Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

In this novel the writer depicts a unique feature of the era during which it was written. That is it weren’t men who sought after women but women who tried to catch rich young men. The reason behind this was middle class families of that era had very little money & therefore the ultimate quest of the mothers with daughters was finding partners for their daughters before they even reached marriageable age. This was known as “Hunting for men”, especially rich ones. It’s almost funny how the mothers of that time were so eager to get rid of their daughters by giving them away in marriage.

Another main aspect highlighted in this novel is how an accomplished woman had to be able to play the piano, possess a graceful gait, be well mannered, be able to read properly and knit in order to get qualified for marriage. This accomplishment was highly necessary to become eligible for a good marriage. We also notice that upper class people didn’t involve in any professions and instead inherited huge fortunes from their parents while people who engaged in employment were considered as middle class people.

Mrs. Bennet was a silly woman.  But in a way we feel sorry for her because she had five daughters to get rid of. From among these daughters Jane was the prettiest of all. She was sweet tempered but had a weakness. That is she never spoke ill of anybody & was too innocent. Even though Elizabeth was not as sweet as Jane, she was very clever, sharp & had a clear insight to people’s minds. She always fought vehemently against injustice.  Austen portrays her as the sunny heroine of the novel. Mary on the other hand was a very peculiar character.  She was very pedantic and was always ridiculed by other people because of this. The youngest two daughters were as silly as their mother and their passion was to flirt with men, especially with officers who have come to relax in Meryton. Jane and Elizabeth had similar qualities and they were more like friends than sisters.

Another aspect conveyed in this novel is the relationship between husband and wife. Though they loved each other,  Mr. Bennet ridiculed his wife in the presence of his children which is inappropriate. It’s humorous the way Mrs. Bennet coaxed Mr. Bennet to pay a visit to Mr. Bingley as it was customary for the heads of surrounding families to pay a visit if somebody arrived in the neighbourhood. It’s true that Mrs. Bennet had an ulterior motive to unite Mr. Bingley with one of her daughters. But Mr. Bennet should respond more positively to his wife’s efforts to find suitable spouses for their daughters as it was his responsibility as well. Even though he is a sensible and intelligent man he doesn’t behave in a responsible manner & should support his wife more. But rather than trying to find solutions for their problems he always tries to escape from conversations with his wife and avoids discussing their daughters’ future.

Source: My own ideas 

   

Odour of Chrysanthemum by D.H Lawrence

This short story is the pioneer example of D.H. Lawrence’s ideological perception of family. It conveys the crucial necessity for understanding someone, especially your partner & making allowances for him or her in life. In this story Elizabeth Bates never understood her husband & therefore failed to let him indulge in his own interests. This caused him to be distant from his family & to get closer to the outside world such as pubs & even work.

Elizabeth always made wrong assumptions about other people & thereby inculcated a falsified guilt in them. This was clearly visible in her wrong assumptions regarding her son's whereabouts. I suppose the reason behind this is she's unhappy & bitter about her life & maybe even without her knowledge this bitterness seeps into the lives of other people thereby making their lives miserable as well. This is exactly what happens to her children & her husband. Her bitter nature is clearly evident in her cruel remark regarding her father’s remarriage. The old man, as he himself says, has got married simply because he needed a companion at his old age. Elizabeth’s Victorian ideology that one shouldn’t get married at old age doesn’t let her look at her father’s situation from a sympathetic eye. She directly judges his act as improper for an old man.

Another major aspect highlighted in the story is her failure to read her husband. She was never in a position to understand Walter. He went to the pub because he didn’t find happiness at home. It was alcohol, his friends & his work that helped him get on with life. According to my belief this lack of understanding led to his death. When everyone else left the mine only he stayed behind claiming to have unfinished work. But what I believe is he stayed behind to avoid going home as long as possible which lead to his death. His mother on the other hand has understood his son & has made him allowances & let him indulge in his own happiness. This is why Walter was a happy lad before marrying Elizabeth. We should also consider that mothers allow more freedom than wives, but in this case Elizabeth is too harsh on Walter. This over-dominating nature of Mrs. Bates finally pushes him over the edge.

We can also see her attitude towards her marriage with Walter. Everything related to her marriage disappoints her and makes her unhappy. The way she considers chrysanthemums as unpleasant because there had been chrysanthemums when she married him & when her first child was born, shows her bitterness towards her family including her children & all the memories associated with them. The odour of chrysanthemums brings up memories that she doesn‘t like to reflect. I suppose that’s why the title is “Odour of Chrysanthemum”. Throughout the whole story we’re made aware of her dislike towards her life by how she dislikes chrysanthemums which are connected with her life. Elizabeth also considers this odour as fatal.

Readers can also observe how Elizabeth and her mother-in-law respond differently to Walter’s death. The mother responds emotionally & feels the loss in her womb & heart. Elizabeth is emotionally detached. She doesn’t feel the physical loss & therefore fails to respond emotionally by crying as the mother. But with Walter’s death she realizes that she has denied who he really was. She was grateful to death for making her realize this truth. But it’s unfortunate that this realization occurred too late. When she realizes that she has slept with a stranger all this time, she feels ashamed. But there’s nothing she can do about it now.

D.H Lawrence harshly criticizes Victorian marriages where couples got married without really knowing or understanding each other. According to D.H Lawrence physical existence without psychological understanding is a shameful act. Thus the moral message conveyed through this story is that human life must be based on profound understanding of each other’s complexities and we should always make allowances. Lawrence strictly advises us not to regimentalize a relationship.   

Source: My own ideas, Lesson notes of ENG111

Morning Clouds by Yasunari Kawabata

This short story has a very simple plot & very simple language but its author hasn’t failed to convey a very important message regarding teachers. Though the story is based on Japan, the moral message it conveys represents teachers all around the world.

This short story brings out the role of a proper teacher. Teacher is seen as a traveller who merely gives shelter but doesn’t remain in a student’s life forever. Nevertheless the moral message she leaves behind will last forever in the student’s life. The word teacher refers not to the physical body of the teacher but it’s seen as a symbolic entity of integrity & morality. Here in the story we clearly see how Miss Kikui simply guides Miyako-san towards maturity not by her words but by simply by existing. Kawabata presents this as exactly what is expected from the symbolic totality known as the teacher. To help us realize who a real teacher is Kawabata depicts the difference between the two teachers. The previous literature teacher was only good at the subject. He was not a good teacher. Though he existed in the school in the form of body, he was somewhere else in his mind. He never belonged there and finally after getting a lecturer post, went to where he belonged to an upper school. Miss Kikui was the exact definition of the word teacher and belonged to the school psychologically as well as physically. More importantly she had something to give to her students, whereas the previous teacher didn’t. He only gave them the subject knowledge & nothing more. The way how he left without the slightest remorse itself shows that he didn’t care about his students in the least bit.

The way Kawabata develops Miyako’s character is marvellous. Though one may assume Miyako’s attraction towards Miss kikui as romantic or sexual that is so not the case. The truth is Miyako loves herself too much and she sees her future self, the person she wants to be in the future in Miss Kikui.  This is mostly because of her age. Miyako is at the age where she tries to identify her gender. It is the existence of Miss Kikui that helps her realize her gender & more importantly to become mature. Miss kikui‘s beauty immensely inspires her & she wants to be as much beautiful or rather more beautiful than Miss Kikui. What we must clearly understand here is that she’s not attracted to Miss kikui but to herself. She hasn’t realized this. Miss Kikui is like a mirror which reflects the very person Miyako dreams to be in the future and this makes her attracted to her teacher. But the truth is she doesn’t love Miss kikui but herself. This is known as the narcissistic stage of sexual identity which everyone of us experience when we grow up. It doesn’t have to be as intense as with Miyako & depends on how narcissistic you are. It is wonderful how Kawabata depicts such profound reality regarding human nature in such a simple story.

What is really interesting in the story is how the teacher is well aware of her student’s feelings but not once does she become angry or scolds her. That’s because she has a clear & brilliant insight to her student’s mentality. She knows that Miyako is on her way to maturity & that she herself is the beacon which guides her path. Therefore she never disturbs her student’s development. Her silence itself educates Miyako and finally makes her a mature young woman. Though Miss Kikui leaves at the end she leaves an unforgettable lesson & experience in Miyako’s life defining what is true meeting. In this regard Miss Kikui becomes a complete teacher & Miyako a complete student.

In this story Yasunari Kawabata highlights the importance of a teacher’s moral role and the relationship between a teacher & a student. I believe the title “Morning Clouds” is very apt because real teachers are also like floating clouds.  They give temporary shelter to a student’s life from which springs up a lasting impact and like clouds they disappear from your life empty handed but having given you a lot.

Source: My own ideas, Lesson notes of ENG111

The Train from Rhodesia by Nadine Gordimer

The story deals with the aspect of dehumanization paired with post-colonial Africa. To summarize the story in short a train enters a poor village in Africa. Native vendors, who have been waiting for the train’s arrival, quickly gather along the length of the train holding wooden carvings of various animals at the passengers of the train. The passengers are of foreign nationality and belong to the nationality of their colonial masters. A young woman leans out from a window & points at the wooden carving of a lion. She loves all the tiny details burnt into the lion & admires it very much. But hearing the price as three shillings & sixpence she refuses it deciding it was too expensive.  Her husband bargains with the seller & at the last moment when the train has already begun to leave the station, manages to buy it at a shilling & sixpence. When he brings it to his wife she refuses to accept it and accuses the husband of buying it at such a cheap price.

Her act shows us how much she actually valued the statue. She didn’t buy it at the beginning because she thought it was expensive. Nevertheless she highly valued it because of why she refused to accept it when the husband offered it to her. If she accepted it, which was bought at such a low price that would mean that she ignored its real value. Therefore she rejects it though she absolutely desired it. On the other hand she would’ve been angry because of the uncaring nature of the husband. If he really loved her, he should’ve bought it in the first place without further bargaining. But he continued his bargain till the last moment & even then didn’t buy it. Only when the vendor came running after the train offering the statue at one shilling & six pence did he buy it. This shows that he really didn’t care to buy it & that buying wasn’t important to him & thereby it’s clear that he didn’t love his wife.

But more than anything she was feeling guilty for what her people have done to these poor Africans & to make things was they’ve returned, not to make things better for these people, but to ridicule them & exploit them. That is why she feels sick at heart. We can see that the wife was different from her husband & the rest of the passengers who were blind to the sufferings of these people, whom they considered as nothing more than insignificant vendors who were more importantly their conquests & therefore deserved ill treatment. But the wife saw them as significant human beings who were suffering not because of their own fault but as a result of the greed of the colonists and also whose life depended upon the hard earnings from selling wooden carvings of various animals. Therefore she thinks they deserve better treatment & should be appreciated for their creative work.

Another major aspect highlighted in the story is dehumanization. If you make someone play or suffer for your own amusement, that can be considered as evil & inhuman. It’s simply wrong. In this story the husband takes a human soul as an object of pleasure & amusement. Bargaining is okay only if you do that to a certain level and with the motive of obtaining a product at a low price because you consider the set price as too high. But here there’s no such motive. What he expects from this bargain is mere fun. It is a pathetic pervert enjoyment because of that reason. He makes the poor vendor work unnecessarily to sell his work. Rather than appreciating it he’s ridiculing it. This is why the wife feels it moralistically wrong to accept the lion. On the other hand it shows that life was merely a “game” for the rich but a constant struggle for the poor.

This story also helps us understand what a gift really is & what makes an object a “gift”. A gift is a symbol which reflects & reminds you constantly of its giver. It will represent the love, affection & care of the giver & more importantly will tell you that the giver has read you & understood you. This knowledge will always make you happy. Therefore it’s clear how a gift is so much more than its use value. If we consider all these conditions that make an object a gift we can see that the lion given to her by her husband was not a gift, but a conquest of his despicable game with the poor vendor.

With this short but marvelous short story Nadine Gordimer opens our eyes to the aspect of dehumanization in post colonial Africa & the destiny of the third world countries that have been colonized by various European nations. This pathetic political aspect of the story is one of the greatest things that make it wonderful & interesting.

Source: My own ideas, Lesson notes of ENG111

Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

This short story revolves around an old woman who we can assume is in her 50s. She doesn’t have any family or a circle of friends to keep her company. She’s well aware of the fact that she’s lonely but she tries to sooth that loneliness by going to the park every Sunday & observing other people’s lives. What she likes the best is listening to other people’s conversations. One may consider it indecent & immoral. But someone with a real insight to the human mind would consider it extremely sad. How cruel this world must be if some people are made to peep into other people’s lives simply because they are deprived of a life of their own. Miss Brill doesn’t have a family of her own & she doesn’t belong to anything or anyone. But that is exactly what she most desires. But it is remarkable how she finds comfort by merely observing other people. She loves to listen to other people’s conversations because that gives her a glimpse of what kind of life people privileged with loved ones experience. It is not really a bad thing as she’s not doing it with a wrong motive. She’s simply curious and she’s a neutral observer. And we can’t blame her for doing that. If anyone should be blamed it is modernization as is shown by Katherine Mansfield in this short story.

Miss Brill is not only deprived of company, but also communication. Communication is one of the basic needs of any human being. Depriving someone of that very thing is a psychological punishment. This poor lady is given this punishment not because of her fault, but because of modernization & its consequences. As a result of modernization people get busy. They don’t have time even to spend with their loved ones. So people are simply made to ignore others & worse to become selfish & egocentric. In the past though there were people who didn’t have any families of their own, the others took care of them & kept them company. Therefore even if people were lonely, they were never distanced from the society. In other words the society held them on a tight leash. But with industrialization this situation changed & as a result occurred pitiable situations like with Ms Brill. Thus Katherine Mansfield criticizes modernization because it isolates people, makes people selfish & ego-centric and worse, it leads to monotonous routinization.

Miss Brill is a victim of this routinization. During weekdays she taught English at school. Most probably she would have spent her evenings alone.  Then every Sunday she went to the park & listened to other people’s conversations. On the way home she bought a slice of honey-cake at the baker’s and enjoyed it at home while sipping a cup of tea. The way how she liked to be surprised by an almond in the cake shows her attempt to break this revolving nature of events. She adored that little surprise. It makes one’s heart weep. Another thing we see about Miss Brill is she exists for the others. She thoroughly believes that the old invalid gentleman to whom she read the newspaper in the garden four afternoons a week needs her. That thought comforts her and helps her to survive. She also believes that she belongs to the group of people who came to the park on Sundays. She also considers the park as a kind of family where she thinks that the others are also like her. We can see a great degree of inter-dependence here where she exists on the assumption that she is needed by the society.

But at the end comes the startling realization that she is rejected by the very society that she relied upon. She realizes this with the boy’s remark “Why does she come here at all-who wants her?”. With this remark she feels immensely humiliated and her entire imaginary world shatters. Finally she collapses not physically but psychologically which is far more dangerous than physical harm. Though one might consider it as self-awakening, it is truly traumatizing and mortifying. Up till now she lived on the false assumption that she was needed by the society. She was also aware of the fact that she was lonely. But the false knowledge that she was an essential part of the society comforted her & enabled her to survive. But this shocking new knowledge that she was rejected by the society broke her heart and stole the reason for her existence. That is why Katherine Mansfield criticizes modernization and it’s important to mention that she’s not a critic of modernity. She simply blames the negative aspects of modernization.     

Source: My own ideas, Lesson notes of ENG111

Old Man at The Bridge by Ernest Hemingway

 

This is a wonderful short story which clearly depicts the true destruction caused by war. What is marvellous about the story is it uses an old man & some animals to make us realize where the true destruction of war lies.

Normally in literary compositions regarding war, the stories  revolve around  young people. Very often it’s a young soldier corresponding with his lover or family, or a young wife mourning the loss of her lover who was a soldier, or it’s a retired soldier returning home only to find that his parents and loved ones have already died. But in this short story Ernest Hemingway has used an old man & his pets to convey the destruction caused by war in a deeper context. Use of an old man in the context of war is truly unique and universal as it may happen anywhere in the world. On the other hand this short story brings us the experience of an individual and how war has affected him. It also makes us realize that old people too have similar needs & requirements as any other & that they too are significant.

This story revolves around an old man who was forced to leave his hometown due to war. He didn’t have anyone to consider as family in the form of humans, but few pets whom he considered as his family. He was so attached to them where he gave individual attention to each one of them. His whole world centered on them and his whole existence purely depended on them. In simple terms he lived because of those animals.

But then came the war and he was asked to leave his hometown because of heavy artillery. The most difficult thing for him was leaving his animals. He was not that worried about his cat because he believed that cats could look after themselves. But he was constantly worried about the other animals. Since he was forced to leave and the other people were evacuating the city, he too had to leave the city. He walked twelve Kilometers and stopped just before the bridge which carried them to the other side of the river which was considered as the safe area. But the old man refused to cross the bridge claiming to be tired. Crossing the bridge promised a physically unharmed life . But it failed to give psychological happiness to everyone. Those who were with their families crossed because they had hope to keep their families safe and to live with them. But the old man was deprived of any hope.

He lost his hope at the very moment he left his animals. Therefore we can say that he psychologically and symbolically died at the moment he left his animals. That is because he lost his hope and his whole reason for existence. In this respect Hemingway defines life as living with your loved ones and implies that a man can be considered as living only if he carries hope. The old man constantly mentions the symbolic death when he says that he’s tired.

Thus Hemingway subtly criticizes war and makes us realize that the least destruction that war can cause is destruction of physical property. But the maximum destruction is where people lose their hope as in the situation with the old man. It also shows that even an old man can lose hope due to war.



Source: My own ideas, Lesson notes of ENG111

The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov

This short story addresses one of the greatest problems faced by human beings: that is in discovering happiness one might have to ignore his social & moral obligations & vice versa. Yet no one has so far been able to give a solution capable of satisfying both these conditions & therefore man has remained in a dilemma over the centuries.

The Protagonist of this story is a man named Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov. He’s a married man with three children at school age. He’s extremely unhappy in his marriage as a result of the lack of love between him & his wife. The wife is a staid dominating woman who tries to regiment everything & everyone. She claims herself to be intelligent & sophisticated. Gurov despises this regimental nature of his wife & is truly scared of her. This bitter experience with his wife leads him to develop a bad attitude towards women & to consider them as the lower race. Though he continually enjoys their presence in swift, fleeting affairs he has nevertheless lost respect for them & harbours a cynical perception towards them.

This is when Anna Sergeyevna is brought into the plot. Her meeting with Gurov is highly crucial as it enables both of them to find happiness & to rediscover themselves. Anna is a married young woman who considers her husband as a flunkey. Though she respects him she doesn’t love him. Thus she too, like Gurov is captured in a failed, unsuccessful & dull marriage. Both are dull & tired of their current relationships & are in vulnerable & inflammable conditions. So this meeting is highly fatalistic & they were destined to fall in love. Gurov sees in her every quality that he sought in a woman. That is innocence, immaturity, sincerity, purity & shyness. Anna was a combination of all these. Therefore she addressed to the kernel of his existence & managed to dig out his true –self. In this aspect Anton Chekhov defines the word “Meeting” as a random person being able to bring about a structural change to one’s life. If that association influenced you, helped you to identify your true-self also known as rediscovering individuality which was buried in the deepest pit inside you, if it enabled you to see the true meaning of your existence,  that is a meeting. As in the case with Gurov, it will leave a forever lasting impact on you.

This short story also explains the reason why the world becomes a beautiful place to some people  and a boring,  dull place for others. When you’re in love you have the knowledge that another person cares about you and you mean the world to them. That focuses your existence towards that person & the happenings of the world are of secondary importance. Therefore whatever happens in the world, since you’re happy, your perception towards the world is also positive. As a result of this you see the world as a beautiful place. So it comes to show that it’s not the world that is ugly or beautiful, but your internal beauty & happiness that decide the world is beautiful or not.

In the short story Chekhov also tries to address the moral dilemma faced by all human beings in the past, present & future. That is where one has to choose between moral & social obligations and his happiness. In this story both Gurov & Anna are married & therefore are restricted by the society as well as their own consciousness, sense of ethics to maintain an affair between them. But that affair is the only thing that matters to both of them in the whole. It was that affair which made them realize & rediscover their real self and helped them grasp the true meaning of life. If they gave up their relationship which made both of them happy & content they would satisfy the society but doom their own lives.  Therefore Chekhov tries to convey a message as not to institutionalize yourself unless you’re absolutely sure that you simply love your partner. In this sense Chekhov also criticizes the modern practice of building families without the essential essence of love. Though he addresses this dilemma Chekhov places love in a very high pedestal. At the end though they both know it’s anti-moralistic, and anti-cultural, they both decide to continue their relationship for their own sake. This shows that Ckekhov disagrees with the old perception of placing man’s moral obligation on top of his discovery of love.  

  

Source: My own ideas, Lesson notes of ENG111