Wife by Bharti Mukherjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. "Wife" was the second novel by Bharti Mukherjee that was published in 1975. It is the story of Dimple Dasgupta, an Indian girl who faces social and cultural change in the post- Independence India that has made women conscious of the need to define themselves, their place in society, and their surroundings. While Dimple imagines her future as a happily married housewife, she strongly resents her inability to participate in the selection of her husband to be, the arranged marriage has negative consequences for Dimple. Dimple feels treated as property, her feelings totally ignored. Arranged marriage seems to treat the union of husband and wife not as a sacred moment but as a property exchange. She always dreamed of marrying a neurosurgeon but her father chooses an Engineer for her as the bridegroom. Her resentment against the institution of arranged marriage fills her with sadness and a sadistic approach that continues to turn violent and in the end, Dimple kills her husband.

Characters of Wife by Bharti Mukherjee:

Dimple Dasgupta is the main character of the novel. She is a simple Indian girl in her early twenties. She belongs to a middle-class Bengali Brahmin family. She has completed her graduation and is now looking forward to getting married. She hasn’t planned for any career options while her friend Pixie is struggling with typing and shorthand classes to get a job. Dimple hopes of marrying a wonderful man and living a happily married life. While she feels imprisoned at her home, she believes that her marriage will be a liberating experience and after that, she will be having all the fun, partying, and making love with her husband. Dimple’s mother is a traditional Hindu woman who believes in the patriarchial family system and the institution of arranged marriage. She convinces Dimple that her father will find an outstanding husband for her. Amit Basu is a young engineer who has recently got an opportunity to emigrate to the U.S. Unlike Dimple, Amit is a man of serious attitude and philosophical outlook towards life. He is unable to understand the emotional needs of Dimple and expects her to understand her role as a responsible, dutiful wife. Amit is thus, a mismatch for Dimple. Mrs. Basu is Dimple’s mother-in-law who is very critical of Dimple and continues oppressing her. Mrs. Ghose is Amit’s elder sister who is already married. While Amit liked and decided to marry Dimple, Mrs. Ghose makes it clear that Dimple was not the first choice of his family. Jyoti Sen is a friend of Amit in New York City. After migrating to the U.S. Amit and Dimple stay at Jyoti Sen’s home and then they move to an apartment owned by Prodosh and Marsha, who are away on sabbatical. Milt is the brother of Marsha.

Summary of Wife by Bharti Mukherjee:

The story begins as Dimple relishes her girlish fantasy about marriage. She is eager to get married and visions of her prince charming whose amorous advances and glances would drench her with supreme bliss. In Dimple‟s imagination, there is no place for mundane responsibilities and struggle with day-to-day existence like water shortage, electricity failure, and adjustment with in-laws. She believes that marriage will bring liberation to her as she will be free of her mundane virgin life and offer her what she actually wants, parties, glamour, and love. Her friend Pixie is preparing for her professional career as a typist and stenographer. Dimple wants a different kind of life and she values her imagination more than the real life. She dreams to marry a neurosurgeon but as a Hindu girl, Dimple does not have the right to choose her own bridegroom, so cannot guarantee he will come from ―neurosurgeons and architects. She is of average build and she is not very beautiful or fair. Her father, Mr. Dasgupta, an electrical engineer at Calcutta Electric Supply Company, is inclined to look for engineers in the matrimonial ads. Her mother Mrs. Dasgupta keeps convincing her that her father will find an outstanding bridegroom for her. While her parents are hunting for a suitable groom, she starts feeling nervous, sick, and anxious. Her anxieties are also related to the inadequacies of her figure and complexion, as she wants desperately to fit into the slot of an eligible match. She would often write letters to Mrs. Problemwala to provide solutions for her physical and cosmetic problems. But this dream of hers remains unfulfilled as she did not deserve to be the prettiest due to her average beauty. While Dimple is eager to marry and to feel the liberty that she may have after being married, the waiting continues to grow long, and gradually, she starts resenting the idea of marriage when, for prospective match-making, she is displayed as a chattel on several occasions. The condescending discussions regarding her physical features are discussed before her. She feels humiliated and angry but she has to control her emotions.

At last, Mr. Dasgupta invites Amit Basu, an engineer who recently got a chance to emigrate to the U.S. for prospective matchmaking. Amit visits Dimple’s house with his mother Mrs. Basu, and elder sister, Mrs. Ghosh. Mrs. Basu objected to the name Dimple, which she considered too frivolous and unbengali, and the candidate‟s sister, Mrs. Ghose, felt that Dimple was a little darker than the photograph had suggested. Despite that, Amit liked Dimple, and their marriage was fixed.

The next day, Dimple meets Pixie and informs her about her marriage being fixed with Amit, an engineer who is expected to work in the U.S. Dimple shows Amit’s photo to Pixie and she comments, “Your short dark prince charming.” Her comment hits Dimple hard. She always imagined a tall, fair man in her dreams. However, Pixie is too much impressed by Amit and she says, “What a lucky girl you are! You’ll be in America before you know it. ‘ll still be slogging away at my typing and shorthand.”

After the marriage, Dimple comes into Amit’s home in Calcutta, a three-story building on Dr. Sarat Banerjee Road, a place where they live with Mrs. Basu and Pintu, her brother-in-law.

and on the very first day, his sister, Mrs. Ghosh tells her that though Amit liked her, she was not the first choice of his family. She lived a pampered life at her home but she discovers that at her in-law‟s she will have to fill the water from down below, the flat is quite small and the staircase has no light. The demands of the post-marital role fill her with anxieties which include pleasing everybody around. Furthermore, her mother-in-law proves to be too intrusive and won’t even allow her to choose the colors of the curtains and bedsheets in her and Amit’s bedroom. Life after marriage appears much more restrictive to Dimple now as her dreams shatter. She continued to suffer while repressing her emotions in the hope that soon she will go to the U.S. with Amit where she will have a chance to fulfill her dreams. Amit, on the other hand, is unaware of Dimple’s emotional tussles. Like any traditionally brought-up Indian husband, he does not know how to pay a compliment to his wife. He would like her to reside at home and focus on the household chores rather than go out, work, and earn. The culture he is born in requires of him to earn and grant for the future whatever the cost and he withdraws his love and other emotional attachments from his wife in a recreation of the cultural aims.

However, one day she gets a chance to vent out all her repressed anger as she finds a mouse nibbling on her clothes. She decides to hit the mouse as hard as possible. In an outburst of hatred, her body shuddering, her wrist taut with fury, she smashed the head of the mouse. Dimple noticed that the mouse had a strangely swollen fat belly. She realized that the mouse was pregnant. By that time, she was also pregnant with Amit’s child. However, she doesn’t want to be a mother. She feels that the growing fetus in her womb is a parasite, She feels that there is a property of Basu even in her belly that she cannot accept. She decides to jump rope to escape pregnancy. Symbolically, in her rejection of the pregnancy, she rejects Amit.

At last, Amit is ordered to shift to his office in the U.S. However, Amit doesn’t have a proper arrangement of residence there. Thus, Amit and Dimple stay in Queens and live with another joint family in the flat of Amit’s friend, Jyoti Sen. In the U.S. too, Dimple again fails to find freedom. Furthermore, she is not very fluent in English and she is too rooted in Indianness. Thus, she fails to find any social circle in the U.S. While Amit gets busy with his official work for most of the part of the day, Dimple had nothing else to do but to watch TV programs. Gradually, she develops an interest in TV programs showing murder cases. After some months, Amit and Dimple move to a sophisticated part of New York, Manhattan. They live in a luxurious apartment that belongs to Jyoti’s friends, Prodosh and Marsha, who are away on sabbatical. In this apartment, they are freed from joint family life for a while. However, Dimple now realizes that Amit is no company for her and they are mismatched. For Dimple, life was like a dream of luxuries, fashion, glamour, and love. Amit is more philosophical and pragmatic. He knows he is the bread earner and he has to spend most of his time at his work. He expects Dimple to please her whenever he gets some free time as if she is bound to serve her. Back in India, she still had some ways to vent out her frustrations but in the U.S. she suffers complete loneliness and alienation. The New York life appears to prove particularly destructive to Dimple. Her frustration continues to grow. One day, Milt, an American white man arrives at her door when Amit is at the office. He is the brother of Marsha, the landlady of the apartment where Amit and Dimple are living. In order to feel her freedom, Dimple tries to seduce Milt in her bedroom. She wishes him to do her. However, Milt refuses to indulge and goes away. That same evening when Amit returns from the office, she attacks him with the kitchen knife. She stabs him seven times, each time a little harder. She murders Amit as a symbol of acceptance of her shattered dreams. Killing Amit becomes her way to announce her liberty from Amit’s patriarchal rules.

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

The Tiger’s Daughter by Bharti Mukherjee | Chracters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Bharti Mukherjee was an Indian-born American-Canadian writer who was born on July 27 1940 into a Hindu-Bengali Brahmin family of Calcutta. Her father was a businessman during the British Raj. During her childhood, she visited Europe for a tour with her family and after completing her graduation from the University of Calcutta, she went to the U.S. for higher studies at the University of Iowa. Her first novel was The Tiger’s Daughter which though is a fictional story, resembles much of her own life story. The Tiger’s Daughter was published in 1971. In 1977, Bharti Mukherjee and her husband Clark Blaise published an autobiographical memoir titled “Days and Nights in Calcutta” in which Bharti mentioned her issues and problems as an expatriate Indian who returned to India after many years in Canada and the U.S. In that memoir, Bharti explained why her life in the U.S. is much better and how she now doesn’t like the Indian society and culture which she used to love and miss during her days in America. During her one-year sabbatical leave in 1973 that she spent in India with her husband, Bharti realized that India is infested with a denuded tradition of poverty, squalor, and turbulence. She noticed her issues with the patriarchial family system in her own house and ultimately, she decided to return to the U.S. for her own good.

Similar is the storyline of The Tiger’s Daughter. The main theme of the novel is how an Indian immigrant finds him or herself divided between their native cultural roots and the new cultural ties and habits they have developed in their new world. Bharti Mukherjee asserts that the immigrants who move to America come with the belief that they will have a fair chance to better their lives, as there are ample opportunities if one is willing to work hard. 

Characters of The Tiger’s Daughter:

Tara Banerjee Cartwright is the main character of the novel. Tara is an Indian girl who was born into a wealthy Bengali Brahmin Family. Her great-grandfather was Harilal Banerjee who was a successful entrepreneur during the British Raj and made a vast fortune. Her father is known as the Bengal Tiger because of his temperament. He owns the famous Banerjee and Thomas (Tobacco) Co. Ltd. Though Tara was born in British India, she got the finest education in a convent school, and she spent her holidays in Europe. At 15, Tara is sent to America for higher studies. In the U.S. she faces difficulties because of racism but her experiences with the Belgian nuns of her convent school help her in adjusting to the new circumstances to a certain extent. In the U.S., Tara accidentally meets David Cartwright and falls in love with him. The two get married and start living together. However, Tara still misses her childhood days in India and despite being married to a native white man and being in love with him, she feels alien in the U.S. After seven years of their marriage, she decides to go back to India. However, she finds that her relatives in India find her too much ‘Westernized.’ She fails to assimilate with her own family members who are still traditional and decides to go back to her husband in the U.S. as she discovers that she is no more an Indian but a naturalized American.

Summary of The Tiger’s Daughter:

Tara Banerjee is a young Indian girl belonging to an upper-rich class Bengali Brahmin family. She is the only girl in her home and thus, she is being pampered by her parents. Her father is a well-known rich and successful businessman in the city of Calcutta whom people often call the Bengal Tiger. Tara enjoys all perks of being rich and is admitted to a posh convent school where she learns the Western culture and ways with the help of the Belgian nuns of her school. The Belgian nuns had taught her to inject the correct quantity of venom into words like ‘common’ and ‘vulgar.’ For Tara –the daughter of affluent, Bengali Brahmin parents,  the ‘foreignness’ began to a great degree with her privileged Catholic education at St Blaise’s, with Belgian nuns in ‘long black habits’ who taught from a point of racial and moral pre-eminence and with teaching resources from the West.

Being a young child, susceptible to impersonation, Tara starts liking the Western ideas and ways while criticizing the Indian culture and ethos. Yet, her mother is a traditional Hindu housewife who regularly performs Puja and rituals at her home and Tara is learning that too. At the tender age of fifteen, her father sends Tara to the U.S. for higher studies. Tara is not comfortable in her University hostel room in the U.S. She feels alone and alienated when nobody is like her. She faces racial discrimination and within a week, she wants to return home but that is not possible and thus, she tries to adjust to the demands of a different world. Her convent education and the teachings of the Belgian nuns at St. Blaise School in Calcutta helps her during this process. However, she roots in her Indianness and experience and to cherish it, she vehemently takes out all her red silk scarves and hangs them around to give the apartment a more Indian look. She tries to create a Hindu temple in her apartment and starts worshipping Maa Kali every day for strength so that she would not break down before the Americans. Time passes, and despite all the discrimination and alienation she faces in America, she develops some friendly relationships at her University. Gradually her thinking and psyche start accepting American ways.

One day, during an educational tour, she visits the Greyhound bus station (at Madison), and in her anxiety to find a cab, she almost knocked down a young man. This young man is David Cartwright. They develop a rapport and gradually they start loving each other. Tara decides to marry the man and becomes his wife. She informs her family after her marriage. For some months, Tara enjoys her new life as the wife of an American man. She feels she is not alienated anymore and she is a naturalized American. Still, her Indianness keeps reminding her of the good old days of her childhood. To preserve her nativeness she continues to retain her maiden surname after her marriage. Her husband too asks her about her life and family in India and she finds it difficult to explain her cultural roots to him. Gradually, it becomes a burden to her and she decides to return to India.

After seven years, Tara returns to India and is received by her relatives. They greet her by her childhood nickname Tultul to which she gets offended. She now perceives every Indian thing with the eyes of an American. The railway station looks like a hospital with so many sick and deformed men sitting on the bundles and trunks. In the compartment, she finds it difficult to travel with a Marwari and a Nepali. Now she considers America a dreamland. When surrounded by her relatives and vendors at the Howrah railway station Tara feels uncomfortable. She likely hates everyone and everything in India where she was born, brought up and taught many values, all because of her acculturation in America. At her home too, she feels the same alienation that she used to feel during her early days in America. Her mother still continues to follow her daily spiritual rituals. Tara tries to assimilate with her family by entering the house temple and participating in the rituals. Tara feels that she has forgotten many of her Hindu rituals of worshipping icons she had seen her mother performing since her childhood. She is convinced of her alienation when she forgets the next steps of the ritual after the sandalwood paste had been grounded “It was not a simple loss, Tara feared, this forgetting of prescribed actions; it was a little death, a hardening of the heart, a cracking of axis and center.” Her mother is also offended by the fact that Tara married without her family’s consent to an American whom Tara’s mother and all her relatives call Mlechcha. Tara had willfully abandoned her caste by marrying a foreigner. Perhaps her mother was offended that she, no longer a real Brahmin, nor a Hindu, was constantly in and out of this sacred room, dipping like a crow and polluting it. Her relatives follow their general Indian ways and Tara would find ills in them and will voice her opinions. This started offending her relatives too who felt that Americanization has made Tara arrogant. Tara suffers alienation too much and decides to go and stay at a hotel with her friends. However, she gets embroiled in a local riot. The riotous and destructive mob outside the Catelli-Continental hotel is merciless. Jittery, shivery, and encased within a car surrounded by ruthless humanity, Tara feels the vulnerability of mortals. In those nervous moments, she realizes that her reconciliation and assimilation with her Indian roots are meaningless. She finds nothing loveable and appreciable in India which is marred with poverty, diseases, hunger, patriarchal oppression, and communal riots. Thus, she decides to return back to David, her husband in America.

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

The Rambler A Periodical Journal by Samuel Johnson

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Samuel Johnson began his literary career as a contributor for the weekly newspaper The Birmingham Journal which used to be published on every Thursday. Johnson began contributing to the Birmingham Journal in 1733 and in October 1737, Johnson joined The Gentlean’s Magazine as a contributor. While his essays in The Gentleman’s Magazine were of political nature, he began contributing to another magazine titled The Rambler in 1750. The Rambler was published on Tuesdays and Saturdays in London from 1750 to 1752. A total number of 208 articles were published in The Rambler and all but four of them were written by Samuel Johnson. The publisher of the periodical journal was John Payne who paid two guineas to Samuel Johnson for each of his articles. Unlike Richard Steele’s The Tatler (1709-1711), and Steele and Joseph Addison’s The Spectator (1711-1714), the essays of The Rambler were more serious in nature. Obviously, The Rambler didn’t get the same popularity as that of The Spectator, however, The Rambler was widely respected for the quality and power of the writing and the masterful use of language and rhetoric.

The major subjects discussed in the essays of The Rambler were morality, literature, society, politics, and religion. The Rambler didn’t prove to be a financial success but the essays written by Samuel Johnson for The Rambler became a huge success after being reissued, with the essays revised, in volume form in 1753.

Purpose of The Rambler: It was a period when the middle class of Britain was gaining strength. Literacy rates were high in England and the middle-class people were proving to be a strong force in the economy of Britain. As a result, they now had a more vibrant relationship with the upper middle class and aristocratic class of England. While the economic and social differences between the aristocratic class and middle class were diminishing, did not possess the social and intellectual tools to integrate into those higher social circles which required a great understanding of subjects including morality, literature, society, politics, and religion. John Payne and Samuel Johnson decided to write and publish copies of The Rambler in essay form which were made cheaply available for the middle-class people. The purpose was to help middle-class people in understanding the intricacies of varied subjects. Samuel Johnson was already a distinguished Man of Letters and the essays of The Rambler further strengthened his position as an intellectual of the Age of Enlightenment. In the fourth edition of The Rambler, Johnson explicitly commented that the purpose of The Rambler is to provide intellectual profit and literary delight to those who read his work. All these essays were didactic in nature but Samuel Johnson made sure that his essays may not appear as instructive manuals but rather may be read with an explorative attitude.

Initially, all the essays of The Rambler were published under the pseudonym The Rambler. However, in 1753, all 204 essays written by Samuel Johnson for the journal were published under his name. In these essays, Johnson often included his comments on his own experience of universal human anxieties and frustrations: The Rambler is a sage and a moralist, but he is also constitutionally indolent. Taken together these essays embody Johnson's belief that the author as a moralist must improve the world: they have little to do with contemporary political, social, or literary events, but the Rambler's comments on his society and on the human condition are characteristically ponderous, shrewd, ironic, compassionate, wise, and enormously perceptive.

One can compare Samuel Johnson’s essays in The Rambler with those of Francis Bacon’s Essays Civil and Moral. Samuel Johnson often included quotes and ideas from Renaissance humanists such as Desiderius Erasmus and René Descartes in his Essays for The Rambler and this is why his writings in The Rambler are considered neoclassical in nature.

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.

Irene a Neoclassical Tragedy by Samuel Johnson | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Irene is a Neoclassical tragedy play written by Samuel Johnson that was first performed on 6^th February 1749. It is the only play that Samuel Johnson wrote and though he continued revising the play for a long period, he concluded that the play was a disaster after it was performed. He began writing the play in 1726 and he dedicated the play to his wife Elizabeth Johnson who was also known as Tetty who liked the play and believed that it will be a success. Samuel Johnson wrote the play in blank verse. Johnson completed the play in 1736 but couldn’t find a patron for its performance. In 1737, the British government announced the censorship act on theatres and it became difficult for Johnson to arrange the performance of his play. Irene was first performed in 1749 when Johnson’s former student and friend David Garrick decided to stage it. Many critics comment that the play might have worked well had Johnson chosen to write it in rhyme and not in blank verse which makes the play a moral preaching.

The play is based on the history of the Ottoman Empire and concerns the fate of Irene, a Greek slave loved by the emperor Sultan Mahomet. Johnson used Richard Knolles’s General Historie of the Turks as a reference that was published in 1602. He also used material from George Sandys's Relation of a Journey...containing a Description of the Turkish Empire (1615), Herbelot's Bibliothèque Orientale (1697), and Humphrey Prideaux's Life of Mahomet (1697).

The original documents suggested that the Ottoman Sultan Mahomet invaded and conquered Constantinople in 1453 and imprisoned a Greek Christian named Irene. He was enchanted by her beauty and decided to make her his mistress. He got so enamored by her that he began neglecting his duties and responsibilities as a monarch. He would spend most of his time with Irene, pursuing her romantically. The neglect of his duties resulted in riots and rebellion among his subjects. To bring order back, he murdered Irene by himself to prove his dedication towards his people.

Samuel Johnson fictionalized this incident to offer a view of Irene’s temptation.

Characters of Irene:

The main character of the play is Irene, a Greek Christian young girl who is captured by Ottoman invader Sultan Mahomet. Irene is a devoted Christian but the temptation of life and power persuades her to change her faith. Sultan Mahomet is an able administrator and a warrior. Aspasia is another Greek Christian girl, a friend of Irene who is also captured by the Ottomans. She is a devout Christian and maintains her faith. Cali Bassa is the prime Visier of Sultan Mahomet who warns him about the deteriorating administrative situation. Mustafa is a Turkish Aga honored by Sultan Mahomet. Abdalla is a military officer of Sultan Mahomet and he likes Aspasia and wishes to marry her but his love remains unrequited. Demetrius is a Greek nobleman whom Aspasia loves. He and Aspasia conspire against the invaders. Though Demetrius succeeds in freeing Aspasia, their conspiracy to topple the empire fails.

Summary of Irene:

The play begins as the Ottoman army celebrates its victory over Constantinople. The Ottoman emperor Sultan Mahomet is the new ruler of Constantinople. The Ottoman army has captured some Christians as prisoners and Irene is one of them. When Sultan Mahomet sees Irene, he finds her extremely beautiful and decides to keep her as his mistress. While he intends to use her as his personal slave, Irene with her beauty and intelligence, impresses him too much and he falls in love with her. He continues spending most of his time with her as he is romantically involved with her and wishes to marry her. However, Sultan’s too indulgence with a Christian slave creates tension among his subjects. His prime Visier Cali Bassa and Aga Mustafa do not like Irene because she is the reason why the Sultan is now neglecting his duties as the emperor. Meanwhile, Sultan’s military officer Abdalla falls in love with Aspasia, another Greek Christian prisoner who is a friend of Irene. He takes the help of Irene in pursuing Aspasia. When Irene informs Aspasia about Abdalla’s interest in her, Aspasia clearly says that she would prefer a life of celibacy in a convent rather than becoming a mistress of a Turk. Aspasia ridicules Irene for falling for worldly charms while ruining her faith.

Meanwhile, Mustafa and Cali Bassa engage in a power tussle to gather more political power among the subjects as Sultan Mahomet is ignoring his official duties. This power tussle creates mismanagement and the Ottoman administration bears the burden in the form of riots among citizens. Demetrius, the Greek nobleman and lover of Aspasiaplans takes advantage of the situation and he creates further tension among the people. As situations worsen, prime Visier Cali Bassa earnestly requests the Sultan to take care of his regime or he will face a revolt. Mahomet finally decides to take control of the situation. He offers Irene a proposal that if she accepts Islam, he will make her his queen. Irene is tempted to accept the proposal as she will be the queen of the strongest empire she knows of. She discusses the matter with Aspasia who again ridicules her and breaks all her friendly relationship with her. Irene gets enraged. She curses Aspasia and declares that she will accept Islam and will be the queen of Sultan Mahomet while Aspasia may continue with her faith and languish in prison.

Sultan Mahomet fulfills his promise and Irene becomes his queen who has accepted Islam. However, Vissier Bassa and Aga Mustafa are against this marriage and consider it immoral. They conspire against Sultan Mahomet and take the help of Demetrius in fanning the fire of riots in the city areas. Abdalla and Mustafa present inform Sultan Mahomet about the riots in such a manner that suggests that Irene is conspiring against him with the help of Demetrius and his associates. Sultan Mahomet is convinced that Bassa, with Irene's complicity, is plotting against him. This enrages him and fills his heart with hatred for Irene. He decides to punish her. Two of Abdalla’s captains attack Irene but before she dies, she succeeds in meeting Sultan Mahomet. In her dying moments, she reveals that she never conspired against him. She makes it clear that Bassa had conspired against the Sultan with the help of Demetrius and Aspasia whom Demetrius loved. Demetrius helped Bassa to get Aspasia back. She informs him that Demetrius and Aspasia have safely escaped from the prison. Mahomet investigates all the claims made by Irene and confirms that she was telling the truth but now she is dead and he is distraught by knowing that she was loyal to him.

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

The Murders in The Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Edgar Allan Poe is known as the inventor of detective fiction. He created the first fictional detective character named C. Auguste Dupin who first appeared in his short story The Murders in The Rue Morgue which was published in 1841. Dupin reappeared in his two other stories The Mystery of Marie Roger (1842), and The Purloin Letter (1844). Poe created the character of Dupin much before the term ‘detective’ was coined. Dupin displays many traits that were later copied by subsequent fictional detectives including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

The Murders in The Rue Morgue is a short story and is the first published detective story and the first locked room mystery ever that was published in 1841 in Philadelphia literary journal Graham's Magazine and then in Poe's own 1845 short story collection Tales of Mystery and the Imagination.

Characters of The Murders in The Rue Morgue:

Monsieur C. Augustus Dupin is a young man of considerable intellect and creative imagination. He is living in Paris. He is not a professional detective but he has a desire for truth. He is a master of analytical reasoning who solves crimes by examining everything and by placing himself in the mind of the criminal. The unnamed narrator is an expatriate who is on an extended visit to Paris where he meets C. Auguste Dupin who happens to be his roommate. He becomes a close friend of C. Auguste Dupin. The narrator is intelligent but does not have the same insight as his associate. He chronicles the mysteries in a way that displays admiration for his friend's abilities. Madame L'Espanaye is an old woman who becomes a victim of a double murder at the Rue Morgue. She is found with her throat deeply slit and her body mangled. She has a daughter named Camille L'Espanaye who is found strangled and stuffed into a chimney in the double murder. Adolphe Le Bon is a bank clerk who once helped Dupin. He recently delivered four thousand francs to the L'Espanayes three days before their brutal murder. He is arrested despite a lack of evidence, and Dupin chooses to help him because he helped him in the past. The Sailor is a Frenchman from a Maltese ship, and he shows up at Dupin's door in answer to Dupin's ad seeking the owner of a lost Ourangutan. Monsieur G. Is the Perfect (high officer) of the Parisian Police. He is not as imaginative as Dupin. When Dupin offers him assistance in solving the double murder case, he accepts his help. Although he is not appreciative of the help.

Summary of The Murders in The Rue Morgue:

The story begins as the narrator offers a monologue and discusses the importance of analytical reasoning. To strengthen his argument about analytical reasoning, he offers an example, a story from his past when he was on an extended visit to Paris where he met Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. Dupin is a poor young man though he splurges on books. The narrator first met Dupin in a library in Paris where they were searching for a rare book. Both became friends and decided to live together in seclusion in a gloomy old mansion. Since Dupin didn’t have much money, the narrator offered to pay the rent. The narrator was impressed by Dupin’s analytic abilities which Dupin attributes to his understanding of people's thoughts. Dupin shows his mental abilities by exactly guessing the narrator’s thoughts while observing his body language and recalling former conversations.

One day, the narrator sees a news article about a set of murders that had occurred that morning at three A.M. in the Rue Morgue. People heard screams from the fourth story of a house in the Rue Morgue belonging to Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter Camille. When they checked, they found that the house was locked from inside. Somehow, they broke in and they heard multiple angry voices from the upper portion of the house that soon faded away. As they searched the house, they found a locked room on the fourth floor of the house. They broke in and saw that the room was totally destroyed and contained, among other things, a bloody razor, clumps of grey hair, and two bags with four thousand francs in gold. The iron safe was totally damaged but it seemed as if nothing was stolen. Then they saw the fresh corpse of Camille L’Espanaye, the young girl whose body had been forced feet first into the chimney; her face was scratched, and her throat was bruised as if she had been strangled. They found the dead body of her mother, Madam L’Espanaye in the backyard with her throat so deeply cut, probably by the razor, that her head fell off when she was picked up, and with her body extremely mutilated by some heavy, blunt object.

The murdered mother and daughter were rich and very fond of each other. They were living in that house for over six years and they didn’t have any close living relatives. Some men claimed that on the night of the incident, they heard two voices from the fourth floor of the house. One of the voices was gruff, male, and French, and the other shrill, foreign, and strange. A witness confirmed that the French voice shouted, "sacré" (holy), "diable" (devil), and "mon dieu!" (My God!), but he couldn’t understand what the other shrill voice said.

A banker revealed that Madame L'Espanaye withdrew four thousand francs in gold three days before her death. Adolphe Le Bon was the clerk who visited L’Espanaye’s house to deliver the money. The police arrested Adoplhe as a suspect in the double murder despite lacking evidence.

When Dupin came to know about the case, he got very interested because he felt it was impossible and also because he was sympathetic to Adolphe Le Bon, the bank clerk who helped Dupin in the past. He criticizes the Parisian police for arresting Adolphe and decides to meet the Prefect of Police to obtain permission to investigate for himself. The Perfect is Monsieur G. whom Dupin knew well. He allows Dupin to visit the crime scene. Dupin and the narrator visit the Rue Morgue. Dupin examines all the evidence carefully and then they return to their mansion. The next day, Dupin asks the narrator if he saw something strange in the house of L’Espanaye and again criticizes the police for arresting Adolphe who Dupin believes is innocent.

Dupin says that the voices that people heard were not female and hence it could not have been a murder-suicide. He further exclaims that all the witnesses are of different nationalities but all of them identified the shrill voice as a foreign one. None could understand the words of the shrill voice. Dupin then says that the room was on the fourth floor and it was locked from inside. The murderer must have disappeared through the windows in the chamber. He says that the windows must have a concealed spring that allows the windows to fasten themselves. He further says that though it is difficult to climb up the wall for the fourth floor, someone of extraordinary athletic ability could have climbed up a nearby lightning pole and jumped onto a window shutter. He further asserts his belief in Adolphe’s innocence and says that the motive of money is unlikely, since no one took the money, and the bureau's drawers might not actually be missing any articles.

The narrator asks him who could be the murderer to which Dupin answers that the culprit is one with an unidentifiable voice, superhuman power, and agility, a penchant for butchery, and no significant motive. He says that no human could have so much power to stuff the daughter so firmly up the chimney, pull such great clumps of hair from the old lady's head, or slit the lady's throat with so much force from a razor. He also says that the old woman’s body was mangled which might have happened because she fell from the window of the fourth floor to the backyard. The police ignored it because they believed that the window was sealed. The narrator interjects and says that the culprit must be a madman. Dupin then shows him a few hairs that he collected from the fingers of Madame L'Espanaye. He says that the hair is of the culprit that Madam L-Espanaye caught while struggling against her. He says that the hair is not of any man.

Dupin then draws a sketch that exactly depicts the bruises and fingernail marks on the victim's throat. Dupin mentions that the fingernail impressions suggest that the throat of the victim was held and strangled by a huge hand, too large for a man. He then suggests that maybe it was the paw of an Orangutan. Dupin says that when the Orangutan was attacking the ladies, the other man, who probably was the owner of the Orangutan, shouted "Mon Dieu." He must have been horrified and probably tried to stop the Orangutan and save the ladies, but he failed.

Dupin then informs the narrator that he found a ribbon featuring a sailor's knot that is common among the Maltese. He says that the other man must be a sailor from Malta who own an Orangutan. He might have used the sailor’s knot to climb up the lighting pole. Thus, Dupin devices a plan. He issues an advertisement in the newspapers that says that he has taught an Orangutan and the owner may contact him to take the animal back. As expected, the French sailor arrives at the narrator’s mansion. As the sailor enters, Dupin locks the door from inside and then shows his pistol to the sailor and commands him to tell the truth about the deaths at the Rue Morgue. Dupin says that he believes that the Sailor too is innocent but it is a must for the sailor to confess what he witnessed to save Adolphe who has been wrongly accused of the double murder.

The French sailor admits that he caught an Orangutan in Borneo and he was expecting to sell it at a high price. The Orangutan once noticed the sailor shaving his beard by using a razor. On the same night, the Orangutan broke free and was holding the same razor. The sailor tried to control the Orangutan by using a whip but that angered the animal and it ran away. The sailor followed the Orangutan to the Rue Morgue and saw him climbing on the lighting pole from where it jumped into the fourth floor of the house of L’Espanaye. The sailor used a sailor’s knot and climbed up to the window, but he was slow. From the window, the sailor saw that the two women were arranging some papers into the iron safe when the Orangutan appeared and attacked the old woman with the razor and seized her hair. The girl was horrified and she fainted. As the old lady screamed in pain and horror, the Orangutan got enraged and he slit her throat and strangled the girl. The sailor shouted in disbelief and horror but his shout threatened the Orangutan too and in fear, the animal rampaged nervously, damaging the room and dragging the mattress from the bed. The Orangutan then shoved the body of the girl into the chimney and angrily threw the body of the old woman to the window from where the sailor was watching him. The sailor got away and climbed down through the lighting pole. The Orangutan too escaped out from the window before anyone could see it and the windows got locked back when it got out by the spring lock system.

Dupin takes the sailor to the police where he offers his statement. The police notice that neither Adolphe Le Bon, nor the sailor are culprits and they release them both. However, Monsieur G. Is embarrassed and he shouts at Dupin and tells him not to interfere in police matters again. Dupin ignores Monsieur G. and tells the narrator that the police Perfect is too cunning and ingenious, but he lacks analytical ability. Later on, the sailor recaptures the Orangutan and sells it to a zoo.

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

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Fall of the House of Usher was a gothic short story written by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1839 in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. In 1840, it was republished in the short story collection by Edgar Allan Poe titled Tales of Grotesque and Arabesque.

The short story is a Gothic Dark Romantic short story with elements of isolation, madness, family, supernatural forces, death, and decadence.

Characters of The Fall of the House of Usher:

The story is told by an unnamed narrator. He receives a letter of urgency from his childhood friend. The narrator decides to be with his friend in the time of his need. When he reaches there, he describes the ghastly old house of his friend in great detail. He finds that his friend is suffering from nervousness and he is mentally sick. Roderick Usher is the friend of the narrator. He is the last living descendant, along with his sister, of the age-old family of Usher. The Usher family is famous for its strange temperaments, and for creating in these moods wonderful works of art, deeds of charity, and contributions to “musical science." The Ushers have never crossed their family line. Only one member of the Usher family has survived from generation to generation, thereby forming a direct line of descent without any outside branches. Thus Roderick and his sister are the direct descendent of Ancient Ushers. However, the Usher family is stricken with a peculiar temperament and mental illness that seems to run through their blood. Because of his illness, Roderick is allergic to sunlight. Roderick Usher spends his days inside his dark and cavernous mansion, avoiding sunlight or the smells of flowers. Madeleine Usher is Roderick’s sister who is suffering a mysterious illness that is cataleptic in nature. Roderick loves his sister too much and he is completely devoted to her well-being. The two are living with each other without spouses in their great family mansion. Madeline’s health is continuously deteriorating and her insanity is increasing but Roderick seems unable to bear the thought of her death.

Summary of The Fall of the House of Usher:

The story begins as the narrator describes that he is traveling on a horse in a dull part of the countryside on a grim day. He reaches an old mansion, a huge old house that appears frightening and ghostly. The narrator feels an insufferable feeling of dread but he continues to the house. The walls and windows of the house are bleak. The mansion is very old and has been used by the Usher family for the time unknown. Some parts of the mansion are fine but some others appear crumbling. Overall, the structure of the mansion appears robust and able to withstand many more decades. However, there is a single crack on the mansion going from top to bottom of the façade.

The narrator is unable to understand why he is feeling such unease. He thinks that perhaps if the parts of the scene were to be rearranged, their effect would be different, so he rides over to the “tarn” with some water nearby the house and looks at the inverted image of the house in the water, but this image is even more hideous.

He received an urgent letter from his childhood friend Roderick Usher who lives in this mansion. Roderick is suffering some illness and he sought the narrator’s company urgently. Though the two have been close friends since childhood, the narrator remembers that Roderick has a strangely reserved temperament. But the Usher family is known for their strange temperaments and they are known to be great patrons of arts and music and continue to help people through charity. The narrator tries to shake away the feeling of terror that he felt while observing the house. As he enters the house, he is greeted by a servant who takes him to the Usher’s studio.

On the way to Usher’s studio, the narrator sees various striking old images and objects on the tapestries and carvings on the walls. These images again fill him with a strange sense of gloom and terror. Finally, he reaches Usher’s studio whose windows are so high that they could not be reached. The windows are partially covered and hardly any light comes from the outside. The room is huge and dark and the narrator finds it difficult to see things but notices that the room is filled with tattered furniture and books and musical instruments.

Roderick Usher rises and warmly greets his friend. But the narrator realizes that Roderick has changed a lot. He is much paler and less energetic than he was in the past. Roderick informs that he is suffering from nervousness and fear. He has grown allergic to sunlight and cannot face it. Roderick informs that perhaps his health condition is genetic and his senses are heightened, he has become too sensitive and prone to allergies. The narrator himself has an ill feeling towards this old mansion and he notices that Roderick too is afraid of his old house.

Roderick informs that his sister Madeleine is suffering from a mysterious disease. The doctors are unable to diagnose her illness properly. Perhaps she is suffering from, catalepsy, the loss of control of one’s limbs that causes seizures and deathlike trances. Doctors have no cure for her. However, Roderick loves his sister too much. They have been living together in this age-old house for so long. Roderick says that though Madeline is very weak, she is still able to walk around a little. Right at that moment, the lady Madeleine passes through the room. The narrator sees her and her sight fills him with fear. Madeline goes to her room and the narrator sees that Roderick is weeping while worrying for her. The narrator assures Roderick that things will become better. However, Madeline suffers a seizure on the same day and is now bedridden, unable to move.

The narrator starts living in the mansion in a room alongside Usher’s studio.

The narrator continues his best to cheer him up. He listens to Roderick play the guitar and make up words for his songs, and he reads him stories, However, he fails to raise Roderick’s spirit and continues to suffer gloom. The narrator observes the paintings made by Roderick and praises him but he finds them very abstract and dreadful.

One day, Roderick sings the poem “The Haunted Palace” and then tells the narrator that he believes the house he lives in to be alive and that this sentience arises from the arrangement of the masonry and vegetation surrounding it. Further, Roderick believes that his fate is connected to the family mansion. Roderick says that the mansion itself is unhealthy and thus, he too is unhealthy.

Roderick informs the narrator that Madeline again suffered a seizure and died during the trance. Roderick decides to bury her temporarily in the tombs below the house. He doesn’t want to take her to the morgue because he fears that the doctors might dig up her body for scientific examination since her disease was so strange to them. The narrator helps Roderick in placing the body of Madeline in the tomb. He notices that Madeline had rosy cheeks and she appeared beautiful even in death. He suddenly realizes that Madeline and Roderick were twins. After that, Roderick becomes more uneasy and difficult to control. One night, a heavy storm engulfs the mansion. Roderick knocks on the doors of the room of the narrator as he is frightened and cannot sleep. Roderick takes him to a window from where they see a bright-looking gas surrounding the house. Roderick is frightened by that gas but the narrator says that it is a natural phenomenon and there is nothing uncommon.

The narrator tries to soothe Roderick down and starts reading a story to him. He reads “The Mad Trist” by Sir Launcelot Canning, a medieval romance novel. The story is about a knight named Ethelred who breaks into a hermit's dwelling in an attempt to escape an approaching storm, only to find a palace of gold guarded by a dragon. Ethelred slays the dragon with his mighty sword and the dragon falls down with a piercing shriek. As the narrator reads the forceful entry of Ethelred into the hermit’s place, he and Roderick hear a crackling sound coming from below the mansion. At first, the narrator ignores it but the strange sound continues to grow. As he reads the piercing shriek of the falling dragon, he hears a strong loud sound that he cannot ignore. He observes that Roderick is too afraid and has slumped over in his chair. Roderick says that he is hearing these sounds for a few days and he thinks that they might have buried Madeline alive. Maybe she didn’t die but was just suffering another death-like trance. He says that maybe Madeline is trying to escape. He then shouts that Madeline is standing right behind the door. Right at that moment, a strong wind forces the door open and the narrator sees that Roderick’s doubts were right. He sees Madeline standing at the door in white robes bloodied from her struggles. She awkwardly moves towards Roderick and attacks him. Roderick dies of fear. Madeline then tries to attack the narrator who runs away from the house, saving his life. As he comes out of the mansion, he sees that the whole mansion crumbles to the ground on the single crack on the facade of the mansion from top to bottom that he observed when he reached here.

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!

A&P by John Updike | Themes, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. A&P is a tragicomic short story written by John Updike that was first published in The New Yorker on July 22, 1961. The story was later republished in the short story collection titled Pigeon Feathers in the same year that was published by Alfred A. Knopf Inc. In 1966, a short film was made on the short story that starred Sean Hayes and Amy Smart in lead roles.

The Title: A&P stands for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. It was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States.

Characters of A&P: Sammy is the narrator of the story. He is a nineteen years old boy working in the checkout line of an A&P store in a small New England town. He is an overconfident youth who believes that he can judge people based on how they dress and act and on what they buy. Queenie is a teenage girl who enters the A&P in her bathing suit. She is very attractive and though nobody knows her name, Sammy nicknames her as Queenie. Lengel is the strict by-the-books manager of A&P and he is a Sunday School teacher. He confronts the Queenie and other girls about their skimpy attire and embarrasses them. Stokesie is another checkout clerk at A&P. He is just a few years older than Sammy but he is already married and has two children. The girl in the Plaid Bikini is the second of the three girls who enter A&P in a bathing suit. She is beautiful but Sammy feels that her attractiveness is overshadowed by Queenie. The Big Tall Goony Goony is the third girl in a bathing suit who enters the A&P store. She is very tall and fat and appears to contrast with the beautiful demeanor of Queenie. McMohan is another guy working at the store.

Summary of A&P:

The story begins as the narrator is working in the checkout line of the local A&P store in a town in New England. He is Sammy, a 19-year-old boy. He is attending to a 50 years old woman while ringing the groceries for payment. He describes the woman as “a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows." It appears he is not very enthusiastic about his job and is getting bored. Suddenly, three young teenage girls in bathing suits enter the A&P store and Sammy gets distracted by their sight. First, he notices a ‘chunky’ girl who is wearing a green plaid Bikini. Sammy continues paying attention to her and analyzes her tan. As he is distracted, he accidentally rings up a pack of crackers twice. The aged woman notices his mistake and complains about it. Sammy pays attention to the groceries of the woman and once she leaves the A&P store, he concentrates on the three girls again.

He sees that the three girls are walking down an aisle. He observes that the bikini suit of the ‘chunky’ girl is new. Sammy doesn’t find her strikingly attractive. Then he observes the other girl who is tall and fat. He instantly dislikes her and nicknames her as the big tall goony goony. Finally, he notices the leader of these girls who is a self-possessed girl of medium height. Sammy notices a strange leading quality in her as she walks like a queen. Sammy nicknames her Queenie. Queenie walks deliberately and confidently looks straight forward while the other two girls follow her quietly. Sammy wonders why these girls entered A&P in their bathing suits.

Sammy notices that just like him, Stokesie is also admiring the girls and he too has eyes on Queenie. Sammy feels that Queenie already knows that he and Stokesie are ogling at her but she completely ignores them. Stokesie is another clerk at A&P. He is hardworking and responsible and he aspires to be the manager of A&P in the future. He is just a couple of ars elder than Sammy but he is already married and has two kids.

The three girls discuss something and the big tall goony goony girl picks up a pack of cookies. Sammy then pays attention to the other customers at A&P who are startled by these girls in ‘indecent clothes’ but soon turn their heads to their own carts. Sammy feels that soon someone will complain about these girls in indecent dresses as he sees some women glancing back at the three girls disapprovingly. Girls in bikinis can be a common sight on the beach but seeing them at A&P is disturbing to them. Sammy describes these women as "house slaves in pin-curlers."

Sammy informs that the town is situated very near a beach. Often women visiting the beach would come to A&P but they usually put on their shirts and shorts before entering the store. Furthermore, most of those women are old with several kids and hence, they create no scene at the store. However, these girls are unique. They are teenagers and they are flaunting their youth and attractiveness in their bathing suits.

The three girls go to the meat counter and ask for something. McMohan was managing the meat counter. He points the girls in a direction and as they move in that direction, he starts ogling them in a lewd manner. Sammy feels bad for the girls. As Sammy is working at the checking line, he expects to see the girls again. The three girls appear and they have to choose between Sammy’s or Stokesie’s register. However, an old man reaches Stokesie’s checking line first and Queenie decides to hand over her purchase to Sammy. Sammy notes that she bought a jar of fancy Herring snacks. Sammy tells her that the cost is 49 cents. Queenie pulls out a folded dollar bill from the cleavage in her top and Sammy feels elated by taking it in his hands.

At the same time, Lengel, the store manager enters the store. He is a strict manager who works by the book of rules. He is also a Sunday school teacher and prioritizes discipline over frivolousness. He observes that the girls in their indecent dresses are making a scene. He comes near and reprimands them. He humiliates them and says that “This isn’t the beach.” All the girls are ashamed and silent. Queenie tries to reason out and blushingly says that her mother told her to buy Herring snacks. Sammy gets startled by her voice. He starts thinking about her family and social class and thinks that she must belong to the rich high class and that her parents must have planned a fancy party where they would offer cocktails and herring snacks.

Lengel ignores Queenie’s excuse and continues to embarrass her. He repeats that ‘this is not the beach’ and they must dress decently before entering a public place like his store. Sammy finds it funny and he smiles at Lengel. Lengel doesn’t like Sammy smiling but ignores him and continues to shout at the girls. He sternly says that the next time they should be decently dressed before entering the store. Queenie strikes back and says that they are decent girls. Lengel says that he doesn’t want to argue but if they have to come into the store again, they must have their shoulders properly covered as it is the store’s policy. He then asks Sammy if he has already ringed the purchase of the girls to which Sammy answers that he hasn’t yet. He then rings the box of herring snacks and the girls rush out of the store after picking it up.

As the girls are going out, Sammy declares that he is quitting the job in a voice strong enough to make the girls listen to him. The girls ignore him and continue out of the store. Sammy then confronts Lengel and says that he didn’t have to embarrass the girls the way he did. Lengel says that the girls were embarrassing the store and were making other customers feel uncomfortable to which Sammy responds in a senseless manner saying "Fiddle-de-do." He then removes his store uniform and throws the bowtie and apron on the counter. Lengel tries to stop Sammy and says that he should rethink as he doesn’t want to do this to his poor parents and his rash decision will continue to harm him in the longer run. Sammy doesn’t listen and goes out of the store with his white shirt on. As he reaches out, he looks for the three girls but they have already vanished and he doesn’t know which way they go. Sammy looks back at the store and sees that Lengel himself is attending the checking line where he was working just a few minutes before. Sammy realizes that he has taken a hard decision and wonders how hard his future would be.

Themes of A&P: The story's major theme is the importance of appearance, and servitude to conformity. The girls appear strange and bizarre in store and Ligel reprimands them for not conforming to the social definition of decency. However, the girls prefer individual liberty and claim that despite their clothes, they are decent. Sammy appears to favor the concept of individual liberty and doesn’t like servitude to conformity. Ligel is absolutely right in objecting to their dresses as girls in bathing suits in a grocery store may offend other customers but he didn’t have any right to embarrass them. Another theme is the nature of power. Being the manager, he executes his power by reprimanding them and then warning Sammy of the consequences if he quits the job. He thinks that he has the power to humiliate people for wearing clothes that he thinks are indecent. However, the real power is executed by Sammy who decides to revolt against too much conformity that is marring his community. He stands for individual liberty, though he will have to face consequences.

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!