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Thinking Activity :" Sense of an Ending "

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This blog is related to the thinking activity: "The Sense of an   Ending " 

This activity given by Dilip Barad sir head of the  English  Department  MKBU.click here  sir's blog  link   film  Adoption click here .   " The Scene of  an Ending " click here 

"The Scene of  an Ending "  Is written  by Julian  Barnes click here  biography of  Julian  Barnes  .

Question: 1  Explain how through the memory of Tony Webster, Julian Barnes justifies the universal truth that ‘one cannot know what one does not know’.

The style of the writer is ‘Memory Novel ‘or ‘Suspense Thriller’ or ‘Psychological Thriller’ This novel is mainly centered on the characteristics of 21st century writing. The Sense of an Ending is about "memory and time”. The book opens with a short list of memories. That memory is a part of the narrator's past experience. Not all of which the as yet unnamed narrator actually saw. Immediately we’re on warning, if one of these memories is imagined rather than real, can any of them be trusted? As the narrator says, “what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.”Here Let’s define what is memory??

As per classroom discussion, we have seen that memory is a mixture of Event and time. As more events and accidents occur during some time period, those events – accidents become more powerful and that is stored much more effectively – strongly in the memory of humankind. If there are fewer accidents and events that memory is less effective and stronger. More accident or Event that makes more effective and strong memory

Most of the thing of this novel is narrated by Tony Webster. Somehow it is a question of plot that how many things he narrated from his memory turn out to be real. As a memory played vital role in the developing of plot, Julian Barnes here justifies the Universal Truth that “One cannot know what he does not know”  with the reference of Tony Webster that he never understand the words of Veronica, When Tony asked Veronica bout the Money at that time she replied with very tragic answer “Blood Money”.  When Tony asked about other things at that time Veronica also replied with unaccepted answer: 

The Sense of an Ending is a novel which has an element of psychological approach. This novel deals with the theme of the psychological situation of the human mind. Each coin has two sides the same way human nature has two sides, good or bad. This novel represents this thing through the character of the novel. In the first part of the novel, the reader can find Tony as a good, responsible fellow. He is very responsible towards his duty. But as the second part is opening the reader can find tony with some gray shade. There are some holes in his character; at some extent he is responsible for the damage of Veronica’s life, Suicide of Adrian. These accidents can be interpreted by the reader as his own sense, though the novel has no detail about any clarification about these accidents, the reader is free to narrate and explain all accidents that happen in the story and he can interpret it as his own way.

The writer describes Veronica’s life with a different triangle. She sacrificed her life for her step brother, she lost her love. The writer mentioned unreliable narrative style. Tony is the perfect narrator for this novel. But all the narration depends on Tony’s memory, so there is a doubt that all the things and incidents are real or not. Maybe he created his own story. Life of Pie is the example of unreliable narrative style. As a bing narrator Tony has never seen the life of Veronica, so he can not feel the problem of her, so he has not any description regarding the Life and Damage of Veronica’s life. Tony has narrated Veronica with some gray shades but as the reader moves towards the end of the Novel they find that the character of Veronica emerges with high morality and responsibility because she has spent her whole life, Losing his Boy Friend, Mother. She was living with the child of her x-boyfriend and mother. She has ruined her whole life with her x-brother. So, whenever Tony asked Veronica she replied: “You still don’t get it. You never did, and you never will. So stop even trying”.

The first is the narrator's name is Ton, memories of his years of studies, and school days at school and his early years at university. Here the reader can experience the early life of Tony and his experience through the narration of Tony. So it could be interpreted that Tony had hidden some reality or he has not put a gray shade of his personality, just because it is based on Memory of Tony. He is not ready to show his gray shades of his past.

“The memory becomes a thing of shreds and patches. It’s a bit like the black box airplanes carry to record what happens in a crash. If nothing goes wrong, the tape erases itself. So if you do crash, it’s obvious why you did; if you don’t, then the log of your journey is much less clear.” (Page - 105)

During the study there were three friends, a narrator himself  Tony Webster, Colin and Alex. Now a new boy, Adrian, joins the school and becomes a key member of Tony’s small clique of friends. Adrian Finn, who is much cleverer than any of them. They consider themselves philosophers, intellectual rebels, they look to great art and literature for inspiration and they are convinced as was I and as no doubt were many reading this that they have insights that the old and adult world never knew or has long since forgotten. They look down on those around them with all the haughty certainty of adolescence, and they look forward to lives which whatever they may be will not be like their parents, or so at least they hope.

There are many such questions which are not answered in the novel but reader can interpret with his own sense:

v Why does Mrs. Ford have Adrian’s Diary?

v What was the intention of Veronica to write Blood Money?

v Why only one page of Adrian’s Diary allowed seeing Tony?

v What is the meaning of Veronica’s statement: You still don’t get it. You never did, and you never will. So stop even trying”.

v What is the meaning of the mathematical equation:

Ø b = s – v x/+ a1

Ø a2 + v + a1 X s = b

As, Per reading of this novel, one can say that this novel is based on memory which Tony recalls all the event of his past and that narration is generating a story which is called “Sense of an Ending

Question: 2  How do you understand memory and history with reference to your reading of this novel.

After reading this novel the understanding related to history and memory both have changed. I used to think about memory that it will at some extent be forgotten but never distorted. After reading this novel I really feel that we also have those distorted memories, which we want to store as something which has actually not taken place. By doing that we are cheating ourselves and others also. So memory and history both are connected. History is written from memory. Now we have seen in this novel how distorted memory can be stored by an individual. If historians take their statements into consideration, we can not trust history either. In the novel Tony says history is not lies of victors or self delusion of defeat, history is the memory of survivors. It is told by them who have not gone to fight from either side and they have survived. They don’t even have first hand experiences of the things. So these people will remember history in different ways. We can not trust them without any evidence. So we should not trust anything without evidence, not the person and not even the history.

Thank you….

Play: " Tughlaq"

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Here on my blog.  This blog is related to the  play: " Tughlaq" click here  and read this  play 

☆ About Girish Karnad: 

Girish Karnad, (born May 19, 1938, Matheran, Bombay Presidency [now in Maharashtra], Indi died June 10, 2019, Bengaluru, Karnataka), Indian playwright, author, actor, and film director whose movies and plays, written largely in Kannada, explore the present by way of the past.click here  biography of Girish Karnad 

☆ Critical analysis of the " Tughluq "  : 

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

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

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

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

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

☆Critical  idea on  "  Tughluq "

Idealistic LeadershipWhat makes the Sultan‘s character more fascinating is his paradoxical and complex nature. He is portrayed as a dreamer and a man of action, benevolent and cruel, devout and callousBoth Tughlaq and his enemies initially appear to be idealists; yet in the pursuit of the ideal, they perpetuate its opposite. The whole play is structured on these opposites: the ideal and the real.

Religious Tolerance as a Political Strategy

 The Sultan practiced the idea of brother hood, which is an important aspect of human values in Islam, and this in turn annoyed the ecclesiastics because it undermined their political interests. The efforts of the Sultan to bridge the difference between Hindus and Muslims invited anger and displeasure from the Mullahs and Maulavis. To unite them, he abolished the jizya tax and openly declared that both Hindus and Muslims would be treated impartially and would be equal in the eyes of the law. But this made him a suspect both in the eyes of the Hindus and the Muslims.

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Play " All My Sons "

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Here on my blog. This blog is related to the  " All my Sons " 

☆ About  the  play " All My  Sons " : 

The play opens in the backyard of the Keller home, on an August morning following a violent storm. A fallen apple tree, its branches still full of fruit, lies in pieces on the ground. Joe Keller surveys the damage while visiting with his neighbors, Jim and Frank. The men are joined for a short time by their wives, as well as a neighborhood boy, Bert. Talk turns to Annie, former fiancé to Keller’s missing son Larry. Ann is visiting at the invitation of Keller’s other son, Chris. Chris and Ann wish to get married despite the misgivings of Kate Keller, the family matriarch, who continues to hold out hope that Larry may still be alive. Annie admits she has cut ties with her father Steve, who remains in prison for shipping faulty airplane parts that led to the death.of multiple soldiers. Joe Keller defends his partner’s actions to Ann, explaining that Steve made a mistake but is no murderer. Joe and Kate fear Ann and her brother George have come to blame them for Steve’s imprisonment. Chris is troubled as well, suffering survivor’s guilt becauseHe has become financially prosperous while many of his fellow soldiers have died. Joe implores Chris to accept his legacy without reservation. It is the reason Joe has made the choices he has.It is the twilight of the same day. Chris is sawing the broken tree, leaving the stump behind. Kate joins her son, confiding her fear that George might reopen the case against Joe. Sue Bayliss visits with Ann, asking her to move away once she marries Chris, whose “phony idealism” impacts her husband. Ann’s brother George arrives after having just visited their father in 

prison. George demands that his sister leave with him, arguing that Joe was complicit in the actions that landed Steve in jail, and that everything the Kellers have is “covered with blood.” Kate welcomes George, reminiscing about the past and making him forget his convictions 

until she slips and uncovers an inconsistency in Joe’s defense. The ensuing argument upsets Kate, who insists that if Ann and Chris marry, they must all admit Larry is dead and that Joe is responsible. As the act ends, Chris is left despondent as his father admits he ordered the actions that resulted in the deaths of twenty-one soldiers.Act III opens at two in the morning. Kate, as usual, is awake. Chris has driven off after his argument with Joe. Dr. Bayliss sees Kate as he comes home from an emergency, and the two discuss the complex compromises humans must make between money and honesty. Jim goes to look for Chris, and Joe joins Kate outside. Kate cannot find the strength to console her husband or help him decide what to do about turning himself in or losing his son. Defending his choices to support his family, Joe insists that if there is anything more important than family, he will “put a bullet in (his) head.” Ann joins the Kellers and demands that Kate free her remaining son by admitting once and for all that Larry is dead. When Kate refuses, Ann shares a letter Larry wrote the day he went missing. Keller's eldest son crashed his own plane after learning about his father’s role in the downed aircrafts. Unable to face the implica-tions of his father’s actions and the lack of humanity in the world, Chris is determined to leave town. Realizing that due to his actions, he has lost “all his sons,” his own as well as those who  life.

☆ Introduction of Arthur Miller:

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, like so much of his acclaimed works, seeks to explore the most compelling questions about everyday life and the common man. What is “a good life?” What choices must we make to acquire it? What lies must we tell and truths must we face in the process? What do we owe to our community?Written in 1945, the play addresses the complexities of an America just beginning to recover from World War II, a world full of loss and hope, recrimination and redemption. After the frugality of the Depression and war years, it was a society where affluence and abundance could overcome personal ethics. Advertisements and propaganda elevated the tenets of capitalism 

and portrayed the purchase of refrigerators, es, and automobiles as downright patriotic.What relevance might Miller’s play hold for today’s students? In an era where they are bom-barded with messages of commercialism, rampant materialism, and profiteering, All My Sons and its implicit warnings hold plenty of parallels. Americans and their values are just as difficult to define and justify today as in the postwar decade of Miller’s text. And the everyday choices people make can be just as complex and ambiguous.

All My Sons provides multiple, rich opportunities for college and career-ready analysis and activities. In this guide, each of Miller’s three acts serves as the anchor piece for a “text set.” Each anchor is complemented by additional texts such as speeches, primary documents, videos, or images, providing multi-leveled and multi-modal access to the complexities of Miller’s play. Discussion questions and key quotations are provided to elicit student response. Activities integrate college and career ready skills such as evaluating claims, citing text evidence, drawing inferences, determining multiple themes, and analyzing rhetoric, purpose and point of view. Students will take ownership as.

☆ Critical  idea on  " All  My Sons   : 

Nearly all the characters in the play are concerned with the establishment and maintenance of family life. Joe Keller is the “head” of the Kellers: he has run a successful manufacturing business both during and after the Second World War.

Loss and Memory

Many characters in the play wrestle with the memory of loved ones who are now gone: lost to them or dead. The most prominent “lost” character is Larry, one of Joe and Kate’s two sons. Joe believes, ironically, that Larry was more willing to “let slide” some of the small things that help a business to turn a profit.

War, Morality, and Consequences : 

The Second World War is not just the immediate worldwide precursor to the play; it is inseparable from its action.Specifically, the war resulted in the death of Larry and caused the kind of difficult choices that forced Joe and Steve into their fateful decision to allow the production of cracked parts for American planes. But the war also provided Larry, Chris, and other American soldiers a clear set of black-and-white moral choices like  democracy.

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Play " The Hairy Ape "

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Welcome  to  my blog.  This blog is related to " The Hairy Ape. " click here  full story  of " The Hairy Ape" 

☆About  the  Eugene O’Neill : 

click here   Eugene O’Neill’s work was at the centre of that artistic and popular revival. He first experienced the American theatre as a young child at the end of the 19th century, when he accompanied his father, an actor, touring as the lead in The Count of Monte Cristo. As an adult however, he rejected the kind of popular theatre that his father had made a living from. He looked for inspiration from the works of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and Swedish writer August Strindberg, who he later described as the people who “first gave me the vision of what modern drama could be”. Theatre historians have suggested O’Neill’s play Beyond the Horizon could be considered the first “native” American tragedy. That play emerged from his association with the Provincetown Players, one of many so-called “little theatres” that developed in the 1910’s to provide an alternative to the commercial drama of the time. The Provincetown Players and Another group the Theater Guild also produced plays by poets and writers such as Edna St. Vincent Millay, Paul Green, Elmer Rice and Maxwell Anderson. 

These playwrights embraced character and realism, eschewing clichés and the stock heroes and villains that often populated American drama. They offered Americans a chance to see themselves on stage for the first time.O’Neill’s plays included challenging subjects such as race relations, adultery and individual alienation, which often attracted protests and efforts at censorship over material that some found objectionable and scandalous. Most of the efforts to censor his work generated publicity and popularity for the productions, and none of the complaints restrained him from continuing to produce provocative narratives. O’Neill told newspapers that theatre audiences didn’t want plays weakened “by an ignorant and stupid censorship which knows and cares nothing about drama”, and his plays found enthusiastic audiences, and provoked strong reactions on Broadway. This was a key reason that producer Arthur Hopkins staged his work. “I want people to leave my theatre actually quarrelling about what they have seen,” he said. “There is nothing more tragic to me than the complacent, unmoved faces that pour out of our Broadway theatres after a play”.

Most of his productions ran for more than 100 performances, with many running for more than 200. Strange Interlude, a nine-act play that examines a woman’s tormented love life, played for more than 400 performances and earned O’Neill a then-blockbuster. Critics championed serious works, as did organizations like the Drama League of America, formed in 1909 to stimulate interest in modern drama. By the time O’Neill’s early plays premiered, American audiences were ready to follow their European counterparts in considering the theatre more than just a pleasant distraction.Eugene O’Neill was writing during a period of American history which was defined by great social and economic change. His difficult and complex life provided much of the inspiration for his plays, but the wider context of the period also greatly influenced the themes and content of his work, very differently to the light entertainment audiences were used to. His work dramatically altered the world of American theatre, and paved the way for the serious drama of his successors, such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee.Eugene O’Neill was writing during a period of American history which was defined by great social and economic change. His difficult and complex life provided much of the inspiration for his plays, but the wider context of the period also greatly influenced the themes and content of his work, very differently to the light entertainment audiences were used to. His work dramatically altered the world of American theatre, and paved the way for the serious drama of his successors, such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee; and more recently diverse writers that continue to explore difficult social and personal issues such as David Mamet, August Wilson, and Tony Kushner.

☆ Main  theme  of " Hairy Ape " : 

Industrialisation

During O’Neill’s lifetime, industrialisation had a huge effect on the lives of workers as manufacturers developed production lines and mass produced products. The workers in the ocean liner have been reduced to “machines” programmed to do one task, turned on and off by whistles, and not required to think independently. This has then caused a general deterioration of each person into a Neanderthal or ape like state, which O’Neill describes explicitly in his stage directions “The men themselves should resemble those pictures in which the appearance of Neanderthal Man is guessed at. All are hairy-chested, with long arms of tremendous power, and low, receding brows above their small, fierce, resentful eyes.”

Belonging

The motif of who “belongs” and the idea of “belonging” are continually reinforced throughout. At the start of the play Yank feels secure in who he is, and draws a feeling of power from the fact that he “belongs” to the ship, as opposed to the passengers in first class who are merely “baggage”. Yank also associates “belonging” with someone’s usefulness and functionality. The firemen “belong” because they make the ship run and are essential to its workings.Mildred is privileged, but seems to feel she does not belong either and wants to test the boundaries of her identity. When they meet, Yank is particularly disturbed by Mildred because she presents a world and class which he cannot belong to. After their meeting, the play follows Yank in his quest to find belonging, finally leading him to the monkey-house at the zoo. 

Class

Mildred and Yank are representative of the highest and lowest societal classes as Long would describe them, the bourgeois and the proletariat. However, while Mildred and Yank’s lifestyles are extremely different, They share similar complaints about class. Mildred describes herself as the “waste product” of her father’s steel company. She has reaped the financial benefits of the company, but has felt none of the energy or passion that created it. Mildred yearns to find this excitement, to touch “life” beyond her cushioned, bourgeois world. Yank, on the other hand, has felt too much of the “life” Mildred describes. He desires to topple the class structure by re-inscribing the importance and necessity of the working class. 

Thought

For Yank, thought is the ultimate boundary. He begins the play as the least understanding character and undermines his colleagues who question the rest of the world around them. Thought only becomes necessary after he encounters Mildred. Mildred and her class present a new threat that Yank cannot get rid of through physical force, and as the play continues he begins to realise how little he knows or understands about anything outside of his world. His inability to think not only reveals his regression to a lower ape-like form, but also means he is unable to adapt to or defend himself in the world beyond the ship.

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Short story " The Heathen "

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☆ Introduction about  Jack London: 

click here   London's "strength of utterance" is at its height in his stories, and they are painstakingly well-constructed.

☆ about the  short story " The Heathen ":

This short story  is  written by  Jack London. The narrative pattern of this story is very complicated. The narrator named Charley has directly dedicated this story to his mate cum friend Otoo. Who is a negro man. The story presents the voyages of these two characters. They have been living together for seventeen years. Their relationship is based on their emotion.

           The very meaning of heathen is the person, who does not belong to a particular class or community. And the story reveals that Otoo is considered to be the heathen as he does not belong to the suppressed class though he is from the African American class. The African people are suppressed by the whites and they are dragged to their own class but they are considered to be slaves. This story also demonstrates the idea of a Master-Slave relationship. The whites believe that the blacks are born to be merely slaves and that is why they are forced to be African Christion in which Otoo remains different from them and thus, he becomes the heathen of that community.

         Jack London gave his views over how society creates injustice to the people. If Otoo does not belong to his christian community when society does not belong to the religion named ''HUMANITY''  And it does not lose the human beings live their life the way they want to.

☆ Main idea of  " The Heathen " :

The story of ‘Heathen’ deals with the relationship between two coloured men. So we can say that it’s about the relationship between Black & White people. it’s a sea voyage between the two coloured Man. The story was narrated by Charley, he dedicated this story to his friend otoo. The narrator meets with him in a hurricane, it means that hurricane otoo shares his hatch cover with him. So narrator was grateful towards otoo.‘Otoo made me’

Through this word we can clearly understand that otoo gives him a new life. If he does not share hatch cover with him then he cannot survive. They have been living together since seventeen years. Their relation is different from the Master-slave mentality. There is a deep intimacy between & their relationship is genuine.

           

        ‘Master & Slave Become Friends’

           In this story Otoo & Chrley both are important characters but otoo is the protagonist of the story because the title “The Heathen” belongs to him.

The Meaning of Heathen:    

            

            ‘Heathen’ means A person who does not belong to any fix or particular class or community.

             So let’s have a look upon how the title applies to the otoo’s character.

                    Otoo belongs to the island called ‘Borabora’, he belongs to African American class. They are suppressed by whites & dragged to their class. Though they become part of whites, they are considered as ‘Black Christen’. Whites believe that Blacks are born to be merely ‘slaves’. So they are forced to be African culture. Otoo does not want to follow this custom and remains different from that community. So he becomes

       ‘Heathen of that community’

So, this is how the title belongs to otoo.

         On the other hand we can also say that

        ‘society itself is Heathen’

      Society is a villain in human life. If otoo does not belong the ‘Christine community than society also does not belong to the religion called 

                       ‘Humanity’

If a person belongs to black community or he or she is not able to fit in their society. Society discriminates against them. One question raise in my mind that

Who is the problem?

Society  or  Black

                 Society never tries to understand human beings. Because of their so called rules and customs, people have to suffer a lot.

             Here otoo belongs to the religion called ‘Humanity’. First he shares his hatch cover with the narrator. He dedicates his whole life, even his death, to his master charley.

So, he is a man of honesty and which is superior to colour, religion and custom.

           Thus at last we can say that this story showcases the real side of the Black person. They are real human beings and society is the Heathen.

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Short story: " The Black Cat "

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 Here on my blog.  This blog related to the  short story  " The Black Cat "  click here 

‘The Black Cat’ was first published in August 1843 in the Saturday Evening Post. It’s one of Poe’s shorter stories and one of his most disturbing, focusing on cruelty towards animals, murder, and guilt, and told by an unreliable narrator who’s rather difficult to like.

☆ About the Adger Allan Poe 

click here   Adger Allan Poe 

American short-story writer, poet, critic, and editor who is famous for his cultivation of mystery and the macabre. His tale “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) initiated the modern detective story, and the atmosphere in his tales of horror is unrivaled in American fiction. His “The Raven” (1845) numbers among the best-known poems in the national literature.

  

☆About  " The Black Cat " : 

The narrator explains how from a young age he was noted for his tenderness and humanity, as well as his fondness for animals. When he married, he and his wife acquired a number of pets, including a black cat, named Pluto. But as the years wore on, the narrator became more irritable and prone to snap. One night, under the influence of alcohol, he sensed the black cat was avoiding him and so chased him and picked up the animal. The animal bit him slightly on the hand, and the narrator, possessed by a sudden rage, took a pen-knife from his pocket and gouged out one of the cat’s eyes. Although the cat seems to recover from this, the narrator finds himself growing more irritated, until eventually he takes the poor cat out into the garden and hangs it from a tree. Later that night, the narrator wakes to find his house on fire, and he, his wife, and his servant, barely escape alive. All of the narrator’s wealth is lost in the flames.A crowd has gathered around the smouldering remains of the house. Setting foot in the ruins, the narrator finds the strange figure of a gigantic hanging cat on one of the walls, the dead cat having become embedded in the plaster (the narrator surmises that a member of the crowd had cut down the hanging cat and hurled it into the house to try to wake the narrator and his wife). A short while after this, the narrator is befriended by a black cat he finds in a local tavern, a cat that has shown up seemingly out of nowhere, and resembles Pluto in every respect, except that this cat has some white among its black fur. The cat takes a shine to the narrator, so he and his wife take it in as their pet.

However, in time the narrator comes to loathe this cat, too, and once, when he nearly trips over the pet while walking downstairs into the cellar, he picks up an axe and aims a blow at the animal’s head. His wife intervenes and stops him but, in a fit of rage, he buries the axe in his wife’s head, killing her instantly. He conceals the body, but when the police call round to look into his wife’s disappearance, a sound from the place where the narrator has concealed the body exposes the hidden corpse. When the body is revealed, the black cat is there  and it was the cat that had made the noise that gave away the location of the corpse. The narrator had walled up the animal when he had hidden his wife’s body. And with this revelation, the narrator’s story comes to an end.

☆ Idea  of this story : The Black Cat " : 

Love and hate are two key themes in the story. The narrator at first loves his pets and his wife, but as madness takes hold of him, he comes to loathe or dismiss everything that should be of the utmost importance to him.Justice and truth: The narrator tries to hide the truth by walling up his wife's body but the voice of the black cat helps bring him to justice.

Superstition: The black cat is an omen of bad luck, a theme that runs throughout literature. Murder and death: Death is the central focus of the entire story. The question is what causes the narrator to become a killer.On superstition:

"In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusions to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise."

Illusiong versus reality: Does the alcohol release the narrator's inner demons, or is it merely an excuse for his horrendous acts of violence? Is the black cat merely a cat, or something imbued with a greater power to bring about justice or exact revenge?

. On reality vs. illusion:

"For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief."

Loyalty perverted: A pet is often seen as a loyal and faithful partner in life but the escalating hallucinations the narrator experiences propel him into murderous rages, first with Pluto and then with the cat that replaces him. The pets he once held in highest affection become the thing he most loathes. As the man's sanity unravels, his wife, whom he also purports to love, becomes someone who merely inhabits his home rather than shares his life. She ceases to be a real person, and when she does, she is expendable. When she dies, rather than feel the horror of killing someone he cares for, the man's first response is to hide the evidence of his crime

"There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man."

The black cat symbolizes the state of the narrator's soul-which is black, mutilated, and decaying. The black cat is symbolic because it is the cat's meowing that draws attention to the wall, and the perverse pleasure the black soul of the narrator takes in believing he has gotten away from it.

Thank you...

Poem " The Fly"

 Hello readers!

Welcome to my blog. This blog is related to my  B.A. poem " The  Fly."

Little fly,

Thy summer’s play

My thoughtless hand

Has brushed away.

Am not I

A fly like thee?

Or art not thou

A man like me?

For I dance

And drink and sing,

Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life

And strength and breath,

And the want

Of thought is death,

Then am I

A happy fly,

If I live,

Or if I die.

☆ About the  poet : 

William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757, to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions at four he saw God "put his head to the window"; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. Further reading of  William Blake : click here 

☆Analysis of the  poem: 

"The Fly" by William Blake Little Fly, Thy summer's play My thoughtless hand Has brushed away. Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me? For I dance And drink & sing, Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing. If thought is life And strength & breath And the want Of thought is death; Then am I A happy fly.The poet in a thoughtless moment kills a fly and feels sorry for his act. The fly's life is very short and the poet feels it is sinful to kill it. Later the poet goes on to wonder if he is not a fly like the one he killed. It is also correct that the fly is made of flesh and blood just like man. Like the fly the poet also dances, drinks and sings until blind fate cuts his thread of life. Life is characterised by the capacity to think as well as breathe and an inability to think is death. If this is valid for the life of all beings, there is no difference between a man and a fly or the poet and the fly. The poet says that he is in no way higher than an insect, nor is any insect meaner than him. Just as his thoughtless hand finishes the life of a fly, the thoughtless hand of fate shall one day finish his life also.

      The poet in a thoughtless moment kills a fly and feels sorry for his act. The fly's life is very short and the poet feels it is sinful to kill it. Later the poet goes on to wonder if he is not a fly like the one he killed. It is also correct that the fly is made of flesh and blood just like man. Like the fly the poet also dances, drinks and sings until blind fate cuts his thread of life. Life is characterised by the capacity to think as well as breathe and an inability to think is death. If this is valid for the life of all beings, there is no difference be tween a man and a fly or the poet and the fly. The poet says that he is in no way higher than an insect, nor is any insect meaner than him. Just as his thoughtless hand finishes the life of a fly, the thoughtless hand of fate shall one day finish his life also.

     The kernel of the poem is the identity between man and fly. Both of them are intimidated by the teasing 'blind hands'; perhaps Blake's maxim "thoughtlessness is death" further brings out the idea that the thoughtlessness Blake has shown in killing a fly, is a kind of death of himself. As a critic maintains, Blake may be saying: "Man is like a fly, not only because his life is short, or because he is powerless against fate, but because the fly, like a man, enjoys life and possesses thought". The poet commits the mistake by chance. But he knows that it is a similar force and power that works behind Life, and life in all creatures hold the same value. In his acts also he resembles a fly because, as the poet says, he also sings and dances and goes rollicking as the fly does in its summer play. The poet wants to establish the fact that animals also can think like human beings.

One of the drawbacks in the idea propagated by Blake through his poem 'The Fly' is often described by critics. Is a man having capacity only to think? Blake is accused of having ignored the human capability of intuition, foreseeing and sensing. He is said to have overlooked the other realms of mind such as the unconscious and the subconscious, which play no unimportant role in the life of human beings. From 'The Fly' we get the picture of a man who is rationalising everything and is mechanical and self-contained. But this view can be easily disproved. The capacity to think is to cultivate an awareness, and awareness is nothing but knowledge, which is the 'renewed light' or God. Again, awareness is a term with a vast vista of meanings. Awareness may be the awareness of the human soul, awareness of oneself and the awareness of the unconscious and the subconscious.

  Thank you...