How Literature shape Me ?

How Literature shape Me?

I have studied in literature from five years in which i have studied in M.A has more affected and shaped me.
literature make me free thinker and it can learn to critical thinking. i can think good for myself. literature is not just imaginative stories written in leisure time only for entertainment. but it is reflection of time, place and society.
while reading literature connect our-self with characters and start to feel. literature also helped me to understand people also. literature portrays real intentions of people where in reality people used to hide their right intentions.

For me Literature give idea to think beyond and express way of own perspective .when we think about reading literature we feel pleasure but not every time that not true because we study like white tiger, Oliver twist ,these novel reflects harsh reality of our society.

Literature represents life-long process. Any person or group learn literature their point of view.

Literature gives enlightenment in our life’s and we also observe those things.Literature gives positive effects and also negative effect. it all about own perspective we take which way .

i like to study in literature.

All My Sons

All My Sons

All My Sons takes place in a small American town in August, a few years after World War II. The events of the play occur on a single set, the back yard of the Keller home, where a tree has recently been torn down by a storm. The Keller are solidly middle-class and have a working-class background. They are not rich, but they are financially comfortable, and there is a sense throughout the play that they worked hard to reach this state of stability.
Arthur Miller stated that the issue of relatedness is the main one in All My Sons. Protagonist of the play Keller thinks that he has to answer only his family. He has no such connection with society. He has done crime for his family. Principal contention is that Keller is wrong in his claim that there is nothing greater than the family, since there is a whole world to which Keller is connected. To cut yourself off from your relationships with society at large is to invite tragedy of a nature both public (regarding the pilots) and private (regarding the suicides). The family is also presented as a unit that can be corrupted and damaged by the actions and denials of its individuals, a small-scale example of the way individual actions can corrupt society.


All My Sons is a play about the past. It is inescapable--but how exactly does it affect the present and shape the future? Can crimes ever be ignored or forgotten? Most of the dialogue involves various characters discovering various secrets about the recent history of the Keller family.

How do we deceive ourselves and others? We select things to focus on in life, but do we also need to deny certain things in order to live well? People create their own morality and always tried to justify themselves. We preserve our memory the way we want and in doing so we always portray ourselves innocent. We blame the circumstances which are responsible for actions.


Keller argues that his actions during the war were defensible ass requirements of good business practice. He also frequently defines himself as an uneducated man, taking pride in his commercial success without traditional book learning. Yet, his sound business sense actually leads to his downfall. As Balram Halwai did in ‘The White Tiger’. Concept of entrepreneurship is described well.


Miller points out the flaw with a merely economic interpretation of the American Dream as business success alone. Keller sacrifices other parts of the American Dream for simple economic success. Miller critiques a system that would encourage profit and greed at the expense of human life and happiness.

Moby dick

Moby Dick:

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by American writer Herman Melville, published in 1851 during the period of the American Renaissance. Sailor Ishmel tells the story of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the Whaler the Pequot, for revenge on Moby Dick, the white whale that on the previous whaling voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. The novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, but during the 20th century, its reputation as a Great American Novel was established. 

                                     

The novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville is an epic tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, who relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale (the title character) during a journey around the world. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael, a sailor on the Pequod who undertakes the journey out of his affection for the sea.

Moby Dick begins with Ishmael's arrival in New Bedford as he travels toward Nantucket. He rests at the Spouter Inn in New Bedford, where he meets Queequeg, a harpooner from New Zealand who will also sail on the Pequod. Although Queequeg appears dangerous, he and Ishmael must share a bed together and the narrator quickly grows fond of the somewhat uncivilized harpooner. Queequeg is actually the son of a High Chief who left New Zealand because of his desire to learn among Christians. The next day, Ishmael attends a church service and listens to a sermon by Father Mapple, a renowned preacher who delivers a sermon considering Jonah and the whale that concludes that the tale is a lesson to preacher Truth in the face of Falsehood.

On a schooner to Nantucket, Ishmael and Queequeg come across a local bumpkin who mocks Queequeg. However, when this bumpkin is swept overboard, Queequeg saves him. In Nantucket, Queequeg and Ishmael choose between three ships for a year journey, and decide upon the Pequod. The Captain of the Pequod, Peleg, is now retired, and merely owns the boat with another Quaker, Bildad. Peleg tells them of the new captain, Ahab, and immediately describes him as a grand and ungodly man. Before leaving for their voyage, Ishmael and Queequeg come across a stranger named Elijah who predicts disaster on their journey. Before leaving on the Pequod, Elijah again predicts disaster.

Ishmael and Queequeg board the Pequod, where Captain Ahab is still unseen, secluded in his own cabin. Peleg and Bildad consult with Starbuck, the first mate. He is a Quaker and a Nantucket native who is quite practical. The second mate is Stubb, a Cape Cod native with a more jovial and carefree attitude. The third is Flask, a Martha's Vineyard native with a pugnacious attitude. Melville introduces the rest of the crew, including the Indian harpooner Tashtego, the African harpooner Daggoo.

Several days into the voyage, Ahab finally appears as a man seemingly made of bronze who stands on an ivory leg fashioned from whalebone. He eventually gets into a violent argument with Stubb when the second mate makes a joke at Ahab's expense, and kicks him. This leads Stubb to dream of kicking Ahab's ivory leg off, but Flask claims that the kick from Ahab is a sign of honor.

At last, Ahab tells the crew of the Pequod to look for a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow: Moby Dick, the legendary whale that took Ahab's leg. Starbuck tells Ahab that his obsession with Moby Dick is madness, but Ahab claims that all things are masks and there is some unknown reasoning behind that mask that man must strike through. For Ahab, Moby Dick is that mask. Ahab himself seems to recognize his own madness. Starbuck begins to worry that the ship is overmatched by the mad captain and knows that he will see an impious end to Ahab.

While Queequeg and Ishmael weave a sword-mat for lashing to their boat, the Pequod soon comes upon a whale and Ahab orders his crew to their boats. Ahab orders his special crew, which Ishmael compares to "phantoms," to their boats. The crew attacks a whale and Queequeg does strike it, but this is insufficient to kill it. Among the "phantoms" in the boat is Fedallah, a sinister Parsee.

After passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Pequod comes across the Goney (Albatross), another ship on its voyage. Ahab asks whether they have seen Moby Dick as the ships pass one another, but Ahab cannot hear his answer. The mere passing of the ships is unorthodox behavior, for ships will generally have a 'gam,' a meeting between two ships. The Pequod does have a gam with the next ship it encounters, the Town-Ho.

Ishmael interrupts his narration to tell a story that was told to him by the crew of the Town-Ho, just as he would tell it to a circle of Spanish friends after his journey on the Pequod. The story concerns the near mutiny on the Town-Ho and its eventual conflict with Moby Dick.

The Pequod does vanquish the next whale that it comes across, as Stubb strikes a whale with his harpoon. However, as the crew of the Pequod attempts to bring the whale into the ship, sharks attack the carcass and Queequeg nearly loses his hand while fending them off.

The Pequod next comes upon the Jeroboam, a Nantucket ship afflicted with an epidemic. Stubb later tells a story about the Jeroboam and a mutiny that occurred on this ship because of a Shaker prophet, Gabriel, on board. The captain of the Jeroboam, Mayhew, warns Ahab about Moby Dick.

After vanquishing a Sperm Whale, Stubb next also kills a Right Whale. Although this is not on the ship's agenda, the Pequod pursues a Right Whale because of the good omens associated with having the head of a Sperm Whale and a head of a Right Whale on a ship. Stubb and Flask discuss rumors that Ahab has sold his soul to Fedallah.

The next ship that the Pequod meets is the Jungfrau (Virgin), a German ship in desperate need of oil. The Pequod competes with the Virgin for a large whale, and the Pequod is successful in defeating it. However, the whale carcass begins to sink as the Pequod attempts to secure it and thus the Pequod must abandon it. The Pequod next finds a large group of Sperm Whales and injures several of them, but only captures a single one.

Stubb concocts a plan to swindle the next ship that the Pequod meets, the French ship Bouton-de-Rose (Rosebud), of ambergris. Stubb tells them that the whales that they have vanquished are useless and could damage their ship, and when the Rosebud leaves these behind the Pequod takes them in order to gain the ambergris in one of them.

Several days after encountering the Rosebud, a young black man on the boat, Pippin, becomes frightened while lowering after a whale and jumps from the boat, becoming entangled in the whale line. Stubb chastises him for his cowardice and tells him that he will be left at sea if he jumps again. When Pippin (Pip) does the same thing again, Stubb remains true to his word and Pip only survives because a nearby boat saves him. Nevertheless, Pip loses his sanity from the event.

The next ship that the Pequod encounters, a British ship called the Samuel Enderby, bears news of Moby Dick but its crewman Dr. Bunger warns Ahab to leave the whale alone. Later, Ahab's leg breaks and the carpenter must fix it. Ahab behaves scornfully toward the carpenter. When Starbuck learns that the casks have sprung a leak, he goes to Ahab's cabin to report the news. Ahab disagrees with Starbuck's advice on the matter, and becomes so enraged that he pulls a musket on Starbuck. Although Ahab warns Starbuck that there is but one God on Earth and one Captain on the Pequod, Starbuck tells him that he will be no danger to Ahab, for Ahab is sufficient danger to himself. Ahab does relent to Starbuck's advice.

Queequeg becomes ill from fever and seems to approach death, so he asks for a canoe to serve as a coffin. The carpenter measures Queequeg for his coffin and builds it, but Queequeg returns to health, claiming that he willed his own recovery. Queequeg keeps the coffin and uses it as a sea chest.

Upon reaching the Pacific Ocean, Ahab asks Perth the blacksmith to forge a harpoon to use against Moby Dick. Perth fashions a harpoon that Ahab demands be tempered with the blood of his pagan harpooners, and he howls out that he baptizes the harpoon in the name of the devil.

The next ship that the Pequod meets is the Bachelor, a Nantucket ship whose captain denies the existence of Moby Dick. The next day, the Pequod slays four whales, and that night Ahab dreams of hearses. He and Fedallah pledge to slay Moby Dick and survive the conflict, and Ahab boasts of his own immortality.

Ahab must soon decide between an easy route past the Cape of Good Hope back to Nantucket and a difficult route in pursuit of Moby Dick. Ahab easily chooses to continue his quest. The Pequod soon comes upon a typhoon on its journey in the Pacific, and while battling this storm the Pequod's compass moves out of alignment. When Starbuck learns this and goes to Ahab's cabin to tell him, he finds the old man asleep. Starbuck considers shooting Ahab with his musket, but he cannot move himself to shoot his captain after he hears Ahab cry in his sleep "Moby Dick, I clutch thy heart at last."

The next morning after the typhoon, Ahab corrects the problem with the compass despite the skepticism of his crew and the ship continues on its journey. Ahab learns that Pip has gone insane and offers his cabin to the poor boy. The Pequod comes upon yet another ship, the Rachel, whose captain, Gardiner, knows Ahab. He requests the Pequod's help in searching for Gardiner's son, who may be lost at sea, but Ahab flatly refuses when he learns that Moby Dick is nearby. The final ship that the Pequod meets is the Delight, a ship that has recently come upon Moby Dick and has nearly been destroyed by its encounter with the whale. Before finally finding Moby Dick, Ahab reminisces about the day nearly forty years before in which he struck his first whale, and laments the solitude of his years out on the sea. He admits that he has chased his prey as more of a demon than a man.

The struggle against Moby Dick lasts three days. On the first day, Ahab spies the whale himself, and the whaling boats row after it. Moby Dick attacks Ahab's boat, causing it to sink, but Ahab survives the ordeal when he reaches Stubb's boat. Despite this first failed attempt at defeating the whale, Ahab pursues him for a second day. On the second day of the chase, roughly the same defeat occurs. This time Moby Dick breaks Ahab's ivory leg, while Fedallah dies when he becomes entangled in the harpoon line and is drowned. After this second attack, Starbuck chastises Ahab, telling him that his pursuit is impious and blasphemous. Ahab declares that the chase against Moby Dick is immutably decreed, and pursues it for a third day.

On the third day of the attack against Moby Dick, Starbuck panics for ceding to Ahab's demands, while Ahab tells Starbuck that "some ships sail from their ports and ever afterwards are missing," seemingly admitting the futility of his mission. When Ahab and his crew reach Moby Dick, Ahab finally stabs the whale with his harpoon but the whale again tips Ahab's boat. However, the whale rams the Pequod and causes it to begin sinking. In a seemingly suicidal act, Ahab throws his harpoon at Moby Dick but becomes entangled in the line and goes down with it. Only Ishmael survives this attack, for he was fortunate to be on a whaling boat instead of on the Pequod. Eventually he is rescued by the Rachel as its captain continues his search for his missing son, only to find a different orphan.

Tuglaq by Girish Karnad

Girish Karnad, (born May 19, 1938, Matheran Bombay Presidency [now in Maharashtra], India), Indian playwright, author, actor, and film director whose films and plays, written largely in Kannada, explore the present by way of the past. He has written many plays and ‘Tughlaq’ is very famous.

Girish Karnad is a modern Indian playwright who draws the contours of contemporary reality upon the mythological canvas. Drawing the plots of his plays from Indian history, myths and legends, he presents them in such a way that they assume contemporary significance. This is the story about a monarch who ruled over India for more than twenty years. He presented as both wise and foolish, kind and cruel in the play. He made may decision during his kingdom. Such as to transform his capital from Delhi to Daultabad and changing of currency. He killed many people including his mother. At the end he is totally shattered as a ruler. The characters like Aziz, Aazim, the step mother and the Prayer Scene are the dramatic inventions of the playwright designed to match his purpose.

The first scene opening in front of the Chief Court of Justice in Delhi and showing a crowd of Muslims and Hindus, becomes the microcosm of the contemporary Indian society comprising   mainly these two communities .The opening sentence of the play, “God, what’s this country coming to?”1 picturises the present scenario of India when almost every Indian who  believes in its rich cultural heritage  carries this question in his mind. The feeling of brotherhood and unity that stood its ground in the face of the foreign ruler began to vanish under the regime of their own .The drift of the present   from its cultural past is a matter of concern for everyone. Hence, the question ‘What this country is coming to?’ gathers immense significance. The Old Man’s lament, “I don’t know. I have been alive a long time, seen many sultans, but I never thought I would live to see a thing like this”, (147) becomes   relevant in the present context.  

Tughlaq  used religion for his political profit. The person who does not believe in God made five time prayer compulsory for everyone. His decision reflects the present condition of Indian society. Political party also used cast and religion for their political profit. At this the Old Man rightly comments, “What is the use of it?”

The atmosphere of violence, bloodshed, treachery and corruption spread throughout the action of the play is suggestive of the contemporary Indian socio-political scene..The people of independent India confronted two major problems: poverty and violence caused by the wrong political policies. If Muhammad’s subjects run from Delhi to Daultabad with new hopes, the Indians too had high hopes when they shifted from the British Rule to the self rule.

Game of chess which Girish Karnad first used in his play Yayati is recurrent symbol in this play. Game of Chess symbolizes the alienation and complexity of human relationship. A critic rightly observes, “Chess symbolizes Tughlaq’s game approach to life wherein he regards the other people as pawns to be manipulated for his own advantage”. The symbol of ‘Rose Garden’ is also very interesting. It shows the alienation and introspection of Tughlaq. He is found strolling alone at night in his garden. There is a heap of currency coins symbolizing Tughlaq’s   grave  which he sees with his own eyes. There is also a symbol of fort in the play.  The young guard standing for the new generation of India describes the fort as a   “magnificent thing” which no army could occupy. The fort, like the self of Muhammad and his rule, has “strange and frightening” passages within it. The guard rightly says “if it ever falls it will crumble from inside” (192) that indicates crumbling of the emperor from inside.

If Muhammad is very manipulative, witty, imaginative, secretive and ruthless, Aziz provides his ironic parallel .Like him, from the very beginning Aziz is clear about what he is to do in future (when he reaches his destination). In pursuit of realizing his dream to be rich by hook or crook,   he manipulates the decision of the government giving compensation to those whose land has been confiscated by the state. He is a Muslim but in order to get the compensation he disguises himself as a Brahmin. Thus he punctures the balloon of the king’s welfare policies .If Muhammad is confident that everything will be settled after he reaches Daultabad , Aziz is also confident of his plans. He tells Aazam, “There is money here .We will make a pile by the time we reach Daultabad.”(p.155).If Muhammd has disguised his true self and poses to be a very religious and benevolent king, Azis is disguised as a Brahmin( though he is a Muslim washer man). Ironically, he appears as a Brahmin and ends up as a special messenger to the king. He becomes an instrument in exposing the cruelty and corruption prevalent in Muhammad’s regime when he refuses to help a woman with a dying son in her lap and asking for help for his medical aid. Aziz expects money from her knowing full well that her husband is bed-ridden and she is helpless. Asked by Aaziz why he doesn’t let her go to the doctor, very stoically he says,”It is a waste of money.  I am doing her a favour.” 

Othello by William Shakespeare

Othello

The play opens in the powerful city state of Venice, famous as a center of trade and banking and for its military might. It is in the early hours of the morning, and two men — Roderigo, a young gentleman and former suitor of Senator Brabantio's daughter Desdemona, and Iago, an ensign who claims to have been passed over for promotion by Othello — are outside Senator Brabantio's house to tell him the news of his daughter's elopement with Othello, the Moor.
After sharing the news of the secret marriage in words calculated to alarm him, the treacherous and vindictive Iago quickly departs, leaving Roderigo to confirm the story. Feigning friendship and concern, Iago then meets with Othello and tells him of Brabantio's reaction. Brabantio, Othello, and Desdemona appear before the Duke of Venice. Although Brabantio accuses Othello of seducing his daughter by witchcraft, Othello explains that he won Desdemona by telling her his adventures, and Desdemona, called to testify, convinces the senators that she has freely gone with Othello and married    
In Cyprus, Iago plots against Othello, planting the seed of doubt about Desdemona's fidelity and implicating Casio as her lover. Using Roderigo, Iago arranges a fight that ultimately results in Cassio's demotion. Believing that his chances of reinstatement are better if he has Desdemona plead his case to her husband, Casio, with Iago's help, arranges for a private meeting with Desdemona, who promises to speak on his behalf to Othello until his reconciliation with Othello is achieved.
As Cassio leaves, Iago and Othello appear. Othello notices Cassio's speedy departure, and Iago quickly seizes the opportunity to point out that Cassio seems to be trying to avoid the Moor. Desdemona immediately and enthusiastically begins to beg Othello to pardon Cassio, as she promised, and will not stop her pleading until Othello, preoccupied with other thoughts, agrees. The moment Desdemona and Emilia leave, however, Iago begins to plant seeds of doubt and suspicion in Othello's mind.
Othello, beset by uncertainty and anxiety, later demands of Iago some proof that.
Desdemona, true to her word to Cassio, continues to plead on his behalf, unknowingly confirming to Othello her unfaithfulness. He accuses her of falseness, and Desdemona, not knowing what she has done to offend, can only assure him that she loves him.
Meanwhile, the gullible Roderigo has abandoned all hope of Desdemona, but Iago urges him to kill Cassio and rekindle his hopes. Late that night, they attack Cassio in the street, but it is Cassio who wounds Roderigo. Iago rushes out and stabs Cassio in the leg. Othello, hearing Cassio's cries for help, believes that half of the revenge is completed and hastens to fulfil his undertaking.
Desdemona is in bed when Othello enters. He tells her to pray a last prayer as he has no wish to kill her soul. Realizing that he plans to murder her, Desdemona protests her innocence of any wrongdoing. Knowing that he doesn't believe her, she begs him to let her live just a little longer, but he smothers her with a pillow.
Emilia, Desdemona's servant and Iago's wife, upon discovering the ruse, raises the alarm and declares Iago a liar before Montano and Gratiano. She explains how Desdemona's handkerchief came into Cassio's possession, and when she refuses to be quiet, Iago stabs her. Cassio, wounded, confirms Emilia's story. A soldier to the last, Othello stands on his honor. Knowing that this is the end, he asks to be remembered as "one that loved not wisely but too well." Then he stabs himself and falls on the bed beside his wife, where he dies.

History of Radio In India

History of radio in India from NiraliRathod2

Telephone Conversation and Dedication by Soyinka

Telephone conversation and Dedication by Soyinka from NiraliRathod2

symbolism in The White tiger

symbolism in The white tiger from NiraliRathod2

Sunday Reading : sashi tharoor's an eraof darkness

Shashi Tharoor:

Indian Politician, Writer,a former career international diplomat and current member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor was born on 9th March 1956.

He has talked about British Council Rule in India in his book " An Era of Darkness".

•He gave two types of recently writing:

1. One is the contemporary scholarship on the field because he said he was not by professional historian that they had been doing...so, he had read Academic journals, books which shows the states of the thinking today by historian, sociologist and others of this issue.

2. Also read upon the lots of contemporary apologies for empire.

● Tharoor further adds that .... people like Lawrence Jemse  and more -  the bunch about the British writers who actually acquired a fair amount of visibility & even has a best sellers in which they had conducted self justifying, excersises, glorifying empire or of the very least portray through Rose Tincture recipe. 

   And in this book he wanted to be able to take their claims which had dangerously gone without reputation for some years and conform that had on which is Shashi Tharoor try to do in this book. 

● Then another point he talks upon that ....he himself not agtag or imppsimpos to prove that ..." British had never come to India, then India would be the affluent country. 

● He further added that ...he demonstrated in this book that 3 Industries of India which doing very well.

These are:-

1. Textiles
2. Steal
3. Shipbuilding.

And these 3 are systematically and deliberately targeted and destroyed by the British. Its very natural to happen this because ...

For Example:- { Shipbuilding }

So, our (India) ships used to last minimum 20 to 24 years & British - European ships have average maximum 7 years. So , obviously they were delighted to use Indian ships for craftsmanship & wood.

● Then he talks about British who highly regressive loss that continue even today. Low that seduce and deals with Homosexuality also.

● Then he talks about that India got 377, now the irony is the party of Hindutva is betraying is all the instead of Hindu tradition for tolerance of sexualities.

● He made a very important point about the British who being guilty of creating this massive divisions between Hindus and Muslims which continue till even today. British systematically wanted to creating division and played a very deliberate game.

● He write about Nationalism  and difference between nationalism and patriotism then and now also.
   Tharoor says that in Nationalism in that day is an inclusive Nationalism. It embrassesed in everybody's country in any background, religion, language, cast...
   Today's Nationalism is narrow minded one.

Ngugi Wa Thiongo:

Ngugi Wa Thiongo who was an African Writer & Professor of English Literature and language in Africa.

" Decolonizing the Mind" the book by Kenyan novelist and Postcolonial theorist Ngugi Wa Thiongo. It is the collection of essay about language & its constructive role in national culture, history and identity.

In this book he talks about..." What language played the role in African Literature?"

So in the Postcolonialism , Resistance is very importan, Resistance is the main buzz word in post colonial. So he said that the another form of to resist language is to
  own it or discard the language totally.

So ,in a way  African Literature resist a lot in this idea.

Thinking activity : waiting for the barbarians: prof R.B. Zala

Maxwell Coetzee

About Author:- J. M. Coetzee

Born: 9 Feb 1940 (age 79)
             Capetown, South Africa

Occupation: Novelist, essayist, literary critic, linguistic, translator, professor

Language: English, Afrikaans, Dutch

Notable Awards: 1983- Booker Prize, 1985- Prix Femina, 1995- The Irish Times (International Fiction Prize), 2003- Nobel Prize in Literature

Major Works: Dusklands (1974), In the Heart of the Country (1977), Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), Life and Times of Michael K. (1983), A Land Apart: A South African Reader (1986), Foe (1987), The Lives of Animals (1999).


About Novel:- Waiting for the Barbarians 

Waiting for the Barbarians is a novel by the South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee.

First published in 1980, it was chosen by Penguin for its series Great Books of the 20th Century.

Won both the 'James Tait Black Memorial Prize' and 'Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize' for fiction.

Language: English
Genre: Novel
Publisher: Secker & Warburg
Publication Date: 27 Oct 1980

Coetzee took the title from the poem "Waiting for the Barbarians" by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy.

Coetzee's novel has been deeply influenced by Italian writer Dino Buzzati's novel The Tartar Steppe.


Characters:-

The Magistrate: The magistrate is the first-person narrator and flawed protagonist of the novel. He wants to live in peace in his outpost, serving his Empire without questioning the purpose or effects of its colonial project. The magistrate goes on a journey of self-discovery in the novel.

Colonel Joll:  an officer of the third Bureau, acting under emergency powers on the frontier. Colonel Joll is the novel's antagonist. Indeed, with his black sunglasses and black carriage, he plays the role of a classical villain.

Barbarian Girl: The Barbarian girl is one of Joll's torture victims, who gets left behind after her father is killed in Joll's torture chamber. Her legs were broken at the ankle and they have never set. She is crippled and must walk with two sticks. Her eyes were burned with molten rods. She is mostly blind though she can see out of her peripheries.

The Warrant Officer Mandel: Mandel is Colonel Joll's henchman. He's a blue-eyed, blonde, muscular, attractive man who does much of Joll's dirty work. He openly takes pleasure in inflicting pain. He is the sadistic officer who personally tortures the magistrate.

Minor character:-
Old Man
Boy
The fishing people
A prostitute
Two conscripts & a guide
Mai
Mai's young son

Summary:-

Coetzee's third novel, "set in a marginal settlement of state referred to simply as the Third Empire," made it "evident that the politics of colonization would constitute a recurrent theme in his fiction". "Though the setting of Waiting for the Barbarians is unidentified, the novel can, like the earlier works, be read as a political fable of South Africa. A sympathetic but unsuccessful liberal humanist, the narrator magistrate governs a marginal settlement at the end of the empire. A well-meaning man, he is nevertheless implicated in 'the system' and is no match for the neo-fascist torturer, Colonel Joll, who persecutes the few pathetic 'barbarians' (actually from a local fishing tribe) the Empire has succeeded in capturing. The barbarians are almost invisible, being mainly a product of that nameless fear that haunts all-conquering empires. The Empire is threatened from within, not from without, but it projects its paranoia onto the unknown 'other'. In the novel, a magistrate attempting to protect the peaceful nomadic people of his district is imprisoned and tortured by the army that arrives at the frontier town to destroy the "barbarians" on behalf of the Empire. The horror of what he has seen and experienced affects the magistrate in inalterable ways, bringing changes in his personality that he cannot understand. The barbarians remain unknown, and neither Joll's brutalities nor the magistrate's weak attempts at love and compensation can bring them closer".

Themes:

Central Theme:-
 Subaltern

Marginal Themes:-
Inhumanity and Torture
Colonialism
Independence
Imperialism
Sexuality and Anxiety

Comparison with other texts:-
- African literature is very closed to postcolonial literature and both are parallel to sharp or deep bondage with each other.
- Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe
- Aime Cesaire's A Tempest

Learning Outcome:-
After freedom, are we really free from anything?

Thinking activity : Literature and Religion : Northrop Frye's Archetypes and Hinduism as religion is an European Construct

What is Archetypal Criticism? What does the archetypal critic do?

In literary criticism the term archetype denotes recurrent narratives designs, patterns of action, character-types, themes, and images which are identifiable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as in myths, dreams, and even social rituals. Such recurrent items are held to be the result of elemental and universal forms or patterns in the human psyche, whose effective embodiment in a literary work evokes a profound response from the attentive reader, because he or she shares the psychic archetypes expressed by the author.

Archetypal literary criticism's origins are rooted in two other academic disciplines, social anthropology and psychoanalysis; each contributed to literary criticism in separate ways, with the latter being a sub-branch of critical theory. Archetypal criticism was at its most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, largely due to the work of Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye. Though archetypal literary criticism is no longer widely practiced, nor have there been any major developments in the field, it still has a place in the tradition of literary studies.


What is Frye trying prove by giving an analogy of ' Physics to Nature' and 'Criticism to Literature'?

 In this Frye compare the both Physics to Nature and Criticism to Literature. The Physics is deep study of Nature but it called physics not Nature  though it is based on the Nature only but it called physics.In the same manner In the literature we are not learn the literature but we learn to understand literature,  how to read and how to criticise literature so we are not Learn literature but criticise literature. So it is the criticism of literature. So Literature is equall to Nature and Physics is equall to Criticism.

Share your views of Criticism as an organised body of knowledge.

Literature is the central division of Humanities. Historical sense and Philosophy are about morality, ethics and all these things are required when we study literature. Philosophy is about existence and it progressively moves on, its ideas never stopped. Northrop Frye says that without reasoning and thinking to jump on any type of conclusion is not valid process. we have to look upon the framework of history which is based on evidence. Histories are never written without evidence. BUT THAT FRAMEWORK OF HISTORY MUST BE CHECKED, sometimes history also makes division in society. Every ideas  has a framework and how it grows is important to understand.

 Briefly explain inductive method with illustration of Shakespeare's Hamlet's Grave Digger's scene.

Inductive method – Example to Rule

Northrop Frye gives example of Gravedigger’s scene from “Hamlet” to explain this method. To study this scene we need to go step by step backwards to study this method:

a.)       First, the question of existence can be seen. Every man dies at one point.

b.)       Second, image of corruption can be seen.

c.)       Third, we see Hamlet’s love for Ophelia.

Hamlet represents Archetypal hero who is ready to die for his love.

This method moves from “Particular to General”.

 Briefly explain Deductive Method with reference to an analogy to music , painting, rhythm and pattern. Give example of outcome of  Deductive Method.

   In the Deductive Method it come from general to specific or particular observations. In this Music has rhyme and Painting has patterns. Both are connected while listening the music at the first time we can't understand but when we start to understand the words we image a picture in the mind by this imagination we understand the things. As the same thing happens while reading literature we image the things through the imagination it helps us to understand the literature. So music , rhythm, painting, pattern so it helps to understand the literature.

  Refer to the Indian seasonal grid (below). If you can, please read small Gujarati or Hindi or English poem from the archetypal approach and apply Indian seasonal grid in the interpretation.

Thinking activity : The white tiger

The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

Arvind Adiga's debut novel The White Tiger marks the arrival of a storyteller who strikes a fine balance between sociology and humanism of his homeland. He tries to make heard the many unheard voices of so many alternative Indians, which exist and are being acknowledged globally through movies, fiction, and media. The multitiered realities, presented by this young journalist turned writer, who is trying to pull down the patronizing edifice, was applauded with the 2008 Man Booker Prize.

How far do you agree with India represented in the novel The White Tiger?

Arvind Adiga won the Man Booker prize for Fiction 2008 for his novel The White Tiger and emerged significantly on the Indian literary scene. Though The White Tiger was praised for highlighting the injustices and poverty present in the rapidly changing India when it won the Man Booker Prize, then many Indians critics expressed outrage at the judges' decision. They felt that the novel presented India in a poor light. Some have compared him to Naipaul in presenting only the hateful aspects of the country. While many found an uncanny parallel in Danny Boyle's much-hyped movie Slumdog Millionaire.


Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?

Generally the story about needy or poor ends with rich. According to the general archetypal pattern, all poor boy's life turns out into rich. Same is the case with Balram Halwai who grows in a very poor family. He left his schooling and started working in a tea stall. Then he learns driving and becomes the driver of rich entrepreneur Ashok Sharma. His dreams are big therefore he decided to kill Mr Ashok to get his position. After killing his master he grabs his identity and become the same rich entrepreneur. In the same story like 'Slumdog Millionaire' movie become to rags to riches in to end of the movie. Other examples are the Boss and Laila movie. It is also similar archetypal - begin to end as rags to riches.

"Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique, deconstructive criticism aims to show that any text inevitably undermines its own claims to have a determinate meaning, and licences the reader to produce his own meanings out of it by an activity of semantic 'Freeplay' (Derrida, 1978, in Lodge, 1988, p. 108). Is it possible to do a deconstructive reading of The White Tiger? How?

The written phrase, in Derrida's view, relies upon its meaning via the context in which it is embedded. Both signified and signifier, though, are related in such a way that, there is, with respect to the very structure of language, no proper context to provide proof of final meanings making any claim to 'truth' an impossibility; 'truth' is both relative and plural. In the context of the White Tiger characters are portraying harsh reality of truth which is connected with the common people. Nobody can deny this kind of truth and reality. Language bears within itself the writer or author present his own way and culture dynamic language whatever they used it. The writer or author writes their own way and perceptions, his method of style and thoughts are different than the reader. It depends upon the situation and criteria. The author writes his own or another inspiration. Accordingly, the reader read his own way and meaning. One author who is published his work and reader is read then the death of the author for the reader. Reader praised his work of art, not author.


With ref to a screening of select scenes of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire in today's class:

Write a blog on similarities between The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire. Include the following points:

=). Narrative structure - Wanted Poster # KBC show
 The novel and the movies both are in the parallel structure of narratives. In the novel, Balram is reading wanted poster scene and another side is remembering his past and crime which he has done. In the movie we can see that the KBC show is running questioning and answering, Jamaal is recalling his past and his flashback. In this way, two stories are working parallel.

=). Indianness
From the text and movie, images are highly connotation and speak deeply at many levels the sensuous, the intellectual. The tapestry of modern India has a close-knitted structure. Poverty, Corruption and exploitation that is highly depicted in the movie. Begging part of the movie the train, dog, dirty images of India. People are very poor and lived in bad condition. Indianess Is highly portrayed by Dany Boyle. He is an English director and he is noticed the harsh situations of India poverty and social-political exploitation.

=). List of the questions asked in the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'

1. Who was the star in the 1973 hit film "Zanzeer".
   a) Shah Rukh Khan
   b) Salman Khan
   c) Amitabh Bachhan
   d) Ranbir Kapoor

2. A picture of three lions is seen in the national emblem of India. What is written underneath it?
    a) The Truth alone triumphs
    b) Lies alone triumphs
    c) Fashion alone triumphs
    d) Money alone triumphs

3. In the depiction of God Rama, he is famously holding what in his right hand?
    a) A bow and arrow
    b)A sword
    d) A flower
    c) A child

4. The song " Darshan Do Ghanshyam" was written by which famous Indian poet?
    a) Surdas
    b) Tulsidas
    c) Mira bai
    d) Kabir

5. On the American One Hundred Dollar Bill, there is a portrait of which American Statesman?
    a) George Washington
    b) Franklin Roosevelt
    c) Benjamin Franklin
    d) Abraham Lincoln

6. Who invented the revolver?
    a) Samuel Colt
    b) Bruce Browning
    c) Dan Wesson
    d) James Revolver

7. Cambridge Circus is in which UK City?
    a) Oxford
    b) Leeds
    c) Cambridge
    d) London

8. Which cricketer has scored the most first-class centuries in history?
    a) Sachin Tendulkar
    b) Ricky Ponting
    c) Michael Slater
    d) Jack Hobbs

9. In Alexander Dumas' book, "The Three Musketeers", two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third Musketeer?
    a) Aramis
    b) Cardinal Richelieu
    c) D' Artagnan
    d) Planchet

10. While the police inspector was questioning Jamal's knowledge, he asked Jamal whose picture was on the Indian 1000-rupee note, and then showed him when Jamal claimed not to know. Whose picture was it?
       a) Mohandas Gandhi
       b) Muhammad Jinnah
       c) Jawaharlal Nehru
       d) Gopal Gokhale

=). On what grounds can u deconstruct the film with reference to postcolonial tools/theories.

The film Slumdog Millionaire is directed by an English director Danny Boyle. He presents the harsh reality of India. His centre of focus is the slum area of India. He satirizes on the Indian education system, Police system, crowd at the station, portrayal of a gangster. This shows how most of the American looks at India which is a land of poor for them. Even after so many years of freedom, still, we are slave, not physically but mentally.

There are various tools of the postcolonial affects important roles express contesting, the ideological difference between classes, caste, generation, religions and races in the contemporary societal organisation. It is observed that the form of language the upper, superior class and caste people in the multicultural situation use is a means by which they establish their identity and control over others, social superiority or status in the hierarchical setup. The lower classes struggle to adjust and, at the same time, revolt with a fire of intolerance.

=). Compare with Texture and Treatment of subject content in film and novel.

The technique of the film and novel is much similar which presents the dark side of India rather than looking at the light side. Themes like corruption, poverty can be found in both. The show host, gangster, police, Salim everyone is corrupt in the film. Salim sells the autograph of Amitabh Bachhan to get money. However, it is his younger brother Jamal who get the autograph. From a very early age, Salim begins corruption. In the novel the character of the protagonist himself is corrupt. If someone did small corruption like taking more money from masters to repair a car or to get petrol, then keeping the remaining amount is also corruption. However big dealers corruption looks more problematic than workers of small hierarchy. Both present the same texture of India.

Treatment of subject is also going similar in the movie and the novel that is treating a serious element of India with dark comedy. Movie and novel well orderly treatment and local narrative and narration of the nation. Adiga’s tone is humour, but humour is dark.