Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Carlos Williams was an American modernist poet and physician who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1962 for his poetry collection Pictures From Brueghel and Other Poems. He was appointed as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC in the year 1952. William Carlos Williams was born on September 17, 1883, in Rutherford, New Jersey and he died on March 4, 1963. He graduated from the Medical School of Pennsylvania University in 1906 and began his internship as a child specialist at Child’s Hospital in New York and then he went to Leipzig for advanced research in Pediatrics. In Europe, he came in contact with Ezra Pound and became one of his close friends. He was inspired by the modernist imagist movement. He published his first poetic collection Poems in 1909. In 1923, He published his extended poetic collection by the title “Spring and All,” in which the short imagist pictorial poem The Red Wheelbarrow was published.
Structure of The Red Wheelbarrow:
“so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.”
The Red Wheelbarrow is a short imagist poem with minimal words used while offering much greater meaning. William Carlos Williams was treating a terminally ill girl child and when she was very ill, he spent the whole night sitting beside her as he was not sure how and when he will be needed. During that night, he saw a little red wheelbarrow and a few chickens the girl child used to play with. William wrote this short poem that night while sitting beside the child.
The poem is written in free verse following the Japanese haiku pattern of poetry. The poet used enjambment, metaphor, assonance, juxtaposition, and imagery. The poem consists of four stanzas with two lines each. Each first line of all stanzas consists of three words while all the second lines of all four stanzas contain just one word. Each line adds more to the picture the poet draws through his words.
It is a very short poem and the whole essence of the poem can be expressed in a single sentence that has been dissected in eight different lines (four stanzas) through enjambment. The poet didn’t use any capital letters anywhere in the poem, indicating that the poet was observing and meditating which resulted in a poem.
Themes of The Red Wheelbarrow :
At first notice, the poem may appear absurd and puts too much value on a seemingly common wheelbarrow. However, on deeper consideration, the reader can easily understand that the seemingly worthless wheelbarrow is actually priceless. The poem suggests that often we overlook some of the very crucial objects that do possess a greater meaning to ourselves. Sentimentality and commonly used tools and objects are the basic themes of the poem. The poet also stresses on nature of civilization and its dependence on labor, agriculture, or rural activities and how they depend on a wheelbarrow, a common object. For thousands of years, since man invented the wheel, farmers and workers are using wheelbarrows. While a successful civilization is often described by the literature, or architecture it produced, we often ignore the simple tools that helped that society to develop those intricate buildings, artifacts, and literature. The wheelbarrow also symbolizes the working class, the workers who actually work, such as farmers, miners, construction workers, and so on, to establish the whole setup of a great civilization. We often ignore these workers as unskilled labor, yet, so much depended on them in past, and so much depends on them now.
The poet uses juxtaposition to explain the wheelbarrow which appears to be an unimportant tool as something on which the whole world rests.
Summary of The Red Wheelbarrow:
The poem is too short and too simple. The first two stanzas describe a red wheelbarrow placed idly as it is not being used for a while. The third stanza shows that it is raining slightly or drizzling as the wheelbarrow is ‘glazed’ with water. The rain is not heavy, it is not outpouring the field. The atmosphere and surroundings are calm and quiet, there are no thunders and frightening lightning. In the fourth stanza, the poet suggests how calm it is as some chickens normally continue to make noise, but they too are silent.
In the first two lines, the poet used enjambment that offers the quality of mystery to the poem. On one hand, it appears vague but it also appears suggestive too. The red wheelbarrow has been used as a symbol. For those, who knew the girl child whom William was treating, it was the precious toy of that girl who used to play with it. The toy was still as the girl was too ill and William being her doctor was pensive. His hope for the survival of the girl depended on that wheelbarrow.
On the other hand, even for someone who has no idea about the patient of William, the red wheelbarrow represents a common tool that is very basic to farming. The presence of chickens near the wheelbarrow indicates that the poet is talking about a wheelbarrow being used in a field or rural area.
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. Jonathan Swift managed a distinct pattern in the four books of Gulliver Travels. In the first book, he was a Giant in Lilliput but in Book 2, he became a miniature in Brobdingnag, which was a complete reversal of Book 1. Similarly, in Book 3, Gulliver appeared to be much more focused, inventive, imaginative, and wise than the Laputans. Swift presented Gulliver in a complete role reversal in Book 4 as he finds himself totally ignorant in the Land of Houyhnhnms and thus completes the cycle from Big to Small to Intelligent to Ignorant.
Characters of A Voyage to the Land of Houyhnhnms:
Lemuel Gulliver is appointed as the captain of the ship The Adventurer headed towards the South Seas. He is stranded alone on the island of Houyhnhnms who are rational, peaceful, generous, and civilized horses. While they peacefully live in their egalitarian and placid society, they face trouble in form of Yahoos who are the cohabitants of their island. The Yahoos are degenerate kind of humans. They are filthy, greedy, gluttonous, selfish, and dumb, the Yahoos are the embodiment of everything gross and crude in human nature. The Master Horse is a member of the society of Houyhnhnms who takes the charge of teaching Gulliver. He becomes the master of Gulliver. Don Pedro de Mendez is a kind and generous Portuguese sea captain who finds Gulliver alone in the sea after he leaves the land of Houyhnhnms and takes him back to England.
Summary of A Voyage to the Land of Houyhnhnms:
After returning from Japan, Gulliver spends five months with his family in London during which, he gets another job proposal as the captain of the ship The Adventurer. Gulliver leaves home on 7th September 1710. His ship is headed toward the South Seas. However, a deadly fever of Tropics causes the death of many of the crew members and thus, he is forced to hire new crew members en route. Gulliver didn’t have much time to check the credentials of the new crew members and thus, he commits a fatal mistake. Most of the new crew members were sea pirates in the past. As his ship moves, these new crew members gather and make a gang and imprison Gulliver in his own cabin while taking complete control of the merchandise ship. They continue to deal with the local people of the South Sea. One day, a man visits his cabin and informs him that they have decided to leave him on the shore. Gulliver is happy to know that finally he will be released. But soon he realizes that he has been left out on an unidentified island and thus begins his new misadventure.
As Gulliver moves inland, he observes a strange ugly animal with thick hair on its head, breast, anus, and genitals, but bare skin elsewhere. The animal attacks him with its forepaw. Gulliver gets threatened and uses his sword to fend off the animal. He is cautious enough not to harm the animal as he doesn’t want to annoy the inhabitants of the island by destroying their livestock. However, the ugly animal calls for help and suddenly, a herd of 40 such animals encircles Gulliver with attacking intent. Gulliver hides behind a tree while trying to defend himself with his sword. The animals are afraid of Gulliver’s sword but they climb over the tree and start throwing their feces at Gulliver.
Gulliver observes a grey horse appearing from the bushes and suddenly all the attacking animals flee away. The horse curiously encircles Gulliver trying to understand this strange-looking living thing. Gulliver tries to touch the horse for thanking it for its help. However, the horse doesn’t allow Gulliver to touch itself and neighs to call another horse. The two horses observe Gulliver intently and Gulliver notices that they are rationally discussing him in their own language which Gulliver cannot understand. Gulliver tries to run away but one of the horses neighs towards him as if ordered to stand still. The two horses examine and admire every article of his clothing and then they decide to go back. One of them beckons Gulliver to follow them. Gulliver realizes that the horses are talking to each other in a sophisticated manner and the two words he could grasp from their neighing talks were Yahoos and Houyhmhnms. Gulliver learns that these horses are Houyhnhnms while the ugly animals that attacked him were Yahoos.
The horses take Gulliver to a house in their colony. Soon Gulliver learns that the horses are masters of their own self while the gray horse appears to be the leader of all other horses. He talks about Gulliver to other horses and Gulliver listens to the word Yahoo many times during their conversation. Finally, the gray horse takes Gulliver to a room where many of those ugly animals that first attacked Gulliver were tied with ropes. They were eating raw meat. Gulliver is made to stand beside them while the horse compares him with those ugly animals. To his horror, Gulliver realizes that he is exactly like those ugly animals except that he is covered by his clothes while those animals are very degenerate, wild, and rude kind of humans. The horses call these ugly animals Yahoos and they think that Gulliver is also a Yahoo but they are not convinced because they think that the clothes of Gulliver are a part of his body which alienates him from other Yahoos. The master horse offers the same raw meat to Gulliver but he gets disgusted by it and gestures for milk. This further confirms the doubts of horses that Gulliver is not a Yahoo. The master horse then offers some milk to Gulliver and allows him to dine with them. The horse takes their food in a civilized manner indoors. They take the milk and eat oats. The master horse offers him some oats and Gulliver beats them up into a cake and eats it. Gulliver consciously avoids his taste for meat and salt and he doesn’t want the horses to suspect that he too is one of the Yahoos. The master horse doesn’t allow Gulliver to stay in their house but lodges him in a stable behind their house. The master horse starts teaching the Houyhnhnm language to Gulliver and he appreciates Gulliver for his reasonable thinking and quick learning, things that he cannot expect from a Yahoo.
The horses still believe that his clothes are a part of his body and Gulliver tries his best to maintain this mystery. But one day, a servant of the master horse sees Gulliver’s naked body while he was asleep and informs the master horse about it. The grey horse questions Gulliver about it and he admits that the clothes are not a part of his body by getting naked in front of the master horse. The master horse comments that Gulliver is a perfect Yahoo. Gulliver says that he doesn’t like to be called any kind of Yahoo and requests the master horse not to reveal his truth to other horses. The master horse agrees to his request. Gradually. Gulliver becomes fluent in the language of Houyhnhnms and he starts sharing information about Europe. The master horse is astonished by knowing the fact that Yahoos can be so rational to make ships and sea voyages. Gulliver explains to him that like the Yahoos are irrational animals here on this island, horses or Houyhnhnms are irrational beasts in Europe with much less developed rational faculty. The master horse agrees that reason will always outpower brutal force and if Yahoos of Europe are more reasonable than Houyhnhnms then they may become the masters. Gulliver then tries to explain that there are some distinct differences between Yahoos and European men but the master horse notices that all such differences make European men far worse. He criticizes the weak body structure of Gulliver and his inability to walk on four limbs. He wonders how weak the body of Gulliver which needs clothes as outer protection. Gulliver then tells everything about his voyage but he finds it hard to explain the acts of the pirates who robbed his ship and imprisoned him because the Houyhnhnm language has no words for “power, government, war, law, punishment” and many other such things. Gulliver continues to tell stories about European culture for two years. He recounts how various European states continue fighting against each other. The master horse comments that such wars are totally irrational but he thinks that such wars cannot be as bloodthirsty and devastating as the wars of Yahoos because Europeans like Gulliver do not have as strong claws as those of Yahoos. But then Gulliver informs the master horse about the assault weapons and artillery to which the master horse gets disgusted. He says that no rational species can cause such atrocities on others and thus, it appears that Europeans are no better than the Yahoos. Gulliver then explains the science and law of European people and tells that lawyers are those who are paid to establish a lie as the truth. Gulliver finds it difficult to explain what a lie is as Houyhnhnms has no concept of a lie or fraud. The master horse is then astonished to know that such intelligent people like lawyers would indulge in such heinous activities to which Gulliver says that lawyers are not intelligent, rather they are “the most ignorant and stupid generation among us” in all matters apart from the law. He tries to explain the concept of money and greed which inspires the lawyers to side with lies and fraud. Gulliver then explains the system of government, monarchy, aristocracy, nobility, senators, and so on. The master horse remarks that Gulliver appears much better than Yahoos because he must be from some noble family. Gulliver encounters him and says that in Europe, all nobles look sick, sallow, and weak because they are raised “in idleness and luxury” and debauchery. Thus, in Europe, “a healthy robust appearance” always signifies a low birth like Gulliver’s.
Gulliver then mentions that while living with the Houyhnhnms, he realized all the follies of human beings and the evils of human society. He wishes never to return to human society. The master horse comments that the European Yahoos are “animals, to whose share…some small pittance of reason had fallen” of which they made no use than “to aggravate…natural corruptions and…acquire new ones.” The master horse then concludes that the European Yahoos are worse than the Yahoos of his land because European Yahoos lack physical strength, swiftness, agility, and strong claws. The master horse says that Europeans use clothes to hide their bodies because just like the Yahoos of Hoyuhnhnms, they loath each other’s bodies. He further mentions other similarities between European Yahoos and Yahoos of his land such as they greedily hoard food; overeat; purge; suffer sickness from immoderation, seek intoxication; live in filth; suck up to their leaders, then throw their excrement at that leader as soon as he is replaced; lust after and hoard jewels; suffer malaise when indolent, and indulge the grotesque lust of their females.
Gulliver continues to observe and learn the ways of Houyhnhnms and this further increases his love for them. He observes that their reason is so perfect and absolute that they never have disagreements or differences of opinion. They love all of their species equally and treat their relations as well as they treat neighbors and strangers. They don’t show their children affection but instead educate them in reason. The Houyhnhmns practice planning and their marriages are arranged by the elders of the family and they do not think of “courtship, love, presents, jointures, or settlements.” The children of Houyhnhmns are educated in “temperance, industry, exercise…cleanliness,” “strength, speed, and hardiness,” and both genders receive the same kind and degree of education. Gulliver explains that the Houyhnhnms have no words for evil and thus, to express anything bad, they “borrow from the deformities or ill qualities of the Yahoos” and simply append the word “Yahoo” to the word of the thing. One day, while bathing Gulliver sees his own reflection in the water, he is disgusted and he aspires as much as possible to imitate the physical characteristics of a horse. On the same day, a servant of the master horse comes to Gulliver and says that his secret has been revealed to everyone and the council of Houyhnhnms has decided that it was wrong of the master horse to live with a Yahoo. The council has decided that Gulliver must be sent back to his land. Gulliver gets very upset by this news and he faints. The master horse also doesn’t want Gulliver to go but he has to accept the decision of the council. Thus, Gulliver makes a canoe of the skin of the Yahoos and prepares for his return journey. While leaving the land of Houyhnhnms, Gulliver kisses the hoof of the master horse and pays his respect. Gulliver decides that he would search for an uninhabited island and will live alone rather than return to the world of Yahoos. He succeeds in finding a lonely island but soon he is attacked by savages who hurt his knee with their arrows. He goes back to the sea and after some days, a Portuguese merchandise ship captained by Don Pedro de Mendez notices his canoe and reaches out to him to help. However, Gulliver is adamant about not taking any help. The captain forcefully takes him onboard. All the crew members are baffled by Gulliver’s resolution not to return to live with Yahoos and laugh at his horsey voice and strange clothes. Gulliver struggles to get free and jump back into the sea. A crew member notices him trying to do so and captures him before he may jump off. Gulliver is then chained to his cabin. Gulliver is repulsed by the sight of the humans around him. During the rest of the journey, Don Pedro treats Gulliver very tenderly and tries to revive his love for humanity. He makes Gulliver promise not to kill himself. When they reach Portugal, he takes Gulliver to his home and offers new clothes to him. At last, Gulliver is sent back to England. But he doesn't like living with his wife and children. He soon buys two horses never to sit or ride on them but only to treat them tenderly. He doesn’t like any human being except the servant groom who takes care of his horses because he smells like horses. In the last part, Gulliver explains why he never tried to conquer and claim the lands he visited while criticizing the colonial mindset of European powers.
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. Two Virgins was another diasporic novel by Kamala Markandaya that was first published in the year 1973. The novel depicts the effect of post-colonial Western culture on Indian traditional society and how if left unchecked, it may lead to the downfall of individuals. The novel tells the story of two adolescent growing siblings from the perspective of the younger sister who is not as beautiful as her elder sister. However, while the elder sister falls prey to the power of beauty, lust, greed, and irrational haunting in life for pleasure. The novel is written in first person narrative style with Saroja, the younger sister being the narrator. Kamala Martandaya used symbolism to present the contrast between the East-West enchantment and disenchantment. The novelist presented the real world from a feministic point of view with the major theme of adolescence, morality, and chastity.
Characters of Two Virgins:
Lalthia is the elder adolescent daughter of a modest family in a South Indian village who lives with her father Appa, her mother Amma, her widowed Aunt Alamelu, and her younger sister Saroja. Her two elder brothers live in the city. Lalitha is a strong headed beautiful, attractive, ambitious, and manipulative girl who knows how to use her power of beauty and is learning the ways of seduction. Saroja on the other hand, is not-so-beautiful. She is a timid and cautious girl who enjoys life's simple pleasures—harvests, rain, the countryside's beauty, local sweets, and so on. Their father Appa is an educated progressive man who believes in the equality of genders, however, is not free of hypocrisy and biases. Lalitha is his favorite daughter because she is the most beautiful baby he ever saw and he often ignores Saroja. Aunt Alamelu is his elder widowed sister who often confronts him for the way he is upbringing her daughters. Aunt Alamelu prefers the traditional approach to life and wishes the girls of the house to understand the limits and moral principles to succeed in society. Appa, on the other hand, would often encourage Lalita to pursue her dreams. Lalita and Saroja would often witness the arguments between Appa and Aunt Alamelu. Saroja is more under the influence of her aunt and she looks forward to her traditional roles as wife and mother, and her roots are firmly planted in the village and its ways. While Lalita represents the effect of Western culture on post-colonial India, Saroja represents Eastern traditional values and the virtues of country life.
Manikkam is another widowed village woman who is on the verge of destitution. She knows about the local medicinal herbs and helps Lalita with some anti-contraceptive medication that fails to serve the purpose. Mr. Gupta is a rich film producer from Chennai who visits the village to shoot a song for his film. Devraj is an assistant to Mr. Gupta. Ms. Mendoza is a British woman living in the village who runs a preaching school. She often encourages the students of her school to adapt to the Western culture and belief system. Chingelput is a successful sweet shop owner of the village who began as a destitute orphan child. Jaya is a school friend of Saroja. Amma is a dynamic character who, like Lalita is very beautiful and likes to be praised by men yet she remains within the moral limits of society and is a loyal subservient wife of Appa.
Summary of Two Virgins:
The novel begins as Saroja introduces the main characters of the story and describes common day life in the village. Lalita is the favorite girl in the village. She is a beautiful growing girl who often succeeds in achieving what she wants. Her Appa encourages her to learn the modern ways of the world and when Lalita asks him to let her join the missionary school of Ms. Mendoza where she may learn English, Dancing, and Political science, he happily agrees to admit her to the costly school. Saroja is not so beautiful younger daughter of Appa who joins the government school. While Saroja‘s Appa upholds Western ideas, modernism, and progressiveness, her Aunt Alamelu is a stickler for Hindu culture and practices all things conventional. Appa and their aunt are continuously at war, and it is through their bickering and arguments that Saroja and further enlightened about the cultural conflict, and the benefits and problems of change. Aunt Alamelu would often encourage Saroja to learn the traditional ways of the village. However, Saroja too wishes to be as attractive as Lalita, yet she understands her flaws and avoids following the same mistakes. Being the younger sister, she has the advantage of observing her elder sister and learning from her achievements and mistakes.
Being not as beautiful as Lalita, Saroja is not much interested in cosmetics and pleasantries. She would rather have fun playing with buffaloes and bullocks. She is a better rider than Lalita and she enjoys traditional village sweets from the sweetshop of Chingelput. Despite not being beautiful, she is an adolescent girl and Chingelput has a special interest in Saroja who will often present her with free sweets to taste. Lalita would often tease Saroja and claim that some are made beautiful while some others are not made so beautiful but being a plain and simple girl Saroja doesn’t feel humiliated. Though secretly, she hopes one day she would turn out beautiful, like a butterfly bursting out of a chrysalis, perhaps when she gets older.
Saroja would often compare Lalita, her friends from the missionary school, and the girls of her own school. In Saroja’s school, the girls wanted to be rounded and curvy, like the goddesses in the pictures, but in Lalitha’s, they were crazy for slimness except for breasts. Most of them didn’t have much of breasts anyway, being in the beginning stage. Saroja would often think that she is not properly growing like Lalita and Jaya, her school friend because Jaya’s breasts were advanced by comparison, rounded and thrusting, whereas Saroja’s were hardly more than swollen nipples. Saroja keenly observes the physical features of her mother, and she also compares that with that of Lalitha’s teacher Miss Mendoza. Saroja compares the cleavage of Miss Mendoza with a dent and speculates on whether Miss Mendoza has any breasts at all and she compares her mother’s cleavage with a hollow like a well in between.
While going through all these adolescent observations of changes, Saroja grows further timid and shy in front of elders but she shares her feelings freely and frankly with Jaya. Lalita on the other hand is self-centered, confident, and frank. She is learning English, Political Science, and Arts in Mr. Mendoza’s school finds Lalita exceptionally talented, and teaches her maypole dancing. Mr. Mendoza introduces the girls of her school to Christian beliefs and the Western lifestyle. This further encourages and emboldens Lalita whose first concern is to explore the liberty of her feminine self. She would often flirt with young guys in the village while teasing them. The "modernism" that Lalitha imbibes at Miss Mendoza's school is only cheap sophistication which has a tinsel quality about it in the shabby social life in a village. Combined with this is her physical attractiveness which is spread with the tepid gloss of raw sexiness.
Lalita is often intrigued by Manikkam, a village woman who lives alone and would often indulge with other married men. She often uses anticonception medications because of which she remains oblivious to things going around her. However, she appears comfortable and happy within her small world.
One day, Mr. Gupta, a successful film producer arrives at the village to shoot for his documentary on village life. He needs a young girl to perform a dance for his film. Ms. Mendoza recommends Lalita for the dance performance and Mr. Gupta readily accepts because he finds Lalita very attractive. However, Lalita is not too happy about this project because being an expert in maypole dance and other Western styles, she wishes to perform a raunchy modern dance for the film. However, being a documentary on village life, Mr. Gupta instructs her to perform a simple traditional village dance. Anyhow, Lalita performs in the film and she becomes instantly famous in the whole village and surrounding area. Lalita already had her ambitions to join the film industry and use her beauty to gain fame. She requests Mr. Gupta to help her out who promises to call her for his next project.
However, many months pass by and Lalita doesn’t hear anything from Mr. Gupta. One day, she decides to leave the village and go to the city to find work in the film industry. She steals some money from her father and runs away from home and goes to the city in search of carte blanche and in pursuit of stardom, but is spoiled in the hands of a filmmaker, Mr. Gupta. Gupta betrays her after impregnating her. When Mr. Gupta, a typical film world personality, had had his fill of Lalitha's sexual charm and has got her with child he sends her back to her village with not so much as a fine sari to her back. Lalitha is quite happy at having enjoyed the glitter and luxuries of city life as Mr. Gupta's mistress. But the family is terribly humiliated and disgraced. Lalitha's father takes her to the city to confront Mr. Gupta for his misdeed. Saroja also accompanies them. Mr. Gupta tells Lalitha's father that she had literally "flung herself at him” and makes it clear that she was a 'wanton'. Anyhow, Mr. Gupta agrees to pay for the abortion and medication for Lalita. While the father is haggling with Mr. Gupta for money for their return journey, Devraj, Gupta's assistant flirts with Saroja and wants to exploit her sexually as Gupta did exploit Lalitha. Saroja is hungry for sexual pleasure as Lalitha has been. Both the sisters have derived this sexiness from their mother but she has, however, greater control over herself and repulses Devraj; particularly because she is afraid that she will come to grief like her sister.
Lalitha’s parents fully support her yet, she is not ready to come back to the village and face the people and the reproaches of society. She decides to leave her family forever and carve her own path alone. Her life completely changes; she chooses to live in her own way because she had catapulted herself outside the orbit of her community. She realizes that even in this modern world, women have no equal rights when compare to that of what men. Her underlying dream of turning into an on-screen character and sparkling as a film star demonstrates a worthless endeavor, bringing about her losing her virtue, She in this manner turns into the objective of her own wrong, mis-set needs. Meanwhile, Saroja wonders why Lalita was forced to abort. She questions why does society have to be the beastly tamer? Why can‘t it let the children of sin — who, the conventionalist, call ‗fruits of unbridled lust‘ — survive? Why can‘t society stop meddling and probing into the lives of others, of innocent children and their unwed mothers? Would the world be less happy, if it had to accommodate them? Perhaps, yes. This is why, they need to be eliminated because there‘s no room for the ‗children of sin‘. If only society was less harsh and more forgiving! Lalita leaves a note on her hospital bed before leaving which says that she is going never to return and that her father must not look for her because it will be fruitless. Despite that, Appa and Amma try their best to find out about Lalita but soon their limited resources start depleting. At last, they decide to return back to the village with Saroja. At the village, Saroja again indulges in her deeds of charm. She goes to Chingleput’s shop who offers her special sweets that he made for Saroja. Although Saroja tastes the sweets, her "tongue was tinctured with the bitterness of aloes" and she starts sobbing. Chingleput decides to make use of the moment and encloses her in his arms. His male organ becomes hard, nuzzling against Saroja’s body. He tells her not to be afraid and that since he was a man he cannot help it. Saroja was not afraid, because "she knew too much, she had gone through too much to be afraid of anything" Saroja graciously manages the situation and comes back to her home, unscathed.
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. The full title of Book 3 of Gulliver’s Travels was “A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan.” Swift satirizes English Bureaucracy, religion, science, and The Royal Society of England in the third part. Jonathan Swift also raises the old debate of Ancients versus Modernists in this book. In addition, Swift satirizes the desire for immortality and fear of old age and death.
After spending 10 days at home, Gulliver had a visitor who proposed to him a job and promotion and a surgeon and co-captain of Hopewell, a sturdy ship. Much to his wife’s chagrin, Gulliver chose to accept the job and right after two months, he was aboard Hopewell heading towards the port Tanquin. The captain of Hopewell was William Robinson (mimicking Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe). The captain planned to make some money in Tonquin and bought a boat and sent 14 crewmembers led by Gulliver to continue their business while he stayed at the port of Tonquin for his own purpose.
Characters of A Voyage to Laputa,...and Japan:
William Robinson is the captain of the ship Hopewell while Lemuel Gulliver is the co-captain. The Dutchman is an accomplice of Japanese sea pirates whom Gulliver requests to help him being a Christian brother. The Laputans are the inhabitant of the floating island of Laputa. They are weirdos who are very good at maths and science but cannot focus on any subject for long. Their heads are always leaning towards the right or left. The Laputian King is much more distracted than other Laputians. He lacks all common sense and is utterly preoccupied with abstractions. Lord Munodi is one rare sane and sensible person of Laputa but he is rejected and hated by every other Laputian. The Projectors are the scientists and philosophers of Laputa who continue to engage in abstractions pursuing science and philosophy without too much regard for practical outcomes. The Glubbdubdribbians are magical people headed by the Governor who can raise a dead person once every three months. The Luggnaggian king is a cruel despot who humiliates his subjects. The Struldbrugs are a special kind of people of Luggnagg who are common to others in all senses except that they are immortals. They grow old naturally until age 80 and then become immortals. All struldbrugs are marked by a dot above their left eyebrow that changes color as they grow old and becomes black once they are 80 years of age.
Summary of A Voyage to Laputa,... and Japan:
As Gulliver heads the boat with 14 crewmembers towards India, he encounters a band of sea pirates who attack the boat and capture Gulliver along with other men. Gulliver notices that while all the pirates are Japanese, one of them is Dutch. Gulliver calls him his Christian brother and asks for his help but this angers the Dutchman who suggests the head of the pirates kill all the captured men. However, the Japanese pirate assures Gulliver that nobody will be murdered as their aim is to loot not to kill. Gulliver praises the Japanese pirate while criticizing the Dutchman and says that he has found “more mercy in a heathen.” This further angers the Dutchman who convinces the leader of the pirates to leave Gulliver stranded alone in a small canoe to die by himself. Gulliver struggles to survive and rows the canoe aimlessly until he finds an island where he gets some eggs to eat in the jungle. As it grows dark, he decides to sleep in a cave. The next morning, he observes “a vast opaque body” crossing the sun while moving towards the island. At first, Gulliver thinks that is some strange extra dark large cloud. Gulliver uses his binocular to observe the cloud and realizes that it is not a cloud but a whole island that is floating in the air above him. Gulliver is awestruck seeing it and when he sees some men walking on the floating island he bows in supplication and begs for their help in saving him. Those men couldn’t understand English but they understood the supplicant behavior of Gulliver and decided to help him by lowering a chair tied to a chain through which Gulliver could reach them up on the floating island. As Gulliver reaches up, he observes that these people on the floating island are a bit weird looking and all of them keep their heads either tilted towards right or left. All of them wear similar clothes with prints of abstract figures, celestial bodies, or musical instruments. Some of them are masters while others are servants known as Flappers. The flappers carry blown bladders filled with little pebbles or peas to flap at the mouths and ears of those around them. The flappers strike the mouth of the person who should speak and they also strike the ear of the person to whom they should speak. Gulliver learns that the residents of this island are so distracted that they cannot focus for more than a minute and often fail to remember what are they talking about or who are they talking to hence, they need the services of flappers. The flapper is also responsible for preventing his absent-minded master from tripping over things, bumping into walls, etc.
Gulliver is taken to the Laputan King and he learns that the king is the most distracted person in the lot. The king was busy solving a mathematical puzzle and he ignores Gulliver for an hour but then his flapper strikes him and reminds him of Gulliver. The king then orders Gulliver to be sent away and fed well. He also arranges a teacher who may teach the language of Laputa to Gulliver. Moreover, the king observes that Gulliver’s clothes are dirty and hence, he orders new clothes to be made for Gulliver. All the food items were made and cut into geometrical shapes. Gulliver is measured for clothes using a quadrant, a ruler, and compasses, and the resultant clothes are very misshapen due to a failure in the calculation. The tutor explains to Gulliver that the floating Island is known as Laputa while the island beneath it is known as Balnibarbi. Gulliver learns that Laputa continues to float above Balnibarbi with the help of a large strong magnet and the Laputian king often exploits the people of Balnibarbi as he can cut off sunshine and rain from any region on the lower island. Or, if he wishes, he can pelt it with stones. Theoretically, he could lower Laputa and crush Balnibarbian towns. Gulliver learns that the language of the Laputan people also includes many mathematical terms while Laputan people do not like their homes to be built with any right angle because they hate practical geometry and cannot think of living in a rectangle and thus, all the houses in Laputa are badly misshaped. Laputan people remain engaged with abstract math while they lack any common sense and practical knowledge. They have no idea of imagination or invention and they keep worrying about the health of the sun and that the sun would ultimately die one day. Gulliver notices that Laputian women are very beautiful with an ‘abundance of vivacity’ but they do not like Laputian men and often would choose lovers from Lagado, an island below. Laputian women prefer visceral and practical men but Laputans are not like that. To control women and stop them from running away with Lagadans, the king has framed some stringent laws.
The Laputan king allows Gulliver to explore the floating Island and Gulliver notices that it is a four-and-a-half mile diameter circle with a layer of adamant as its base and an immense magnetic loadstone in a chasm at the island’s center. Skilled Laputan astronomers control the movement of Laputa and know much more about celestial bodies than their European counterparts. Despite his obvious power over Balnibarbi and other lower islands, the Laptan king never thinks of actually destroying the lower land as it is as necessary for the survival of the floating island as the piece of the magnet within it. Gulliver doesn’t enjoy his days in Laputa as he is not that much skilled in mathematics, astronomy, or music. He spends most of his time talking with women, and flappers who are more practical than Laputan masters.
Gulliver then visits to Lagado to meet Munodi, a friend of the Laputan king. He notices that Lagado is in utter destruction. However, the private estate of Munodi is well-managed and beautiful. Munodi informs him that some 40 years ago, some scholars from Lagado went to Laputa and when they returned, they tried to mimic the ways of Laputa by using the same high scientific and mathematical ways, and that brought all destruction. He informs that those scholars established an academy in Lagado that continues to engage in new important experiments. Gulliver visits the academy which is situated in several dilapidated buildings. He learns that the scholars experimenting in the academy are called projectors. The projectors are engaged in many bizarre projects such as working on extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, or turning human excrement back into food, or, turning calcine ice into gunpowder; building houses from the roof down, and so on. Gulliver notices that all Projectors are immensely happy though none of them is making any progress in their experiments. The Projectors teach mathematics to Lagadan kids and suggest that eating wafers with mathematical concepts written on them helps in learning mathematics. Gulliver then visits the Political wing of Projectors and notices that the political Projectors are also equally insane. Gulliver then visits a hall where some projectors were debating on how people should be taxed. One of them suggested that men should be taxed on vices, follies, talents, sexual prowess, “wit, valor, and politeness,” but never on “honor, justice, wisdom, and learning,” since those four are valueless. Women could be taxed on “beauty” and style, but not on “constancy, chastity, good sense, and good nature,” because these qualities are so rare, they would attract no tax.
Gulliver decides to leave Lagado to explore Luggnagg, another island that is situated between Western America and Japan. However, he fails to find any direct ship to go there and hence he decides to visit the island of Glubbdubdrib. He learns that the inhabitants of Glubbdubdrib are all magicians who practice necromancy. The leader of Glubbdubdrians is known as the governor, the most skilled magician among them. The Glubbdubdrian governor soon develops a friendly rapport with Gulliver. Gulliver is a bit threatened by knowing that all the servants of the governor are ghosts but soon he becomes accustomed to it. The governor tells him that he can call anyone from the dead to whom Gulliver wishes to talk. Gulliver decides to summon Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar, Pompey, the Roman senate, Caesar, and Brutus. Gulliver summons many other ghosts who were “chiefly…destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers of liberty to oppressed and injured nations.” He then summons the ghosts of Homer and Aristotle and learns that none of them have ever met any of their critics in the afterlife. He learns that the critics and the commentators are so ashamed of the gross lies they’ve made up in their commentaries that they’ve avoided Homer and Aristotle in the afterlife. Gulliver then summons the ghosts of Descartes and Gassendi who teach their own science to Aristotle. Aristotle accepts his mistakes but says that no matter how strongly based these new principles are, they will keep proving to be wrong and out of fashion with time.
Finally, Gulliver gets a ship to Luggnagg from where he wishes to go to Japan. He knows that only Dutch Europeans are allowed in Japan and thus, he lies that he is Dutch. He hires a Luggnaggian boy to be his interpreter. After reaching Luggnagg, he decides to meet the king to get permission to go to Japan. He learns a strange custom of Luggnaggians that if a stranger has to meet the Luggnaggian king, he must crawl on his belly, licking the floor in front of the king. Gulliver obediently follows the custom while noticing that the floor was properly cleaned before he paid respect to the king. He learns that the Luggnaggian is not particularly interested in cleanliness and often the floor of the palace remains dirty and the visitors are forced to lick the dirt off the floor. He further learns that if an enemy visits the Luggnaggian king, he may decide to order poison to be sprinkled on the floor and as the enemy would lick it, he will get killed. Gulliver praises the king with bombastic words saying, "May your celestial majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons and a half." The king gets impressed by Gulliver and he allows him food, lodging, and other amenities for three months. During his stay in Luggnagg, Gulliver learns about Struldbrugs. While they are exactly similar to other Luggnaggian in all matters, they are special because all the Struldbrugs are immortals who cannot die. Gulliver is excited about immortality and wishes to know the secret.
Gulliver learns that the Struldbrugs continue to age till 80 years but then their body becomes still and never gets any elder. However, by the age of 80, they are already too weak, useless, cantankerous, and disturbing. No Luggnaggian likes any Struldbrugs and often a common Luggnaggian wouldn’t like to become a Struldbrug. He learns that it is not a hereditary condition and most often the children of Struldbrugs are simple Luggnaggians who die much before their Struldbrug parents get to the age of 80. After knowing all this, Gulliver vows never to wish for immortality.
The Luggnaggian king becomes fond of Gulliver and wishes him to stay for more time but Gulliver insists that he must go to Japan. Thus, the Luggnaggian king sends him off with gifts and a letter of recommendation to the emperor of Japan. In Japan, Gulliver continues his lie that he is Dutch and asks the help of the Japanese emperor to find a Dutch ship leaving from Nangasac. However, he further lies that he is suffering pain in his back and thus he may not be able to follow the Dutch maritime custom of trampling a crucifix. The emperor of Japan gets a bit suspicious wondering if Gulliver is really a Catholic. Nonetheless, Gulliver had the recommendation of the Luggnaggian king and thus, he helps Gulliver catch the ship. Gulliver successfully convinces the Dutch crewmen of the ship that he is Dutch and thus, he sails back to England safely. He reaches home and meets his wife and children after five years since he left home.
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. 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!
