Unit 1: Culture and Society

1. New Nepal/Shiddhicharan Shrestha

Theme: freedom, justice, equality, dignity

Summary

The poem ‘New Nepal’ is written by the Nepalese romantic poet Shiddhicharan Shrestha. It is
translated into English by Shreedhar Lohani. This is a political poem that voices a strong call to
Nepalese to rise above the inequalities of the past and bring freedom and dignity among
Nepalese people.

In the poem, the poet appeals the Nepalese people to wake up and speak up the hidden truth and
the beauty of Nepal. He calls Nepalese people to speak and write against Rana regime which
suppressed Nepalese people for about 104 years. The poet also says to climb up the black uphill
of suppression and fight against the persecution with a great courage and furious anger. Further,
he says if Nepalese people take a new step of advancing foot with courage, caution, power and
union, they can bring forth a bright day.

Currently in Nepalese society, there are disgusting rituals, cruel class divisions that divide
Nepalese people in different categories and classes. Against it, the poet says, we have to open up
our heart and kindle the big hope, courage, and equality. According to the writer, Nepal is
suffering from a disease of inequality of wealth; people are living miserable life with hungry
stomach and bare backs.

At the end of the poem, the writer calls all the Nepalese to act out without any desperation and
he also says that we have to destroy all the evil elements of that time, i.e. Rana Regime.

The mood of the poem is revolutionary. It reflects the revolutionary spirit of Nepalese people
against the autocratic rule of the Ranas. In this poem, the poet emphasis on the liberty, equality
and dignity against injustice, oppression, and dictatorship. The poem also captures the devotion,
dedication and determination of Nepali people to uproot the Rana Regime from the soil of Nepal.

Context: Rana Regime in Nepal

Tone: Optimistic

Mood Of the poem: Revolutionaty

Alletration: Let the clearest current of consciousness

 2. Looking for a Rain God/Bessie Head

Characters:

Mokgobja : 70 years old labourious farmer

Ramadi : Mokgobja’s son

Tiro :Ramadi’s wife

Nesta : Tiro’s sister

Neo and Boseyong : Two daughters of Ramadi & Tiro

Theme: human struggle against nature, human hope for survival superstition deeply rooted in
human psyche (mind), Negative impact of superstition,

Summary

The story is set in African village where the villagers are mostly farmers. A seven-year drought
swept the land and brought severe hardships to the People who depend on the land for survival.
The people became desperate (sad) and some committed suicide. Others became superstitious
and turned to witch doctors for help.

Towards the end of the seventh year, in early November, the rain came for two weeks and the
villagers rush to plough their lands. Mokgobja and his family were among the first group to
move to their field to start ploughing. The family consists of Ramadi, his son Tiro, his daughter-
in- Law, Neo and Boseyong, her two daughters, and Nesta, an unmarried sister of Tiro.

In mid-November, the rain stops suddenly and the family who had prepared the lands for farming
became desperate. Only the two girls, Neo and Boseyong, were happy in their own world playing
house and imitating their mother. The women broke down and became hysterical (panic strike)
when they realized that they could not face another year of drought and starvation. The men too
were beginning to lose their self-control.

Then, Mokgobja remembers a rain-making ceremony he witnessed as a young child where

children were sacrificed to a Rain God to bring the rain and make the crops grow. And Mokgobja
tell the women, and the children were sacrificed to the rain god. But the rain did not fall and they
became so terrified.
The family returns to the village and the people noticed that the children were missing. When
villagers saw the frightened look on their (family) faces, they called the police to investigate.
When Tiro broke down and confessed everything, Mokgobja and Ramadi were sentenced to
death for ritual murder of the two girls.

The story has many themes. It presents struggle of an African family against a drought and hope
for human survival. It gives us idea that nature can be a friends or enemy. Man cannot control
nature but nature can control man’s destiny. We must be tough and strong to survive under harsh
living conditions. Similarly, we must have hope in times of despair. Superstitions make us lose
rational thought.

The main character Mokgobja does everything to survive the family. He has hope that he will
fight against natural disaster like drought by hook or crook. He is ready to sacrifice his son’s
daughters to make rain. So the story presents the theme of human survival instinct (desire).

3. Dover Beach/Matthew Arnold

Theme: Victorian pessimism is reflected in the poem, downfall of religious and spiritual values
due to development of science, appeals for compromise between science and religion for the
healthy society

Summary

This poem has been written by English Victorian poet Matthew Arnold. In the poem, he
expresses frustration, pessimism (doubt) and confusion over the changes brought about by the
development of science and technology where there is ‘neither joy, nor love, nor peace, nor help
for pain’. This situation has been created by the decline of ‘religious faith’.

The poet is at Dover Beach at night. He finds the scene very beautiful and pleasant because the
sea is calm and the tide is full. The moon lies fair. On the French side, the light gleams (flash)
and is gone. There are glimmering and vast cliffs. The poet tells his beloved to come to the
window to enjoy the beauty and fresh air of the night. Meanwhile he tells her to listen to the roar
of pebbles (stones) which are drawn forward and backward by the tides. The waves begin and
stop and again begin. The roar of the pebbles (stones) makes the poet very sad. In this way the
poet finds a gap between the appearance and reality. The appearance is beautiful but the reality
is sad.

The poet compares himself to Sophocles who was a great Greek dramatist. Sophocles also heard
the same kind of note on the Aegean which made him very sad. He also saw the rise and fall of
human misery in the sound coming from the sea. Later the Greek civilization collapsed. The poet
wants to indicate that modern scientific civilization can also collapse.
Thus the poem shows the loss of faith and morality among people in the world as science and
technology remain dominant. In this poem, the poet suggests for the compromise between
religion and science that creates the healthy society. The tone of the poem is melancholic (sad).

Context: Victorian period in England – Era of downfall of religion and faith

Metaphor: the sea is calm tonight, the dea of faith

Simile: like the fold of a bright girdle furled

Tone: pessimistic in the first stanza , then optimistic tone

4. Shooting an Elephant/ George Orwell

The narrator: British Police Officer in Burma. Does not want to shoot the elephant, but he does
to “avoid looking a fool”.

The Burmese: Brumes jeer (laugh) at the narrator, spite at English women, and enjoy watching
him fail. As they are under imperial rule, these actions are rebellion against their oppressors.

The Elephant: The elephant has escaped from its owner and killed a man. The narrator feels
partially justified in shooting the elephant because of damage it has done.

Theme: Colonialism/ Imperialism: Imperialism is a policy of a country to increase the territory,

power, influence and control by using different means like military force.

Summary

The narrator of the essay starts with describing the hate he is confronted (faced up) with in a
town in Burma. He says that he is a sub-divisional police officer and is hated by the locals. He
also confesses to being on the wrong side of the history as he explains the inhuman torture (pain)
of the British Raj on the local prisoners.

After describing his conditions, he starts telling a story of one fine morning. He is told on the
phone about an elephant which has shattered his chains and gone mad, threatening the localities
and causing destructions. The mahout went in the incorrect way searching for the elephant. The
Burmese are unable to stop the elephant as no one in their whole population has a gun or any
other weapon and seems to be quite helpless in front of the merciless elephant.
After the phone call, Orwell goes out to search the elephant. He suddenly hears scream from a
little distance away and immediately follows it.  Going towards the elephant he finds a dead
coolie around the corner lying in the mud, being a victim of the elephant’s brutality. After seeing
the dead laborer, he immediately orders to bring him a gun . In the meanwhile, Orwell is
informed by the local people about the location of the elephant that was in the paddy field. After
seeing the gun in Orwell’s hand, a large number of local people start following him in
excitement. In the field, Orwell sees the elephant calmly gazing and decided not to kill it as it
would be wrong to kill such a peaceful creature.

However, when he gazes back at the mob behind, it has expanded to a thousand and is still
expanding, supposing him to fire the elephant. By the first thought, he realizes that he is unable
to resist the crowd’s wish to kill the elephant. He seems to be a kind of “puppet” that is
guaranteed to fulfill their subject’s expectancy.

Consequently, Orwell decides to shoot the elephant or in another case, the crowd will laugh at
him, which was intolerable to him. As Orwell fires, the elephant falls on the ground. Orwell fires
the second shot, the elephant appears worse but doesn’t die. As he fires the final gunshot, the
elephant shouts it out and falls. The elephant is still alive while Orwell shot him more and more
but it seems to him that it has no effect on it. The elephant seems to be in great agony and is
“helpless to live. Orwell, being unable to see the elephant to suffer, goes away from the sight. He
later heard that the elephant took almost half an hour to pass away.

Orwell’s killing of the elephant remained a huge controversy. The aged old people agreed with
the Orwell’s killing of the elephant but for the younger one, it appears to be unsuitable to murder
an elephant as it killed a coolie– a manual labor. For them, the life of an elephant was additional
worth than a life of a coolie. On the one hand, Orwell thinks that he is fortunate that the monster
murdered a coolie as it will give his act a lawful clarification while on the other hand; he
wonders that anyone among his companions would assume that he murdered the elephant just
not to look a fool

Context: Anglo-Burmese war in 1885

Symbol: elephant (it doesn’t have freedom to travel, shooting an elephant is similar to colonizers
dominating innocent Burmese

4. Unknown Citizen/W. H. Auden

Theme: oppression, surveillance, indifference, freedom, identity crisis state’s control over the
individual
Summary
The unknown citizen has no name; he has only a number, to whom the monument has been built
and has been found to be without any fault. He was a saint because he served the government
perfectly. He did not get dismissed from his job. He was a member of the Union and paid all his
dues to the union. A report by the Union shows that it was a balance union and did not take
extreme views on anything. The social psychology workers found that he was popular among his
fellow workers and had a drink with them now and then. He also bought a newspaper every day.
He reached to the advertisements normally.

He had good health and although he went to the hospital once, he came out quite cured. The
citizen was sensible about buying things on an installment basis. He had everything a modern
man needed at home. Moreover, this ideal citizen was found to be sensible in his view. When
there was peace, he supported it. But when there was war, he was ready to fight. He didn’t hold
his personal views on anything. He had the right number of children and he did not quarrel with
the education they got. . The poet now asks the important questions. Was this man free? Was he
happy? No government statistics can ever answer these kinds of questions.

Thus, the poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’ deals with individuals losing their identity in the fast
growing modern world. The poem is a bitter attack upon the modern society where the state
pretends to know its citizen but in fact it doesn’t’. The poem also shows the immense control of
the state over individuals. It is ironic that a man who spends his whole life to fulfill the
expectation of the state remains unknown. Auden dramatizes his theme by showing the clear
difference between the complete statistical information about the citizen compiled by the State
and the lack of the judgments made about him. The poet seems to say, statistics alone cannot
sum up an individual; what an individual actually needs is freedom, happiness and the identity.

Tone: Ironic

5. Augustus Does His Bit/George Bernard Shaw

Characters: (on stage)

Lord Augustus Highcastle (Augustus): 45 years, colonel in the English army/aristocrat

Mr. Horatio Floyd Beamish: The Clerk/secretary/ 57 yrs

The Lady spy: woman

Setting: Mayor’s parlor in the small town of little Pifflington (England) in 1916.

Off Stage Characters:

Lord Hungerford Highcastle ( Blueloo) – Augustus’ brother in law
Honorable Lucy Popham-Augustus’ Fiance

Background: first World War (1914-1918)

Summary
"Augustus Does His Bit” is a one act comic play about an idealistic (impractical) aristocrat who
is deceived by a spy (detective) woman during the war between Britain and Germany (First
World War). It is an anti-war play, which shows the false notions of society about war and its
heroes.

Here the playwright through the clerk's views shows the negative side of the war and its effect on
common people. Augustus represents an arrogant (proud) foolish character who takes war as a
serious matter to strengthen the nation.

Lord Augustus Highcastle, a 45 years old aristocrat, was sitting in the Mayor's parlor (room) in
the town hall of Little Piffington. The entire country was in the war with Germany and all the
soldiers had gone to the war front. But Augustus was in colonel dress and reading ‘The Morning
Post’ sitting at his parlor (room). Meanwhile, the clerk Beamish came in. Augustus talks with
Beamish, his 57 years old secretary and tells him that the war is a very serious matter, especially
as he has three German brothers-in-law in high post. The clerk requested Augustus to increase
his salary because he didn't want to die of hunger. On the other hand, Augustus ignored it and
said it was not suitable time to increase salary in the time of war because many brave armies
were dying in the war. In fact, to save money for war Augustus didn’t want to invest money to
sweep the street and wanted to reduce the allowance of petrol by three quarters. He also wanted
to replace the gas stove. 

Augustus had delivered recruiting speech. He told the clerk that it was his best speech which was
made for army enrolment for world war first, and his town’s people needed such speech to wake
up. However, the clerk showed negative aspects of war. As war is always destructive and
fruitless, it brings only pain and misery to human life. It is meaningless. As the clerk’s views
were different than him he became furious and sent him out. Then he was informed that a female
spy is after an important document in his possession (control). After a while, a glamorous
(beautiful) lady enters Augustus’ chamber, praises him and reveals that her sister in law (spy) is
trying to get a secret document about the gun placement (Augustus is in possession of a list of
guns that must be kept hidden but he is so foolish that he lets the lady take it just by flirting with
him). She told Augustus' brother in law; Blueloo had made a bet that Augustus could be easily
tricked, and intended to use this woman to prove it. If she became able to get the document, a list
of British gun emplacements and gave it to "Blueloo", Augustus's incompetence (stupidity)
would be exposed.

In the meantime, the clerk entered holding the document, which Augustus had left on a coffee
table in a hotel. It was the document that the lady wanted to steal. The lady very smartly
exchanged the document with a fake one and went away from there. Then she called Blueloo
(Augustus’ brother) to tell that she easily completed her task and outwited (won the bet/outsmart)
Lord Augustus. Augustus then realized that she was the spy who made him fool.

The play contains several typical themes: women outwitting men and the incompetence of the
aristocratic ruling class most notably.

In Augustus Does His Bit, Shaw pokes (push/jab) fun at the British upper classes, which are
incompetently represented by Lord Augusta High castle. High castle commands military base in
a small British town during the World War I where he is determined to do his part to defeat the
German.
The is a funny short play set during World War I. The little character is a British aristocrat who
is serving on the home front during the war. He ‘does his bit’ for the war most incompetently.

The irony of this play makes the reader/audience think about the absurdity of the war and the
foolishness of those who believe in it. The clerk represents that part of people that always looses
the wars because they are the victims of the politicians’ recklessness.
Another theme that the play deals with is one of the current themes treated by the contemporary
theater: the social class discrimination. Augustus demonstrates his racism saying “…discipline is
absolutely necessary in dealing with the lower middle class”.

6. The Parrot in the Cage/Lekhanath Paudyal

Theme: Suppression and domination of Nepalese during Rrana regime, Nepalese people seeking
freedom

The speaker in the poem is a little bird. He has been confined in an iron cage. He feels sad,
restless and oppressed there and simply curses to his fate for the present situation. He has missed
the freedom there and has no one to share his agonies and pain of his confinement.

There is time that he feels mad and almost dead in the cage. He spends the days recollecting his
wild freedom that he would otherwise have enjoyed roaming in the wood and eating wild fruits.
His hope for the freedom has simply vanished and what he has now is only the unrest, frustration
and anxiety.

The speaker fells isolated there and the fear of enemies all around engulfs him. He finds no one
to unburden the pain of his imprisoned condition. He observes the open sky and imagines the
freedom he would have enjoyed roaming around. His attempt to break down the cage and release
himself from the limited bars is beyond his imagination. He has to endure heat, cold, thirst and
hunger in the cage. He is bound to live a very painful and measurable life. For him, to assume
freedom in his life is just similar to cast a thirsty glance upon the pot devoid of water. There is no
way out except getting spiritual solace in his life. The speaker in the poem falls prey (victim) to
injustice of human domination and seeks pity with the God for his freedom. At last, he regrets
for being given him the sort of life he is living.

The poem shows the speaker's plight (troubles) and the bitter experience of being confined in the
cage. In the lack of freedom in the cage, he feels sad, restless and dejected. Beside this, the
poem is also a plea (request) for an individual freedom. Freedom is essential for all and it is to be
regarded as an unalienable right of every individuals. It is only in freedom; a person remains
happy, regards himself valuable and enjoys his life to its full extent. On the most literal level, the
poem presents an example of human- animal relationship and expresses the cruelty and injustice
of human dominance over animal. If we go to the deeper level, the "bird" in the poem can be
taken as a symbol of the human soul in a material cage, as a symbol of the Nepali citizens'
freedom trapped in the "cage" of Rana regime.

Setting : Inside the cage

Speaker: caged bird

Form: Dramatic monologue (the character speaking to onself)

Tone: Elegiac

Symbol:

 Parrot in the cage as a symbol of Nepalese people’s confinement during Rana period.
 It also symbolizes the confinement of human soul in the material cage.
 Human treatment towards fellow creatures

Unit 2: Money & Management

Advertise Your Business/Phineas T. Barnun

“Advertise Your Business” is a lecture written in 1982. In this lecture Barnum sets (puts) the
tone for advertising which is relevant even today. In this speech, he assumes that morality and
honesty is the best path to business success.

He advises that businessmen should be polite and kind to their customers otherwise they will
lose them. Those who sell qualitative products in lower profits will success best in long run.
Sharp bargaining will lose customers. The writer suggests us not to insult customer even if he
insult you otherwise he and his friends never come again as a customer. He suggests us to be
charitable because it is a duty and a pleasure to help needy people to make their life better. It is
believed that the more you give the more you received. Charity should be given to those who are
struggling and willing to help themselves. Otherwise, it will be fruitless. He says instead of
blessing give food to hungry.

He advises not to share business secrets because nothing is gained by this. Say nothing about
your profits, your hopes, your expectations, your intentions, or your losses. Otherwise, you will
lose your reputation.  Honesty is more precious in business. Your politeness will be of no use if
customers suspect your goods and weight. Therefore, it is said that “honesty is the best policy.”
To become rich does not always mean being successful. There are many rich poor men who are
poor in heart. The money should not be gathered it must be used for benefit of mankind so that
other people also make their life better. Therefore, he appeals to earn money honestly and utilize
it properly.

9. Eveline/James Joyce

Summary

Eveline is a story taken from Dubliners. It is about a young woman’s failure to take action due to
her lack of consciousness will and a state of difficult existence. This is the story of a young girl’s
failure to manage her life at both the social and economic level.

Eveline, a young Dublin woman, is sitting at the window. She is thinking about her escape plan
with an Irish sailor Frank who has settled in Buenos Ayres. She is 19 years old and works at a
local store. While watching out from the window across the street, she remembers the field
which was there in place of the big houses. She recollects how she used to play with her brothers
and neighbor’s children. Then the field was bought, and houses were built. Thus, they lost their
playground.

She remembers it was long ago and now everything has changed. It was the time their mother
was alive, and their father was kind to them. She was happier then. Now her mother is dead and
all of her siblings and the neighborhood families have either moved away, or died. Eveline is
also planning to move away.

Eveline is overcome with nostalgia (past feeling) as she looks around the room at the familiar
objects covered in dust. She notices the photograph of her father’s friend, the priest, who is now
in Melbourne. Now Eveline begins to question whether or not it is “wise” to leave her home,
where she has food, shelter, and familiarity.

Eveline imagines her new life in a foreign country, and imagines her marriage will help her earn
the respect she is denied in Dublin. Lately her father has been threatening her more and more.
When she was a child he used to spare (leave) her since she was a girl, but now that she’s almost
nineteen and Ernest is dead and her brother Harry is often away for work, she has become a
target. Money is also an issue of conflict for her and her father, who accuses her of being
wasteful. Eveline works hard to feed her father and take care of two children who have been left
in her care. Life is hard, but now that she is planning to leave.

Eveline is planning to take the night-boat to Buenos Ayres with Frank, an Irish sailor who lives
in Buenos Ayres but was visiting Dublin when they met. She reflects on their relationship as she
considers this decision. Eveline’s father forbids her from seeing him, but she continues to see
him in secret and eventually makes secret plans to move to Buenos Ayres with him.

She looks down at the letters she has been holding in her lap: one for Harry, and one for her
father. She starts to think about all of the good memories she has had with her father.

Eveline is running out of time before her departure. She hears an organ (musical instrument)
playing and is reminded of her mother’s last night before she died, when there was also organ
music out on the street. She remembers her promise to her mother that she would keep the home
together, but she also remembers the sacrifices her mother made and how they ended in her loss.
Eveline begins to panic, desperately seeking an escape from a fate that looks very similar to her
mother’s. She hopes Frank can “save” her, and reasons that she deserves to be happy.

Eveline resolves to go to the station to meet Frank. She is terribly distressed and she keeps
praying to God for direction. At the last minute as Frank catches her hand to lead her onto the
boat. Suddenly, she changes her mind when she is about to board the ship with frank. She returns
back to her home without telling anything to Frank.

This story shows the drawbacks of holding onto the past when facing the future. It reflects the
conflicting pull many women feel between domestic life rooted in the past and the possibility of
a new married life abroad. One moment, Eveline feels happy to leave her hard life, yet at the
next moment she worries about fulfilling promises to her dead mother. The story shows her
inability to let go of those family relationships, despite her present hard life. She clings to the
older and more pleasant memories. Eveline finds herself between the call of home and the past
and the call of new experience and the future. Although Eveline realizes that she must leave
with Frank to embark on new life, that realization is short-lived. In the end, we find her as a
helpless creature, stripped of human will and emotion”. This is the common fate of all the
women in the patriarchal society.

10. The Company Man/Allen Goodman

“The Company Man” by Goodman describes the life of a corporate (company) worker after his
death. Through this essay, the writer Goodman shows the daily tasks and family of Phil, a
hardworking and dedicated company employee who eventually worked himself to death.
The company man Phil died at 3.00 am Sunday morning at the age of fifty one. He died of heart
disease. He was a hardworking person who worked himself to death for the company. He was a
perfect worker who spent whole time for the progress of the company. He worked six days a
week. He had no outside extracurricular interest. He always ate egg, salad, and sandwiches in
his work place. He was overweight but he did not have time to think about it due to his busy
schedule. Almost sixty people were there to work for him in the company. All of them liked him.

Phil had a wife who was forty years old. Her name was Helen. She worked in an office before
marrying and mothering. As a wife, she never got enough time and love from her husband. Phil
had two sons and a daughter who were just like the stranger for him. His eldest son worked in a
construction company to the south. Just a day before his father’s funeral, he visited his neighbors
and asked them about his father. Which is quite embarrassing? His newly married daughter was
quite close her mother than the father. The only son whom Phil loved more is the youngest. He is
a high school graduate. At the lost moment, Phil died thinking of his youngest son.

At the funeral, the sixty-year –old company president told the widow (Phil’s wife) that her
husband meant much more to the company and would be missed and would be hard to replace.
However, someone had to take his space in the company and the company president declares to
have the one among working the hardest.

The question is why he is known by the name of the company? The writer uses the name
‘company man’ to show how Phil was not just a man, but he was an extension of his work. By
not saying his name, she uses Phil as a symbol for all businessmen and women who work
themselves more for the company rather than for their family.

At the end of the essay, Phil’s boss begins to look for a replacement for him the day of the
funeral. This show how selfish and the materialistic the modern world is where there is no time
to think and express sympathy over someone’s death. Good man, in this essay mocks at modern
culture and shows how there are no time to waste, but only time to work. A worker devotes his
whole life for the company. He doesn’t even care his health and give less time for the family.
What he gets in turn from the company is the ignorance, indifference and anonymity is the theme
of the essay.

11. Light My Lucky

R. Scholes, N. R. Comley, and G.L. Ulmer

This essay is about the advertisement, particularly cigarette. Whatever advertisements are there
of different products, they are made for promotional purpose. So, these advertisements are highly
exaggerated and misleading (misguiding). Therefore, the writer, in this essay suggests us it is
important for consumers to learn to make critical scrutiny (study) of ads or any texts made for
promotional purposes.
The authors, in the essay describe the advertisement for Lucky Strike Cigarette which has been
very cleverly designed. The advertisement aims to publicize their products through statement an
inclusive female model to attract attention. The involvement of the young beautiful woman
advertisement is a tactic (policy) to gain audience attention of both genders; a happy model is
included in Lucky’s advertisement to convince the viewers that cigarette improved her
happiness.

The advertisement contains a photo of a young woman in heavy sweater, wearing a scarf, with
one hand holding an unlighted cigarette and another hand in the pocket. A careful study of the
advertisement shows much more thing. The ad makes her the central figure. This is a healthy,
vigorous woman. The background of the ads is blurred just to highlight the image of the lady.
The maker of the ad expects some of these positive healthy values to attach themselves to the
cigarette. The slogan in the ad “Light My Lucky” has double meaning. The ads associate the
cigarette with beauty, health, and erotic pleasure. These metonymies are deliberate (intentional).
It is worth noticing that the word light in the ad works as pun thus bringing two meanings
together in a single word. Light is used as a verb ‘to set on fire’ or ‘to inflame’. The another
meaning of ’light’ is ‘as oppose to heavy’ which is useful for health, for example light weight
is good for health and the light cigarettes have less nicotine.

The words used in the advertisement are slightly metaphorical in themselves. The phrase “Light
My Fire” is a metaphorical expression which refers to sexual appeal as well. The surgeon
associates smoking with pregnancy and ill health. On the other hand the ads associates it with
sex, good health and so on. This is an extremely clever and well-made advertisement.

Thus, the writer in the essay suggests the consumer not to believe on what they say in the
advertisements. Advertisements actually serve the interests of the advertisers. They are deceptive
and exaggerated. Advertisements may not function in the way as they have been advertised. So,
they need to be taken critically.

Metonymies: figure of speech in which the name of an object or concept is replaced with a word
closely related to suggest by the original, as ‘crown’ to mean ‘king’)

12. The ideal of Craftsmanship/C. Wright Mills

Craftsmanship is the skill that someone uses where they create beautiful things with their efforts.
It is the mode of work perfection and work satisfaction. The craftsmanship is thus to use and
develop the capacities and skills in its action. It is also a way of livelihood because it
economically support for living. Craftsmanship involves six major features:

I. The primary motive of craftsmanship is hope of pleasure in the work itself. In other word, we
create fine art because it is our passion and it provides us pleasure. Here we are more concerned
with the quality of the product and the skill of making it. The secondary motive of craftsmanship
is –money or reputation or salvation.
II. In craftsmanship, there is confusion between its technical and aesthetic conditions and the
legal (propriety) organization of the worker and the product. The writer says even if the producer
does not legally own the product, he must own it psychologically because his skills and sweat are
visible to his work. Similarly, craftsmanship has an image of completed product, and even
though he does not make it all, he sees the place of his part involved in the whole. But the real
joy comes from its successful completion.

III. Workman is free to begin his work according to his own plan. He can modify its form and
create it according to his wish. He is fully responsible for its outcome.

IV. Craftsman’s work is a means of developing his skill through continuous practice. Such
development is the cumulative result obtained by devotion and regular practice. The more you
practice, the better the skill.

V. In the craftsman pattern, there is no split (division) of work and culture. Work and culture are
not separate spheres (field). The work is the means and the culture is the end in itself.

VI. The Craftsman’s work is the mains spring of the only life he knows. It means his work is the
reflection of his own experience. Henry James says “we have practically lost the faculty of
attention”. This means a brooding sort of attention required to produce or appreciate works of
art.

Unit 3: Science and Environment

13. Religion and Science/Alfred North Whitehead

Theme: Although science and religion are two different poles but there exists a relationship
between them, particularly the way they work, and the changes they go through in their
concepts .So, they should be studied in a reciprocal way.

Alfred North Whitehead believed that the future course of world history depends upon people’s
decisions to the relation between science and religion. In fact, science and religion are the two
powerful forces in history. The writer believes that the only solution of the conflicts between
science and religion is to redefine (modify) them so that an inclusive alternative world-view
might be constructed.

The essay Religion and Science discusses the controversy that was found during the late 19th and
early 20th century about the existence of religion and evolution of science. The writer is of the
opinion that science and religion are not two poles though they are different. Our mind is pre-
occupied with the concept that religion and science are different. People view that science deals
with the physical universe whereas religion (theology) deals with the world beyond. But the
writer’s view is that there are some similarities between these two fields. Science presents the
gradual evolution of ideas (change). In the same way religion also shows the same nature.
Religious concepts of the present are different from that of the past. In both case there has been
modification/change.
The writer says there exists a kind of connection between the two fields (science and religion).
He says that there was the conflict, there is the conflict, and there will be the conflict between
science and religion. It is very common and natural for him. Since science deals with physicality
and religion with spirituality, their area of study is different. He further adds that both science
and religion require additions, modifications, changes etc. Although the ways and areas of
knowledge are different but the essence of study is almost the same in both. The conflict between
science and religion is not destructive for the writer but it is constructive also.

Scientific beliefs are not constant. They keep on changing. In the past, there was geocentric
(having the earth in the centre) concept. However, this geocentric concept changes into
heliocentric (sun at the centre) concept. Now both of these concepts have been modified.
Similarly in the field of religion different concepts have changed. That's why these two fields do
have similarities.

In the world nothing is certified by solid reasons. There is the existence of conflict. Science is
concerned with physical phenomena but religion is concerned with moral and aesthetic value.
Science studies about what is visible and what can be perceived but religion studies the universe
and goes beyond it. Conventionally (traditionally) people believe that science and religion
oppose each other and they refute (contest/khandan) each other’s assertion (claim). But the
essayist says that there is not wide gap between science and religion. Scientific thoughts and
religious thoughts are ever changing. The writer views that they have reciprocal (mutual/shared)
relationship between each other.  

Religion and Science discusses a controversy that was particularly apparent in society since the
publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859 which stated that human beings were evolved
from monkeys. But, of course, the conflict between religion and science has a way of eruption
(outbreak) age after age; and as Whitehead points out, the disagreements became serious as early
as the seventeenth century. However, Whitehead in this essay seems to softening the
disagreements between science and religion.

15. Root Cellar/Theodore Roethke

Theme: Will power, Struggle, determination, never give up
Summary
Literally, Root Cellar is a poem about plant. But at a deeper lever, it is a motivational poem that
gives us the message to live and thrive (flourish) even through the worst situation of life. It gives
us idea that one should not lose hope and grow along the way, clearing all the obstacles that may
come.

In the beginning of the poem, the poet describes the environment of a root cellar, which is too
dark, unpleasant, and incapable of supporting any living form within. But the cellar plants did
not lose hope and fight for survival. Nobody is trained enough to live for a day in that cellar as it
is so suffocating. The bulbs peep (look) outside of the boxes (germinate) in search of a small ray
of light, ‘hunting for chinks (come out of narrow opening) in the dark’. The herbs are “lolling
(act lazily) obscenely” (vulgarly) thus seeming lifeless. There is an intolerable collection of a
foul smell, (congress of stinks). Everything in that cellar is on the verge of rotting, suggesting the
end of life

However, towards the end of the poem, Roethke says the message of the fighting back. He shows
the image of determination and courage to fight the odds one faces in his life through the lines,
“nothing would give up life/Even the dirt kept breathing a small earth”.

In the poem, the poet gives many examples to cite his concept of determination through the
image of the plants of the dignity cellar. Similarly, another message of the poem is to keep
pushing oneself forwards, avoiding looking back.

Alliteration: Nothing would sleep in the cellar, dank as a ditch,

Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chicks in the dark, ……….
Assonance: Even the dirt keep breathing a small breath ........
Metaphor: Bulb broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark (comparison of bulbs to
creature that hurt)

16. On Warts/Lewis Thomas

Lewis Thomas in this essay talks about what actually causes warts and what are its effects on
human health. Warts are an excess amount of hard protein developed in the top skin layer
caused by skin infection. The writer investigates the unsolved mystery of this odd growth (warts)
on human skin. Warts can be cured but no one exactly knows how the cure works-i.e. is it by
science or by magic?

Warts are wonderful structures. They can appear overnight on any part of the skin. Warts are not
only due to the lack of personal hygiene. Rather they are quite common among the people. Warts
are caused due to virus that can appear at anywhere on your skin. The cells of warts are the
complex reproductive mechanism of a wart virus. The strange thing about them is that they tend
to go away after sometimes without leaving any trace.

Many people associate warts with witches and other such unpleasant characters. In this essay,
the writer discuses the fact that these warts can be removed effectively and efficiently by
hypnosis. It is the mystification (confusion) of science. Not everyone believe that warts can be
cured by hypnosis (a unreal/dreamy situation/mesmerism), but the evidence goes back a long
way and is persuasive. Even the dermatologist (skin specialist) has been convinced of the
phenomenon. Once a distinguished old professor of medicine (Sir William Osler) admitted that
even by painting with gentian violet (antiseptic (anti-bacterial color) over a wart, the problem
would be gone in a week.

Thomas argument is that the unconscious (hypnotic state) mind is a powerful thing and may
serve useful in the treatment of warts. Thomas says the unconscious mind is powerful in the
sense that you give yourself thoughts and listen to opinion from others on how to treat and get rid
of warts. In the treatment of warts, it is not known whether the healing response to hypnotic
suggestions, or it is due to increased immunity functions, more or less blood circulation, some
unknown chemical action, or other internal processes.
How the unconscious mind is able to cause warts to disappear when conventional treatments fail-
is still not fully known. Thomas notes historic research in which several patients had warts that
were destroyed after the hypnosis session, where the therapist made suggestion to the patient and
the warts eventually disappeared. It means there is a correlation between the hypnotic procedure
and the medical treatment, allowing the medical treatment to become more effective. However, it
has been reported that high expectancy of successful hypotonic treatment of warts is not
necessarily predictive of positive treatment outcome. More specifically, these findings indicate
that neither a hypnotic induction (training) procedure nor instructions for relaxation increase the
efficacy of suggestions to wart regression (decrease).

17. The Etiquette of Freedom/Gary Snyder

This essay “The etiquette of freedom” by Gary Snyder talks about freedom. It reminds us of our
moral obligation that we are connected to everything else. The writer thinks that whatever
animals and birds are there in this earth, they all are the creation of the nature. So, human beings
should behave them in an equal and kind way.

The writer says both human beings and animals are the creation of nature. Therefore, they
should be considered equal. But human beings do not like to see themselves in the category of
animals. They regard them wiser and more superior than other animals. Human beings and
animals share some similar biological traits (characters) which make humans animal. These traits
include the universal features of mammals.
Human beings claim that they discover language, live in society, and they have language to
communicate. So, they are superior to other animals. But this way of thinking is wrong. Human
beings are also animals. Nature has given language to all animals. They communicate using
their own language. Therefore, human beings and animals are same. Both of them live in the
nature, and enjoy with nature.
Language learning is a natural phenomenon. We first learn language from home, especially from
mother and other family members but not really from school. Animals also learn language from
their mother, from their culture and from the place they were born. We should not try to be
unique from other creature. We should think that we and all animals are one. We should not
confine ourselves inside home. We should enjoy our life freely like animals that are free. This is
the etiquette of freedom.

18. Just Like George Bernard Shaw/James Herriot

Characters:
Mr. Casling: farmer
Alan & Herold: two sons

The writer James Herriot is a veterinary surgeon. In this essay he describes one family’s reaction
to the news that the playwright George Bernard Shaw has suffered a mishap (accident). The story
uses the medical knowledge to clarify an interesting human situation.
George Bernard Shaw, a famous dramatist broke his leg while pruning (clearing/cutting) apple
trees in his garden. This news of his leg broken became far and wide and the national media
made it their headline news for a week because people were worried about him.
Right that time, Caslings’ (farmer) calf broke its leg. The writer, as a veterinary surgeon, was
called for the cow’s treatment. But the place to go for the treatment of the cow was far away. In
fact, the barn (shed) was isolated and often difficult to find. Anyway, the writer went there by
car. When he came out of the car, Mr. Casling, the farmer and his two big sons came to him.
The farmer was almost sixty and his thirty years old sons resembled his father in almost every
detail.

Then they moved to the field where the cows were grazing. The calves were running with their
mothers in the green field. One of the calves’ hind (back) leg was injured. So, it ran with the
dangling leg. Casling and his sons helped to catch the calf and the doctor Herriot applied plaster
bandager to the fracture. During that time, no one spoke. All were silent. Herriot wished
someone would speak.

While applying plaster, Herriot remembers George Bernard Shaw whose leg was also broken. He
compares this situation of the cow’s leg fracture with the situation of George Bernard Shah’s leg
broken. He finds both the situations somehow same. He makes a remarks saying, “Just like
George Bernard Shah” and goes to his work.
At that time someone spoke. The sound broke the long silence. After a while, the plaster of the
calf is completed. Then they let the calf go way and it goes to its mother. Herriot will come to
see the cow’s plaster after one month.

19. The Rights of Animals/Bridig Brophy

This essay deals with the responsibility of human beings towards animals. It suggests us that like
human beings, animals too have their right and freedom. Therefore, we should behave them in a
civilized and rational way. She states that our relationship to animals is always exploitive (cruel
& oppressive). So, she urges that it is our moral obligation to respect for animal’s rights.
In the essay, the writer says that whatever animals and birds are there in this earth, they are the
gifts of nature. The nature has given them all the things that they require. Human beings are also
animals. But human beings don’t like to see themselves in the category of animals because they
think that they have knowledge of everything.

Unit 4: Gender and Women

20. Profession for Women/Virginia Woolf

“Profession for women” is a speech delivered by Virginia wolf to a women’s group in 1930. In
this speech, she argues that women must overcome special obstacles to become successful in
their career. The obstacles that hinder woman from being successful are: their tendency to
sacrifice their own interest to those of others and their unwillingness to challenge conservative
male attitudes.
Wolf’s main point in this essay is to bring awareness to the phantom (spirit) and obstacles
women face in their job. She believes that any woman whose occupation is writing must battle a
majorobstacles that she calls a phantom and this phantom is also termed as “the angel in the
house”
She starts her speech by describing how female writers before her, have made a easier path to
her, becoming successful, thus she does not have to go through as many obstacles as women in
her profession do. She then goes on to describe the “Angel of the House’” or in other words
those phantoms (spirits) she has to face while working on her writing. The angel in the house is a
symbol of an ideal woman which means that this kind of woman is very devoted to the
household, she is subservient to husband and she is selfless. This angel prevents her from fully
writing what she wants, since it continuously tells her what society is expecting. The phantoms
she mentions are what people expect from women. For example, wolf is supposed to be
sympathetic, respectful, pure, subservient charming, and unselfish.

But however as a writer, one requires an independent life and also ideas. In order to achieve this
independence, she realizes that she must kill the angel in the house. She constantly kills the
phantom, but it always manages to find a way back. In addition, the narrator also realizes that
women writers face another major obstacle which is that they cannot speaks of their bodily
experiences very freely.

Therefore, she advises other writers to have an unconscious mind due to the fact that it will help
them write what they truly want. Writing consciously leads to what society wants, thus not being
able to express one’s true opinion. Woolf wants women to continue trying to fight these
phantoms and obstacles. She inspires women to fight to equal rights within men and women, and
to try and put an end to stereotypes.
Images/ Metaphor: The angel in the house, the fisherman in on the verge of a deep lake

21. The Use of Force/Willam Carlos Williams

”The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams shows the conflict between a doctor and his
patient at one level and doctor and the parents at another level. The conflict between doctor and
the patient is physical. But the conflict between doctor and parents is psychological. This story
tells that use of force for good purpose is ethical and justifiable.

The narrator is a doctor who visits the house of Olson family. Their small daughter Mithalda has
had a high fever for three days. Since no medicine worked, her parents called the doctor. Being
fearful that the girl may be suffering from diphtheria, the doctor asked her parents if she had sore
(aching) throat. The parents had not taken a look at her throat because they did not want to hurt
her. The doctor asks Mithalda to open her mouth but suddenly the girl attacks his eyes with her
nails. The doctor hates the parents when they say that doctor is a nice man and will not hurt her.
Then the doctor decides to use force than to leave her die. When the doctor is about to look into
her throat, her father suddenly releases her. The parents are restless and fearful that the doctor
may harm her child. On next attempt he grasps the child’s head and tries to get the wooden
depressor (spoon) into her mouth. The girl breaks it with her molars (jaws). The child’s mouth
starts bleeding. Later he forces the spoon back of her teeth and throat. He finds that she has a
sore throat and is suffering from diphtheria.

Generally use of force is unjustifiable, but if it is used with good motives in order to save
somebody’s life, it becomes a necessity. Here the basic conflict is between the doctor and the
parents of the patient. Doctor uses force because of social responsibility while the parents do not
want the use of force. Their love towards their child was about to cause the death of their child.
The parents concentrate on the immediate pain without thinking the consequences of the deadly
diseases. So the doctor loves the innocent child but finds her parents contemptible (shameful).

22. The Stronger/August Strindberg

Plot: Mrs x and miss y meet in a corner of a women’s café on a Christmas eve, Mrs x starts
greeting and talking to Miss y, after greeting she criticizes her for her loneliness, then Mrs x
keeps talking and revealing memories till we know Miss y was Mrs x’s husband’s lover, and Mrs
x tells Miss y that she destroyed her life and she changed her but later she says that she is the
stronger in all what happened and in the end she says she will leave the café to go home to make
love with her husband.

Climax: The climax of the play is when Mrs x expresses the reality and tells Miss y ‘’I hate you!
Oh, how I hate you!’’ here she says that she hates her and she had eaten her from inside and she
tells her that she cannot keep a man’s love but she can steal it away from others, here we can feel
the weakness of Mrs x and we can see Miss y is the stronger.

Conflict: The conflict of the play is between Mrs x’s will against miss y’s will. Mrs x tries to
keep other women away from her husband and fights whoever comes to her way. On the other
hand, Miss y is in love with Mrs x’s husband and she wants to gain her love. And Mrs x keeps
talking throughout the play and Miss y doesn’t say a word but her silence and her facial
expressions tell so much. At the end, judging from appearance, we find Miss Y the weak person
while Mrs. X is stronger because she is able to keep her house, her husband and have children,
while Miss y is lonely and sitting in the café.

Characters:
Mrs X: She is a round character, and she is wearing a winter coat and hat and she keeps talking
to miss y throughout the play, she makes fun of miss y’s loneliness. Later in the play we know
she hates miss y, but she also admits she changed a lot to be similar to miss y and she pretends to
be the stronger.
Miss y: she is also a round character of the play. Her name is Amelia and she keeps silent
throughout the play. She doesn’t say anything she only listens to Mrs x, in the play. Mrs x
reveals that she was her husband’s lover and her friend.
Mrs x’s husband (bob): He is a flat character ( two dimensional character who do not change
throughout) who his name is Bob and only mentioned from what Mrs X tells Miss y. From Mrs
x, we know he is a little man and he works in the theatre and he is womanize, and he likes
whatever Miss y likes and vice versa.
Setting: on a Christmas eve’s evening. Place: a corner of a women’s café, there are two small
iron tables and a red sofa and some chairs and there is a half empty beer on miss y‘s table
Theme: Love is something beautiful but the play shows that it can be a destructive power and it
should be limited. Miss y is in love with Mrs x’s husband and he also love her back. Love itself
is an amazing feeling but in this situation is wrong. It destroys Mrs x’s family.

23. Here I Love You/Pablo Neruda

The poem Here I Love You is a love poem that expresses the sadness of separation. The speaker
is (here) in this world and his beloved is (there) far away in another world. The speaker in this
poem loves her departed beloved. He passionately recalls the sweet moments he spent in her
company. But his companion is there far away in another world. Thus “here” contrasts with
“there”. “Here” in the poem refers to the dark pine wood, moonlit waters, snowy evenings and
all those places the speaker travels alone with the memories of his beloved. As against this,
“there” in this poem signifies the world where the speaker’s beloved has already reached and
now dwells (lives). The grief of the separation is immense (great) in this poem because the
speaker is alone here in this physical world. However, he still loves her faithfully as before but
the horizon hides her in vain. He looks at the ships sailing out of sight if he could send his kisses
to his beloved.

He recalls the time he spent with the natural surroundings of the moonlit waters, snowy evenings
in the pine forest and the coastal area. He remembers the black cross of the ship, the symbol of
his beloved’s funeral. So, the speaker feels that he is alone in this world. He feels that the days
are passing monotonously. Sometimes he wakes up early. His whole body is sweating because of
some kind of bad dream. His soul is wet and feels as if he had no energy. He feels that he heard
the sound of the sea far away. He loves her although he is here in this world.
Although she is there beyond the horizon in the other world, he loves her. Sometimes he sends
the message of love to her but gets no reply. He feels that he is forgotten like the old anchors. In
the afternoon he feels sad. He is hungry and fired. His life has no purpose. He loves her who is
not with him. He finds difficult to pass the evening and hates it. But he likes the night because he
meets her regularly in his dream. When the big stars look at him, he feels that his beloved is
looking at him. And he feels that the pine trees are singing her name.

24. The Kiss/Kate Chopin

Summary
The kiss by Kate Chopin tells us about the story of a woman and two men. The story portrays
(shows) a story of a woman who has two lovers. In one afternoon, when Natalie is talking to a
guy who will be her husband, Brantain, another guy Harvy comes towards them without ringing
the bell first then suddenly kisses Natalie who is still talking to Brantain. Brantain leaves Natalie
and Harvy. Harvy who doesn’t realize that there is Brantain around them asks an apology to
Natalie who feels awkward by telling that he doesn’t ring the bell because this is as he always
does with Natalie's brother directly going upstairs while Harvy comes in to find her. Natalie
doesn’t forgive him as she still feels mistaken to Brantain. This leads Natalie to meet Brantain to
tell her reasons to make him believe that there is nothing happened between Harvy and Her. She
tries to ensure Brantain not to misinterpret thing that happens between Harvy and her by telling
him that Harvy has been her best friend whom she already feels like cousin or even brother with
his intimate character. And the day comes, the day where Natalie and Brantain are ready to get
married. At the wedding, Harvy is among the guests. Surprisingly, he comes towards Natalie
who is standing alone and tells her that her husband, Brantain, asks him to kiss her. Natalie
whose lips are eager to catch his kiss feels a disappointment after he tells that he stops kissing
woman because that is dangerous. From that Natalie can learn that people cannot have
everything in this world. Natalie can have the wealth of her husband but she cannot have another
love from the man she loves, Harvy.

25. The Girl/Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” is a dramatic monologue in which a mother gives advice to her
daughter. “The Girl” consists of a single sentence of advice a mother gives to her daughter. She
gives the advice to both help her daughter and scold her at the same time. Kincaid uses
semicolons to separate the rebuke and words of wisdom but often repeats herself, especially to
warn her daughter against becoming a “slut” (sexually perverted).

The mother gives out much practical and helpful advice that will help her daughter keep a house
of her own some day. She tells her daughter how to do such household chores as laundry,
sewing, ironing, cooking, setting the table, sweeping, and washing, cleaning. The mother also
tells the girl how to do other things she’ll need to know about, including how to make herbal
medicines, how to behave with people around and catch a fish. These words of wisdom suggest
that the women live in a poor, rural setting, where passing on such advice is essential for daily
living.
Along with practical advice, the mother also instructs her daughter on how to live a fulfilling life.
She instructs her daughter that there is not always good relationship between husband and wife
after marriage. She also says that there are many kinds of relationships and some never work out.
The mother also tells the girl how to behave in different situations, including how to talk with
people she doesn’t like.
There are three central themes to the story: sexual reputation, domesticity, and mother-daughter
relationships. In this story, the mother goes on and on teaching the daughter how to be the
perfect daughter in society. She is very careful to protect her daughter from the sexual activities.

26. Farewell/Federico Garcia Lorca

The poem “Farewell” by Federico Garcia Lorca is a romantic lyric, which expresses poet’s
intense desire to feast on the pleasures of life even after death. The poet asks someone, perhaps
one of his family members, to leave the balcony open if he dies, because from his balcony he
wants to see the little boy eating oranges and hear the reaper harvesting the wheat. The poet
conveys a message to the reader that this world is a very enjoyable place and the delights of
living are really great.

There are some people who say that this life on the earth and the physical world here is an
illusion. They think that our senses are not real, only the life after death is real. They give
preference to the spirit or the soul. And want to forget the physical world. There are others who
give preference to the physical world and condemn the existence of the spiritual world. Unlike
them, the poem seems to suggest that this world and the life here is real and we must enjoy it.
Our senses are real. What we do, hear, or feel have importance. Life is not illusion. We have to
make things meaningful by enjoying different activities here in the Earth. The poet is not fed up
with the worldly activities. So, even after death, he wants to return back and enjoy the little boy
eating oranges and the reaper harvesting the wheat.

The poet wants to keep the balance attitude towards the physical and the spiritual world. He
seems to believe in both. The world 'balcony' hare in this poem stands for a vintage (era) point
from where both inside and outside can be seen. Here inside refers to the soul and outside refers
to the physical world. This world ‘balcony’ has been repeated four times in the poem. This
repetition has great significance. He seems, thus, to suggest that souls are real, so are bodies.
Acting the present, enjoy it and make it meaningful.

27. Popular Mechanics/Raymond Carver

Theme: lack of communication, separation and struggle.
Summary
Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver describe an argument between a man and a woman that
rapidly escalate (goes up) into a physical struggle over their baby. It has the theme of separation,
conflict, struggle and communication.

It's muddy outside and getting dark. Inside, a man is in the bedroom, hurriedly packing his
suitcase. A woman says she is glad that he is leaving. She starts crying. She takes a picture of the
baby from the bed and leaves the room. He wants the picture back.

He finishes packing, puts on his coat, and turns out the light. He goes to the living room. The
woman stands in the doorway of the kitchen, holding the baby. He wants to take the baby. She
refuses. The baby starts crying.

He moves toward her. She retreats (moves back) into the kitchen, standing in a corner by the
stove. He grabs hold of the baby. They argue over him. The baby is screaming. They knock
down a flowerpot.

He tries to break her grip on the baby. He grips the baby under an arm and tries to pull the
woman's fingers apart. She feels her grip loosening. As the baby slips away, she screams and
grabs for the baby's other arm. She has one wrist and leans back. The man pulls very hard. The
issue gets decided.

The title of the story refers to a long –running magazine for technology and engineering
enthusiasts of the same name. The implication is that the way the man and woman handle their
differences is widespread or popular. The issue that is decided is who will get the baby. The last
few lines reveal that neither of them get the baby because the parents killed the baby by fighting
over it.

Tone: Angry, aggressive and tense

28. The Fly/Willam Blake

The speaker draws a comparison between himself and a fly that he has unkindly killed.

Blake’s speaker addresses the fly which his hand has just killed away, putting an end to the fly’s
‘summer’s play’ by most probably killing it. The speaker wonders whether he and the fly are, in
fact, the same. Like the fly, the speaker dances and drinks and sings until some ‘blind hand’ will
kill him, snuffing out his existence. The speaker of ‘The Fly’ ends by reasoning that if life means
thought, or consciousness, and the absence of thought or consciousness is death, then the speaker
is, like the fly, happy whether he lives or dies.

William Blake, in this poem has very beautifully compared human with the fly. Both the speaker
and fly show some movement i.e. both dance, sing and drink but they differ in terms of
consciousness. The main argument in the poem is that if life means thought, or consciousness,
and the absence of thought, or consciousness is death, then the speaker is like the fly.

29. Jest and Earnest /Annie Dillard

“Jest and Earnest” written by Annie Dillard describes a shocking event where a frog is being
eaten by a giant water bug. This event stirs (prompts/initiates) Dillard provoking her to ask a
series of questions about God, nature, beauty, terror, life, and death. The purpose of this piece is
to explore why the maker of the universe created cruelty and beauty.

This essay starts with an anecdote (story) the writer describes where a frog is being eaten by a
"Giant water bug". She begins to question the water bug's purpose for being created. Then the
writer says we are all like the water bug in a sense. We are constantly looking for food,
destroying anything in our path to survive in life. But Dillard was attracted first to the frog and
felt more compassion (kind) for the frog when he died. If the tables were turned you have to
think that same frog killed quite a few flies few hours before. So what the giant water bug did is
no worse then what the frog did to innocent flies hours before.

A question that Dillard asks while observing the scene is whether everything on this earth was
made in jest or in earnest. By that question she means to say that god has created both beautiful
and cruel thing in this world. Everything made in this earth has been created purposefully.
Nothing is good and bad in the eyes of the creator. It is only our perception. Even the beauty is in
the eye of the beholder. So, the thing which is ugly for you may be beautiful for other. When a
creature is made it may not be seen as beautiful to a stranger’s eye, but it may be the most
precious creation to the creator. There are murders, thieves, and robbers placed on this earth, but
for what reason. Maybe they are not placed here just to keep the world running. That is the
question Dillard wants us to answer and she tries to do so in this essay.
       
 There is juxtaposition in the title of the essay. The word jest has to do with fun, and earnest is a
sort of conservative seriousness. Dillard tries to convey her beliefs on creation and how even
seemingly complete opposites have something in common and how they are essential for the
existence.

30. The Old Man at the Bridge/Earnest Hemingway

The story consists of just one brief scene – the conversation between the narrator and the ‘old
man at the bridge’ – and one setting: the pontoon (floating) bridge across a river in Spain.

The narrator, who has been sent on a mission to cross the bridge and explore the land beyond to
see how far the enemy has advanced, meets an old man who is seventy-six years old. The old
man has left his hometown of San Carlos, where he took care of animals. He tells the narrator
that he was the last person to leave the town.

The old man does not look like a shepherd or a herdsman, but he returns several times to his
favorite topic: the fact that he looked after the animals in the town. He tells the narrator there
were two goats and a cat, plus four pairs of pigeons. But he was told he had to leave the town,
and the animals, because of the artillery.

The narrator warns the man not to hang around but to hitch a ride on one of the trucks heading
for Barcelona. The old man thanks him but it’s not clear whether he intends to follow this
suggestion. He keeps returning to the question of whether the animals will be all right without
him. He knows the cat will be able to survive on its own but he worries about the others.
The story ends with the narrator telling us that the Fascist army was advancing towards the Ebro
river and the old man wouldn’t have long to get away. But the old man seems reluctant
(unwilling) to move.

The theme of the story is that war not only threatens to destroy the lives of soldiers on the battle
field, but all living beings who happen to be in its path. This anti-war story focuses on the
devastating effect of war on the life of old man. The old man is the reflection of the war who lost
everything in his life. Heming felt sorry for the old man and the people like him who were
mentally broken by the Spanish civil war(1936-1939).

31. Once more to the Lake/E.B. White

“Once More to the Lake” is a narrative essay written by E.B. White. The essay recounts (tells)
White’s experience of revisiting his childhood lake in Maine with his son as an adult that his
family frequently visited when he was a child.

White begins by describing his family’s first visit to the lake in 1904, when he was five. He
regards it the most beautiful place. Although his family’s annual visits to the lake are well in
the past, White finds himself longing to go back and plans a vacation with his son.

When he arrives back to the lake, he thinks everything has stayed the same. However,
everything he describes appears to have changed from when he was a child. For example, the
pathway they walk on to get to the farmhouse to take dinner was still there, however instead of
three tracks on the pathway, there was now only two. At the farmhouse the waitresses were the
same country girls, the only difference was that they had washed their hair and they had been
seen the pretty girls with clean hair.
Similarly, the tracks created for the horse and carriage was no longer in existence. This shows
the change of time that has occurred between the last time he was at the lake. Similarly, the
motorboats, which used to be noisy, now were loud and disturbed the peace that the narrator
previously enjoyed.

The next morning he and his son went fishing. He saw the dragonfly on the tip of the rods as it
hovered over the water. The arrival of the dragonfly convinced the father even more that
everything was as it had always been. They both sat there while fishing and the father looks over
to the boy staring quietly and sees that it is his hands that is holding the rod and his eyes
watching the water. White keeps comparing himself to his son, seeing himself as his grandfather.

Overall, White enjoys this vacation with his son and, although there have been some
noticeable changes around the camp, he is able to maintain the illusion that he has assumed
the place of his father and returned to his childhood. He ends the piece by describing the onset
of a thunderstorm that appeared over the lake one afternoon. As the storm dissipates, the
camp-goers rush out of their cabins to resume their swimming His son decides to join the
other campers, and White watches him change into his swim trunks. As his son finishes
changing, White abruptly ends the piece with the following line: “As he buckled the swollen
belt

32. The Hundredth Dove/Jane Yolen

“The Hundredth Dove,” by Jane Yolen, is a story of the misuse of the power and authority. It
gives idea that sometimes, we are guided by our heart rather than our mind and love become
victorious.

A man named Hugh lived in the forest of old England. One day, the king calls him and tells him
to capture 100 doves in one week for his (king’s) wedding. This task seems nearly impossible for
almost anybody else, but Hugh is determined to do his best. After all he is the King’s Fowler
(hunter) and has to obey orders.

Hugh has to catch 100 round plump doves in 5 short days for the King’s royal wedding. So, he
takes out the net and goes deep in the forest. With a long patience, he catches 20 doves each day
but every time he catches them, a white dove slips(escape) away from the net. After 5 tiring
days of hunting, he has still not caught the slim white dove that keeps getting out of his grasp. He
is sort of hundred by one. This is when the part gets much worse for Hugh. The fifth day comes
and he still does not catch the bird.

On the sixth day, before dawn, the hunter checks his net and set it for the last time. With great
patience, he waited for the white dove and at the last she comes. When he traps her, she requests
him to release her. Then the white dove converts into the queen. The hunter becomes nervous
and he could not release her because he was there to serve the king. He closes his eyes, twists the
neck of the dove, and goes back to home.
Next day, the hunter, brings the hundred doves- ninety nine live ones and the one dead –to the
king’s kitchen. But there never was a weeding.

Then the hunter gives up hunting and lives on berries and fruits rest of his life. He even starts to
feed grains for the birds but he never saw another dove.

33. The Lunatic/L.P. Devkota

Summary

The speaker in the poem is a mad person. Wearing a mask of an insane person, he expresses his
uncommon activities just opposite to normal people. He sees the sound, hears the sight and tastes
the smell. He sees the beautiful flowers in the stone. He touches the things that don’t exist. He
says he works with the sixth sense. He also communicates with the birds and animals. He speaks
such language that the world doesn’t accept. There is one subtracting one from one in his
mathematics. His dream world is full of thorns not rose. He dances with the song of Cuckoo
sitting in the wintery sun. He calls prostitutes are dead bodies and rulers and politicians are real
fools. The king is beggar for him. Others heaven is hell and others good is his worse. Thus the
speaker tries to prove that he is a lunatic (mad) person. When he sees injustices and
discrimination done upon poor and powerless, he turns to be like volcano. Finally, he asserts
that he is insane because he can’t tolerate such injustices existed in the society.

Lunatic is an autobiographical poem in which Devkota may be trying to satirize the so called
sane people (politicians) and the society of that time. Wearing a mask of insane (mad) persona,
he has freely criticized the cruel leaders and the oppressive society of Rana regime. In a sense, it
is a political poem. It shows the political scenario of Nepal when Nepalese people were ruled by
Ranas. Ranas suppressed the common people breaking the human rights. The speaker makes a
strong protest against this.

Critical Thinking: This poem criticizes the cruel behavior of the so called sane people. They are
the people guided by the mind who fail to know human feelings. But the insane people like poet
are guided by heart and are more sentimental, emotional and sympathetic towards others
feelings. With their sixth sense, they are extraordinary.

34. An Essay in Aesthetics/Roger Fry

This essay by Roger Fry attempts to describe what art is and why it matters. A work of art has its
aesthetic (artistic) beauty; it has no other moral purpose.

Roger Fry advocated (supported) “art for art’s sake”. This means that the graphic artists need not
represent anything in the real world and that art has no ethical (moral) function in the lives of
those who view it. So, art is an expression of imaginative life which is separated from actual life.
In art, we have no moral responsibility as such. Art is rather amoral.
The job of the artist is to elaborate (explain in detail) and interpret that world, the imagination.
Because of imaginative visions, however realistic, don’t demand action as reality does. We can
look at them more carefully, notice the sensations they arouse, take the time to feel and taste
those sensations.

Religion also belongs to the imaginative life. Religious experience is one which corresponds to
certain spiritual capacities of human nature. The exercise of religion is in itself good apart from
their effect upon actual life. Since the value of religion isn’t in question, it must be that the
exercise of “certain spiritual capacities of human nature. On the same grounds, art is good for its
own sake. The pleasure we get from art is different from the pleasure we get from sensual
pleasure. Pleasure derived from art is more long lasting.

From this, the features of a work of art: it must supply a frame to detach the viewer, and should
have rich enough material to reward heightened perception. Art is the chief organ of the
imaginative life. It stimulates us and differentiates us from our actual life. More importantly, it
provides the greater freedom of expression.

35. The Clock Tower/ Bhupi Sherchan

All the old military (army) uniforms have gone one by one. Some of them have been worn off,
some have been nibbled(cut) by the rats and others have been distributed among friends and
relatives. But only the two souvenirs (gifts) of the army life in Rana regime are still in existence.
They are: an old – modelled large round pocket watch hanging from the neck and an ancient hat
on the head of Ghantaghar. It seems as if Ghantaghar, like a retired senior soldier who feels sad
and weary(tired)at the old age, is jealously guarding these two souvenirs always standing on the
bank of Ranipokhari looking anxiously into it.

The poem “The Clock Tower” captures the image of a pensioned veteran who passes his days
without worry or anxiety. The clock tower that personifies a retired veteran symbolizes the down
fall of Rana System in Nepal. As the only remaining souvenir of Rana Regime, the clock tower
is no more in value at present. It has been there simply brooding over Rani Pokhari. It looks like
a sad retired veteran and the poet is sympathetic towards it. The tone of the poem is satirical. The
use of simile “clock tower like a pensioned senior vet” is very apt. The description of the clock
tower and the characterization of the ‘senior vet’ seem to merge into the fabric of the poem.

The poem satirizes the existing values and the supremacy of Rana regime of the time. His attack
is especially upon the autocratic system of governance of Ranas who ruled Nepal mercilessly. It
is ironic that ‘Clock tower’, as a symbol of Rana regime is helpless and pathetic now. As time
passed, Ranas became powerless and their symbols are also slowly fading away.
 36. Beauty/Susan Sontag

In “Beauty” Susan Sontag shows how a woman's beauty has been degraded (dishonored) while
being called beautiful.

In the essay, the writer shows how a separation of appearance from reality has devaluated the
concept of beauty and, in the process, oppressed women. The concept of beauty has changed
over the centuries. The Greeks thought of beauty as the quality of personal excellence, where as
now the westerners think of it as a surface attractiveness that gives power to its oppressor.

Sontag introduces her essay to the audience by establishing a focal point around the fact that
women viewed today are derived from the religious perspective of how women were viewed in
history.

During the ancient times, Greeks and Christians practiced their own methods of examining
women and their beauty. The Greeks believed that the lack of ‘inner” beauty could be
compensated with “outer” beauty. They took inner and outer beauties in a way that were
interconnected to one another within an individual. The preference and priority was given to the
‘outer’ beauty, while the ‘inner’ beauty would be kept at bay (inlet).

Christianity, on the other hand, gave moral significance to beauty. They associated beauty with
the inner virtue and the morality of women.

Then Sontag introduces the beauty between men and women and says a woman is beautiful
where as a man is handsome. She does this by recapitulating (summarizing) how in a Christian
religion, a woman’s body was parted into many sections to be judged and scrutinized, while men
are visual.Women try to make themselves beautiful to attract the best opportunities possible.
Susan Sontag not only emphasizes on their outer beauty, but also tries to convince her audience
that there is more to a woman than just looks; there is another individual right underneath the
ugliness.

Over the years, women have been classified as the gentler sex and regarded as the fairer gender.
Sontag uses narrative structure to express the conventional attitude, which defines beauty as a
concept applied today only to women and their outward appearance. She completes this by using
the technique of contrast to distinguish the beauty between men and women and establishing a
variation in her essay, by using effective language.

What I Think, What I AM" /Edward Hoagland

In the essay, the writer, Hoagland gives an efficient (proficient) definition of the personal essay.
He is trying to say that there is a fusion (mixture) of logic and reason in the essay. He also says
that there is a fascination (attraction) with the mind in the essay. Many people think that essays
are outdated at present but Hoagland does not think so. He claims that essays can be sold more
easily in the market than short stories. The art of storytelling is predated in the time of cave
painting but after movies, novels, biography, and so on stories were sent in the drain. According
to the writer, once short stories are written in a specific context, they cannot be overdone. But
essays can be overdone, revised, and added in each edition.

The writer thinks that the essay is always hung between what you think and what you are. It
means that it covers the writer's mind, thoughts, and feelings. He massively (greatly) supports
personal essays which for him is the expression of the human voice. According to the writer,
personal essays are the mind's spontaneous (automatic) flow on the paper. He advocates
(supports) that such essays are not systematized outlines of the idea. In this regard, it is more
informal than an article. Essays don’t condense (reduced, compressed) with a summary as
articles do.

An essay is a mind speaking to a mind. Ideas of the essay are expressed by an educated and
knowledgeable man. In this regard, it is less universal in their appeal than stories because the
essay is addressed to an educated, and a middle-class reader. Personal essays also tell a story
while keeping a particular viewpoint.

A personal essay frequently is not autobiographical but sometimes conveys the quality of the
author’s mind. The personal essay is more different than other genres because the personal essay
is directly concerned with the mind and it is bestowed (presented) with the fascination
(attraction) of mind is the fascination of essays.

All- Pervading Poetry/BalKrishna Sama

The poem All-Pervading Poetry" is composed by Natya Siromani Bal Krishna Sama. In the
poem, Sama discusses how an individual finds subject matter to write poetry. He says that a
person should elevate (lift up, raise) his/her way of perceiving things around him to be capable of
composing a poem. He adds that to write a poem, a person should mix his feelings, emotions,
imagination with the natural surroundings.

Since nature is everywhere, subject matter for poetry can be found everywhere. So, poetry is all-
pervading (spread through, present everywhere). It is just the ability of an individual to discover
the idea to write a poem. Looking at the objects through plain eyes never helps to generate
(create) a poem. An empowering (strong) feeling and emotion are required to find poetry in the
objects around us.

A holy man once wandered around the streams, hills, pastures (grazing place), forests, bushes,
etc to find poetry. But he couldn't find any poetry. He thought that it wasn't the season for poetry.
As he was returning, he met an aesthete (someone who has high sensitivity to beauty). The
aesthete made him realize how he could find all pervading poetry.

The aesthete said to use his heart (not mind) sympathetically to search poems in the objects
around him. The aesthete advised the holy man not to look at things through prosaic eyes (the
eyes that look for fact). Bringing such emotion, feeling help an individual see tree melting like
resin, green field dissolving into lakes, the sky transforming into the Ganga river, flowers
changing into honey, and stars look like droplet of water. This is the way to find life in lifeless
objects. And this could be the subject matter to write great poems.

The Allegory of the cave/Plato

Allegory: An allegory is a story, poem, or a picture, or other piece of art that uses symbols to
convey a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Pilgrim’s process is an allegory of
the spiritual journey.

The “Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato, deals with the theory of human perception
(awareness) and the reality. Plato believes on ideas and essence rather than on matter. According
to him, knowledge gained through senses is misleading, and it is no more real. For him,
knowledge gained through logic and reasoning is the real knowledge. In this essay, the writer
distinguishes (differentiates) between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth.

In the text, Socrates tells Glaucon (a character) to imagine the existence of a cave where
prisoners have lived since childhood. With their hands tied to a wall, they can see only the
shadows that are projected (reflected) on the wall. Behind the prisoners a fire burns, and there is
a wall. The prisoners only see the shadow and echoes of the object on the wall. They are unable
to see the real objects behind them. These shadows are the only knowledge that the prisoners
have about the world which is not real.

Then, one of the prisoners is freed. Walking through the cave, he realizes that there were people
and a fire casting the shadows that he believed to be reality. When he finds his way out of the
cave, he is startled (troubled) when faced with the outside world. Sunlight obscures (disturbs) his
vision, and he feels helpless, uncomfortable, and out of place.

Gradually, his vision gets used to the light. Then he begins to realize the infinity of the world and
nature that exists outside the cave. He realizes that those shadows, which he believed to be
reality, are actually imperfect, copies of a small portion of reality. The freed prisoner could do
two things: return to the cave and free his companions or depart from the cave to live freely. A
possible consequence of the first possibility would be the attacks he would suffer from his
companions. If he returns after exposure to sunlight, the dark will obscure (disturb) his vision.
Plato infers (suppose) that the other prisoners would think that leaving the cave caused blindness
and would aggressively oppose any attempts to set them free.

Thus, Plato, in this essay tells us not to believe on sensory perception. He thinks that most of us
are imprisoned in the wall of five senses which is just like a cave. He believes Knowledge gained
through senses in incomplete. The cave and darkness in Plato’s allegory represent ignorance. It
also refers to men confined in sensory perception. The prisoners of the cave are ordinary people
who trust on sense perception which does not necessarily holds the truth of a fact. The shadows
and echoes are never an accurate depiction of the object that cast them. Rather, they are the
distortion of reality. Thus, the shadows in the cave represent superficial truth.
 Her First Ball/Katherine Mansfielf
Katherie Mansfield’s stories deal with the theme of the psychological conflict of specially the
female characters. Here in this story, she juxtaposes (shows) the youth and age and that results
the confused, innocent, and tragic situation.
Laila is going to attend her first ball (dance party) with her cousins, Meg, Laurie and Lauria
and Jose Sheridan. Laila is from countryside, and never been to a ball before. When they arrive
at the drill hall, all the participants get engaged with their dance. And Meg tells the girls around
them to help Leila and find dance partner. After sometimes, she meets an old man; who fills out
her card despite not having much space on his own. The old man pretends that he had met her
before in another ball but that was quite impossible, since that was her first ball. She remembers
her dance class in school time. She merely comments that the floor was beautifully slippery.
When Leila’s second partner comments, on the floor, she notices the partners only. She is
baffled (puzzled, bewildered) only by the partners. The old man says that she has been dancing
in the ball for thirty years. And she says that Laila would never dance as long as he danced. He
points out an old lady and says that she would be same in no time and make comments about
youngsters kissing.

Laila is disturbed by her conservation with the old man, particularly because she hadn’t
previously thought about her age-now, she is worried that this ball has become her last ball. She
is angry at the old man who she believes spoiled everything by observing her into her fate. They
stop dancing Laila chooses to learn against the wall rather than to return to the floor. The old
man tells her not to take him seriously, and Leila scoffs (mocks) but remains bad-tempered,
thinking that she she’d like to go home. Soon, however, another partner approaches and starts to
dance with the new partner. And this time, she doesn’t bother to recognize the old man all.

The story begins with the thinking of Leila that her first dance starts with the cab. This shows
that the excitement in the girl is so high. But her excitements have so many ups and downs in
the story. She thinks that her excitements would be out of control. But her all enjoyments fall
down with the meeting of the old man. The old man plays the role to make her understand that
how late; ignorant she is to enjoy the life. The old man even indicates that how fast she is
growing old. But the lady overcomes every negative forces raised by the old man when she
meets the next partner. Next partner builds the hope, enjoyment, excitement on her. She feels
that she has the whole world in front of her to dance and enjoy.

Katherie Masfiel’s characters have always the conflict of psychology and the victory over the
fear of youth and loss of innocence. It is a multi layered story about a girl Leila who attends her
first ball with fear and eager.
Leila’s innocence shows that she is quite inexperience regarding the balls, as she belongs to the
outskirts of the city. She should have been matured as her sisters/cousins. But she says it is her
first ball only. She is quite innocent about what to do when she approaches her ball party. She is
so happy at the sight of all the beauty and celebration. She feels nervous in handling the ball. She
likes someone else to handle and her and teach her. She meets the old man who merely makes
her nervous and angry. But ultimately, she has to handle everything. She handles the old man;
she welcomes the young man and she starts to think she is young and she has a log future ahead.
The old man has poisoned her thinking that she would be old woman soon. She gets victory over
all her fear, unconscious innocence and immaturity.
Though it is the first time, she is attending the ball, she has the winning end. The dream like
description of the ball brings happiness to Leila, which is nearly ruined by the dance partner later
in the story. But she is fully successful to bring back that happy in her life. If she had not been
mature enough, she wouldn’t have been able to get victory over such discomforts.