In the poem "Grandmother"
Ray Young Bear draws a picture of his grandmother- all loving and inspiring.
This poem presents the poets deep sense of intimacy and closeness to his
grandmother even after her death. He can not forget her. He could recognize her
by all senses except taste. The poet uses different images to draw the picture
of his grandmother. 'Purple scarf ' and 'plastic shopping bag' is related to
eyes, while the touch of 'warm and damp' hands appeal to skin or touch. A
'voice coming from a rock' is related to the sense of hearing; and her hands
like that of 'roots' appeal to the sense of smell.
The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner
|
In the poem "The Lamentation
of the Old Pensioner" written by W.B Yeats, the speaker laments on the
passing of his joyful youth. In the past, the speaker was young and he had a
good job. So his friends and lovers followed him. He was happy to talk about
love and politics. His past life only gives him agony because Time has turned
him into ugly, weak and useless old man. Neither his friends nor any beauties
follow him. He is jealous to see other young people who challenge any
conspiracy and evils. So he is angry with Time and wants to spit in its face.
In his sonnet "God's
Grandeur" the poet G.M Hopkins praises the magnificence and glory of God.
The poet says that man is born, carries out activities and dies without knowing
the greatness of God. Since man is selfish, his activities pollute, empties and
damages the beauty of world. The humans have been disturbing and polluting the
environment from generation to generation because they only want profit. But,
God renews and fills energy in the nature. God loves all the creatures of the
world, so he works for the benefit of the creatures without any hope of profit.
The poet inspires people to grow faith in God.
Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies
@ Is death meaningful in this poem?
@ Summary
|
The poem "Full Fathom Five Thy
Father Lies" is taken from Shakespeare's play "The Tempest".
Here the spirit Ariel sings this song to Ferdinand, Prince of Naples, who
mistakenly thinks that his father is
drowned.
The Prince is very sad to miss his father in a sea-wind, so Ariel gives
sympathy to him by saying that death is a meaningful change. He says that the
bones of his father have turned into coral and eyes into pearls. Sea-nymphs
respect him with death bell every hour. None of the parts have wasted but
changed into more valuable. Here death is shown not as an absolute end but a
new beginning.
= Germaine Greer in her essay
"A Child Is Born" shows the difference between traditional society
and modern society mainly during pregnancy, childbirth and child-bearing.
In traditional society/ Western
society, any pregnant woman is supported by her family members, husband,
relatives and community. She is covered with taboos and prohibitions which
lessen her pain and increase her sense of security. After childbirth, the woman
is referred as child's mother. The baby strengthens the family bond. The woman
satisfies the desires of the family and community by giving birth to a child.
So, she is respected. The birth of child is celebrated by feasting, dancing and
merry-making. Even the mother is rewarded with new clothes. The child grows
under the care of all members of the family, so mother has to spend less time
to care of her children.
But in modern society / Western
society, a pregnant woman has to take care of herself alone with the guidance
of nurses and doctors. They do not get care and affection from other family or
community members. The health of mother and child is safer but mother is
emotionally weaker. Child is born to fulfill the needs of parents only. The
child grows up with its parents and dolls. So, child - parent relation is
stronger.
The writer thinks that Eastern
practice is better than Western practice for mother.
=
Martin Luther King was a black
civil right campaigner. He gave the unforgettable speech " I Have a
Dream" on August 28, 1963 in honor of Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation. The main purpose of his speech is to eradicate every
kinds of discrimination and establish equality, brotherhood and integration
between whites and blacks. He wants a revolution that is peaceful and creative.
His dream is to end racial segregation, inequality and injustice in America. He
complains that even after hundred years of passing of Emancipation
Proclamation by Lincoln, America stands as the hell to
the blacks. Even the sweet words of American constitution that every individual
has the right to ‘life, liberty and pursuit of happiness’ is confined only on
paper. The blacks in America are
still dominated, treated badly, and are unable to get education and voting
right.
Hurried Trip To Avoid a Bad Star
|
@ How is Karnali linked economically with the low land
regions to the south?
[= Karnali
is remote region of Nepal which
is made up of sloppy hills. Due to this, there is no development in any sector.
So, people have to move to the South to buy and sell their goods. To sell their
items like medicinal herbs, silajit, hashish, hand-knit sweaters and blankets,
they have to go to Nepalgunj. Similarly, they have to buy clothes, utensils and
other necessary items from Nepalgunj. They also move to the South for job.
@ What did the two writers learn about the life and
culture of the people of the Karnali region during their journey on foot?
[059-3]
= The two writers learnt that the
people of Karnali are innocent, simple, laborious and uneducated. They know
very little about the outside world. They live in geographically difficult part
completely depending on their own or animal strength. They are ignorant about
soil erosion and deforestation. So, they have destroyed forests. They are
superstitious.
Two Long-Term Problems: Too Many People Too Few
Trees
|
In the essay, “Two Long-Term Problems:……” , Moti
Nissani discusses about the two intertwined and serious problems that is
threatening the world-- overpopulation and deforestation.
According to Nissani; air, soil, water and space are
polluted by human activities especially due to population growth. Population
growth demands more raw materials. This enhances deforestation for more
agricultural land, fuel and housing. Deforestation in turn is the main cause of
various evils such as diseases, pollution, decline of plants and animals. It
causes global warming and brings about various disasters like flooding, landslides,
droughts, earthquake, soil erosion and depletion of ozone layer.
However, Nissani suggest that
environmental damaged can be controlled by controlling population and desires
of man. Literacy program, modernization, family planning, reforestation and
inventing new types of fuels can be helpful to save the forests and
environment.
Gretel
@ Why does Gretel blame her
father and brother? [058-3]
@ Do you think Gretel represents
modern feminist women? Give your opinion briefly.
|
= Garrison Keillor's "Gretel"
is a feminist interpretation of the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel".
Here, Gretel is a modern feminist who blames her brother and story writers of
"Hansel and Gretel" for writing the story in a wrong way. She claims
that her drunken father is wicked and her brother is cheat. Instead she
supports her stepmother Gladys and finds her a loving mother. She explains that
the woman who gave them cake, bread and house was not a witch but a loving
woman who wanted to kill Hansel in order to revolt against male dominance
@Sketch the character of Alyohin
@ How does Alyohin define love?
|
Alyohin is an educated man but he
has to work in his farm in order to clear his debt. Sometimes he goes to the
town to attend the court sessions. Once he goes to the house of Luganovich in
order to eat dinner. In his house, he meets Anna Alexeyevna, the wife of
Luganovich. The beauty, youth and intelligence of Anna attracts him. He falls
in love with her, but his morals and thoughts stop him to express his love
openly. As a result Anna suffers from mental tiredness.
Due to his failed love affair,
Alyohin thinks that love is a source of dissatisfaction and irritation. He
thinks that love is a great mystery. It can not be generalized. Love is done by
heart not by mind.
@ What kinds of love experiences are suggested by
Alyohin in "About Love"?[2057-3]
|
We can find two love experiences
suggested by Alyohin. They are sensual
love and platonic love. The first one is the love affair between Nikanor and
Pelageya. It is sensual, often violent. The second love affair between Anna and
Alyohin is platonic love. They sacrifice their love for good of others. Though
they aren’t married, they love each other from heart.
@ Character sketch of Anna Alexeyevna.
|
= Anna is a beautiful and charming
young lady. She is aged twenty-two. She is married to Luganovich, aged over
forty. She loves Alyohin but she also can not express her love openly to him.
Later she suffers from nervous prostration. She is also a responsible lady. She
thinks that she is not so young and energetic to marry Alyohin.
@ Sketch the character of Mrs. Mooney. [058/064-10]
@ Write an interpretation of 'The Boarding House'.
[060-3]
@ Briefly narrate the story of "The Boarding
House" [063-10]
= "The Boarding House" by
James Joyce is a story of Mrs. Mooney. She had married her father’s foreman.
She later divorced him because he was a drunkard and aggressive. She was a very
clever woman who knew how to handle matters. She trapped rich Mr. Doran and
forced him to marry her daughter Polly.
After divorcing from her husband,
she opened a boarding house. The house was full of clerks and tourists. Her
daughter Polly used to amuse the lodgers. Polly developed a relationship with
rich Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney knew the matters but did not intervene for some
time. Later, she asked about the relationship with her daughter.
Mrs. Mooney was a determined and
practical woman. So, she thought of possible ways of blackmailing Doran and
forcing him to marry Polly. She was convinced that Mr. Doran could not escape
the marriage because he was a clerk of one of the rich Catholic merchant. Mrs.
Mooney called Mr. Doran so that she could blackmail him to marry her daughter.
Mr. Doran wanted to escape from marriage but he could not do that. In the end,
Mrs. Mooney called her daughter saying that Mr. Doran wanted to speak to her.
@ How do you think Mrs Mooney settled with Mr. Moran
about Polly? Did Mr. Moran marry Polly or pay out compensation?
= Mrs. Mooney was in search of a
good husband for her daughter Polly. When she knew that Mr. Doran and Polly had
developed a relationship, she thought of plan to blackmail him. In my view, she
forced Mr. Doran to marry her daughter because Mr. Doran was rich man. Though
he was 35 years old, he was soft-mouthed and above her social status.
I think that Mr. Doran married
Polly because he was trapped by Mrs. Mooney. Mrs. Mooney was rich but her
social status was not so good. So, Mrs. Mooney forced him to marry her
daughter.
@ Whom does Marsha Traugot refer to as the children
who wait? [ 2057-3]
@ What had happened to the handicapped children in the
past? [065-3]
@ Why was it difficult for the handicapped and the
black children to find foster family? [060-3]
@ What kinds of parents were considered suitable for
adopting children? What kind of children were considered 'Unadoptable'? [062-3]
= According to Traugot, before
1960, there were strict rules for child adoption in America. Only
white, healthy and child within infancy were considered fit for adoption. Any
handicapped, black or biracial or child more than five years old were
considered unadoptable. Any handicapped child was thought as a damaged thing.
Even parents who were considered suitable for adopting children had to be
middle class and childless white couple, having their own home.
@ According to Traugot , what changes are transforming
the American adoption scene? What factors are responsible for the changes?
= After 1960 in America, many factors such as black
right movement, women's movement, legalized abortion, social science research,
change in social values and high expense of running foster home are
transforming the American adoption scene. Now any type of child or any type of
parents can be adoptive child or adoptive parents.
@ How do the adoption agencies find the potential
parents? [064-3]
= Now adoption agencies
collect the lists of parents who want to adopt child. They match qualities of
children with the need of parents, let both of them meet and interact. If this
system does not work, they advertise in television or newspaper to look for
adoptive parents.
The Tell-Tale Heart
@ What made the narrator confess his crime?
@ Was the narrator mad?
@ Summarize the story “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
|
= "The Tell-Tale Heart"
by Edgar Allan Poe shows how guilt forces a person to confess his crime. Though
the narrator of this story says that he is not mad, his activities show that he
is certainly mad. He lived in the house of an old man. He did not like the eyes
of that old man that were pale and vulture-like. For this simple reason, he
decided to kill him to get rid of those eyes. The narrator tried for seven days
every night but the eyes were always closed. On the eighth day, he pulled the
old man down the floor and squeezed him to death. He chopped the dead body and
carefully buried under the planes. Soon some police officers came because
someone had heard a shriek and informed them to investigate. The narrator lied
them that the shriek was his own in dream and the old man was
absent for some days. As the policemen talked with him, the narrator heard
tick-tick sound of a watch coming from the dead man's watch. Since his mental
condition was not normal, he mistook it as the heart beat of the old man. He
could not bear it and confessed his crime to the officers.
@ Describe the relation between Thomas (the boy's
uncle) and his wife.
= Though the narrator thinks that
the relationship between Thomas and his wife is bad, actually they loved each
other very much. When his wife was angry he used to lift her under his arm in
the chair. She used to playfully beat him on his head with the china dog.
Thomas was a heavy man who often drank alcohol. His wife did not like it. So,
she often went to her mother's house. But at that time also she used to arrange
some eggs for him and ask him to put off his boots while going to bed.
@ The plan was to go to Portcawl for the outing. Did
they ever reach here? Why?
= The internal intention of going
for an outing was to get drunk. Since the people who planned to go to Portcawl
for the outing got heavily drunk on their way and finished all cases of beer,
they were almost unconscious. Beside the moon had already risen up. So, they
never reached Portcawl.
The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship
|
= The story 'The Last Voyage of the
Ghost Ship' by Marquez describes about the growth of
a boy into adult person. The narrator who has now grown into manhood repeats
"Now they are going to see who I mean" because in childhood his
vision was criticized by the villagers. When he was a boy, he saw an
uncontrolled large ship without light and sound. It appeared in darkness but
disappeared in light. The ship collided with the rock and sunk in the sea. Next
day, he went to the sea, but could not find the sign of the ship.
Again, after a year he saw the same
ship. He told it to his mother. The mother thought that he had become mad. She
died before her son could prove about the ship. Similarly, he saw the same ship
the third time and called the villagers to watch it. The villagers beat him
because they could not see the ship. He promised to prove his manhood and
complete his aim. He saw the same uncontrolled ship in a March night. He guided
the ship with his lantern to the village and showed it to the villagers. The
vision of the ship was only his figment of imagination but later he made it
truth by his adult passion.
Travelling Through the Dark
|
@ What is the central idea of the poem? [057-3]
@ Show how the action develops stanza by stanza in the
poem. [060-3]
@ What does the traveler feel when he touches the dead
doe? [ Model -3]
@ Do you agree with what the narrator did ? Why?
[063-3]
= The poem "Travelling Through the Dark" written by
William Stafford presents a dilemma faced by a driver. The driver finds a dead
doe in the middle of the road. He goes to drag it off and clear the way to
avoid possible accidents. But on touching her side, he knows that it is
pregnant. He is in confusion either to show deep love and emotion to an unborn
but alive fawn in the belly of the doe or to save the passengers on his car as
a dutiful driver. After much thoughtful meditation, he pushes the dead doe into
the river in order to reach his destination and save the passengers.
The driver’s action is justified
because it is useless to show love and emotion to the dead ones if one can not
save it.
@ Explain the title of the poem. Who are all those
driving through the dark?
= In the poem “Travelling Through
the Dark”, a driver with his passengers are traveling through the dark. It also
shows the moral darkness of people who kill the wild animals with their
careless driving. The darkness also indicates lack of love, emotion and
sympathy in modern people.
= The play "Purgatory" by
W.B Yeats suggests that punishment for sin is necessary for renewal and growth.
The main character in this play is an Old Man who is haunted by his sins. In
the past, his father had destroyed his house and the life and property of his
mother. He was drunkard, gambler and spent money on women. So the Old Man had
killed his own father with the knife when he was sixteen. Then he burnt the
dead body. Later he became a peddler. The Old Man says this entire story to his
son in front of that burnt house. There the Old Man even sees the image of his
dead parents, their love making at wedding night. Later the Boy fights with the
Old Man for money. The Old Man thinks that the Boy is the consequence of his
sin and kills him with the same knife that he had used to kill his father. But,
by the end, he still imagines that his mother is suffering in purgatory.
= A poor woodcutter once lived near
a forest. His children Hansel and Gretel were cruelly treated by the
stepmother. Once there was a famine and the wife advised her husband to leave
the children in the forest forever. The husband was unwilling because he loved
his children. Having heard the stepmother's plan, Hansel collected shiny
pebbles at night. He dropped those pebbles when they were leaving for forest.
In the forest, when their parents deserted them, they returned back home following
the shiny pebbles in the moon light. Next time also their parents deserted them
in the forest. This time they could not return home. After three days of
searching their home, they found a house made of cake, sugar and bread. A witch
came and trapped them. She put Hansel in a cage in order to eat him. But by the
intelligence of Hansel, they were freed. Hansel even killed the witch with her
clever trick. After collecting lots of jewels from the witch's house, they
returned home and united with their father.
= In her essay "Women's
Business", Kantrov draws the picture of Lydia Pinkham, the first woman to
start business; and other businesswomen who followed her path.
Pinkham started her business when
her husband's real estate business collapsed. She produced a 'vegetable
compound' which she advertised as the cure for all types of women's diseases.
She printed reports of married women benefited from her products. She
encouraged women to consult only women doctors. She was very clever. She wanted
to lead women's right by temperance. But in her product she used alcohol.
Later other women also followed the
path of Pinkham. They also used clever tricks of advertisements. They
advertised that their aim was to serve women but their internal motive was to
earn maximum profit. They used their image as a woman to exploit other females.
Thus they were also not different from bourgeoisie male businessman.
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