She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith | Characters, Summary, Analysis

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." ~ Tony Lumpkin

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. She Stoops to Conquer was a comedy play written by Oliver Goldsmith that was first performed on 15 March 1773 at Covent Garden Theatre in London. It is considered a laughing comedy that can also be categorized as a comedy of manners. It is a play in 5 acts that tells about the conflict between parents who wish to arrange their children's marriages and children who have ideas of their own. The Prologue of the play was written by David Garrick, a student of Samuel Johnson who became a successful actor and play producer.

The original title of the play was Mistakes of a Night as it tells the story of one long night. However, it was changed to She Stoops to Conquer before it was first staged and it suggests the idea of the main female character pretending to be a barmaid to check if the potential suitor suggested for her is suitable for her or not.

This play is considered the origin of the popular English phrase “Ask me no question and I’ll tell you no lies.”

Characters of She Stoops to Conquer:

Young Charles Marlow is the protagonist of the play. He is the son of Sir Charles Marlow and belongs to a respectable and aristocratic family in the town. Marlow is a young, well-educated, sophisticated man with a strange contradictory character. While he is modest and shy around the women of upper-class society, he becomes lecherous, lively, and excitable in conversation with barmaids or other low-class women. Mr. Hardcastle is the patriarch of the Hardcastle family. He is a friend of Sir Charles Marlow who invites his son Young Marlow to meet his daughter Kate as a suitor and wishes them to marry. Mrs. Hardcastle is the wife of Mr. Hardcastle and an over-protective mother of Tony Lumpkin, her son from an early marriage. Constance Neville is an orphan whose only inheritance is a set of jewels in the care of her aunt Mrs. Hardcastle who treats her well but wishes her to marry Tony Lumpkin, but Constance wants to marry George Hastings.

George is a friend of Marlow who loves Constance and is willing to marry her even without her money. Kate Hardcastle is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs Hardcastle. She is the lead female character of the play who can maintain the simplicity of country life and the modern values of the town together.

Summary of She Stoops to Conquer:

She Stoops to Conquer is a Five Act play that begins with a Prologue in which a comedy actor Mr. Woodward appears on the stage and laments that comedy is supposedly dead. He hopes that Goldsmith’s play will make him laugh, thereby bringing the comic arts back to life.

Act 1:

Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle live in a grand old house. Their daughter Kate is a grown-up young girl who is of the age of marriage. The play begins as Mrs. Hardcastle complains to Mr. Hardcastle that he never takes her outside to see the modern developments happening in the city. Mr. Hardcastle says that he loves old things, like his wife. Mrs. Hardcastle retorts that she was a young woman at the time of the birth of Tony, her son from her first husband, who is not even twenty-one now. Mr. Hardcastle says that he is worried about Tony who is too immature and continues to indulge in pranks. Tony is preparing to visit a pub but her mother tries to stop him but he goes away.

Meanwhile, Kate appears on the stage and Mr. Hardcastle objects to her modern clothes. Kate reminds him about their deal. Kate dresses according to the wishes of her father in the evenings and in the mornings, she dresses for her friends. Mr. Hardcastle informs her that the son of his friend Charles Marlow, Young Marlow is visiting their home to meet her. He tells her that Marlow is handsome, well-educated, and modest. Kate doesn’t like modesty in men though. Constance is in the care of Mrs. Hardcastle who wishes her son Tony Lumpkin to marry Constance because she holds some valuable jewels as the inheritance of Constance that is meant for her dowry. Mrs. Hardcastle wishes to keep the family jewels within the family. However, Tony and Constance do not love each. Constance has a beloved and he is also expected to come along with Marlow. Kate discusses with Constance her father fixing a marriage with an awkwardly modest man. Constance too complains that Kate’s mother is insisting she marry Tony whom she doesn’t love.

Tony isn’t interested in money and inheritance and he prefers a simple low living, spending his time in pubs. At the pub, he meets two strangers who ask for a room for rent. Tony decides to play a prank and says that there is no free room available at the pub but the strangers may find lodging at the old inn down the road, which in fact, is the house of Mr. Hardcastle. These two strangers are Young Marlow and his friend George Hastings.

Act II:

Marlow and Hastings reach the old house and while Mr. Hardcastle recognizes Marlow, Marlow is unaware and believes that Mr. Hardcastle is the innkeeper and not his host. As a result, he treats him badly and chastises him for the old and outdated look and upkeeping of the inn, which in fact, is the house of Mr. Hardcastle. Mr. Hardcastle is shocked at the behavior of Marlow as he believed that Marlow is a polite and genteel young man.

Meanwhile, Kate and Constance come and meet the two young men. Since it is morning time, Kate is dressed in an expensive modern dress. Marlow has a peculiar tendency of being too shy and awkward in front of rich young ladies and thus he draws back. He feels so shy that he refuses to look at the faces of Kate and Constance. Constance on the other hand, recognizes Hastings. Hastings informs her that someone said that it is an inn. Constance realizes that it must be a prank of Tony. Hastings and Constance decide to keep the truth from Marlow because they think revealing it will upset him and ruin the trip.

Kate observes Marlow and finds him awkward but exciting and decides to explore his true character. Constance plans to elope with Hastings but before that, she wishes to take the jewels which are her inheritance. When Tony arrives, Hastings asks for his help and they decide that Tony will steal the jewels for Hastings so that he can be rid of his mother's pressure to marry Constance, whom he doesn't love.

Act III:

After meeting Marlow and observing his rude behavior, Mr. Hardcastle is disappointed and he tells Kate that he no more believes that Marlow can be a good match for her. Kate insists that Marlow appears to be much more than what her father and she have observed till now and asks her father for the chance to show him that Marlow is more than both beliefs.

Meanwhile, Tony steals the old jewels of Constance’s inheritance from his mother’s locker. However, neither Constance nor Mrs. Hardcastle are aware of that. Constance decides to ask her aunt to hand over the jewels to her but Mrs. Hardcastle is not willing to do so. When Tony sees Constance begging for the jewels he already stole to hand them over to Hastings, he conspires another prank. He suggests his mother pretend that the jewels have been misplaced, or stolen to dissuade Constance from her demand. Unaware of the jewels actually being stolen, Mrs. Hardcastle agrees to play the trick.

As the afternoon approaches, Kate decides to change her dress and wear some plain clothes of her father’s liking. When Marlow sees the girl in plain dress, he believes that she is a barmaid of the inn and as per his peculiar liking, he confidently confronts the barmaid and lecherously flirts with her. Mr. Hardcastle is observing all this and he gets angry. But before he may overreact, Kate stops them and takes them away. She asks her father to wait till the night and she will prove by then that Marlow can be both lively and moderate at the same time.

Act IV

Tony handover the stolen jewels to Hastings who decides to give them to Marlow for safekeeping. However, Marlow is unaware of their plan and he still believes that they are living in an inn. So he places the jewels in a basket and gives the basket to Mrs. Hardcastle for safekeeping. The servant of the house brings news that Sir Charles Marlow is visiting his friend Mr. Hardcastle’s home. When Hastings listens to this, he gets frightened as he thinks that Sir Charles Marlow will recognize him and that his plan to elope with Constance will be jeopardized. He decides to run away with Constance much before Sir Charles Marlow may arrive. He goes to Young Marlow and asks for the jewels. Marlow informs him that he has given them to the landlady of the inn for safekeeping. When Hastings learns this, he realizes his plan to elope with wealth is over, and decides he must convince Constance without the jewels as he is willing to marry her without any dowry.

Meanwhile, Marlow again treats Mr. Hardcastle with much more impertinence. Mr. Hardcastle gets too angry and kicks Marlow out of his house. Marlow gets confused about what is happening and gradually, he starts realizing that he has been tricked and has been made a fool of himself. Outside Mr. Hardcastle’s house, Marlow sees Kate who is now in simple plain clothes. Kate tells him that she is a poor relative of Mr. Hardcastle. Marlow feels that she is very attractive and he loves her but realizes that his father won’t allow him to marry her as she is of poor standing and cannot bring any dowry and thus he decides to let her go out of his mind.

Meanwhile, Hastings writes a letter to Constance, urging her to arrive at the nearby park from where he plans to elope with her. Unfortunately, that letter reaches Mrs. Hastling’s hands and when she comes to know about the plan, she gets furious and decides to take Constance to the park by herself so that she may come to know who is trying to elope with her. Both Marlow and Hastings are deeply disappointed when they meet each other again and soon their disappointment turns into a heated altercation. However, Tony arrives at the scene and calms them down. He promises that he will solve Hasting’s problems.

Act V:

Sir Charles Marlow arrives at Mr. Hardcastle's house and finds Hastings there. Mr. Hardcastle informs him about the bad behavior of his son. Hastings reveals how Marlow was fooled to believe that Mr. Hardcastle is an innkeeper and that his old home is an inn. When Sir Charles Marlow comes to know about this, he and Hastings laugh at how Marlow was fooled while he thinks too smart of himself. However, Mr. Hardcastle is still angry at Young Marlow’s misbehavior. Young Marlow arrives at his house and apologizes for his misbehavior and says that he hasn’t even seen Kate yet. Mr. Hardcastle says that he is a liar because he saw him flirting and trying to embrace Kate in a lecherous manner. Marlow gets confused again and goes outside, wondering what is happening.

Meanwhile, Kate arrives at the scene and convinces her father and Sir Charles Marlow to let her interview Young Marlow while they may observe her meeting with Young Marlow hidden behind a screen. She calls Marlow in and as it is evening time, she is wearing her plain clothes. However, she doesn’t pretend to be a barmaid this time, rather she talks in her normal voice. She expresses her affection for Marlow and asks him to marry her. Marlow too expresses that he likes her and would love to spend his life with her but says that he cannot marry her nor wishes to pursue her romantically because he does not think his family will allow him to marry a poor girl. He does not wish to disappoint his father. Kate then says that he should not worry about it because she belongs to the same class as the girl belongs to whom he came to meet. When Marlow listens to this, he bows down on his knees and proposes to Kate, without yet knowing that she is Kate. At this point, Mr. Hardcastle and Sir Charles Marlow remove the screen behind which they were hiding and burst out in loud laughs. Sir Charles Marlow questions Young Marlow why he lied about his feelings for Kate and said that he hasn’t seen her yet while now he is confessing his love to her? Marlow then realizes that he has been fooled twice and feels embarrassed again, yet he is happy that he is about to marry the same girl he actually loves.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hardcastle takes Constantine to the park where Hastings is waiting for her. However, in place of Hastings, they see another man who is Tony in disguise. Disguised as a supposed lover of Constance, Tony teases Mrs. Hardcastle and makes her and Constance run behind him in rough circles of the park. After some time, Mrs. Hardcastle gets too much tired and feels that they have come far away from the park. Tony then goes inside the park and informs Hastings that her mother is too tired now and he can easily elope with Constance. Hastings goes to take Constance but after meeting her, decides that they should not elope but ask Mr. Hardcastle’s blessings for their marriage.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hardcastle sees a man coming towards them from the highway. Since it is getting dark, she fails to recognize him and gets frightened that he must be some highwayman and runs back home. At home, she informs that Constance has eloped with her lover but she is happy that now she will keep the old jewels in her own custody. Constance and Hastings return home at the same time and ask Mr. Hardcastle to let them marry as they love each other. Constance tells him that she and Tony do not love each other and they do not wish to marry. Sir Charles Marlow convinces Mr. Hardcastle that Hastings is a good and honest young man. Mr. Hardcastle calls Tony and asks him if he really doesn’t wish to marry Constance to which Tony says that he doesn’t love her but since he is underage, he cannot decide by himself. Mr. Hardcastle then says that Mrs. Hardcastle is hiding the fact that Tony is already twenty-one years old and can take his decisions by himself. Tony then confirms that he doesn’t wish to marry Constance and frees her to marry Hastings. Everyone is happy then as Marlow is engaged to marry Kate while Constance and Hastings get the blessings of Mr. Hardcastle and Sir Charles Marlow for their marriage. However, Mrs. Hardcastle is a bit sad that now she will have to offer the old jewels of her family to Hastings, as the dowry of Constance.

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!

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Robinson Crusoe was the first novel written by Daniel Defoe that was published in 1719. Initially, it was published as an autobiographical travelogue by Robinson Crusoe; however, Daniel Defoe was revealed to be the real author of the fictional novel and fictional character Robinson Crusoe in the later editions. Robinson Crusoe is expressed as a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad.

Daniel Defoe belonged to a Presbyterian Puritan family and he wrote this book as a spiritual autobiography of Robinson Crusoe while emphasizing different aspects of Christianity and his beliefs. The book tells the story of how Robinson becomes closer to God, not through listening to sermons in a church but through spending time alone amongst nature with only a Bible to read. The novel follows the Christian idea of Providence, Penitence, and Redemption. In this novel, Defoe depicted Crusoe trying to replicate English Christian society on the island. This is achieved through the use of European technology, agriculture, and even a rudimentary political hierarchy. Crusoe refers to himself as the ‘king’ of the island. At the very end of the novel the island is referred to as a "colony". The Master-slave relationship of Crusoe with another character Friday suggests the idea of ‘cultural assimilation.” Crusoe represents the "enlightened" European while Friday is the "savage" who can only be redeemed from his cultural manners through assimilation into Crusoe's culture. The novel also talks of ‘religious tolerance.’ When confronted with the cannibals, Crusoe wrestles with the problem of cultural relativism. Despite his disgust, he feels unjustified in holding the natives morally responsible for a practice so deeply ingrained in their culture.

The story of Robinson Crusoe is often mentioned by Classicist, Neoclassicist, and Austrian economists to illustrate the theory of production and choice in the absence of trade, money, and prices.

Because of the spiritual nature and episodic pattern of Robinson Crusoe, many critics argue that it is not a novel. Nonetheless, Robinson Crusoe was considered the first English novel for a long period until it was contended that Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko was published much earlier, in 1688. Yet, Robinson Crusoe is credited as the first realistic fiction.

Robinson Crusoe became hugely popular and inspired a new literary genre named Robinsonade which describes the genre of stories similar to Robinson Crusoe. While Robinson Crusoe was an accidental castaway, J. G. Ballard wrote stories in which the protagonists often choose to maroon themselves and coined the term ‘inverted Robinsonade’ to represent stories of becoming castaway willingly for a healing and empowering process.

Characters of Robinson Crusoe:

Robinson Crusoe is the protagonist of the novel. He is a young rebellious man who likes the idea of sea travel while his family opposes him. He leaves home for sea travel but brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a primitive land. Xury is a slave of a Moor ship that captures Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe and Xury escape together from the slave ship and then Crusoe enslaves Xury as his own. Later on, he sells Xury to buy a ship. Friday is another slave of Crusoe who spends many years on the Island. Crusoe saves Friday from the Cannibals and enslaves him. He then tries to teach English to Friday and converts him to Christianity. Crusoe’s father is a merchant named Kreutznaer who embodies the theme of the merits of Protestant, middle-class living. Crusoe’s mother fully supports her husband and opposes Crusoe from going on sea travel. Moorish Pirate is a sea robber who captures and enslaves Robinson Crusoe. The Portuguese sea captain is an honest man who embodies all Christian ideals. He takes Robinson and Xury to Brazil and helps Crusoe in buying some plantation. The Widow is the wife of the late sea captain with whom Crusoe made his first and only successful sea journey to the East coast of Africa. He leaves his little fortune to the widow for safekeeping. The widow is a very honest and motherly figure for Crusoe. The Savages are the Cannibals that come to Crusoe's Island and who represent a threat to Crusoe's religious and moral convictions as well as his own safety. The Spaniard is one of the prisoners saved by Crusoe and Friday. Another one is Friday’s father. Crusoe treats the Spaniard man with much more respect than any other colored people he comes into contact with. The captured sea captain is an ideal soldier and sea captain who faces mutiny on his ship. Crusoe helps him in winning over the traitorous crew member of his ship.

Summary of Robinson Crusoe:

The novel begins as an anonymous editor introduces Robinson Crusoe and his incredible adventures, which he says are true, entertaining, and useful for the reader. Crusoe then begins telling his story. When he was about 18 years old, he used to live with his parents in Hull, England. Crusoe’s father wished him to become a lawyer and his mother too always forced him to follow his father’s advice. However, Crusoe was a rebellious young man who had a dream of long sea voyages. His father admonishes him and offers examples of his two elder brothers who are gone because of their passion for adventure. His father says that a middle-class existence is the most stable and he must acquire it. However, Robinson ignores such advises and decides to run away from his home. On August 1651, Crusoe boards a ship from Hull to London. The weather goes rogue and the ship is forced to halt at Yarmouth. The ship captain advises Crusoe to return to his home but he decides to go to London via road. In London, Crusoe joins the crew of a trading ship bound for Guiana. The ship captain is very generous towards Crusoe and treats him like his son. Crusoe claims that it was the only successful trip of his during which Crusoe made a small fortune through trading. After returning to London, the captain of the ship dies of old age. Crusoe decides to join the same ship again for another trip to the coast of East Africa. He leaves all his fortune in the custody of the widow of the late ship captain and goes on the trip.

On their way, the ship is attacked by a Turkish pirate who takes the ship to the Moorish port of Sallee where the pirate captures and enslaves all the crew members including Crusoe. Crusoe suffers the abomination of slavery for two years and then he gets a chance to escape. Once he is told to go fishing with two other Moorish slaves. Robinson throws one of them overboard and asks the other to accompany him if he is willing to be loyal to him. The name of the second Moorish slave is Xury. Xury admires Robinson and becomes his willing slave and companion. They take the boat to unknown parts of the sea and anchor on what appears to be uninhabited land. Soon they discover that black people live on the island. These black people are very friendly to Crusoe and Xury though they cannot understand their language. Robinson then notices a Portuguese ship at a distance from the shore. He and Xury paddle their ship towards the ship and ask for the help of the Portuguese ship captain. The ship captain says that he will board the two for free and will take them to Brazil.

Robinson sells Xury to the Portuguese ship captain who in return helps him financially to buy some plantation in Brazil. Soon he manages to get some business partners and together, they decide to engage in the slave trade. Since Crusoe has experience in sea travel, it is decided that Robinson will be the master of the tradepost ship. They arrange for a strong-built ship and Robinson agrees to be the captain of the ship for the purpose of slave-trade. However, during his very first voyage on the new ship, a terrible shipwreck happens, and all crew members, except Robinson die in that accident. Being alone in the vast sea, he gets frightened and asks for God’s help in saving him. Somehow, he succeeds in reaching the shore of an island. Robinson names this island the Island of Despair and mentions that it is situated at the mouth of the Orinoco River. He sees penguins and seals on the island but no human being.

Robinson manages to gather some tools, and other provisions from his ship before it sinks into the sea and picks up the Bible that was floating on a wooden log. With the help of the tools, he tries to recreate his English life. He builds a fenced-in habitat near a cave that he excavates. He uses a wooden cross and marks it to create a calendar. Similarly, he recreates other necessities, learns how to cook, and raises goats and crops. He captures and adopts a small parrot as a pet. During his initial days, he feels very miserable and starts reading the Bible for attaining guidance and calmness. Gradually, he starts feeling spiritual enlightenment despite being totally alone. He convinces himself that he is living a much better life here than he did in Europe--much more simple, much less wicked. He comes to appreciate his sovereignty over the entire island. Once he decides to make a small boat and venture around the island but he faces wild tides and gets back to the island, never to try the adventure again. For 15 years, he lives alone, unaware of any other human being in the near vicinity. One day, he discovers some footprints and follows the trail. He finds out a group of cannibalistic savages hunting and eating the prisoners. Robinson discovers that these cannibals do not live on the island but they treat it as a hunting ground for wayward prisoners. They visit here in canoes from a mainland not too far away to hunt the prisoners. Robinson feels outraged and disgusted with their cannibalistic behavior. However, as he continues to think about them, he realizes that he has no reason to hate them as he feels unjustified in holding the natives morally responsible for a practice so deeply ingrained in their culture. Furthermore, he doesn’t know what crimes the prisoners committed against the natives. Yet, he resolves to maintain his own morals and decides to confront the cannibals whenever they return again for hunting the prisoners. After some years, the Cannibals return to the island and Robinson uses his guns and saved artillery from the wrecked ship to make them run away. Meanwhile, he manages to save a savage prisoner from the attack of cannibals.

The savage is extremely grateful to Crusoe for saving his life and follows him to his in-fenced habitat. Crusoe names his Friday and starts teaching him English and learning the Bible. He starts teaching him Christian values and the European lifestyle. Crusoe becomes his ideal master and Friday learns to be an ideal slave aspiring to learn everything Christian and European. Robinson and Friday spend some more years on the island and one day, they witness the canoes of the savages with three prisoners. Robinson and Friday attack the Cannibals and manage to save two of the prisoners. One of them is a Spaniard and the other one is a native savage who happens to be the father of Friday. Friday is too happy after meeting his father and encourages him to learn the Christian mannerism but his father is not too enthusiastic about it. After some months, Friday’s father and the Spaniard decide to return to the mainland so that they may bring back the colleagues of the Spaniard man.

Meanwhile, a small ship comes ashore and many men land on the island to explore. Robinson notices that three of them are prisoners. While most of the men are exploring the island, Robinson manages to come near the prisoners and one of them reveals that he is the captain of the ship and his crew members are traitorous and mutinied against him. Robinson promises to help and save the Captain if he agrees to accept his authority over the Island and if he agrees to take him and Friday back to England for free. The captain agrees to this proposition. Crusoe and Friday free the three prisoners and together, they manage to defeat the traitorous crew members. The captain gains hold of the ship back and he addresses Crusoe as the governor of the island and asks for justice against the traitors. Crusoe admonishes the traitorous crew members and calls them white savages. He punishes them to stay on the island. Before leaving for England, He informs the traitorous crew members how to survive on the island and tells them that soon, some more people will come to the island to accompany them as he expects the Spaniard to visit the island with Friday’s father and his colleagues. After that, the ship captain takes Robinson and Friday back to England. He returns to England after 28 years and learns that his parents died years ago. He learns that since his father has no expectation of returning, he didn’t name him in his will. Nevertheless, Robinson learns that his plantation in Brazil is making good profits and the widow of his old captain too gives back his little fortune that he made in Guiana during his first trip. He gives money to the Portuguese captain and the widow who were so kind to him. He returns to the English countryside and settles there, marrying and having three children. When his wife dies, he once more goes to the sea.

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 Imp of The Perverse by Edgar Allan Poe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘The Imp of The Perverse’ is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1845 in the July edition of Graham’s Magazine. The story is based on the guilt-driven impulse to confess to a crime that appears to be perfect. Poe explored the same impulse through the narrators of his other stories including The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart. It is believed that Edgar Allan Poe coined and popularized the phrase ‘The Imp of The Perverse’ which is also used as a metaphor for the urge to do exactly the wrong thing in a given situation for the sole reason that it is possible for wrong to be done. As a metaphor, the impulse is compared to an imp or demon which leads an otherwise decent person into mischief, and occasionally to their death.

Characters of The Imp of The Perverse:

The Imp of the Perverse is a gothic horror story whose protagonist is an unnamed narrator who follows the first-person unreliable narrative style to tell the story. He begins the story as a rational essay discussing and describing the impulse or urge that is common in all men to do or act wrongfully just because they know that it can be done. He begins his confessional story as a formal academic essay trying to describe his psychology and motives behind what and why he did. He argues that we all have a guiding force in our consciousness which he terms ‘the imp of the perverse’ that is responsible for irrational decisions that stand in direct opposition to one’s own self-interest. He says the same impulse made him confess his personal account of a long-planned and perfectly executed murder.

The victim is a close relative of the narrator as he gets all the property of the deceased as an inheritance, after his death. The narrator once read an account of the mysterious near-fatal experience of Madame Pilau who barely survived the accidental poisoning of a candle. The narrator got the idea of how to carry out a perfect murder through the experience of Madame Pilau. Since he was close to the victim and knew all his habits, including the fact that the victim was an avid reader who used to read in bed before going to sleep. He poisoned the candle that the victim used to light for reading before sleep.

Summary of The Imp of The Perverse:

The story begins as the unnamed narrator offers a detailed and highly erudite analysis of the flaws of Phrenology, a pseudoscience that was popular during the era of Poe. The narrator complains that the science of Phrenology fails to explore and explain the universal existence of perversity in the human species. He then says that it is not just about this urge or impulse of perversity, rather, Phrenology, or the “science” of predicting mental traits based on skull shape ignores any such universal impulse. He says that Phrenology fails to account for these impulses because of an inherent flaw in its philosophy which suggests that all impulses are attributed to God and the Phrenologists assume that they know what God’s intentions are. Thus, the practitioners of Phrenology try to describe humanity’s instincts using reason alone, rather than observing them scientifically via lively experience. The narrator then offers an example and says that Phrenology suggests that we eat because God has made us that way. He accuses practitioners of Phrenology of never trying to explore why humans eat or examine the objective data that could suggest a scientific cause for eating. They simply attribute to God the impulse to eat. Similarly, Phrenologists often attribute other impulses like the urge to procreate as an attribute to God without trying to explore why humans are inclined to procreate. The narrator then claims that if all impulses are attributed to God, then it means that there is no free will, and if everything is designed by God, then there cannot be any evil. It would mean “deducing and establishing everything from the preconceived destiny of man, and upon the ground of the objects of his Creator.” The narrator doesn’t agree with it though. He says that it is impossible to understand God and thus, it is also impossible to understand God’s intentions. Thus, we should examine our actions in and of themselves rather than attributing them to God.

The narrator then discusses the specific impulse he strongly felt by himself and that is the impulse of ‘perverseness.’ He says that this impulse forces people to do what they “should not.” The victim knows that it would be harmful to act in a certain way, yet he is impelled to act in exactly the same way because it appears instinctual and “irresistible.” The narrator then asks the reader to examine themselves and they will find this impulse in them too. He then names this impulse the Imp of The Perverse.

The narrator claims that he is himself one of the “many uncounted victims of the Imp of the Perverse.” The narrator then offers a detailed confession of how he planned a murder for months before committing it. A thousand different plans were considered and rejected before settling upon inspiration discovered in an account of a woman who had nearly been killed by accidental candle poisoning. He mentions that he read about Madam Pilau who suffered an accidental death-like experience because of a poisoned candle. This information allowed the narrator to think of a perfect plan to kill a man he knew very well. The narrator was fully aware of the habit of his intended victim to read in bed inside his narrow and badly ventilated apartment. He thought that if a poisoned candle is used by the intended victim for reading before sleeping, the poisoned smoke will kill him and then gradually will vanish, leaving no evidence of the murder. The narrator then executed his plan and replaced the candle used by the intended victim with a poisoned candle. As expected, the intended victim died and after a thorough examination, nobody could explain his death. Thus, the coroner declared the victim dead “by the visitation of God.”

After the victim’s death, the narrator got all his estate as inheritance and he enjoyed the wealth for many years. However, more than wealth, he enjoyed the sheer thrill of triumph as he realized how easily he got away with the murder without even a fear of being caught anyhow. He says “It is inconceivable how rich a sentiment of satisfaction” he gains whenever he thinks about getting away with it.

As time continued to pass, the narrator too continued to feel safer. Yet, he kept conceptualizing every day if there is any possibility of him being caught for the murder he committed. He often thought, “I am safe.” But why continue to tell yourself that you are safe if you really believe you are safe? One day, while thinking all over it again, the narrator convinced himself that he is safe and, of course, he will remain safe unless he confesses his own crime because there is no other evidence for his crime except his own self. Thus, he will remain safe because to confess without suspicion would be foolish. As this thought comes to the narrator’s mind, he gets frightened as he knows how the Imp of the Perversion overpowers him and compels him to do what he should not. He promises himself never to repeat the thought of the crime while asserting that he is safe. However, the Imp of the Perversion has already taken his move. The narrator continues to mutter that he is safe and starts walking faster and faster and eventually begins running, fighting “a maddening desire to shriek aloud.” His actions draw a crowd, which begins to pursue him, and he “felt then the consummation of my fate.” His desperation to avoid confessing leads him to wish he could tear out his own tongue. He faced the quagmire as he didn’t wish to confess but the Imp of the Perversion was forcing him to confess. As he tried to cut his own tongue through his teeth, a force, which the narrator termed ‘an invisible fiend’, strikes him on the back of his neck. He felt as if he got unconscious right then as he remembers nothing of what happened next. Yet, the other people, who are the witnesses of his confession, say that he spoke clearly and emphatically as he made a passionate confession, speaking so breathlessly that it appeared as though he feared the impact of having been interrupted. He gave all accounts of his crime in detail and then, they say, he fainted dead away and eventually wound up sitting in the prison cell, fettered in chains for one last day until he is marched to his execution tomorrow.

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 Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in January 1843. It is a Gothic fiction story in which a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt.

The crime lacks any specific motive as the narrator claims he never had any feelings of hatred or resentment for the man who had "never wronged" the narrator. The narrator also denies having been killed for greed and states, "Object there was none. Passion there was none." The narrator is living with the old man for a long and he loves the old man, except for his one filmy pale blue "vulture-eye" that the narrator hates. The story is about the mystery that people sometimes harm those whom they love or need in their lives. The narrator was annoyed by the pale blue vulture-like eye and he strongly wished to separate the old man from that evil eye so that he may not be forced to kill him. But he failed to realize that the blue-eye that he hates so much is the ‘I’ of that old man. In his obsessive hatred of that evil blue-eye, the narrator separates the identity of the old man from his eye and thus, kills him. The story uses a first-person unreliable narrative style and it appears that the story begins in media res; that is, the narrator is already in a conversation with someone, maybe a police officer or the judge or jury, or a psychologist.

Characters of The Tell-Tale Heart:

The narrator is the unnamed protagonist of the story. It is not clear if the narrator is a male or female as Poe didn’t use any gender-specific pronouns for the narrator. The narrator claims that he is suffering from a strange disease that makes him hypersensitive at times and he could listen to sounds that are not easily audible to any normal person. The narrator is living with an old man and the relationship between the narrator and the old man is not clear. The narrator could be his son, or his younger wife, or daughter, or his sister, or a brother. The narrator could be his servant living and serving him during his old age. The old man is very aged and weak and it appears as if he is very dependent on the narrator. The old man is a good man who never did any wrong to the narrator who could be his servant. The narrator himself claims that he never hated the old man ever. The neighbor of the old man listens to the frightening shrieks of the old man and informs the police of something strange. The policemen arrive at the scene and thoroughly check the house of the old man. The narrator clearly convinces the police of normalcy. The policemen are not very suspicious and are friendly. They do not overuse the authority they hold. Yet, the narrator confesses to his crime which appeared to be perfect for him due to his own guilt.

Summary of The Tell-Tale Heart:

The story begins as the narrator confesses that it is true that he is very ill. He claims that he is suffering from a strange disease that makes him hypersensitive. He stresses that he is not mad but totally sane person. But he can listen to things that others may fail to notice. He says that he had no clear motive to commit the crime he just did. He killed an old man with whom he was living for a long. The old man never did any wrong to him and the narrator never hated him. Nor is the narrator greedy, he never wanted the old man’s money. However, the narrator informs that he was very annoyed by a strange feature of the old man, his filmy pale blue ‘vulture-eye.” The narrator says that though he liked the old man, he always hated his pale blue “evil eye” which convinced him to kill the old man so that he may not look at it anymore. The narrator was in fear of the old man’s scrutinizing eye.

Since there is no clear motive behind the crime, it appears that the narrator is being accused of being mad and the narrator defends himself by saying that he is not at all mad but completely sane. He then tells how intelligently he committed the crime which was a perfect crime as there was no evidence of it. He uses the perfect planning of his crime to prove that he is not mad but has a very rational, scheming mind. He says that he continued to plan his action for long. For seven nights, he used to creep into the old man’s bedroom door, then he would open the latch, put an unlit lantern into the room, and carefully put his head in after. Then he would open the shutter of the lantern so that a single ray would fall on the eye. Each of the seven times, the narrator noticed that the pale blue evil eye of the old man was close. Since he loved the old man sans his blue evil eye, he couldn’t gather the strength to kill him. The next morning, he would wake up the old man and ask him how was his sleep.

However, the eighth day was special. The narrator was enjoying his sneakiness and he was confident of his success. At night, he decided to sneak again into the old man’s room. It was pitch-black dark and the narrator could listen to the stirring sound of the old man, making him realize that he is not sleeping. But the narrator wasn’t afraid, he was convinced that the old man cannot see him in such dark. He gradually entered the room with the lantern in his hand. However, he slipped at the door and the lantern chimed. The old man noticed the sound and he was afraid. In his fear, the old man shrieked out loud.

The narrator listened to his shriek but he wasn’t afraid. He knew the old man couldn’t see him. He waited for a long to control the situation and remained very still. So still and motionless he was, that he started clearly listening to the ticking of the clock. He could sense the fear of the old man who was awake and was wondering if someone has entered his house. The narrator could smell his fear and could relate to it. In his fear, the old man groaned and the narrator recognized his fear. He felt sympathetic to the old man, but he was enjoying his fear. The narrator realized that the old man was too much frightened and perhaps he was trying to convince himself that the noise was accidental and there was no one else except him in the room. However, the narrator knew that the old man can’t be convinced because he could smell death in the room.

The narrator then opened the shutter of the lamp a bit while allowing a ray of light to strike at the face of the old man and he noticed the same filmy pale blue vulture eye that he hated. He started feeling that hatred rushing in his veins but then he noticed that his strange illness made him able to hear the strange dull ticking that is growing bit by bit. He tried to recognize it and realized that it was the fearful heart of the old man which was ticking so fast. The heartbeat of the old man continued to grow and the narrator could hear them clear and loud. The narrator got worried that his heartbeats could be audible to the neighbor too and thus, he decided to put an end to it. He put off the lantern, attacked the old man, threw him down on the floor, and then killed him by dropping the old man’s own heavy bed on him.

The narrator noticed that the ticking heartbeat stopped and the pale blue evil eye could not look at him anymore. This calmed him down and he started thinking about his next move. The narrator then says that if there is any more doubt about his sanity, then it will be cleared when he will tell how cleverly he disposed of any evidence of the crime he just committed. He dismembered the body of the old man and took up the planks. Then he hid everything below the room so that there is no trace whatsoever of the old man. He cleaned the floor so well that there was not a single drop of blood or any trace of the crime he just committed.

It was already four o’clock in the morning and the narrator heard the chime of the clock but he also noticed a knock on the door. The narrator opens the door and sees that the police have arrived. The neighbor noticed the shrieking voice of the old man and informed the police. The policemen ask the narrator to let them check the premises to which the narrator willfully agrees. He is confident that he cannot be caught. He says that he had a bad dream and he made that shrieking voice to which he apologizes. He confidently takes the police throughout the house and even takes them to the room of the old man. He places some chairs for the police to sit n the floor just above the place where he hid the body of the old man underground. The policemen are convinced that nothing is wrong and they start chatting with the narrator in a friendly manner. However, the narrator gets startled when his hypersensitive ears listen to the same ticking sound of the heartbeat of the old man. He tries to ignore it but the sound continues to get louder. The narrator gets convinced that the policemen too can hear the same sound and all their friendly talks are just a charade as they know what he did. He gets frightened and confesses that he killed the old man and hid his body just below the floor where the policemen are sitting. He requests the policemen to dig up the floor and take out the ticking heart of the old man. Like a madman, he shouts, “Yes, I killed him. But why does his heart not stop beating? Why does it not stop?”

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!

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is a short novel written by Truman Capote which was first published in 1958. The major theme of the novel is freedom versus stability. The story is set in 1940s during the World War II. The story is about a young girl who was trapped in child marriage and decided to break free. She hobnobs with famous people, gets into a lot of trouble, and breaks many hearts along the way, all while struggling to find her place in the world.

Characters of Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

The narrator is an unnamed young writer who befriends a young girl socialite of New York who is an implied homosexual. He becomes a well-known literary success and worldwide traveler in his later parts of years. Holiday (Holly) Golightly or Lulamae Barnes is an 18 years old young girl who befriends the narrator. She is eighteen years old. She is an escort who makes a living as a companion to various wealthy and important men, who lavish her with money and expensive presents. She lives in the same apartment with the narrator whom she refers to as "Fred" because he looks like her brother. Doc Golightly is a veterinarian from Tulip, Texas. He informs that Holly’s original name was Lulama. He unofficially adopted Holly when she and her brother had run away from the foster home they had been placed in following their parents' deaths. A widower with four children, Doc married Holly when she was fourteen and was despondent when she escaped shortly thereafter. Joe Bell is the owner of the apartment where Holly and the narrator live. He is apparently a homosexual with some esoteric tastes who befriends the narrator. Yunioshi is a magazine photographer who is a neighbor of Holly and is attracted to her. ‘African carver’ is an artist from Africa who made a wooden carving that resembles Holly. Sally Tomato is a New York mafia incarcerated in Sing Sing prison on racketeering charges. He runs a drug racket while still in jail with the help of Holly and his lawyer. Holly gets $100 per week for her help. Oliver O’Shaugnessy is lawyer of Sally who is a defrocked priest and gangster. Sapphia Spanella is another neighbor of the narrator who despises Holly. She directs the authorities to Holly when they are seeking to arrest her. O.J. Berman is a friend and talent agent of Holly who helps her and hires a top-notch lawyer Iggy Fitelstein to defend them when she gets arrested. Rusty Trawler is a millionaire who is a companion of Holly but marries her friend model Mag Wildwood. Jose Yberra-Jaegar is a crucial Brazilian politician who aspires to the presidency of his country. He is Mag’s fiancee but develops an affair with Holly.

Summary of Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

The story begins as the narrator gets a call from his old friend Joe Bell who used to be his landlord in the past. Joe Bell asks the narrator to visit his bar. The phone call reminds the narrator of his old time when he was struggling as a writer. He also remembers Holly Golightly with whom he shared the rented apartment owned by Joe. The narrator loved Holly but it was not sexual. The narrator implies that he is homosexual and so was Joe Bell who became his friend. The narrator hasn’t seen Joe or Holly for many years. He visits Joe’s bar and Joe shows him a photograph of a carving that exactly resembles Holly Golightly. Joe informs that he got that photograph from Yunioshi who took the picture in some African country where an African artist had made that carving. Joe says that Yunioshi tried to buy that carving but the artist refused to sell it and said that it is a representation of a young white woman who unexpectedly visited his village earlier that year. He implies that he had an affair with this woman, who later departed just as suddenly as she had arrived. The narrator is not sure if the story is true, however, he says that he too searches for Holly in any place he visits. He has always loved Holly and he wonders where she has gone.

The narrator then recalls his first meeting with Holly at Joe’s Brownstone apartment where Holly was already living. The narrator became one of her neighbors. Holly had a habit of returning home late and buzzing her neighbors, asking to be let in because she has forgotten her keys. The narrator recalls how once she buzzed the doorbell of Yunioshi, who is a magazine photographer. When he got annoyed, Holly promised to let him take her raunchy pictures. Then the narrator informs that he too fell victim to this habit of Holly. One night, she knocked at the window of the narrator and said that a drunk man is annoying her. She brought the man to her house but now she hopes that he will fall asleep. Holly and the narrator pass the time by sharing a drink. The narrator explained that he is a writer and shared a story written by him with Holly. Holly plainly criticized the story and the narrator was hurt but he felt that even in her criticism, Holly has a certain charm. Holly informed that she is an escort who accompanies rich men at parties and gets expensive presents and money in return. She insisted that she is not a prostitute but an American geisha meant only to accompany rich men at parties. While talking, the narrator and Holly fall asleep on his bed and the narrator notices that she is calling out the name ‘Fred’ in her sleep. When she wakes up, she starts crying and when the narrator asks her, she refuses to share the reason. Instead, she runs away through the window. From then, Holly started calling the narrator as ‘Fred.’ When the narrator asked why he calls her Fred, she said that he reminds him of her younger brother whose name is Fred.

One day, Holly invites the narrator to one of her parties where he meets O. J. Berman from California. Berman informs the narrator that he tried to establish Holly as a Hollywood actress but when he succeeded to fix an audition for her, she decided to leave California for New York. Berman says that Holly is a mystery but he loves her. The narrator also meets Rusty Trawler, a divorced millionaire from New York. Rusty is a notorious philanderer and he is dating Holly these days.

The narrator asks Holly about her past. Holly says that she tried to be an actress in California and her feeling of not knowing what she wants to do with her life. She is so uncommitted to anything that she hardly has any furniture and has not named her cat. She says that sometimes she fears this existential crisis and during those moments she visits Tiffany’s jewelry store and gazes in wonder at the expensive items that she cannot buy. Holly says that it is her dream to take breakfast at Tiffany’s which is not possible because Tiffany’s doesn’t sell food. The store is the only place in the world that makes her feel calm.

Mag Wildwood arrives at the party though she was not invited. Holly mentions that maybe Mag is suffering from a venereal disease (S.T.D) and thus her guests should avoid it. Mag gets too angry and drinks too much and then abuses Holly. Holly asks the narrator to take care of Mag who falls unconscious after drinking too much. After the party, Mag sleeps in Holly’s room and after some days, they develop a friendship, and Mag moves in with Holly. Mag is engaged to Jose, a young Brazillian politician who frequently starts visiting Holly’s room to meet Mag.

The narrator succeeds to get a publisher for his story and he shares the news with Holly who encourages him and takes him to lunch to celebrate. While enjoying their time together they pass through various shops and look for their favourite items through the shop windows. The narrator especially liked a birdcage.

On that Christmas, Holly presents the same birdcage to the narrator but insists that he should promise her that he will never keep a living thing in that birdcage. The narrator also presents her with a medal of St. Christopher from Tiffany’s that Holly loves. However, soon their friendship gets strained as Holly maintains her criticism and says that the narrator is wasting his time writing stories about uninteresting subjects. The narrator feels insulted and starts maintaining a distance from Holly.

After some days, the narrator notices a stranger spying on Holly. He confronts him and finds out that the man is Doc Golightly. The man informs that he is a horse doctor from Tunip, Texas where Holly is originally from and her birth name is Lulamae Barnes. He says that her parents died when she was only 10 years old and she was shifted to a foster house along with her younger brother Fred Barnes. The doctor was a widower and lonely, with no child. He adopted Lulamae and Fred. When Lulamae turned 14, he decided to marry her. But Lulamae wasn’t ready for family life and decided to run away and turned her name to Holly, though she maintained her husband’s surname. The narrator helps Doc Golightly in meeting Holly. Holly recognizes him as her estranged husband and spends a night with him but asks him to go back to Texas the next morning, She insists that she will never return to him. Doc Golightly decides to return to Fred. Meanwhile, Mag falls ill as she suffers from sunburn. When she is admitted to a hospital, Holly comes near to Jose and they start flirting with each other. Mag suspects Holly, but she insists that she is a lesbian and wouldn’t care for Jose. Mag doesn’t like lesbians and thus, she breaks her friendship with Holly. However, soon she realizes that her suspicion was true and Holly has in fact developed an affair with Jose who has impregnated him. Nonetheless, the narrator learns that Mag too moved on and got married to Rusty Trawler who used to date Holly.

Holly and the narrator decide to celebrate his birthday by going to Central Park where they enjoy horse riding. However, the narrator’s horse gets spooked and he fails to control her. Holly saves his life after much effort. Holly announces that she is planning to leave New York as Jose has proposed to marry her and take her to Brazil. The narrator isn’t happy about it but he congratulates Holly. On the same evening, the authorities visit the apartment to enquire about Holly and one of her neighbors Sapphia Spanella who dislikes Holly and calls her a whore because many men visit her room, and direct them to Holly’s room. Holly gets arrested and the narrator comes to know that she had been an associate of Sally Tomato, the notorious imprisoned Mafia leader. He used to run a drug racket despite being in prison with the help of his lawyer Oliver O’Shaughnessy. Oliver appointed Holly to visit the Sing Sing jail every week to offer a ‘weather report’ to Sally Tomato. Holly became an intermediate between Sally and Oliver and through her help, they ran the drug rackett. Holy used to get $100 per week for her services. Holly gets arrested for this charge. The narrator tries to help her but he doesn’t have money to hire a lawyer. He asks for help from Holly’s other friends but none is ready to help her. However, O. J. Berman agrees to appoint a top lawyer Iggy Fitelstein to defend Holly and get her out on bail. As she comes out of jail, she gets a telegram from Doc Golightly, informing her of Fred’s death. She also gets a letter from Jose in which he declares his break up with Holly because he doesn’t want to continue with a convicted criminal as it will harm his political future in Brazil. Holly takes a sigh and informs the narrator that she suffered a miscarriage and lost her child. The narrator believes that it happened because she put extra effort into the horse while trying to save him.

Nonetheless, Holly announces that after this scandal, she cannot afford to stay in New York. She decides to run away from America while still on bail. Since she already has the ticket to Brazil that Jose brought for her, she decides to go to Brazil. She asks the narrator’s help in bringing her suitcase and her cat so that she may leave for Brazil. The narrator isn’t happy about it but promises to help her. He takes the suitcase and the cat to Joe Bell’s bar where Holly is waiting. She takes a taxi and the narrator accompanies her to the airport. On the way, she releases the cat on the road. The narrator chastises her for leaving the cat helpless. Holly gets sad and asks him to relocate the cat and take care of him. Before she leaves, the narrator promises to find her cat. On his return, the narrator finds out the cat and keeps it with him.

After some days, the narrator receives a message from Holly informing him about her stay in Buenos Aires. She promised to keep in touch with the narrator but he never got any other message from her.

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

The Management of Grief by Bharati Mukherjee | Characters, Summary Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘The Management of Grief’ was a short story by Bharati Mukherjee that was published in her short stories collection titled The Middleman and Other Stories in 1988. ‘The Management of Grief’ is a fictional story based on the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 in which all the 329 people aboard, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens, and 24 Indian citizens lost their life. In 1987, Bharati Mukherjee and her husband Clarke Blaise wrote an investigative book on the same aviation tragedy that was titled “The Sorrow and the Terror: The Haunting Legacy of the Air India Tragedy”. Despite the majority of the victims of the aviation tragedy of 1985 being Canadian citizens, the government of Canada declared it a ‘foreign’ tragedy. In ‘The Sorrow and the Terror.” Bharati Mukherjee blamed Canada’s official policy of “multiculturalism,” which ostensibly encourages tolerance and equality but effectively fosters division and discrimination across racial boundaries. The Management of Grief is a short fictional story based on the same incident.

Characters of The Management of Grief:

Shaila Bhave is the protagonist and narrator of the story. She is a 36 years old immigrant married woman living in Toronto, Canada who gets the news of the Sikh terrorist attack on Air India Flight 182. She learns that probably all the 329 people aboard the plane died during the terrorist attack. Her husband Vikram and two sons Vinod, and Mithun were on that plane. In shock, anxiety, grief, and fear, she takes Valium while facing the situation. Kusum is another Indo-Canadian lady, a neighbor and friend of Shaila whose husband Satish and younger daughter were also on the same plane. While Kusum is more traditional and rooted in Indian culture, her elder daughter Pam is a Westernized girl who holds no values of Indianness. Naturally, Pam isn’t close to Kusum and blames her for favoring her younger sister who is more traditional. On the other hand, Pam is closer to Shaila. Dr. Ranganathan is a renowned electrical engineer working in Montreal who too lost his entire family in the attack. Judith Templeton is a Canadian government official social worker who is unaware of the political nuances of the Indian diaspora. She asks the help of Shaila to communicate with the relatives of those who were killed in the attack.

Summary of The Management of Grief:

The story begins as Shaila Bhave and Kusum are sitting on the staircase of Shaila’s split-level house, holding hands. Both women are nervous and shocked. They recently heard the news about the air bombing of Air India Flight 182. Initially, they do not know much about what exactly happened. However, Shaila’s both sons, Kusum’s younger daughter, and the husbands of both women were on traveling on the same plane. The radio and TV news informs that the airliner fell into the ocean approximately 190 kilometers off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard. Shaila’s house is filled with solicitous Indian friends who have taken charge: the women are in the kitchen making tea, and the men and boys are tuned to different radio and TV stations, and relaying the latest news and developments. It appears that irrespective of their geographical position, they are in India. Shaila is known as a strong-willed woman who is beyond the initial conflicts of immigration and has settled well in Canada. She doesn’t consider herself Indian anymore but recognizes herself as Canadian in all senses. However, the news of the death of her husband and both sons is too much for her to bear. Thus, she takes valium to maintain a stable appearance, but inside she feels “tensed” and “ready to scream.” The boys murmur that it was a Sikh terrorist attack. Shaila is deeply heart by knowing this. Her family left India to lead a peaceful life. She laments, “We, who stayed out of politics and came halfway around the world to avoid religious and political feuding, have been the first in the World to die from it.”

Kusum, on the other hand, is too disturbed and fails to show her disappointment in having lost her younger daughter whom she preferred more. Her elder daughter is Pam who is a westernized girl. Pam works in Mcdonald's, preferring Wonderland to Bombay, dating Canadian boys, hanging out in the mall, and wearing tight sweaters. Her relationship with Kusum is too strained. However, Pam gels with Shaila well as both are more Western than Indian. In her despair, Kusum tells Pam, “If I didn’t have to look after you now, I’d hang myself.” Pam gets deeply hurt by that remark and says to Shaila, “You think I don’t know what Mummy’s thinking? Why her? That’s what. That’s sick! Mummy wishes my little sister were alive and I were dead!”

Meanwhile, Judith Templeton, the Canadian government’s official social helper visits Shaila’s house to seek her help. Templeton has the job to help the mourners and aid them in moving on with their life. However, she is unable to converse with many of the mourners who barely speak English. She asks Shaila to help her in the impersonal work of processing papers for relief funds to the mourners. Judith says that she has learned that Shaila is hailed as a strong woman with a very calm demeanor in her community. Shaila tries to explain that her seemingly cool, unaffected demeanor is hardly admired by her community, who expect their members to mourn publicly and vocally. She tells her that her calm affect is not a mark of maturity, but of strangeness. Juditch compliments her while she discusses her own idea of grief and says that grief proceeds in orderly stages and that it is an emotion to be controlled rather than given in to. Shaila promises her to help her with the job after returning from Ireland, where she has to go to identify the remains of her family.

In Ireland, Kusum identifies the body of her husband. Shaila too checks the photographs of the dead bodies but fails to find a match for anyone she knows. Shaila visits the coast with Kusum and Dr. Ranganathan, a renowned electrical engineer from Montreal who too lost all his family in the plane crash. Dr. Ranganathan is an optimistic man and he says that the plane fell into the ocean and it is possible that if someone survived the blast, and if he is a strong swimmer, he might not have died. Shaila remembers that Vinod is a good swimmer and it fills her with hope. An Irish police officer approaches Shaila and shows him a photograph of a dead body which he believes is her older son Vinod. Shaila looks at the photo and sees that because of drowning, the features of the body in the picture were distorted. She doesn’t recognize that picture too. Shaila is unable to accept the death of her family.

Kusum decides to take her husband’s body to Haridwar to offer the last rites. Shaila too decides to accompany her to India. In India, she meets with her elderly parents. Her parents are rich, modern, and progressive. Some of their Sikh friends visit them to offer their condolences. While her parents calmly receive them, Shaila feels a hidden anger against them. Shaila’s grandmother is a traditional woman who got widowed at the early age of sixteen and since then she led an ascetic life considering herself a ‘harbinger of bad luck.’ However, her mother doesn’t approve of such regressive traditions and says that such behavior is mindless mortification. Shaila observes that many widows and widowers of her age are being matched with new spouses. However, she is of an age where nobody is asking her for remarriage and she is relieved by that.

Shaila’s family decides to take her on a tour of India to visit various Hindu temples and shrines so that she may get some diversion. In a deserted Himalayan temple, Shaila has a vision of her husband. He tells her: “You must finish alone what we started together.” Knowing that her mother is a practical woman with “no patience with ghosts, prophetic dreams, holy men, and cults,” Shaila tells her nothing of the vision but is spurred to return to Canada.

Shaila maintains a connection with Kusum and Dr. Ranganathan and learns that Pam is planning to leave Toronto for California to do modeling work or open a “yoga-cum-aerobics studio in Hollywood” with the insurance money of her father. Kusum decides to sell her home in Canada and decides to move into an Ashram in Haridwar. Shaila doesn’t approve of this and says that it is like running away from reality. After returning to Toronto, she maintains a good relationship with Dr. Ranganathan who continues to be a source of comfort for Shaila. Both have not remarried and he calls Shaila twice a week from Montreal. He considers himself and Shaila as “relatives,” joined together by race, culture, and now this mournful event. He takes a new job in Ottawa but cannot bear to sell his house in Montreal that he turns into a shrine of his late family.

Judith visits Shaila again and informs her about her progress with the Canadian Indian mourners. She says that these people are in the second or third stage of their grief which she calls ‘depressed acceptance.’ Judith asks Shaila to accompany her to a particular old couple who barely speak English and cannot understand her. She says that the old couple is too stubborn and is not ready to sign the papers for relief, She further informs them without signing the papers, they won’t get any money which they already lack. Shaila is willing to help but then she learns that the couple is Sikh and says that they may not listen to her because she is a Hindu. Judith insists that their Indianness is enough connection. As they reach the apartment, Shaila feels as if she has visited some old part of India and she doesn't like it. She sees women in sarees waiting for a bus and it reminds her of Bombay. Anyhow, she visits the house of the old Sikh couple with Judith. Shaila explains that if they sign the documents, the government will give them money, including airfare to Ireland to identify the bodies. The husband emphasizes that “God will provide, not the government” and the wife insists that her boys will return. Shaila fails to convince them and returns after thanking them for the tea. Judith gets exasperated and complains about Indian mourners. She says that the next woman whom they had to meet is “a real mess.” Suddenly, Shaila feels that she doesn’t wish to continue with Judith and takes her leave. She says that everyone has their own way of grief and it cannot be formulated in Judith’s sterile, textbook approach to grief management.

Shaila continues her quiet and joyless life in Toronto. She sells her big house at a profit and buys a small apartment. Kusum continues to write to her and informs her that she has seen her daughter’s reincarnation in a Himalayan village. Dr. Ranganathan continues to call her twice a week. One day he informs that he has sold his house in Montreal and has shifted to Texas, America where he wishes to tell nobody about his previous loss and grief. One day, Shaila goes to the mall for shopping and while walking back to her new home with the package of things she bought, she sees a vision of her family for the last time. Her husband tells her, “Your time has come, . . . Go, be brave.” Shaila leaves the package on a nearby park bench and continues walking aimlessly while feeling the freedom that she just gained from the unproductive attachment to her husband and sons’ spirits. She is not clear where this new life will take her, but she is determined that she will mourn no more.

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!