THE FORTUNE TELLER – KAREL CAPEK

UNIT-5 LS.14 THE FORTUNE TELLER – KAREL CAPEK

April 26, 2019Edit

 THE FORTUNE TELLER

– KAREL CAPEK

Preface:
“The Fortune Teller” is a short story penned by Karel Capek, a famous Czech writer.  The story is about a fake fortune teller (astrologer) in England called Mrs. Myers.  How she is trapped by the detective inspector Mr. MacLeary and punished by the magistrate Kelly is the story.  But how her prophecy turns out to be true is the irony of life. Everyone’s judgment goes wrong but not the predictions of the fake astrologer.

The Predictions by Mrs. Myers
Inspector Mr.MacLeary spreads a net to catch Mrs.Myers by sending his wife Mrs.MacLeary.  His wife pretends as if she is a 20 years old unmarried girl.  Mrs. Myers reads the cards.  She predicts that the girl is going to marry a young rich business man before the end of the year.  An elderly man will be an obstacle on her way but she will succeed and move across the ocean after marriage. The fee -one pound and one shilling is paid for her predictions.

The Trial Scene in the Court
The inspector files a case against Mrs. Myers.  She is summoned to court for trial.  She argues that Mrs.MacLeary appeared as an unmarried anxious girl that is why I predicted so.  However her fradulence is proved and she is sentenced to deportation.  She also has to pay the penalty of 50 pounds.

The Irony of Life 
A year later, the judge Mr. Kelley meets the inspector by chance. He is shocked to know that Mrs.MacLeary eloped with a young rich businessman from Melbourne.  She crossed the ocean a weak ago for Australia.  Mrs. Myers is a fraud but her prediction becomes true.  The inspector and judge are able to judge Mrs. Myers but not the mysterious happenings in life.  Destiny overrules human intelligence.

SUMMARY

karel Caper (1890-1938), was a famous Czeck novelist, playwright and story writer. his short stories are marked by a gentle play of irony. In this story a smart Dectective Inspector called MacLeary employs his charming young wife to trap a Fraudulent fortune-teller called Mrs. Myers.

CONTENT:

“The Fortune Teller” tells the story of Mrs. Myers, a woman who comes to the attention of a police inspector called Mr. MacLeary. Keen to know how she conducts her business, Mr. MacLeary’s wife calls on Mrs. Myers at home and pretends to be a single woman who desires to know her future. In their meeting, Mrs. Myers predicts that Mrs. MacLeary (disguised as Miss Jones) will be married before the year is up and will go on a long journey. A man, it is claimed, will also try and stand in her way.

Believing these predictions to be false, Mrs. MacLeary reports these findings to her husband. He has recently discovered that Mrs. Myers’ identity is also false: her surname is, in fact, Meierhofer and she comes from Lubeck in Germany.

As a result, Mrs. Myers is called to account for her business before the local magistrate, Mr. Kelly, who finds her guilty of fraud and sentences her to pay a fine of fifty pounds. The case of Mrs. Myers, it seems, is finally over.

It is in the closing paragraph of the story, however, that Capek uses irony when it transpires that Mrs. Myers’ original predictions for Mrs. MacLeary come true. Mrs. MacLeary does indeed marry a man before the year is up: he is a millionaire from Melbourne and Mrs. MacLeary moves with him to Australia, a place which requires a considerably long journey from London.

CONCLUSION:

In this short story the prophesy of the old lady, the fake fortune teller that she predicted a certain future for Miss Jones, or Mrs. MacLeary, comes true. Although the judge orders her to go back to Germany and also advises her not to practice anymore such fraudulent prediction as a professional fortune teller, yet the greatest irony is that the prophesy of the fake fortune teller comes true at the end and it takes the readers to some unpredictable climax when Mrs. MacLeary is found to have been married to a rich young businessman and have moved to Australia. Thus a freakish forecast comes true in the life of the smart Inspector.

THOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR BY A.G. GARDINER

UNIT-4 LS.12 THOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR BY A.G. GARDINER

April 26, 2019Edit

THOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR

– A.G. GARDINER

INTRODUCTION:

Alfred George Gardiner(1865-1946) wrote under the pen-name ‘Alpha of the polugh’ was one of the most famous essayists of the first half of the 20th century. All his essays are thought-provoking though on the surface they appear to be designed merely to entertain the readers. Those People Next Door is typical in this respect pebbles on the shore. He portrays have the theme of ignorance, identity, criticism, selfishness, jealousy and tolerance.

CONTENT:

LONDON city has its inhabitants and people are busy with their domestic chores. Thus people often cohabit as virtual strangers showing the least interest in knowing their neighbours. This trait as mentioned by A.G.Gardiner is being increasingly noticeable in modern towns and cities in all parts of the world.

The ignorance to known people who live next door is a trait which is increasingly shared by city dwellers. The only sound is the noise generated by the fire irons and the piano which indicates that the other human being is occupying the premises. The aloofness in relationship in city dwellers is not to be construed as pride or incivility. It is the peculiar London way of living. Each person guards his or her personal space and does not show any curiosity in knowing the other.

Men have been described as lonely as Oysters each living in their own shell. The life in villages are however different. People in the rural areas are inquisitive to known about their neighbours’ whereabouts and well being. Villagers do not exist as individuals but as a collective social unit. The case of people reveling has been described in great detail. The incident described is of people enjoying themselves by having a party. There are the inmates of the house we also have the guests and the merry making continues till late hours of the morning.

According to Matida she had seen the revelers leave the house in a car at 4o’clock in the morning. Probably the din and bustle created by the neighbours’ was not seen in good light. The question raised is can we fun and frolic at the cost of disturbing our neighbours’ peace? Is it something appropriate and sanctioned by the law or social conventions? The essayist A. G. Gardiner also brings out the fifference between man and man. Each individual is different and very often we take the judgmental route in trying to ascribe reasons for human behavior.

Why do our neighbours sleep so late or wake so early, there is inquisitiveness about dress and way of living. How can our neighbours’ enjoy more of holidays? Why do our neighbours nor dress well or dress so shabbily? The habits of people the friends they associate with, the pets they keep often give credence to our worst fears about our neighbours. However, in most cases our fears do not have any founding are they are merely a figment of our imagination. People also have a tendency to believe the worst about their neighbours.

There are misleading statements and rumor in the air giving inappropriate portrayal of our neighbour’s activities. However, when we happen to meet our neighbours’ personally we find them to be different. There is nothing sinister (threatening) about them and our neighbours’ are human just like us. It is the game of judgment and misjudgment which lends the unfavorable opining giving  rise to prejudices and biases. However, the St John’s Wood case provides a different perspective. On the one hand there were two musicians living in a house imparting lessons to pupils on the piano.

The venture of course was stared to earn a livelihood. The musical notes were construed as creation of noise and disturbance of peace by the neighbor. In retaliation the neighbor banged on tin cans to make things unpleasant for the musicians. In the first case it was effort made to earn an honest living and the musicians did not have the intention of being offensive. This leads to the need of being more sensitive to our neighbors’ needs. We have to learn to respect our neighbors’ sentiments According to the essayist a perfect neighbor is one whom we never hear except when he pokes the fire.

I HAVE A DREAM -MARTIN LUTHER KING

UNIT-4 LS.11 I HAVE A DREAM -MARTIN LUTHER KING

April 26, 2019Edit

LS.11 I HAVE A DREAM

                    -MARTIN LUTHER KING

The “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was delivered during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He gave the speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; this speech expresses King’s hope for America and the need for change. He opens the speech by stating how happy he is to be with the marchers, and emphasizes the historical significance of their march by calling it “the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” He talks about Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years before the march. He calls that proclamation “a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity,” where “their” refers to those who were enslaved. King then comes to the problems faced by African Americans in 1963, saying that one hundred years later, they still are not free. Instead, they are “sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” He also discusses the poverty endured by black Americans. King talks about when the founders of the nation (“the architects of our republic”) wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. He says they were writing a promissory note to every American, that all men were guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that this included black men as well as white. He states that America defaulted on that check where black citizens are concerned by denying them those rights. “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds,” he says.

King then adopts a more hopeful tone by adding that the “bank of justice” is not bankrupt. He also states that there is urgency in their cause: “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” He uses the seasons as a metaphor to describe this urgency by saying that the legitimate discontent of African Americans is a “sweltering summer,” and that freedom and equality will be an “invigorating autumn.” He also promises that this protest is not going away. It’s not about voicing grievances and then going back to the status quo: “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges,” he states. King then cautions his people not to commit any wrongful deeds. He says, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” This is a crucially important sentiment, as King’s leadership was defined by civil disobedience, not violence. He proved that real legal change could be made without resorting to violence. Though there was much violence during the Civil Rights movement, he was always for peace, and urged others to protest peacefully, what he calls in his speech “the high plane of dignity and discipline.” He also stresses the importance of recognizing white people who want to protest for this same cause—those allies that are necessary to its success. King provides some specific goals. He says they can’t stop marching so long as they suffer police brutality, so long as they’re turned away from hotels, so long as they’re confined to ghettos, so long as they’re subject to segregation, and so long as they do not have the right to vote. He then recognizes the struggles that many of the marchers have already endured, and asks them to undertake that struggle again, and to have hope that their situation can and will change.

Then comes the most famous part of this speech, for which it is titled. King says his dream is “deeply rooted in the American dream.” This reinforces the protesters’ rights to equality in America. He says he dreams that “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” This emphasizes the need for black and white Americans to work together. Central to the message of this speech, and the Civil Rights movement more generally, is this line: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He talks about the importance of faith, and that “all flesh shall see [the glory of the Lord] together.” That faith, he says, will help them in the struggles they’ve faced, the struggles they still face, and those struggles yet to come as they peacefully fight for liberty and equality. King then uses a line from the song, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”: “This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: ‘My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!’” Only by realizing this as truth, King says, can America become a great nation. He begins the next section by mentioning mountainsides throughout the country, repeating “Let freedom ring.” King closes the speech with another iconic line: “When all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

THE REFUGEE – K.A. ABBAS

UNIT-4 LS.10 THE REFUGEE – K.A. ABBAS

April 26, 2019Edit

THE REFUGEE

                            -K.A. ABBAS         

Introduction:

1. K.A. Abbas is one of the stalwarts of Indian writing in English. He also has directed many movies. His writings focus mostly on the pathos of oppressed people. His short story “The Refugee” opens the eyes of readers to the injustice done to an old Sikh lady and describes the horrible events happened during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.  It was a time when nearly ten million people fled from Pakistan to India and vice versa as refugees.  They were uprooted from their home and family.  There was bloodshed everywhere. The writer sketches the events in the life of an old mother called Maanji and thereby throws light on the sufferings of millions of people during the partition.

Maanji’s life before the Partition at Rawalpindi:

Maanji is the mother of the author’s Sikh friend.  Before Partition, life was a bed of roses to Maanji.  She lived in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) in a two-storied house. She had steady income from many rented shops and harvest from her own land.  She had a buffalo and so milk, curd and butter were available in surplus. Being a Sikh, She distributed butter milk to all her neighbourhood and won the love and affection of all her Muslim neighbours.  The elder Muslim women called her Behanji (sister) while the younger ones called her Maanji or Chachi (mother) affectionately.  Rawalpindi was the whole world for her.Her son worked in Bombay. She felt sorry for the son at there who could earn lot of money but not able to get pure milk or ghee and various types of fruits.

The Life of Maanji during Partition

The news about impending Partition in newspapers worried many Sikhs and Hindus in West Punjab (now in Pakistan) but not Maanji.  Many warned her that it was dangerous for a Sikh to live there and even her own son in Bombay asked her to come there.  But she strongly believed that her Muslim neighbours were friendly to her and all of them were her own children.

Maanji’s life after the partition at Bombay:

In front of Maanji’s house, a tongawallah (horseman) was stabbed to death because he was a Hindu.  They also went on stabbing the poor horse and killed it that had “neither religion nor caste.” This heinous crime made Maanji to abandon her home and neighbours in Rawalpindi and move to Bombay as a refugee.  In Rawalpindi, she had two male servants and a maid but here she has to cook, wash, clean, and do everything herself, living in a single room.  All her life’s savings and possessions are lost but not her hospitality.   She suffered a lot but never cursed anyone for that.  There was no anger or self-pity in her silent heart against anyone.

In Bombay, Maanji and her husband lived in a small rented house with their son. The house was very small with a single room. That room served them main hall, kitchen room,   bathroom and also as store room. At Rawalpindi she had few servants to do her house hold works. But now she does all sorts of her work in the house at Bombay. She kept her house very neatly. Occasionally, she sent letters to her Muslim neighbours at Rawalpindi. They also sent letters to Maanji. On reading them, she was moved to tears. She never hated any of her Muslim neighbours even there was communal hostility between Hindus and Muslims. The Old memories were very sweet to her and she wept on the past happy incidents with them.

Conclusion:

K.A. Abbas has portrayed the scenario of communal riots and an old woman affected by it. Maanji is an epitome of motherhood and good natured woman. Her Muslim neighbours are also good in nature. But the dirty politics and inefficient governments has made an irreparable gap between the lives of them.

ASLEEP – ERNST JANDL

UNIT-2 LS.5 ASLEEP – ERNST JANDL

March 5, 2019Edit

Lesson No :5                                                                            Unit  -II

ASLEEP

•                      -ERNST JANDL

Translated from German by Michael Hamburger

He came across a tree.

He built his house beneath it.

Out of the tree he cut

himself a stick.

The stick became his lance.

The lance became his rifle.

The rifle became a gun.

The gun became a bomb.

The bomb hit his house and ripped

up the tree by the roots.

He stood there wondering

But he didn’t wake up.

FUELED – MARCIE HANS

UNIT-2 LS. 4 FUELED – MARCIE HANS

March 5, 2019Edit

Lesson No :4                                                                            Unit  -II

FUELED

                          -MARCIE HANS

Fueled
by a million
man-made
wings of fire-
the rocket tore a tunnel
through the sky-
and everybody cheered.
Fueled
only by a thought from God-
the seedling
urged its way
through thicknesses of black-
and as it pierced
the heavy ceiling of the soil-
and launched itself
up into outer space –
no
one
even
clapped.

SUMMARY

The poem Fuelled is written by ‘Marcie Hans’. In this short poem Marcie Hans talks about creation and invention. It also balances invention of man and God’s creation. but the imbalance is pointed out succinctly because petty man cheer himself by paltry exhibition of his achievements. but no one seems to appreciate the silent success of God who buy a mere thought, made and insentient seeding fight against hard Earth and grow up into a tree. the graphic representation of the word shows the image of a rocket or even a tree but only have one half of it. the two sections began with the word field but the poet has bought out the west difference between the two kinds of fuelling.
Marcie Hans shows that man is too caught up in himself with arrogance – the human race believes its own creations to be superior to everything else, and take no note of the truly amazing creations in the world, God’s creations. This poem has two ‘halves,’ that with the rocket and that with the seedling. The language in the two ‘halves’ of the poem are parallel in writing– while the rocket is fueled by “a million man-made wings of fire,” the seedling is fueled by “a thought from God.” This parallelism continues throughout both halves. Through this effective use of parallelism, Hans creates two images – one of the large and powerful images of a rocket, and one of a small plant struggling its way up through the soil. The use of powerful language in the first half, including “wings of fire” and “tore” are used to show the opinion that man has for himself – the arrogant belief that everything humans accomplish is magnificent and that everything they accomplish is thought of as God-like though it really is not. The language in the second half of the poem is less powerful, as the seedling “urge[s]” itself up through the soil, persevering its way up, even though this is the action that God (usually characterized as powerful) has created. However, these two opposing styles of language are used to show how man’s achievements, though powerful and impressive, are really nothing at all. “Everybody cheered” at the rocket, but “no/one/even/clapped” when the seedling “launched itself/up into outer space.” The true impressive act was not that of a rocket, as ithas the support of a million “wings of fire,” but that of the seedling, which grows only by a “thought from God.” Hans shows that man does not view the growth of the seedling as impressive, as he is too much caught up in himself and man-made creations to notice the acts of God which are most impressive. Dramatic effect is used in the last 4 lines as the meaning of the lines, as well as the way they are they structured, create a tone of intensity and works to accentuate the arrogance of humans and how truly terrible it is that no one appreciates the wonderfulness of the growth of the seedling.

THE FIRST MEETING -SUJATA BHATT

UNIT-1 LS.3 THE FIRST MEETING

March 5, 2019Edit

Lesson No :3                                                                            Unit  -I

THE FIRST MEETING

-SUJATA BHATT

When I run past the uncounted trees,

groves of mango, eucalyptus –

how the grass slips beneath my feet,

how the wind circles up my legs,

(invisible snake I can’t escape)                                        5

How the kingfisher-blue sky grows

Sunnier each second as I run

Up the hill almost blinded,

Run down the other side, my tongue dry,

To the lake where the sky is trapped, tamed blue.            10

But closer, it is clear water. As I drink

Green snakes swim up to the surface,

I recoil amazed, run back faster, faster.

When I get home

he’s there: King Cobra

tightlty curled up in a corner.

He looks tired.                                                                              15

‘Come inside, close the door,

Don’t run away,’ he seems to smile.

‘I live in your garden                                                                20

I chose it because of the huge purple-golden dahlias.

I’ve never seen such tall stalks,

Such plump flowers, and the mice!’

‘What do you want?’ I ask afraid

His sunken hood will expand.                                                       25

‘Oh you needn’t worry, you needn’t worship me

as all the rest do. Please don’t change.

Everywhere I go people pester me

with their prayers,

their hundred bowls of milk a day.                                                         30

There’s only so much milk I can drink.

I won’t be cought

and have my teeth pulled out.

I won’t be stuffed in a basket

and commanded to rise, wave after wave,

to ripple around the straw rim.                                                      35

As if their baskets could move me.

Oh I am sooo tired …’ he sighs.

‘What do you want?’ I ask.                                                           40

‘I want to live in your garden,

to visit you, especially those nights you sing,

let me join you,

And once in a while, let me lie around your neck

and share a bowl of milk.’

Summary

In this poem Sujatha Bhatt, celebrates a rare experience of kinship that the poet happens to have with a snake. The poem describe the gradual acquaintance of the poet and the snake.

In the first stanza the poet describes the exuberance of her youth. sensual imagery is put to use and the poets rapport with nature is also pictured. The girl keep running us she is excited and unstoppable. The image of the breeze circling up her legs actually show her first meeting with cobra. Though the poet is first scared to see the green snake swim up to the surface, the snake later tries her best to keep the poet comfortable at home.

The poet later feels sympathy for the snake as she get to know about it grievances and sufferings.here in the poem the snake can stand for any element of nature. We try to distance ourselves from nature, for our safety, while we fail to realize we are a part of itself.

The snake can also symbolise  our fears, which but awaits to be conquered by us. Its all within us,like how the girl find the snake in her own house.

Snake as the dicted in the Indian culture can also be a symbolisation of sexuality here.Our physical needs,sexuality and bodily changes all come from within us. T he poet is trying to tell us that their is no running away from it, as it is a part of every life.

Thus there are a lot of dimensions to the poem THE FIRST MEETING, and the above stated are only a few.

MY WOODS – E.M. FORSTER

UNIT-3 LS.8 MY WOODS – E.M. FORSTER

April 26, 2019Edit

LS.8 MY WOODS – E.M. FORSTER

INTRODUCTION:

Edward Morgan Forster is a famous English writer and is well known for his novels “Howard’s End” and “A Passage to India”. He was also the author of a book of criticism, some novels, two biographies, as well as many essays and short stories.

In 1912 he went to India where his observations and experiences gave him a lot of materials which he used lately writing his famous novel “A Passage to India” (1924). It is the book that he mentions about in the first paragraph of “My Wood.” Forester’s fiction works often describe the impact of social conventions on common human relationships.

The essay “My Wood,” was published in 1926 and it is still encourages readers to think about the essence of materialism and the seductive energy of human property.

The purpose of this essay is to show the effects produced by owning property. Using wit and humor, the author explains that obtaining land may not bring the uncomplicated happiness people might expect.

CONTENT:

“My Wood”, is a witty essay describing Forster’s opinion about the possession of a small property which the author bought with the royalties from his novel. He talks about the effects the wood makes on him. Forster shows a humorously negative attitude to his experience of obtaining land using biblical allusions, the manipulation of sentences and word choice.

In the essay “My Wood” by E. M. Forster is trying to tell us that we got to be careful because humans are selfish and once we got something we want, we will want more and more until we have lost full control; for example, in the essay they talk about the author buying a small piece of land. At first that small piece of land had an open road that the public can pass by and for the author that was enough and felt like home, but after a while the author kept looking right and left and realized that his land was the smallest land there and everyone else had gigantic lands with a lot of beautiful things. The author is trying to let us know that owning a piece of land makes the owner feel heavy and important; therefore, they start to wish for a larger piece of land. It also make the owner feel that he got to do something to it, and lastly he wants it all for him selves, so he wants to block the public path.

Once we got something we are going to want more until we have better things than anyone near us; therefore, the author toward the end wanted to build a tall fence to block the public from going inside his land. Also, once the author looks at his neighbors and sees something nice he will want something way better than what they have to show off. Owning a piece of land or something of your own can make you change completely who you are; therefore, I believe that I prefer to have nothing but people I love around me. For instance, the author is a perfect example of how people can let their ownership controls everything in their life such as his own family, and life. A person can become so obsesses with making their land unique, huge, and pretty that can totally forget about the few things that are important to him such as family, friends, and himself. When a people gets power they put it over everything such as creating debits to fix up the place or even risking their own home and children’s future for a simple obsession that is not worth it. A few of those people end up with nothing because their family will leave for his obsession, and lose the land that changed him because of the debits.

CONCLUSION:

Forster clearly explains that even if something may seem simple, a person should think several times before he decides to be engaged in any endeavor. The attitude of the author is understandable; he is contemplating if the owning of the wood will result in dire consequences. Forster makes a conclusion, telling that a person should think many times before he obligate himself to something. His ideas are forcing him to see and accept the negative influence of the wood on him.