Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad, India. In 1919, he joined the Indian National Congress and joined Indian Nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement. In 1947, Pakistan was created as a new, independent country for Muslims. The British withdrew and Nehru became independent India’s first prime minister. Nehru is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state; a sovereign, socialist,secular, and democratic republic. He died on May 27, 1964, in New Delhi, India.

The First Prime Minister of Independent India

Domestic Policy:

The importance of Jawaharlal Nehru in the context of Indian history can be distilled to the following points: he imparted modern values and thought, stressed secularism, insisted upon the basic unity of India, and, in the face of ethnic and religious diversity, carried India into the modern age of scientific innovation and technological progress. He also prompted social concern for the marginalized and poor and respect for democratic values.

Major Contributions of Auguste Comte to Sociology

Auguste Comte, a volatile Frenchman, philosopher, moralist and sociologist, traditionally regarded as the father of sociology. He coined the term sociology and bee father of sociology. He tried to create a new science of society, which would not only explain the past of mankind but also predict its future course. Auguste Comate was born in France the year 1798. He invented a new discipline which he called at first social physics and changed it to sociology thereafter. "Auguste Comte may be considered as first and foremost, sociologist of human and social unity" so writes the French sociologist Raymond Aron. 

Important works are:

(1) Positive Philosophy (1830-42).

(2) Systems of positive polity (1851 -54)

(3) Religion of Humanity (1856).

Positive Stage

• The Positive stage, also known as the scientific stage, refers to scientific explanation based on observation, experiment, and comparison. 

• This stage represents the scientific way of thinking. 

The Metaphysical Stage

• The Metaphysical stage is the extension of theological stage. 

• Metaphysical stage refers to explanation by impersonal abstract explanation, often people tried to believe that God is an abstract being.

Law of Three Stages

The "Law of Three Stages" is an idea developed by Auguste Comte.  It constitutes one of the main contributions of Comte to the field of sociological thought. 

According to Comte, each branch of our knowledge passes successively through the different theoretical conditions. It is known as law of three stages. The main aim of this principle is that it provides the basis of sociological thinking.

It states that society as a whole, and each particular science, develops through three mentally conceived stages. 

They are: 

1. The Theological or Fictitious Stage 
2. The Metaphysical or Abstract Stage
3. The Positive or Scientific Stage

Related Article: Major Contributions of Auguste Comte to Sociology

The Theological Stage

Theology means discourse or study of religion. This is the first stage in the Law of Three Stages. During the this stage, man believed that all the phenomena of nature are the creation of the divine or supernatural powers. Man failed to discover the natural causes of various phenomena and hence attributed them to supernatural or divine power. This stage is dominated by priests and ruled by military men.

The Theological Stage is divided into 3 sub stages. They are;

1. Fetishism (animism)
2. Polytheism
3. Monotheism

1. Fetishism:

• Fetishism is the primary stage of the theological stage of thinking.
• It is also known as animism.
• "Fetish" means inanimate and "ism" means philosophy.  
• Throughout this stage, the primitive people had a belief that inanimate object had living spirit in it, also known as animism. 
• People worshipped inanimate objects like trees, stones, a piece of wood, volcanic eruptions, etc.
• It did not admit priesthood.

Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte (1798-1857) was a great thinker, a famous social philosopher and the first sociologist. His real name was Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte. He was born at Montpellier, France, on January 19,1798, a decade after French Revolution. 

It was Comte who laid the foundations of sociology and is acclaimed as the "father of sociology". Comte was also the founder of French positivism and he was the one who coined the term sociology. 

Comte was born a Catholic, but somewhere around the age of fourteen, he apparently stopped believing in God. At the same time, he left the ideals of his royalist family behind and became a republican. From the very beginning Comte exhibited extra-ordinary mental ability, a strong character and a tendency to go against authority. He is often described as "brilliant and recalcitrant".

The Fly: Analysis - 02

Katherine Mansfield

The story “Fly” throws light on the fact that time is a great healer and it conquers grief. Mr. Woodifield comes to see his ex-boss. He is retired and is a heart patient. He praises the new setting and furniture of the office. Then the boss offers him whisky. After drinking it, Mr. Woodifield remembers what he has forgotten. He tells the boss that his daughters have visited the graves of the boss’s as well as Mr. Woodsfield’s son. Actually, they have died in a war.

When Mr. Woodifield has gone, the boss remembers his dead son. He tries to have the same feelings of grief as he felt on the day of his death. However, he fails. For the last try, he decides to go to the photograph of his son, but a fly in an inkpot attracts his attention. He forgets all about his son.

He takes the fly out of the inkpot and puts it on a blotting paper. As soon as the fly is about to fly, he drops a drop of ink on it and enjoys its struggle. At last, the fly dies of drops of ink. The boss throws it away and orders for a fresh blotting paper. Then he tries to remember what he was thinking before attending to the fly. It means he forgets his dead son again.

What is the theme of the story “Fly”?

No doubt, this is quite established fact that the story “The Fly” is about the conquest of time over grief. This is the first theme of the story.

To show that time conquers grief the writer presents two characters, Mr. Woodifield and his ex-boss. Both of them lost their only sons six years ago. It was a long period and it had healed up their grief.

The Fly: Analysis - 01

It is very important for the audience to know that the story takes place during a war, and 6 years after the death of the boss’ son. This information is important, because it gives a better understanding to the reader that the boss will have an internal struggle regarding the war and the death of his son. This setting also sets the tone for the story; it gives it a sense of melancholy, hopelessness, resentment, and anger.

This story is told in the 3rd person, but has a main focus on the boss. The narrator is not omniscient because the reader only knows what the boss is thinking and does not know what the old man is thinking.

The boss, being the protagonist of this short story, is motivated by one thing only: his dead son. The boss decides to torment a helpless housefly in the latter half of the story because he sees the struggle the fly undergoes when it falls in his inkpot, and in turn feels the need to test the fly’s strength. In seeing the fly’s struggle and its ability to overcome it, the boss sees himself. He subconsciously wonders if he will be able to overcome the struggle he has with his feelings concerning the death of his son. In comparing his struggle to the fly’s, he feels the need to test the fly to its limits. He says, “Come on, look sharp” almost as if he is talking to himself.

The author uses the metaphor of a fly to represent the memories and struggle of the boss. This metaphor is used to extend meaning through the entire story and to help enhance the motivations and thoughts of the boss. By comparing the struggles of the fly to the struggles of the boss and the death of the fly to the death of the boss’ memories, the reader can more clearly understand how the death of his son in the war has affected the boss. I think this metaphor is a good comparison because it makes the reader think about what it means; as I find it can have various meanings, and it enhances the overall quality of the story.

Types of Macro Economics

Macro Statics:

The word 'static'  is derived from the Greek word 'statike' which means bringing to standstill. In physics, it means a state of rest where there is, no movement. In economics, it implies a state characterized by movement at a particular level without any change. It is a state, according to Clarke, where five kinds of changes are conspicuous by their absence. The size of population, the supply of capital, methods of production, forms of business organization and wants of the people remain constant, but the economy continues to work at a steady pace. "It is to this active but unchanging process", writes Marshall, "that the expression static economics should be applied". 

Static economy is thus a timeless economy where no changes occur and it is necessarily in equilibrium. Indices are adjusted instantaneously, current demand, output and prices of goods and services. As pointed out by Prof. Samuelson,” Economic static concerns itself with the simultaneous and instantaneously or timeless determination of economic variables by mutually interdependent relations.”

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Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms

Synonyms are words that are similar or have a related meaning to another word in the same language. 

Note that a synonym may share an identical meaning with another word, but the two words are not necessarily interchangeable. For example, "blow up" and "explode" have the same meaning, but "blow up" is informal (used more in speech) and "explode" is more formal (used more in writing and careful speech).

Here are some examples of synonyms:

Reflections on Gandhi

By George Orwell

SAINTS should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent, but the tests that have to be applied to them are not, of course, the same in all cases. In Gandhi's case the questions on feels inclined to ask are: to what extent was Gandhi moved by vanity - by the consciousness of himself as a humble, naked old man, sitting on a praying mat and shaking empires by sheer spiritual power - and to what extent did he compromise his own principles by entering politics, which of their nature are inseparable from coercion and fraud? To give a definite answer one would have to study Gandhi's acts and writings in immense detail, for his whole life was a sort of pilgrimage in which every act was significant. But this partial autobiography, which ends in the nineteen-twenties, is strong evidence in his favor, all the more because it covers what he would have called the unregenerate part of his life and reminds one that inside the saint, or near-saint, there was a very shrewd, able person who could, if he had chosen, have been a brilliant success as a lawyer, an administrator or perhaps even a businessman.

America

By Maya Angelou


The gold of her promise
           has never been mined

Her borders of justice
           not clearly defined

Her crops of abundance
           the fruit and the grain

Have not fed the hungry
           nor eased that deep pain

Her proud declarations
           are leaves on the wind

Her southern exposure
           black death did befriend

Discover this country
           dead countries cry

Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg

• Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He was the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and another for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat".

• Carl Sandburg, born Carl August Sandburg, was born in Galesburg, Illinois in 1878. His father was a railroad blacksmith and his mother worked as a maid in a Chicagoland hotel. The Sandburgs were hardworking middle class people who had to provide for Carl and his six siblings.

• Carl Sandburg only attended public school until the age of 14, when he left the eighth grade and began to do small jobs around town. At the age of 18, he embarked on his first trip to the city of Chicago with a pass he had borrowed from his father. Within a year, he had joined the masses of railroad stowaways who traveled the Midwest looking for work.

Reflections on Gandhi: Analysis

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi is a man who is often considered a saint, and even though he made enemies, "I believe that even Gandhi's worst enemies would admit he was an interesting and unusual man who enriched the world simply by being alive." This is a commentary on George Orwell's "Reflections of Gandhi", which will analyze and discuss the text and the commentators reactions to the piece. Not only does this essay give some back ground on Gandhi's life, but also shows the contradictory feelings his message could incite in a person. While it seems that Gandhi did naught but promote peace, the measures from which this peace was to come from makes a person wonder if he truly cared for people, if this radical approach to peaceful resistance was only to please a god, or if Orwell is imposing some new information on the "saint" which has questionable truth (which, he himself states he originally found the autobiography "...in the ill-printed pages of some Indian newspaper.")

The Last Leaf

By O' Henry

In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account!

So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents. Then they imported some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue, and became a "colony."

An English Election

By Oliver Goldsmith

The English are at present employed in celebrating a feast which becomes general every seventh year; the Parliament of the nation being then dissolved and another appointed to be chosen. This solemnity falls infinitely short of our Feast of the Lanterns in magnificence and splendour; it is also surpassed by others of the East in unanimity and pure devotion, but no festival in the world can compare with it for eating. Their eating indeed amazes me: Had I five hundred heads, and were each head furnished with brains, yet would they all be insufficient to compute the number of cows, pigs, geese and turkeys, which upon this occasion die for the good of their country!

To say the truth, eating seems to make a grand ingredient in all English parties of zeal, business or amusement. When a Church is to be built, or an Hospital endowed, the Directors assemble, and instead of consulting upon it, they eat upon it, by which means the business goes forward with success. When the Poor are to be relieved, the officers appointed to dole out public charity, assemble and eat upon it: Nor has it ever been known, that they filled the bellies of the poor till they had previously satisfied their own. But in the election of Magistrates the people seem to exceed all bounds; the merits of a candidate are often measured by the number of his treats; his constituents assemble, eat upon him, and lend their applause, not to his integrity or sense, but the quantities of his beef and brandy.

The Fly

By Katherine Mansfield

'YARE VERY SNUG in here,' piped old Mr. Woodifield, and peered out of the great, green-leather armchair by his friend the boss's desk as a baby peers out of its pram. His talk was over; it was time for him to be off. But he did not want to go. Since he had retired, since his ... stroke, the wife and the girls kept him boxed up in the house every day of the week except Tuesday. On Tuesday he was dressed and brushed and allowed to cut back to the City for the day. Though what he did there the wife and girls couldn't imagine. Made a nuisance of himself to his friends, they supposed....Well, perhaps so. All the same, we cling to our last pleasures as the tree clings to its last leaves. So there sat old Woodifield, smoking a cigar and staring almost greedily at the boss, who rolled in his office chair, stout, rosy, five years older than he, and still going strong, still at the helm. It did one good to see him.

Wistfully, admiringly, the old voice added,'It's snug in here, upom my word!'

'Yes, it's comfortable enough,' agreed the boss, and he flipped the Financial Times with a paper-knife. As a matter of fact he was proud of his room; he liked to have it admired, especially by old Woodifield. It gave him a feeling of deep, solid satisfaction to be planted there in the midst of it in full view of that frail old figure in the muffler.

'I've had it done up lately,' he explained, as he had explained for the past -how many!-weeks.'New carpet,' and he pointed to the bright red carpet with a pattern of large white rings.'New furniture,' and he nodded towards the massive bookcase and the table with legs like twisted treacle.'Electric heating!' He waved almost exultantly towards the five transparent, pearly sausages glowing so softly in the tilted copper pan.

Chameleon

By Anton Chekhov

The police superintendent Ochumelov is walking across the market square wearing a new overcoat and carrying a parcel under his arm. A red-haired policeman strides after him with a sieve full of confiscated gooseberries in his hands. There is silence all around. Not a soul in the square. … The open doors of the shops and taverns look out upon God's world disconsolately, like hungry mouths; there is not even a beggar near them. 

The Cabuliwallah: Analysis

The cabuliwallah is from Kabul. His real name is Abdur Rahman. He works as a peddler in India. He goes to Kabul once a year to visit his wife and little daughter. In the course of selling goods, once he reaches to the house of writer, Rabindranath Tagore. Then his five years daughter, Mini calls him ‘Cabuliwallah! A Cabuliwallah’. When Cabuliwallah goes to visit Mini she is afraid because he is wearing loose solid clothes and a tall turban. He looks gigantic. When the writer knows that Mini is afraid, he introduces her with him. The Cabuliwallah gives her some nuts and raisins. Mini becomes happy from next day, the Cabuliwallah often visits her and he gives her something to eat. They crack looks and laugh and enjoy. They also feel comfortable in the company each other. The writer likes their friendship. But Mini’s mother doesn’t like it. She thinks that the peddler like Cabuliwallah can be child lifter. However, Mini and the Cabuliwallah becomes intimate friend.

The Cabuliwallah sells seasonal goods. Once he sells a Rampuri shawl to a customer on credit. He asks him for the money many times but he doesn’t pay. At last he denies buying the shawl. The Cabuliwallah becomes very angry and stabs the customer. Then he is arrested by police and taken him to the jail. He is jailed for eight years. When he is freed from jail at first he goes to visit Mini surprisingly. It is the wedding day and he isn’t allowed to visit her. When he shows the finger of a piece of paper to the writer, he permits to meet Mini who is in wedding dress. The writer knows that the Cabuliwallah has no money to go back to his house so the writer cuts of the wedding expenses like a light and bands and gives one hundred rupees to the Cabuliwallah and sends him to Kabul.

The Cabuliwallah: Plot Summary

The story starts when Mini, a talkative 5-year old girl, meets a Cabuliwallah. At first, the innocent child thought that the Cabuliwallah kidnaps kids. Mini's father and mother also have doubts about this Cabuliwallah. But as time goes on, there seems to be a strong bond that formed between the two. Mini felt closer to this unknown fellow who gave her lots of almonds and raisins. But everything changed when Rahman was sent to jail for murderous assault. 

Time passed by and Mini is now getting married. During the wedding night, Rahman paid a visit to see Mini only to find out that she has forgotten him a long time ago. The Cabuliwallah explains to Mini's father that he also has a daughter like Mini. Rahman misses his daughter so much and that's why he felt close to Mini. Touched by the Cabuliwallah's story, Mini's father realized that all fathers are the same-- whether you are a writer or a Cabuliwallah.

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_plot_summary_for_the_story_Cabuliwallah

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore

• Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941) is one of India's most beloved writers. 

• He won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 and was respectfully addressed as Gurudev.

• He was a poet, novelist, artist and musician, philosopher, teacher and reformer. 

• He has also shaped the Bengali literature and music. 

• He began to write at a very young age and is well known for his lyrics and songs on nature, love and childhood. 

• He set hundreds of poems to music and founded the "world university" Santiniketan outside Calcutta.

• This story "The Cabuliwallah" comes from Tagore's collection Galpaguccha ("A Bunch of Stories"), which describe humble lives and their small miseries. Cabuliwallahs are peddler or fruitseller from Kabul, Afghanistan. This story called is about the beautiful friendship of a young girl named Mini and a peddler named Rahman, which develops despite rank, class or age.

The Cabuliwallah

By Rabindranath Tagore

My five-year-old daughter Mini cannot live without chattering. I really believe that in all her life she has not wasted a minute in silence. Her mother is often vexed at this, and would like to stop her prattle, but I would not. For Mini to be quiet is unnatural, and I cannot bear it long. And so my own talk with her is always lively.

One morning, for instance, when I was in the midst of the seventeenth chapter of my new novel, my little Mini stole into the room, and putting her hand into mine, said: "Father! Ramdayal, the door-keeper, calls a kak a kauwa!

He doesn't know anything, does he?"

Before I could explain to her the difference between one language and another in this world, she had embarked on the full tide of another subject. "What do you think, Father? Bhola says there is an elephant in the clouds, blowing water out of his trunk, and that is why it rains!"

And then, darting off anew, while I sat still, trying to think of some reply to this: "Father! what relation is mother to you?"

With a grave face I contrived to say: "Go and play with Bhola, Mini! I am busy!"

The window of my room overlooks the road. The child had seated herself at my feet near my table, and was playing softly, drumming on her knees. I was hard at work on my seventeenth chapter, in which Pratap Singh, the hero, has just caught Kanchanlata, the heroine, in his arms, and is about to escape with her by the third storey window of the castle, when suddenly Mini left her play, and ran to the window, crying: "A Cabuliwallah! A Cabuliwallah!' And indeed, in the street below, there was a Cabuliwallah, walking slowly along. He wore the loose, soiled clothing of his people, and a tall turban; he carried a bag on his back, and boxes of grapes in his hand.

Tryst with Destiny

By Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. 

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her successes, and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future ?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom, we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now. 

What I Believe

By E. M. Forster

I do not believe in Belief. But this is an Age of Faith, and there are so many militant creeds that, in self-defence, one has to formulate a creed of one's own. Tolerance, good temper and sympathy are no longer enough in a world which is rent by religious and racial persecution, in a world where ignorance rules, and Science, who ought to have ruled, plays the subservient pimp. Tolerance, good temper and sympathy - they are what matter really, and if the human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long. But for the moment they are not enough, their action is no stronger than a flower, battered beneath a military jackboot. They want stiffening, even if the process coarsens them. Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch, which ought to be applied as sparingly as possible. I dislike the stuff. I do not believe in it, for its own sake, at all. Herein I probably differ from most people, who believe in Belief, and are only sorry they cannot swallow even more than  they do. My law-givers are Erasmus and Montaigne, not Moses and St Paul. My temple stands not upon Mount Moriah but in that Elysian Field where even the immoral are admitted. My motto is : "Lord, I disbelieve - help thou my unbelief.

I have, however, to live in an Age of Faith - the sort of epoch I used to hear praised when I was a boy. It is extremely un- pleasant really. It is bloody in every sense of the word. And I have to keep my end up in it. Where do I start ?

The Cabuliwallah: Summary

A Cabuliwallah named Rahaman reached near the house of the writer. He was a peddler and sold seasonal goods. Mini, the five years old daughter of the writer, saw him. The writer was busy on writing his story. When Mini called him, he came towards her. When Cabuliwallah came towards her house, Mini got afraid and went to her mother. But, the writer called her and introduced with Rahaman to remove her fear from her mind. The Cabuliwallah gave nuts and raisins to her. After that the Cabuliwallah became a regular visitor to Mini’s home and finally became good friends.

Rahaman sold seasonal goods. Once he had sold a Rampuri sawl to a costumer on credit. But when he went to collect his money, the costumer didn’t give the money. It made Rahaman so angry that he stabbed the costumer with knife. Rahaman was charged for attempting murder and was sent to jail for long time. When he was released from the jail, he directly went to the writer’s house. There was a ceremony in the writer house. Mini was going to get married. 

At first, the writer didn’t allow him to see her. But Rahaman brought nuts and raisins for her and gave it to the writer. He then took out the hand print of his daughter from his pocket, and declared that he also had a daughter like Mini in his house. Seeing the condition of the Cabuliwallah, the eyes of the writer filled with tears. He called Mini who was in wedding dress, and introduced with Rahaman. Rahaman was surprised to see mini grown up. He remembered his own daughter and expressed the concerns about her. The writer got sentiment, and so, he offered hundred rupees to Rahaman by reducing some of the festivities like bands and electric lights. But the writer got happy to realize, that he was helping father who is going to meet his daughter.

Source: http://himalayavs1.blogspot.in/2012/08/the-cabuliwallah.html

Chicago: Analysis - 02

When "Chicago" appeared in 1914, its savage energy created an uproar as Sandburg captured the staggering vitality of the great Midwest City in a poem of nearly mythic dimensions. As opposed to other poets of his generation, Sandburg did not like to experiment with complicated syntax and images, but rather preferred to give the reader something concrete and direct. Therefore, this leaves the tone of the poem to be more serious. 

Sandburg writes "Chicago" in blank verse in addition to free verse. Sandburg uses anaphora in his poem in lines 6-8. "They tell me you are wicked, and I believed them... I have seen the marks of wanton hunger." He repeats the phrase "They tell me you are," this shows to the reader about how much bad stuff is being spoken about the city. 

Another literary device that Sandburg uses in "Chicago" is the apostrophe. He uses this when he addresses the city as a person. ("They tell me you are...") Using this technique gives the reader the feeling that the city is somewhat alive and is human. Speaking of which, Sandburg also uses personification throughout the poem, giving the city human attributes. For example, look at lines 18-23. "Under the smoke...Freight-handler to the Nation." Similes are present in line 13 when Sandburg discusses about the animosity of the city. "Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness." 

ChicagoIn addition, this literary tool is used in lines 19 and 20 when Sandburg describes how it is laughing in comparison to a young man and an ignorant fighter, respectively. Another device used in "Chicago" is repetition, in line 18 and 19. Its use here is to show all the afflictions that covered it.

Chicago: Analysis - 01

Carl Sandburg's first major volume of poems, Chicago Poems, published in 1916, offered the poem "Chicago," which would go on to be one of the most famous poems that Sandburg wrote. It is a classic example of his form and subject as it uses free verse to reveal, explore, and celebrate the lives of common people. The themes of hard work, suffering, and survival are presented alongside those of laughter and youth with an almost brutal honesty that Sandburg extracted from the everyday language he listened to so closely throughout his life. The opening lines set the poem apart from much of the poetry of the time with "Hog Butcher of the World," and the list of epithets that follow.

Sandburg's poetry relied on themes of common, daily life in the same way that the poems of Walt Whitman had. Using a major urban landscape as a focus, the speaker goes on to mention the harsh yet vibrant aspects of American progress. There is violence and hunger in the city, and also the pride of a city so alive. The poem then offers another list, descriptions of work actions, and the line "Building, breaking, rebuilding" which could be seen to represent the cyclical nature of production and consumption in modern industrial life. The poem finishes with a definite emphasis on the experience of laughter, which offers another side of America often found in Sandburg's poetry, that of a country worthy of joyous celebration and livelihood in the face of hardship and progress.


Lines 1-5: 

Sandburg begins the poem with a list of names or epithets for the city that reflects its gritty, earthy, tough spirit. In the early twentieth century Chicago was a center for the industries Sandburg mentions. In these lines the speaker personifies the city by likening it to a "Stormy, husky, brawling" worker, with "Big Shoulders." This list also evokes the human workers who actually perform the work associated with these industries, thus establishing a link between the city and its inhabitants, and beginning a process of merging human qualities with the abstract "idea" of the city. In addition, by being identified with the city, each person seems to represent a combination of the individual and the universal. This is consistent with Sandburg's desire to elevates the working people to a level of great importance, and claims them to be essential elements of larger social organizations.

Lines 6-8: 

In these lines the speaker addresses a series of criticisms of the city followed by concrete images from the speaker's own experience which illustrate the criticisms. The city's wickedness is demonstrated by its prostitutes that corrupt innocent boys, its crookedness by killers that go unpunished, and its brutality by the hunger seen in the faces of its women and children. Here the speaker advances the personification of the city begun in the first stanza by directly addressing it as "you" and also by attributing the human qualities of wickedness, crookedness, and brutality to it. At this point in the poem Sandburg shifts to much longer lines and a more lyrical use of language, partially to mimic the conversational language of the direct address, but also as a way to increase the tempo and energy of the lines. 

Chicago: Summary 01

In the poem “Chicago” by “Carl Sandburg” he starts with giving the readers an image of what Chicago is like with the different types of jobs and the things the citizens do in their daily lives. At the start of the poem Sandburg explains what people would see in a daily life at Chicago, such as Tool making, farming and swine wholesale dealers. This shows that the city is full of vigorous people and that they always try to look strong towards the other cities around them by being organized and hard working. 

Then he tells us the unpleasant scenes that go around Chicago such as murdering and sexual immodesties, because he wants to show that Chicago does have “the bad side” and that they are not a perfect city. Sandburg then decides to remind us the brightening and the defenders of the unwanted scenes in Chicago. He has given examples such, “coarse and strong”, “bold” and “bragging”, showing us that Chicago is a strong, hard working and proud city to be in. He also presents us with an example that says, “Building, breaking, rebuilding”. This tells the readers that Chicago tries their best and immediately fixes not only buildings but also the people in Chicago and distasteful parts about it. 

This concludes that Chicago is a city with both ups and downs, but they are still proud of who they are and what they do.

Theme: Cities can be shown their bad side towards visitors, but without really knowing the city you will not be able to see the things that the city is highly proud of what they do in their daily lives.

Source: (2011, 11). Chicago Annotation/Interactive Analysis of Text. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 11, 2011, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Chicago-Annotation-Interactive-Analysis-Of-Text-859710.html

The Last Leaf: Video Summary

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUA8RaDI0k

R. K. Narayan

• R. K. Narayan (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001), was an Indian writer.

• His actual name was Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami. 

• He was graduated from the University of Mysore.

• He became famous with the publication of "Swami and Friends".
• Nrayan's works of fiction include a series of books about people and their interactions in an imagined town in India called Malgudi. 

• He is one of three leading figures of early Indian literature in English. 

• He is credited with bringing Indian literature in English to the rest of the world, and is regarded as one of India's greatest English language novelists.
• "The Missing Mail" was one of the most interesting  short stories of R. K. Narayan. 

Edward Morgan Forster

• Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970). 

• He was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. 

• He is best known for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. 

• His 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is his most optimistic work, while A Passage to India (1924) brought him his greatest success.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889, in Allahabad, India. In 1919, he joined the Indian National Congress and joined Indian Nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement. In 1947, Pakistan was created as a new, independent country for Muslims. The British withdrew and Nehru became independent India’s first prime minister. Nehru is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state; a sovereign, socialist,secular, and democratic republic. He died on May 27, 1964, in New Delhi, India.

Pre-Political Life

Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad, India in 1889. His father was a renowned lawyer and one of Mahatma Gandhi's notable lieutenants. A series of English governesses and tutors educated Nehru at home until he was 16. He continued his education in England, first at the Harrow School and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned an honors degree in natural science. He later studied law at the Inner Temple in London before returning home to India in 1912 and practicing law for several years. Four years later, Nehru married Kamala Kaul; their only child, Indira Priyadarshini, was born in 1917. Like her father, Indira would later serve as prime minister of India under her married name: Indira Gandhi. A family of high achievers, one of Nehru's sisters, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, later became the first woman president of the UN General Assembly.

George Orwell

• Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist. 

• His work is marked by clarity, intelligence and wit, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and belief indemocratic socialism.

• Considered perhaps the 20th century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemicaljournalism. 

• He is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945), which together have sold more copies than any two books by any other 20th-century author. 

• His book Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, is widely acclaimed, as are his numerous essays on politics, literature, languageand culture. 

• In 2008, The Times ranked him second on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

• Orwell's work continues to influence popular and political culture, and social practices.

Chameleon: Summary

Anton Chekhov

Ochumelov, a police inspector in this story is walking through a marketplace when “all of a sudden the sound of a voice came to his ears”. After following the voice he discovers that it is Khryukin, who has come by the lumber yard to pick up wood. 

Khryukin claims to have been bitten by a stray dog and demands compensation and that the dog be shot. Ochumelov, now under the eye of an immense crowd of onlookers, immediately agrees with the complainant, pronouncing, “it’s time something be done about gentleman who are not willing to obey the regulations!”. But when someone in the crowd who has come to see what is going on suggests that the dog is the General’s, Ochumelov changes his attitude, now blaming Khryukin for the incident. 

Tryst with Destiny: Analysis

Tryst with Destiny was a speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), the first Prime Minister of independent India. The speech was made to the Indian Constituent Assembly, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947.

It focuses on the aspects that transcend India's history. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of all time and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the hundred-year non-violent Indian freedom struggle against the British Empire in India. The phrase "rendezvous with destiny" was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1936 Democratic National Convention speech, inspiring the similar phrase "tryst with destiny" by Jawaharlal Nehru.

Satyagraha was a major root for success of the seemingly never-ending struggle for freedom in India and this is deeply acknowledged in Nehru’s speech. The reference made to the concept and its pioneer, coupled with particularly effective pathetic appeal would only cause fierce patriotism and love in the heart of any Indian who listened to it because of the fervour with which they respected and idolised the Father of the Nation and his ideas. 

What I Believe: Summary

E. M. Forster’s “What I Believe” is interesting in that it reflects a moderated idealism. Throughout the essay, Forster will make a proclamation, such as rationality is good, and subsequently retreat half a step, in this case insisting on the continued necessity of faith. It is an interesting technique and demonstrates much of the complexity of his positions, and arguably those of Bloomsbury insofar as they are a whole. Particularly interesting are his fascination with faith, which forms the bedrock of the argument, and with personal relationships.

E. M. Forster says that he does not believe in belief; but there are so many around that one has to formulate a belief of one’s own in self-defense. Three values are important to Forster: tolerance, good temper and sympathy. 

Personal Relationships and the State

Forster argues that one should invest in personal relationships: “one must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life”. In order to do so, one must be reliable in one’s relationships. Reliability, in turn, is impossible without natural warmth. Forster contrasts personal relationships with causes, which he hates. In an often quoted sentence he argues: “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country”. He goes on to explain: 

The Last Leaf: Analysis

The story begins in a leisurely manner with the sketchy background. The old Greenwich village in which painters come to set up their art studio has curious maze streets criss-crossing one another. A traveler loses the directions of the streets. This description of the streets has relevance to the story in which a strong and strange psychological morbidity is focused. The main theme is then introduced it has two characters – Sue and Johnsy. They met together suddenly at a hotel and found themselves sharing taste chicory salad, bishop sleeves and in painting. They become intimate friends and in a cheap rented house two friends Sue and Johnsy set up a common studio. The humours beginning arrest the attention of the readers and relive the tension that awaits them.

After a serio-comic introduction comes the central situation. One day Johnsy is attacked with pneumonia. She becomes gradually weak in body and mind. She is possessed with death wish. There is an ivy vine on the yard near the Johnsy’s window. She looks at the window and counts the leaves backward that were falling and associates her longevity with the fall of leaves. She has an uncanny feeling that her life will end with the fall of the last leaf of the ivy creeper. The doctor tells Sue that her life depends on her wish to live. If a patient loses her will power to live, no disease can be resisted. Johnsy does not like eating and drinking. She only looks vacantly at the window counting the number of leaves falling. Her friend Sue tries to divert her mind from the window. She sits by her for painting so that she will be inspired to live for painting. She offers her broth, wine, milk and she tries to take her mind from death wish but she cannot succeed. The strange fancy that takes hold of her mind cannot be removed.

O. Henry

O. Henry

• William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name,   O. Henry, was an American short story writer.

• Before throwing himself in literature, he had a troubled life. His mother died when he was 3, and his father had a serious problem with alcoholism. At the age of fifteen he left school and then had a number of jobs. In 1887, he married Athol Estes Roach but the happiness did not last long when his wife died ten years later. His life was even worst when he was found guilty of embezzling money in 1897 and sentenced to five years in prison. After being released, he moved to New York and became a great short-story writer. 

• In 1906, he published the second collection, “The four million”, including “the Gift of the Magi”. It is said that these unforgettable experiences had inspired him to create such a unique and heart touching stories.

• Most of his stories have suspense in them and ends with an unexpected twist.

• O. Henry has been recognized among the greatest American authors by his great devotion to American literature. 

• Nearly 200 short stories published have gained the notice of the public as well as created the lasting popularity of O Henry’s literary style.

• With the huge and unique collection of short stories, he is deserved to be called "one of the greatest masters of modern literature".
• "The Last Leaf" is an interesting story about the supreme sacrifice of a less known old artist (Behrman),  who saves the life of a young artist (Johnsy), with his 'masterpiece'. 

The Last Leaf: Summary

Living in early 20th century Greenwich Village are two young women artists, Sue and Johnsy. They met in May, six months previously, and decided to share a studio apartment. Stalking their artist colony in November is "Mr. Pneumonia." The story begins as Johnsy, near death from pneumonia, lies in bed waiting for the last leaf of an ivy vine on the brick wall she spies through her window to fall. 

The Missing Mail: Summary

The story "The Missing Mail" centers round Thanappa, a conscientious postman. He holds personal relationships dearer than his duty. He feels personally involved in the lives of the people of Vinayak Mudali Street. Of these he is most attracted to Ramanujam and his family.

The Missing Mail: Analysis

The story belongs to the imaginary town of Malgudi where lives Ramanujam, a senior clerk in Revenue Department, and lives Thanappa , the postman of the town who is a very caring and compassionate person. He is the most awaited guy for everyone because he is the man, who brings them their letters with the news of various moods and reads them aloud if needed. Thanappa takes sincere and genuine interest in the welfare of every resident of Malgudi and always tends to deliver them their letters with the coating of his own views, comments and advice of which nobody seems to feel otherwise. Thanappa too is quite free and comfortable with everyone and spends substantial time while he stops at their doorstep to deliver the post and that is why he takes nearly six hours to finish the round of his small beat which covers Vinayak Mudali Street and its four parallel roads.

Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

• Chinua Achebe was born in Eastern Nigeria in 1930 and raised by Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria.

• He went to the local public schools and was among the first students to graduate from the University of Ibadan.

• He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student.

• After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation as a radio producer and Director of External Broadcasting.

• Chinua Achebe is a novelist, poet, professor at Brown University and critic. 

• He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature. It has been translated into at least forty-five languages, and has sold eight million copies worldwide.

Vulture: Summary

"Vultures" is a poem by Chinua Achebe. The poem “Vultures” speaks broadly about life and humanity, using the specific example that evil beings like vultures and the commandant in the Belsen camp are alike, both fighting for survival and happiness. The vulture,“perching high on broken bone of a dead tree” is fighting for survival by feeding off dead animals. In the same way, the commandant tries to survive by killing innocent people. However, they both have some good in them; the vulture loves the other vulture and the commandant loves his baby.

In the first stanza a very dull and lifeless atmosphere is created. The poet describes the,“…greyness and drizzle of one despondent dawn” and how the vultures“ picked the eyes of a swollen corpse in a water-logged trench”. They eat disgusting food in order to survive. 

In stanza two, the poet starts to contemplate how love can exist in such an evil infested place, and how love is not affected by evil as seen in the line of the poem“her face turned to the wall!”.

Stanza three begins with an ellipsis to link the vultures with the commandant of Belsen. After a day of burning human bodies, the unattractive commandant with hairy nostrils still manages to show his love for his baby. “Tender offspring” makes the children looks as if they are human bodies ready to be burnt. 

Vulture

By Chinua Achebe

In the greyness

and drizzle of one despondent

dawn unstirred by harbingers

of sunbreak a vulture

perching high on broken

bone of a dead tree

nestled close to his

mate his smooth

bashed-in head, a pebble

on a stem rooted in

a dump of gross

feathers, inclined affectionately

to hers. Yesterday they picked

the eyes of a swollen

corpse in a water-logged

trench and ate the things in its bowel. Full

gorged they chose their roost

keeping the hollowed remnant

in easy range of cold

telescopic eyes ...