Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Helen is a short poem written by Hilda Doolittle, better known as H.D. that was first published in 1952. H.D. used imagery, allusion, metaphor, symbolism, and allegory to relate this poem with the Greek mythological figure of Helen also mentioned in Homer’s Illiad while the main motive of the poem is to highlights the gender prejudice in the social setup that has been observed since the times of the Trojan war and the current times. The other literary work that H.D. related through this poem is To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe which was published in 1845. In the poem, Poe describes a woman known to him as beautiful as Helen of Troy.
Hilda Doolittle used her deep knowledge of Greek mythology and imagery in raising the issue of objectification of women and misogyny.
Helen was the daughter of the god Zeus and the goddess Nemesis. She was the most beautiful girl in Sparta whom everyone praised and desired. However, nobody ever considered her as an independent individual and she was objectified as a beautiful artifact, an object of desire. She was forcibly married to King Menelaus of Sparta, the younger brother of King Agamemnon of Mycenae. While she was not at all happy in this troublesome relationship, she fell in love with Prince Priam of Troy and ran away to Troy with him. This resulted in a war that was fought for more than 10 years. Helen obviously was vilified and she became the object of hatred for Greeks. The poem stresses that lust and desire objectify women and so does hatred. Edgar Allen Poe wrote To Helen while praising a woman who recently died. In this poem too, he explains how beautiful and effective she was. While Hilda took the Greek mythological elements in her poem as imagery, she related this poem to Poe’s ‘To Helen’ by mimicking the tone, variations, and metrical structure. By doing so, she criticizes these precedents and offers a full focus on Helen as an individual, free woman, rather than focusing on those who objectified her. Thus, Hilda Doolittle presented the story of Helen of troy and its gender implications through this poem.
Structure of Helen by H.D.
It is an 18 lines poem composed in three stanzas. The first one is a quintet (5 lines), the second is a sestet (6 lines), and the third one is a septet (7 lines). These lines are written in free verse with no rhyming scheme and sporadic end rhyming. The narrator of the poem is unknown, though we may assume that Hilda Doolittle herself is the narrator who is talking of Helen of Troy. The title Helen itself works as an extended metaphor to illustrate the way culture, history, and myth have treated, and continue to treat, women. This strong relationship with the Ancients gives an idea to the reader that despite all the modernism and development, human society is suffering from the same ills since then. The very first line “All Greece Hates” is Hyperbole. H.D. uses Simile to express the beauty of Helen and compares the glow of her face to “the luster as of olives.” Along with that, H.D. used Allegory, Imagery, and Allusion to Greek mythology and Homer’s Illiad,
Summary of Helen by H.D.
Stanza 1
“All Greece hates
the still eyes in the white face,
the luster of olives
where she stands,
and the white hands.”
The main idea of this poem is to express the extensive hate Greek people felt for Helen during her time. That hatred gave way to one of the most talked about mythical wars of Troy that destroyed such a great country and caused the death of many seemingly invincible war heroes including Hector. However, that was not the case at the beginning when Helen was recognized as the most beautiful woman in the world. She was the daughter of gods and took birth as a result of godly love. In her days of youth, she was said to be the most beautiful woman alive, and skillful men of power and fame struggled and competed to get her hand in marriage. But then, this excessive obsession turned into immense hatred.
The poet begins by expressing this all-encompassing hatred towards Helen. Everyone in Greece now hates those beautiful still eyes set on her lotus-white face. H.D. mentioned white twice in the stanza to suggest the innocence and purity of Helen who is now an object to be hated, an object that was once most sought after. People not only hate Helen, but they hate her mere existence. They now hate all her body and embodiments that were once considered the most valuable assets. They hate the olive-like luster of her skin and her soft white hands are despised. They even hate the ground on which she stands (and that’s why Troy was attacked and destroyed). Stanza 2:
“All Greece reviles
the wan face when she smiles,
hating it deeper still
when it grows wan and white,
remembering past enchantments
and past ills.”
H.D. again begins the second stanza with Hyperbole while explaining the immense hatred of Greek people against Helen.
The poet says that all Greeks “revile” Helen’s smiling face, they do not want her to be happy, they aspire for her misery and are disgusted by her happiness. Their hatred is so deep that the smiling face for which Greeks were ready to die so disgusts them now that they wish for her unhappiness. Furthermore, they not only wish her misery in present but they do not wish her to be happy by remembering the glorious past days when she was the candy in everyone’s eyes. They consider the affection they had showered on Helen as ‘past ills.’
Stanza 3:
“Greece sees unmoved,
God’s daughter, born of love,
the beauty of cool feet
and slenderest knees,
could love indeed the maid,
only if she were laid,
white ash amid funereal cypresses.”
The poet expresses the extent of change in the perspective of the Greeks. Helen was God’s own daughter and she was the most beautiful and most loved but now Greeks are unmoved by the sight of her. The poet suggests how important Helen was to the Greeks and now how much they hate her and this hatred is only because she chose to be with the man whom she loved and not with the man who kept her without her consent. Helen experienced the best of life that one could have as she was the daughter of godly love but then she was objectified as an object of obsession by men to be acquired. A man whom she never liked acquired her against her own wish and when she broke free, she was again objectified as an object of immense hatred. She still has those beautiful ‘cool feet’ and ‘slenderest knees’ that the men could die for but now they hate her so much that they can love her again only if she is dead, lying on her ‘funereal cypresses.” Basically, the poet suggests that people never considered her living. When they used to love her in past, they loved her as an object of lust, obsession, and sexual fantasy to be acquired, as if she has no soul or individuality. But then she proved to be living by her act of choosing to be with the man she loved. But men couldn’t love her alive and thus, they can only love her again if she dies again.
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!
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. After returning from Lilliput and Belfuscu, Gulliver spends two months with his family. He becomes restless soon and on 2nd June 1702, he sets sail on the ship The Adventure with Captain John Nicholas. The ship is headed to Surat, India while going through the Cape of Good Hope and Madagascar. However, the ship never reaches its destination as Captain Nicholas and his crew face a violent storm. As happened in past, Gulliver survives the storm and is ashore on an unknown island. Gulliver had distinct memories of Lilliput where he was an all-powerful giant with exceptional fighting skills. Despite being sympathetic, helpful, and just towards those minute human-like creatures of Lilliput and Belfuscu, Gulliver couldn’t understand the awe, fear, excitement, and jealousy of Lilliputians towards him. But this was going to change pretty soon as he is on another unknown island to explore. Jonathan Swift again uses this setup to satirize and criticize the English government and society in general and suggests that perspective extends beyond size to opinion. Each society can have different opinions about the same subject though they follow the same pattern. The main point of contention in Book 2 is Gunpowder which represents power. However, Swift satirizes the newly acquired power of Gunpowder and suggests that the negative effects of gunpowder would far outweigh the positive ones in his society.
Characters of A Voyage to Brobdingnag:
The Borbdingnagians are the inhabitant of the new island that Lemuel Gulliver reaches after a violent storm. Gulliver is caught by the farmer who is a common citizen of Brobdingnag. He keeps Gulliver as his pet vermin and starts exhibiting him while making money through him. Gulliver is obedient toward the farmer and calls him his master. Glumdalclitch is the daughter of the farmer who likes Gulliver as a pet and takes care of him. The farmer’s other child is a toddler who threatens Gulliver as he plays with him but Glumdalclitch comes to his rescue at a time. The Brobdingnagian queen purchases Gulliver from the farmer and grows very fond of him. She takes proper care of Gulliver. The Brobdingnagian King is surprised by knowing that this little vermin can talk sense and starts discussing matters of governance with Gulliver while examining the ways and systems of humans in their world. The Brobdingnagian prince is amused by Gulliver and considers him a cute little vermin. The Dward is a clown to cheer the Brobdingnagian queen who becomes jealous of Gulliver because the queen grows more fond of Gulliver than the dwarf who happened to be the smallest man on the court before Gulliver’s arrival.
Summary of A Voyage to Brobdingag:
The Adventure is a stronger ship but when it reaches somewhere north of Madagascar, an enormous storm damages it. The crew disembark the ship on a lifeboat in search of a shore. As they reach the shore, they separate to look for fresh water. A huge monster attacks the crew and they run away on the boat while leaving Gulliver stranded on the island. Gulliver runs deeper into the island to save himself but soon he realizes that he is caught in greater danger as he sees giant grass and humongous corn around him. Gulliver further observes a group of monsters carrying giant scythes in their hands as they work in the field. Gulliver is terrified as he remembers his days in Lilliput. He realizes how the Lilliputians might have felt when he arrived there. He was the only giant in that land of miniatures but here, he is surrounded by a whole crowd of monsters. He realizes that there is no absolute truth, nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison. Everything is dependent on the comparison, that is, perspective.
While working in the field, a reaper almost steps on Gulliver and he cries out loud to save himself. Another reaper notices that sound and picks up Gulliver in his hand. The reaper curiously examines Gulliver and then gently puts him in his pocket and takes him to show to his master, the farmer. The farmer is surprised by seeing this vermin that produces some strange sounds. Gulliver is afraid and he offers all his gold to them to save his life as these giants can easily crush him. But the giants don’t recognize the worth of gold and return it to him. These monsters converse in some strange language that Gulliver cannot understand. The farmer wraps gulliver in his handkerchief and takes him to his home. At home, the farmer shows Gulliver to his surprised family members. He offers Gulliver some food as the family takes dinner. The farmer’s toddler son is curious about this strange vermin and he picks Gulliver up who frighteningly shouts to save himself. The farmer notices Gulliver and he twists the ears of his son while rescuing Gulliver. Then Gulliver requests the farmer through signs to forgive his son and let his ear be freed. Since then, Gulliver starts addressing the farmer as his Master. He then sees two mice running in the house and he fears that even these giant mice can easily kill him. He kills one of the mice with the help of his sword and then he encounters a huge cat which terrifies him. Gulliver is disgusted by the complexion of the farmer’s wife but then he realizes that it is because of her huge size in comparison to himself. He remembers how Lilliputians found him ugly, frightening, and disgusting while he found them beautiful and lovely. The farmer’s nine-year-old daughter Glumdalclitch is fond of Gulliver and she takes proper care of him. She treats him diligently, washes him, and stitches a pair of new dresses for him. Gradually, Glundalclitch starts teaching the Brodingnagian language to Gulliver. Everyone in the society of farmers is curious about this new little creature. One of the neighbors the farmer suggests to him that he can make good money by exhibiting his pet vermin in the local market.
At the market, the farmer puts Gulliver on a desk, and Gulliver bows to everyone while answering questions asked by Glumdalclitch. Then he shows a game of his sword. A boy from the crowd throws a hazelnut at Gulliver but he dodges the hazelnut and survives. The boy is then beaten by others. The show proves to be a financial success and the farmer decides to take Gulliver to different places for exhibition on a country-wide tour. The farmer decides to stage 10 shows in every big city.
While the farmer makes good money on this tour, Gulliver suffers because of travel, lack of food, and too much workload as he has to perform 10 times every day. On his last performance, the Brobdingnagian queen observes Gulliver and gets excited by him. She decides to buy this new kind of vermin for her pleasure. The farmer thinks that Gulliver has turned too weak and thin and may die pretty soon and thus, he sells Gulliver to the Queen. Gulliver requests the farmer and the queen to let Glumdalclitch be with him and the farmer agrees to it. As the farmer leaves, Gulliver tells the queen how the farmer kept him under the burden of overwork and hopes that the queen will take good care of him. The queen is impressed by Gulliver’s fine talks and sensibility. She shows him to the Brobdingnagian king At first, the king doubts that Gulliver is a piece of clockwork but soon realizes that Gulliver is a living sane creature that can use logic. The king summons his advisors and philosophers to examine Gulliver who declares that he is a freak of nature, an extremely minute man. The king orders a special chamber to be made for Gulliver and Glumdalclitch where they could live comfortably. The king and queen love to dine with Gulliver and Glumdalclitch. Gulliver would often tell stories of men in England and how they live. The prince of Brobdingnag is amused by Gulliver and one day he comments “how contemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as [Gulliver].”
While life is comparably good for Gulliver in the Brobdingnagian palace, he is pestered by the dwarf of the palace who used to be the Queen’s favorite before Gulliver arrived. Being jealous of Gulliver, he would often torture him in various ways. Once he stuck Gulliver in the hollow of a marrow bone and once nearly drowned him in a pitcher of cream. Gulliver is also pestered by house flies which are huge in size. They will often excrete food and lay their eggs everywhere. While the giants cannot see them, Gulliver sees the filth and eggs of houseflies and it disgusts him. He is also afraid of giant wasps who once attacked him with their stingers. Gulliver managed to remove the stinger from him and kept it as a memory.
Gulliver observes that the country of Brobdingang is situated on a rocky peninsula and based on his memories of where he lost his ship and crew members, he guesses that Brobdingnag must be situated somewhere between Japan and North America. Glumdalclitch is still the best caretaker of Gulliver who would often take Gulliver on countryside expeditions in a specially made box for Gulliver. On one such expedition, Gulliver notices some beggars. He sees lice crawling on their body that they couldn’t see themselves. He notices that the architecture of Brobdingnag isn’t as impressive as that of England. The dwarf continues to create troubles for Gulliver which increase because of Gulliver’s size. One day, the dwarf shook off an apple tree so forcibly that many apples fell on Gulliver who nearly drowned and dead under the apples but somehow managed to survive. In another instance, Gulliver was nearly crushed by a falling hail. Even dogs try to take a bite of Gulliver and giant birds would often try to gulp him away.
The maids of the queen are very careful towards Gulliver and they treat him like a baby. They will often get naked and urinate in front of him and play with him while keeping him on their naked bodies. Gulliver is disgusted by the strong, magnified odor of their bodies. He could observe the uneven skin of their bodies and their breasts too appear to be ugly to him because of the enormity of the flaws of their skin. One day, the pet monkey of the Queen mistakes Gulliver to be a baby monkey and takes him to the top of a tree, forcibly feeding him her milk. The soldiers then captured the monkey and killed it. While each of these accidents was lethal for Gulliver who gets shocked to his core every time, Glumdalclitch, the Queen, and the King find these accidents laughable. This further frustrates Gulliver who starts finding ways to return back to his world of normal size.
Gulliver continues to entertain the queen and weaves a purse for her out of her own hair. He also produces a normal size mouth organ to play music and entertain the court. The king would often enquire him about the ways of governance in England. As Gulliver delivers more information about life and governance in England, the King gets impressed by his explanations, and one day, he picks up Gulliver in his hands and comments while appreciating Gulliver, “you have made a most admirable panegyric upon your country; you have clearly proved that ignorance, idleness, and vice…qualify…a legislator; that laws are best…applied by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding, and eluding them.” The king comments that the kings, priests, military officers, judges, and senators in England are chosen without merit. As Gulliver doesn’t like such criticism, he starts not to answer King’s question to which the king comments that it appears as if the Englishmen are “the most pernicious race of little odious vermin.”
Gulliver doesn’t mind such criticism as he feels that the king’s seclusion and ignorance of the rest of the world has left him narrow-minded and prejudiced in ways that Europeans “are wholly exempt” from. Gulliver tells the king about the invention of Gunpowder and how it has made Englishmen very powerful. However, the king is disgusted about such a thing and calls it an ‘inhuman idea’ that he cannot appreciate. Gulliver then tells the king about the science of politics and the importance of keeping secrets but the king ridicules it too and says that secrets should be kept from anyone but a country’s enemies and “confined the knowledge of governing…to common sense and reason, to justice and lenity.”
Gulliver notices that Brobdingnagians excel in “morality, history, poetry, and mathematics,” but they apply mathematics only to those things that will be useful for their lives and never indulge themselves in abstractions. The legal system of Brobdingnag is also fairly simple and the law is interpreted by everyone in the same manner. The Brobdingnagian army is not professional but it is very disciplined and is comprised of ordinary tradesmen, farmers, and grocers led by aristocrats. However, Brobdingnag never faced an invasion. The army is there to keep peace and avoid civil wars.
Gulliver faces many accidents during his two-year stay in Brobdingnag and then he faces another accident. One day, Glumdalclitch and the Queen decide to take Gulliver to the beach. He is left behind on the beach under the protection of a pageboy while the Queen goes away to enjoy the water. The page gets distracted and suddenly, a giant bird appears and takes away Gulliver’s carrier box with Gulliver inside it. Some other birds confront this bird in the sky and after some tussling, the bird drops the box into the sea. Gulliver gets terrified as he is confounded in the box. He waves his handkerchief and cries for help. After some time, he is picked up from the sea and then he observes that he has been saved by the crew of an English ship. Gulliver is shocked at seeing so many pygmies as he has been accustomed to seeing the giants of Brobdingang. He explains his ordeal to the ship captain and informs him how he was picked up by a giant bird. But nobody believes him. Gulliver then shows them the artifacts of Brobdingnag that he collected and the mouse-skin trouser that Glumdalclitch sewed for him. The captain now believes him and suggests that he should write up his adventures for all to read.
Finally, he reaches back to London and meets his family. His wife requests him to give up his fancy of sea travel and stay at home forever. However, Gulliver soon leaves home to the sea once more.
This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. A Handful of Rice was a realistic novel written by Kamala Markandaya that was published in 1966. Like her other novels, A Handful of Rice can also be categorized as a Diasporic novel because, in this novel, Kamala yet again depicts the probable life and realistic story of her protagonist in Indian settings while expertly expressing the clash between Indian traditions and westernization. The story depicts the loss of human morals and qualities in the wake of industrialization and ensuing materialism. Kamala dealt with the issue of poverty and unemployment in the Indian subcontinent that often lead people to face the problem of conscience while they continued to engage in the tug of war between traditional values and modern life. The novel shows how poverty and hunger can manipulate the psychology of a person and how his traditional values continue to offer him the strength to stand and fight again. However, alienation leads to the fall of man.
Characters of A Handful of Life:
Ravi is the protagonist of the novel who is the son of a poor tenant peasant from a village. Famine forces him to venture into something new in the big city of Madras. However, he observes that there is no hope for the poor villagers in the city too and they suffer similar poverty and scarcity in the city. The weakest of these villagers, the elderly people, and the babies, often fall prey to various diseases and die of starvation. Ravi is adamant though to struggle and make a better future. Ravi represents the Indian youth who is perplexed by the changing norms brought about by industrialization and commercialization. While Ravi still holds the traditional values and morals, hunger and starvation force him to adapt to the meaner ways and he faces a moral dilemma as he struggles to safeguard his personal self. Nalini is Ravi’s wife. She is a hard-working, loyal, and morally strong girl. Kannan is a friend of Ravi, a blacksmith who is helpful to him. Damodar is a criminal, a gang leader of smugglers, bootleggers, and black marketers. Damodar is the result of the commercialization of values. He represents the unholy mixture of eastern values and western materialistic ideals. While Ravi still strives to preserve his inner self as his conscience stops him from following the path of crime, Damodar has no sense of right or wrong. Appa is an old tailor, the father of Nalini. Raju and Sonu are the twin sons of Ravi and Nalini.
Summary of A Handful of Rice:
The novel is written in an autobiographical manner with Ravi, the protagonist telling his story. It is a realistic novel and thus, the author doesn’t offer any moral solution to the social troubles shown in the story, rather she depicts the realistic probabilities in all their dark colors.
The story begins as Ravi, a young man, the son of a poor peasant in a village arrives in the city of Madras in search of a better and sustainable life. Ravi is a bit educated but he finds it difficult to find any job in the city. He is an outsider in the city with nowhere to live. He left the village for lack of food and respect and the city offers him nothing else. Along with him, many other poor migrants left their villages in hope of a better life but struggled to find any solace. Life appears to be more troublesome in the city where the weakest, the old and the babies die too often suffering various diseases while the main cause of their death is starvation.
Ravi observes that while it is almost impossible for him to sustain the traditional values of truthfulness, and honesty, he can survive and make a good living if he succumbs to the enchantment of crime, corruption, and thievery. He meets a local goon named Damodar who is involved in smuggling, bootlegging, and black marketing. Like Ravi, Damodar also belongs to a village but unlike him, he is not in two minds as he has already embraced the immorality and unhuman attitude in the modern westernized city. Ravi feels that the city is like a modern jungle with the rule of survival of the fittest. He overcomes the resistance of his conscience and starts participating in illegal activities as a henchman of Damodar. One night, while he was running away to avoid being caught by police, he breaks into a small house owned by Appa, an old tailor. He breaks the rusty bars of the window and demands food. Appa lives with his wife and a young daughter. Appa’s wife hits Ravi with a stick that causes bleeding but Ravi insists that he is too hungry and wants food and shelter. Appa decides to help him and Nalini, Appa’s daughter offers some food to Ravi. As Ravi’s hunger is satisfied, he starts feeling the warmth in that lower-middle-class house. Ravi thinks that this is all he ever hoped for, and it becomes his dream to achieve A warm house and a wife to offer him food is all he ever wanted. He learns that Appa is a skilled tailor who earns his living through stitching clothes. Ravi starts visiting Appa’s house regularly as he is attracted to Nalini but he is still involved in petty crimes. When Ravi expresses his desire to marry Nalini, Appa insists that he must get rid of his criminal past and should accept his apprenticeship to become a skilled tailor so that he may make an honest living. Appa finds in Ravi the heir of his job. He accepts the proposal of Ravi‟s marriage to his daughter Nalini as he sees in him the support of his old age. Appa too is facing poverty and he doesn’t have any better options. The marriage offers Ravi a new life and for the next few years, he continues to work hard as a tailor under Appa’s guidance. He no more faces starvation but poverty is still there. Ravi still hopes to make more money and have a better living but has consciously avoided Damodar's company. He makes a new friend Kannan who is a blacksmith. Along with his individual desires, now he wants a better life for Nalini too. On the other hand, their marriage results in the expansion of the family as Nalini soon gives birth to twins. More people require more food and this disturbs the financial condition of Appa who is already facing troubles because of modernization and industrialization. Despite being a skilled tailor, Appa cannot compete with machine production. The shopkeepers too prefer readymade clothing while they try to exploit the tailors. As Ravi discovers this exploitation, he raises his voice in revolt. However, Appa contains his anger while teaching him the law of survival of the fittest. Appa suggests to him that it is better to live than die.
Situations continue to deteriorate as Ravi finds it difficult to buy milk for his twin sons. The death of Appa further breaks him and he finds it difficult to continue with the tailoring job. To improve production, he takes a loan to buy a new sewing machine but fails to find enough orders. Ultimately, he returns to Damodar for some financial help. Damodar is sympathetic towards Ravi and offers him a job in black marketing. However, Ravi’s conscience doesn’t allow him to return to the path of crime again and he returns back home empty-handed.
Financial troubles continue to frustrate Ravi who starts drinking and beating Nalini every now and then. One day he accuses Nalini of adultery that Nalini can’t bear and she leaves home to live with his elder sister. At home, Ravi continues to fail in the fight against poverty. The cries of his twin sons for the want of milk becomes unbearable to him. His frustration continues to break him further and one day he attempts to rape his mother-in-law, the widow of Appa. On the other hand, Nalini finds that she cannot live with her sister for long who is also suffering the same ills of poverty, and thus, she returns. As Nalini returns, Ravi gathers the strength to fight against poverty again and he engrosses himself in his tailoring work. He gets too indulged in his work and starts ignoring other responsibilities. One of his sons gets ill but Ravi ignores his fever of Raju as he doesn’t have enough money to pay the bill to the doctor. However, Raju’s condition deteriorates and Ravi is forced to call the doctor. He hopes that Raju will survive but it is too late and the doctor fails to save his life. Ravi is too sad as he realizes that poverty is the biggest sin. He again turns towards Damodar but this time, when he asks for some work, Damodar refuses any work to him and ridicules him saying that a man with no gut cannot get involved in his business. He rather suggests Ravi go back to his village as he is a misfit in the city.
Frustrated, Ravi walks back towards his home when he sees a crowd of people protesting against poverty and price rise. He hears the shouts and slogans of “Rice today, rice. Rice today, rice!‟ he realizes that there is no food at home so he joins the protestors. His friend Kannan is also marching with the crowd heading toward the government godown. Soon Kannan and Ravi realize that the crowd’s intentions are to rob the government godown. Kannan is hesitant to do so and informs Ravi that it is a crime to rob the government godown. However, the sight of rice turns Ravi mad. He thinks that it is his right to take enough rice to feed his surviving son while he has already lost Raju. As Ravi moves forward, trying to grab a sack of rice for himself, he listens to the police siren and runs away without a handful of rice. He comes back on the streets, and he sees another crowd of people he thinks that this is another group of protestors trying to get rice from the Governmental godown and joins the mob. However, he soon realizes that this crowd includes too many hooligans who are planning to attack and rob private rich shops. Ravi decides not to assist the mob as he finds it insensible as it will give him neither rice nor grain. He returns back to his home, empty-handed.
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!
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. All four parts or books of Gulliver’s Travels were published in the year 1726. The title of the first book of Gulliver’s Travels was A Voyage to Lilliput. In the first part, Jonathan Swift introduces the protagonist Lemuel Gulliver resembling a common man. Being an everyman, Gulliver is a gullible, yet honest person who cannot tell lies and always stands for right. Swift then uses Gulliver’s account of events for his satire that included a mockery of the English government, the English court, the Royal Society, Science, Religion, and contemporary literary works too.
Charactersof A Voyage to Lilliput:
Lemuel Gulliver is a British surgeon living with his wife Mary Burton Gulliver and his children. Gulliver has no emotional life and his wife plays little role in the whole story. Richard Sympson is a cousin of Gulliver who edits his travel book. The Lilliputians are the inhabitants of the strange island that Gulliver reaches after a shipwreck they are extremely small creatures just 6 inches tall. The Lilliputian Emperor is friendly and generous with Gulliver as he exploits Gulliver’s might to defeat his enemies but when Gulliver refuses to participate in the war against Belfuscians, the king grows petulant, cold, and vengeful. The Lilliputian Queen is an adamant lady who never forgives Gulliver for urinating on her chamber despite knowing that it saved her life. Filmnap is the treasurer of the Lilliputian king who dislikes Gulliver as he suspects that Gulliver is having a secret affair with his wife. Skyresh Bolgolam is the admiral of Lilliput and he also dislikes Gulliver. Redresal is the Principle secretary of Lilliput who is friendly towards Gulliver. He suggests putting out Gulliver’s eyes as a “gentler” alternative to death. However, there are many supporters of Gulliver. A man of the court warns him about the court’s plan to put out his eyes. Belfuscians are similar creatures of short heights who live on the neighboring island of Lilliput. The Belfuscian King takes Gulliver in after he escapes from the Lilliputians and helps him prepare for his voyage back to England.
Summary of A Voyage to Lilliput
The book begins as Richard Sympson introduces Lemuel Gulliver, his cousin as a truthful, honest, and trustworthy citizen of England. He vouches for the honesty of Gulliver and says that his fellow townsmen would often emphasize something’s truth by saying “it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.” He informs that he is editing the travel account of Gulliver for people’s entertainment. Gulliver isn’t too happy with the edited version of his sea travel account as he admonishes Richard Sympson for adding a passage praising the English Queen Gulliver says that though he respects the English Queen he would never have praised her in that manner. He further accuses the edited version of his sea travel as libelous and says that nobody trust’s its veracity. The edited work of Richard introduces Gulliver as a common man of England who is a surgeon. Though other surgeons are making good money, Gulliver is suffering penury because he is too honest and cannot tell lies and cheat patients to make money. Thus, he decides to change his profession and become a ship surgeon to earn money. He learned mathematics and navigation at an early age because he always wished to go on long sea travels. He joins the ship of Captain Robinson for a six-year trip to the sea. However, he faces a shipwreck on his very first sea travel and he is the only survivor who reaches the shore of an unknown island and passes out due to exhaustion.
When Gulliver awakens, he finds himself lying on his back. As he tries to stand up, he realizes that he has been tied with innumerable tiny threads and he is unable to move. He feels something moving on his chin and when he observes, he finds that he is surrounded by strange ‘human-like’ creatures who are just six inches long. Being a meticulous person, Gulliver has a habit of giving exact measurements. Gulliver is surprised and he roars out trying to free himself. He succeeds in freeing his left arm but then the tiny creatures start shooting arrows at him until he lies calmly. The tiny creatures then loosen some of the threads and offer him food and a beverage to drink. Gulliver wishes to grab some of them and crush them but he restrains himself while the tiny creatures dress his wounds. Being too exhausted, Gulliver falls asleep again and the tiny creatures load him on a large carriage and take him to a tall old temple which is the tallest building in their city. Gulliver is tied to the temple. The emperor along with the whole crowd of citizens comes to see him. Everyone is astonished by seeing this humongous giant who looks like them. While Gulliver becomes a piece of the exhibition, some onlookers try to shoot him down. They are captured by the soldiers and then the Emperor orders them to be handover to Gulliver. Gulliver threatens them and shows them his pocket knife and then releases them. Everyone gets impressed by Gulliver’s generosity. The emperor and his Principle secretary Redresal become friendly to Gulliver whom they call the ‘man mountain.’ Gulliver starts learning the lilliputian language. The emperor discusses the matter of state management with Gulliver and shows how his officials are chosen from the crowd. The contestants and courtiers perform rope dances and competitions of thread-jumping and the member who wins the competition gets a higher position. Thus, the Lilliputian state uses tests of physical power and agility (rather than tests of moral power and reason) to determine who will hold its governmental offices. Then the Emperor asks Gulliver to stand upright while he orders his army to march through Gulliver’s legs. He orders the soldiers to treat Gulliver decently “upon pain of death.” The emperor is not concerned that Gulliver is so big and powerful that he could easily stamp everyone to death. However, he is concerned about Gulliver’s discomfort because he treats him as his property now. Gulliver is still tied up and restrained and he begs for liberty. The emperor discusses this with his council and they decide that Gulliver can be freed if he signs the papers of allegiance. The papers of allegiance contain certain terms such as Gulliver will not leave the kingdom or enter the metropolis without permission, that he will not trample the fields or the Lilliputians, that he will carry Lilliputian messengers on urgent errands, that he will be an ally against the Blefuscians in warfare. Gulliver reads the paper and agrees to them. He is freed as soon as he signs them. As a freeman, Gulliver decides to see Mildendo the metropolis of Lilliput. He observes the Emperor’s palace and then Redresal visits him and informs him about the two great dangers the Lilliputians face. The first great evil is the inner struggle of the Lilliputian court between the Tramecksan (high-heeled shoe-wearers) and Slamecksan (low-heeled shoe-wears). The emperor favors the Slamecksan people but the Tramecksan people are greater in number and there are dangers of rebellion. The second great evil is the danger of an impending invasion from Belfuscu, “the other great empire of the universe.” Gulliver realizes that no Lilliputian believes him about the other world of normal human beings. The animosity with Belfuscu is rooted in a disagreement over whether to break eggs on the bigger or smaller end. Some Lilliputians too believed that the egg should be broken from the bigger end and these Big-Endians have joined Belfuscian forces while Lilliputians believe that the egg should be broken from the smaller end. This difference has caused many wars between the Belfuscu and Lilliput. It is an allegory to the religious wars of Europe. Gulliver conceives a plan to cross the channel between Lilliput and Belfusu and steal the warships of Belfuscu, making them weak. He manages to do so while Belfuscian soldiers attack him with arrows. The Emperor is too happy by this and offers the title of ‘Nardac’ to Gulliver which means the greatest warrior. Later on, the Lilliputian Emperor asks Gulliver to help him in enslaving the Belfuscians. Gulliver, however, rejects this and says that it will be immoral and this annoys the Lilliputian Emperor. Moreover, Lilliputian admiral, Skyresh Bolgolam is also jealous of Gulliver because of his title. Treasurer Filmnap also becomes Gulliver’s enemy because he thinks that his wife is too much interested in Gulliver. Meanwhile, the Belfuscu king is too impressed by Gulliver’s strength and he realizes that Belfuscu cannot confront Lilliput now. He sends messengers of peace who are very warm towards Gulliver and invites him to Belfuscu. The emperor reluctantly allows Gulliver to visit Belfuscu while Bolgolam and Filmnap start spreading rumors that Gulliver is siding with the Belfuscian king. One night, there is a fire in the palace and the Lilliputians request Gulliver to go help stop it. The fire was due to a careless maid who fell asleep reading a novel by candlelight. Gulliver, having no instrument to put out the fire, extinguishes it by urinating on it. Though he has saved the palace, Gulliver knows that he has also broken the law by urinating in the palace. Still, he feels better when he receives word that the emperor is ordering Gulliver to be pardoned. However, the Lilliputian Queen feels disgusted and she is not ready to pardon Gulliver.
Gulliver describes the social life of Lilliputians and their legal system. If a person is found innocent by trial, the accuser is sentenced to death and the innocent person is paid generously for the inconveniences suffered. Fraud and ingratitude are likewise capital crimes punished by death. Citizens who follow the law throughout their lives have the title snilpall (which means ‘legal’) added to their name and are accorded privileges. He notices that while the Emperor appoints persons of agility at higher positions without considering their moral values, Lilliputians in general hire a person considering that person’s morals more than they do his abilities. He notices that all children including girls are raised by professors and servants in public nurseries and girls are raised to be equally brave and smart as boys are, there is no discrimination over gender. Gulliver is still unaware if he will be pardoned or punished for urinating in the palace. He plans his visit to Belfuscu but on the same night, a man from court visits him and informs him that the council had decided to punish him by death Redresal, being a friend of Gulliver stood in his defense but he could do nothing. The council first decided to execute him instantly but then they were worried about the flesh that will rot. Thus, the council has decided to put out his eyes and then subsequently slowly starve him to death. The man of the court tells him that the Lilliputian council will execute the punishment within three days and leaves Gulliver to decide for himself. Gulliver decides to save his life by running away to Belfuscu. He leaves a note that he’s left early for his trip to Blefuscu.
Gulliver is warmly welcomed in Belfuscu and Gulliver notices that the Belfuscian king and people, in general, are more moral than the Lilliputians. From the Belfuscian shore, Gulliver notices an abandoned canopy, a human boat, and retrieves it. The Belfuscian king helps him in mending the canopy. Meanwhile, the Lilliputian Emperor realizes that Gulliver has run away. He sends a messenger to the Belfuscian king to hand over Gulliver to them. The Belfuscian king politely rejects the notice and answers back that Gulliver has been friendly to the Belfuscian people and hence they won’t return him back. Then the Belfuscian king arranges for sufficient food and drinks to be stored in the canopy and hastens his departure for England. Gulliver continues to strive to return back to his world and eventually is picked by an English merchant ship. He returns to his home and tells the story of Lilliput to his wife and children but none of them actually believe him. Then he shows them a few tiny animals of Lilliput that he took with him. He stays with the family for two months and then decides to return to the sea again.
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.
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Gulliver’s travel is a satirical work written by Jonathan Swift that was first published in the year 1726. The subtitle of the book is “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships.” It is a Menippean satire that doesn’t satirize any individual or group in particular, rather, it satirizes the mental attitudes, behavior, or ideologies. A Minnepian satire includes 'extraordinary situations for the provoking, criticizing, and testing of a philosophical idea.' Jonathan Swift most probably started writing it after establishing the Marcus Scriblerus club along with John Gay, Alexander Pope, Dr. Arbuthnot, and other friends. Scriblerus club was established to criticize and satirize contemporary popular literary works and genres. Swift satirizes the traveler’s tales literary genre in this book which was published 7 years after Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’. Glliver’s Traves are ideologically opposite to Robinson Crusoe in which Defoe celebrated human capability and suggested the idea that the Individual comes first and then the society. Swift opposed this radical political philosophy in Gulliver’s Travels and unlike Robinson Crusoe, who reached a desolate island and made it a home, Gulliver continuously encounters established societies during his sea travels. Swift opposed the radical idea of individuals above society. The name of the ship captain that Gulliver chose to work with as a surgeon is Robinson.
The book is a satire against the Whigs party. Jonathan Swift satirizes various aspects of political philosophy, science, colonialism, religion, and humanity in general in four parts of Gulliver’s Travels that he wrote in form of a traveler’s guide while satirizing the genre. Swift satirizes the political view of the European government and petty differences over religion and questions if people are inherently corrupt or if they become corrupt. Swift also included an allegory to the issue of Drapier’s Letter and continued the debate of Ancients versus Moderns in Gulliver’s Travels and sided with the Ancients. In addition, in Part 3 of Gulliver’s Travels in which Gulliver encounters the ghosts of Julius Caesar, Brutus, Homer, Aristotle, René Descartes, and Pierre Gassendi. Overall, Gulliver’s Travels satirizes all humankind in general and that is why Jonathan Swift became infamous as a misanthrope and especially a misogynist after the publication of Gulliver's Travels. Part three satirizes science and the Royal Society too. While the book contains an ample amount of black humor, it got popular as a children’s story because of the popularity of the Lilliput section in Part 1 of Gulliver’s Travels. John Gay mentioned that Gulliver’s Travels “is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery."
Characters of Gulliver’s Travels:
Lemuel Gulliver is a common man of Britain with a basic education and training as a surgeon. He faces losses at his business and decides to join a ship to travel long distances while making money. He has a natural talent to learn foreign languages easily. He is a naive and gullible person with no emotional life. Mrs. Mary Burton Gulliver is the wife of Lemuel Gulliver. Robinson is the captain of the ship that Gulliver joins as a surgeon. Lilliputians are the inhabitants of Lilliput, an island that Gulliver reaches after a shipwreck. They are about five to six inches tall. They are the sworn enemies of the Blefuscudians of a neighboring island. Relderesal is a Lilliputian who becomes a friend of Gulliver and helps him settle in that strange land. The Emperor is the ruler of Lilliput who uses Gulliver against Blefuscu’s army. However, as Gulliver decides to stay away from the war and puts a fire off to save Lilliputians from a fire in the Empress’s chamber, the Emperor turns against him and sentences him to be blinded by arrows. Flimnap is the sour-tempered treasurer of Lilliput who becomes an enemy of Gulliver and accuses Gulliver of sleeping with his wife. The Blefuscan King helps Gulliver escape and return to his nation. The Brobdingnagian Farmer is a resident of Brobdingnag who keeps Gulliver as a pet and Gulliver calls him his Master. Eventually, the Farmer sells him to the Queen of Brobdingnagi. Glumdalclitch is the daughter of the Farmer. Her name means ‘little nurse’ and she takes good care of Gulliver. The King of Brobdingnag takes a special interest in Gulliver and spends dozens of hours discussing politics and comparing their two cultures. At last, he shows disgust towards humans, especially towards the governance of Britain. Laputans are the inhabitants of a floating island who wear mathematical and astronomical symbols and have trouble paying attention. Lagadans are the people who live in the land of Lagado, which stands beneath the floating island where the Laputians live. Munodi is an outcast of Lagado who makes a separate island with his followers. Houyhnhnms are a species of horses who are endowed with great kindness and virtue. Gulliver lives among them for several years and afterward is extremely reluctant to return to England. They call humans Yahoos.
Summary of Gulliver’s Travels:
Gulliver’s Travels is a deadpan first narrative fictional account of the adventures or misadventures of Lemuel Gulliver, a practicing surgeon. The story is divided into four parts.
The first part contains a general introduction to Gulliver and his past life. He is married to Mrs. Mary Burton Gulliver and he wishes to go on long sea travels. As his business fails, he joins the ship of Captain Robinson as a surgeon. In the first part, Swift describes the first sea travel of Gulliver that begins on 4 May 1699 and ends on 13 April 1702. His ship faces a storm and Gulliver ends up alone on a strange island after a shipwreck. As he gains consciousness, he finds himself tied with innumerable tiny threads, surrounded by a crowd of minuscule people who drags him to their ruler, the Emperor. Gulliver learns that these minuscule people are Lilliputians. All Lilliputians are astonished by the huge size of this Giant but gradually, they start treating him well, feeding him, while he is bound to an abandoned temple. The emperor decides to use this mighty Giant and asks Gulliver to surrender all his weapons and sign the papers of allegiance to Lilliput. Gulliver agrees and he is freed. Reldersal makes a friendship with Gulliver while a politically powerful treasurer named Flimnap becomes his enemy. At first, Gulliver helps Lilliputians against their enemy Blefuscan’s army and destroys their warships but soon he realizes that the fight is not worthy and the two nations of minuscule people are fighting just for the ego of the Emperor of Lilliput. He decides to stay away from the war. This angers the Emperor and Flimapgets a chance to conspire against him. He accuses Gulliver of sleeping with his wife, who is also a minuscule lady and it is physically impossible for the two to have any physical relationship. Meanwhile, Gulliver learns that the Emperor’s palace has caught fire and the Empresse’s chamber is in danger. To save the lives of people and the Empress, Gulliver decides to put an end to the fire by urinating on the palace. The fire ends but this act is considered a huge disrespect against the Empress and the Emperor decides to punish him. The Lilliputian court plans to accuse him of treason and put out his eyes. When Gulliver learns this, he decides to run away and the Belfuscan King helps him by helping him in making a canopy that Gulliver uses to float back to England.
Part two mentions the recount of Gulliver from 20 June 1702 to 3 June 1706.
After his return, Gulliver stays with his wife and children for two months and then sets off on a new sea adventure, and this time, he ends up on a further strange island of Giants called Brobdingnag. As he ventures around a farm, a Farmer discovers him and keeps him as a pet while considering he is an interesting insect. Gulliver is horrified as now he finds himself as one of the Lilliputians who have been caught in the nation of Giants. However, his keeper, the Farmer, his wife, and his little daughter Glumdalclitch are very kind and take good care of him. One day, the Farmer decides to sell his pet to the Queen of Borbdingnag who is too interested in the little insect. Glumdalclitch accompanies Gulliver to the king’s palace. Gulliver is ridiculed for his physical mishaps. The King is unsure that Gulliver is a living being but soon he discovered that Gulliver is not only living but can have an intellectual discourse. The King takes a special interest in Gulliver and he introduces him to the rule and management of Borbdingnag. At the same time, Gulliver informs him about the culture of humans and the socio-political and legal practices of Europe and England. Gulliver realizes that even the king is naive and doesn’t know anything about politics while the king feels disgusted after knowing the ways of human society. Despite being treated well, Gulliver finds his life in Borbdingnag pretty difficult because even the insects of this land appear to be lethal to him. While the Queen and the court ladies are kind to him, they are so enormous that their little flaws appear to be disgusting to Gulliver. Oten some courtly girls would play with him by keeping him on their naked bodies to whom he is not at all attracted as their enormous skin pores and the sound of their torrential urination are frightening to him. One day, he sees a woman’s naked breasts as she feeds a giant kid but he finds it too disgusting.
The Queen keeps him in an enclosed box. One day, a bird snatches the box and drops it in the sea and this paves way for Gulliver’s return to England again.
Part 3 of Gulliver Travels tells the story from 5 August 1706 to 16 April 1710
Gulliver returns to the sea for the third time and while the sea remains silent this time, his ship is attacked by sea pirates. When he gains consciousness back, he finds himself on a floating island that is inhabited by people similar to him in the physical sense. However, Gulliver finds these people even stranger than Lilliputians or the giants of Barbdingnag. They call themselves Laputans. All of them keep their heads a little slanted to the left or right, and their clothes have pictures of either musical instruments or astronomical signs. All of them are theoreticians and academics. Gulliver observes that none of them live in a good house and all the houses are built very poorly and with no right angles. This is very odd as all Laputians are mathematicians, but soon Gulliver learns that they are unable to keep focus for long. Gulliver meets the Laputian king and realizes that all Laputians are obsessed with abstract mathematical, musical, and astronomical theory while they are utterly incompetent with practical matters. Since they cannot keep focus for long, they can hardly have any meaningful discussions. Gulliver finds that these Laputians oppress the land below, called Balnibarbi. During his days at Laputa, Gulliver undertakes a side trip to the island of Glubbdubdrib where he meets ancient ghosts of history including Julius Caesar, Aristotle, Homer, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, and Pierre Gassendi. From Glubdudrib, Gulliver travels to Luggnagg and meets the power-crazed despot of Luggnagg. From there, he reaches Japan and then back to England.
Part 4 discusses the story from 7 September 1710 to 5 December 1715.
As Gulliver sets off on his fourth voyage, he is the captain of the ship but his own crewmembers stage a mutiny and imprison him in a cabin. They discuss if they should kill Gulliver or let him be stranded on some strange island. At last, he is left alone on an island and soon Gulliver learns that it is the most strange of all his travels. It is the land of Houyhnhmns who are the noble and reasonable horses. When Gulliver tries to venture to the island, he is attacked by strange-looking species called Yahoos who are naked and appear like humans walking on their four limbs. As these strange human-like beings attack Gulliver, he is saved by the sound of the horse-like creatures that Gulliver learns are Houyhnhmns. Houyhnhmns take him to the master horse who teaches him the language and culture of Houyhnhmns. Gulliver tries his best not to look like humans or Yahoos and finds that Houhyhnhmns are a very likable and great society. One day, some Houyhnhmns observe him naked and realize that he is no different than the Yahoos. All the Houyhnhmns dislike Yahoos and thus Gulliver is forced away from there. As he tries to remain away from human society as now he dislikes Yahoos while he is in love with Houyhnhmns, he is forcibly picked up by Don Pedro, a Dutch sailor who eventually takes him back to England. This time, Gulliver is not happy after his return as he finds himself surrounded by Yahoos whom he has learned to dislike.
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!
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Hilda Doolittle was an American modernist poet who began as a part of the influential imagist modernist poets group initiated by Ezra Pound but later on, turned towards a wider variety of forms, including fiction, memoir, and verse drama.
She was born on 10th September 1886 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and died on September 27, 1961. As a poet, she chose to write under the name H.D. and became famous by that acronym. Hilda was a student of Greek mythology and literature at Bryan Mawr College, Pennsylvania and she continued to use elements of Greek mythology in her poems and other literary works throughout her life. In 1901, she came in contact with Ezra Pound and she was hugely impressed by him. They developed an on-and-off romantic relationship and remained close friends throughout their life. However, Hilda’s family wasn’t in favor of their marriage and hence, she married Richard Aldington in 1913.
Ezra Pound suggested the pseudonym H.D. to Hilda as she felt that "Hilda Doolittle" is an old-fashioned and "quaint" name.
H.D. joined Ezra Pound to work for the poetry magazine Blast and The Egoist in 1911 in London and like Ezra Pound, she too disliked the Victorian descriptive style of poetry. Thus, they began their modernist imagist group. Initially, Hilda and Pound agreed to follow certain principles in their poetic works which included direct treatment of the 'thing' whether subjective or objective, using absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation, and composing poetry in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome.
Despite her agreement with using minimal words and more imagery in her poetic works, Hilda continued to use elements of Greek mythology in her works. One such imagist poem written by Hilda Doolittle or H.D. is titled Oread which was first published in the first issue of Blast in 1914.
The title Oread itself is an element of Grek mythology which means a mountain wood nymph.
Structure of Oread:
Oread is a first-person poem and Oread is the speaker addressing the sea. The poem is highly concise consisting of only 26 words composed in six lines written in free verse without using any superfluous word, any adjective, which does not reveal something. H.D. profoundly used imagery in this compact poem, so much so that two contrasting images have been superimposed on each other, depriving the reader of the possibility to determine, which is the "primary" one. There is no systematic rhyming pattern but H.D. used anaphora in the first two lines and apostrophes in the second and third lines which offer a deep connection. The poem is a fine example of imagist verse that uses imagism to the fullest. In addition, Hilda used alliteration and metaphor in Oread and compares wood to the sea, and refers to the waves as “pointed pines” and “great pines”.
To a mountain nymph, the sea is completely alien but in this poem, the nymph is addressing the sea and thus, she imagines the sea but as her, all experiences are confounded to the hill, woods, and trees, she expresses the sea in her own terms.
Summary of Oread:
“Whirl up, sea—
whirl your pointed pines,
splash your great pines
on our rocks,
hurl your green over us,
cover us with your pools of fir.”
Lines 1-3
Oread begins the poem with epistrophe and directs the sea to ‘Whirl up,’ that is, the mountain nymph beseeches the sea to move with all its might as in a large and powerful storm. In the second and third lines, Hilda used Juxtaposition as Oread further directs the sea on how to move. Being a mountain nymph, she has no idea of how the sea is, and thus Oread uses the imagery of the world she is familiar with to describe the waves as ‘pointed pines’ and ‘great pines.’ Oread imagines the sea waves as its pines (thin sharp leaves) and urges the sea to release its energy and consume everything around it and reach the mountains to splash and drown everything with sea waves that are pines.
Lines 4-6
H.D. employed enjambment in between the third and fourth lines while mentioning what to splash. Oread uses ‘our’ to mention the ‘rocks' that she wishes to be splashed by the sea waves. This suggests that either there are other persons along with Oread who owns the rocks (maybe some other wood nymph). Or, it may suggest that Oread agrees that the rocks belong to both of them, the mountain and the sea. However, t becomes clear in the last line where Oread uses ‘us’ that she meant to include all living and non-living things of the mountain, including her.
Oread wishes the sea to use its might to melt the rocks with its pines (sea waves) and cover everything (us) with green water as if caressingly covering the nymph with “pools of fir.”
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!
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Possession was the third novel by Kalpana Markandaya that was published in 1963. One can say that the basic story of Possession could be the inspiration behind the recent successful movie RRR. The novel depicts the intermingling of Indian ethos and British culture and presents a contrast between materialism and spirituality. Unlike her first novel Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala didn’t write Possession in an autobiographical manner, rather she wrote this novel as a narrative narrated by a character of the novel. Possession is another example of Diasporic literature in which Kamala Markandara, despite being an expatriate British depicts the clash of British culture and Indian spirituality realistically and appears to side with her roots in India. The story is set in 1949, that is, Independent India.
Characters of Possession:
Valmiki is the protagonist of the novel. He is a simple young man from an Indian village belonging to the goatherd community. Though Valmiki is illiterate, he is a naturally gifted artist who loves to draw paintings on the walls of the rocky caves near his village. He is attached to a spiritual guru Swami who lives at the hilltop near the village. Swami is a well-known person who is a globetrotter with no fixed home. Valmiki has immense faith in Swami and he spends most of his time in or around the Ashram of Swami while remaining detached from his parents and other relatives. Caroline Bell is a British young woman belonging to a rich aristocratic family. She is a typical capitalist who believes in exploiting the poor physically as well as mentally. Caroline discovers the talent of Valmiki and tries to possess him as his talented pet artist to satisfy her ego and lust while pretending to provide a greater better platform and society to Valmiki whom she buys from his parents and rechristens as Val. Ellie is a young British woman battered in body and soul by the Germans during the Second world war. She is physically maimed and is emotionally so bruised that despite the daily raping that she had been subjected to as a war prisoner, she has lost her fertility. Val sympathizes with her and loves her. His warmth brings a lot of improvement in Ellie who becomes pregnant with his child. Annabel is another British teen girl who becomes her friend of Val. Anasuya is an Indian woman, a journalist, and a reporter. She is a friend of Caroline who tries to dissuade her from buying Valmiki but Caroline remains adamant. Anasuya is the narrator who tells the story from an Indian point of view.
Summary of Possession:
The story depicts a clash between the western materialistic society with capitalistic ego and the spiritual sensual ethos of India. Caroline Bell is the representative of typical capitalism who believes in exploiting the poor physically as well as mentally. Swami on the other hand represents the human bond in its most nascent form. Kamala Markandaya chose Valmiki as the protagonist’s name because traditionally, Valmiki is the saint-poet who composed the Ramayana. As per the folklore, Valmiki was a hunter who became an ascetic on divine inspiration, learning to chant the holy name of Rama; turned ascetic and one day discovered that he had become a poet.
The story begins as Caroline Bell, a high-class English woman travels to India along with her friend Anasuya. When she visits a remote South Indian village she discovers the genius of an inspired artist who is a simpleton goatherd having no touch with modern society. Caroline is too impressed by him and his art but instead of feeling genuine love and appreciation, she emerges herself in feelings of egoistic possession and decides to somehow own the man as her pet artist and become his patron. Thus, she devises a plan to buy this artist so that she may possess him and his art. This artist is Valmiki who belongs to the goatherd community. His parents are very poor and he spends most of his time near the Ashram of a local Hindu saint Swami whom he considers his Guru. Swami inspires Valmiki who has a natural talent for painting. Valmiki often spends his time painting the walls of local caves near the hill of the village. When Caroline observes those paintings, she realizes that Valmiki has a rare talent, a born artist. But a born artist is not faultless and needs investment for improvement. She proposes good fortune for the parents of Valmiki if they let her take Valimiki to London, Britain where she will groom her to be a successful artist. To achieve her goal, she takes the help of her Indian friend Anasuya who is a young journalist and reporter. Anasuya realizes that under the veil of helping an artist, Caroline wants to possess Valmiki as property to satisfy her lust and greed. When Caroline persists, she argues that the Indian boy Valmiki may have a family whom he may not want to leave them. They may not want to leave him. She further argues that Valmiki is a human being, even if he is a goatherd and a simpleton. He is not a toy to be picked up and discarded when something else takes your fancy. However, Caroline remains adamant. Caroline manages to persuade Valmiki’s parents as she offers a huge amount and other facilities to them, but she finds strong resistance from Valmiki who is not willing to go away from his Guru Swami. Caroline is concerned Valimiki is a way to achieve success for her in society but she is worried about Swami whom she considers his main adversary who can stop her from achieving her goal. Anyhow, she succeeds in taking hold of Valmiki through her conceits.
Valmiki is still a young adolescent boy, away from the lustful life of adultery. Caroline takes him to Britain where she keeps him as a pet artist and being his patron, they live under the same roof. Caroline gradually introduces Valmiki to the Western culture and starts proselytizing him. He has so many charms to develop lust and he does start changing. Meanwhile, he is also getting modern education and training as an accomplished artist. She gives a new name to Valmiki and he becomes famous as Val.
In Britain, Val develops a friendship with Annabel who is a typical English girl of the 1950s. She is against her family's will and turns down their plans for getting her married. She gets too impressed by Val and develops an amicable relationship with him. At heart, she loves and desires Val. Caroline starts feeling jealous of Annabel and tries to create differences between them. Meanwhile, Val meets another British girl Ellie, a twenty-year-old Jewish girl who has suffered the cruelty of Nazis in the camp. She is raped there almost every night. She is an orphan, helpless, suppressed, and battered in body and soul by the Germans during the Second world war. She is physically maimed and is emotionally so bruised that despite the daily raping that she had been subjected to as a war prisoner, she has lost her fertility. Observing her sadness, Val sympathizes with her and soon he starts feeling true genuine love for her. Ellie too starts feeling secure with Val. Caroline cannot bear Ellie’s presence near Val but she cannot stop them as Ellie genuinely becomes an inspiration for Val in his art. Val indulges in Ellie so much that she becomes pregnant with his child. Caroline informs Annabel about Valmiki's illicit relationship with Ellie and thus, she succeeds in keeping Annabel away from Val.
Caroline again conspires to repossess Val only for herself. She exposes him in his next phase of training to her affluent society and gives him an education in its language and in its value, he learns all that avidly. Becoming a fashionable man, he gradually loses patience with Ellie’s incurable inelegance. Caroline manages things with consummate shrewdness and she makes the poor girl feel alien in the atmosphere, and she brings about the desertion of Ellie from society. Being marginalized and humiliated, Ellie decides to run away. Caroline does not reveal Ellie’s whereabouts to Val and by the time he comes to know of it, Caroline has sufficiently lulled him so thoroughly that she instinctively feels relieved that he is not burdened by the responsibility of Ellie and her child. However, Caroline fails to keep Val under her control again and again as he becomes more popular and meets many important people in society while making relationships with many women. Val is completely different from Valmiki, the young innocent spiritual goatherd boy of an Indian village, he is a shrewd modern British man.
Meanwhile, Swami gets a chance to visit London. When Val’s guru visits England and he reminds him in his unobtrusive way of the values that he stands for and the differences between Val’s new values and his original ones. Valmiki realizes how he has been duped. Caroline is very much disturbed by Swami’s presence in England because his spiritual effect on Val is a threat to her plan of physical and materialistic possession of human beings. She wants to control Val not only physically but mentally as well which is why she wants to send Swami back to India. From the very beginning, she is aware of the fact that Valmiki is deeply influenced by Swami. She is very eager to possess Val and to do so she seduces him into an almost incestuous carnal alignment despite the wide difference between their ages.
Meanwhile, Val discovers the forged letter and also Caroline’s selfish motives behind Ellie’s disappearance. He tries to relocate her but fails. At last, he decides to save his art and his inner integrity. Once that decision is taken, he behaves with a singularity of purpose, fights free of Caroline, and sails back home. Caroline still doesn’t accept defeat and follows Valmiki back to India
to regain him but Valmiki denies it as he does not want to be possessed by her again.
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!
