the plantation while others are still suffering the attack of cholera and malaria. She starts collecting tea leaves to get some money. Reggie sees the young beautiful adolescent girl plucking leaves alone and he feels extreme lust. He goes to Leila and tries to seduce her and asks her to come to his bungalow. Leila is still a kid but knows the worth of the beauty and sanctity of her body. She saves herself and runs towards her hut. Reggie fails to control his lust and decides to chase her and rape her. As Leila enters her hut, Reggie tries to breach the hut. Buddhu, the young brother tries to stop Reggie but he is no match. Buddhu runs to find his father to save his sister. Reggie enters the hut but finds it unhygienic. He drags Leila out to rape her. Meanwhile, Buddhu finds Gangu and informs him about Reggie. Gangu runs with all his might and despite his illness and weak body, he faces Reggie, implores him, and begs him to let his daughter go. Leila too resists Reggie strongly. But Reggie is mad with his lust. He takes his pistol out and shoots Gangu, and he dies. Gangu's death brings Reggie to his senses. He leaves Leila and runs away. Gangu is no more, but his daughter is out of the clutches of the hawk. Murder is a greater crime, so, the police are forced to investigate. This follows the three-day trial. A jury of seven European and two Indian members finds Reggie not guilty on the charge of murder of Gangu despite the statements of Narain, Leila, and Buddhu as witnesses and he is discharged.

Mulk Raj Anand expressed the drastic situations of Indian indentured laborers, the coolies in a heart-wrenching manner. The novel shows colonizers exploiting the colonized. However, some of the colonized are no less exploiters. Seth Badrinath first robs illiterate Gangu and then Buta deceives him to get some profits. Later on, Gangu is even forced to offer bribes to Buta, Shashi Bhushan, and the Sikh Chowkidar for the loan that he needs to perform the last rite of his dead wife. Gangu gets some relief in the company of Narain. Doctor John tries to help coolies and he is dismissed by High Excellence while Reggie and Cooke keep robbing the coolies of their labor.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Aphra Behn | Life and Works | Summary of The Forc’d Marriage; or, The Jealous Bridegroom

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Aphra Behn was an English playwright, poet, and translator during the Restoration period. She was the first English woman who earned her living by her writing. She was born on 14 December 1640 and died on 16 April 1689. A few of her most famous and successful playwrights include The Forc’d Marriage; or, The Jealous Bridegroom which was first performed in 1670 at Lincoln’s Inn Field, and The Rover; or, The Banish’d Cavaliers which was performed in 1677. Apart from that, she was a successful prose writer too and her most famous work is the prose-fiction Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave which is also called an early novel.

Aphra Ben was married to John Behn in 1664 but her husband died in 1665. She was a devoted supporter of King Charles II who appointed her as a political spy in 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. She was recruited as a political spy of England in Antwerp where her main job was to develop intimacy with William Scott, who was the son of regicide Thomas Scott. Thomas Scott was executed in 1660. William Scott was supposed to be a member of the exiled group that was plotting against King Charles II. She was assigned a code name Astrea as a spy that she continued to use as a playwright after her return. In Antwerp, she succeeded in maintaining intimacies with William Scott and tried to make him a double agent. However, William Scott ditched her with the Dutch forces.

She somehow saved herself but failed to get any monetary support from England and as a result, it became difficult for her to return to London. She took some debt to return to London that she couldn’t pay back and in the end was imprisoned in a debtor’s prison. During her stay in the debtor’s prison, she realized that she need to have a profitable vocation to earn money. She was already writing poetry and decided to write plays under the pseudonym Astrea. English poet Lady Elizabeth Cary had already published her play The Tragedy of Mariam in 1913. Katherine Philips, also known as The Matchless Orinda published her translation of Comellie’s Pompey in 1663 which was performed in Dublin and London. Aphra Behn was the first female writer who wrote to earn a living.

Women had been excluded from performing on the public stage before the English Civil War, but in the Restoration period, professional actresses played the women's parts. Aphra Behn enthusiastically started writing dramas. King Charles II supported the English theatres against the prevailing Puritan ethics. King Charles II openly supported some of the playwrights including Libertine John Wilmot Earl of Rochester, George Etherege, and others. Aphra Behn soon got included in the same coterie of John Wilmot. Her first play was The Forc’d Marriage in which she attacked the tradition of arranged marriages. The play became a success. Her second play The Amorous Prince was also successful. However, when her third play The Dutch Lover premiered in 1673, which was a comedy, critics sabotaged the play while attacking the writer for being a woman. Aphra Behn faced the critics strongly and answered them in Epistle to the Readers in which she commented that women had been held back by their unjust exclusion from education, not their lack of ability. However, her argument was overlooked because of her close relationships with the libertine Earl of Rochester and lawyer John Hoyle who was bisexual. The Dutch Lover failed and Behn took a break from her writing career for three years. In 1676, she published three comedies Abdelazer, The Town Fopp, and The Rover. The Rover became a huge hit. It was based on Thomas Killgrew’s play Thomaso, or the Wanderer.

John Dryden reviewed The Rover by Aphra Ben and commented that it "lacks the manly vitality of Killigrew's play, but shows a greater refinement of expression." During the early 1680s, England faced the Exclusion crisis, and London got divided into two political factions, Tories and Whigs. Aphra Behn supported the Tories against the Whigs and in 1681-82, she produced five plays showing her opposition to the Whigs. She used to openly attack the Whigs in her writing. In 1682, she wrote the prologue and epilogue of an anonymous play Romulus and Hersilla in which she criticized James Scott, The Duke of Monmouth who was the illegitimate son of King Charles II. As a result, an arrest warrant was issued against her. James II succeeded King Charles II in 1685 and the popularity of her plays began receding. Her plays faced strong criticism for sexually explicit subjects and dialogues. It was a period when women were not supposed to sell their pens to earn income and were often compared with prostitutes. Among her critics of the 18^th century, William Wycherley and Alexander Pope were prominent. Most of her work was marginalized and disregarded by critics for more than 200 years. Though many others supported and cherished her work too. In 1745, Jean-Jaques Rousseau mentioned the French translation of her novel Oroonoko; Or, The Royal Slave in his Discourses of Inequality.

In 1929, Virginia Wolf mentioned Aphra Behn in her essay In A Room Of One’s Own and commented, “All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

Summary of The Forc’d Marriage:

The subtitle of The Forc’d Marriage is ‘The Jealous Bridegroom’. It was the first play by Aphra Behn which was first staged in 1670. It is a five-act play in which Aphra Behn attacked the tradition of Arranged marriages. The play begins with a prologue in which an actress appears on stage and acknowledges that the play is written by a woman and appeals to the audience to give the play a good reception.

The play contains many love triangles, the primary of whom is that of Prince Philander, his friend turned foe Alcippus, and Erminia, the daughter of the former General of France. Prince Philander and Erminia are in love and want to marry each other. However, her father general Orgulius isn’t convinced that the King will accept his daughter’s marriage to the Dauphin of France. In a recent battle, Philander, Alcippus, and Orgulius fought together. While all of them fought bravely, Alcippus made a name for his valor on the battlefield. The King decides to award Alcippus for his bravery and announces that he will be the new general of his army as Orgulius has asked for retirement. Alcippus is surprised by this decision but accepts the responsibility and asks for Orgulius’s daughter Erminia’s hand in marriage. Alcippus and the King are unaware of the love between Philander and Erminia. The King announces the marriage of Alcippus with Erminia and her father doesn’t object to it.

This saddens Philander and his sister Galatea who wishes to marry Alcippus. Pisaro, a friend of Alcippus mollifies Philander and his friends against Alcippus and says that Alcippus didn’t know that Philander loved Erminia. He further says that Erminia doesn’t return his love and thus, their marriage can be stopped.

At home, Erminia cries and objects to her father and claims that she only loved Philander. She says that she has always seen Alcippus as her brother and she cannot marry him. Orgulious says that she should accept marriage with Alcippus as her duty as the King has offered her to Alcippus as his wife. Erminia meets Galatea who is her friend and Galatea soothes her and says that she is equally as she loves Alcippus. She says that she has the plan to avoid Erminia’s marriage with Alcippus.

Philander tells to his friends that he is going to discuss the matter with the king to stop the marriage of Erminia and Alcippus and if that doesn’t solve the issue, he will settle the matter with the sword. However, neither his nor Galatea’s efforts prove fruitful and Erminia is married to Alcippus. On their wedding night, Erminia strongly repulses Alcippus and says that though she married him, she will not share the bed with him because she loves Philander. Alcippus gets angry but resists violence and says that his love will win her over with time. Meanwhile, Pisaro, the friend of Alcippus watches the wedding ceremony with keen eyes to avoid any mishap and observes that Galatea is in love with Alcippus and she is saddened by his marriage to Erminia. This breaks his heart as he wishes to marry Galatea.

Philander and his friends decide to attack Alcippus and abduct Erminia. However, Pisaro and Alcippus are alert. Philander reaches Erminia’s chamber and sees her in her nightgown. She asks Philander about Alcippus as she is worried about him. Philander accuses her of betrayal in love to which she claims that she is truthful to him and hasn’t allowed Alcippus to share her bed. Alcippus returns to Erminia’s room at the same time and accuses Erminia of adultery. This enrages Philander and both start fighting. Philander gets wounded and Alcippus takes Erminia away.

Pisaro informs Aclippus why Philander attacked them. Aclippus hints to him about his suspicion of Erminia but Pisaro says that he doesn’t believe that Erminia has done anything wrong till now. He further informs him that princess Galatea is in love with him and she is also sad about his marriage with Erminia. Alcippus is surprised by this. He fails to understand the situation and asks Pisaro what should he do. Pisaro says that Alcippus should leave Erminia and embrace the love of Galatea as that will also offer him the right to inherit half of the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Erminia is shifted to Galatea’s camp for protection. Galatea tells her that Philander loves her and she should submit to him. But Erminia says that she is married to Alcippus and cannot be disloyal to him. Galatea says that she will arrange for a proper solution. Alcippus enters her camp at the same time and accuses Galatea of turning Erminia as cruel as she is. Galatea denies the charge and subtly signs Erminia to soften her attitude towards Alcippus. Alcippus notices the change and apologizes to Galatea. She leaves Alcippus and Erminia alone and Erminia weeps at her situation in front of Alcippus. Alcippus thinks that this is a chance for him to win her love but she clearly states that she always considered him a friend, a brother and that when they meet again, it must be as friends, not lovers.

Philander meets Galatea and asks her to let him meet Erminia. Galatea tries to stop him but he insists and she lets him in. Erminia is surprised at seeing Philander. He says that he is too sick and just wished to see her. Erminia takes him to the inner room so that he may rest. Meanwhile, Alcippus tells Pisaro that he is disheartened because Eminia will never love him. He says that he will return to Erminia’s camp to talk to her again. When Erminia sees Alcippus again, she gets worried because of the presence of Philander in the inner room. Alcippus notices the sword and hat of Philander and accuses Erminia of treachery. Philander comes out at the same time and takes his sword in his hand. Before Alcippus and Philander could attack each other, Erminia comes in between and tells Philander to go away. Philander leaves and Alcippus accuses Erminia of adultery and strangles her. Erminia gets unconscious and Alcippus throws her on her bed, believing he killed her. The servants notice it and spread the news of Erminia’s murder.

Galatea is surprised by the news while Orgulius meets the king and demands revenge against Alcippus. Galatea announces that if they harm Alcippus, she will commit suicide because she loves him. King is surprised by all this and when he comes to know that Philander and Erminia were in love, while Galatea loved Alcippus, he regrets his decision. Meanwhile, Galatea visits her camp to examine Erminia’s death and finds her unconscious. She treats her and gets her back to consciousness. However, she tells her to hide the fact that she is alive. Erminia agrees to her plan. Erminia then disguises herself as a soul and visits Alcippus, making him regret his decision. She says that she was always pure and never indulged in adultery, though she always loved Philander and always considered Alcippus as his friend, and a brother. She also makes him regret Galatea who actually loved him.

At the time of her supposed funeral, Alcippus reaches her coffin when there is no one else and starts weeping for killing Erminia. Philander reaches at the same time and attacks Alcippus for murdering his love. As both men engage in a fight, Galatea approaches them and reprimands them. She mentions that both were close friends and fighting for each other just a few days ago and now they are sworn enemies. Philander complains about the death of Erminia to which Galatea says that Erminia is alive. Soon Erminia arrives there along with the King and Orgulius. The King nullifies Erminia’s marriage to Alcippus and offers Galatea’s hand to Alcippus. Philander asks Orgulius for his daughter’s hand in marriage and Orgulius accepts the proposal. The king makes a final speech in which he wishes the new couple long and happy lives. The play ends with an epilogue in which an actress speaks self-deprecatingly on behalf of her sex, admitting the superiority of men as far as wit is concerned and saying that women can conquer only through their beauty.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Eugene O’Neill won his first Pulitzer prize in the year 1918 for his play Beyond the Horizon. Anna Christie was published in 1920 and it won his second Pulitzer prize. He again won his third Pulitzer prize in 1928 for Strange Interlude. He died on November 27, 1953. In 1956, he won a posthumous Pulitzer prize for his play Long Day’s Journey into Night making him the only author with four Pulitzer Prizes along with his 1936 Nobel prize for literature. He wrote and completed Long Day’s Night into Journey in the year 1941, but insisted that this play must not be published or made public until 25 years after his death. He did not even copyright this play. Soon after his death, his then-wife forced the play to be published and performed and it proved to be the best work of Eugene O’Neill, which in fact, was an autobiographical play.

The play depicts the happenings of a single day from early morning to midnight in August 1912. The Long Day refers to the situations faced by the members of the Tyrone family and how they end up unresolved and unanswered. Long Day’s Journey Into Night is a tragedy and it is considered one of the best American tragedies along with Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. All four members of the family are facing their own failures while they accuse each other and thus, fail to find any affection, encouragement, compassion, tenderness, and a solution to their problems.

Characters of Long Day’s Journey Into Night

James Tyron is a 65 years old Broadway actor who has been doing the same role for years to ascertain financial stability. However, this has turned him into a stereotypical actor who fails to get versatile roles and proper recognition. He is too much thrifty and his miserliness has led to many problems for the Tyrone family over the years. He is a religious Catholic but has stopped visiting the church. Though he is an alcoholic, he is healthy with a good physique. He is obsessed with money and his only fear is dying in poverty, and thus he is stingy. His wife Mary Tyron is 54 years old but she looks younger, beautiful, and appealing. She is a morphine addict who just returned from rehab but failed to get rid of her addiction that she got during the harrowing birth of her youngest son Edmund as the doctor prescribed her limited cheap morphine as a painkiller. She became dependent and never got rid of it. Throughout the play, she remains self-delusional and nervous, failing to differentiate between the present and the past. Jammie Tyron is James and Marry’s eldest son who is a struggling actor. He is 33 years old. He is an alcoholic and whoremonger that has ruined his reputation and health. Jamie got measles at the age of seven and infected his younger brother Eugene Tyron. While Jamie recuperated, Eugene Tyrion failed and died at the age of 2 years. Mary was more affectionate for Eugene and she believed that Jamie had the intent to harm Eugene. Edmund Tyron is James and Mary’s youngest son. Mary conceived him after the death of Eugene. Edmund is attractive like his father and mother. He is an intellectually inclined poet but hasn’t attained success as a writer. He has some socialist leaning as he has traveled the whole world while working in the merchant navy. He got tuberculosis during one such tour on sea. Cathleen is a housemaid at age 20. She is oblivious or unconcerned about the troubles of Tyron's family members and remains "amiable, ignorant, clumsy with a well-meaning stupidity".

Summary of Long Day’s Journey Into Night

It is a four-act play that takes place in the family hall of Tyron’s house. The play is set in August 1912. Mary and James enter the family hall after taking their breakfast. Mary recently returned from a sanatorium for her morphine addiction. Their son Edmund has also returned from his foreign tour as he works in the merchant navy. Recently, he has got a disturbing cough problem and his health is deteriorating. Edmund enters the hall with his elder brother Jamie. Jamie and James have a tense relationship as Jamie has proven himself a failed actor despite his father being a well-established actor. James accuses his failure to his alcoholism and womanizing attitude. Jamie and starts arguing with James about his miserliness that has caused so many problems for the family. He says that James is like Old Gaspard", a character from the opera Les cloches de Corneville, who is also a miser. Edmund and Mary intervene and try to calm both of them. Edmund then tells a joke about one of their tenants. However, James doesn’t appreciate his joke as it shows his socialist leanings. James accuses him of being an anarchist. Jamie gets offended and decides to go upstairs to his room. He coughs disturbingly while going upstairs. James notices this and says that Edmund appears to be truly sick and he is worried. Jamie is also worried about Edmund but Mary refuses to believe that Edmund is sick and doesn’t want James to mention his sickness. She decides to go to the kitchen and supervise Cathleen who is the housemaid. As she goes away, Jamie and James discuss her health with Edmund. Jamie says that Edmund might be suffering from consumption. While both are compassionate towards Edmund, they soon start arguing over their own differences. James accuses Jamie of being directionless and advises him to control his alcohol abuse and remain away from women. He wishes Jamie to convert to Catholicism and visit Church regularly. James on the other hand isn’t religiously inclined. He blames his father for the family problems and accuses him of being the cause of Mary’s addiction to morphine. He says that she turned into an addict because of her husband’s bargain hunting and the consequent shoddy medical care. During the birth of Edmund, Mary suffered intense pain and difficulties while delivering. The doctor advised some pain killers but Jamie consulted his friend Doctor Hardy to get some cheap options and Doctor Hardy provided some cheap controlled morphine to reduce pain. Mary continued to use morphine to relieve her pain and soon became addicted. Soon their accusations become heated arguments. Mary returns at the same moment and both men shut their mouths. Both Jamie and James decide to go and mend the garden and the grass of the lawn.

Edmund returns to the hall and starts talking to Mary. He is worried about her health and wants her to get rid of her addiction. She says that she has overcome her addiction and says that she is more worried about Edmund’s health. Edmund is not convinced that Mary has gotten rid of her addiction. He says that she should forget her past and take care of the present. Mary tries to avoid the discussion and says that it is all because of the miserliness of James because of which she never got a real home. Edmund then goes to the lawn to rest under the shade leaving Mary alone.

After some time, Mary goes upstairs to her room while Edmund returns to the hall where Cathleen is cleaning up. He starts a friendly banter with Cathleen when Jamie returns to the hall and sneaks some alcohol from his father’s closet. After taking some drink, he says that Mary has been too long upstairs alone and he fears she is taking morphine again. Edmund opposes him and says that she has stopped taking morphine. Mary comes downstairs and her disheveled hair and detached manner confirm Jamie’s suspicion. Edmund is forced to accept that his mother failed in getting rid of her addiction. James enters the hall too and realizes that Mary has used morphine again. They take their lunch together and soon Mary goes upstairs again to take her next shot. Cathleen has been ignorantly helping her in getting morphine. As soon as she goes upstairs, the three men start arguing again. Soon the phone rings and James goes to attend to it. It is a call from Doctor Hardy. Edmund and Jamie notice their father’s manner after he returns from the call and surmise that it is not good news. Edmund decides to go upstairs to talk to his mother while James informs Jamie that Edmund is suffering from tuberculosis. Jamie urges his father to not act miserly again and provide better medical care for Edmund. He goes out and waits for Edmund so that both brothers may go to the town for some lighter moments. Mary and Edmund return downstairs to the hall. Edmund tells his mother to resist taking any more morphine. Mary refuses to accept that she has taken any, though it pretty clear from her confused eyes and uncontrolled speech. Edmund leaves with Jamie to the town. As James and Mary are alone, they talk about Edmund. Mary and James decided to give birth to Edmund because of the death of Eugene, their second son who died at the age of 2. Jamie was 7 years old then. Jamie got sick with measles and Eugene got the infection from him. While Jamie recuperated, Eugene failed and died. Mary says that Jamie had this inclination to harm his younger brothers and this is the reason why Edmund is sick now. James also comes out to the lawn. Mary is alone in the hall. At first, she is relieved that nobody is going to question her about morphine now. But soon she starts feeling lonely and that worries her. She calls Cathleen and they start chatting. She offers whiskey to Cathleen and asks about her childhood dreams. Cathleen says that she would like to be a nun or a concert pianist. Mary also tells her about her youth and how she fell in love with Tyron and left her vocation.

In the evening, Edmund and James return from the town and observe that Mary has taken more morphine and she is delusional. Mary faces Edmund and warns him of Jamie. She says that Jamie doesn’t like Edmund and wants him to be a failure like he is. She then starts talking about Jamie’s childhood and how her son got addicted to alcohol because of his bad habits of James. Mary reminds James of their marriage. She talks about their first night and how much she loved her husband. She starts talking about her wedding gown and how she ruined it. She doesn’t remember where is her wedding dress now. Edmund again tries to convince her mother to stop using morphine but talking about the past hurts Mary so he stops and leaves. James and Mary are alone again. He asks her to take dinner with him. But she decides to go upstairs again as she is not feeling hungry. James realizes that she is going to get some more morphine and he doesn’t stop her.

Edmund returns late at night and finds his father alone, playing solitaire. He starts talking to him and they have an argument over Mary’s addiction. Then James tells Edmund about his childhood and how he faced poverty. He says that he continued to play the same role to ascertain financial security but this has ruined his career. He says that despite being a talented actor, he cannot get any better roles now because he has been stereotyped. James then says that his only fear is to die in poverty and that is why he is stingy and tries to save as much money as he can. Edmund understands his father better now. He tells him about his experiences at sea and how he hopes to become a successful poet. Jamie knocks on the door at the same time and James realizes that he is drunk again. He goes away from the hall to avoid any argument with Jamie. Jamie comes in and starts talking to Edmund. He says that though he loves Edmund, he doesn’t want him to succeed as a poet and he will try to make Edmund fail. Jamie is too much drunk and he passes out. James goes to his drawer and notices that Jamie has stolen some of his alcohol. He comes back to the hall and sees Jamie snoozing. He sits down with Edmund. Jamie wakes up after some time and James starts quarreling with him over alcohol. Mary comes downstairs at the same time with her wedding gown in her hands. The men notice that she is out of her mind and is in the deep effect of morphine. She barely recognizes them while talking about her marriage as if she is lost in the past. She says how she has sacrificed her vocation to marry Tyron. Her husband and sons watch her helplessly while she is not able to recognize them. The play ends at the midnight with no solution to the problems of Tyron's family.

It was an autobiographical drama. Eugene O’Neill’s father was an actor while his mother was also an actor who got addicted to morphine. Eugene O’Neill himself worked as a sailor and he got consumption during one of his tours on the sea after which he was admitted to a sanatorium for health care. Later on, he established himself as a writer and won four Pulitzer prizes. The character of Edmund Tyron is based on Eugene O’Neill.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Coolie by Mulk Raj Anand | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Mulk Raj Anand’s second novel Coolie was published in the year 1936 and it established him as one of the most popular and successful Asian anglophone writers of his time. Like his first novel (Untouchable) Coolie also depicts the story of an Indian adolescent teen experiencing the harsh realities of the British Indian establishment. The term coolie is outdated. It was first used during the late 16^th century by British traders to refer to a low-wage unskilled laborer particularly belonging to India or China. By the 18^th century, coolie specifically became a term to refer to Indian-indentured labor. It was as derogatory as Niger or similar other words were. In the 20^th century and especially after the end of the British Raj in India, the term Coolie changed to refer to porters at railway stations.

The novel depicts the misfortunate journey of Munnoo from the small village of Himachal to the big city of Bombay and back to Shimla in a year in which Munnoo spends his whole life. Along with describing the ill effects of British rule and poverty in India, Mulk Raj Anand stressed the infective politics of communism and the ill effects of religionism (Hindu-Muslim riots) in this novel.

Characters of Coolie by Mulk Raj Anand

Munnoo is an orphan adolescent teenager of age 14 living with his uncle Dayaram and his family. Dayaram and his wife are not very kind to Munnoo and soon he is sent to work as a house servant at the home of babu Nathoo Ram whose wife is against a harsh lady. However, Nathuram’s younger brother Premchand is kind to Munnoo and Nathuram’s daughter Shiela becomes his friend. Mr. England is the British officer of the bank where Nathuram works. Prabhadayal is a businessman who offers work to Munnoo at his factory of pickles. Ganpat is Prabhadayal’s corrupt and disloyal business partner. Tulsi is another young laborer at Prabhadayal’s factory who makes Munnoo realize that he is growing up. Sir Todarmal is another businessman who offers loans to Prabhadayal and his son Ramnath is a sub-inspector in the British police. Harihar and his wife Lakshmi work at Sir George White Cotton Mills in Bombay. Munnoo saves Harihar’s younger son by risking his life and Harihar then helps Munnoo in getting a job in the factory where he works. Englishman Jimmi Thomas, also known as Chimta Saab is the foreman of the Mill. Ratan is another worker at the Mill who is a brave and physically strong person who raises his voice for the welfare of laborers as he is a member of the All India Trade Union Congress. He saves Harihar and Ratan against the atrocities of Chimta Saab and other bullies like Pathan who also works at the Mill. Sauda is a communist leader of the Red Flag Union who instigates Ratan to declare a strike to raise their political power. Omkar Nath is a Congress Union leader. Mrs. Mainwaring is an Anglo-Indian woman who is an adulteress. She employs Munnoo as a rikshaw puller cum page but her intention is to exploit young Munnoo for her own pleasure. Mohan is another rikshaw puller appointed by Mrs. Mainwaring who becomes a friend of Munnoo. Dr. Merchant is the health officer of Shimla who examines Munnoo and concludes that he is suffering from consumption.

Summary of Coolie by Mulk Raj Anand

Munno is an orphan who is being taken care of by his unkind uncle Dayaram and his wife. He lives in a village in the Kangra district. As he turns 14 years old, his uncle tells him that he can no longer afford his education and he must work to earn a living from now on. Munnoo is unskilled and uneducated. The next day, Dayaram takes Munnoo to the house of Babu Nathuraam who is a banker in the nearby city of Shamnagar where he is indentured as a domestic servant. Babu Nathuram and his wife whom Munnoo calls Bibii are no better than his uncle and aunt. Bibiji keeps exploiting him and pressuring him with overwork. However, Nathuram’s younger brother Premchand is kind to him. One day, when Nathuram’s officer visits him for dinner, Munnoo accidentally drops a tray with cups of tea and breaks all the crockery. He gets a strong beating from Bibiji after that. Shiela is the daughter of babu Nathuram who becomes a friend of Munnoo. One day, while playing with her, Munnoo acts and dances like a monkey which exhilarates Shiela. This excites Munnoo further and he goes on to act an attack like a monkey and bites Shiela on her cheek in a childlike manner. This enrages Nathuram and he beats him mercilessly. Munnoo feels he won’t survive long at Nathuram’s house and decides to leave. He reaches the railway station and boards a train going to Daulatpur. On the train, he meets a businessman Prabhadayal. He is very kind to Munnoo and decides to take him to Daulatpur where he may work and stay at his factory of pickles. Prabhadayal’s partner Ganpat is not very happy about it but he doesn’t oppose it.

Situations aren’t very healthy at the factory in Daulatpur where Munnoo starts living. Yet, he feels his life is better than what it was at Babu Nathuram’s house. He meets Tulsi at the factory who is the same-age girl. Munnoo feels attraction toward the opposite gender for the first time. Pabhadayal’s partner Ganpat defrauds the factory and Prabhadayal finds himself burdened with loans to Sir Todarmal. As Prabhadayal is unable to pay the loan, Todarmal’s son, sub-inspector Ramnath takes him to custody where he is beaten. Finally, Prabhadayal decides to sell his factory and go back to his village after paying the loans. Munnoo again finds himself jobless and homeless. He tries to work as a coolie at the Grain Market and Vegetable Market but fails to get enough money to make two-time meals. He also tries to test his luck at the railway station as a coolie but fails again.

He comes in contact with some circus workers who brag about the opportunities of work in Bombay, a huge city afar. Munnoo decides to board a train to Bombay. The circus people and their animals were also moving to Bombay on the same train. During the travel, a child is attracted by the elephants of the Circus and decides to take a close look. The elephant tries to hit the child with his trunk but Munnoo saves the child in time while risking his own life. Harihar is the father of the child who works at a cotton mill in Bombay. He is going back to Bombay with his wife Lakshmi and two children. He is grateful to Munnoo and suggests that he will help Munnoo to get a job at the same mill where he works.

Harihar requests Jimmie Thomas, the foreman of Sir George White Cotton Mill to provide jobs for his wife Lakshmi, his elder son, and a friend Munnoo. Jimmi Thomas is a cruel manager who not only exploits workers through overwork at a meager salary but also robs them by forcing them to live in the huts owned by him at high rent. Mill workers call him Chimta Saab because of his cruel practice of beating workers with an iron Chimta for minute mistakes. Munnoo gets a job at the mill and he starts living with Harihar’s family in his hut and shares the rent. Being an unskilled worker, he takes time in learning how the mill machines work, and on the very first day, when he tries, he almost gets trapped in the machine that could have caused great injury to him but is saved by a strong healthy worker named Ratan. Ratan is a wrestler and he is vocal about laborers' rights. Whenever Chimta Saab bullies mill workers, Ratan stands up in support of workers to oppose him. He saves Munnoo and Harihar many times from the atrocities of Chimta Saab and his henchman Pathan, who is also a mill worker. One day, during the heavy rains of Bombay, Harihar and Munnoo’s hut gets completely ruined. Ratan offers them a small room in his chall where he lives. The room is smaller than their hut and Harihar, Lakshmi, their two sons, and Munnoo have very little space to sleep. Munnoo gets so impressed with Ratan for his help that he starts following him at every instance.

One day, Harihar takes his sick children to the medical facility while Ratan goes to meet a prostitute. Munnoo follows Ratan and that is the first time he feels the need for a female relationship. He soon returns to his room while Ratan stays in the prostitute’s room for the night. In his room, Ratan finds Lakshmi alone, waiting for Harihar. She knew where Ratan took Munnoo. She grasps the condition of this young lad who is gradually becoming an adult. She asks him to come close and takes him in her embrace near her breasts and says that they all belong to the suffering class and hence, are one. She presses him close to her with a peculiar passion that creates a desire in his heart. That night Munoo forgets everything for the pleasure of making love to Lakshmi.

At the mill, Jimmi Thomas is too pissed over Ratan’s interventions in support of laborers. He decides to sack him. Ratan gets infuriated and complains about his termination from the All India Trade Union Congress of which he is a member. Omkar Nath, the leader of Congress investigates the matter and finds that the mill is suffering losses and hence the management has decided to reduce some expenditures by reducing the workforce. Ratan is not satisfied with this explanation but Omkar Nath suggests he be patient. Meanwhile, another competing Labour Union Organization of Communists, headed by local leader Sauda makes contact with Ratan. Sauda tells him that the Union Trade Congress won’t help him as Omkar Nath has connections with mill management and invites him to join his union named Red Flag Union. Ratan joins them and Sauda instigates him to collect all the workers and declare a strike until the management agrees to increase payment of workers and reinstate Ratan at his job. Ratan gathers all the workers in a meeting to be addressed by him and Sauda. Munnoo and Harihar also go there along with all male workers.

Meanwhile, the mill management learns that workers have declared a strike on behalf of the communist Red Flag Union and they spread a rumor that the Mohemmdan Pathans have kidnapped the children of Hindu workers and they are planning to attack their homes at night. As this false news spreads among the workers, they start fighting with the Muslim workers at the meeting place. Sauda realizes that the management has played tricks to divide the force of workers in Hindu Muslim biases. He tries to manage the crowd but fails. A sudden burst of Hindu-Muslim riots destroys their plan for the strike. In the ensuing violence, Munnoo gets separated from Harihar and Ratan. He tries to find them but fails. As he sees a mob coming towards him, he hides in a broken wagon and spends the whole night in it. The next morning when he wakes up and comes out of the wagon to examine the situation, a motor car comes towards him from the backside and hits him. He gets unconscious. Mrs. Mainwaring was traveling in that motor car. She is an Anglo-Indian woman who is an adulteress. She married and divorced many times and she has aseverallovers. When she sees Munnoo, she gets an interest in him and takes him to her residence in Bombay. She gets medical help for him and soon he gets well. She appoints him as her page and a rikshaw puller and decides to take him to Shimla with her.

Munnoo is happy at returning to the hills where he took birth and spent his childhood. He is no more a child now, he is 15, and a lover boy of Mrs. Mainwaring. She not only uses him for her unquenchable desires but also makes him work hard as a rikshaw puller. She has three more rikshaw pullers along with him and one of them is Mohan who becomes a close friend of Munnoo. Mrs. Mainwaring continues to exploit him and his body soon starts showing fatigue as he catches tuberculosis because of the extreme conditions he suffered at the factory in Daulatpur and at the mill in Bombay. He starts bleeding coughs and suffers a high fever. Mrs. Mainwaring calls Dr. Merchant, one of her lovers, to check Munnoo’s health. After examining, Dr. Merchant informs Mrs. Mainwaring that Munnoo is suffering from consumption and advises her to remain away from Munnoo to avoid getting infected. Mrs. Mainwaring stops meeting him but does ensure that he gets proper medication and care. However, his health is too much deteriorated and soon, he dies. He was just 15 years and a few months old at the age of his death.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

The Way of the World by William Congreve | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Congreve was an English dramatist and poet of the Restoration period. He was known for his satirical dialogue and he had a great influence on the comedy of manners style that was prominent during that period. However, he rose to the stage at a time when the style of comedy of manners was declining and the public was turning away from the sort of high-brow sexual comedy of manners. It was the same period when Jeremy Collier scathingly attacked the Restoration comedies and dramas in general in his pamphlet A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage. Thomas Rymer was already resisting the comedy of mannerism with his call for poetic justice. William Congreve gave a lengthy reply to Jeremy Collier in his pamphlet "Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations” but he did leave the stage.

William Congreve studied at Kilkenny College along with Jonathan Swift who was his classmate. At the age of 17, he moved to London to study law and during that time, Congreve wrote his first play "Incognita: or, Love and Duty reconcil'd" which was published in 1692 under the pseudonym Cleophil. That won him praise from literary critics including John Dryden who became his mentor. In 1693, Congreve’s first play The Old Bachelor was performed, and John Dryden promoted it as a brilliant first piece. It was a comedy of manners. His other plays include The Double Dealer (1694) and Love for Love (1695) which were both comedies and The Mourning Bride which was a tragedy and was first performed in 1697. Congreve’s last play was performed in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1700 and it was titled The Way of the World. The play didn’t succeed at that time. It was one of the last comedies of manners of the Restoration period. However, the play proved to be an important one later on.

George Farquhar raised the issue of women trapped in abusive wedlock in his play The Beau Stratagem in which he devised a way to offer monetary support for the divorcing wife Kate Sullen. John Vanbrugh also raised the issue of women trapped in abusive marriages in his plays Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger, and The Provoked Wife. William Congreve also mentioned the troubles of a mismatched marriage and the issue of the property rights of a woman. One of the major themes of The Way of the World is inheritance and a woman’s right to her parent’s property. As the title suggests, The Way of The World is a satirical comedic commentary on the then society and norms of England.

Characters of The Way of The World

Mr. Fainall is a married man who married Mrs. Arabella Fainall who was a widow, for the money that she inherits from her late husband and her mother Lady Wishfort. He is a greedy person who was already in a relationship with Mrs. Marwood before his marriage to Mrs. Arabela. Mrs. Marwood continues to be his mistress as his only intention to marry Mrs. Fainall is her money. Mrs. Arabella Fainall on the other hand was in love with Mr. Edward Mirabel who once was a womanizer but now has changed. Mr. Mirabel isn’t of a wealthy background. He helped Arabella and Lady Wishfort in engineering Arabella’s marriage to Mr. Fainall to protect Arabella from scandal in the event of pregnancy. However, Arabella didn’t get pregnant. Arabela and Mirabel are now friends while Mirabel fell in love with Miss Millament who is a niece and ward of Lady Wishfort, cousin of Mrs. Arabella Fainall. Miss Milament has a huge inheritance of 12000 pounds but she holds only 6000 pounds of it while the remaining 6000 pounds are in the custody of Lady Wishfort. Lady Wishfort doesn’t approve of her marriage to Mirabel and wants her to marry Sir Wilfull Witwoud who is a nephew of Lady Wishfort. He is an inept bumbling man who tries to pursue Ms. Millament romantically. His half-brother Anthony Witwoud is also a suitor of Ms. Millament. Waitwell is a servant of Mirabel who marries Foible, a servant of Lady Wishfort without her knowledge. Later on, Mirabel and Ms. Millament devise a plan to project Waitwell as Sir Rowland, an uncle of Mirabel who will woo and propose to Lady Wishfort to marry him and then lead situations to convince Lady Wishfort that Mirabel is the best man for Ms. Millament. Foible is aware of his plan. Lady Wishfort is uncomfortable with her age and looks, and this allows Mirabell's plot with the fake Sir Rowland to succeed as far as it does.

Summary of The Way of The World

The Way of The World is a five-act play. The background of the play is that Mirabel, a young, handsome but poor man used to be a womanizer who got into an affair with a rich widow named Arabella. However, Arabella’s mother Lady Wishfort didn’t approve of his marriage to Arabella because of his poor background. To protect Arabella from any scandal because of his affair with her, he helped Lady Wishfort to arrange the marriage of Arabella with Mr. Fainall who is a reputed but greedy and corrupt person. He marries the widow Arabella only for the fortune of Arabella that he needs to finance his affair with Mrs. Marwood. Meanwhile, Mirabel changed as a person and puts an end to his affair with Arabella while he remained her well-wisher and a close friend. Later on, he falls in love with Arabella’s cousin Miss Millament who is the niece of Lady Wishfort.

Miss Millament loves Mirabel and wishes to marry him. She has a huge inheritance of 12000 pounds but half of it is in the custody of Lady Wishfort who is completely against her marriage with Mirabel. Lady Wishfort wants Millament to marry Sir Wilfull Witwoud whom Ms. Millament finds inept and undeserving. Lady Wishfort is aging but she still believes that she is very attractive. Mirabell had earlier offended Lady Wishfort; she had misinterpreted his flattery as love.

Mirabel and Ms. Millament devise a plan to save her inheritance while they get married and for this, Mirabel takes the help of his servant Waitwell. They plan to introduce Waitwell as Sir Rowland, an uncle of Mirabel. As Mirabel knows that Lady Wishful has the desire to fall in love and get married, he plans to fake uncle Sir Rowland to woo and win Lady Wishfort’s love. Then Mirabell will reveal the reality of Sir Rowland to save Lady Wishfort and in response will get the approval of Lady Wishfort for his marriage to Millament. To make their plan fool-proof, they arrange the marriage of Waitwell to Foible before he pretends to Sir Rowland so that he may not be able to trap Lady Wishfort to his contract. Thus, Waitwell is secretly married to Foible without Lady Wishfort’s knowledge and Foible becomes a part of the plan. As Waitwell is already married to Foible, his fake marriage to Lady Wishfort will be illegal and will be nullified.

The play begins as Mirabel is playing cards with Mr. Fainall. Mr. Fainall isn’t happy with Mirabel as he knows that he has tricked him twice. He suspects that his wife Mrs. Fainall is a former mistress of Mirabel. The more troubling fact is that Mrs. Marwood, who is Mr. Fainall’s mistress, appears to be more interested in Mirabell. Mrs. Marwood wishes to marry Mirabell as Mr. Fainall is already married to Arabella. Thus, Mr. Fainal has been stung by Mirabel twice. Meanwhile, Ms. Millament is in true love with Mirabel but playfully teases him while their marriage is uncertain.

Mirabel is nervous about his plan but it is going well. Foible and Waitwell are now married and Waitwell has taken the disguise of Sir Rowland to woo Lady Wishfort.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Marwood is flirting with Mirabel and as he goes away to confirm the marriage of Foible with Waitwell, she follows him. Accidentally, she overhears the conversation between Mrs. Fainall and Foibel as they discuss the former love affair between Mirabel and Mrs. Fainall as well as his current plan of marrying Ms. Millament. Furthermore, she also overhears Mrs. Fainall cursing her as Mr. Fainall wastes her money on his mistress. Foible also makes fun of Mrs. Marwood by commenting on how she is trying to woo Mirabel. This makes Mrs. Marwood vengeful against Mirabel as she now knows that she cannot get him. She goes back to Mr. Fainall and tells him about his plan for Mirabel. She further reveals that his wife used to be a lover of Mirabel. Mr. Fainall gets enraged but instead of acting rashly, he along with Mrs. Marwood devise their own conspiracy to gain the most profit out of the situation.

Meanwhile, Mirabel introduces Sir Rowland to Lady Wishfort as his uncle and Sir Rowland soon starts flattering and flirting with Lady Wishfort who again feels her desire to get in love rekindle. On the other hand, Miss Milament declares that she will marry Mirabel and rejects Sir Wilfull Witwoud’s proposal. Mr. Fainal then comes into action as he catches Sir Rowland and unmasks him as Waitwell, a servant of Mirabel. He then blackmails Lady Wishfort with the threat of ruining her and her daughter’s reputation. He says that since Millament has decided to marry Mirabel by rejecting Sir Wilfull Witwoud, her balance fortune controlled by Lady Wishfort should be forfeited and transferred to him. He further demands that Lady Wishfort should assure him that she will never marry and hence he will remain the sole heir of his wife’s property.

When Ms. Millament listens to all this, she decides to save her balance of inheritance controlled by Lady Wishofort and changes her decision, and declares that she will marry Sir Wilfull Witwoud. This ruins Ms. Fainall’s plan. Yet, he continues to press that Lady Wishfort should immediately hand over all his wife’s money to him and should declare him the caretaker of her wealth too. Mirabell tries to dissuade the situation and put some pressure on Mr. Fainall by bringing Waitwell and Foible upfront as witnesses of Mr. Fainall and Mrs. Marwood’s extramarital affair, he brazenly ignores it and asserts that he will still drag Mrs. Fainall’s name in scandal and ruin lady Wishfort’s reputation.

Now is the time for Mirabel to reveal his trump card. He says that he and Arabella always knew that Mr. Fainall is a corrupt, greedy person, and hence, to protect herself, Arabella appointed Mirabel the trustee of her fortune much before her marriage to Mr. Fainall. Thus, Mr. Fainall has no claim on her fortune nor Lady Wishfort can offer it to Mr. Fainall as Mirabel holds that right. Mr. Fainall is now completely defeated as neither Mrs. Fainall nor Lady Wishfort controls their money and he can put no pressure on Mirabell. He is very angry and frustrated and decides to go away with Mrs. Marwood. Meanwhile, Sir Wilfull Witwoud takes his proposal to marry Millament back and claims that Mirabel deserves her. Lady Wishfort is also convinced that Mirabel will take good care of Millament like he saved her and her daughter Arabella’s fortune. She forgives the servants and offers her wishes to Foible and Watwell for their married life and agrees to offer her consent for the marriage of Mirabel and Millament.

The play ends in reconciliation as Mirabel and Millament conciliate despite Millament giving up her love to save her fortune. Sir Wilfull Witwoud also forgives Millament while Lady Wishfort forgives Mirabel, Waitwell, Foible, and Arabella for fooling her around. The theme of the play includes fashion, courtship, seduction, property rights, and women’s rights to their inheritance in marriage.

William Congreve was known for witty and intelligent dialogues in his plays. One of the famous dialogue from The Way of The World is “"One's cruelty is one's power; and then one parts with one's cruelty, one parts with one's power; and when one has parted with that, I fancy one's old and ugly." While this quote is said by Millament, it shows the fear of Lady Wishfort, who is losing her power, her cruelty, and her strength, and becoming old and helpless, which makes her desperate to be confirmed as beautiful and powerful.

Just like George Farquhar’s Kate Sullen from The Beau Stratagem, William Congreve’s Arabella also saves her fortune despite getting divorced or separated from their husband.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Eugene O’Neill was an experimentalist who introduced techniques of realism into American drama scenes. In 1946, Eugene's one of the most successful dramas The Iceman Cometh was produced. The Iceman Cometh explains the importance of pipe dreams for the outcastes as these pipe dreams or delusions can let them have a sense of contentment, happiness, and togetherness. These pipe dreams are a psychic defense or coping mechanism of the outcastes to handle the other world of reality. Eugene O’Neill explains through this drama that being forced to face the truth isn't always the best option. The Iceman Cometh ensembles a huge cast. There are twelve dead-end alcoholic men and three declining prostitutes. All these people are outcastes or failures who have been alienated by society. Somehow, they gather at a place aptly named No-Chance Saloon, as they hardly have any chance. Despite being outcasts, they can make their own community and have a sense of worth, though delusional. This community allows totally different people to get connected. A Black guy finds friendship in white men, and a disgraced former anarchist finds solace in presence of prostitutes and former police officers. Two downtrodden ex-generals who represented opposite sides of a war could have a toast together. All these characters are suffering nostalgia for their earlier self and want to somehow return to their old life which is impossible, but they do have hope and that is their pipe dream. Almost all dramas of Eugene O’Neill involve some degree of tragedy or personal pessimism but The Iceman Cometh has a sense of hope, though delusional. Eugene showed the life and stories of fringe people in all of his dramas and The Iceman Cometh is a fine example.

Characters of The Iceman Cometh

Harry Hope is a 60-year-old gaunt man who once was a successful person and was going to be an Alderman. Then his wife Bessie Hope died and it derailed his life. He owns a saloon and a rooming house named No-Chance Saloon where people may come and have a drink and they can stay. Some 12 men are staying at his saloon for a long. He hasn’t left the saloon for 20 years. However, he claims that he is planning to go out and meet the neighborhood and then he will easily win the election and will be an Alderman. Ed Mosher is the brother-in-law of Harry, brother of the late Bessie Hope. He is a fat guy who is indolent and amusing. He used to collect tickets at a circus and he wishes to get on the same job again. Pat McGloin is another fat slovenly guy who used to be a police lieutenant but was fired for taking bribes. He dreams of returning to the police force and clearing his name. Willie Oban is a young drunkard who is the son of a big-time criminal. He attended Harvard for law but dropped out for his addiction to alcohol. He wishes to go back to college and get his degree and become a lawyer. Joe Mott is an African-American man with a strong build and a scar on his face. He used to run a gambling house. He dreams of opening a gambling house only to black patrons. Piet Wetjoen is a dutch man who fought for South Africans during the Boer War as a General. He dreams of returning to the Netherlands. Here, his closest friend is Cecil Lewis, a British who fought the Boer War as a Captain, against the General. Jimmy Tomorrow or James Cameron is a reserved, intelligent, and elegant man who once used to work in publicity but was fired.

Hugo Kalmar is an anarchist foreigner with a German accent. He is a die-hard devotee of Movement (the socialist anarchist movement) though he dreams of living a bourgeois life. Larry Slade is a former syndicalist-anarchist who once was the part of Industrial Workers of the World Movement but he left the Movement. He had a close female friend Rosa Parritt who is a strong supporter of the Movement. She is a loving mother and a careless one too who gave more importance to her own freedom and the Movement. She is a practitioner of free love. she once had a relationship with Larry Slade. She is the mother of Don Parritt who was also involved in the Movement but was disturbed by his love and hate for his mother. Parritt's anonymous tip gets her thrown into jail for her radical actions. Parritt feels immense guilt and seeks solace from Larry but Larry fails to do so. Finally, he tells Parritt he ought to commit suicide to atone for turning his Mother in. Rocky Pioggi is the night bartender at No Chance Saloon who maintains Pearl and Margie as prostitutes but maintains that he is not their pimp. Pearl prefers to consider herself a tart while Margie insists that she is not a whore. Chuck Morello is the day bartender at Saloon. He is elderly and wishes to marry Cora an older prostitute and move to a farm in New Jersey.

Theodore Hickman is an attractive successful traveling salesman who visits the saloon every year and offers free drinks and dinner for the inmates. He tells jokes and brings a new sense of life to the bar. However, when he appears this year, he is a changed man who claims he doesn’t drink as he has realized his potential. He urges other people to get rid of their pipe dreams and endeavor to make them real. He pushes them to try to get rid of their delusions and face the reality as is it and make out of it. He urges them to become self-aware and accept their potential. Later on, it comes out that he is the most delusional one and tries to hide his guilt of murdering his wife Evelyn Hickman who according to him was a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman who always turned a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loved him unconditionally.

Summary of The Iceman Cometh

The drama is set in 1912. No Chance Saloon is owned by Harry Hope and it is situated on the west side of downtown Manhattan. Harry Hope hasn’t left the saloon since his wife died 20 years ago. His patrons, including his brother-in-law Ed Mosher, McGloin, Willie, Captain Cecil, General Piet, Joe, Jimmy, and Larry are sitting idly in the bar. Hugo is drunk enough to sleep quietly on the chair. It is the day when usually Theodore Hickman or ‘Hickey’ arrives every year and offers free drinks and dinner for his friends in the bar. Everyone is waiting for him as he brings a party-like mood along with him and makes everyone smile. Everyone is waiting for him to visit the bar. It is Harry's 60^th birthday and they hope to begin the party as Hickey arrives.

All of them are drinking, snoozing, and bickering among themselves. Occasionally, one can hear a slight laughter of the two girls Pearl and Margie sitting among the men. A young man arrives and rents a room in the Saloon. He sits among the people. He is a good-looking young handsome man but he seems disturbed as he sneers around. He looks towards Larry and claims that he knows Larry Stadle from the old days when they both were part of the Movement. Larry feels a little uncomfortable and tries to ignore him. The young man says his name is Don Parritt and soon he starts talking with the group. The topic of his discussion is his Mother whom he says he loves too much but shows his anger and frustration for her too. He exclaims how good and caring mother she has been and then he explains how often she was not there for him when he needed her most because she was devoted to the IWW Movement. His contradicting talks disturb Larry more and he moves away from him. Parritt informs that he is in New York on the run from police as the police got some anonymous tip and arrested many of the Movement radicals, including his Mother.

As the people of No Chance Saloon accept Parritt as their new inmate, Theodore Hickman arrives. However, everybody notices a change in him. He is not as noisy and raucous as he used to be. He still appears cheerful and jovial but he appears soberer than ever before. He announces that he has given up alcohol as he had a sudden realization that he can be a better man. He claims that now he has given up all his pipe dreams and rather is interested in making his dream come true in reality. He claims that now he is at peace with himself as he is now self-aware and knows his potential which he is working to increase. He says that he is willing to help everyone in the saloon, who are his friends, to get rid of their pipe dreams and accept their real selves and lead a better life. The group isn’t too happy with Hickey’s speech. They were hoping for fun and drinks from him but what he brought is a challenge to get rid of their pipe dreams. The party begins to celebrate Hope’s 60^th birthday but he is very upset as Hickey is especially pushing him to get up and have a walk outside the saloon, which has been his pipe dream. Hope doesn’t feel he is prepared for that.

Larry is observing all of them and soon he realizes that Hickman is causing troubles in their minds. Larry himself has no delusion about himself, but he realizes that the breaking of the dreams of his mates may cause serious damage to their personal selves. He tries to dissuade Hickman from his trick and asks him what happened to him. He reminds of the joke Hickey used to tell about catching his wife in bed with the iceman but is quickly shut down when Hickey announces serenely that his wife is dead. Hickey pushes everyone to get rid of their idle self and push themselves to make their dream come to reality.

Gradually, everyone is preparing to get up and move out to try to work for their dreams to come true. The bartender is cleaning up the tables. Joe prepares to go out and see if he can open his gambling den; McGloin, Mosher, and Jimmy seek their old jobs back; Willie plans to go to the D.A. to start practicing law; the Captain and the General try to get a job so they can make money to pay their fares back home; Chuck and Cora head out to get married; Rocky decides not to be a bartender anymore and be a real pimp to Margie and Cora; Hugo mumbles about making the proletariat his slaves; and the Hope grudgingly steps out to take his walk.

As Hope goes out, Rocky wonders if he will be able to come back. Hickman ascertains him that everything will be all right. Outside, Hope stands awkwardly on the curb and gradually starts walking into the middle of the street, he takes two or three steps and then turns around and rushes back into the saloon in fear. He reaches the bar and takes a heavy drink down his throat.

Larry tries to soothe Hope and then he confronts Hickman and asks him what lead him to this madness. Rocky suggests that maybe his wife committed suicide. Hickman confirms that his wife was recently murdered. He says that was a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman who always turned a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loved him unconditionally. He claims that it is good that she got murdered and got rid of him.

Soon everyone who went out to try working out their dreams and achieve them in real, return to the salon. All of them are confused, depressed, and sad. They look at Hickman with suspicious complaining eyes. Hickey is particularly upset about Hope who actually went out and fulfilled his dream of walking in the street. He wonders why Hope is not content now and why every one of them wishes to continue their suffering.

Two police officers enter the saloon as they see Hickman talking to the people, they wait and stand at the door of the saloon in patience. Hickman continues to address the pipe-dreamers. He says that his wife was a charming lady while he was always a troublemaker. Despite all his atrocities and adultery, she kept loving him and remained loyal. She loved him through every transgression, every absence, every mistake. She had this dream that one day, Hickman will be a better man, more responsible and true to her, and to himself. Gradually, Hickman started feeling the guilt of being with such a pious woman. He had two options, either to improve and be the better man that he should be or to get rid of his wife. He contemplated divorcing her, or leaving her and never visiting her again, but that would have hurt her more than he didn’t wish. So he decided to murder her. He says that his act brought her the peace she deserved because loving him was more torturous than death. He pauses for a moment and then says that he cursed her after killing her. But how could he curse her? She was the most pious woman he knew and if he cursed her, it only suggests that he is insane. He then looks towards Hope and implores with his eyes to agree with him. Hope thinks for a while and it reminds him how Hickman forced him to go outside. He looks at the policemen and exclaims that yes, Hickman is crazy. Everyone else thinks that if Hickman is crazy, then all his efforts to shatter their pipedreams were a consequence of his craziness and they are not bound to ruin their pipedreams. Thus, everyone harangues the police and claims that Hickman is insane.

The policemen lose their patience. One of them shouts at the saloon inmates that they should stop protecting Hickman, he is a murderer who will definitely get a death sentence. Hickman smiles at Hope and says that he doesn’t care about death and the police take him away. Meanwhile, Don Parritt confronts Larry and says that he has something to confess. Larry tries to ignore him again but Parritt insists. He says that the anonymous tip to the police that resulted in the arrest of many radical Movement supporters including his mother was given by him. He says that he had nothing against the other radicals but he hated his mother and wished her to suffer. He looks at Larry as if he hopes to be condemned, scolded, and abused by him so that he may get rid of the guilt that is building in him. Larry remains calm though. Ultimately, he says that Parritt will never attain peace this way, he urges him to end his life as this can be the only way to end his torture. Parritt smiles and goes towards the room that he recently booked. He jumps off the window of the room and commits suicide. Larry meanwhile realizes that he has a huge bag of his own torture but unlike Parritt, he cannot get relief so soon as he fears death as much as he hates his life.

Meanwhile, the other inmates are back to their own selves now when Hickman is out and away from their life. They embrace their pipe dreams again and start enjoying their indolent and inebriated life.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!