Department of English, Madras Christian College (Autonomous) Lesson Summaries and Critical Analyses of Prose, Poetry and Short Stories Course Teacher: Samuel Rufus, S For Part II English - Semester III [Revised and updated] The lesson summaries given below are intended to be mere scaffolding to your understanding of the respective texts. They are not necessarily comprehensive in its appeal, as the essays have been finetuned to serve the needs of the ESL and/or EFL learners. Contents: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
“The Tower of Gabble” – P.Sainath “The Dream” by Somerset Maugham “My Grandmother’s House” – Kamala Das “The Sporting Spirit” – George Orwell “The Unknown Citizen” – W.H.Auden “She” – Lakshmi Kannan “The City Planners” – Margaret Atwood “The Doll's House” – Katherine Mansfield
“The Tower of Gabble” – P.Sainath – P.Sainath Introduction:
In 1946, the famous English author and journalist George Orwell wrote an impassioned essay, "Politics and the English Language ", criticising what he saw as the dangers of "ugly and inaccurate" contemporary written English. English . ―The Tower of Gabble‖ by P.Sainath is likewise ―a very deft parody of a dialect, called NGONGO -Speak.‖ Sainath is an Indian journalist who has extensively covered the horrible realities of poverty in India and the thousands of suicides of small farmers driven to self destruction by neo-liberal policies. His work has won praise from the likes of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen who referred to him as ―one of the world‘s great experts on famine and hunger‖. A Satire on the Rhetoric of „Development‟:
The writer Sainath makes fun of all the verbal jugglery, of the lingua franca used by a majority of the grant applicants and conference planners to obtain a sustainable grant from some major foundation or organisation. This NGO argot or NGO slang, as it is known, is deeply confusing and so complicating to the extent that instead of serving the purpose, Phrases like ―Exploratory Sessions will be based on Interactive Communication‖ and ―They could be roped in via a Plenary Session on Good Governance, Accountability and the importance of Networking‖ serve to sarcastically highlight the enormous complexity used by ‗Development‘ activists, which are poorly understood by the local community community most of the time, since they are conceptualised from the perspective of the NGOs. Further, the use of unnecessary capital letters throughout the essay makes the prose style of these so-called Development activists, highly idiotic in appeal, to say the least. Readability and legibility, which are the key ingredients of good rhetoric, have been compromised for the
sake of ‗impressive‘ verbal diarrhoea. In short, NGO jargon is employed to give the impression of competence while actually achieving very little. Favourite Words of NGO-Speak:
All the favourite words of NGO-speak are now used vigorously by Development activists, especially in developing countries like India. Top of the list are ―empowerment‖, ―capacity―capacity building‖, ―Civil Society Organisations‖, Organisati ons‖, ―stakeholder‖, ―stakehol der‖, ―Action Groups‖, ―Focus groups‖, ―Governance‖, ―facilitators‖, ―Advocacy Outreach‖, ―Issue―Issue- based based development‖, etc, to name a few. Such terms are hard to define and still harder to contradict. As ―The Economist‖ rightly points out, ―NGO-speak ―NGO-speak is particularly cherished and fostered in the grant applications that smaller NGOs have to file to the bigger ones. Using the right word is everything. ―If you don‘t know the buzz words,‖ says an NGO director, ―you hardly have a chance to apply for funds,‖ funds,‖ which makes the task more uphill for the Development activists. Desire to Impress through Verbosity and Logorrhea:
Verbosity, also called wordiness, prolixity and garrulousness, refers to speech or writing which is deemed to use an excess of words. Development activists resort to these excessive flow of words, which are highly abstract, and, consequently, contains little concrete language. The absence of concrete language means that it is hard to visualize, and hence seems as though it makes no sense to the reader. Development activists concern themselves mainly with the lay populace, and hence, when interacting with them, it is out of place to use verbal grandiloquence while dealing with uneducated individuals. These concepts sound quite unnatural, and also smirk of a tendency to impress the possible donors. The art of rhetoric, lies in making even the most complex of contexts into a simple and easy to read structure. But, the ‗rhetoric of the NGOs is the other way round. Too much of complicated information is bombarded onto the reader at the risk of losing the main point. In such a situation, it becomes very difficult to identify the intended core message of the sender. Sainath takes a dig at the resolutions adopted at these NGO meets, where they resolve to ‗examine Paradigm Shifts in the Development Debate while strengthening Conscientization, Advocacy Outreach and Institution-Building.‘ Institution- Building.‘ Most of these words seem out of place or redundant to the point of being meaningless. The Need to be Simple and Profound:
Ideas need to be simple and profound in order to have the desired effect on the readers. The writer should work hard on making his ideas understandable to his readers. Since the case for Development focuses on the upliftment of the underprivileged, these ideas need to be explained to them in simple, concrete terms, rather than wallowing in pompous and overelaborate writing. As Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers, rightly opines,
―Writing is an instrument for conveying ideas from one mind to another; the writer's writer's job is to make his reader apprehend his meaning readily and precisely.‖ Conclusion:
The article, by satirising the verbal pomposity of the Development activists, pleads for the use of plain English, an English that promotes clarity, brevity and the avoidance of technical language – language – particularly in relation to official communication. The intention of such Development writers should be to write in a manner that is easily understood by the target audience: appropriate to their reading skills and knowledge, clear and direct, free of cliché and unnecessary jargon. ***** Our acknowledgements are due to: Wikipedia.com for elaborations on words related to Verbosity and Plain English. The Economist.com for words related to NGO speak.
Dream” by Somerset Maugham “The Dream” Introduction:
One of the most common yet feared dreams is the experience of falling in dreams or dreams of falling. The dream can be as simple as falling out of bed or as extreme as falling from top of a building, ladder, rooftop, mountain, cliff or even out of an airplane without a parachute, to name just a few. Yet, regardless of the height the dreamer is falling from in the dream, the experience is terrifying to the dreamer. As a result, the dreamer generally wakes up hyperventilated, afraid, filled with anxiety, sweating, struggling for each breath he takes, heart pounding in his chest as if it were about to explode. Somerset Maugham narrates one such experience of a dream that he heard from a Russian traveller in transit at Vlad ivostok, Russia‘s largest port city. Maugham meets a Russian at a Restaurant:
In August 1917, Somerset Maugham had to make a work-related trip from New York to Petrograd. As the trans-Siberian train started at nine in the evening, Maugham dined at the station restaurant. He shared table with a Russian man whose appearance seemed to entertain him. Soon, both got into conversation, and the author felt that the Russian was well-learned and that he was on his way back home after a long stint abroad. The Russian‟s Russian‟s Portrayal of his wife‟s wife‟ s Disposition:
The Russian then proceeded to narrate about his life. Stating that he was a widower, he talked a great deal about his wife, a Swiss national. He had been married for ten years and lived on perfectly friendly terms, but for the fact that his wife had been extremely possessive of her love towards him. She was small and thin, and she had a bad complexion. She could not bear him to be attracted to any one but her. Hence, she was jealous not only of the women he knew, but of his friends, his cat and his books too. On one occasion she had even given off
his coat because he had liked it so well. The Russian said that he was puzzled whether it was passionate love or passionate hate that she had for him. The Piercing Scream in the Night:
One night, the Russian continued, he was awakened by a piercing scream from his wife. When he asked her the matter, she said that she had had a fearful nightmare in which she had dreamt that he was trying to kill her by throwing her over the balusters from the sixth floor to the bottom. The Effect of the frightening Dream on the Wife:
After the dream, the wife was visibly very shaken. Though the Russian did his best to pacify her, the dream dwelt in her mind. She was made to think that he hated her, and would gladly be rid of her, and at some time or the other it had occurred to her that he was even capable of murdering her. The Russian confessed that even though he had fancied once in a while that his wife might run away with a lover, or that he would die a painless death, never had the idea come to him that he might deliberately rid himself of a burden. The Consequences of the Dream on the Couple‟s Life:
Hence, the dream started to have an extraordinary impression on both of them. But the Russian admitted that he couldn‘t help looking over the balusters and reflect how easy it would be to do what his wife had dreamt. The balusters were dangerously low. A few months later, one night, his wife woke him up trembling. She had had the dream again. She burst into tears and asked him if he hated her. At last she went to sleep again. Now the Russian lay awake. It seemed to him that she was falling down the well of the stairs. He was shivering as this thought passed his mind. The Russian stopped his story at this point, with beads of sweat on his forehead. Maugham was listening thus far in rapt attention. He poured himself one more round of vodka. The author could not contain his curiosity and asked him how his wife eventually died. The Russian replied that she was found by one of the lodgers late one night at the bottom of the stairs with her neck broken. When the author asked him where he was at the time of her death, the Russian replied that he was spending the evening with a friend, and could manage to come to the scene of crime only an hour later. Conclusion:
Now, it was getting late for the author to go and catch his train, and the author was still perplexed about the whole who le story, stor y, as he couldn‘t coul dn‘t make ma ke out whether the Russian had murdered his wife or making out a sarcastic joke at the author‘s expense. Whatever be the motive of the Russian in narrating his story, an interpretation of this short story from a psychoanalytical viewpoint, has a lot of symbolism attached to it. According to Sigmund Freud, considered the father of psychoanalysis, all dreams are forms of "wish fulfillment" — attempts by the
unconscious to resolve a conflict of some sort. As such, the dreams of falling may signify insecurity in a marriage, relationship, family dynamic, career, workplace and finances. As in the case with this short story where the wife is possessive about her husband at all times, due – namely, ―a bad complexion‖. Thus, to a physical inferiority that she thought she possessed – namely, among other causes, falling dreams, according to psychologists can also be the result of an inferiority or inadequacy or lack of self confidence the dreamer has or feels she has with regard to relationships, marriage that is causing the dreamer to feel he is not going to measure up to the challenges demanded of her. ***** PS: The section on interpretation of dreams is from http://social-psychiatry.com/ ***** Kamala Das “My Grandmother‟s House” – House” – Kamala Introduction:
Kamala Das is one of the three most significant Indian poets writing in English today, the other two being Nissim Ezekiel and Ramanujan. Her poetry is all about herself, about her intensely felt desire for love, for emotional involvement, and her failure to achieve such a relationship. In this poem, ―My Grandmother‘s House‖ Kamala Das, recalls her ancestral home and her dead grandmother. This poem takes the form of a confession comparing her present broken state with that of being unconditionally loved by her grandmother. Kamala Das as a Confessional Poet:
Kamala Das has been called a poet in the confessional mode. The confessional poets deal with emotional experiences which are generally taboo. There is a ruthless self-analysis and a tone of utter sincerity. As E.V.Ramakrishnan rightly says, ―In her poetry, Kamala has always dealt with private humiliations and sufferings which are the stock themes of confessional poetry.‖ Reminiscent of the Poet‟s Ancestral Home:
The poem is a reminiscence of the poetess‘ grandmother and their ancestral home at Malabar in Kerala. Her memory of love she received from her grandmother is associated with the image of her ancestral home, where she had passed some of the happiest days of her life, and where her old grandmother had showered her love and affection. With the death of her grandmother the house withdrew into silence. When her grandmother died, even the house seemed to share her grief, which is poignantly expressed in the phrase ―the House withdrew‖. The house soon became desolate and snakes crawled among books. Her blood became cold like the moon because there was none to love her the way she wanted. Yearning for the Past: Choked with Grief:
The poet now lives in another city, a long distance away from her grandmother‘s house. But the memories of her ancestral house make her sad. She is almost heart-broken. The intensity of her emotions is shown by the ellipses in the form of a few dots. Now, in another city,
living another life, she longs to go back. She understands that she cannot reclaim the past but she wants to go back home, look once again through its windows and bring back a handful of – sad and painful memories, which she would have made her constant companion, darkness – sad to keep as a reminder of her past happiness. The poet is unable to proceed with her thoughts for sometime as is indicated by the ellipses (dots). The poet is now choked with the intensity of grief. She yearns for love like a beggar going from one door to another asking for love in small change. Her need for love and approval is not satisfied in marriage and she goes after strangers for love at least in small quantity. But she does not get it even in small change or coins. Her love-hunger remains unsatisfied, and there is a big void, a blank within her, she seeks to fill up with love but to no avail. The image of the window is a link between the past and the present. It signifies the desire of the poet for a nostalgic peep into her past and resurrect her dreams and desires. Conclusion:
The poem springs from her own disillusionment with her expectation of unconditional love from the one she loves. In the poem, the image of the ancestral home stands for the strong support and unconditional love she received from her grandmother. The imagery is personal and beautifully articulates her plight in a loveless marriage. Thus, the old house was for her a place of symbolic retreat to a world of innocence, purity and simplicity, an Edenic world where love and happiness are still possible.‖ ***** Spirit ” – George “The Sporting Spirit” – George Orwell Introduction:
In the extremely competitive atmosphere in which sports is administered today, every player backed by every nation, would obviously have a strong temptation to take advantage of the gaps in the rule book, bending the rules to his favour, and conveniently interpreting the law to his advantage. Against this backdrop, George Orwell, pleads for the need to understand the importance of demonstrating sportsmanship and set a good example on the sporting field for the others to emulate. Sports as an Unfailing Cause of ill-will:
In his remarkable essay ―The Sporting Spirit‖, Orwell grieves over the fact that sport is an unfailing cause of ill-will, and that the visit of the Russian football team Dynamos, has only worsened the Anglo-Soviet relations instead of strengthening it. Two of the four matches played led to much bad feeling. At the Arsenal match the referee was booed at. At the match in Glasgow, it was a free-for-all right from the start. According to Orwell, football was capable of provoking the vicious passions of patriotism, resulting in fresh animosity on both sides.
The dictum that sports creates goodwill between the nations was a misnomer because, if the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would not have any inclination to meet on the battlefield. Such is the ferocity and the fervour that flares up, leading to orgies of hatred, something similar to what happened in the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance. Sports Played for Exercise and Sports played for Prestige:
On the village green, when you pick up sides, no feeling of local patriotism is involved. The game is played simply for the fun and exercise. But, as soon as the question of prestige arises, and the moment you feel that you will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. At the international level, sport is mimic warfare. More than the behaviour of the players, it is the attitude of the spectators that aggravates the situation. And that is because of a false notion that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue. Even a leisurely game like cricket, demanding grace rather than strength, has caused a lot of ill-will, as seen in the controversy over body-line bowling in the 1921 match between Australia and England. Football, a game in which everyone gets hurt and every nation has its own style of play, is far worse. Worst of all is boxing. One of the most horrible sights in the world is a fight between white and coloured boxers before a mixed audience. Modern Sport and its Ancient Origin:
Orwell then proceeds to inquire into how this modern cult of sport arose. Most of the games we play now are of ancient origin, but sport was not taken very seriously between Roman times and the nineteenth century. Even in the English public schools the games did not start till the later part of the twentieth century. So much that, Dr.Arnold, generally regarded as the founder of the modern public school, looked on games as simply a waste of time. Sports today: Heavily financed Activities:
But later on, chiefly in England and in the United States, games were built up into a heavilyfinanced activity, capable of attracting vast crowds and rousing savage passions, and the infection gradually spread from country to country. It is the most violently combative sports like football and boxing, that have spread the widest. And the whole thing is bound up with the rise of nationalism. Even in the Middle Ages games were played with much physical brutality but they were not mixed up with politics nor were they a cause of group hatreds. Organised games like these are most likely to flourish in urban communities where the average human being lives a sedentary or confined life and does not get much opportunity for creative labour. For these urbanites, Orwell advocates that, when it is not possible to work off surplus energy by walking, swimming, climbing trees, riding horses, one must indulge in group activities if one wants an outlet for one‘s physical strength or for one‘s sadistic impulses. Conclusion:
Orwell winds up his essay with a fervent plea for good sportsmanship, which, according to him, is one of the most desirable qualities in any great player. As the Olympic oath majestically declares, ―in ―in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams," every player should imbibe these qualities of sportsmanship which would go a long way in promoting the sporting spirit between nations. ***** “The Unknown Citizen” – W.H.Auden – W.H.Auden Introduction:
―The Unknown Citizen‖ is a poem by W. H. Auden. Auden wrote it in 1939, shortly after moving from England to the United States, and the poem gives evidence of his culture shock when suddenly confronted with American-style chaos and consumerism. It is an ironic poem and the poet intends his satire against a society which kills a person‘s individuality. Significance of the Sub-title:
The sub-title sub-title to the poem ―To JS/07/M/378/ This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State‖ alludes to the concept enforced by the government that every human being must be classified by a alpha-numeric tag to distinguish who they are, rather than being able to have their own personal identity. The poet scoffs at humans being given alpha- numeric names when they‘re already struggling for their own personal identity in a world clustered with the advancing technology. His Office Life and Social Life – Life – Analysed: Analysed:
The Bureau of Statistics has found that "no official complaint" has been made against the unknown citizen. He is also described as a "modern" saint, which means that he always served the "Greater Community." He worked in a factory before the war and he never got fired, as he satisfied his employers always. Now the poem shifts from his employment to his social life. Even in his socialising with his friends, the unknown citizen acts with a lot of moderation and restraint. He likes "a drink," but he doesn‘t drink too much muc h and isn‘t an alcoholic. Even the news media is convinced about the credentials of this citizen because he bought his newspaper every day. Moreover, he also had ‗normal‘ reactions to advertisements in the newspapers. In short, he is a good American consumer. His Insurance and Consumer Statistics – Statistics – Analysed: Analysed:
The government‘s statistical coverage on this citizen now turns to the insurance sector. He was fully insured, because he was not a risk-taker. And, even though he had insurance, he only went to the hospital once, which means he wasn‘t too much of a burden on the health system. He left the hospital "cured". Consumer statisticians like Producers Research and High-Grade Living have done a little research and learned that the unknown citizen used "instalment plans" to buy expensive things. The phrase "fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan" is an ironic
comment on the average citizen‘s love for buying things and paying for them over a period of time.
Auden seems to criticise the modern man‘s concept of living wherein we always think we need more than we really do. In the opinion of the speaker, the following lines “[He] had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire”, we get the impression that the unknown citizen‘s greatest accomplishment was buying things, which defines the modern man‘s predicament. The Unknown Citizen – Citizen – A A Conformist:
The "researchers into Public Opinion" find him a conformist, which means that he believed what the people around him seemed to believe. He was like a weather vane, going whichever way the wind blew. The fact that ― He was married and added five children to the population,” is a great achievement from the perspective of the State because a growing population usually helps a nation‘s economy and also ensures that there are enough soldiers in case of a War (remembering the fact that this poem was written in 1939, just ahead of World War II). At the home front, the Bureau of Statistics finds him to be a good parent because he never interfered with the education of his kids which was a State-sponsored education. Was he Free? Was he Happy?
The poet ends by asking two questions – "Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.‖ This statement shows that even though the government knows each and every statistics and facts going on in one‘s life, they don‘t know the actual feelings or meaning to one‘s life. In other words, from the perspective of the State, it is much more important that people are not unhappy, and it does not matter whether they experience personal fulfilment or not. Conclusion:
In conclusion, the world today is constantly progressing to be more technology efficient but on the other side of the spectrum, humans are striving to have their own personal identities and to be different from one another. On the contrary, the ―Unknown Citizen‖ is in fact just following the very typical, normal, and average life style instead of being different and striving for individualism. The poem is thus a satire of standardization at the expense of individualism. ***** “She” – Lakshmi – Lakshmi Kannan Introduction:
The ―She‖ of the poem has no name and no distinct identity, and yet she is such a common feature of every household in India that she comes through to us without any difficulty. In a
patriarchal milieu woman is regarded as a nonentity and consequently no attempt is made to give her a distinct identity. Although on the surface she has a look of well-being, she experiences great distress deep within. In each of the three sections of the poem, Lakshmi Kannan presents elaborate description of the external attributes/circumstances of the woman‘s existence against the background of which a peep into her inner life is provided. -expression in a Patriarchal Society: Woman‟s Lack of Self -expression
In the opening section, the poet delineates a woman who is elegantly and tastefully dressed, creating a vision of a modern woman who wears tight-fitting clothes that smack of western culture. There is about her an aura of confidence as she glibly pronounce s ―value judgements.‖ But beneath this suave su ave and self -assured -assured appearance there lurks a person who is tense and insecure (―tight and springspring-tense‖). Both before and after marriage, in most upper and upper middle class families, girls enjoy the luxury of expensive clothes and the benefit of liberal education, but their inner, authentic voice remains unarticulated. Lack of selfexpression leads to dissatisfaction and even depression. The ―well―well-tailored clothes‖ suggest a lifestyle designed for her and into which which she is fitted. The clothes constitute a mask (of what a woman should look like and be) that has obscured the real person. Even the―value judgements‖ are probably not her own. Rather, these are the dictates of a patriarchal society. So, while the woman appears comfortable, the repressed real self is ―tight and springspring-tense.‖ Emotional and Psychological Sterility of the Woman at Home:
In the second section, the scene shifts to the luxury and comfort in which ―She‖ lives. The house is looked upon as a living l iving creature gleaming ―with clean health‖ and ―breathing an air of uncluttered ease.‖ Every room is spick -and-span -and-span and with eye-catching decor, enough to make a woman ―house―house- proud.‖ proud.‖ However, in this instance, the woman is not n ot genuinely genui nely proud prou d but is forced force d into being so: ―She needs to be.‖ In the absence of any other significant or creative achievement, she needs must feel ―house―house- proud.‖ proud.‖ Or, perhaps, it is a stereotype response that a woman in a patriarchal society is obliged to feel. In spite of all the material comforts, the woman experiences emotional sterility at the core of her being and this is suggested by the lines: ―the floor swept clean/as her empty heart.‖ Paradoxically, while the house enjoys ―clean health‖ and breathes ―an air of uncluttered ease,‖ the woman is psychologically and emotionally ill at ease with her role (home maker) that denies her opportunities of a fuller and more meaningful realisation of the self. The Woman‟s Inner Chaos – Contrasted – Contrasted with the Orderliness of the Garden:
In the the concluding section, the woman‘s life is viewed against the backdrop of life outside the house. Through the open door she has a glimpse of the orderly ―backgarden‖ and the ―lengthening shadow‖ of her person. One gets the impression that life has quietly slipped slipped her by and she is left with longing and loneliness. The oppressive silence of the house rings in her ears. The inner chaos is in sharp contrast to the orderliness of the life of nature as symbolised by the garden. The mango tree is in full bloom wit h the sudden appearance of ―glossy leaves‖ that shine like copper on the branches. Then there is the ―sweet―sweet-throated‖ song of the birds. In
the midst of so much joy all she can feel is the ―pealing stillness‖ and ―the pain of memories‖ of a once pleasant past. Growth in the Context of Woman Vs Nature:
To heighten the woman‘s predicament Lakshmi Kannan suggests that while nature registers a growth and renewal, the woman has remained static – virtually living in a limbo. The only visible growth about her is the lengthening of her shadow. Apart from suggesting the process of ageing, the ―lengthening shadow‖ implies that her real, inner self has been arrested and the false, social image that she has acquired has assumed a larger dimension, however insubstantial it may be. Conclusion:
In the concluding lines of the poem, we see the woman looking at the eagle ―soaring above in circles‖ with its ―shrill notes tearing‖ the vast expanse of the blue sky. This spectacle of total freedom of movement and expression serves as a painful reminder of her own social confinement. The unfettered life of the creatures of nature highlights by contrast the slavery of woman. For example, the eyes of the kite are ―frankly red and angry‖ as it cries out at some injustice or loss, but the woman suffers silently. Even the note of protest is muted. ***** (Notes for “She” by Dr.P.Rajani, Retd Professor of English, MCC)
***** Planners ” – Margaret “The City Planners” – Margaret Atwood Introduction:
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian author, poet, critic, essayist, feminist and social campaigner. Best known as a novelist, she is also an award-winning poetess. As John Wilson Foster comments, ―her verse is that of a psychic individual at sea in a materialist society.‖ The City-Planners‖ City-Planners‖ is critical of the monotony and false beauty of modern cities, suburbs and its architecture. The poem views modern life as empty, artificial, and its inhabitants as robotic and lacking in spirit. Land in the City vs Rural Land:
The land in the city has a great contrast with the rural land. The influx of people moving from rural to urban areas keeps on increasing to this day. This form of displacement is also known as internal migration. Living in such an environment with only concrete, steel and buildings, man consequently becomes more mechanical, stressed and partially dehumanized. The absence of vast land in cities deprives the harmony that a huge area of empty land provides. This absence of land in cities is severely criticized by Margaret Atwood in her poem entitled "City Planners" where "the houses in pedantic rows" shows lack of warmth. The Victory of Science over Nature:
The theme of this poem is perfection, uniformity, man‘s attempts to control nature, and lust for power of the the city planners. As the poet moves about in a residential area, she is offended by the "sanities" of the area. The word ‗sanities‘ may allude to the unnatural 'sanitariness' of the place. Secondly, it may denote the saneness of minds, or soundness that render them sophisticated, uniform and therefore boring. The "dry August sunlight" alludes to the province from which the speaker hails: Canada. The houses in rows appear too pedantic to be real. The trees have the appearance of being planted to render the scene picture-perfect. The levelness of surface further provokes the poetess as it appears to be a rebuke to the dent in their car door. There is no shouting there ,no shatter of glass. No instinctive action takes place here: everything is after-thought and preplanned. There are no shouts here, no loud wants as people are economically well-off and complacent. The only noise is the rational whine of a power mower. It is that rationality that makes this noise 'a voice'. In the era of applied technology, this sound is more pleasing to the ears than emotional echoes. The power mower cut a straight swath in the discouraged grass; and thus established the victory of Science over Nature. Empty, Monotonous Lives of the People in the Cities:
Throughout the second stanza there has been absolutely no mention of any human movement, making it seem as if the sub-division is empty. This could metaphorically indicate that the people living here live empty, monotonous lives that are without meaning. The driveways neatly side-step hysteria by revealing even roads. that appear like mathematical units. Even a domestic entity like a coiled pipe appears as poisonous as a snake, as it is out of place. The windows portray a fixed-stare as though everything is static, and nothing is kinetic. The natural scenery appears to be at the back of this residential area. The speaker hopes that the future cracks in the plaster will enable one to view the breathtaking natural view behind. She also admits that, ―the houses in pedantic rows, the the planted sanitary trees, offend us with their transitory lines, rigid as wooden borders‖. Man's mistakes seem to offer more than his creations in this stanza. The poet is trying to give power back to nature here, and stating that nature will eventually, definitely rise once again and break down these suburbs. The Reality of the Real Estate Agency:
Stanza three is the end of complaints and shows the consequences of being so greedy. It also shows the reality of the real estate agency. These City Planners - calculating and manipulative in their approach to reach their ends are no less than political conspirators. In such a situation, they will be subjected to unsurveyed territories they had not even envisaged. They will be hidden from each other, where competitiveness will take a back-seat. Blindness and Confusion of the City:
Margaret Atwood claims that there will come an inevitable stage when nature will ultimately conquer. Houses will capsize into clay seas. Is the poetess foreboding a natural disaster, most probably a Tsunami? It would the only take a minute to put to years of city-planning to naught. They will appear like glaciers then. The speaker utilizes the metaphor of ice to connote transience. Nobody notices how fleeting all this is. Blizzards and snows are used as an extended metaphor for the blindness and confusion of a city that is completely bland and
uniform, in which the people do not even realise how routine and structured their lives and the suburbia in general are in reality. Conclusion:
The poem eventually envisages the city planners‘ consequences of being greedy, and ends by saying that, the creations of these city planners will inevitably be destroyed by nature. To counteract the disturbing effect upon the human mind, land must be used in an effective manner. Land is essential to instil serenity in people's lives. To sustain the availability of land in cities, housing must be carefully planned so as to minimize use of land. Green architects are required to maintain this balance between building and nature. ****** “The Doll's House” – Katherine – Katherine Mansfield Introduction:
―The Doll's House‖ is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, written in the year 1922. The story reveals the extent to which class consciousness has wreaked havoc in the social set up, so much so that the other children are discouraged from talking to the children from the lowest of the social classes. The story traces the problem of class consciousness through the character of Kezia, and her journey from innocence to the symbolic world of experience. The Arrival of the Doll‟s House in i n the Burnell family:
The Burnell children childre n receive a doll‘s house from Mrs Hay, who had come to stay with them. The children were so excited about the doll‘s house, and they decide to show it off to their school friends. With the arrival of the doll's house, the Burnell children get so excited and greatly attracted to it. While the two older children admire the red carpet, the red chairs, and the gold frames of this richly decorated house, Kezia, the youngest of the girls, takes an interest in the rather simple lamp. The Doll‟s House – Cynosure – Cynosure of all Eyes:
In school, during playtime, Isabel, the eldest of the Burnell children, was surrounded. The girls of her class nearly fought to be her special friend. All the girls, giggling together, pressed up u p close to have h ave a look at the doll‘s house, which was the cynosure of all eyes now. The only two who stayed outside the ring were the little Kelveys. Many of the children, including the Burnells, were not allowed to speak to them. The Kelveys were shunned by everybody. When Kezia asks her mother, "Can't I ask the Kelveys just once?" To which, the response is, "Certainly not, Kezia!‖ The fact that even the teacher had a special voice for them, and a special smile for the other children speaks to the discreet ways in which class consciousness is practised even by teachers themselves, in maintaining the social hierarchy. Symbolism of the Lamp:
Kezia took a great liking for the undecorated lamp. While the others seem to be interested in the gaudy decorations that adorn the house, for Kezia, ―the lamp was perfect‖. ―It was so real‖. When Isabel, the bossy eldest sister went on describing the various features of the doll‘s house, Kezia broke in and said, ‗You‘ve forgotten the lamp, Isabel‘! ―The lamp‘s best of all‖ cried Kezia. But nobody paid attention. The lamp here symbolises the ‗working class‘. These lamps are the sacrificial lights in the altar of the wealthy capitalists. According to Marx, these working classes or proletariat are individuals who sell their labour power for wages and who do not own the means of production. He argued that they were responsible for creating the wealth of a society, but ironically, are treated with contempt and disdain by society. Innocence vs Experience:
Kezia decides to make friends with the Kelveys because she has not been so far indoctrinated with the class consciousness which seem to have corrupted her older sisters. Mansfield beautifully interweaves the contradicting forces of Kezia's innocence with the bigoted views of those who live in the world of experience. While the others keep reminding her of her high class status, Kezia insists on her thoughts of equality to the prejudiced views of the members of her social class. By doing so, she is metaphorically, trying to break the social hierarchy of class inequalities. Discrimination based on Class:
Mansfield brings out the bitter truth that the discrimination between the wealthy ‗haves‘ and the underprivileged ‗have nots‘ was based solely on wealth and class. The fact that ―the line had to be drawn somewhere‖ speaks volumes volumes to the social hierarchy prevalent in society. At the end of the story, Aunt Beryl shouts at Kezia, ‗How dare you ask the little Kelveys into the courtyard?‘ in her furious voice, adding, ‗Run away, children, run away at once. And don‘t come back again!‘ ―Burning with shame, shrinking together, the Kelvey sisters huddled through the big courtyard and squeezed through the white gate.‖ Conclusion:
Through the portrayal of the predicament of the Kelveys, Mansfield brings out the class consciousness that was faithfully handed down by one generation to another. Moreover, through the deft portrayal of the character of Kezia, Mansfield tries to challenge the existing social class consciousness which was wreaking havoc on the social fabric. *****
