Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Desirable Daughters was a novel by Bharati Mukherjee that was published in the year 2002. Like her other previous novels, this novel too talks about the Indian diaspora that immigrated to the Western countries (Canada, or the U.S.A.) and the problems faced by them. Bharati Mukherjee once again puts forth the imperialist idea of American feminism to the fore without realizing its inadequacy and inefficiency to deal with feministic issues of the greater world.

Desirable Daughters deals with America and its liberties, individualism, and money power and with India and its gods, ghosts, and curious social ill practices. The story is about three Calcutta-born sisters, Tara, Padma, and Parvati who were born into a wealthy Brahmin family presided over by their doting father and his traditionalist mother. Intelligent and artistic, the girls are nevertheless constrained by a society with little regard for women. Their subsequent rebellion will lead them in different directions, to different continents, and through different circumstances that strain yet ultimately strengthen their relationship.

Characters of Desirable Daughters:

Tara Lata is the main character and the narrator of the novel. She is an Indian-born American who recently got divorced from Bishwapriya Chaterjee, a successful software engineer inventor, and businessman based in California, and got a big sum of alimony. Tara and Bish have a son named Rabindranath or Rabi who is living with Tara. Padma is the eldest sister of Tara whom she calls Didi. Padma is six years older than Tara and she lives in New Jersey, is a well-known news anchor who also runs a designer sari business on the side. Since her younger days, Padma is a brash hypocrite and a shameless flirt. Parvati is the other sister of Tara who lives in India. Parvati is three years older than Tara. Unlike Tara, Parvati married in a love match rather than through an arranged marriage. However, after her marriage, she gracefully accepted and adopted the traditional role of an Indian housewife. Unaware of the delicacies of Indian ways, Tara describes Parvati as an anxious woman who cleans compulsively, and her husband is depressed. Ron Dey is a Christian Indian who had an affair with Padma, the eldest sister of Tara during her younger years when she was aspiring to be an actress. Ron and Tara had an illegitimate child named Christopher Dey. Padma, Tara, and Parvati are unaware of Christopher Dey’s whereabouts because Padma gave birth to him in secrecy without even revealing it to her family and never cared about Ron or Christopher after leaving them. Jai Krishna Bhattacharjee was an ancestor of Tara Lata in yester years. He too had three daughters and one of them was named Tara-Lata who later became The Tree Bride.

Summary of Desirable Daughters:

The novel begins as Tara remembers one of the mythical stories she has been hearing since her childhood. She remembers Jai Krishna, one of her ancestors who had three daughters. One of his daughters was named Tara Lata. The narrator reveals that her ancestor Tara Lata was betrothed to a boy at the age of 5 as arranging a married relationship during childhood was a norm in India in the past. However, just before the ceremony, the groom is bitten by a venomous snake and dies. The deceased groom's family arrives at the home of Tara Lata's father, Jai Krishna, they insist that she is responsible for their son's death. Though the marriage has not taken place, the bridegroom’s father claims his share of Tara Lata’s dowry as he blames her for the untimely death of his son. Jai Krishna blatantly refuses this demand, saying he would see his daughter marry a tree before paying the price for a marriage that did not take place. Thus, Jai Krishna made good on this promise, forcing Tara Lata to remain a virgin for life. Thus, Tara Lata, the ancestor of the narrator became known as the Tree Bride.

The narrator then describes her present. She was named Tara Lata after her ‘Tree Bride’ ancestor. She describes her past in India when she was 19 years old. Her eldest sister Padma was aspiring to be an actress in the Indian film industry and she got an offer to play the lead role in a big-budget movie. However, she was forced by her father to turn down the movie offer who considered it a menial and derogatory job. Padma developed an affair with a fellow actor Ron Dey but since he was a Christian, Padma couldn’t marry him. Later on, she ran away from home and settled in New Jersey, America where she works as a news anchor. Tara’s elder sister Parvati too rebelled against her father and engaged in a love marriage without her father’s permission. After completing her school, Tara Lata wished to continue her studies but her father was already frustrated by her two elder daughters and decided to arrange the marriage of Tara Lata as per his choice. He said, “There is a boy and we have found him suitable. Here is his picture. The marriage will be in three weeks” Tara was aware of her father’s pain because of her elder sisters’ rebellion and didn’t wish to create more ruckus and thus she decided to marry. She mentions her dilemma about this marriage by saying, "I married a man I had never met, whose picture and biography and bloodlines I approved of because my father told me it was time to get married and this was the best husband on the market."

Tara gets married to Biswapriya Chatterjee who is an Indian immigrant in California, America. Tara settles in America and leads an opulent life there. Biswapriya is an Americanized Indian who devotes most of his time to his newly established software business. He is a self-made Silicon Valley multimillionaire who recently developed a computing algorithm that is earning millions. Tara tries to fulfill the duty of a housewife and soon gives birth to a son named Rabindranath whom she lovingly calls Rabi. Rabi is a sensitive child who is very close to his mother while her father remains busy with his business. Sometimes, Biswapriya spends 15 hours in his office, and when he returns home, he would follow his traditional Indian religious chores first and then notices his wife and son. Tara, on the other hand, is more interested in American ways and starts thinking of her own Individual self as an independent woman. She realizes her dream of a free American wife was not fulfilled. She wished to drive, but she had no place to go. Though she was not well-educated and only completed her school education, she wished to be a working woman, but couldn’t work because people would think that Biswapriya Chatterjee couldn’t support his wife.

As her frustrations continued to grow, she decided to divorce Biswapriya and lead her own life. She got many millions as a divorce settlement and started living in San Francisco with her son Rabi. Biswapriya regretted the divorce and wished he could prove to be a better husband. He continued to take financial care of Tara and his son. Tara, on the other hand, started working as a primary school teacher and soon developed an affair with Andy, a latter-day hippie described as a “Hungarian Buddhist yoga instructor/contractor.” Tara doesn’t like the Indian immigrant community in America and doesn’t approve of divorces. She recognizes herself as American. She compares her life with her sisters. Padma is still leading an unabashed life. She runs her own saree business and works as a popular news anchor. She is married to a man in New Jersey. Her other sister Parvati is happily married to her lover. Though she revolted against her father and refused to accept an arranged marriage, she now lives as a traditional Indian housewife, taking care of her husband, his kids, and his parents. Tara, on the other hand, is a woman living off a generous divorce settlement from one man while playing around with another and still keeping the first one on a leash.

One day, a young man appears at the door of Tara’s home. When She arrives home, she finds a stranger sitting with Rabi in her living room. The man, Christopher Dey, addresses her as his ‘mashi’ and explains that he is Padma’s illegitimate son, the product of an affair with a Christian man when Padma was only a teenager. Christopher shows her a letter written by Ron Dey, his alleged father. Tara knew Ron Dey since her teenage and remembers her eldest sister Padma developing a tumultuous passionate affair as an adolescent. This secret shocks Tara as it means a huge sin in traditional Indian culture. First, it means that Padma was not a virgin when she was married. Secondly, she bore a child out of wedlock. Finally, she intermingled her Brahmin bloodline with someone of a lower caste and different religion. This causes Tara to question her traditional upbringing and how it has affected her present circumstances.

However, despite reading the letter from Ron Dey, Tara is not fully convinced about his claim and decides to discover the truth behind it. Christopher continues to pester Tara again and again and this causes Andy to break his relationship with Tara and leaves the shared apartment. Tara decides to take the help of Parvati, her second sister in confirming the status of Christopher Dey. Parvati reluctantly agrees to help her out. Eventually, Tara comes to know that though Padma did give birth to an illegitimate child of Christopher Dey, the man who appeared at her home is not the son of Padma and Ron. He is a scam artist with a history of fraud, and he is not her illegitimate nephew. This fraud belongs to an Indian hacking group that had planned to blackmail and rob Biswapriya Chatterjee and thus, he targeted Tara. Tara has already lost her lover Andy and thus, she decides to find her roots by traveling back to India with her son. When she arrives in Calcutta and goes to Mishtigunj, the birthplace of the Tree Bride that she discussed in the beginning, she feels a similarity with her, as if she is the Tree Bride, reincarnated. Tara starts to feel the good aspects of her culture and childhood, and that even with all its faults, she harbors a deep respect for her homeland.

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!

Two Ways to Belong in America by Bharati Mukherjee | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Two Ways to Belong in America was an analytical article written by Bharati Mukherjee that was published in The New York Times in 1996. In the article, Bharati Mukherjee discusses the differences between Indian Expatriates living in America and the Immigrants who have chosen to become citizens of America while they have relinquished their Indian nationality. Bharati suggests that though the expatriates and the immigrants face similar problems and issues in the foreign land, their ways of tackling those issues differ and this difference in their ways of coping with the alien situations makes them either an immigrant or an expatriate.

Bharati Mukherjee always maintained that she was not an expatriate but an immigrant Indian who actually loved the American way of living much more than the Indian traditions. In this article, she offers the other perspective too using discussing the experiences of her cousin sister Mira Mukherjee who chose to remain an Indian expatriate.

Summary of Two Ways to Belong in America:

The title of the article suggests that there are always more than one ways in which one may belong in a culture. The author discusses an American congress movement in 1996 that restricted the resident aliens or expatriates living in America, from accessing government benefits and how it affected those who chose to remain expatriates even after spending many years in America. She discusses her own experiences and those of her sister Mira is working in America for more than 36 years, yet claims that she is an Indian expatriate and hopes to return to India someday in the future after she retires.

The author begins by explaining the similarities between the two sisters and informs that she along with her sister Mira went to America for education in the 1960s. In India, they both shared almost identical views on socio-political and cultural issues. They both left India with a decision to return home (India) for marriage after pursuing education in the U.S. However, both continued to live in America for more than they expected. In 1962, Mira married an Indian student in America and they applied for a labor certificate which is necessary for a green card. Mira continues to live in the U.S. for more than 36 years as a legal immigrant with Indian citizenship. Since her husband too was an Indian and both had the wish to return to their homeland someday, Mira never thought of taking full citizenship of America and always maintained herself as an Indian expatriate. Mira lived in Detroit city and works in Southfield Mich., school system. She is dedicated to her work and won national recognition for her contributions in the fields of preschool education and parent-teacher relationships. Yet, after all this success in America, she maintained her Indian nationality and hopes to return to India after she retires. Mira loves Indian culture, Indian cuisines, Indian dresses, and Indian values. She never succeeded in accepting American pop culture.

Bharati, on the other hand, chose to marry her fellow student who was an American in 1963. By marrying him, Bharati got rid of the requirement to apply for the labor certificate and since her husband was an American who had little or no emotional attachment with India, he never thought of settling in India, and thus, Bharati too never thought of returning to India. She was aware of the emotional and social difficulties she might face after marrying outside her race, nationality, and caste and she was prepared for it. In fact, she was already willing to get a way out of the patriarchial, casteist ways of her family that she didn’t like much from the beginning. By marrying a man who was not her father’s choice, she chose to revolt and opted for fluidity. She open-handedly accepted the American ways of living. She mentioned the emotional trauma she suffered after marrying an American in her novel ‘The Tiger’s Daughter’ in which she mentioned how even her own mother alienated her from her family just because after marrying an American, she was no more an Indian who could understand and respect the cultural and religious traditions and feelings of her mother. Bharati mentions that since she continued to write about why she chose American ways over Indian traditions, her books were often criticized for being unapologetic, overenthusiastic ‘mongrelization,’ which means intermixing racial or ethnic character. Nonetheless, Bharati enjoyed doing so.

Despite these differences, Bharati maintained a cordial relationship with Mira. Bharati writes that Mira is her only blood relative in the USA and they spend some time communicating by phone. Bharati says that they expect to see each other through the looming crises of aging and ill health without being asked.

Bharati then mentions the USA Citizenship drive started by then Vice-President Al Gore in 1996 and how it forced Expatriates either to accept American citizenship or to relinquish government aid and benefits. Bharati says that she and Mira had already discussed the ethics of retaining overseas citizenship while expecting the permanent protection and economic benefits that come with living and working in America. Mira thought that since she is working honestly for the benefit of American society, she must be given all the aid that is meant for an American citizen despite her choice of remaining an Indian expatriate. Bharati differed from her views. Though they both have differences of opinions, they maintained polite conversation probably that was out of pity. Bharati sympathized with her sister Mira for her narrow perception and superficial understanding of American society. Mira pitied Bharati for the consequences of her marriages like the erasure of Indianness and unstructured lifestyle. While Bharati sees Mira as an alien to the American culture, Mira contends that Bharati has betrayed her Indian identity.

Now when the American congress has passed anti-immigration bills, Bharati and Mira fail to ignore their differences. While Bharati has already accepted American citizenship and has completely forgotten her Indianness, Mira is still not ready to give up her emotional attachment to her home country. Mira was upset about the implementation of the new immigration policy forced upon the old settlers. She complains that in the name of illegal immigrants, the American government is targeting legal expatriates too. She felt that she was manipulated and discarded by the American government. Mira complained that though she invested her knowledge in the development of the American preschool and obeyed all the rules, America imposed its new rules even upon legal immigrants. Bharati compares Mira’s interest to stay in America and at the same time her rejection of American citizenship with loveless marriage which is comfortable and long-lasting. Mira is determined to maintain her Indian identity despite her long stay in America and she is very particular about not transforming it.

In the wake of Al Gore’s American Citizenship movement, Bharati asks Mira again about her decision to accept American citizenship but the answer of Mira comes as a shock to her. Mira says that she can only become an American citizen for now to avoid the anti-immigrant rules but later change to become an Indian because she does not plan to remain an American citizen forever. Bharati describes her situation and that of her cousin's sister as one with great divergence. While she chooses the American way, marrying an American, abandoning her Indian culture, and living a new life altogether in the United States of America, Mira retains her culture and her Indian identity and chooses not to live the American life. Bharati says Mira, “is sticking to one job, one city, ancestral culture, and one cuisine all through her entire life.”

Bharati wonders about the difference between her and her sister. Both got exposed to the same kind of environment and situations and react in different manners to their immigrant experiences. One is ready to accept the new culture, to move from the ‘expatriate aristocrat’ to ‘immigrant nobody’ willingly, whereas the other one sticks with the old. Mira like the larger number of immigrant communities across the globe attached to her home country. However, there are some considerable differences exist between Mira and those hardworking, silenced documented immigrants due to her English fluency, anger, and confidence.

Bharati then remembers her experiences in Canada. Bharati too had undergone betrayal by the Canadian government some 20 years ago. She along with her husband lived in Canada and was placed in a good job. Despite her superior position in merit and job, she was discriminated against by the local Canadian society. The feeling of betrayal drove many immigrants out of the country. Despite their disappointment with the settled society, Bharati feels to be like a part of the community wherever she lives (either in Canada or in America).

Bharati concludes the article by suggesting that the difference between her and Mira is because of the fact that Bharati was willing to face the trauma of self-transformation to become a part of the chosen country. This trauma is experienced by the immigrants whereas the expatriates escape from this.

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 Good Natur’d Man by Oliver Goldsmith | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘The Good Natur’d Man’ was a laughing comedy-drama by Oliver Goldsmith that was first staged in 1768. It premiered during the same time when Hugh Kelly’s sentimental comedy ‘False Delicacy’ was released and both plays rivaled each other. Though both plays proved to be successful, False Delicacy became a bigger success. Popular actor and critic David Garrick rejected and criticized The Good Natur’d Man because he was a producer and collaborator of Hugh Kelly’s False Delicacy and believed that The Good Natur’d Man was an antidote to Kelly’s False Delicacy. Samuel Johnson, on the other hand, criticized Kelly’s False Delicacy and described it as totally void of character.

Jeremy Collier and Thomas Rymer attacked the comedy of manners of the Restoration period as immoral. As a response, sentimental comedy was promoted as a dramatic subgenre by dramatists like Richard Steele, Hugh Kelly, and others. Oliver Goldsmith wrote an essay criticizing the Sentimental comedy and said that in these plays, the distresses rather than the faults of mankind made our interest and thus, they fail to offer any moral message. He further lamented that in sentimental plays almost all the characters are good and exceedingly generous; they are lavish enough of their tin money on the stage; and though they want humor, have an abundance of sentiment and feeling. The Good Natur’d Man was a response through which Oliver Goldsmith showed the follies of a sentimental hero.

Characters of The Good Natur'd Man:

Young Honeywood is the protagonist of the play as he is a sympathetic, sentimental, good-natured man who tries to be good for everyone. He is so good and innocent that other people, including his friends, often take advantage of him. Young Honeywood has lost his parents and he is the only heir of Sir William Honeywood, the guardian uncle of Young Honeywood. Sir William tries to change Young Honeywood’s habit of helping others without checking their merit. Sir William Honeywood devices a plan to trap Young Honeywood in lousy debt so that he may learn that none of his friends is willing to help him in his time of need. Young Honeywood discovers the limits of goodness when his inclination to sympathize with everyone takes him to the verge of losing himself. Miss Richland is a beautiful young girl belonging to a rich family and holding an independent fortune. She is a friend of Honeywood and both love each other but shy away from admitting their love. Miss Richland has lost her parents and Mr. and Mrs. Croaker are her guardians. Mr. Croaker is a friend of Sir William Honeywood who is exactly opposite to him. Mr. Croaker is a cynic, selfish person who is inclined to observe the defects of others. Leontine is the son of Mr. Croaker who loves Olivia, an orphan girl from France. Loafty is another friend of Young Honeywood who pretends to be sympathetic and benevolent to others while he is a cunning and greedy person.

Summary of The Good Natur’d Man:

Sir William Honeywood is worried about his nephew Young Honeywood. William Honeywood admits that Young Honeywood is a good-natured man with no bad habits. He treats everyone well and is benevolent to everyone. However, his easy generosity and sentimental sympathetic nature have led him into extravagance and foolishness. Sir William Honeywood talks about it with Young Honeywood but fails to convince him that he needs to check his attitude toward other people. Thus, William Honeywood devices a plan to burden Young Honeywood with such fictitious distress that he would face a jail term for bad debt. Sir William hopes that in such distress, Young Honeywood would be able to learn a valuable lesson by seeing which of his friends come to his assistance and which of them have only been taking advantage of his generosity.

Loafty is a close friend of Young Honeywood. Mr. Croaker and his wife Mrs. Croaker are a bit cynic and selfish people who have suffered some bad times when they lost their only daughter. Leontine is their son who learns that his long-missing sister is alive and is living in France. Mr. Croaker takes some money from Young Honeywood and sends Leontine to Paris to bring his sister back. However, Leontine fails to find his sister. Instead, he falls in love with Olivia, an orphan girl whom he met in France. He brings Olivia back to England in place of his sister and intends to marry her. Meanwhile, Young Honeywood comes in contact with Miss Richland and falls in love with her. While Miss Richland too likes Honeywood, they both are shy enough to express their love for each other. Miss Richland observes how helpful and generous Young Honeywood is for others. However, Young Honeywood finds himself in too much debt and when he asks his friends Mr. Croaker and Loafty to give the money back that he lent them in the past, they show their inability to pay him at that moment. Young Honeywood tries to take the help of Sir William but fails to find him. As a result, Young Honeywood gets arrested for lousy debt that he failed to pay back. He seeks help from his friends but none of them arrive to help him. In addition, Loafty pretends benevolence and says that Honeywood should not worry much as he will make sure of his early release from jail by influencing the court in favor of his friend.

When Miss Richland comes to know about Young Honeywood’s arrest, she decides to help him out by paying his debt back. Sir Williams comes to know about it and thinks that Miss Richland can be a great life partner for his nephew. Young Honeywood too loves Miss Richland deeply but his generosity, benevolence, sentimental behavior, and too much modesty create problems for him in developing a romantic relationship with Miss Richland whom he respects too much and doesn’t wish to offend her by proclaiming his love for her. He is content to be only a friend of Miss Richland and vows to himself, “Never let me harbor a thought of making her unhappy by a connection with one so unworthy her merits as I am.”

Furthermore, Young Honeyood is afraid that he may never succeed in pleasing Miss Richland’s guardians Mr. and Mrs. Croaker, whom he knows is pretty cynical, greedy, and selfish. While not being able to express his love was enough to distress him, his troubles increase as Mr. Croaker decides to arrange the marriage of his son Leonite with Miss Richland to gain power over her inheritance. However, Leonite doesn’t love Miss Richland and he wishes to marry Olivia whom he brought from France in place of her long-lost sister. Mr. and Mrs. Croaker still believe that Olivia is their daughter and Leonite’s sister. Young Honeywood tries his best to ignore all these happenings while consoling his bleeding heart and convincing himself that he cannot attain her despite his love for Miss Richland. However, he fails to keep his distance from Miss Richland when his fake friend Loafty asks him to court Miss Richland for him and convince her to marry Loafty. Young Honeywood faces a sentimental dilemma and wonders what should he do. “What shall I do! Love, friendship, a hopeless passion, a deserving friend! . . . to see her in the possession of another! . . . Insupportable! But then to betray a generous, trusting friend!—Worse, worse.”

Sir William Honeywood observes the inability of Young Honeywood in dealing with these circumstances and fears that his naivety may lead to long-lasting heartache for him and Miss Richland and thus he decides to intervene. First, he lends enough money to Leonite and Olivia so that they may elope and marry each other. However, Young Honeywood manages to ruin this plan of William Honeywood by telling Mr. Croaker about the inn where Leonite and Olivia are supposed to stay. Mr. Croaker catches Leonite with his own ‘daughter’ and is aghast by their act. He praises Honeywood for his help and starts liking him while Leonite curses him and blames him for betrayal. Sir William Honeywood arrives at the inn and informs Mr. Croaker that Olivia is not his daughter but an orphan from France. He convinces Mr. Croaker that Olivia is the daughter of one of his old acquaintances. He says she is an orphan belonging to a good family with a huge fortune. Mr. Croaker agrees to the marriage of Leonite and Olivia.

Meanwhile, Young Honeywood decides to express Loafty’s love to Miss Richland and when he goes to meet her, she expresses her love for Young Honeywood. However, Honeywood mistakes it as an approval of Loafty’s love for her. He pretends to be happy at helping his friend but within, he is very sad and exclaims that “nothing remains henceforward for me but solitude and repentance.” Sir William Honeywood again comes to rescue Young Honeywood by showing the duplicity of Loafty and proving that he is no friend and wellwisher of Honeywood. Honeywood gets rid of the dilemma of choosing between a friend and his love. Miss Richland too clarifies that she never expressed her love for Loafty and she always wishes to marry Young Honeywood. Going through all these ordeals, Young Honeywood gets his life lesson and closes the play by declaring, “It shall be my study to reserve pity for real distress, my friendship for true merit, and my love for her, who first taught me what it is to be happy.”

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 Consolidator by Daniel Defoe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Consolidator, or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon is a fictional adventure and a socio-political and science satire that was written by Daniel Defoe and was published in 1705. Defoe used the fantasy plot of intelligent life outside the Earth (the moon in this case) to satirize and criticize the social and political ills of British society during the Augustan age. He used life on the Moon as a device for pointing out earthly flaws. The book is often mentioned as a science fiction that describes a man landing on the moon with the help of a rocket called The Consolidator at a time when the first aircraft wasn’t even invented. The narrator believes in the possibility of landing on the moon someday. The Consolidator is one of the earliest scientific fiction that talked about spaceships.

Defoe contributed to the debate of Ancients versus Moderns through this work and compared the ancient Chinese Eastern knowledge as a way superior to all the modern scientific development.

In this novel, Defoe satirized Baconian experimental science and suggested that using science and technology to transform natural resources into useful goods for commerce results in harmonious social systems and the overall development of society. The novel also emphasizes that technological advancements not only will strengthen individual nations but it will also develop a world-encircling international network of trade. Defoe himself was a successful businessman and he had a deep knowledge of commerce. In The Consolidator, the narrator satirizes Chinese society and the political class of China

The title ‘The Consolidator’ is the name of a feather-covered rocket ship in which the main character travels to the moon. Each of the winged steeds of the rocket represents a house of the English parliament. The title itself was inspired by a political crisis in 1704 during which the Tories almost lost the power over Parliament as the opposition feverishly argued over the issue of civil liberties for the Protestant dissenters.

Characters of The Consolidator :

Boyl is a recurring character that appears many times in the story and is addressed differently in different places. Initially, he is simply addressed as Mr. Boy, not even a full second name. As the story develops, Boy is addressed as Honorable Boyl. In the later parts, he is addressed as Boy or Boyl. Boy or Boyl is an allusion to Robert Boyle, the Anglo-Irish chemist, physicist, and natural philosopher who gave Boyle’s law of the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas at a constant temperature. Bishop Wilkin is another real-life character whom Defoe satirized in The Consolidator. John Wilkins was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who was one of the founders of The Royal Society. He supported scientific development as an augmentation and proof of Anglican beliefs. The narrator is an unreliable and inconsistent character that Defoe used to satirize the socio-political situations of the early eighteenth century in England. On some occasions, the narrator operates as a mouthpiece for advocating Defoe’s political and social ideas. Lunarians are the living beings on the moon who observe humankind on Earth with keen interest. Lunarians are much more developed and scientifically superior living beings than human beings on Earth.

Summary of The Consolidator:

The narrator returns from his visit to China where he learns about a strange chariot, a rocket that can travel in the air. The rocket is driven by two mysterious creatures who can fly at great heights. The narrator discusses the superior political and social setup of China and ridicules the current political struggles going on in Britain. The narrator says that the two feathered creatures that can take the rocket up to the moon succeed in their endeavor only because they work harmoniously and supplement each other. The narrator says that the name of the rocket chariot is The Consolidator and then compares the two-winged steeds of the Consolidator with the two houses of the British Parliament. The wings of these creatures take a more representative role, acting as the different sides of a parliamentary seating with each feather assigned as a Member of the parliament. Both sides must work together to pass bills into law. By working together, the vehicle can be transported to the Moon safely. Defoe uses his imagination to create a utopia that can dissect the workings of the British parliamentary system.

The narrator then mentions that he was lucky enough to get a chance to land on the moon with the help of the Consolidator and he mentions that the Moon is inhabited by native Lunarians who are a much more technologically developed species than human beings, the earthlings. The Lunarians are just like Earth people, but their civilization is more advanced. They have traveled between the Moon and the Earth over a long period and have shared their technological marvels with the Chinese and that is why the Chinese use the Lunar calendar. The narrator says that when he was on the moon, he happened to meet a Lunarian philosopher, who showed him many fascinating things. These included special magnifying glasses that enable the Lunarian people to view the Earth and to perceive the iniquities and absurdities of human life and governments.

Defoe used the literary device of imagining life on the Moon observing the societies on the earth and then criticizing the flaws of human society. Defoe's characterizations of the Lunarian civilization mock national and European politics, the follies of the times, and prominent figures, including Robert Boyle and John Wilkin. In addition, the narrator himself landed on the moon and observed human society and especially the English society with the help of the much-advanced magnifying glasses of Lunarians. Defoe criticizes the struggles of the British parliamentary houses while raising the issue of the recent 1704 political crisis which almost ousted the ruling majority of the English parliamentary system. Members of parliament had already been pushed to their limit by the call of pardon for former protestants who requested amnesty and civil freedom. The narrator dissects, analyzes, and criticizes the flaws of the British political system and offers his support to Baconian scientific development while ridiculing the ideas of John Wilkin, one of the founders of the Royal Society. The narrator further praises the Ancient Eastern civilization of China and suggests that Chinese advancements exceeded all of the modern efforts and this the narrator suggests, is because of the help of Lunarians. He mentions gun powder and silk manufacturing technology that are new to the West came from the Lunarians through China.

The narrator also talks about a debate between the Lunarian scientists when they try to make a consolidatory map of Earth showing the different kinds of governments in different nations of Earth. They try to make a single map showing all the different types of government but fail to do so because of the frequently changing governments in different nations of the earth. Finally, they conclude that no single map suffices to show the complexity of constantly shifting government policies. Instead, the decision is taken to make a series of maps, each showing a different topic. The Lunarian scientists then use the power of their special magnifying glasses to demonstrate scientifically that the human behavior thus mapped is, in fact, rational and justifiable. The Lunarians again engage in a debate about whether all of the information about the Earth can be shown on one map. The merits of different projections are discussed. The decision is reached that the information is too complex to be shown on a single map. The result is separate maps for Publick Faith, the State of War and State Policy, and so on.

Defoe’s parents were Presbyterian dissenters and he got his school education at the Academy of Dissenters at Newington Green where he learned the uses of telescopes and other scientific devices. Defoe was aware of the works of Robert Hook and his experiments with the microscope. Defoe made use of this information to vitalize The Consolidator.

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!

To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘To Helen’ is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1831. Poe continued to edit and revise the poem and it was published in its final structure in Poe’s 1845 poetry collection titled The Raven and Other Poems.

In the poem, Poe refers to the beauty of Helen of Troy while talking about Jane Stanard, the mother of one of his childhood friends. Poe mentioned that he was infatuated by Jane and she was one of the first dependable older, female presences in his young life.

The central theme of the poem is the beauty of a woman (Jane Stanard in Poe’s case). Poe compares the woman with Helen of Troy and compares the beauty of Helen with various other mythological figures.

In 1952, Hilda Doolittle, better known as H.D. published her poem To Helen in which she offered a response to Poe’s poem ‘To Helen’ while raising the issue of objectification of women and misogyny.

Structure of To Helen:

To Helen is a short poem consisting of 15 lines set in three stanzas of five lines each. Each stanza follows a different rhyming scheme. The first stanza is set in rhyme scheme ABABB, the second stanza follows CDCDC, and the third follows EFFEF. In addition, Poe used assonance and consonance to offer slant rhymes within the stanzas. Poe wrote the poem in iambic pentameter. Each line is made up of five sets of two beats. The first of these is unstressed and the second is stressed. Poe used metaphor, enjambment, alliteration, personification, and simile, and there are many allusions in the poem. Poe continues to use simile throughout the poem and thus, it can be said as an example of epic or Homeric simile.

Summary of To Helen :

Stanza 1

“Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicéan barks of yore,
That gently, o’er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.”

The poet begins with a metaphor as he addresses Helen and mentions how he feels about her beauty. The poet basically refers to some lady he knows well while addressing her as Helen, suggesting that the lady he wishes to talk to is as beautiful as Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the classical Greek world. It is believed that Poe dedicated this poem to Jane Stanard, the mother of one of his close friends.

He compares the lady’s beauty with the ships of Nicea in the old times. Nicea was an important ancient port of the Greek empire. The poet says that her beauty offers the same relief that a tired wanderer would feel when a strong and gentle ship takes him away from the struggles to the security of his native place.

Poe begins with a simile “Helen, thy beauty is to me/like those Nicéan barks of yore.” Poe uses a

syncope in the third line (O’er or over), and alliteration in the fourth (way-worn wanderer). Poe used an allusion to Odysseus as the tired wanderer who returned to his home from Nicea. Another allusion is Catullus, a Greek poet who once traveled from Nicea where flowers and fruit trees were in bloom. The seas would seem "perfumed" as a result of the odors coming from those trees.

Stanza 2

“On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,

And the grandeur that was Rome.”

The poet continues to praise the beauty of that lady and his tone becomes more romantic. He romanticizes the glory and grandeur of the Greek and Roman eras and compares them to the beauty of the lady who he refers to as Helen of Troy.

‘Wont’ is an obsolete word now which meant ‘used to’ or ‘accustomed to’ in the past. The poet says that the seas are desperate, rough, and dangerous, and the wanderer has little hope to reach the native shore safely. Her beauty guides the poet, who is the wanderer now and brings him home through the rough roaming seas. The poet means that he was lost before he met the lady whom he refers to as Helen. The poet compares the hair of the lady with bunchy hyacinth flowers of probably reddish-orange color. Poe again uses alliteration (hyacinth hair). Poe compares the lady with Naiad, a mythical figure that lives near the seas, a nymph representing beauty and magic.

Stanza 3

“Lo! In yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy-Land!”

The poet begins with an exclamation as he sees the lady standing near a spacious circular bright window (window-niche). He exclaims that the lady is looking astonishing as he sees her standing near the window niche like an artful statue, as she is not moving. She appears to the poet like a work of art. He appreciates her physical attributes that appear proportionate, perfectly crafted, and just totally hot. Poe uses simile again (statue-like). The lady is standing still with an ‘agate lamp in her hand. An agate lamp is a kind of stone through which light is reflected. The poet suggests that the lady embodies light and warmth, providing him with a destination to aim for. The poet then compares the lady with Psyche. Psyche is a mortal mythical figure in Greek mythology. Psyche was the most beautiful mortal woman in the world. She was so beautiful that people began ignoring Venus, the goddess of beauty. Thus, Venus got jealous of her beauty and told her son Cupid to shoot an arrow at Psyche and make her fall in love with a bull. Cupid followed his mother’s order but when he saw to shoot at her, he found her so astonishingly beautiful that he got distracted and accidentally got poked by one of his own arrows and fell in love with her. The poet compares himself with Cupid. Later on, Psyche herself got rid of the mortal world and became a goddess. The poet says that the lady, Helen, Psyche, Jane Stanard has arrived from the Holy-land, the place of the goddesses.

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 Haunted Palace by Edgar Allan Poe | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The very first published work of Edgar Allan Poe was Tamerlane and Other Poems which was first published in 1827. In 1839, Edgar Allan Poe published The Haunted Palace, a poem in the April 1839 issue of Nathan Brooks' American Museum magazine. In September 1839, Poe added the poem in his short story The Fall of the House of Usher in which Roderick Usher sings the poem as a song for the narrator. The story of The Fall of the House of Usher is about madness, illness, and the collapse of buildings and people and so is the central idea of The Haunted Palace in which the poet compares a human head with a glorious palace that withstands hard times but gradually dilapidated and suffer depression and eventually deteriorates.

Structure of The Haunted Palace:

The poem consists of 48 lines designed in six stanzas of 8 lines each. Though the rhyming scheme is not persistent, the poem loosely follows the rhyme scheme of ababcdcd. The poem is an allegory about a king "in the olden time long ago" who is afraid of evil forces that threaten him and his palace, foreshadowing impending doom. Poe used enjambment, hyperbole, personification, caesura, and alliteration in the poem. In the opening part, Poe describes the palace as a beautiful, glorious building and uses assonance to beautify it (: ”Yellow”, “glorious”, “golden”, “float”, and “flow”; repetition of vowel sound ‘O’). The poem is an early example of imagery and the title itself lets the reader know what the central focus of the poem is, the main image it deals with. The later part of the poem appears to be a contrasting image of the upper part. Poe uses allegory to describe a person's psychology, their inner mental state suffering depression.

Themes of The Haunted House:

The poem begins with the theme of Happiness and the poet uses words and imagery to offer a sense of immense happiness and prosperity. In the first four stanzas, the poet describes a palace situated in a “green” valley where “sweet” and “gentle” air continues to flow. The different parts of the Palace are described by positive adjectives like “radiant”, “glorious”, and “sparkling.” In the first four stanzas, the narrator is describing his bittersweet memories, of the Palace it used to be. The narrator suggests that the past was a golden age, much better than the darkness and grim misery that followed. The Palace was full of good vibes and positive spirits. The theme of supernatural forces is continuous throughout the poem.

Poe raises the theme of Sadness in the fifth stanza and describes the Palace turning “desolate”, “ghastly”, and “hideous.” One can easily imagine the state of Roderick Usher’s house while reading the fifth stanza. Now the palace is haunted by evil spirits. However, the poet isn’t actually talking about a palace, rather he is offering an allegory for a man's descent into depression and madness. The ‘palace-head’ goes from being cheerful, orderly, and in-tune to being grim, disordered, and pretty much just totally out-of-whack. That’s what Roderick Usher went through.

Summary of The Haunted Palace:

Stanza 1

In the greenest of our valleys | By good angels tenanted,

Once a fair and stately palace— | Radiant palace—reared its head.

In the monarch Thought’s dominion, | It stood there!

Never seraph spread a pinion | Over fabric half so fair!

The poet begins while describing a beautiful, grand palace that is governed by ‘Thought.’ The palace is situated in a beautiful green valley. The poet suggests that it is the greenest valley accommodating the good angels. Poe uses enjambment to describe how beautiful and radiant the palace was that stood in the past. Poe then uses Personification and says that the Palace reared (raised) its head up. Poe then personifies ‘Thought’as a monarch. The palace is in Thought’s dominion. The poet then describes the majesty of the Palace. Serap is an angel of Christian mythology, belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardor, and purity. The poet uses exaggeration and hyperbole and says that this angel of the highest order never spread its wing (Pinion) on a fabric (an old-fashioned word for a building), so fair.

Stanza 2

Banners yellow, glorious, golden, |On its roof did float and flow

(This—all this—was in the olden | Time long ago)

And every gentle air that dallied, | In that sweet day,

Along the ramparts plumed and pallid, | A wingèd odor went away.

The poet continues to describe the majestic palace that it used to be in the past and mentions that a long time ago, there were always beautiful bright banners in glorious yellow-golden colors that used to float and flow in the serene air. Poe uses Assonance here with the repeating sound of the vowel ‘O’. The poet then reminds the reader that all this beauty was a long time ago. Poe used caesura (using ‘dashes’ within a line to break it and offer stress).

The poet describes a beautiful day a long time ago when the air was sweet and gentle that flew along the ramparts (surrounding walls) of the Palace. These ramparts of the palace were pale and decorated in a way as if they had (plumed) feathers. Poe indicates the yellow, golden banners he mentioned earlier.

Stanza 3

Wanderers in that happy valley, | Through two luminous windows, saw

Spirits moving musically | To a lute’s well-tunèd law,

Round about a throne where, sitting, | Porphyrogene!

In state, his glory well befitting, | The ruler of the realm was seen.

The poet continues to describe the beauty and majestic aura of the palace and says that wanderers would often visit the valley to witness the magic of its beauty. They would see through the two glittering windows from outside and observe the dancing spirits that follow the well-tuned law of the lute, or the music of that guitar-like musical instrument. There are only two windows into the palace through which one can see inside.

The poet then mentions the throne on which the monarch is sitting. He mentions the monarch as ‘Porphyrogene.’ It is a word that was made by Edgar Allan Poe and it means ‘born in purple.’ In the past, during the Roman era, purple was a color associated with royalty in ancient Constantinople. Thus, being born in purple means belonging to the aristocracy. The wanderers could see through those two windows, the monarch of the realm in all his glory and befitting opulent and magnificent surroundings. We already learned that the monarch is Thought.

Stanza 4

And all with pearl and ruby glowing | Was the fair palace door,

Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing | And sparkling evermore,

A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty | Was but to sing,

In voices of surpassing beauty, | The wit and wisdom of their king.

The poet then describes the entry door of the palace which is decorated with bright pearls and rubies.

The pearl and rubies signify red lips and white teeth. Yellow, golden banners of the palace are the orangish hair of a man. The only two glittering luminous windows are his eyes. The realm is the whole head of a happy, healthy man whose ruler is Thought. Poe offers the metaphorical image of a happy, healthy, thoughtful, and sane human being in these four stanzas.

Through the door of pearl and ruby of that palace, a troop of Echoes comes out and sings in the chorus. In Greek mythology, Echo is a nymph who could only repeat the words of others. The poet says that whatever that human head said, or whatever words came out of the mouth of that human head were harmonious, sweet, and nice to listen to, like a song. The words coming out of the door of that palace praised the wit and wisdom of the ruler, Thought.

Stanza 5

But evil things, in robes of sorrow, | Assailed the monarch’s high estate;

(Ah, let us mourn!—for never morrow | Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)

And round about his home the glory | That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story | Of the old time entombed.

Time changes in the fifth stanza and so does the mood and theme of the poem. The palace, the human head is no more a happy jolly place. It has been attacked and defeated by evil things, evil spirits. The monarch was defeated and his majestic high estate was attacked by evil spirits that wore robes of sorrow. The poet then mentions the present. All happiness is gone now and what remains is agony and sorrow. The poet then calls out the reader to mourn for the defeated abandoned (desolate) monarch who will never see another happy day again. The poet mentions that all opulence, wit, and beauty of the Palace or human head is a thing of the past now.

Stanza 6

And travellers, now, within that valley, | Through the red-litten windows see

Vast forms that move fantastically | To a discordant melody;

While, like a ghastly rapid river, | Through the pale door

A hideous throng rush out forever, | And laugh—but smile no more

The travelers still continue to visit the valley but unlike the old times, when the wanderers enjoyed the sight of glittering luminous eyes, the travelers now see dimly red litten eyes. Red eyes symbolize sickness, mental distress, madness, lack of sleep, and evil. Now the travelers cannot see the beautiful spirits dancing on the law of a lute. Rather, they see vast forms that move like fanatics, following a discordant, incoherent, inharmonious (or lacking any harmony) tune. It all seems unreal, or out of fantasy. The head is sane no more. The door of the palace is not glittering with ruby and pearl now. It is rather a pale door through which a ghastly rapid river of words often flows out that offers nothing but disaster. The head now laughs like a mad person but smiles no more. It is an image of insanity, endless laughter with no joy in it. The head palace is not able to understand joy or happiness anymore.

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!

In Cold Bood by Truman Capote | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “In Cold Blood’ is a novel by Truman Capote that was first published serially in The New Yorker in 1965 before appearing in book form in 1966. The novel details the events of a real-life quadruple murder case that took place in Finney County, in western Kansas, between 1959 and 1965. Truman Capote preferred calling the novel a true-crime book or a non-fiction novel. It was branded as a prime example of New Journalism, a genre that gained momentum during the 1960s and 1970s. Along with Truman Capote, other writers who were recognized as New Journalists included Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, and Joan Didion.

On the night of November 14th, 1959, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith entered a home in Holcomb, Kansas, and slaughtered four members of the Clutter family, a wealthy and respected household in Finney County. Capote learned about the crime through a newspaper and decided to travel to Holcomb and investigate the case as a writing project. His childhood friend Harper Lee accompanied him and together they interviewed residents and investigators assigned to the case. Hickock and Smith were arrested six weeks after the murder in Las Vegas and transferred to Finney County, where they were tried and convicted of the killings. They spent five years on Death Row, during which time they corresponded regularly with Capote and provided him with numerous interviews, as well as written accounts of their personal histories and experiences.

Truman Capote used triple narrative for the novel describing the lives of the murderers, the victims, and other members of the rural community in alternating sequences. He researched and gave specific attention to the psychology of the killers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote noticed that Perry Smith, who allegedly pulled the trigger on all four victims was more sensitive of the two. He learned that Smith was highly intelligent and creative, yet scarred from a turbulent upbringing by neglectful parents. Capote himself suffered a turbulent childhood and thus he developed a liking for Perry Smith. Harper Lee mentioned the relationship between Capote and Perry Smith and noticed, “Each looked at the other and saw – or thought he saw – the man he might have been."

Characters of In Cold Blood:

Herbert William Clutter is a 48 years old, successful, rich, and well-respected farmer of Holcomb Kansas who lives at his ranch with his wife and two children. Herbert is a hardworking, ethically strong, religious Methodist man who not only provides well for his family but also employs many local people and helps them through. He is a generous employer but a strict father who teaches his children the importance of hard work. He is a well-educated man who got a degree in agriculture from Kansas State University. Bonnie Clutter is Herbert’s wife. She is a slight, nervous, apologetic woman who suffers from chronic postpartum depression, which leaves her bedridden for many days. Nancy Clutter is 16 years old beautiful, intelligent, and smart daughter of Herbert and Bonnie. She is a good student and generous human being who is involved with community service activities. She is a good musician and teaches music, sewing, and baking to other younger girls in the town. She is dating Bobby Rupp, the star player of the High School Basketball Team. Kenyon Clutter is 15 year old younger brother of Nancy. Unlike Nancy, Kenyon isn’t too much social. He doesn’t like dating girls and prefers to spend his time in the Clutters’ basement workshop, where he does carpentry and mechanical projects. He too is a good student and he has a good friendship with Bob Jones, his classmate. Perry Smith is the man who murders all four members of the Clutter family. Initially, he resisted and opposed the plan of robbing Clutter’s home. Things got out of his hand and in his frustration and rage, he shot at the members of the Clutter family. He suffered a troubled childhood that has a great imprint on his psyche. He is a sensitive, intelligent, creative, and thoughtful person with more feminine traits. Dick Hickock planned to rob the Cluttle house. However, he didn’t think of murdering anyone. Though he didn’t try to stop Perry, rather remained a bystander when Perry executed all four members of the Clutter family. Dick is a bombastic, smooth-talking, self-confident petty criminal. Perry finds him more masculine than himself and feels that he needs Dick as a support. Alwin Dewey is the lead investigator of the Clutter case. He is an old friend of Herbert and Bonnie. He is too hurt after their murder and obsessively hunts for the perpetrators of the crime. Susan Kidwell is the closest friend of Nancy Clutter who spend her childhood with her. Nancy Ewalt is another friend of Nancy's who, along with Susan discovers the dead body of Nancy.

Summary of In Cold Blood:

Herbert and Bonnie Clutter are leading a peaceful, prosperous, and principled life at Herbert’s ranch in Holcomb, a small rural town in western Kansas. They have two teenage kids. For many years, Bonnie is suffering from postpartum nervousness and often remains bedridden. Despite their troubles in married life, they are a loving couple. Nancy is their 16-year-old daughter and Kenyon is their 15-year-old son. Both kids are intelligent, smart, and good at studies. Nancy and Kenyon learned the worth of hard work from their father and they too are principled and generous like Herbert. Bonnie often feels that her illness renders her from being a better, strong mother. All four members of the Clutter family are well respected and admired by the local people of Holcomb. On November 14^th, 1959, two men who recently got out of prison on parole, plan to rob the Clutter family. One of them is Richard Hickock, also known as Dick and the other one is Perry Smith. Initially, Perry wasn’t interested in the robbery but then Dick suggested that with the help of robbed money, they can go to Mexico for the treasure hunt. Perry is very interested in the treasure hunt and thus, he decides to be with Dick. Dick manages to get a 12-gauge shotgun, rubber gloves, rope, and black stockings to be used for the purpose of the robbery at Clutter farm. They use a car to travel toward Garden City and arrive at Holcomb at midnight. Soon, they head towards the Clutter house.

On the morning of November 15, Nancy’s friend Susan visits her house with one of their other friend Nancy Ewalt to go to school with Nancy Clutter. They see the dead body of Nancy at the stairs. The police arrive at the scene and find that not only Nancy but the whole of the Clutter family has been brutally murdered. The news spread like wildfire in the town. Every member of the Clutter family was well-respected and loved by the local people. The police fails to find any evidence except two boot marks and the black stockings and tapes that might have been used to bind gag and blindfold the victims. The authorities resolve to find out the murderers as soon as possible and authorize an investigative team to solve the crime. Alwin Dewey, who is a friend of Herbert and Bonnie is appointed as the head of the investigative team. Other members of the investigative team include Roy Church, Clarence Duntz, and Herbert Nye.

Meanwhile, Perry and Dick reach Kansas City where they read the news about the quadruple murder in Holcomb in a newspaper. Perry wonders if they can be caught, Dick assures him that he was very cautious and they left no clue to be caught. Yet, they decide to move to Mexico as soon as possible to ensure their safety. Since they have no money, they decide to issue forged bad checks in Kansas City to get some quick cash.

The narrative changes as the author describes the psychology of the murderers. Perry is an intelligent, creative person with a troubled childhood. He often tries to forget the harsh memories of his childhood and his current ignominious lifestyle by dreaming of grand adventures and being whisked away from his troubles by beautiful yellow parrots. This is the reason why he is very keen to go to Mexico and engage in the treasure hunt. He is very sensitive, self-conscious, and philosophical. He feels feminine within himself. He is not very confident about himself and admires Dick for his masculinity and self-confidence. Dick has a contrasting personality as he is cocky, self-assured, and pragmatic; financial irresponsibility has led him away from a solid upbringing to a life of petty crime. His ambitions are also a way of compensating for his lack of means, but his bluster and bravado stand in sharp contrast to Perry’s demure presence.

At Holcomb, the police learn that Bobby Rupp was the last person who saw the Clutter family alive. They interview him but fail to find out any clue about the murders. Alwin Dewey decides to visit Kansas State Penitentiary where Floyd Wells is serving his jail term. Floyd was once employed by Herbert Clutter. He informs that his previous cellmate Dick Hickock once planned to rob Clutter Ranch when he informed that Herbert Clutter used to keep a locked safe full of cash in his home. When Dewey investigates further, he comes to know that Dick was traveling toward Holcomb along with Perry on the night when the Clutter family was murdered. The investigative team begins a statewide search for Dick and Perry who have already crossed borders to reach Mexico.

Dick continues his extravagant ways while Perry invests a good sum in a treasure hunt but gets nothing. Soon they lose all their money and are forced to come back to the U.S. Dick and Perry are unaware that the special investigative team is looking for them yet, they maintain a low profile and continue to roam the countryside. One day, just before the New Year, six weeks after the murders, they are caught stealing a car in Las Vegas.

The investigative team reaches Las Vegas to interrogate Dick and Perry. Alwin Dewey decides to interrogate them separately. Initially, the investigative team does not reveal that they are being questioned for quadruple murders. Alwin first pressurizes Dick by gradually implicating that he is responsible for the murder of the Clutter family. He traps Dick in his lies and false alibis and forces him to confess his crimes on the night of 14 November. Dick succumbs to the pressure and confesses that he did plan to rob the Clutter ranch as he was informed by Floyd about the hard cash Herbert Clutter used to keep. But Dick claims that he didn’t kill anybody and that all four were murdered by Perry. On their way back to Holcomb, Alwin interrogates Perry and reveals to him that Dick has already confessed and has blamed Perry for all four murders. Perry tries to discard the accusation but finally accepts his defeat as he fails to provide any strong alibi for his presence anywhere on the night of 14 November. He then offers a detailed confession about what transpired that night. Perry says that Dick had planned to rob Clutter Ranch as he got information from Floyd that Herbert Clutter used to keep ten thousand dollars in cash in a locked iron safe at the ranch. Perry says that he was not interested in the robbery but he needed money to go to Mexico and engage in the treasure hunt. But when they reached the Clutter ranch, they found no safe nor any cash. They tried to threaten Herbert Clutter to reveal where the cash was. But they were surprised to know that there was really no cash or any valuables at the home of Clutter. Perry says that he wished to go back and leave the ranch right at the moment but Dick stopped him and said that they cannot just go away and they should not leave any evidence or witness for their crime. Perry tried to convince Dick that they cannot just kill people to avoid witnesses. He tries to show how difficult it is to kill anyone by making a bluff knife attack on Herbert but failed to control his rage and stabs Herbert on his neck. This created a shock to Perry and in his frenzy and fear he used a shotgun to kill the other members. The police match their foot size to the boot prints that they collected.

The two accused then face trial in Garden City and are kept at the Kansas State Penitentiary. During the trial, the accused are kept on a psychiatric test which reveals that both are psychologically ill and show definite signs of mental illness and emotional dysfunction.

Meanwhile, the police gather enough foolproof evidence to ascertain that they are the actual murderers of the Clutter case beyond any doubt. The court considers the psychiatric report of the two criminals but follows the M’Naghten rule, which disregards mental illness in determining whether criminals are responsible for their actions. The court and jury declare them guilty of four counts of brutal murders and they are sentenced to death by hanging. Dick and Perry continue to appeal for clemency to postpone the date of the hanging. During the period, they meet many other convicts of murder charges including Lowell Lee Andrews, Ronnie York, and James Latham. All their pleas get rejected and finally, after spending five years on death row, Dick and Perry are hanged on April 14th, 1965, before a crowd of twenty witnesses.

Alwin Dewey visits the cemetery where the Clutter family was buried and sees Susan Kidwell there, praying for her friend Nancy and her family. Alwin marvels at the persistence of life, even in the aftermath of such a hopeless tragedy.

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!