The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, poet, dramatist, and short story writer who was born on 10 November 1728 in Ireland and died on 4 April 1774. Goldsmith is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield which is a book about family endurance. The novel was published in 1764 and it became one of the most successful novels of the eighteenth century and continued its successful run during the Victorian era.

Goldsmith wrote the novel in 1762. Facing financial troubles, he asked for Samuel Johnson’s help in finding a publisher for his novel. Samuel Johnson checked the merits of the novel and agreed to help Goldsmith and sold the novel to a bookseller and publisher for sixty pounds that Oliver Goldsmith used for paying his rent and bills.

Characters of The Vicar of Wakefield:

The Vicar or Dr. Charles Primrose is the protagonist of the novel. He is a virtuous morally upright man with great pride and affection for his family. He believes in the goodness of mankind and lacks the prudence to distinguish bad from good. He is often deceived by the appearances and behavior of those around him. Deborah is Vicar’s wife. She is intelligent and independent but falls prey to her vanity and pretensions of a higher social status. George Primrose is the eldest son of Dr. Primrose who is an educated, brave, and honest but naive young man who fails to find a proper source of income. Olivia is the eldest daughter of the Vicar who is extremely vain and concerned with her social status. She falls for Squire Thornhill, considering his wealth who fools her into a fake marriage and then pushes her to prostitution. Sophia is the younger sister of Olivia who is modest, virtuous, and much less vain than Olivia. She too aspires to regain her higher social status but to a much lesser extent. Moses and Dick are the Vicar’s two younger sons who are honest but gullible. Mr. Burchell is an honest, handsome, brave, and intelligent young man but he is penniless. He saves Sophia who falls in love with him. Later on, it is revealed that Mr. Burchell is in fact, Sir William Thornhill in disguise. Sir William Thornhill is a rich man who led a profligate youth but has reformed. He is the uncle of Squire Thornhill who is the young, handsome, and roguish landlord of the Vicar’s family. He has conned many women into fake marriages and left them to work as prostitutes after having his way with them. He gains the trust of the Vicar’s family and then seduces Olivia and pushes her to prostitution. He further plans to seduce Sophia as his next target. Ephraim Jenkinson is a scoundrel and trickster who initially helps Squire Thornhill in his evil plans but then repents his mistakes. Later on, he becomes the Vicar’s confidante and helps him through the troubles. Soloman Flamborough is an old poor farmer and neighbor of the Vicar who has two daughters. Arabella Wilmot is an elegant and beautiful young girl who is in love with George and is supposed to marry him at the beginning of the novel. But her father Mr. Wilmot breaks the relationship with the Vicar and cancels the marriage of Arabella and George after being insulted by the vicar's opinions of marriage, and learning about the vicar's loss of fortune. Mr. Arnold is an uncle of Arabella. His butler pretends to be Mr. Arnold and invites the Vicar to have dinner at Mr. Arnold’s house. Farmer Williams is another neighbor of the Vicar who has feelings for Olivia and wishes to marry her.

Summary of The Vicar of Wakefield:

The novel begins as the Vicar, Dr. Charles Primrose is leading a serene and virtuous life in his country parish with his wife Deborah, and five children, three sons, George, Moses, and Dick, and two daughters, Olivia, and Sophia. He received an inheritance from a diseased relative and he invested that wealth appropriately thus, his family is leading a wealthy lifestyle. The Vicar is known as a good, virtuous man who donates the £35 that his job pays annually to the widows and orphans of local clergy. His eldest son, Geroge is an educated young man who got his degree from Oxford and he is engaged to Arabella Wilmot, the beautiful daughter of Mr. Wilmot, a wealthy merchant. George and Arabella love each other. One day, the Vicar meets Mr. Wilmot and they engage in a philosophical debate over marriages. The Vicar, being sanctimonious, ignores the points raised by Mr. Wilmot and tries to prove himself correct while insulting Mr. Wilmot. The very next day, Dr. Primrose comes to know that he lost all his money through the bankruptcy of his merchant investor who has left town abruptly. On the same evening, Mr. Wilmot cancels the engagement of Arabella and George, partly because he is angry with Dr. Primrose and mainly because now George is a penniless young man unworthy of Arabella’s social and economic status.

Unable to maintain the same status, the Vicar’s family is forced to move to a more humble area. The Vicar takes the farmland of Squire Thornhill on rent and starts living there while working as a farmer and curate. The new house is comfortable but his wife and daughters are distraught as they find it difficult to accept the lower level of lifestyle they are forced to live now. The Vicar sends Geroge to London so that he may find a job and help the family through his earnings.

The Vicar befriends his neighbors, Farmer Williams and Solomon Flamborough. The Vicar befriends a young handsome man Mr. Burchell who once saved Sophia from drowning. After that incident, Sophia started liking Mr. Burchell but her mother Deborah noticed it and refrained Sophia from making any gesture towards Mr. Burchell. Meanwhile, the Vicar and his wife come to know about their new landlord Squire Thornhill that he is a rich man living on the money of his uncle Sir William Thornhill. Their neighbors warn them that Squire Thornhill is a rouged young man who is a womanizer and conman.

One day, Squire Thornhill visits the Vicar’s new house and he appears to be charming, attractive, genteel, and amiable. He openly shows his interest in Olivia who falls for his rich attitude. The Vicar’s wife hopes that if Olivia gets married to Squire Thornhill, it will bring their old wealthy days back. The Vicar too gets interested in this prospect he starts objecting to Mr. Burchell's attention to Sophia as he does not want her to marry a penniless man. To win Squire Thornhill’s approval for his marriage with Olivia, the Vicar’s family starts pretending to be rich. They leave their simple and frugal ways of living and begin leading a prideful and vain lifestyle. However, their efforts to impress Squire Thornhill bring more embarrassment to the whole family. Once Deborah suggests that they should sell their family horses to buy a new fashionable horse. When Dr. Primrose and his son Moses go to sell the horse, they are duped by a con man named Ephraim Jenkinson.

One day, Squire Thornhill brings two fashionable women appearing very rich with their costumes, to the house of the Vicar. The women impress the Vicar's family and introduce themselves as women of power in the city. Squire Thornhill then suggests that the ladies might help Olivia and Sophia to get high positions in the city. Deborah agrees for sending her girls to the city. However, Mr. Burchell comes to know about it in time and he writes a letter ambiguously threatening the reputation of the girls. Because of this letter, the plan of Squire Thornhill to deport the girls to the city where he may exploit them easily gets spoiled. However, the Vicar and his wife fail to understand how Mr. Burchell saved their daughters. They get angry over him and banish him from entering their house ever again.

To force Squire Thornhill to express his desire to marry Olivia, Deborah tells him that she is considering of marrying Olivia to Farmer Williams. Squire Thornhill feels jealous of the farmer but he makes no effort to propose. Deborah then starts preparing for the marriage of Olivia with the farmer. However, Olivia is not at all willing to marry Williams and thus, she decides to elope with Squire Thornhill right before her wedding to Williams. This breaks the Vicar’s heart. He decides to pursue and search for Olivia, hoping to save and forgive her. First, he goes to see her at Squire Thornhill's house who is alone at his home. Then the Vicar suspects that Mr. Burchell might have abducted his daughter. But he finds that his suspicion is false. He continues to search for Olivia and goes far away from his home. He continues to travel and look for Olivia for three days and nights and then he falls ill. During his return journey, he meets an acting company and accompanies them. When they reach the next town, an intelligent person, appearing to be a man of repute befriends him and invites him to his home for dinner. When the Vicar visits his home, he gets astonished by the man’s magnificent mansion. However, soon it is revealed that the man who invited him is not the owner of that mansion but he is a butler of Mr. Arnold, the actual owner of the mansion. The Vicar meets Arabella at the mansion who greets him and informs that Mr. Arnold is her uncle. The Vicar comes to know that Arabella still loves George and hopes to marry him but her father, Mr. Wilmot has arranged for the marriage of Arabella with Squire Thornhill. The Vicar is still ill and Arabella insists he stay for a few days in the mansion till he regains his health. Meanwhile, they visit to see a drama by a new acting company in the town and find out that George is working with the acting company. Geroge is happy after meeting Arabella and his father. He informs them how his efforts at finding a job failed and how he ended up working with the acting company. Arabella invites George too at her uncle’s mansion but on the same evening, Squire Thornhill too visits there. Squire Thornhill is surprised to see the Vicar and George at the mansion. He notices that Arabella is favorable towards George and thus, he procures a job for George in West Indies so that he may go far away. Geroge and his family desperately need money and thus George accepts the job opportunity.

After a few days, the Vicar returns to his home. One night, he stops at an inn and gets startled when he sees Olivia there. He embraces Olivia who is sobbing. She informs him how the Squire seduced her and duped her into a fake marriage and after using her, he left her in a de facto house of prostitution where she met the women who visited their house with the Squire. Olivia informed the Vicar that those two women are prostitutes who tried to bully her into the profession but she somehow escaped their clutches and has since lived at the mercy of the innkeeper. After thanking the innkeeper for safekeeping his daughter, the Vicar brings Olivia back but instead of taking her directly to their home, he leaves her in a nearby inn so that he may prepare the other members of the family to forgive her and embrace her back. When Dr. Primrose reaches his home, he sees it burning in huge flames with his two younger sons trapped in the fire. He jumps into the fire to save his sons and although he saves them, his both hands get severely burnt. He then informs Deborah of Olivia’s whereabouts. The family is not ready to bear any more accidents and hence they bring back Olivia back with them.

While the Vicar’s family is trying to mend their burnt house and bring it back to normalcy, they hear about the engagement of Arabella with Squire Thornhill. This enrages Dr. Primrose who now knows how Squire Thornhill fooled and disgraced his daughter. One day, when the Vicar sees Squire Thornhill, he confronts him and openly insults him. Squire Thornhill gets enraged and vows to take revenge. The next day, he sends two police officers to collect the rent for his land. Since the Vicar has no money, he fails to pay the rent and gets arrested by the officers. His family decides to go with him. While Deborah, Olivia, and Sophia stay at an inn nearby the prison, Moses and Dickjoin the prison cell of Dr. Primrose. In the prison, the Vicar meets Ephrain Jenkinson who fooled him and his son and robbed his horses. He finds that Jenkinson is a changed man who has repented for his previous crimes. Vicar forgives him and they become good friends. In the jail, Dr. Primrose realizes the importance of patience and fortitude and starts to offer sermons to his fellow prison mates. When the Vicar tells Jenkinson how the Squire ruined his daughter’s life, Jenkinson informs him that he used to work for the Squire in the past. He tells him that he will help him in whatever way he can. The Vicar writes a letter to Sir William Thornhill, informing him of the misdeeds of Squire Thornhill.

Though the Vicar now knows the importance of patience, he is still very angry at Squire Thornhill and refuses to compromise with Squire Thornhill. One day, Jenkinson informs him that Olivia has died because of ill health and starvation. This breaks Dr. Primrose who realizes that he needs to get out of jail to help his family. He sends a letter of compromise to Squire Thornhill who refuses to compromise because of the letter the Vicar sent to his uncle. On the same day, the Vicar learns that Sophia has been abducted by a hooligan. After some time, he sees George being brought into the prison as a criminal and learns that after learning about the shame of Olivia, he challenged Squire Thornhill for a duel but the squire sent his officers to beat him and imprison him. The Vicar gets horrified by these incidences and believes that nothing worse could happen. He then feels his own inner strength and offers a sermon on fortitude to the entire prison.

Right after the sermon, Moses informs Dr. Primrose that Mr. Burchell has rescued Sophia. Mr. Burchell brings Sophia to the prison to meet her father. The Vicar apologizes to Mr. Burchell for his previous ill behavior against Mr. Burchell and says that though Mr. Burchell is penniless, he is the best possible lifemate for Sophia. As the Vicar offers Sophia’s hand to Mr. Burchell in marriage, he accepts it and orders a great feast for the whole of the family and all the prisoners and jail staff.

During the feast, the Vicar learns that Squire Thornhill has arrived at the occasion and he wishes to meet Mr. Burchell. The Vicar gets frightened that Squire Thornhill will again do something bad to his family, Mr. Burchell reveals that they need not worry because he is William Thornhill, uncle of Squire Thornhill and he will not let him do anything wrong. Sophia then described the man who abducted her and when Jenkinson listens to her, he realizes that he knows that man. He asks for the jailer’s help to catch the abductor. The jailer sends two policemen with Jenkinson and they apprehend him. The abductor informs that he abducted Sophia on Squire Thornhill’s order who planned to mock-rescue her so he could then seduce her. Meanwhile, Sir William Thornhill comes to know about George and lectures him about fighting. He then realizes how George might have felt when he came to know how Squire Thornhill ruined his sister’s life. William Thornhill forgives George. Meanwhile, Arabella learns about the arrest of the Vicar and she visits him in the jail along with her father Mr. Wilmot. Mr. Wilmot is sorry for the misfortunes of the Vicar and embraces him. Arabella immediately declares that she is ending her engagement with Squire Thornhill. However, the squire isn’t worried about it because he has already signed the contract for Arabella’s dowry. Arabella and George don’t care about it. They are overjoyed and plan to marry anyway.

At that moment Jenkinson reveals that Olivia is still alive and he lied about her death to convince the Vicar to compromise and make peace with Squire Thornhill. He also says that he disguised himself as a priest in what Squire Thornhill believed was his fake marriage with Olivia. However, he says that it was a real and legal marriage and he is willing to offer proof for it. This ruins Squire Thornhill’s plan as being married to Olivia, he couldn’t engage with Arabella legally and hence he can have no claim on her dowry. Now when his wrong deeds are open in front of his uncle Sir William Thornhill, he cannot expect any help from him too. He begs mercy from his uncle who insists that he should accept Olivia as his legal wife and take care of her and then he will allow him some allowance and a home to live peacefully to which Squire Thornhill agrees.

Mr. Wilmot agrees to the marriage of George and Arabella while Sir William Thornhill marries Sophia. Meanwhile, the rouge merchant who ran away after swindling the Vicar’s money also gets caught and the Vicar’s fortune gets restored.

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!

A Hymn to Pillory by Daniel Defoe | Life and Early Works

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Daniel Defoe was an English pamphleteer, journalist, and writer who was born in the year 1660 and died on 24^th April 1731. Defoe is known for his novel Robinson Crusoe which was published in 1719 and is considered the first English novel that established realistic fiction as a literary genre. Along with Aphra Behn and Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe popularized novels as the modern form of literature in Britain. His other noteworthy novels include Captain Singleton, Memoirs of a Cavalier, A Journal of a Plague Year, Colonel Jack, Moll Flanders, and Roxanna: The Fortunate Mistress. Defoe’s parents were Presbyterian Dissenters and he got his education in dissenting Academy of Presbyterians at Newington, Green. Dissenters were those British Christians who didn’t accept the authority of the Anglican church and had their own churches. It was a period when the English government persecuted those who chose to worship outside the Anglican Church.

Defoe began his business career as a general merchant dealing in hosiery, woolen clothes, and wine. He made good profits and bought a ship and civets to produce perfumes. Being a Presbyterian, Defoe joined the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, and after its failure, he was caught but fortunately, he was pardoned. In 1689, Queen Mary and her husband William III were crowned as joint monarchs of England. Defoe became a close confidante of William III and began spying for him. During this time, his business suffered because of conflicts between France and England and he accrued huge debts that he couldn’t pay. In 1692, he was arrested and kept in the Debtor’s prison.

In 1697, he published his first noteworthy pamphlet titled An Essay Upon Projects in which he wrote about various social and economic plans required for the improvement of the English society. The pamphlet also contained a proposal for a National Insurance Scheme.

Throughout William III’s reign, Defoe supported him loyally, becoming his leading pamphleteer. In 1701, in reply to attacks on the “foreign” king, Defoe published his vigorous and witty poem The True-Born Englishman which became very popular. The poem talked about racial prejudice and how it harms society. The poem defended William III against the xenophobic and racial attacks from his political enemies in England.

The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (Summary)

In 1702, William III died and Queen Anne became the monarch of England. She was strictly against the dissenters and nonconformists. Defoe often used to write pamphlets favoring the dissenters and

wrote tracts advocating greater toleration for dissenters. In December 1702, Defoe anonymously wrote and published a pamphlet titled The Shortest Way with the Dissenters; or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church. Daniel Defoe wrote this pamphlet in a satirical manner. In the beginning, he offered a fable of the Cock and the Horses living in the stable. Since there is no perch for the cock, he is forced to live on the ground. As the horses are moving too much, the cock gets frightened of being steppe upon and advises the horses, "Pray, Gentlefolks! let us stand still! For fear, we should tread upon one another!” The author then compares the situations of Dissenters in England with that of the cock.

Then the author mentions the involvement of Dissenters in various notorious and hideous criminal activities during the past century. He mentions the English Civil War and Monmouth’s Rebellion. The author continues to sharpen his accusations against the Dissenters and at one point, the author says, "You have butchered one King! deposed another King! and made a Mock King of a third!" The author says that the previous monarchs from James I to William III have treated the Dissenters very leniently but now they should be punished harshly. The author also offers counterpoints in favor of the Dissenters such as "They are very numerous". The author then says that The Church of England is in grave danger because of these Dissenters. The author argued that the best way of dealing with the dissenters was to banish them abroad and send their preachers to the hangman. The Church of England, it said, is like Christ crucified between two thieves, Papists on one side and Nonconformist sectarians on the other. Very well, let us crucify the thieves. To go on tolerating them is like allowing a plague to continue without medical treatment.

Defoe intended to write this pamphlet as a satire but it came out to be a work of hoax and misused impersonation. In addition, many high churchmen endorsed the ways of punishing the Dissenters as mentioned in the pamphlet. This created a controversy and Queen Anne demanded the arrest of the author. Soon it came to light that Daniel Defoe wrote and published the pamphlet anonymously and an arrest warrant was issued against him. Defoe tried to avoid imprisonment by absconding but a substantial reward was offered for his arrest. Defoe went into hiding and published A Brief Explanation of a Late Pamphlet to say that he had been misunderstood, but it didn’t help him. He was arrested and imprisoned and then a case of sedition was run against him. Defoe pleaded guilty but appealed for mercy on the ground that he didn’t expect the pamphlet to be taken so seriously, he was sentenced to stand three times in the pillory, pay a stiff fine and remain in prison until he could provide sureties for his good behavior for seven years.

A Hymn to The Pillory:

A pillory is a device used for punishment, for the purpose of which a criminal's head and hands are put through holes in a wooden bar, and locked there. Then the criminal is made to stand in front of the crowd. The crowd would often throw rotten eggs, tomatoes, pebbles, or stones at the criminal. Defoe was sentenced to the pillory because he had published some dissenting religious views that the authorities didn't like.

Defoe accepted the punishment but before facing the crowd, bound in the pillory, Defoe wrote a poem titled A Hymn to The Pillory and his supporters and friends distributed the copies of the poem in the crowd.

Defoe was put in the pillory on the last three days of July 1703, for an hour each time in three of the busiest places in London. It was expected that the crowd will through rotten tomatoes and eggs and maybe stones at Defoe but the poem had its effect. All that was thrown at him were flowers while his friends sold the spectators copies of The Shortest Way and A Hymn to the Pillory which he had composed for the occasion.

The poem is an oration addressed to the pillory. The poet begins by addressing the pillory, “Hail! Hi’roglyphick State Machin”; he continues through a long succession of varied metaphorical references to the pillory: human (brows, face), stage (“modern Scenes,” theater), mountain (pinnacles, ridge), military (turrets, counterscarp), scaffold (“Great Monster of the Law”), and numerous others. “Stage” seems to be dominant. Rhetorically he inquires after the secret of the emblematic (“hieroglyphic”) meaning of the pillory. Because of the self-discoveries represented by these references, the speaker works his way through different interpretations of the pillory experience and reaches the startling conclusion that the pillory is an absolute subversion of justice, as is the state. In the poem, Defoe says that poor people like him who've been sentenced to the pillory have much more integrity than the society and the legal system that has condemned them to this punishment. According to Defoe, English society and the English legal system are both corrupt: in England, "justice" is actually about self "interest," laws are "subservient" to those in power, what is "vertue" one day is condemned as "crime" the next.

Defoe wrote the poem in hymn form in highly irregular Pindarics, used both for praise or blame, panegyric or satire. Pindar was a Greek poet known for his ceremonious poems, poems that usually celebrated a famous person. Pindaric odes are structured in a certain way, with a specific meter and rhyme scheme.

Defoe adopted the Pindaric structure for his poem reflecting his inclination towards neoclassicism. In addition, he used the Pindaric structure to offer dignity, not to some famous person, but to those who have been pilloried, and one of them was Defoe himself.

After the punishment, he was sent back to the jail. His business went bankrupt and he was unable to pay the fine. In November, Defoe’s fine was paid out of secret service funds and he was released from Newgate. Defoe had brokered his release in exchange for Defoe's cooperation as a spy for the Tories. He was then employed to publish a newspaper favoring the government and then he was sent to Scotland as a spy in 1706. Meanwhile, he continued to write propaganda for various ministries.

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 Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Purloined Letter was a sh
ort detective story written by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1844. In 1845, the story was then republished in the short story collection ‘Tales by Edgar A. Poe.’ The meaning of ‘Purloined’ is to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust. Thus, the Puloined letter is a letter of importance whose content may cause huge controversy, mutiny, or disgrace to the Royal king, and that letter has been stolen.

Characters of The Purloined Letter:

The story is again told by the unnamed narrator who is a close friend of C. Auguste Dupin, a private detective and roommate of the narrator. Monsieur G- is the Perfect of the Paris Police who often seeks help from Dupin in various criminal cases though he is not very favorable to Dupin. Minister D- is a clever and cunning minister who steels a letter of importance with the intent to blackmail the owner of that letter and outperforms the Parisian police that tries to retrieve the letter. The unnamed Royal lady is the owner of that letter of importance who is presumably the Queen of France and the Man whom the letter concerned is presumably the King of France.

Summary of The Purloined Letter:

The story begins as the narrator is enjoying his leisure time in Paris along with his friend C. Auguste Dupin. The narrator is still thinking about the brilliance of his friend Dupin and how he applied reason to solve the mystery of The Murders in The Rue Morgue. One evening, the Perfect G- knocks on the door of the narrator's apartment and calls for Dupin. They invite him in and the narrator lights a candle.

Monsieur G- informs that he visited to discuss a case with Dupin. Dupin then extinguishes the candle as he believes that good thinking is better done in the dark. Also, he doesn’t want any outsider to notice that the Perfect is discussing official work with him. Perfect G- says that the case is very simple yet very odd and the police are finding it difficult to solve it. Dupin suggests that the simplicity of the case might be the reason for the difficulty in the solution. Monsieur G- says that if the narrator and Dupin swear secrecy, he is willing to discuss the case. The narrator and Dupin agree to it.

The Perfect says that a letter of importance has been stolen and the police know who stole the letter. He says that the letter belonged to a certain Royal lady of high regard. When she was first reading it, the man whom it concerned came into the royal apartments. Not wanting to arouse his suspicion, she put it down on a table next to her. At the same moment, Minister D- also visited the royal apartments for some official job and he noted the contents of the letter of importance while the Royal lady was entertaining the Man whom it concerned. Minister D- understood the seriousness of the situation and he quickly produced a duplicate letter resembling the letter of importance. He left the duplicate letter next to the original one as he began to talk of Parisian affairs. After some time, he asked for permission to leave, and before going out, he picked up the letter of importance in place of the duplicate one. The perfect says that now when Minister D- possesses that letter of importance, he is using its content to blackmail the royal lady. The perfect suggests that Minister D- has yet not made the content of the letter of Importance public, otherwise, it might have caused certain circumstances that have not yet occurred; and that D- must have it close at hand, ready to disclose at a moment's notice.

Dupin agrees to it and questions if the police have searched the apartment of the hotel where Minister D- is residing. The perfect informs that the Minister’s residence has been thoroughly searched without success. He recounts the search procedure, during which the police systematically searched every inch of the hotel. In addition, the letter could not be hidden on the Minister’s body because the police have searched him as well. The Perfect says that he is willing to spend more time finding out the letter because he has been offered a huge reward in return. Dupin then asks for the physical description of the letter and then he suggests to the Perfect that they should search the apartment of Minister D- again.

After one month, Perfect G- visits the apartment of the narrator again and informs that they have yet not found the letter. He says that the Royal lady is desperate to retrieve the letter as soon as possible and she has increased the amount of reward. The prefect says that he will pay 50, 000 francs to anyone who obtains the letter for him. Dupin smiles at this and asks the Perfect to write a cheque of 50,000 francs in his name. The Perfect gets startled but he writes the cheque on the spot. Dupin takes the receipt of the check and immediately, he hands over the letter of importance to the Perfect G-. Monsieur G- gets startled as he checks the letter and after being satisfied, he rushes off to return it to its rightful owner. The narrator puzzlingly looks at Dupin and then Dupin explains how he got the letter.

Dupin says that the police have skilled investigators but they work on their own principles and this often leads to their failure. He then discusses a game of ‘even and odd’ played by children. In this game, two young kids keep several small toys or beads hidden in their hands. Each player must then guess whether the number of beads or toys in the hands of others is even or odd. If the guess is right, the player gets one bead or toy from the other. If his guess is wrong, then the boy loses a toy or bead of his own. Dupin then says that a good player of this game does not make guesses on his intuition, rather, he notices the facial expressions of the other player and depends on his knowledge of the other player. When he has to make a guess, he tries to imitate the facial expression of the other player, trying to learn what he must be thinking and this offers him an insight if the other player has kept an even number of beads in his hands, or odd. Dupin says that the Parisian police did not adopt this strategy and hence, they failed in finding the letter.

Dupin then explains that Minister D- is very intelligent and cunning. He already knew where the police would try to locate the letter and hence, he avoided hiding the letter in the nooks and crannies of his apartment. Dupin then explains another game of children in which one player finds a name on a map and tells the other player to find it as well. Dupin says that often people think that trying with a name on the map written in very small letters will make them win but Dupin doesn’t agree with this. Dupin says that the hardest names to find are actually those that stretch broadly across the map because they are so obvious.

Dupin then informs the narrator that he visited Minister D-’s apartment and after surveying his apartment, he noticed a set of visiting cards hanging from the mantelpiece. Among those visiting cards, Dupin observed a letter that had a different exterior envelope that was previously described by the Perfect. But Dupin also noticed that the letter appeared as if it has been folded back on itself to change its appearance. Dupin was convinced that it is a letter of importance. To retrieve the letter back, he created an excuse for returning to the apartment again and deliberately left his snuff box in the apartment of Minister D-. The next day, he employed a man to create a commotion outside the window of Miniter D-’s apartment while he will be visiting there. When Dupin went into the apartment of Minister D- there was a huge uproar just outside his window. Minister D- naturally went to the window and looked outside and during that time, Dupin retrieved the letter of Importance. Not only that, but he also placed a duplicate of that letter backfolded on itself and placed it in the exact place. Thus, though the original letter has already been transferred to the rightful owner, Dupin says that Minister D- still believes that he holds the letter. Dupin then predicts that the Minister will embarrass himself when he acts in reliance upon the letter he falsely believes he still possesses. Then Dupin explains that once, Minister D- insulted him brutally and this will be his revenge against him. He informs that he wrote a few lines of a French poem in the duplicate letter which says, “So baneful a scheme, if not worthy of Atreus, is worthy of Thyestes.”

Analysis of The Purloined Letter:

Poe termed The Puoined Letter as his best story of Ratiocination. It was the third detective story by Poe that featured the recurring character of C. Auguste Dupin, the young French detective, and his friend, the narrator. This story is different from the other two previous detective stories by Poe in the sense that though the previous stories involved gory, brutal murders and elements of fear, The Purloined Letter doesn’t involve any mutilation and gory crimes, rather, it focuses on the relationship between C. Dupin and the French Police and highlights the superiority of the savvy private eye of Dupin against the ineffectual established order.

In The Murders in The Rue Morgue, Dupin was not a professional detective but he pursues the case for amusement and to help the clerk who once helped him. Furthermore, he was interested in revealing the truth. In The Purloined Letter, however, Dupin undertakes the case for financial gain and personal revenge. He is not motivated by pursuing truth, emphasized by the lack of information about the contents of the purloined letter. This suggests his professional attitude towards maintaining the trust of his client (The Perfect directly and the Royal Lady indirectly), who do not wish the content of the letter to be made public.

Dupin describes Minister D- as very intelligent and cunning. He appears to be an equivalent opposite of Dupin. Still, Dupin outsmarts Minister D- because while Dupin is principled and honest, Minister D- is unprincipled and corrupt. Some literary critics suggest that Minister D- is a brother of Dupin (that’s why D-) and that is why Dupin gave the example of Atreus and Thyestes. In Greek mythology, Atreus was the king of Mycenae. His younger brother was Thyestes. Thyestes seduced Atreus’s wife, Aërope. When Atreus came to know about it, Thyestes was outcasted. To avenge this, Thyestes sent Pleisthenes (Atreus’s son, whom Thyestes had brought up as his own), to kill Atreus, but the boy was himself slain, unrecognized by his father. When Atreus came to know about his son’s murder by his own hands, he recalled Thyestes to Mycenae in apparent reconciliation. At a banquet, Atreus served Thyestes the flesh of Thyestes’ own sons, whom Atreus had slain in vengeance.

The example suggests that Dupin is the elder brother of Minister D-.

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!

Never Bet the Devil Your Head by Edgar Allan Poe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were the prominent American authors representing the genre of Dark Romanticism; the literary movement that rose to oppose the increasing impact of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalists too, were romanticists who believed in the good of nature and stressed that men are inherently good. Transcendentalists unequivocally denied the presence of evil in nature. The Transcendentalists were proponents of Poetic Justice and stressed too much demonstrating and discerning the moral ideas from the fiction and often expressed their disbelief in devils.

Poe was often criticized for failing to succeed in writing a short story that embodies a moral tale. In response, Poe wrote a short story that satirically mocks the journals called “Dial” and Down-Easter”, which represents the transcendentalists, for their obsession with unraveling the hidden meanings in novels, specifically, the moral of the fiction. The story was titled “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.” and it was published in the year in 1841. The narrator of the poem acknowledges the complaint that he doesn’t write literature that may offer some moral insight and thus he decides to write “a history about whose obvious moral there can be no question whatever, since he who runs may read it in the large capitals which form the title of the tale.” Poe declares that the moral of the story is in the title itself.

Characters of Never Bet the Devil Your Head:

The narrator of the story is presumably Edgar Allan Poe himself. He is the friend of Toby Dammit who is the protagonist of the story. The narrator satirically targets the school of Transcendentalism and offers a tale of his friend Toby. The character of Toby Dammit symbolically represents the ideas of Transcendentalists. Toby is a reckless man who believes everything is good. Though he is abundant with human vices, he considers himself a good person. The narrator tries to change Toby and make him better but he doesn’t improve. Yet, the narrator maintains his friendship with him. Toby’s mother is a strict left-handed lady. The narrator and Toby once met a mysterious figure while passing over a bridge. This mysterious figure appears to be a little old man wearing black clothes. He symbolizes the devil himself.

Summary of Never Bet the Devil Your Head:

The story begins as the narrator, who is presumably Edgar Allan Poe himself, acknowledges the complaint of the critics that he often writes stories with no moral message. Then he turns around the table and says that it is certainly not true because critics are capable of finding a moral in any work of fiction, whether the author intended it to have that moral or not. However, he concedes that the morals in his stories may have been ambiguous and thus, he decides to write a story now whose moral will have its moral clearly set out in the title itself.

The narrator then introduces Toby Dammit, one of his childhood friends, and claims that they knew each other since they were both babies. He informs that Toby’s mother was a strict lady who tried her best to raise Toby well and will often spank him. Unfortunately, she was a left-handed lady and thus, she always used her left hand while beating Toby. The narrator claims that it is general knowledge that beating with the right hand makes the children behave better. This follows that beating them with their left hand will make them misbehave, and that’s what happened with Tony. As he grew old, he acquired many vices and became lustful, boastful, and addicted to alcohol. Yet, the narrator maintained his friendship with Tony. Though he tried to help Tony get rid of his bad habits, the narrator claims that he fell under the influence of the Transcendentalists and believed that there is nothing bad with him. Gradually, he continued accumulating more vices and became addicted to gambling. However, Tony is very poor and thus, he never bets money. Yet, he is very fond of swearing, cursing, and using phrases that sound like he is laying a bet.

The narrator exclaims that nobody ever took Tony’s bets seriously who made it a habit of using phrases like "I'll bet you what you please", "I'll bet you what you dare", or "I'll bet you a trifle."

One of the recent phrases that Tony acquired and constantly used was “I’ll bet the Devil my head.”

Gradually, Tony stopped using any other phrases and only ever said, "I'll bet the Devil my head".

The narrator claims that he never liked that phrase as he found it vulgar and inappropriate. The narrator tried to convince Tony not to use that phrase but he never listened to the narrator’s pleas. Still, the narrator maintained his friendly relationship with Tony.

One day, the narrator and his friend Tony were going somewhere together. On their way, they found a long covered bridge crossing over a river, They had to go on to the other side and thus entered the bridge. The bridge was gloomy and dark as there were hardly any windows and there were many obstacles on the floor. While the narrator was cautious, Tony felt playful and would often jump over obstacles. As they reached the other exit of the bridge, the narrator saw a high turnstile and decided to carefully go through it. Tony, who was following him, decided to jump over the turnstile. The narrator tried to stop him but Tony claimed that he can easily jump over the turnstile. The narrator warned him and said that he should not boastfully claim that he can do something impossible for him. Tony was adamant, he shouted that he will bet the Devil his head that he can jump over the turnstile.

At the same moment, the narrator suddenly realizes that they were not alone on the bridge. He saw a mysterious figure in the dark of the bridge, standing near the exit. On seeing, carefully, the narrator saw that the mysterious figure was a little old man wearing a black suit and a black silk apron. The old man started encouraging Tony Dammit and said that he is certain that Dammit can easily jump over the turnstile in a flamboyant manner. The old man ignored the narrator and told Tony to move back a little bit and then he can run over before taking a big leap to jump over the turnstile. The old man said that he will say “One, Two, Three,” and that Dammit should start running when he says, "and away". The narrator wonders what business the old man has in getting Toby Dammit to jump. He says to himself that he will not jump if the old man asks him to do so, adding that he does not care who the devil the old man is.

As he thought about it, he got startled and looked towards the old man, his last words echoed in his mind, “Who the devil the old man is.”

By that time, Tony had begun running towards the turnstile. He takes the plunge as the old man says ‘and away.’ He almost jumps over the turnstile but then he falls down on the same side of the turnstile from which he began. The old man then goes to Dammit and bows over him. He takes something from him and then carefully wraps it in the black silk apron and goes away. The narrator is startled, trying to fathom what just happened. He regains his composure and goes to check on Tony Dammit. He observes that Tony Dammit didn’t have his head. He sees that there is an iron bar over the exit to the bridge and decides that Toby Dammit must have struck his head against it.

The narrator notices that Tony isn’t dead yet, and takes him to the homeopathists. The homeopathist tries to revive Tony and his treatment continues for several days. Nevertheless, Dammit eventually dies. After his death, the narrator arranges for his decent funeral. He then sends the bill for Dammit's funeral to the transcendentalists. When they refuse to pay, the narrator has Toby Dammit's body exhumed to be sold for dog food.

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!

Miriam by Truman Capote | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Truman Capote was an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, playwright, and actor who was born on September 30, 1924 and died on August 25, 1984. He is best known for his short novel Breakfast at Tiffany (1958), and his true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966). Another noteworthy novel written by him was Other Voices, Other Rooms which was published in 1948. His first published short story was titled Miriam and it was published in the June 945 issue of the women’s magazine Mademoiselle. The story deals with the issues of isolation, loneliness, insanity, double personality disorder, schizophrenia, and the supernatural.

Characters of Miriam:

Mrs. H.T. Miller is a 61 years old widow woman living alone in her pleasant apartment. She is a lonely introvert woman who hardly speaks to anybody. After her husband’s death, she never spoke to any of her relatives Mr. H. T. Miller had left a reasonable amount of insurance and Mrs. Miller is content with her isolated lifestyle. She had a pet canary and she spent most of her time with the bird. Miriam is the eponymous character of the story. She is 17 year old young girl. She is a mysterious girl who meets Mrs. H.T. Miller at a cinema and develops a rapport with her. The name Miriam is symbolic as in Hebrew, it can be translated as “wished-for child.” A newly wed young couple lives in the same building where Mrs. H.T. Miller lives. Though Mrs. Miller has never spoken with the young couple, she does ask for their help when Miriam barges into her apartment and creates trouble for her.

Summary of Miriam:

Mrs. H.T. Miller is a 61 years old widowed woman who is living alone in her two-room apartment near the east river. She is a very conserved woman who has no friends to speak with. After her husband’s death, she does not keep in touch with any of her relatives. She prefers a planned daily life with little or no spontaneous action. She hardly goes anywhere other than the nearest grocery store. She keeps her two-room apartment immaculate, smokes occasionally, prepares her own meals, and tends to her canary.

One night, after taking her dinner, Mrs. Miller notices an advertisement of a picture playing at a neighborhood theatre in the afternoon newspaper. The title of the movie intrigues her and she decides to go watch the movie. It was lightly snowing that night. The picture was a hit and there was a long queue of ticket buyers in front of the box-office. Mrs. Miller waiter for her turn in the queue while she starts observing the people. Suddenly, her eyes turned toward a beautiful young girl. Mrs. Miller found her very impressive. The girl too turned and looked at her and smiled. Mrs. Miller was happy seeing her smiling at her. The girl approached her and asked if Mrs. Miller would do a favor for her. Mrs. Miller asked what does she want? The girl replies that its no bid deal but she wishes Mrs. Miller to buy a ticket for her because the usher will not let her in without the ticket she cannot buy the ticket as she is underage. The girl offers the money (Two Dimes and a Nickel) for the ticket to Mrs. Miller. Mrs. Miller thinks for a while and then decides to buy the ticket.

After buying the ticket, Mrs. Miller and the girl went over to the theatre where the usher directed them to a lounge to wait for a while as the previous show was still going on. As they sat, Mrs Miller observed the girl closely and found that more than her hair, her eyes are more impressive. Mrs. Miller offered a peppermint to the girl and asked her name to which the girl answered that her name is Miriam. Mrs. Miller was excited as her first name too was Miriam. She exclaimed, what a coincidence, isn’t it funny that my name too is Miriam, though it is not a common name, we both share it. The girl nodded affirmatively, Mrs Miller asked again if she didn’t find it exciting to which Miriam answered it is ‘moderately’ exciting. After some time, the two parted ways as Mrs. Miller had to go to search for her seat. After watching the movie, Mrs. Miller returned to her home.

In the following week, one evening when she had prepared her dinner and was reading a newspaper, she heard the doorbell. Mrs. Miller got startled as hardly anybody visits her apartment ever. She opened the door and found the same young little girl Miriam standing at the door. The girl authoritatively enters her apartment and sits on the sofa. Mrs. Miller asked the girl to go back to her home but Miriam refused and demanded Mrs Miller to make a jelly sandwich for her. Mrs. Miller felt uneasy but she agreed. As she went to the kitchen for preparing the sandwich, Miriam inspected her bedroom where she found a beautiful antique cameo brooch that was given to Mrs. Miller by her late husband. After preparing the sandwich, Mrs. Miler returns to the living room and then follows Miriam into the bedroom. Miriam appreciates the cameo brooch and asks if she can keep it for herself? Mrs. Miller didn’t wish to give it to her as she had some sweet memories attached to the cameo brooch. However, she relents and allows Miriam to keep it if she promises to go straight back to her home after finishing the sandwich. Miriam agrees and goes to the other room and sits on the sofa. After finishing the sandwich, she standsup and proceeds towards the door. But then she stops and asks Mrs. Miller to give her a goodnight kiss. Mrs. Miller was quite irritated by that time and she sternly refuses. This angers Miriam and she goes to the sidewall and picks up a vase and smashes it on the floor. She tramples all the flowers and then goes out. It was difficult for Mrs. Miller to sleep after that incidence.

The next morning, Mrs. Miller decides to go shopping at various shopping malls around New York City. She returns home late in the evening and locks her apartment from inside. After a few moments, the doorbell rings. Mrs. Miriam assumes she must be Miriam and decides not to answer the doorbell. Miriam continues to rin the doorbell again and again but Mrs. Miriam avoids answering back. After some time, the doorbell stops ringing. Mrs. Miller assumes that Miriam went away and goes to check. As she opens up the door, she gets startled. Miriam was standing right on the other side of the door. She rushes inside before Mrs. Miller could close the door back. Mrs. Miller follows her in and sees her sitting on the sofa. Mrs. Miller observes that Miriam is holding a beautiful doll in her left hand. Miriam then asks Mrs. Miller to bring in the large box that Miriam brought with her. Mrs. Miller notices the large box kept just outside the door. Out of curiosity, she brings the box in. Miriam starts rummaging the things that Mrs. Miller bought while she was shopping, she comments on the cherries, almond cakes, and white flowers. Meanwhile, Mrs. Miriam gets curious about the large box and opens it up. She notices that the box is full of clothes of Miriam and there is a second doll just like the one Miriam is holding in her hand. Miriam then announces that she has left her house and now she is going to live with her.

Mrs. Miller gets frightened and decides to run away from there. She goes downstairs to where a young couple lives. Mrs. Miller had seen the young couple many times, but she hardly spoke to them till now. She knocks at their door and as they open the door, she hurridly complains that a young girl keeps on appearing and will not leave her alone. Observing the frightened state of Mrs. Miller, the woman comforts her while her husband decides to go upstairs and check Mrs. Miller’s apartment. After sometime, he returns back and says that there there is nobody upstairs. Mrs. Miller gets startled. She tries to convince again that there was a young girl named Miriam. She asks if there is a large box on the floor to which the man answers that there is none. Mrs. Miller regains her composure and returns to her apartment. She checks both rooms and finds nobody is there. The loneliness of her house scares her. She feels tired and sits on the sofa. She is startled and frightened. She wonders if everything is real or if is it a dream. She wonders where did Miriam go? She convinces herself that there is nobody. She closes her eyes and tries to calm down. However, her mind is restless. She wonders if Miriam was real, did she ever met Miriam in real or if was it just a figment of her imagination. After a while, she convinces herself that it doesn’t matter and that she is Mr. Miller, the strong-willed woman who is used to living alone and doing all her work without depending on others. This thought calms her down and she feels relaxed. After some time, she notices a double sound, a bureau drawer opening, and closing. The double sound continues but gradually, its harshness diminishes and after a few moments, she hears another sound, the delicate sound of furling of a silken dress. The sound continues to reach nearer to her. Mrs. Miller feels the fear again and stiffens herself. As she opens her eyes, Miriam says ‘Hello’ 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!

Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “Jasmine” is the third novel that was written by Bharati Mukherjee and was published in 1980. Bharati Mukherjee always maintained that she is not an expatriate Indian, rather, she is an Immigrant Indian who willfully chose to accept and love the foreign culture and values. In this novel too, she expresses Indian culture and traditions as a bane that is very cruel to widow women. On the other hand, she expresses America as a land of freedom, promise, and fulfillment where one can attain a reward for each of his or her effort and where the relationship between man and woman is based on an equal and equal relationship.

Written from the first person point of view in a non-linear style, the novel tells the story of Jyoti, a young Indian woman who is a widow, and her journey and personal development as she attempts to assimilate into American culture.

Characters of Jasmine:

Jyoti is the main character of the novel who is also known by the name Jasmine, Jazzy, Jase, and Jane in different situations during her journey from a small town in India to big cities in America. She is a simple girl belonging to a middle-class Punjabi Hindu peasant family. Jyoti lives with her Mataji (mother), Pitaji (father), and Dida (grandmother). Masterji is her school teacher who encourages her to higher studies. In her youth, she marries Prakash Vijh, a young hardworking honest Punjabi Hindu man with her family’s consent. Dave Vadhera is an Indian professor who encourages Prakash to pursue higher studies in America. Later on, Professor Vadhera shifts to America with his wife Nirmala and his parents. Half-Face is the captain of the ship that Jyoti takes to Florida. Lilian Gordon is an activist in South Florida who helps Kanjobal refugees and other illegal immigrants in America, Kate is her daughter who is an NYC photographer and artist. Taylor Hayes is a physicist and researcher at Columbia University who employs Jasmine as the caretaker of Duff, the adopted daughter of Taylor Hayes and his wife Wyllie Hayes. Wylie leaves Taylor to live with Stuart, an economist. Bud Ripplemayer is a banker and landowner in Baden, Iowa. Jasmine works as a teller in his family bank. He develops a romantic relationship with Jasmine and they start living together. Jasmine becomes pregnant with their child. Bud persistently proposes to her to marry him but she continues to refuse him. Du Thien is a Vietnamese refugee kid whom Jasmine and Bud adopt as their son. Darrel Lutz is a neighbor of Bud who owns a farm. He needs a loan to save his farm but Bud refuses to help him. Karen Ripplemayer is Bud’s ex-wife who lives in Iowa

Summary of Jasmine:

The novel begins as Jasmine reminisces about her childhood. She used to be known as Jyoti at that time. She was living with her Mataji, Pitaji, and Dida, an elder brother, and a sister. When she was seven years old, she met an astrologer under a Banyan tree in Hasanpur who forecasted her eventual widowhood and exile. Jyoti feels offended and opposes the astrologer’s prophecy. The astrologer gets angry and hits her head and then he goes back to his trance. Jyoti falls down and her head hits a bundle of sticks which causes a scar. Jyoti believes that this scar whose mark may never go throughout her life is like her third eye which will help her in changing the bad future that the astrologer prophecized.

At school, Jyoti was a brilliant child. Her school teacher Masterji started tutoring her in English and encouraged her to pursue higher studies. While Mataji, her mother too supported Jyoti for higher studies, Pitaji and Dida were not in favor of Jyoti spending more time in school. Masterji convinces her father to let Jyoti work hard on her studies as he believes that she can overcome the traditional, conservative, feudal ways of Hasnapur. Her father agrees to her tutoring by Masterji. Just after a couple of days, her father is attacked by a loose mad bull and he dies on the spot. After her father’s death, Jyoti’s family shifts their home. A week later, a gang of Sikh militants attack Jyoti’s school and murdered Masterji in front of his students.

Though she is a brilliant student, Jyoti belongs to a middle-class family and after her father’s premature death, her family faces financial troubles. When Jyoti was just 14, she married Prakash, a friend of her elder brother. Prakash is a liberal young man who believes in equality in relationships. He respects Jyoti and encourages her to continue her studies. To break from the past, Prakash renames her as Jasmine. Prakash himself is a brilliant student. He works two jobs and studies for his diploma exams while Jasmine runs a Ladies' Group raffle and sells detergent to make money. Prakash is known for his liberal views and his opposition to the radical Sikh group the Khalsa Lions. Professor Vadhera of Prakash’s college is planning to shift to America where he has got a job as a professor in Florida. He encourages Prakash to pursue higher education in America. Prakash gets interested in this option and encourages Jasmine to attain fluency in English as he plans to go to America with his wife and settle there.

With the help of Mr. Vadhera’s recommendation, Prakash gets admission to a university in Florida and explains to Jasmine that he may be in the US for many months before he's able to bring her over to him, but that they will write and call each other frequently. To celebrate the occasion, he takes Jasmine to the market to buy a beautiful saree for her. He buys a suit for himself that he wishes to wear at the University of Florida. While Jasmine is trying on beautiful expensive sarees in a showroom, one of the radicals of the terrorist outfit Khalsa Lions attacks with a homemade hand grenade just outside the showroom. Jasmine listens to the deep frightening sound and runs out of the showroom and sees Prakash brutally injured. She takes him in her arms. The radical Sikh whose name is Sukhwinder starts hurling abuses at Jasmine while Prakash dies in her arms.

Jasmine is deeply hurt. After performing the last rites of Prakash, she looks at the suit that Prakash bought and decides to anyhow visit the US and visit the University where Prakash dreamed of studying. She wishes to go there and burn his suit in the same University as she feels it is the only way Prakash’s soul will get some peace. She gets a doctored passport and tickets and travels to Mumbai where she catches an airplane to the U.S. On the last leg of the journey to Florida, she takes a ship whose captain is Half-Face. Half-Face realizes that Jasmine is traveling on doctored papers and hence decides to exploit her. He drives her to an abandoned motel and rapes her. When he falls asleep, Jasmine thinks of killing herself. But as she looks at the face of Half-Face, she feels immense hatred towards him and slashes his throat with a kitchen knife. After killing him, she decides to burn the coat of Prakash along with his papers at the same site. After that, she becomes a paperless refugee in the U.S.

She continues wandering on the roads of Florida while facing infection and starvation and is about to collapse when Lillian Gordon notices her and takes her to her home. Lillian runs an asylum helping refugees. She already has sheltered some Kanjobal girls in her asylum and Jasmine starts living with them. Lillian offers some American clothes to Jasmine and teachers her American mannerism so that she may not get caught by INS. Lillian starts calling her Jazzy. Jazzy is already fluent in English and after learning enough of American mannerisms, she takes Lillian’s help in catching a bus to New York City where she expects to meet Professor Vadhera who has settled there with his parents and young wife Nirmala. Professor Vadhera allows Jazzy to stay at his home. While Professor Vadhera and his wife Nirmala both work at the University, Jazzy takes care of his parents at home. After some time, Jazzy requests Professor Vadhera to help her get a quality fake green card as she is afraid of being caught as an illegal immigrant. Professor Vadhera arranges a fake green card for her. Jazzy isn’t happy while staying with Professor Vadhera as he lives in a society in Flushing where everybody speaks Hindi and follows a lifestyle that resembles more Indian than American. Thus, she decides to explore the other parts of America and leaves Queens for Manhattan where she meets Kate Gordon, the daughter of Lillian Gordon. With the help of Kate, she gets a job as a caretaker at the home of Taylor Hayes and his wife Wyllie Hayes. Taylor is a physicist and professor at Columbia University and Wylie is a publisher and editor.

Jazzy’s job is to take care of Taylor and Wyllie’s adopted daughter Duff. Jazzy makes a close relationship with Duff. She notices that while Taylor feels responsible for Duff as her legal father, Wyllie is not interested in Duff. Taylor starts appreciating Jazzy and she falls in love with him. He starts calling her Jase. Meanwhile, Wylie leaves Taylor Hayes as she develops an extramarital affair with Stuart, an economist on Columbia's faculty. As Wylie leaves Taylor, he proposes to Jase to marry him. However, Jase is hesitant about the prospects of marriage for some reason unknown to Taylor. One day, while in a part with Taylor and Duff, Jase notices a hot dog vendor who appears an Indian Sikh. When she notices him carefully, she gets frightened as she realizes that he is Sukhwinder, the same man who murdered Prakash. She gets too frightened of Sukhwinder and her own fate and remembers the astrologer who professed her widowhood and exile. She gets a panic attack and feels like choking. Taylor brings her back home where she reveals her entire past to Taylor and informs how Sukhwinder, the hot dog vendor murdered her husband. As she wishes no harm to Taylor, she decides to run away from New York and reaches Iowa where Wylie and Taylor adopted Duff.

In Iowa, Jase accidentally meets an old lady Mrs. Ripplemeyer and develops a cordial relationship with her. Mrs. Ripplemeyer starts calling her Jane and introduces her to his son Bud Ripplemeyer who runs a family bank. Bud feels love for Jane at first sight and he offers a job to her as a teller in his bank. Soon he develops a sexual romantic relationship with Jane. While Bud is already married to Karin Ripplemeyer, he decides to divorce her and then Jasmine and Bud start living together at his home. Jane still misses Duff and thus, Bud and Jasmine decide to adopt a child named Du, who is a Vietnamese refugee. Du remains reserved and traumatized by his experiences at the refugee camp. Jane notices that he has an interest in engineering and electronics just like Prakash.

Because of economic turmoil, Bud’s bank faces many applications for loans that Bud cannot afford. He refuses most of the applications and one day, a disgruntled farmer in Iowa shoots Bud at his back for refusing his loan application. After that, the farmer shoots himself and dies. This renders Bud paralyzed below his waist. Meanwhile, Jasmine is pregnant with Bud’s child. She starts taking care of Bud in a wheelchair while maintaining the bank too. Bud requests Jasmine to marry him before she may give birth to their child but Jasmine refuses to marry him. Bud’s neighbor Darrel Lultz manages their family farm and he too is suffering economic problems. He asks for Bud’s help but Bud refuses to offer a loan to him because he feels Darrel is irresponsible. Darrel is a young man in his twenties. He gets infatuated with Jasmine and starts pursuing her. Jasmine too develops a friendly relationship with him. One day, Darrel proposes to her and ridicules her for maintaining a relationship with Bud who is paralyzed and unable as a man. He insists that Jasmine should move with him to New Mexico, where he plans to open a new franchise store. Jasmine feels offended but politely refuses him. She returns to Bud’s home and talks with him about Darrel’s loan application. She convinces Bud to offer a loan to Darrel. When Bud and Jasmine visit Darrel’s house to inform him that Bud has agreed to offer him a loan, they find that he has already succumbed to his frustrations and has hanged himself with the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Du is growing old and he is seventeen now. One day, he leaves Bud’s house abruptly as he finds the address of his sister in Los Angeles. Years have passed since Jasmine left New York. One day, she receives a letter from Taylor in which he informs her that he continued to search for her and now he knows that she is living in Badem, Iowa. The letter informs that Taylor and his daughter Duff are traveling and reaching to visit her in Iowa. Jasmine comes to know that Taylor has been appointed as a professor at the University of UC Berkley and he wishes to marry Jasmine and start a new life with her.

Taylor and Duff reach Iowa and meet Jasmine at Bud’s house. While they are waiting for her in the living room, Jasmine goes inside. Jasmine is torn between her love for Taylor and her duties towards Bud who has impregnated her and is dependent on her. She has to take a firm decision that she cannot change in the future. She decides to call Karren, the ex-wife of Bud who is still in love with Bud. Jasmine informs her that she is leaving Bud as she is going to California. Then she hangs up the phone and goes to the living room. Taylor, Duff, and Jasmine get in the car as Taylor starts their journey to California while Jasmine thinks of the astrologer whom she met at the age of seven, in her imagination, she challenges the astrologer again and says, "Watch me re-position the stars," as she decided to marry Taylor Hayes.

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 Coffer Dams by Kamala Markandaya | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Coffer Dams was the sixth novel by Kamala Markandaya that was published in 1969. Set in the tribal parts of South India, the novel tells the story of the clash of modernism versus traditionalism in post-independence India. It is a novel that tackles issues – among them racism, colonialism, the British class system, indigenous rights, clash of values, environmental issues, and the homogenizing forces of modernity. The story is about the dispossessed tribal people who are forced to leave the land they have been living on for centuries because of the construction of a dam that is supposed to bring prosperity to the nation. The novel discusses the issue of marginality in a brilliant manner.

Characters of The Coffer Dams:

Howard Clinton a British engineer and businessman gets a contract to build a dam on a river at Malad, an Indian village in South India. He is an extremely arrogant person with a racist mentality. Being an engineer, Clinton values technological advancement much more than the environment, nature, and Indians. Helen is the protagonist of the novel. She is the newly-married wife of Clinton who accompanies him to India. Unlike Clinton, Helen is more sympathetic and she starts caring for the tribals and laborers whose life gets dangerously affected by the construction of the dam. Mackendrick is another British engineer and partner of Clinton. Unlike Clinton, he is sympathetic to the tribals. Bob Rowling is the assistant engineer with a good heart who values nature and human beings, Henderson is the turbine specialist, and Lefevre and his team are construction specialists. There are not many women in the British camp because only a few British men brought their wives along with them. Millie Rowling is the wife of Bob Rowling who accompanies him to India. Like Clinton, Minnie hates Indians and especially the tribal Indians. Krishnan is the leader and spokesperson of the Indian laborers working at the dam sight. Bashiam is an Indian young man belonging to the tribal society of Malnad. He is an educated, skilled technician and chief crane operator. Like Clinton, Bashiam loves machines and technology but being a tribal himself, Bashiam doesn’t hate traditional ways. He is sympathetic, humane, and humble. While Clinton ridicules Bashiam as a black ape, Helen starts liking him. Wilkins and Bailey are two British technicians who die due to an accident while working on the construction site. The old village chief is the head of tribals who opposes the construction of the dam.

Summary of The Coffer Dams:

The novel is set in independent India struggling to modernize its ways. The story begins as Helen, recently married to Howard Clinton comes from England to India along with her husband who has to complete the construction of the dam on a south Indian river as per the contract made with the Government of India. The British Engineers and their families are not comfortable with Indian conditions and lack of amenities in that remote tribal area. Thus, Clinton and Mackenderick decide to complete the project within a year, so that they may return to their homeland.

Before the work of dam construction begins at the site, the tribals are ordered to shift to some other place so that the area occupied by them may be used for the construction of grand bungalows for the British technocrats. Tensions arise as tribals are displaced from the site where they have been dwelling for centuries. Along with the colonies, Mackendrick also makes some tin shades where the local laborers and home servants could live.

Employing Indian laborers on a priority basis is one of the conditions of the contract signed by Clinton with the Govt. of India. To fulfill this condition, Mackendrick recruits technicians from among those who live in the surrounding jungles. The old village head of Malnad opposes the construction of the dam but nobody listens to him. While the older generation of Malnad is supportive of the old system of their dependence on forests for their sustenance, the young generation believes in speedy growth and prosperity by way of earning money through jobs in private or state-run firms.

The British technocrats are excessively arrogant and callous towards the Indian technicians and laborers. Krishnan is the leader of the labor union of these tribesmen. Despite holding a dominant position due to being a leader of a labor union Krishnan often feels humiliated. The British Engineers hold him in low esteem on account of his identity as an Indian. His suggestions and warnings about the impact of North East monsoons, cyclones, and labor troubles are not taken seriously by Clinton and Mackendrick.

Meanwhile, Helen finds that Clinton is too obsessed with the building of the dam and he hardly pays any attention to her. He is completely absorbed in the completion of the dams as early as possible. On the other hand, Mrs. Millie Rowlings, like Clinton, treats the Indian laborers as people worth hatred. She organizes the parties to keep the British families united to successfully face the problems and challenges in the Indian tribal area where the local people are living life in total ignorance. Helen tries to amalgamate with these British women but fails to appreciate their sense of superiority over the Indian people. Appalled by her husband’s concern with structures rather than with men, she turns to local Indian tribesmen and finds in them the human values she lacked in the British camp. This creates tension between Clinton and Helen but he ignores her while concentrating on his work on the dam.

Helen approaches Krishnan and asks for his help in learning the language and ways of the tribal people but Krishnan refuses to help her. She starts visiting the tin shades of the local labourers and technicians where she meets Bashiam, a young Indian skilled technician belonging to the tribal society of Malnad. Bashiam gladly accepts to help Helen in learning local ways and takes her to the village. When Clinton comes to know about this, he starts feeling envious of Bashiam whom he considers a lowly uncivilized tribal. Helen enjoys her time with the tribesmen. She played with the children, watched the crops grow, watched women at work, and she talked to them. The presence of an English woman in a tribal village is a matter of great happiness for the entire tribal community. Children, men, and women of the tribal village are extremely happy to think that a representative of the British who ruled over India for a long is among them to boost their importance in the eyes of the people who belong to the civilized world. She meets the old head of the village who tells her that Bashiam and other young people of his tribe are becoming as money-mad as you foreigners are. The old tribal chief apprehends that the consequences of young tribals’ hunger for money will cause them immense loss later or sooner. Helen realizes that the tribal people are not as ignorant as others feel they are. She starts liking them. She develops a gradual awareness of the need for bridging the gaps and developing an understanding between the natives and the Britishers. She understands the tribal connections. For her, they were sensitive people and not black apes. She continues to spend more time with Bashiam and gradually starts liking him. Bashiam teaches her about various species of birds, reptiles, and other animals commonly found in the Jungles near Malnad. Helen starts taking an interest in birds and snakes. Clinton observes these changes in Helen and ridicules her. One day, when Clinton notes that Bashiam had been to the jungle for bird trapping, he gets suspicious that Helen developed an interest in birds because of her intimacy with Bashiam.

Bashiam reveals to her that the tribals were forced to leave their homes so that the British colony could be made. The fact that tribals were forcefully displaced by Mackendrick at the behest of Clinton hurts Helen deeply. She questions Bashiam why he and other tribal people accepted to leave their home without any protest to which Bashiam fails to offer any answer. However, her question encourages Bashiam to change himself. He dismantles the tin shade provided by the company to him and in place of it, he creates a hut by employing the local tribal techniques at the same place.

One night when he comes back to his but after working throughout the day, he is astonished to find Helen in the darkness of the hut. She had come here at such time to taste the coarse flavors of a burly tribesman like Bashiam. As they enter the hut, Helen hugs him and they make love.

As the work continues, Clinton decides to make two coffer dams that could support the main body of the dam to be built on the river. Clinton realizes the urgency of the work that should be completed before the arrival of the monsoon. Krishnan warns him of the possibilities of early monsoon or pre-monsoon cyclonic rains but Clinton humiliates him and ignores those warnings. During all these tensions, an accident further escalates conflicts between the British technocrats and local tribal laborers. The dispute between the two groups arises over an accident. First, two Christians Wilkins and Bailey die and the company decides to suspend the work to give them a proper burial. Then forty-two tribal workers fell into the river because of a premature blast and their bodies got jammed in the boulders. One English engineer Mackendrick discusses the possibilities of recovery but Clinton asserts that the work must go on and the “bodies can be incorporated into the structure.” Having heard about the fatal accident, a large number of tribal people reach the accident site to inspect the extent of the loss. Thirty-eight dead bodies are evacuated with the help of the crane but then the crane malfunctions. Baisham tries to repair the crane but it takes time. Despite all possible efforts, the two dead bodies remain irretrievable. While the tribals are anxious about whether missing the dead bodies will be restored so that they may be cremated with tribal rites and rituals, the British engineers are not serious about locating them. Lefevre says, “In time, the currents will free them.” Handerson says “In time the fish will have them.”

Krishnan protests against this discriminatory attitude and says that While Wilkins & Bailey are cremated by them with Christian rites & rituals, the dead tribal are ordered to be incorporated into the structure. When Helen comes to know about it, she strongly stands with the tribals while opposing the inhuman attitude of her husband. However, Mr. Rowling supports Clinton and says that there is no time to bring up the bodies. The rains are due, and the Dam is at risk. Makendrick is sympathetic towards the tribals and suggests that they must trust their crane operator. He says that the problem can be solved if with the help of Bashiam”s expertise “the boulders were lifted whole.” Although Clinton is very well aware of the fact that the crane has developed a serious fault and that the one who lifts the boulder in this condition is sure to lose his life, he allows Bashiam to lift the boulder. Helen notices Clinton's cunning attitude and tries to stop Bashiam from going to the river bed. But Bashiam takes the challenge. Exuding his self-confidence and showing his sense of belongingness to his community he victoriously utters, “I must do it since they are my people whom I cannot shed.” Bashiam tries his best and succeeds in retrieving the two bodies. Clinton, who always felt that Bashiam is no better than other uneducated, unskilled tribals grows highly appreciative of him and accepts that he is entirely reliable.

After that incident, Clinton with Bashiam, and all workers dedicate themselves to the construction work to complete it before the arrival of monsoon so that he may leave India for his country before the rainfall obstruct the execution of his plans. But pre-monsoon heavy rainfall upsets his plans. It not only disrupts his construction work but also creates a state of flood. The rain continues for many days. The British colony and bungalows get surrounded by water forcing them to get “marooned on top of a ruddy hill.” The engineers warn that if the coffer dams are not broken, the whole landmass will drown in water causing the deaths of hundreds of tribals in the surrounding area.

But Clinton is not willing to allow destruction of the coffer dams which are essential for the completion of his project. Mackendrick tries to convince him but he refuses. Helen then takes Mackendrick to the old tribal chief who is now on the verge of death. Before dying, he says that the rain will stop when "the ridges rise clear." A few moments after his death the ridges rise clear and the rain stops as predicted by him. The water starts receding gradually and after some days, the laborers start working for the completion of the dam. All the members of the tribal village and the British staff are extremely happy for the reason that the tribals are now free from the fear of inundation and the British engineers and technicians may now leave for their country along with their families and assistants.

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!