The Man in Black | The Citizen of the World by Oliver Goldsmith | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Best known for his comic play "She Stoops to Conquer" and the novel "The Vicar of Wakefield," Oliver Goldsmith was also one of the most prominent essayists of the 18th century. "The Character of the Man in Black" appears in Goldsmith's most popular essay collection, "The Citizen of the World." Although sometimes described as a novel, Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘The Citizen of the World’ (1760) is united by a very slight plot. A collection of letters written by Lien Chi Altangi, a fictional Chinese visitor to London, the letters were originally published individually in the daily journal ‘The Public Ledger’ as a series that ran between January 1760 and August 1761. There are 119 letters, some 700 pages, in all; in them, Goldsmith uses his fictitious author to deliver witty and frequently damning criticism of contemporary British culture. In the process, he incidentally also reveals a lot about contemporary British conceptions of Chinese culture and the state of British trade relations with China.

The major theme of The Citizen of the World is to emphasize ‘Internationalism’ while condemning ‘National Prejudices.’

The Character of The Man in Black, also known by the title The Man in Black is perhaps the most famous essay from the pen of Oliver Goldsmith. Along with his Beau Tibbs, it ranks among the greatest English essays. Goldsmith has drawn a memorable character through this essay. The Man in Black is a sort of roving ambassador of kindness and generosity. The essay is a character sketch of an English man which is a testimony to the writer’s maturity as a humourist and his peculiar style of writing. His character is a curious mixture of contradictory qualities. He is generous in the extreme but loves to be known as a great miser. His talk gives the impression of a cruel and ill-natured man, a misanthrope who hates mankind. But while he is talking ill-naturedly, his cheek is glowing with pity. He tries his utmost to hide his noble feelings as though he feels ashamed of them. But his pretence of being what in reality he is not, is often exposed to a very casual observer. The greater part of the essay deals with this strange paradox of this most lovable man’s character. Goldsmith gives three concrete instances of his conduct with the poor and needy persons, and in all these instances his innate good nature becomes more and more attractive.

The Man in Black is a friend of the imaginary ‘Chinaman’ Lein Chi Altangi, the fictional writer of Goldsmith’s letters or essays. This Chinese citizen is supposed to live in London. He is always roaming about in the city and tries to note the peculiarities of the English people. He naturally comes in contact with people of all sorts, especially people with some odd character. The Man in Black is one such person. The writer aptly calls him ‘a humorist in a nation of humorists.’

It is worthy to note that, like his ‘Chinaman’, Goldsmith too, is a foreigner living in London. He was an Irishman who later settled in London. But scholars often suggest that through this character Goldsmith has attempted to sketch a kind of self-portrait. The Man in Black, in some measure, represents the author himself.

Summary of The Man in Black:

Goldsmith under the guise of Altangi, a Chinese philosopher, gives an interesting description of an English man who is probably the man in black. It is an immortal creation of Goldsmith himself. He registers the need for humor and humanism in human life. The man in black has contrary qualities. He is a humanist in a nation of humorists. He always pretends to be a miser. Through, he is extremely generous; he looks like a misanthrope. He tries to hide his good qualities but at all times his good qualities are revealed.

One day, The Man in Black and Altangi go out on a tour of the country. They discuss beggars and poverty. The Man in Black lashes at the poor calling them lazy hypocrites. Every one of them is an impostor, and they ―rather merit a prison than relief. The Government has taken steps to relieve their suffering but they roam about everywhere pestering travellers. While the man in Black is talking in this manner an old man appeals for help. He speaks about his dying wife and five hungry children, Obviously, it is an invented story but the Man in Black is moved by it. Seeing it Altangi pretends to look another way. The Man in Black stealthily slips in a piece of silver into the beggar‘s hands while loudly warning the old man against troubling people like him. He scolds him for telling false stories.

The man in Black thinks that Altangi did not notice his charity and starts to attack the beggars with his words. He also adds beggars should be put in prison. Then, he tells two stories of ladies robbed by beggars. When he starts the third story, a sailor with a wooden leg asks for help, and the man in black asks him angrily how he had lost his leg. The sailor replies that he lost his leg in defense. On hearing this, the man in black is really touched. He wants to help him. Instantly, he asks the matchbox of the sailor. The sailor asks him for a Shilling for it. The man in black without hesitation gives it to him.

Then, he happens to see an old woman in rags. She has one child in her arms and another on her back. She was attempting to sing ballads, but with such a mournful voice that it was difficult to determine whether she was singing or crying. The man in black is moved by the poor state of the woman. At that incident, he puts his hands into his pocket to give money but finds it empty. He feels great pain for not solving the woman’s problem. The man in Black looks more miserable than the woman because he cannot relieve her. Then he remembers the matchbox worth a shilling. He puts it into her hand and walks away.

In conclusion, despite his austere exterior, the ‘Man in Black embodies a compassionate and noble spirit. He is truly a generous individual and a remarkable character, a testament to the depth of human goodness concealed beneath outward appearances. Thus, the Man in Black seems black outside but white and noble inside.

A Humorist in a Nation of Humorists:

The word humorist means an eccentric person or one with strange inconsistencies in manners. Goldsmith calls the Man in Black a humorist because of the eccentricities observed in him. The Man in Black is ashamed of his natural benevolence and wishes to appear harsh. The inconsistencies of his words of cruelty and harshness towards beggars in general and his graceful acts of generosity towards particular ones are humorous in the extreme. In fact, this humor is the very life and strength of the whole essay. The subtle humor of the character of the Man in Black makes him a loving and immortal character.

England is a nation of humorists because there are many types of eccentric people.

The essay is a societal critique in which Goldsmith portrays a society that is broken both economically and morally. He criticizes the widespread poverty and economic conditions that have led to it. Oliver also criticizes the moral shortcomings of the society such as its indifference to the plight of the poor. The Man in Black is ashamed of his feelings of compassion and tries to hide them because it is not an appreciable trait in society. Goldsmith also criticizes the help offered by the government for the poor people and suggests the incompetency and corruption in it. He favors indirect reforms and he introduces the Man in Black to highlight these issues and promote change.

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!

An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog by Oliver Goldsmith | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright born on 10^th November 1728 and died on 4^th April 1774. He is most known for his popular novel The Vicar of the Wakefield, published in 1766, and his comedy-drama She Stoops to Conquer 1771. In addition, he is also known for his philosophical poem ‘The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society’ published in 1764, his pastoral poem The Deserted Village published in 1770, and The Hermit, a 160-line romantic ballad published in 1765.

An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog is a satirical ironic poem written by Oliver Goldsmith that was a part of his popular novel The Vicar of the Wakefield. The poem is about a rabid dog that bites a man, and the effect that this act of violence has on the people of London.

An elegy is a generally serious poem written to honor an individual who has died. Even though it is titled as an ‘elegy’, the obvious tone of the poet is that of derision and mockery. He gets the readers to contemplate over superficial attributes of an individual and questions the generally acknowledged version of what defines ‘good’.

The poem describes the death of a mad dog who once bit a very good man who was admired by everyone. The man and the dog lived in a town called Islington, which was full of all different kinds of dogs, and the man at first befriended this dog when they encountered one another. However, for some unknown reason, the dog bit the man, and everyone was shocked that the dog would bite so good a man, they decided that the dog must be mad and believed that the man would die of his injury. However, it was the tragic death of the dog at the end that imparts the complete impact of what the poet has been advocating all this while! 

Structure of the Poem:

The poem contains 32 lines set in eight stanzas or eight quatrains (4 lines each). The rhyming scheme of the poem is simple ABAB. Goldsmith employed a simple songlike alternating metrical pattern of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Thus, the first and third lines of each quatrain contain eight syllables, and the second and fourth lines contain six syllables. The poem follows a ballad pattern and it may also be compared with a nursery rhyme style pattern. The poem follows the genre of Satire and Parody. The poem satirizes the genre of elegies.

Summary of An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-4

“Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.”

The poet urges people from all walks of life, people of all kinds to give their ears to his song. The poet acknowledges that the song may be short, but assures the listeners that it won’t take up much of their time. It implies that the song has a concise and captivating message that can be enjoyed by everyone. So, the poet invites people to listen and engage with the song, regardless of its brevity. In the third and fourth lines, the poet also lowers the audience’s expectations, reminding those who might find his poem too “short” or inconsequential that it at least will not detain or “hold” them “long.”

Stanza 2 Lines 5-8

“In Islington there was a man,
Of whom the world might say
That still a godly race he ran,
Whene’er he went to pray.”

In this stanza, the poet offers the setting of Islington and introduces, the man, the main character of the poem. The speaker says that there was a man in Islington who was known for his devout religious practices. Whenever he went to pray, he was regarded as someone who maintained a strong and righteous spiritual connection. The lines imply that this man was highly respected for his religious devotion. In line 7, the speaker describes that man as ‘godly’ which means that he is a good and pious man, a good Christian, who appears to be a fine example of Christianity and well-liked by the townspeople. However, the poet inserts a doubt in line 6, an ironic statement that hints the man is not as charitable or godly as he seems to the rest of the “world.”

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

“A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad,
When he put on his clothes.”

The speaker continues describing the man who is the central character. The man was considered to be a kind-hearted and religious man. He was thought to be a good Christian. He was ever ready to help the “naked” or poor and the needy. This stanza highlights the kindness and compassion of the man in Islington. He had a gentle heart and showed care and support not only to his friends but also to his enemies. The lines also humorously mention that he helped the needy by clothing the naked, but only when he put on his own clothes. This emphasizes his generosity and willingness to help others in any way he could. Again, the speaker hints at irony in line 12. The man cares for himself first and only then, does he think of helping others, also when he is going to get known for that help. Oliver Goldsmith iterates that these acts considered to be virtuous are motivated by self-regard, making you wonder if this is actually the sort of right thinking that should be upheld.

Stanza 4 Lines 13-16

“And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound,
And curs of low degree.”

In the fourth stanza, the speaker introduces the titular mad dog. The poet describes it as one of ‘many dogs’. In the town of Islington, there was a wide variety of dogs, including mixed breeds, puppies, young dogs, and even lowly mutts. The lines highlight the diverse and varied population of dogs in the town, ranging from different breeds and backgrounds. The irony is again introduced when Goldsmith portrays Islington as the home of many stray dogs of differing breeds and “degree.”

Stanza 5 Lines 17-20

“This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad, and bit the man.”

In this stanza, the speaker acknowledges the man and the stray dog have a history as “friends”, but after a “pique” or provocation between them occurs, the dog bites the man, for reasons unknown to onlookers. Initially, the dog and the man were friends. However, a disagreement or argument arose between them, causing the dog to become enraged and bite the man. The lines illustrate a shift in the relationship from friendship to hostility due to the dog’s sudden change in behavior.

Stanza 6 Lines 21-24

“Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wond’ring neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost its wits
To bite so good a man.”

In this stanza, the speaker mentions the witnesses’ response to the biting incident. The speaker describes how the incident with the dog biting the man attracted the attention of the neighbors. They were surprised and couldn’t believe that the dog would act in such a way towards a good man. The neighbors concluded that the dog must have gone mad or lost its sanity to harm someone who was well-regarded. Only a mad dog could have bitten such a good man.

Stanza 7 Lines 25-28

“The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.”

In this stanza, the speaker continues to describe the response of the witnesses of the biting incident while informing about the seriousness of the wound that the godly man suffered. The stanza highlights the seriousness of the man’s wound, which saddened and concerned everyone who saw it. While some believed the dog was mad, others feared for the man’s life, thinking that his injuries were severe enough to be fatal. The lines emphasize the gravity of the situation and the worry surrounding the man’s well-being. The “Christian” neighbors of the man swear the dog is mad and that the man will die of his “sore and sad” wound.

Stanza 8 Lines 29-32

“But soon a wonder came to light
That showed the rogues they lied,—
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died!”

The last stanza offers the crux of the poem, the main irony. The stanza describes a surprising turn of events. Contrary to what the skeptics believed, it was revealed that the man actually recovered from the dog bite. The real surprise was that it was the dog that ended up dying. It’s a humorous ending that shows how appearances can be deceiving. The speaker asserts that the ‘Christian’ neighbors, now described as “rogues,” had “lied” and were wrong about how the man and dog would fare. The man recovers from his wound, and the dog is the one who ultimately dies from the incident.

Ultimately it is the man who carried the poison within him (an extended metaphor relating to the poison within our hearts), which even got to the dog and killed it. It is even more daunting to know that despite all the ‘bad’ in the man, he continues to live. This twist at the end throws light on how society believes and supports what is shown to be good, often disregarding actual merit. Oliver criticizes that some people are more poisonous than a mad dog. In reality, it may not be so, but "these people" cause more harm than a mad dog can.

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!

Junkie by William S. Boroughs | Themes, Summary, Analysis

Junkie by William S. Boroughs | Themes, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William S. Boroughs was an American writer, and visual artist known for his ‘Shotgun Art.’ He was born on February 5, 1914, and died on August 2, 1997. He was one of the primary proponents of the Beat Generation and Beat literature and celebrated nonconformity and spontaneous creativity. He is mostly known for his Naked Lunch published in 1959, which is considered as one of the best examples of Beat literature. In addition, he also wrote The Nova Trilogy in which he experimented with the Cut-Up technique.

His first novel was Junkie which was published in 1953. The novel was published under the pseudonym William Lee and he used the same name for the main character of the novel.

Themes of Junkie:

William S. Burroughs was a morphine addict and he also peddled and sold heroin and other drugs to support his own addiction. The novel appears to be a confessional writing. Many scholars argue that Junkie is not fiction rather it is a semi-autobiographical memoir. The character William Lee directly represents William S. Burroughs in some instances in the novel while offering a fictionalized caricature of him in others. The novel is based on the theme of drug withdrawal and associated struggles. The novel illustrates how a person is stripped of his humanity when he becomes drug-dependent.

In the novel, William S. Burroughs used a metaphor to describe the situation of a drug addict and compared a drug addict to a plant. He says that when a person becomes a junkie, he becomes as dumb as a daffodil. The writer also compared the opioid addicts to wooden puppets or deep-sea creatures.

"Junk turns the user into a plant. Plants do not feel pain since pain has no function in a stationary organism. Junk is a painkiller. A plant has no libido in the human or animal sense. Junk replaces the sex drive. Seeding is the sex of the plant and the function of opium is to delay seeding. Perhaps the intense discomfort of withdrawal is the transition from plant back to animal, from a painless, sexless, timeless state back to sex and pain and time, from death back to life." ~~ Passage from Junkie.

The novel follows a first-person narrative style and William Lee is the narrator. However, the writer didn’t delve much into the psychology or motivations of William Lee, nor did the novel condemn or justify William Lee. On the other hand, the novel does criticize the governmental crackdowns, anti-drugs legislation, and police procedures which make the struggles of Junkies, even those who are trying to get rid of their addiction, much more difficult. The novel emphasizes the negative aspects of addiction and the pain of withdrawal, with relatively little focus on the pleasurable effects of drugs. The author describes addiction as simply the path of least resistance, not a conscious choice.

Summary of Junkie:

The story is set in the 1940s. William Lee is a thirty-year-old married man living in a Midwestern state of the United States. Though he is married and has children, he hardly cares for his family. William Lee is struggling financially as he is unemployed. He gets a job selling stolen morphine that may give him a good profit. Lee decides to take a shot of morphine and saves some from the stolen morphine. He sells the remaining to a friend named Roy who is an addict. Roy warns him that though he is engaging in the opium business, Lee must remain away from morphine and how its addiction can ruin life. Lee doesn’t listen to him and over a few months, he keeps using the morphine he saved for himself. As a result, he too becomes an addict. However, it is difficult to get any more morphine. He and Roy try to get a prescription for morphine from various doctors whom they visit but they get no help.

In his desperation, Lee uses a fake name on a prescription to get some morphine and gets caught. His wife bails him out and Lee promises to keep away from morphine. However, he begins experiencing withdrawal symptoms and suffers hallucinations. He tries to look for an alternative to morphine to ease himself. In such a situation, Roy introduces him to a Heroin dealer and Lee begins using heroin. It doesn't take long for Bill to develop a full-fledged addiction. "I drink a lot of coffee," he says, "but you know what's really addictive? Heroin." His habit propels him through the dark underworld of New York City. He engages in petty crime and becomes a small-time dealer himself to support his growing dependence. As his drug dependence continues to increase, he becomes more and more alienated from his wife and children. He becomes a partner of Bill Gains, a drug dealer, to buy, cut, and resell heroin, keeping some for himself each time.

Lee continues to lose all his respectable friends and colleagues while he forms a new social circle of addicts and customers. The police decide to crackdown on drug dealers and users and this creates problems for Bill Gains in the business. He decides to close his drug business and gets admitted into a medical hospital to treat his addiction. Lee tries to sustain but fails and he too decides to get admitted into the medical hospital for curing his addiction.

He recovers and after remaining away from morphine and heroin for four months, he decides to go to the Brownsville area of Texas and manages to stay sober for a few more months. However, he feels alone and bored. Thus, he goes to New Orleans and begins visiting a gay bar where he is invited by a man to have sex with him. The man takes him to a private place and then robs him. William Lee gets disheartened and relapses. He continues to visit the gay bar where he starts having regular sex with men. To support his expenses and addiction, he begins selling heroin again. During a police crackdown, the police find evidence of drugs in his possession and arrest him again. In jail, he fails to get any help and again suffers withdrawal symptoms. His lawyer helps him to get into a sanitorium where a new medicine is being experimented to help heroin addicts.

Though he goes down a dark path, Bill is aware of his actions and the consequences they have; namely, the loss of humanity that one experiences when in the throes of an addiction. And while he understands that getting clean is a necessary pain for the addict who wants to become sober, it's one he struggles to make peace with.

After getting out of jail, while awaiting trial, Bill heads back to Texas. There, he makes a valiant attempt to control his drug use—though, now again in the grips of a full-fledged addiction, he does not surrender the habit completely. Bill realizes that he will face long-term imprisonment, so he decides to relocate to Mexico City. His wife and children follow him. He makes a genuine effort to get his drug use under control and remains sober for more than a year. He maintains a low-key life away from chemical temptation, wiling away his days reading newspapers in the city's cafes and generally lying low. But old habits die hard, and once more the more humdrum aspects of a sober life begin to grate on him. He continues having sex with men, both with male prostitutes and other partners. However, that, too, pales in comparison to junk.
He accidentally meets a group of drug users and soon he relapses and his addiction returns. He discovers that heroin is more expensive in Mexico than in the US since dealers have to bribe the police. He seeks out a new set of doctors to prescribe morphine, then learns he can get a permit to purchase it himself. After a year or so, he again decides to get rid of his addiction. He quits the junk, switching it out for heavy drinking and prescription amphetamines. Inevitably, these take a toll on his health, and his mental stability starts to falter. His doctor warns that he's drinking himself to death, and his wife leaves town with their kids. Lee becomes sober and contemplates returning to the US.

He again meets Bill Gains who informs him about the heavy crackdown of police on drug dealers and users. Bill Gains informs that Roy died in police custody. Lee decides that he will never return to the United States to face his trial. He begins using morphine again and helps Bill Gains get a large amount of heroin but the heroin was adulterated and Gains nearly died when he injected it. Lee decides not to use heroin again. He hears that there is a new drug that has the mind-altering ability to awaken dormant telepathic and mystical powers in the user. As the novel ends, Bill travels to South America on a quest to find this miraculous drug.

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!

Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “Thanatopsis” is a poem by American poet William Cullen Bryant originally published in 1817 in the North American Review. Written early in Bryant’s life and career, and heavily influenced by Romanticism as well as the Graveyard School of poetry, the poem explores the subject of death and what it means to be mortal—its title, Thanatopsis is derived from the Greek roots Thanatos (death) and Opsis (sight), and thus it means “a view of death.”

Bryant urges his reader to accept death as an inevitability that should not provoke angst or fear, as it is the fate of all humans. The poem instead offers solace—the fact that all people must face the end of their lives should be a unifying and comforting thought.

William Cullen Bryant wrote this poem when he was 19 years old. The poem shows his interest in Deism and his rejection of religious Puritanical conservatism. The poem became an inspiration for Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

Structure of Thanatopsis:

William Cullen Bryant wrote this long 82-line poem in a single stanza with no specific rhyming pattern. However, he mostly followed blank verse or unrhyming iambic pentameter for this poem which means that most of the lines contain five sets of two beats, the first of these is unstressed and the second is stressed. Yet, Bryant chose to change the pattern in some instances and hence, in some lines, the iambs become trochees (as in line 30). The stressed syllable is first and the unstressed second. In this poem, William Cullen Bryant used personification, enjambment, alliteration, caesura, imagery, metaphor, and simile.

Summary of Thanatopsis:

Lines 1-8

“To him who in the love of Nature holds

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks

A various language; for his gayer hours

She has a voice of gladness and a smile

And eloquence of beauty, and she glides

Into his darker musings, with a mild

And healing sympathy, that steals away

Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts”

The speaker begins by introducing someone who loves nature. This person is a naturalist with an almost holy relationship with nature as he holds ‘Communion’ with the visible forms of nature (like rocks, trees, rivers, natural scenery). The poet uses personification of ‘nature’ and posits nature as a female gender as ‘She’ speaks to him, that naturalist someone, in a voice of gladness.’ Nature smiles, and speaks to him happily with an "eloquence" (smooth and lovely speech) "of beauty." Sometimes, when this nature lover is brooding over depressing thoughts, nature treats him with gentle sympathy, which heals him. She takes away the pain ("sharpness") of his thoughts before he even realizes it. Her presence acts benevolently and charitably.

Bryant used enjambment in lines 2 and 3 as the second line runs into the third without end punctuation. In line 3, caesura has been used. ‘Gladness,’ and ‘glides’ in lines 4 and 5 are examples of alliteration.

Lines 9-17

“Of the last bitter hour come like a blight

Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,

And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;—

Go forth, under the open sky, and list

To Nature’s teachings, while from all around—

Earth and her waters, and the depths of air—

Comes a still voice—”

Lines 8 and 9 are again an example of enjambment as the line was broken in two without punctuation. In the ninth line, the speaker brings up ‘death’ the main subject of the poem. The speaker says that when this nature-lover at times turns to think about the “bitter hour” of death, it comes “like a blight” over his “spirit”. Thoughts of death consume this person. It acts as a disease, making this person ill. They go into great detail as they dwell on the inevitable. The poet describes death as "stern agony", it is sharp and severe. The speaker further mentions the "breathless darkness" of the grave and the "narrow house" of the coffin. The speaker then mentions nature again and says that when someone is worried about death, they should go back to nature and listen to the calming voice that comes out of the “waters” and the “depths of air”. Nature can soothe the spirit of the nature-lover even in such dark brooding fears like death.

The poet used a simile in line nine, comparing death with blight. In the following lines, he offers a strong imagery of death.

Lines 18-31

“Yet a few days, and thee

The all-beholding sun shall see no more

In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,

Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,

Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim

Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,

And, lost each human trace, surrendering up

Thine individual being, shalt thou go

To mix for ever with the elements,

To be a brother to the insensible rock

And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain

Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak

Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.”

The speaker continues with the imagery of death while alluding to the absence of light after death as there will be no sun to embrace “Thy image” on his course through the sky. The sun will not penetrate the ground where someone is buried, nor it will reach the depths of the ocean where they have been thrown, and thus, the light will never see your face again, your face will be lost forever.

In the next lines, the speaker contradicts the Puritan notion of the ‘Afterlife’ while exclaiming the superiority of nature. The speaker says that after your death when there will be no sun, your image will “claim Thy growth” and take back everything that it gave. The listener’s body will be used to nourish the earth in return. Once dead, your humanity will be lost. “Each human trace” will vanish and that “Individual being” will be consumed by the elements of the earth. The speaker says that after death our bodies will "mix […] with the elements." We’ll basically be no different from an "insensible rock," unable to feel anything. So, all the touch sight, hearing, and emotion that made us human will be gone, leaving us no different from rocks. But this death will again unite us from nature. We won’t be lonely for long as the roots of the oak will reach us to embrace us. In lines 30-31, the poet used personification of the Oak tree.

Lines 32-46:

“Yet not to thine eternal resting-place

Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish

Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down

With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings,

The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good,

Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,

All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills

Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales

Stretching in pensive quietness between;

The venerable woods—rivers that move

In majesty, and the complaining brooks

That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,

Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste,—

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,”

The speaker continues to describe the ‘Afterlife’ and says that although everyone will die and they’re headed into death where they’ll lose their humanity and their body will decay into the earth, they won’t be alone. From the ‘narrow house’ of coffin, the dead will soon be transferred to a "magnificent" and comfy resting place, like a "couch." And they won’t be alone, the “patriarchs” from ages past, kings, and “The power of the earth” will be there to greet you. They are all going to be residing in one “might sepulchre” or tomb. The idea is that when we die we all lie down together in one big grave, that is the Earth, and that is the importance and wonder of the Earth, it is the tomb of Humanity, and all other things are mere decorations. The poet used metaphor while comparing the Earth to a big tomb.

Lines 47-58

“The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,

Are shining on the sad abodes of death,

Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread

The globe are but a handful to the tribes

That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings

Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,

Or lose thyself in the continuous woods

Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,

Save his own dashings—yet the dead are there:

And millions in those solitudes, since first

The flight of years began, have laid them down

In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone.”

The speaker continues to elaborate on the world after death while explaining that the world after death where everyone is expected to enter isn’t as dark or lonely as one might expect. The planets and the stars “the infinite host of heaven” or sky see us from above on “the sad abodes of death.” There are ages of humanity buried in the earth, far more than ever walked the earth. They “slumber in” the “bosom” of the earth, a very pleasant image. The dead rule this world, one which stretches over the whole of the world. The dead are everyone “you” would want to be. From the dunes of the desert to the river of “Oregon”. It is the world of the dead, no one else reigns there.

Lines 59-73

“So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw

In silence from the living, and no friend

Take note of thy departure? All that breathe

Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh

When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care

Plod on, and each one as before will chase

His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave

Their mirth and their employments, and shall come

And make their bed with thee. As the long train

Of ages glide away, the sons of men,

The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes

In the full strength of years, matron and maid,

The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man—

Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,

By those, who in their turn shall follow them.”

The speaker mentions the inevitability of death and says that just like the millions who have died before us, we shall accept death and rest. The speaker says that It really doesn’t really matter in the end, how, where, or when one dies. Everyone meets the same fate so the reader should not worry about dying alone or being un-missed. “All that breathe / Will share thy destiny”. These are meant as words of comfort in the face of the unknowable. The speaker further says that after death, the happy will continue to be so as well the depressed continue to be sad. There’s nothing that can change this and one should not attempt to do so. The world of the living is filled with illusions of death, religious explanations, and otherwise. Those who enjoy those illusions will continue to engage with them but in the end, they too shall come and “make their bed with thee”. As time progresses, all of these people from “The speechless babe” to the wise man and woman will be taken to death. They shall be “gathered to thy side” just as everyone else after them will be.

Lines 74-82

“So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”
In these lines, the speaker is still talking about death but he reminds us of the importance of life and says “So live.” You should enjoy the time you have. Sooner or later you will hear the call ("the summons") of death. You will join the endless train of people leaving this life. We are all headed to "that mysterious realm, where we’re all going to get a room ("chamber") in the quiet "halls of death." One should live in a way that is accepting of death. You don’t want to be burdened by it all of your life and then feel dragged there as if to a “dungeon”. You should be fulfilled by faith that you will rest with the ages of humankind in the ground that nurtured you. If you do live this way, the speaker concludes, then death will come peacefully. It will “wrap” you up as if in blankets and lay you done to “pleasant dreams”.

“Scourged,” “sustained,” and “soothed” in line 79 are examples of alliteration.

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.

All About H. Hatter by G.V. Desani | Characters, Summary, Analysis

All About H. Hatter by G.V. Desani | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. G.V. Desani was a British-Indian writer, novelist, educator, and lecturer. His full name was Govindas Vishnoodas Desani. He was born in 1909 in Kenya in an Indian family. His family moved back to India in 1917. At the age of 17, Desani left his home and traveled to England. He was not well-educated and couldn’t speak English but soon he learned well and was befriended by several prominent Londoners. He joined the British Museum Library as a reader and worked as an artist, model, and correspondent for Reuters, Times of India, and The Associated Press. G.V. Desani is known for his only novel, All About H. Hatter, published in London in 1948. All About H. Hatterr chronicles the adventures of an AngloMalaya man who calls himself, Hindustaniwallah Hatterr. Like the classical Bildungsroman, the plot of Desani’s novel revolves around its protagonist H. Hatterr in search of wisdom and enlightenment. The novel has seven chapters and it deals with his search for the self. He visits seven cities and consults seven sages, each of whom has specialized in a different aspect of “living”. The novel is a comic extravaganza. The character of Hatterr is presented in a comic vein. The charm, vitality, and linguistic humor created a unique hero with dazzling and puzzling prose. The novel gained instant fame and was praised by the likes of T.S. Eliot, Salman Surshdie, Anthony Burgess who wrote the Introduction to the 1970 edition of All About H. Hatter, and many others. Salman Rushdie praised the nativization or Indianization of the English language in the novel and mentioned it as the “chutney-fication” of English. G. V. Desani’s All About H. Hatter has been compared to Laurence Stern’s Trishtam Shandy and James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Characters of All About H. Hatter:

H. Hatter is the main character of the novel. The name H. Hatter stands for Hindustanwallah Hatter who is a fifty-five-year-old man who writes his autobiography. H.Hatter’s father was a European gentleman while his mother was an Oriental, a Malay Peninsula-resident lady. After his birth, his family moved from Penang, Malaysia to East India (or undivided Bengal). When he was one year old, his father died of malaria and pneumonia. The Anglo-Indian court gave the infant boy to “a Dundee-born Scot” jute trader instead of his mother for adoption. H. Hatter remains uneducated yet an erratic, well-read, almost endearing soul who is constantly getting into hilarious situations and getting out of the mess he has created for himself. He can’t decide whether he is an Eurasian philosopher or a believer in Buddhism, Christianity, or Hinduism.

Nath C. Banerjee is a friend of H. Hatter. He is older than Hatter and tries to help him out during his tough times. Banerjee is very fond of H. Hatter and believes that he has great potential. Nath C. Banerjee encourages H. Hatter to move out of India and visit London where he may succeed and become a famous successful man. Yati Rambeli is a lawyer friend of Nath C. Banerjee who befriends H. Hatter and defends him whenever he gets caught in legal matters. Yati Rambelie means ‘gigantic belly.’ Yati Rambeli is also known as Y. Rambeli or ‘Why Rambelling’. He believes that H. Hatter is a genuine, innocent, and truthful gentleman with a pure heart. In the search for his philosophical and spiritual quest, H. Hatter meets seven sages namely The Sage of Calcutta, Rangoon, Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Mogalsarai- Varanasi, and the Sage of All India. However, he realizes that most if not all of them are fake, pretenders and false mendicants. Mr. Chari-Charier is a newspaper editor who employs H. Hatter as a reporter. Mr. Bill Smythe is a circus owner in India who employs H. Hatter to work in the circus. Rosie Smythe is Bill’s wife who is a lion tamer. Hatter gets infatuated by Rosie and she exploits him for her benefits. Rialto is an English lady whom H. Hatter marries. She is an aged woman who marries Hatter for her sexual desires but leaves him when he insists on a family. Sadanand XX is an Indian saint whom Hatter meets and becomes his assistant. Jenkins is a street dog whom Hatter considers his pet.

Summary of All About H. Hatter:

The story is about the spiritual and philosophical quest of H. Hatter told in a comedic and hilarious manner and how he succeeds in finding his own truths. The novel is divided into seven chapters.

H. Hatter’s father was a Christian European merchant seaman who met her mother in Malaya, Penang, and married her. His mother was a pagan native of Malay who had never traveled outside her nation. She gave birth to her first son and soon after that, her husband insisted on traveling to India and settling there. The family came to East India and settled in Calcutta, Bengal. When H. Hatter was just one year old, his father died of malaria and pneumonia and the court decided not to let the Oriental pagan mother have the custody of the son of a European Christian man. A Dundee-born Scot Jute trader got the custody of the infant boy. The jute trader didn’t have much time for the boy so he decided to give him to an English Missionary Society to be raised as a Christian orphan child. Thus, H. Hatter became an Anglo-Indian Sahib, a Christian Englishman born in India. However, Hatter always found himself more Indian than European. Yet, he had a great desire to England and observe the land of his dead father. He gets elementary education at the Missionary school but being an orphan and of mixed race, he feels discrimination. He runs away from school at the age of 14 and we find him getting a different kind of education. He is educated by five Indian sages, three women, and a South Indian loanshark.

As a young growing boy, H. Hatter had huge dreams of gaining the admiration of the world and establishing the H. Hatter dynasty. He always dreamed of marrying a sweet woman and having a big family. Being of European lineage, he easily got admission into an English men's Club. The washerwoman or the Dhobin of the club had an interest in Hatter. However, H. Hatter rejects her sexual advances. Angered by him, the washerwoman makes a scene at the Club accusing him of not paying her bills. The Chief Secretary of the club was Harcourt Pankhurst-Sykes who admonished Hatter and decided to forfeit his membership in the club. This hurts Hatter’s ego and he decides to be completely Indian. His friend Nath C. Banerjee introduces Hatter to Mr. Chari-Charier who runs a daily newspaper titled Bazaar. Mr. Chari-Charier appoints Hatter as a reporter. His first assignment is to interview the ‘Sage of Wilderness’ or the ‘Sage of Calcutta.’ The sage turns out to be a fake man who makes him drink six glasses of highly intoxicating todi, the beer of the tropics, and then fleeces him of all his belongings including his clothes. The Sage tells him the story of the crafty potter Ali Bee and his fluent parrot Ahmed instructing him to master the technique of “dispelling credible illusions” and to be always suspicious of others’ motives.

Later, Hatter discovers that the sage ran a second-hand clothes business with the aid of his brother in Lucknow. When Hatter informs Banerjee about this incident and many such others, Banerjee advises him to go to London as he believes he is a good man, a good Christian, and will succeed in his father’s land. Hatter too wishes to go to London but realizes that he loves India more and cannot leave Banerjee.

Banerjee then introduces Hatter to Mr. Bill Smythe who runs a circus. His wife Rosie Smythe is a lion tamer. Hatter begins working at the circus. He soon gets infatuated with Rosie Smythe who begins exploiting him for her purposes. She deliberately fans Hatter’s illicit passion towards her and makes him do her bidding. Once, she convinces him to become a human plate for her lion as she lets her lion eat a piece of steak served on his bare chest, which frightens him and sends him into a reverie. He remembers Braganza, the previous helper of Rosie who ran away and whom Hatter replaced. He realizes that Rosie is ‘sexploiting’ him. He leaves the circus and complains about Bill Smythe to Banerjee saying that Bill deliberately tried to excite his libido towards his wife to serve his purpose. Banerjee comforts him and says that he got caught in a crossfire between his ‘inborn goodness’ and the ‘Vienna libido school’ and has made his inborn goodness triumph.

Hatter then meets an aged English woman named Rialto and engages in an amorous relationship with her. Hatter calls her Kiss-Curl and marries her wishing that he will have a huge family with her. However, Rialto is only interested in sex and she doesn’t wish to be a mother. This creates a rift between the two. While Banerjee tries to help the couple, Hatter begins to worry that Rialto is unable to become a mother. At a gathering where Hatterr was being conferred the title "Ocean of the Musical Art" or Sangita Kala Sagara by a music society, his wife Kiss-curl Rialto appears with her Anglo-Indian lover in her arms and asks to disperse from the spot and threatens to shoot everybody with her six gauge shotgun foiling Hatterr's ambition of possessing the prestigious title and making Hatterr run semi-nude in the garden in lashing rain.

Hatter then meets the Sage of Rangoon the second religious imposter, instructs him to destroy his desire for physical gratification, and says, “In the female lies moral degradation. I say save thyself from amorous temptation!” This Sage too turns out to be an imposter who robs Hatter of all his belongings.

Hatter then decides to go to England. He boards a tramp ship and reaches Liverpool where he is accepted as a Western-looking man owing to his mixed race. However, Hatter is terribly disappointed by the English society. He tries to settle in England and earn a good fortune. He pursues many hair-brained schemes such as digging up a pyramid to search for diamonds but instead finds five fleeing mice. Hatter fails to adjust to the materialistic modern West and begins missing the spiritual and metaphysical traditions of India.

Hatter returns and reaches Madras where he meets the third Sage, the Sage of Madrass who instructs him to become a vegetarian once a week to overcome greed and avarice. Hatter tries to follow the sage but soon learns that the Sage of Madrass was a stock exchange business in his mundane life. Due to his elevation in his business, he had a conflict with his father and had to be separated from his family for four years. After acquiring a lot of wealth, he toured around the world and tasted all kinds of meat, including beef. The sage charges money from his disciples and dispels them away when they cannot afford to pay. The sage tells Hatter to meet another wise man named Sheikh Ell See Arabi who ‘instructs’ Hatterr to become a prosperous ‘burrasahib’ by exploiting upper-class connections and following the dress code of an elite ‘brotherhood’. The two wise men again rob Hatter and he runs away from them. He goes to Mysore and begins working as a salesman for a Sandalwood wholesaler. During his stay in Mysore, he encountered an unknown south Indian swindler, who deceived him arousing his sympathy by narrating his acute poverty and emotionally blackmailing him to borrow an amount on loan on his behalf, which doubled in one month. The South Indian loan shark stops correspondence with Hatterr later and he is prosecuted for repayment of the loan amount. Hatter meets Yati Rambeli, a lawyer for help who finds him a good man and promises to help him. Hatter loses his job and runs away to avoid paying Rs 600 to the swindler. He begins living in the forest as a mendicant. Meanwhile, Banerji tells the court that Hatterr has been eaten up by a tiger.

He then meets Sadanand XX who is a young saint. Hatter befriends him and becomes his assistant. He learns that Sadanand XX i.e. “Always Happy XX” was a private lottery agent in his materialistic life and enters into an agreement with him to cooperate as a disciple under his pseudonym the "Bitter One" and agrees to share the profit in the ratio of sixty and forth between them. The sage uses Hatterr to get rid of another competitor sage named Hiramanek Mukti. After accomplishing his motive, the sage gets rid of him without giving him his promised forty percent share of profits from the lottery commission. Hatter begins developing his own philosophy and learns that “Life is a contrast.” There are always opposites or contrasts in life that every man confronts.

Hatterr meets the Sage of Bombay also known as Master Ananda Giri-Giri who becomes infatuated with Hatterr and attempts to have a physical and spiritual union with him and also attempts to murder Hatterr in a fit of delirium. When Hatterr tries to escape, the sage's disciples accuse him of being possessed by a ghost and try to burn him at the stake. He somehow saves himself and runs to Delhi where he meets the Sage of Delhi and his disciple. The Sage of Delhi preaches to Hatterr that the reality of the world is a mystery. The Sage of Delhi teaches him, “All Appearance is false. Reality is not Appearance.” Hatterr meets a sage of the “Order of Nagas” or Naga Sadhu. Pretending to be concerned about Hatterr, the sage finds out that Hatterr is hiding his money in his loincloth. The sage then steals his money and disrobes him in a mock wrestling duel.

Hatter admits to his friend Banerrji that he lost his mother early in life and has no relatives at all. He says, “’ I haven’t had my mother to love me. Not long enough, old friend. I have no relations, don’t you see? I am afraid, can’t you see?’” Baneerji advises him to trust in God and Hatterr admits that even if God does not exist it is worth loving him. Hatter says that he thinks God is his father, his Governor and he believes that God looks after her mother like his dad used to.

Hatter then gets engaged in treasure hunting as he searches for maps for the treasure looted from the Moghuls by Shivaji and the Marhatta soldiers, now buried somewhere in the Western Ghats. He procures 200 rupees and goes to UP, Mewar to look for Shivaji’s buried treasure where he meets a sage in a bush, gets into a fight with him, and loses all his money.

The last sage Hatterr encounters is Pandit Punchum, a fat and naked ascetic, whose satsangHatterr attends. He brainwashes him to donate his month's salary to charity. Hatterr realizes that the satsangs were a trick by which Punchum and his men cheated people. Hatter was still working as a correspondent for the daily newspaper Bazaar but he lost this job too. Hatterr becomes an insolvent and has to leave society due to his insolvency. Hatterr is bereft of any family too. Hatterr loses his father at an early age. The whereabouts of Hatterr's mother are unknown. Rialto, Hatter's wife, takes an Anglo-Indian lover from the English club and leaves Hatterr. In the end, Hatter is alone, he begins writing his autobiography and while he is not sure if anyone will support him, his own lawyer Y. Rambeli supports him and writes a strong supporting critique of his work under the heading “With Iron Hand, I Defend You Mr. H. Hatter, Gentleman!” Hatter begins to realize his philosophy of “Life is a Contrast.”

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!