A Tale of A Tub by Jonathan Swift | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Jonathan Swift was an English writer, essayist, satirist, poet, and political pamphleteer who took birth in Dublin, Ireland in the year 1667 and died in 1745. His parents were English. They shifted to Ireland during the English Civil War. Jonathan Swift’s father died when he was still a kid and then he remained under the foster care of his uncle Gordon Swift in Ireland where he attended Kilkenny College for his graduation. In 1688, Jonathan Swift returned to London and started working for William Temple as a personal assistant. He completed his post-graduation from Hart Hall, Oxford in 1692 after which he returned to Ireland, trying to be an ordained priest of the Church of Ireland. He chose to write satires and to avoid backlashes, he often published his works under pseudonyms such as Lemuel Gulliver, Issac Bickerstaff, M. B. Dappier, and Marcus Scriblerus. Some of his works were published anonymously. His first book was The Battle of the Books which was a satire against the critics of William Temple’s Essay Upon Ancient and Modern Learning that he wrote in 1696 but was published in 1704. His other more famous satire A Tale of A Tub was also published anonymously in 1704. A Tale of A Tub was a prose parody, a religious satire, or a spoof. It is a difficult satire to understand that Jonathan Swift wrote it as a defense of the British monarch’s control over the Anglican Church which was opposed by Thoman Hobbes in Leviathan. In Leviathan, Hobbes supported the sovereignty of the Church and to dissuade the threat, Swift wrote A Tale of A Tub. However, his work was misconstrued and misunderstood as a religious satire and Queen Anne considered it a blasphemous write-up. The work was also misunderstood as a spoof against the British monarchy.

The title of the book refers to the old practice of throwing a large tub into the sea in case of a whale attack on a ship. By throwing away a tub in the waters, the seamen used to distract the attacking whale. Similarly, Swift wrote this book as a tub to distract Hobbesian supporters demanding independence of the English Church from the control of the monarch. It is a religious allegory similar to that of Plato in Book IV of Republic in which Plato describes how the ship of the state is vulnerable to the whims of dissenting crew members who, under the pretext of the captain’s weaknesses fight over the possession of the ship. Jonathan Swift presented the same argument in which he expressed the defects between the government and the Church, and also, the various defections of religion including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Puritanism.

Along with the elements of religious satire, Swift also added parodies of contemporary issues and literature as “digressions” through various prose essays in between the chapters of the main story. A digression is a section of a write-up or speech that offers a temporary shift of the main subject.

Summary of A Tale of A Tub:

A Tale of A Tub is divided into Eleven chapters. The first chapter is the Introduction which begins with a ‘Blank Space’ that the author mentions later that he has lost some pages. It is a satire in itself and suggests that Introduction or ‘Foreward’ is tomfoolery. The author discusses the ways through which writers rise above the crowd like using ladders or making a pulpit to offer a speech so that their thoughts be known to the public. However, a good writer hides his best points rather than expressing them openly in the introduction. Thus, the author says that an Introduction is actually ‘hiding’ a nut in a nutshell. He then mentions the books he has read as references for his own book but the author describes the content of those books erroneously, suggesting that either he never read those books, or he simply misunderstood them, and that is one of the main themes of the book. The author suggests that people misunderstand what they read, for a variety of reasons and with a variety of results ranging from the comic to the tragic. The author mentions that his intention is to split his book into 40 sections, or chapters.

The main story of A Tal of A Tub begins in Chapter 2. The story tells about an old man who is on the verge of death. He calls his three sons named Peter, Martin, and Jack. This story is an allegory of the Reformation of Christianity in various sects. The three brothers represent the three main branches of Christianity. Peter is based on Saint Peter representing Catholic Church, Luther is based on Martin Luther representing the Church of England, and Jack is based on John Calvin representing Calvinism, the umbrella name for Puritans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Congregationalists, and Anabaptists. The father (representing God) gifts a coat to each son and commands them never to alter that coat through a will (representing Bible). The three sons are young and committed to the will of their father but with time, they face the demands of changing fashion. After traveling for several years, the three sons meet three ladies and fall in love with them. Gradually, they start committing all kinds of sins. The ladies insist that they must alter their coats to make them look more fashionable. All three sons want to add shoulder knots to their coats but any alteration is prohibited by the will. So they read the will again to find anything similar to the shoulder knot and seek the letters in the word “shoulder-knots” in their father’s will. They find those letters in the will and interpret it as an allowance to add shoulder knots to the coats. After that, they continue to find similar excuses to alter their coats while justifying their choices through the will.

The third chapter is a ‘digression’ titled A Digression Concerning Crtitics in which Swift satirizes contemporary literary critics. He makes a distinction between the “critic” and the “true critic.” In the same chapter, Swift discusses the debate over Ancient and Modern thought processes.

The fourth chapter furthers the main story. Peter is the eldest brother and thus, he dominatingly takes all sorts of titles and honors. He starts acting like a ruler and takes on various projects including buying a continent, devising new remedies, erecting a “whispering-house,” creating an office of insurance, supporting street shows, inventing a new kind of pickle, breeding a new kind of bull and handing out pardons to criminals. His practice of power soon makes him highly rich and he falls for the delusions of self-importance. His brothers, Jack and Martin try to intervene and help their elder brother to regain sanity but fail to do so. To avoid the ire of their powerful brother, they decide to leave him. They decide to translate the will of their father into the common trending language of the time. This new translation offers them new insights into what their father actually wished for.

In the fifth Chapter, Swift brings upon a digression titled “A Digression in the Modern Kind” in which he justifies the act of digression and suggests that in some cases, diversion may prove to be more instructive than instructions themselves. In this digression, Swift continues the Ancients versus Moderns topic and criticizes Modern forms of thought.

Chapter six resumes the story of three brothers. Peter is still very rich and high-headed with the gained power. However, Jack and Luther are impoverished and weak. They live together to assist each other. While Martin keeps patience, Jack is very angry about their condition. Both of them wish to follow the true desire of their father and thus they begin to remove the alterations they had made to the coats under their brother’s influence. Martin, being patient, starts removing the adornments gradually and carefully but Jack is clumsy and he decides to remove all the add-ons in one fit of anger. As he does so, his coat is torn down. This creates a rift between the two brothers.

Chapter seventh is again a digression titled “The Digression in Praise of Digressions” in which the author suggests that certain types of arguments may appear smarter and more illuminating than other sets of similar arguments. In this digression, Swift discusses the modern interpretations of wit and discusses how to appear wittier in modern times.

Chapter eight is also a digression in which Swift talks about winds and inspiration. Chapter nine is titled “A Digression Concerning Madness,” in which the author suggests that the youngest brother Jack has turned into madness. He criticizes Puritanism and then suggests that many madmen turned out to be genius and changed the course of history. Many such eccentric men were of religious convictions and then the authors give some examples. Swift describes madness as an ‘excess of vapors’ that creates genius. The author says that Jack has turned mad and has established a new sect named Aeolistism or ‘wind worshippers.’ Jack devises a ritual for all his followers that involves filling themselves with air and then grotesquely disgorging it by belching.

In chapter ten, Swift discusses different types of readers as ‘the superficial, the ignorant, and the learned.’ he suggests how each of the three kinds may perceive his book and says that he has written this story for the learned. In Chapter Eleven, Swift discusses the kinship of a traveler and his horse and how they help and assist each other on difficult terrains especially when they encounter obstacles such as dogs. Then he continues the story of the three brothers. Jack is deeply attached to his translation of the father’s will and asserts that he is the true son of his father. He uses his father’s will as an umbrella, a nightcap, a bandage, and so forth. Jack has turned into a hypocrite who remains ready to argue and quarrel at every instance and then complains that persecuted for defending the Christian faith. The author describes how Jack starts appearing exactly like the eldest brother Peter. Thus, the only sane brother of the three is Luther. The story ends abruptly without a conclusion with a note "Desunt non nulla" which means “Some things are missing.”

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!

Sunday Morning by Wallace Stevens | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Sunday Morning is a Modernist meditative poem that was first published in 1915 and then republished in Stevens's poetic collection Harmonium in 1923. The poem talks about the modernist critical approach to the Abrahamic religion (Christianity). Wallace Stevens mentioned that the poem is "simply an expression of paganism." The poem challenges the Biblical notion of the afterlife and heaven and suggests that no heaven can be more beautiful than the current life while death is the certainty of change, the mother of all possible beauty. Thus, the poem is abstract, and existentialist and can be related to The Emperor of Icecream.

Structure of Sunday Morning:

The poem is divided into eight stanzas of 15 lines each. All the lines are written in Blank verse and thus, there is no rhyming scheme, nor any end-rhyming though all lines follow iambic pentameter. Wallace Stevens used alliteration, assonance, enjambment, imagery, symbolism, and simile in the poem. Nature symbolizes both, death and paradise. The poet suggests that nature is independent and unconcerned with human affairs.

Themes of Sunday Morning:

The poem discusses the evolution of religion or belief systems. The poet raises doubts about Christianity and then compares it with Roman myths. He suggests that first, human and divinity were separated but then Christ came as a human, and thus, human God became human, the next evolutionary step would be for each human being to become divine and synchronizes with the divinity of nature.

The poem describes a discussion between a woman and the poet. The woman is perplexed about the issue of religion and wonders if there is any need for it. She is uncertain and questioning. The speaker is rather confident and reassuring and the poet encourages the woman to accept the change.

The major themes of Sunday Morning are Supernaturalism versus Realism, death, immortality, beauty, and carpe diem.

Summary of Sunday Morning:

Stanza 1 (Lines 1-15)

The poem begins as the poet describes a lazy Sunday morning of a woman. Sunday is the day of the sabbath and like a good Christian, the woman is expected to go to Church and pray. However, the woman is a bit too late and lazy. She is yet wearing a laced silky nightgown (peignoir) which suggests that she has just left the bed. She is taking her breakfast (Coffee and Oranges) while sitting on a rest chair while enjoying the sunlight. There is a green parrot (cockatoo) sitting near her legs, it is a free bird. The image suggests that the woman is enjoying the natural world. As she sees the free bird, she realizes how peaceful and content the bird is and she is mesmerized by it. She forgets the ‘ancient sacrifice’ which is an allegorical reference to the crucifixion of Christ. The poet suggests that the woman is in no mood to visit Church and pray on this Sunday. The woman is yet not fully awake and she dozes off for a moment and then she dreams. In her dream, she sees a threatening darkness (an old catastrophe) engulfing her. Old catastrophe is again a reference to the crucifixion of Christ. Her calm attitude turns a bit pensive. The woman then sees a reservoir of still water as if it is a ‘procession of the dead.” She sees the same orange and green color on the water. The woman dreams that she is passing over the water toward Palestine where Christ was crucified and where his tomb (sepulcher) is situated. The orange (oranges) and green (parrot) color in the water signifies that all beautiful and tasty things will meet death.

Stanza 2 (Lines 16-30)

While the woman is still in her dream, observing the ‘procession of dead,’ she faces a dilemma and questions herself why should she sacrifice her bounty (her life, earthly comforts, and pleasures). While on the one hand, the image of Christ is pushing her to fulfill the religious duties that she has neglected on this Sunday, she shows a little resistance as she is not completely convinced of Christianity. She is not willing to give up her pleasure of the warmth of the sun and the taste and feel of “pungent fruit and bright, green wings” and go to the Church to pray. She thinks that rather than going to Church to find divinity, she would prefer to find the divinity within herself. Her doubt in Christianity further grows as she thinks that though she sees the image of Christ in her dream, he vanishes before answering her question as soon as she opens her eyes. She can feel the divinity in herself as in her moods and passions, her desires, griefs, and elation, her sensual pleasure, and pain, all that encompasses her natural divinity, the divinity is her soul, her own psyche. The poet thus defined the soul in this stanza as the collective emotional nature of who we are as humans. The woman feels that her soul is everywhere, she could feel the rain and her moods, “falling snow.” She feels elation “when the forests bloom” and great emotions on “autumn nights.” Thus, she feels a strong connection with nature.

Stanza 3 (Lines 31-45)

In the third Stanza, the poet brings upon the discussion of paganism by mentioning the Roman god Jove to offer a comparison with Christianity. The woman thinks of Jove who, unlike Christ, is “inhuman”. Jove represents Zeus, the Roman god of Thunder and Skies. He had no mother, he didn’t take birth like humans, like Christ, nor he had a ‘sweet land’ or paradise as his home. The woman describes Jove as a giant with a mighty ‘mythy mind’, thus suggesting all the Roman and Greek myths regarding Jove. Yet, Jove moved and spent time with humans in human form. Jove remained with humans till their blood was pure virginal and when humans' blood failed, he became a star. The woman thus questions the veracity of this myth and wonders if there is any paradise other than this beautiful and colorful earth that “we shall know.” The poet then suggests that in the future, there will be a time when human beings while looking up the sky, won’t think of God or paradise, but would rather think of nature and feel a certain oneness with nature and then “this dividing and indifferent blue” sky won’t be a separation between humans and divinity.

Stanza 4 (Lines 46-60)

In these lines, the poet again describes the thoughts of the woman and says that “she says” that she is ‘content’ when she looks at beautiful birds as if heaven is here on the earth itself. But when the birds will search the ‘misty fields’ to find their paths, and fly away never to return, will it remain the same paradise then? The woman saw the stagnant still water in her dream and now wishes for the same stagnation and stillness but knows that no matter how beautiful reality and nature are, they will change as it flows and is ephemeral. She questions if there is an afterlife. Will the same comfort and peace she is feeling now while feeling the green cockatoo, will return again in the future. The poet says that there is no truth in the myths of the ‘golden underground,’ ‘visionary south’ and ‘melodious isle’ where the spirits live. While these myths may or may not be true, the reality still exists and nature is real, just like the memory of the green cockatoo the woman has. April will bring new green again.

Stanza 5 (Lines 61-75)

The poet again offers the argument of the woman. She says that though she agrees that nature is continuously changing and it will continue to bring beautiful things again and again she longs for eternal “imperishable bliss”. She says that she needs to feel truly happy and that happiness must remain forever and never change. The poet argues that beauty is impossible without end or death because death is the “mother” of everything beautiful. He says that death causes the end of things that one loves and people feel as if they have lost something as death “strews the leaves / Of sure obliteration.” But this feeling of loss tempts humans to search for new, other beautiful things and change their path. Thus, though death brings loss, it still offers new ways to beauty. The poet says that death brings change and change brings the most loved aspects of nature. He then gives an example of an old plate that was once very beautiful and valuable but now has been ‘disregarded.’ He says that boys seek beautiful maidens and to impress them and treat them, they collect “plums and pears,” on that disregarded plate and when they serve the plums and pears to the maidens, they feel extremely elated. Thus, the broken disregarded plate gains a new purpose.

Stanza 6 (Lines 76-90)

In this stanza, the poet questions the existence of Paradise and if there is no death in Paradise, which is really beautiful? The poet says that in a paradise where death does not exist, there cannot be any ripe fruit nor the flowing rivers eager to reach the ocean. He says that a paradise sans death would be still, motionless, and thus harmless. The poet asserts that change is necessary for beautiful things to occur and without death, beauty cannot exist. He says that in paradise, there won’t be any need to collect plums and pears as there will not be any ripe fruit, nor the maidens will come, nor there will be any happiness. He says we cherish so many colors in our mortal world, but in paradise, nobody would recognize any color as all will be white, colorless, and all will be good. Thus, paradise will have nothing that we humans consider beautiful. He says that humans are not able to understand how paradise would be but one thing is clear if there is no change, no death in paradise, then all the pleasure of the ‘perfect world’ will soon become boredom.

Stana 7 (Lines 91-105)

In the previous stanza, he described how the Christian paradise might be and in the seventh stanza, he offers a contrast by describing a pagan ‘orgy’. He describes how some savage-looking human beings gather in a circle as they worship Sun, praying and offering their thanks to the sun. They worship the sun not as an almighty god, but as their benefactor who offers them much-needed warmth. The poet says that in such worship, the reward is clear and it is not dependent on worship. Even if you won’t worship, the sun will ultimately offer warmth. The poet suggests the importance of human imagination. Without imagination and worship by humans, the sun would merely be a star burning in its core. He says that he would prefer such natural gods as they are more meaningful. He then brings other natural forces like the “Windy lake,” “trees like Seraphin (angels), and “echoing hills”. The poet says that as the pagans worship through their orgy, they come closer to nature itself. They realize that they have a deep connection with nature which is so strong that they feel that the dew on their feet holds their future. The poet suggests that nature holds the essence of humanity, from birth to beauty, to death.

Stanza 8 (Lines 106-120)

In this stanza, the poet returns to the woman and describes her thoughts. She again dozes off and sees the dream in which she saw the still water. The water speaks to her and says that in Palestine, there is no place where spirits live, and the tomb of Christ is just a grave where he was laid. The poet then offers his own perspective and says that in a pagan world, where humans worship the beneficial nature, the world consists of day and night and chaos. But this chaos offers them a sense of freedom as they are not bound to any one god. He describes nature as the progress of life where there are deers in the mountains while berries grow, ripen, and die in the wilderness. He says that the seed is beautiful but it dies, and when it dies, it gives birth to a sapling that turns into a tree again. He describes beautiful pigeons flying in the open sky irrespective of what human thinks and these pigeons fade away as the sky goes dark, signifying the power of death.

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!

Kanthapura by Raja Rao | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Raja Rao was an Indian English novelist who took birth in 1908 in the princely state of Mysore, Karnataka. His first novel was Kanthapura which was first published in the year 1938. It is a story based on a fictional South Indian village named Kanthapura. The novel became a huge success and established Raja Rao as one of the major Indian English writers who won the Sahitya Academy Award of 1964. He was also awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature by Oklahoma University in 1988. His other major works include The Serpect and The Rope which is a semi-autobiographical novel and was published in 1960. Raja Rao was a metaphysical writer who borrowed his writing style and structure for his stories and novels from Indian mythical stories and folk epics.

Characters of Kanthapura :

Moorthy is the protagonist of the novel. He lives in Kanthapura village and belongs to a middle-class high-caste Brahmin family and lives with his widowed mother Narasamma. He is a noble, quiet, serene, and generous person who leaves the village to attain higher education at the university of the city. At the University, he comes in touch with the nationalist fervor of Mahatma Gandhi and turns a non-violent Gandhian activist for Independence. After returning to the village, he tries to spread the message of Gandhi. Bhatta is a wealthy Brahmin of the village who doesn’t like Gandhian’s idea against untouchability and opposes Moorthy in establishing a unit of Gandhi’s Congress Party in Kanthapura. Patel Range Gowda is another powerful wealthy person in the village but he belongs to a lower caste. He is very shrewd but honest. He is often considered the leader of the village and called the ‘tiger.’ Rangamma is a 30-year-old childless widow of Kanthapura who is a bit educated and can read and write. She has read a lot about Gandhian ideas and philosophy. She openly opposes Bhatta’s caste discrimination and religious dictatorship. Everybody respects and listens to her. Bade Khan is a Muslim British officer appointed at the police station of Kanthapura. He is a brutal agent of the British government who deals with any kind of protest with extreme harshness. Kamalamma is the elder sister of Rangamma who sternly opposes Gandhian views. His 15 years old daughter Ratna is a child widow and Kamlamma’s only worry is to somehow remarry her daughter. Ratna on the other hand is inspired by Rangamma and devotes herself to the Gandhian revolution. Jayaramachar is a Brahmin priest whom Moorthy calls to the village for Hari-katha but instead of telling the villagers of Ram-Katha he. Talks about Mahatma Gandhi and his nationalist revolution. Rachanna is a coolie working in the Skeffington estate. Achakka is an old Brahmin widowed woman in the village. Seenu is her son. Achakka is the narrator of the novel she tells stories and past histories of the village. Mr. Skeffington is the founder and owner of a tea estate in the village who is very cruel to the workers. His nephew Skeffington too is very brutal and beats coolies for no cause. Vasudev is a brahmin clerk working in the Skeffington estate. He is a friend of Moorthy. Goddess Kenchamma is the village deity representing spiritual power and divinity.

Summary of Kanthapura:

The novel begins as Achakka starts telling the story of her village. She is the oldest widow in the village living with her sons. She knows everything about the history, culture, and people of the village and often tells stories of the past. Achakka tells how Goddess Kenchamma who lives on the upper Kenchamma hills appeared when a demon attacked the village during the ancient past and since then, Kenchamma became the village deity who protects the villagers. She then talks about people of various castes living in the village and informs that though some upper caste brahmins headed by Bhatta try to establish their dominance, the wealthiest and strongest person of the village is Patel Range Gowda, a low caste shudra. Everyone respects and listens to Range Gowda and caste discrimination isn’t a very serious issue in society. She then tells about Moorthy, a young Brahmin lad living with her widowed mother Narasamma. He had been a curious and different child since an early age but when he went to the city to attain higher education, he came under the influence of Gandhi. Another Gandhian of the village is Dore, however, Moorthy is loved by all. After returning from the city, enlightened by Gandhian thoughts, Moorthy starts educating people of lower castes and tries to oppose caste discrimination. Bhatta, a senior Brahmin of the village doesn’t like Moorthy for his Gandhian views as he is habitual in exploiting people of lower castes.

One day, Moorthy finds a Shivalinga on a farm while working and then he established the linga in the village temple to celebrate the occasion, he calls Jayaramachar to recite Hari-katha. Jayaramachar visits the village and after worshipping Shivalinga, he starts talking about Mahatma Gandhi and his revolutionary ideas. He exhorts the villagers to think about social issues and contribute to the independence movement. All villagers are impressed by his talks but Bhatta and a few others including Moorthy’s mother Narasamma don’t like Jayaramachar’s speech. Moorthy starts spreading Gandhi’s views in the village and he plans to turn all villagers into stanch non-violent volunteers of Gandhi. He throws out his foreign clothes and his foreign books into the fire and started wearing a Khadi. He openly started exclaiming that foreign clothes are symbols of oppression and slavery while Khadi is the symbol of national pride and self-reliance.

Bhatta decides to oppose Moorthy’s plan of establishing a unit of Congress party in the village by making his own political party of upper castes. He uses his social power to excommunicate Moorthy from the village for ridiculing and opposing age-old traditions of the village by interacting with people from different castes. Moorthy is forced to leave the house while his mother Narasamma suffers depression because of it. Moorthy starts living outside the village at the house of Rangamma, a widow who is educated and a Gandhian herself. Together they continue to spread the Gandhian way of thinking. Rangamma would gather village women and will teach them and make them learn how to spin wheels and produce Khadi clothes. His mother Narasamma is now alone in the village and she is very sad as her son has been excommunicated. She dies of a heart attack.

Meanwhile, Bade Khan, a Muslim police agent of the British government is appointed at Kanthapura. He is a notorious police officer who is infamous for his atrocious behavior against native people. When he tries to arrange accommodation in the village itself, Range Gowda refuses to let him settle there. Thus, he goes to the Skeffington estate where Mr. Skeffington offers him a hut to live alongside the coolies. A maistri has been appointed by Mr. Skeffington to lure impoverished people from all around India to work in the estate under inhuman conditions in horrible conditions at the estate. Mr. Skeffington has devised a devious plan to ensure that the coolies once join his estate, remain indentured labor for their whole life. He would give very low wages, and when in need, he will offer debts at enormously high-interest rates. He would deliberately make things of daily usage very scarce in the nearby area of the estate and then sell them at exorbitant prices to his coolies. He even appoints a few hooligans to make these coolies addicted to alcohol so that they may never succeed in collecting enough money to think about going away and making a better life. Bade Khan ensures that nobody will oppose or question M. Skeffington and his nephew. As Mr. Skeffington gets old, his nephew takes over the management of the estate. He is relatively less cruel to the coolies but he has a liking for the wives and daughters of coolies and would often grab and sexually assault them whenever he wishes. One day, when he tries to rape a young girl of a laborer working on the estate, her father opposes him in trying to save his daughter. Mr. Skeffington kills the coolie. Bade Khan ensures that he is not framed for the murder charges. Vasudev is a friend of Moorthy who works in the estate. With his help, Moorthy starts gathering coolies of the estate, teaching them how to read and write and evoking their self-pride in a Gandhian manner. Thus, he becomes trouble for Mr. Skeffington, his nephew, and Bade Khan. Meanwhile, Rachanna, a coolie dares to raise his voice against oppression and decides to leave the estate and go settle in Kanthapura. However, Bade Khan brings his police force along with the hooligans of the Skeffington estate and attacks Rachanna. All the coolie women of the estate gather in protest to protect Rachanna and during the commotion, a few women grab Bade Khan and beat him up while snatching away his beard. When Moorthy comes to know all this, he feels disheartened because the violence of any sort is against Gandhian principles. Thus, he decides to stay on fast for three days as penance. Ratna, a 15-year-old widow girl takes care of him during his fast. Her mother Kamallamma is the elder sister of Rangamma but unlike Rangamma, she hates Gandhians. Bhatta devises a plan to take the help of Kamalamma against Rangamma and other Gandhians by arranging the remarriage of Ratna but Ratna is not ready to marry. Rachanna starts living in the village and soon gathers sympathy from the villagers. Moorthy arranges a protest march against the oppression of coolies in the estate with the help of villagers. Their protest march is completely non-violent while they demonstrate and shout slogans praising Mahatma Gandhi and voicing the need for independence. They call for non-cooperation and ask people not to buy foreign goods and clothes, not to pay taxes and land revenues, and other forms of non-violent protests. The British government doesn’t take the march lightly and Bade Khan is ordered to oppress any such march. He again gathers his policemen and hooligans of Skeffington estate and attacks the protesters. This time, he is more cautious and vicious and specifically targets women. The police and Skeffington’s henchmen brutally beat women and rape them. Moorthy is arrested for disturbing the peace and order of the area.

In jail, Moorthy continues his non-violent protest and refuses to take the help of lawyers to get out. At last, he is released from jail but when he returns to Kanthapura, he sees total devastation. Farmlands have been burnt and almost all homes and huts have been demolished. He wonders what happened when Aachakka comes to him and greets him. She informs that after his arrest, the police force raised the village and brutally assaulted the men and women of the village. Many men were injured, some were killed, and many women were raped. After that, it became impossible for the women to stay in the village and thus, they decides to sell their homes and farmland to the people of Bombay city at negligible prices. Before leaving the village, they set fire to their crops and homes as they couldn’t use them. Moorthy is too sad by knowing all this. He wonders if his Gandhian belief is of any good. He remembers Kenchamma who failed to protect the village this time because while she is a fierce warrior goddess who fought and killed demons, Moorthy trusted the Nonviolence of Gandhi. Moorthy finds his belief in Gandhian ways cracking bit by bit. He is now more interested in the socialist movement demanding land redistribution and equal distribution of wealth.

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!

Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot | Imitations of Horace by Alexander Pope | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Arbuthnot was a close friend of Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, and other Augustan satirists of the Enlightenment age. Together, they made the famous Marcus Scriblerus Club and often wrote critical satires against the corruption and other ills of the court and society. In 1733, Alexander Pope began writing Imitations of Horace which was a collection of satirical poems written in the style of classical poet Horace. Rather than being a mere translation, it was a modification of Horace’s poems in which Pope used contemporary references of his time and attacked the high and mighty of the society including King George II of Great Britain and Prime Minister Robert Walpole.

Originally Horace wrote the poem to satirize the rule of king Augustus. He was criticized because he questioned the usefulness of poets. Pope criticized King George II in his imitation though there hardly was any comparison between Augustus and King George II. While Augustus was a mighty ruler with exceptional qualities of leadership, integrity, sagacity, and intelligence, George II was a feeble figure with little control over the reign. Queen Caroline actually controlled the whole Royal power. George II was born in Hanover, Germany and he hardly had any touch with British culture, nor did he show any interest in learning the traditions of Great Britain. He became close to Robert Walpole who was notoriously famous for large-scale corruption in royal dealings. Thus, these two became the major target of Pope’s satirical poems. Horace’s patron for his satires was Maecenas while Bolingbro supported and inspired Pope to write his imitation. Maecenas offered the Sabine farm to Horace where he could write without interruption while Pope’s Sabine farm became the Twickenham.

Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot:

In 1734, Dr. Arbuthnot, who was the Royal physician of Queen Anne, wrote a letter to Pope in which he informed that he is suffering from a lethal illness. Arbuthnot expressed his concerns for the safety of Alexander Pope who had become quite infamous because of his continuous satirical works in which he openly named and criticized many people of power. Pope was grateful for Arbuthnot’s concerns and he was very sad about his ill health. Thus, he decided to write an Epistle as an answer to his letter. Pope was attacked and criticized by other authors in the meanest ways possible. He suffered from Pott disease, a kind of tuberculosis of the spine that rendered him with stunted growth and a severe hunchback. Those who couldn’t find a mistake in his writings, often drew caricatures of him in a bad light, attacking his physical inabilities. In the Epistle to Arbuthnot, Pope attacks the critics and writers attacking his literary works while he defends his style of satirical writing. Pope explains his character in this letter and courageously expresses that he is not afraid of his opponents though he is worried about those who pretend to be his friends.

In Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Pope explains his life, motives, and reasons for being a satirical poet. In a way, it is a poem concerning Pope’s self-justification and self-realization. He not only criticizes his detractors but also criticizes himself while praising Joseph Addison as a genius and good writer. He sketches himself as "an envious and malicious monster" whose "satire springs from a being devoid of all natural affections and lacking a heart." he criticizes many detractors including Sporus (John Hervey), Colley Cibber, Harley, Bavius, Bishop, Philips, and Sappho.

Initially, Pope wrote it as a simple letter but then he converted it into a dialogue between him and Arbuthnot. Epistle to Dr. Abuthnot was added as the preface or the first poem of Imitation of Horace in 1751. The poem is a long canonical poem containing 419 lines written in heroic couplets. Many of the phrases Pope invented and devised in this poem became hugely popular and noteworthy. Some of them are “damn with faint praise,” where Pope ridicules the flatterers who pretend to be his friends, and “Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel,” mentioning Lord Hervey and criticizing his torturous and corrupt behavior. Lord Hervey was a political advisor of Queen Caroline and he was too harsh against Alexander Pope. He made assumptions regarding some of Pope’s allusions with no true evidence they pertained to him. Mary Wortley Montague used to be a close friend of Alexander Pope and his patron but she took offense to Pope’s The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace (ll. 83–84) and joined Lord Hervey in criticizing him. Pope mentioned her too in the Epistle by her name Montague. The poem satirizes cowardly critics, hypocritical pedants, insipid patrons of the arts, and corrupt sycophants, and it caricatures Pope’s contemporaries.

The poem can be divided into seven parts or sections.

Summary of Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot:

First Section (Lines 1-68)

“Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigu’d I said, / Tye up the knocker, say I’m sick, I’m dead.”

The poem begins as Pope asks his male servant John to shut the doors. Pope doesn’t want to let the budding poets in his house and compares them with dogs and mad people who ran away from the mental institutes of Bedlam and Parnassus. These new authors and writers are the result of the new printing presses. They lack any quality and acumen of a writer yet, are attracted towards the profession because of the foolish patrons who think of making easy money. Such amateur poets continue to follow Pope everywhere he goes even in his lovely grotto.

“They pierce my Thickets, thro’ my Grot they glide.”

These writers come with their pens and papers, asking him to correct or improvise their sham writings. Some of them try to bribe and cajole Pope to correct their writing. Some others would try to coerce and threaten him or blackmail him so that he may amend their write-ups and their drama or poem may succeed and become famous. However, Pope is not afraid of anything and he denies helping them. Rather he offers them sane advice that of Horace and asks them to wait for nine years before publishing a poem. None of them agrees with him so he now wants John to shut the door.

Second Section (Lines 69-124)

After explaining his troubles of being famous, Pope explains how dangerous it can be. He says that though they pretend to be his admirers, most of them are his jealous detractors wishing to destroy him. He says that these poetasters and admirers are like Midas and are unreliable. He then criticizes such poets who used to be his admirers and then joined the gang of dunces. He ridicules Reverend Laurence Eusden, poet and clergyman, whose drunkenness while serving as poet laureate became legendary; James Moore Smythe, who adopted some of Pope’s work into poorly written drama and joined the dunces in their attacks; Edmund Curll, who published unauthorized work by others as well as notorious literature; and Bernard Lintot, a publisher of most of Pope’s early writing.

“And has not Colly still his Lord, and Whore: / His Butchers Henley, his Free-masons Moor?
Does not one Table Bavius still admit? / Still to one Bishop Philips seem a Wit?
Still Sapho—”Hold! For God-sake—you’ll offend; / No Names—be calm—learn Prudence of a Friend.” (97-102)

He then criticizes a few popular poets using their names including Colley, Henley, Bavius, Bishop Philips, and Sappho. Colley Cibber was the current poet laureate of Britain while Henley was a politician and public orator. Bavius was a poet who attacked and criticized the works of Virgil and Ovid. He criticized Alexander Pope’s works too.

Then Dr. Arbuthnot interrupts him and warns him not to use any names. He ridicules Pope and says that he too satirizes these people and though he is twice taller than Pope, he never uses any name directly. Dr. Arbuthnot advises Pope to learn prudence from him. Pope says that he would prefer to be brave and he is not afraid of taking names. Pope then further complains about the budding amateur writers who would often come to him with requests to amend their dramas and poems that have been rejected by the theatres and production companies. They will try to flatter him and say that his nose is longer than Ovid’s nose and he is better than Hercules or Alexander the Great. Pope says that he knows he is a pretty ordinary man and doesn’t fall into their trap.

Section Third (Lines 125-146)

In this section, Pope expresses how and why he became a satirical poet. He mentions that he was not good with numbers (mathematics) but when he tried, numbers (Poetic meters) naturally came to him. “I lisp’d in Numbers, for the Numbers came.” He says that poetry came naturally to him, by instinct. Nobody asked him to write poetry but he did it by himself. He writes because his friends like Swift, Granville, Congreve, John Gay, and William Walsh enjoyed reading his poetry. Dr. Arbuthnot questions him why he publishes his poetry if it is written for his close friends? Pope answers that his close friends push him to publish his work. Swift, Congreeve, and John Dryden himself convinced him to publish his poems because they liked them and wishes the general audience to cherish his work so Pope published them.

Section Fourth (Lines 147- 260)

Pope attacks critics in this section and says that during the initial days of his career, he used to write descriptive poetry with no ‘sense’ in it. His poetry was insipid and meaningless just like that of Lord Hervey. During those early days, he used to listen to the critics and was very concerned about their advice. But then he noticed that the critics, whose advice he meekly attempted to follow, had never written a word of poetry themselves. How then could they claim to evaluate John Milton and Shakespeare, much less the work of Alexander Pope and his contemporaries? He satirizes Ambrose Philips and declares him to be a plagiarist who copies works from Greek literature to earn money. He says that if Ambrose is forced to write original works only, he would fail to write any more than eight lines in a year.

Then he praises Joseph Addison and says that he learned a lot from Joseph Addison who is a genius writer and essayist. He says that Addison’s defect is that he wants to dominate the literary world. He thinks that he is the greatest of all writers. Pope calls him a coward because while he criticizes and ridicules other writers fiercely, he is afraid of being attacked by other writers himself.

“Curst be the Verse, how well soe’er it fl ow, / That tends to make one worthy Man my foe” (183– 184).

Pope then says that he is not the one who cannot praise the good work of others and he will never satirize anyone through his poetry just because they have hurt his vanity, though he has been criticized by others for hurting their false ego and vanity. Pope says that he criticizes and satirizes only those who deserve his criticism for their menial work and immoral behavior. He also satirizes foolish patrons like Lord Halifax who love being flattered. Pope says that Lord Halifax helps the poetasters who flatter him.

Section Five (Lines 261- 304)

In this section, Pope suggests that he is tired of his detractors and asks the poetasters to let him leave live in a peaceful manner. He says that there is no reason for them to be jealous of him because irrespective of the popularity of his works, he hardly made any money and he is burdened with debt. He says that he is no great person but someone very normal who prays to god every day. He says that only dunces fear him. A dunce is one “Who reads but with a Lust to mis-apply, / Make Satire a Lampoon, and Fiction, Lye.” However, “A Lash like mine no honest man shall dred, / But all such babbling blockheads in his stead” (303-304)

He says that only corrupt liars and fraudsters would fear his satire and works while a man with an honest heart and good intentions needs not to fear him because he will never criticize such an honest person.

Section Six (Lines 305-333)

In this section, Pope criticizes Lord Hervey by the name of Sporus. Dr. Arbuthnot interrupts him and questions if Hervey deserves any criticism as he is too foolish who drinks donkey’s milk and who is so torturous that he crushes butterflies in breaking wheels.

“. . . What? That Thing of silk, Sporus, / that mere white Curd of Ass’s milk?
Satire or Sense alas! Can Sporus feel? / Who breaks a Butterfl y upon a Wheel?” (305–309)

Pope says that such poetasters deserve his criticism because while trained eyes could see their faults, common people often mistake them to be great artists. He then caricatures Hervey as Sporus, whose “virtues” are twisted. He admires “Beauty that shocks you, Parts that none will trust, / Wit that can creep, and Pride that licks the dust” (332–33). he says that Hervey is a liar and flatterer who says anything to please the people in court and in government. He values glamour, sensual pleasure, and social climbing. Being a homosexual, Hervey is not only a man-woman but an animal demon, a shape-changer, like Satan. Hervey had attacked Pope most viciously and he even abused his family and parents.

Section Seven (Lines 334-419)

In the last section, Pope tries to convince Dr. Arbuthnot not to worry about him. He says that his close friend must believe Pope’s virtues and abilities. Pope describes himself as bold, and courageous who is not in fear of his detractors. He says that he never worried about wealth and fortune and thus he has never flattered anyone to gain their favor. He rather likes satirizing his enemies and critics. He claims that he was brought up well by his peace-loving parents, good citizens of England. They led a happy domestic life. Pope also wants to live a similar life. He concludes the poem by praying that Arbuthnot should lead a happy, peaceful, and prosperous life.

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 Man with The Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Man with The Blue Guitar is a long abstract poem by Wallace Stevens that was published in the year 1937. The poem is divided into 33 sections and while each section can be read as a separate poem, Wallace maintains a consistent theme in all these sections and thus, these sections appear to be parts of a larger plot or greater picture of thoughts. Wallace used Parataxis throughout the poem to juxtapose a guitarist, or a musician, and the poet. The main theme of the poem is the difference between reality and imagination and how reality is dependent on perception. The poem suggests that each perception or experience of reality is unique and insightful. The guitar is used as a metaphor for an instrument of perception used by the musician who does not present the reality as it is but creates a new reality as a perception. The poet stresses that reality is an abstraction with many perspective possibilities.

Structure of The Man With The Blue Guitar:

The poem is divided into 33 short parts of cantos written in couplets. Each canto contains a varied number of couplets, some have five, and some have six or eight. There is no consistent rhyming pattern in the couplets though most of the lines are written in iambic tetrameter with specific use of enjambment. The poem follows Free verse with a few rhyming couplets. Wallace has used Onomatopoeia and Topopoeia to offer a sense of the four beats of a guitar. The poem appears as an improvisation of a musical composition and in each of the 33 cantos, Wallace has used a series of improvisation that offers a sense of jointness to the overall poem as one in which the poet offers different metaphors to explain the metamorphosis of the whole poem in parts. Wallace also used Anaphora, Assonance, Alliteration, Apostrophe, Irony, and Repetition. The poem is written as a dialogue between the man with the blue guitar and his audience, and thus, it continually shifts from third person to first person narrative. The poet is not only compared with a guitarist, but also with a painter or an actor, or any fine artist. He offers a similarity between poetry and painting and suggests that both present many perceptions of reality in place of reality itself.

Summary of The Man With The Blue Guitar:

“The man bent over his guitar, / A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.”

The poem begins with a man starts playing his guitar. It is a green day, which is a metaphor for reality while the guitar is his instrument to express reality with different perceptions, it creates a new reality out of the imagination of the audience. The man is described as a shearsman, that is a person whose occupation is to alter things, change them, or not present them as they are. His audience questions him “You have a blue guitar, You do not play things as they are."

The blue guitar is a metaphor for the instrument that can alter things or present real facts in a multitude of perceptions. The man accepts that his ‘Blue Guitar’ does alter things as they are “changed upon the blue guitar.”

The poet is suggesting that when a musician performs, he doesn’t express reality as it is, rather the reality changes a bit or more and is presented in the perception of the musician. Furthermore, when the audience listens to the music, they perceive the performance according to their own perception or imagination. Despite this difference between the reality and the imagination of the performer and audience, The ‘imagination’ does contain a vital portion of reality and thus, there is a strong similarity between reality and the perception or performance of an artist ( poet, musician, painter, etc.).

Nevertheless, the audience is adamant and insists that the man must play a tune “of things exactly as they are.” Yet, the audience acknowledges that such a tune, which is exactly like reality, is beyond their comprehension because whatever they will listen to, they will perceive it with their own perception, which again will be an amalgamation of reality and imagination. Thus, while the audience demands the guitarist to present reality as it is, they demand “A tune beyond us, yet ourselves”, and “things exactly as they are”. Here is the irony, the audience or the critics realize that they cannot perceive reality sans any bias or perception yet, demand the performer to present his art exactly similar to reality. Thus, the poet exposes the demands of realism on the musician or poet.

In the 2nd canto, the poet says that he cannot present his poem exactly as real as he can't draw a perfect circle. “I cannot bring a world quite round,/Although I patch him as I can./I sing a hero’s head, large eye/And bearded bronze, but not a man”. The poet says that reproducing reality is impossible though he tries his best but falters every time. Every time he performs, the reality is amalgamated with his own perception of it. He says that he can only describe the man with the blue guitar just like he performs a serenade of his music which is almost like the reality but still, is just a serenade, a creation of the guitarist, just like the poem is the creation of the poet. It can be very similar to reality, still, it is imagination but not reality. In the first canto, the audience were examining the guitarist, while in the 2nd canto, the poet himself explains the guitarist in the first person.

From canto 1 to canto 6, Stevens continues to offer similarities between the musician and poets and how the imagination of a poet or musician ‘slightly’ differs from reality, the green world, “things exactly as they are.” The poet or musician offers their own imagination, their own created world, and no matter how diligently they try to paint reality as it is, they are never able to remake the reality perfectly. In the 6th Canto, Stevens introduces Topopoeia and tries to construct an image large enough to enclose its own image. The audience is mingled up with the tune and finds themselves as if they are a part of the tune themselves. “Ourselves in the tune as if in space,

Yet nothing changed, except the place.” However, they find no difference except that they are not in the real world now but in the imaginative world of the guitarist. While contemplating on the guitarist’s imagination, the audience comes to see all the possible perceptions of the performance, yet, they fail to realize the reality which is still “A tune beyond us as we are” because though the critic may dive in the imagination of the performer to see his perceptions, he can merely observe the perceptions, but not the reality.

In the 7th canto, the poet expresses the concerns of the performers (musicians, poets, painters, actors, and others). He says that the performers are like the sun who shares their works.

“It is the sun that shares our works. / The moon shares nothing. It is a sea.”

The sun offers light and heat while the moon produces nothing and hence, offers nothing, just like the sea which offers no warmth. It is a cold winter day during which, even the warmth of the sun is absent and thus, the poet says “The sun no longer shares our works.” Thus, the imagination of the performer is the warmth that keeps mankind moving. However, the moon is good, detached from creation or imagination, it offers no imagination and presents things as they are. The poet says that despite all the demands of realism, the imagination of the poet, musician, painter, or actor is the warmth that keeps the world alive. In absence of the warmth of the sun and the creative, imaginative performers, the earth would be a place of “creeping men.”

The title of the poem suggests that it was inspired by a famous painting by Pablo Picasso titled “The Old Guitarist” which he made in 1903-04. Stevens mentions Picasso in canto 15 which begins as

“Is this picture of Picasso's, this "hoard / Of destructions", a picture of ourselves.” In this canto, Stevens offers similarities between the imaginations of a poet, musician, and painter. Stevens again suggests that though the performer creates an imaginative equivalent of reality, yet, the reader or audience further amalgamates it with his own perception. He asks, “Is my thought a memory, not alive?” Obviously, his poem is perceived by the reader according to their own perceptions. The reader brings life to the poem as they read it.

The poet again says that though the performer tries his best to express reality, it is just a patchwork and can never be “exactly the things they are”. He mentions the case of “Humpty” who sat on the wall and had a great fall, and once fallen, no matter how much patchwork is done, the broken naked egg cannot be the real egg. “Now, an image of our society? /Do I sit, deformed, a naked egg.”

In canto 18, Stevens describes poetry as a dream in which the poet can describe reality according to his own perception and wishes. In this dream, the poet allows “sun’s green”, “cloud’s red”, “earth feeling”, and a “sky that thinks.” However, while the poem is the subject of poetry which is used to describe reality, the process makes the poem alienated from reality. Poems take reality and form it into a sensual reproduction, and then give the representation to readers of the poem.

In canto 26, the poet says that a performer imagines and offers the best of his imagination and that is Utopia. “Sand heaped in the clouds, giant that fought/Against the murderous alphabet:/The swarm of thoughts, the swarm of dreams/Of inaccessible Utopia.” The poet says that to create such a world, the poet must fight against the “murderous alphabet” to create words and this fight is no less gruesome that the fight of Ullysses against the One-eyed giant. The poet says that similar is the task of a musician “A mountainous music always seemed/To be falling and to be passing away”. Despite the strength required to produce such a creative poem or music, it always seems to falter as it fails to express reality in its entirety.

In canto 33, Stevens further explains the faltering nature of creative arts and says that an art form of the past is nothing but the best, finest dream of a generation that has gone by. Each such piece of art, be it a painting, music, or poem, fades away with time because the generation that produces it and that appreciates it also fades away and the new generation demands newer tastes in arts. The fine piece of art is nothing but the perception of the past.

“That’s it, the only dream they knew,/Time in its final block, not time/To come, a wrangling of two dreams”.

However, a poet can dream and express his dream in his poem according to what he sees, observes, and knows. He is not omniscient and cannot have all the possible perceptions. Yet, his piece of art is timeless because the reader analyses his dream according to his own perception and knowledge of his time in the future that the writer himself was unable to perceive. Thus, his performance is “a wrangling of two dreams” because the reader also perceives the piece of art as per his finite perception. The poet has his dream and the reader interprets the dream, but the interpretation will be the reader’s own dream, not the poet’s dream, or even a duplication of reality.

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!

The Vendor of Sweets by R. K. Narayan | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Vendor of Sweets is a novel by R. K. Narayan that was published in the year 1967. It is set in the fictional town of Malgudi and the novel sketches the biography of a fictional character named Mr. K. V. Jagan who is a sweet vendor in Malgudi. It is a story of the clash between the traditional Indian ethos and emerging modern Indian culture. Jagan’s wife dies at an early age due to his negligence and then Jagan raises his son Mali as a single parent. R. K. Narayan himself raised his daughter after his wife’s untimely death. The novel also shows the flaws of Gandhian ideals while satirizing the hypocrisy of Gandhian followers.

Characters:

Jagan is a 55 years old sweet vendor of Malgudi. He is a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi though he has his own flaws and hypocrisy. His wife Ambika, suffered a brain tumor while their son Mali was just a teen. Being influenced by the Gandhian idea of Naturopathy and ‘Swadeshi’, Jagan refused to take medical help for his wife while he continued to offer Ayurvedic treatment to her. As a result, she died at an early age. Mali was still a child when his mother died, however, he has some memories of how his father’s patriarchial mindset and too much belief in the supremacy of naturopathy over modern medicine aggravated his mother’s condition. These memories create tension between the father and son. Mali willingly goes against the wishes of his father and cheats on him to collect money for going to the U.S.A. where he gets completely modernized and westernized. When he returns home, Jagan finds him doing everything against his native culture. He dislikes Malgudi and wishes to modernize it. Chinna Doari is a hair dryer, spiritualist, and sculptor. He engages Jagan in helping him build a sculpture of Goddess Gayatri. The cousin is a popular man of Malgudi who helps everyone and is loved and respected by them. Jagan decides to hand over his shop and other assets to him before he retires. Grace is a half-American, half-Korean girlfriend of Mali who comes to India with him. Initially, Mali introduces her as his wife to Jagan. Jagan is very upset about his marriage with a foreign girl but gradually, he starts liking Grace and realizes that Mali isn’t treating her properly. He feels that Mali is doing the same mistakes that he did with his wife, Mali’s mother. He talks to Mali trying to help Grace. Later on, he comes to know that Mali and Grace aren’t even married. Grace continues to mix up American culture with her Korean origins and Indian culture that she came in touch with due to Mali.

Summary of The Vendor of Sweets:

The novel is set in Independent India. Jagan is a sweet vendor who owns a shop in Malgudi. He is an ardent fan of Gandhi and follows Gandhian asceticism. He eats only wheat, green vegetable, and honey and cuts sugar and salt from his diet. He firmly believes that indulging in sugar is both unhealthy and contrary to Gandhi’s teachings but he earns his living selling sugary confections to others. He believes in Bhagwat Geeta yet, he has no qualms in skimming a portion of each day’s profits, hoarding it away so that he will not have to pay taxes on his unreported income. His wife Ambika died in her youth because of a brain tumor that could have been treated with modern medical help. But being a follower of Gandhi, Jagan insisted on naturopathy for her treatment and rejected any form of allopathy to cure her. Jagan had written a book on naturopathy through the publication of the book was overdue by the printer. His adamant insistence on naturopathy resulted in her demise while his son Mali was still a teenager. This incident filled Mali’s heart with a strong resentment against his father. He blamed Jagan for his mother’s death. Jagan also felt that he was a bit negligent about his wife. Anyhow, he continued his sweet shop and devoted himself to the upbringing of Mali as a single parent. Meanwhile, he is helped by a man of Malgudi who claims his cousinhood with everyone in Malgudi. He becomes a bridge between Mali and Jagan as he can respect Jagan’s traditional outlook while acknowledging Mali’s rebellious views.

Mali is now a grown-up person who aspires to be a poet and writer. He still has a strong feeling of resentment against Jagan who wishes him to complete his education and secure a good future. Mali decides to drop out of college and steal some money from his father’s shop to go to the U.S. where he has to attend a writing program. Instead of taking his father in confidence, Mali steals money from the sweet shop. He manages to get his passport and a ticket to the U.S. Jagan is shocked when Mali declares that he is leaving his education halfway and going to the U.S. to fulfill his dreams.

After a few months, Jagan receives a letter from Mali in which he comes to know that Mali eats beef by choice and he likes it and thus, shows complete rejection and disdain towards his father’s beliefs. After three years, Mali realizes that he has no future in America and decides to return back to India. Jagan receives another letter informing him about the return to Mali with another person. Despite knowing that Mali has rejected all the traditions, Jagan is happy about his return. Mali reappears with Grace, his girlfriend who is half-American and half-Korean. Jagan is bewildered by her presence. He assumes that Mali married Grace without taking his consent and he is sad about this. Since Grace isn’t an Indian, nor a Hindu, Jagan feels animosity towards her. However, she is warm and kind to Jagan in ways that Mali is not. She is not only trying to manage her ethnic Korean culture along with American culture, but she also tries to learn Indian culture and starts taking up the duties of a traditional Indian daughter-in-law: cooking, cleaning, and even decorating the house. Jagan is habitual of self-reliance as he is living alone for many years, taking care of his kitchen and home. Grace’s interference makes him feel awkward. Yet, she is warm enough and Jagan is willing to have a healthy relationship with Grace because she becomes the bridge between the estranged father-son duo. Jagan notices that Mali doesn’t treat Grace well and this reminds him of his own behavior toward his late wife. He talks to Mali about this and suggests he treat Grace well but Mali ignores him.

Jagan faces another problem when Mali announces that he is planning to establish a printing press of his own and asks for money to do so. He says that he will establish a publishing company that will allow India to compete with western countries in the literary arena. Jagan shows no interest in Mali’s lofty ideas and tries to ignore his demand for money. Jagan believes that great writing can only come through the inspiration of God but Mali’s idea of automated “novel-writing machines” challenges his belief. When Mali insists he invests in his company, Jagan adopts ‘non-violent non-cooperation and tries to avoid investing his money. However, Mali and Grace confront him strictly and asks him to clearly answer if he will help Mali in establishing his company or not. To his, Jagan answers that the best he can do is to leave the sweet shop to him. Mali mocks him and sneeringly responds, "better plans than to be a vendor of sweetmeats.”

Jagan is disturbed by Mali’s demand and he even starts doubting that Grace’s warmness, friendliness, and attention are intended efforts to win his money. He starts spending more time outside the home and one day, he meets a hair dryer named Chinna Dorai who tells him that he is a sculptor and trying to finish a magnanimous idol of goddess Gayatri for a long. Chinna takes Jagan to a groove to show him the unfinished sculptor. Jagan feels a strange sense of tranquility and peace at the groove. Chinna asks him to become his patron and buy the groove so that he may complete his work. Initially, Jagan is not interested in Chinna Dorai’s request but then he thinks that his own life with Mali and Grace is no better and he realizes that Mali will never work at the sweet shop. Thus, he decides to help Chinna Dorai in completing the idol of Goddess Gayatri and becomes his patron.

When Jagan returns home, Grace starts a conversation with him. She informs him that contrary to his belief, she is not married to Mali and he is not treating her well. Jagan is shocked to know all this. He is too disturbed by knowing that his son is keeping a woman without marrying her. He decides to leave the house immediately and start living in the groove. He retires from the sweet shop too and declares that he has chosen ‘Vanaprastha,’ or renunciation from the materialistic world.

While Jagan is preparing to leave his home and settle in the groove, the cousin visits him and informs him that Mali has been arrested by police for drinking liquor, violating prohibition laws. Jagan takes this news with calmness and says that a 'dose of prison life is not a bad thing' for Mali as the harsh punishment may make him realize his mistakes and he may turn towards the right path after that. He offers the keys and ownership of his sweet shop to the cousin and writes a cheque to him to manage the arrangement of bail of Mali. In addition, he sets aside some money for Grace to buy a ticket for her return and departs for the grove to help Chinna Dorai.

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!