Why I am not a Feminist (Shashi Deshpande)

 About the Author:

Shashi Deshpande is an award winning Indian Novelist. She is the second daughter of famous Kannada dramatist and writer Shriranga. She was born in 1938 Karnataka and educated in Mumbai and Bengaluru. She published her first collection, of short stories in 1978, and her first novel, “The Dark Holds No Terrors”  in 1980. She is a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, for the novel “ That Long Silence”.  Her novels reveal the man-made patriarchal traditions and uneasiness of the modern Indian woman in being a part of them. Shashi Deshpande uses this point of view of present social reality as at is experienced by women. As she said in one of the interviews, she is not a feminist but has brought out the women’s position in the Indian context.

Feminism: Feminism is an expression of resentment at the unjust treatment meted out to any woman. In literature, it refers to any mode that approaches a text with foremost concern for the nature of female experience. The inequalities against which the feminist have raised their voice of protest-legal, economics and social restriction on the basic rights of woman can be traced throughout history. The term 'feminism' has its origin from the Latin word lemina' meaning 'woman' (through French leminisme'). It refers to the advocacy of women's rights, status and power at par with men on the grounds of 'equality of sexes'. In other words, it relates to the belief that women should have the same social, economic and political rights as men.

Feminism in Indian Context:

The feminist prospects and the feminist movements in the west have had some influence on the women’s movements in developing countries like India. Unlike the western feminist movements, India’s movement was initiated by men and later joined by women. The efforts of this men included abolishing sati, abolishing the disfiguring of widows, banning the marriage of upper caste Hindu widows, the custom of child marriage, promoting women’s education, obtaining legal rights for women to own property and regulating the law to acknowledge women’s status by granting their basis rights.

Shashi Deshpande's Views on Feminism:

As an author of the '70s and 80s', Deshpande mirrors a realistic picture of the contemporary middle-class, educated, urban Indian woman. Her novels portray the miserable plight of the contemporary middle-class, urban Indian woman and also analyze how their lot has not changed much even in the twentieth century. She has made bold attempts at giving a voice to the disappointments and frustrations of women despite her vehement denial of being a feminist. A look at her novels reveals her treatment of major women characters to show how they are related to women's problems.

Shashi Deshpande has exposed the gross gender discrimination and its fall-out in a male dominated society in her first novel “Roots and Shadows”. “The Dark Holds No Terrors”, her second novel, is about the traumatic experience the protagonist Saru undergoes as her husband refuses to play a second-fiddle role. In this novel, Deshpande also discusses the blatant gender discrimination shown by parents towards their daughters and their desire to have a male child.

“That Long Silence”, the third novel, is about Jaya who, despite having played the role of a wife and mother to perfection, finds herself lonely and estranged. Jaya realizes that she has been unjust to herself and her career as a writer. Her fear even discourages her from acknowledging her friendship with another man.

These three novels belong to her early phase and portray a mild form of feminism. “The Binding Vine”, her fourth novel, deals with the personal tragedy of the protagonist Urmi to focus attention on the victims like Kalpana. Urmi narrates the pathetic tale of Mira, her mother-in-law, who is a victim of marital rape.

“Small Remedies” is about Savitribai Indorekar, an ageing Hindustani music, who avoids marriage and a home to pursue her musical genius. She has led the most unconventional of lives, and undergoes great mental trauma due to the opposition by a society that practices double standards — one for men and the other for women.

Unlike the early feminist authors who chose to portray the subjugation of women in ordinary life, Shashi Deshpande moved a step further and made educated women as the subject of her writing and voiced the inner agony of such women who have to depend on their male counterparts for the choices and decisions of their life.

I Am Not a Feminist:

“I am not a feminist, i am a human being and i write about other human beings who happen to be women," Deshpande said on sunday to attend a public meeting on `Gender and Censorship', organised by Asmita - the organizer of Resource Centre for Women. In an interview with the Times of India, Deshpande spoke about her works, issues concerning women and various other subjects. Most of her characters are true to life and deal with problems most women would not want to talk about - rape in marriages, lust and breaking free from traditions and stereotypes. In fact the subject matters spoken by Deshpande’s women were not spoken by women even the educated and privileged women thirty years ago. But today more and more women are talking about such issues freely. It is difficult for women to break away from stereotypes, more so in the lower strata of society. She said, "When women have money, it definitely becomes easier, money makes things work easily”.  The sensitivity towards women, their problems and issues are changing. "It is a slow change, but there has definitely been a change," she said. The change is percolating from the urban society to the rural society. “A woman has to do twice as much to prove herself half as good as a man”, Deshpande said. When asked if books help in changing mindsets, she said, "books do not have an immediate influence and change conditions like lightning which burns things in a flash, but they do work as catalysts.". "The writing on women's issues has changed perceptions, brought issues to the forefront," she has added. Perhaps, her work has helped break the silence on a number of issues, which were once a taboo to talk about.

Conclusion:

Shashi Deshpande’s novel deals with the theme of the quest for a female identity. Deshpande’s feminism is certainly not cynical or nihilistic. She analyses the universal significance of the woman’s problem, thereby transcending the feminist perspective. She believes that feminism is “…. very much an individual working out her problem.” The woman’s increasing involvement rather than detachment in her predicament as expressed in her novels reveals the positive, humanistic side of Deshpande’s feminism. Hence it can be concluded that ‘Deshpande is not a feminist, but a woman who spoke on women’s problems and their importance in family and society.’ 

Language of Social Variation

 Introduction: When we study language and regional variation, we focused on variation in language use found in different geographical areas. However, not everyone in a single geographical area speaks in the same way in every situation. We recognize that certain uses of language are more likely to be used by some individuals in society and not by others. We are also aware of the fact that people who live in the same region, but who differ in terms of education and economic status, often speak in quite different ways. Indeed, these differences may be used, implicitly or explicitly, as indications of membership in different social groups or speech communities.

Speech Community: It is a group of people who share a set of norms and expectations regarding the use of language. The study of the linguistic features that have social relevance for participants in those speech communities is called ‘sociolinguistics.

Sociolinguistics: The term sociolinguistics is used generally for the study of the relationship between language and society. This is a broad area of investigation that developed through the interaction of linguistics with a number of other academic disciplines.  It has strong connections with anthropology through the study of language and culture. With sociology the investigation of the role of language plays in the organization of social groups and institutions is carried out. With social psychology, particularly with regard to how attitudes and perceptions are expressed and how in-group and out-group behaviors are identified. We use all these connections when we try to analyze language from a social perspective.

Social Dialects: Whereas the traditional study of regional dialects tended to concentrate on the speech of people in rural areas, the study of social dialects has been mainly concerned with speakers in towns and cities. In the social study of dialect, it is social class that is mainly used to define groups of speakers as having something in common.  For Example: ‘Working-class speech’ The terms ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ are used to further subdivide the groups.

Education and Occupation:  A personal dialect is idiolect: an individual way of speaking. However, we generally tend to sound like others with whom we share similar educational backgrounds and/or occupations. Among those who leave the educational system at an early age, there is a general pattern of using certain forms that are relatively infrequent in the speech of those who go on to complete college. Those who spend more time in the educational system tend to have more features in their spoken language that derive from a lot of time spent with the written language. The observation that some teacher “talk like a book” is possibly a reflection of an extreme form of this influence from the written language after years in the educational system. As adults, the outcome of our time in the educational system is usually reflected in our occupation and socio-economic status. The way bank executives, as opposed to window cleaners, talk to each other usually provides linguistic evidence for the significance of these social variables.

In one of the earliest studies in sociolinguistics, Labov (1966) combined elements from place of occupation and socio-economic status by looking at pronunciation differences among salespeople in three New York City department stores. Labov went into each of these stores and asked salespeople specific questions, such as where are the women’s shoes, in order to elicit answers with the expression fourth floor.  The higher the socio-economic status of the store, the more /r/ sounds in “fourth” were produced, and the lower the status, the fewer /r/ sounds were produced by those who worked there. So, the frequency of occurrence of this linguistic variable (r) could mark the speech samples as upper middle class versus middle class versus working class.

Social Markers:  The use of this particular speech sound functions as a social marker. For Example: The significance of the linguistic variable (r) in Labov’s study

 Speech Style and Style-shifting: In his department store study, Labov included another subtle element that allowed him to investigate not only the type of social stratification, but also speech style as a social feature of language use. The most basic distinction in speech style is between formal uses and informal uses. Formal style is when we pay more careful attention to how we’re speaking and informal style is when we pay less attention. They are sometimes described as ‘careful style’ and ‘casual style’. Change from one to the other by an individual is called style-shifting. When Labov initially asked the salespeople where certain items were, he assumed they were answering in an informal manner. After they answered his question, Labov then pretended not to have heard and said, “Excuse me?” in order to elicit a repetition of the same expression, which was pronounced with more attention to being clear. This was taken as a representative sample of the speaker’s more careful style. In a finding, that has been confirmed in other studies, middle-class speakers are much more likely to shift their style of speaking significantly in the direction of the upper middle class when they are using a careful style.

Prestige: In discussing style-shifting, we introduced the idea of a ‘prestige’ form as a way of explaining the direction in which certain individuals change their speech.

1.     Overt prestige: It is when the change is in the direction of a form that is more frequent in the speech of those perceived to have higher social status, or status that is generally recognized as ‘better’ or more positively valued in the larger community.

2.     Covert prestige: Not changing the speech style from casual to careful as radically as lower-middle-class speakers. It is may be that because they value the features that mark them as members of their social group and consequently avoid changing them in the direction of features associated with another social group. They may value group solidarity more than upward mobility. For Example: Among younger speakers in the middle class, there is often covert prestige attached to many features of pronunciation and grammar (I ain’t doin’ nuttin’ rather than I’m not doing anything) that are more often associated with the speech of lower-status groups.

Speech Accommodation: Our speech style is not only a function of speakers’ social class and attention to speech, but it is also influenced by their perception of their listeners. Hence, speech accommodation is defined as our ability to modify our speech style toward or away from the perceived style of the person(s) we’re talking to. We can adopt a speech style that attempts to reduce social distance, described as convergence, and use forms that are similar to those used by the person we’re talking to.  In contrast, when a speech style is used to emphasize social distance between speakers, the process is called divergence. We can make our speech style diverge from another’s by using forms that are distinctly different.

Register: It is a conventional way of using language that is appropriate in a specific context, which may be identified as:  Situational (e.g. in church), Occupational (e.g. among lawyers), Topical (e.g. talking about language).

Jargon: One of the defining features of a register is the use of jargon, which is special technical vocabulary (e.g. suffix) associated with a specific area of work or interest.  In social terms, jargon helps to create and maintain connections among those who see themselves as ‘insiders’ in some way and to exclude ‘outsiders’.  Whereas jargon is specialized vocabulary used by those inside established social groups, often defined by professional status (e.g. legal jargon).

Slang: It is more typically used among those who are outside established higher-status groups. Slang, or ‘colloquial speech’, describes words or phrases that are used instead of more everyday terms among younger speakers and other groups with special interests. For Example: The word bucks (for dollars or money) has been a slang expression for more than a hundred years, but the addition of mega- (‘a lot of’) in megabucks is a more recent innovation. Like clothing and music, slang is an aspect of social life that is subject to fashion, especially among adolescents.  It can be used by those inside a group who share ideas and attitudes as a way of distinguishing themselves from others.  As a marker of group identity during a limited stage of life such as early adolescence, slang expressions can ‘grow old’ rather quickly.  For Example:  Older forms for ‘really good’ such as groovy, hip and super were replaced by awesome. Age: The difference in slang use between groups divided into older and younger speakers shows that age is another important factor involved in social variation.

Vernacular Language: It is a general expression for a kind of social dialect, typically spoken by a lower status group, which is treated as ‘nonstandard’ because of marked differences from a socially prestigious variety treated as the standard language. For Example: African American Vernacular English (AAVE).  For Example: The double negative construction, as in He don’t know nothin or I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. 

Language of Regional Variation

 Introduction: Every language has a lot of variation, especially in the way it is spoken.  If we just look at English, we find widespread variation in the way it is spoken in different countries such as Australia, Britain and the USA. We can also find a range of varieties in different parts of those countries.

Standard Language: It is the variety associated with administrative, commercial and educational centres, regardless of region. If we think of Standard English, it is the version we believe is found in printed English in newspapers and books, is widely used in the mass media and is taught in most schools. It is the variety we normally try to teach to those who want to learn English as a second or foreign language. It is clearly associated with education and broadcasting in public contexts and is more easily described in terms of the written language. Even in Standard English, there are American Standard English, British Standard English, Australian Standard English and Canadian Standard English and so on.

Accent and Dialect:  Every language-user speaks with an accent.  The description of aspects of pronunciation that identify where an individual speaker is regionally or socially from. Dialect is used to describe features of grammar and vocabulary as well as aspects of pronunciation.

Dialectology: Dialectology means the study of dialects. Each dialect is simply different and none of them is better than any other.  Some varieties do become more prestigious. The variety that develops as the standard language has usually been one socially prestigious dialect, originally connected with a political or cultural centre (e.g. London for British English and Paris for French). Yet, there always continue to be other varieties of a language spoken in different regions.

Regional Dialects: The existence of different regional dialects is widely recognized. Going beyond stereotypes, those involved in the serious investigation of regional dialects have devoted a lot of survey research to the identification of consistent features of speech found in one geographical area compared to another.

Isoglosses and Dialect Boundaries: Isogloss is a line that represents a boundary between areas with regard to that one particular linguistic item. For example: that the vast majority of informants in one area say they carry things home from the store in a paper bag while the majority in another area say they use a paper sack, then it is usually possible to draw a line across a map separating the two areas, as shown on the accompanying illustration. If a very similar distribution is found for another two items, such as a preference for pail to the north and bucket to the south, then another isogloss, probably overlapping the first, can be drawn on the map. When a number of isoglosses come together in this way, a more solid line, indicating a dialect boundary, can be drawn.

Dialect Continuum: Dialect continuum means one dialect or language variety merges into another.  We can view regional variation as existing along a rather than as having sharp breaks from one region to the next.  For Example: As you travel from Holland into Germany, you will find concentrations of Dutch speakers giving way to areas near the border where ‘Dutch’ may sound more like ‘Deutsch’ because the Dutch dialects and the German dialects are less clearly differentiated. Then, as you travel into Germany, greater concentrations of distinctly German speakers occur.

Bidialectal: It means speaking two dialects. Speakers who move back and forth across this border area, using different varieties with some ease. Most of us grow up with some form of bidialectalism, speaking one dialect ‘in the street’ among family and friends, and having to learn another dialect ‘in school’

Bilingualism: When we talk about people knowing two distinct languages, we describe them as bilingual. In many countries, regional variation can involve two (or more) quite distinct and different languages. For example: Canada is an officially bilingual country, with both French and English as official languages. Individual bilingualism, however,can simply be the result of having two parents who speak different languages. However, even in this type of bilingualism, one language tends eventually to become the dominant one, with the other in a subordinate role.

Diglossia: It means two distinct varieties of a language exists in some countries. In diglossia, there is a ‘low’ variety, acquired locally and used for everyday affairs, and a ‘high’ or special variety, learned in school and used for important matters.  For Example:  A type of diglossia exists in Arabic speaking countries where the high variety (Classical Arabic) is used in formal lectures, serious political events and especially in religious discussions. The low variety is the local version of the language, such as Egyptian Arabic or Lebanese Arabic. The low variety is called ‘vernacular.’

Language Planning:  Government, legal and educational organizations in many countries have to plan which variety or varieties of the languages spoken in the country are to be used for official business. For Example: ! In Israel, despite the fact that it was not the most widely used language among the population, Hebrew was chosen as the official government language.  In India, the choice was Hindi. There were ‘National Language Wars’ in the Philippines before different groups could agree on the name of the national language (Filipino).

The Process of Developing a National Language:

1.     Selection: The process of ‘selection’ (choosing an official language)

2.     Codification: ‘Codification’, in which basic grammars, dictionaries and written models are used to establish the standard variety.

3.     Elaboration: ‘Elaboration’ with the standard variety being developed for use in all aspects of social life, and the appearance of a body of literary work written in the standard form.

4.     Implementation: ‘Implementation’ is largely a matter of government attempts to encourage use of the standard language.

5.     Acceptance: ‘Acceptance’ is the final stage when a substantial majority of the population has come to use the standard one and to think of it as the national language, playing a part in not only social, but also national identity.

Pidgin:  A pidgin is a variety of a language (e.g. English) that developed for some practical purpose, such as trading, among groups of people who had a lot of contact, but who did not know each other’s languages. The origin of the term ‘pidgin’ is thought to be from a Chinese version of the English word ‘business.’ For example, in Papua New Guinea, a lot of official business is conducted in Tok Pisin. There are believed to be between six and twelve million people still using pidgin languages and between ten and seventeen million using descendants from pidgins called ‘creoles’.

Creole: When a pidgin develops beyond its role as a trade or contact language and becomes the first language of a social community, it is described as a creole. A creole develops as the first language of the children of pidgin speakers. Thus, unlike pidgins, creoles have large numbers of native speakers and are not restricted at all in their uses. Tok Pisin is now a creole.  For Example Hawai’i Creole English. A French creole is spoken by the majority of the population in Haiti. English creoles are used in Jamaica and Sierra Leone.

Life in South Africa (Gandhi) Simple Essay

 Introduction; 

Before leading the Indian freedom movement, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi used to live in South Africa to fight against injustice and class division. Within 10 years, Gandhi propagated the philosophy of Satyagraha there and propelled the country towards a no class or ethnic discrimination society. Gandhi arrived in Durban aboard SS Safari in 1893. In no time, Gandhi became the leader of the South African Indian community. His involvement in the non-violent movement in South Africa had made such an impact that even now, he is looked up to as a leader there. From 1893 to 1914, Gandhi worked as an attorney and a public worker. In a meeting in New Delhi, Gandhi said he was born in India but was made in South Africa. So, what are all the things he did there that created such huge impact?

Here is a list of 10 things what Gandhi did in South Africa:

1. While he was travelling by train to Pretoria, Gandhi, despite carrying first class ticket, was thrown out of the train by the authorities because a white man complained of an Indian sharing the space with him.

2. As a response, Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in 1894. This organisation led non-violent protests against the oppressive treatment of the white people towards the native Africans and Indians.

3. In 1896, he came to India for a short time and gathered 800 Indians to serve along with him in South Africa. They were welcomed by an irate mob and Gandhi was injured in the attack.

4. During the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Gandhi gathered around 1,100 Indians and organised the Indian Ambulance Corps for the British but the ethnic discrimination and torture continued on Indians.

5. English artist John Ruskin's book Unto This Last inspired Gandhi and he set up Phoenix Farm near Durban. Here, Gandhi would train his cadres on non-violent Satyagraha or peaceful restraint. Phoenix Farm is considered as the birthplace of Satyagraha. However, it was at the Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi's second camp in South Africa, where Satyagraha was molded into a weapon of protest.

6. In September 1906, Gandhi organised the first Satyagraha campaign to protest against the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance that was constituted against the local Indians. Again in June 1907, he held Satyagraha against the Black Act.

7. In 1908, he was sentenced to jail for organising the non-violent movements. But, after his meeting with General Smuts, a British Commonwealth statesman, he was released. However, he was later attacked for this and was again sentenced to jail against which he organised Satyagraha again.

8. In 1909, he was sentenced to a three-month jail term in Volkshurst and Pretoria. After his release, Gandhi went to England to seek the assistance of the Indian community there.

9. He also fought against the nullification of non-Christian marriages in 1913.

Life in South Africa ( Gandhi)

 Introduction: The best part of my life' is how Gandhi described his days in South Africa twenty-five years after he had left it. It was certainly the most formative period of his career. His personality and politics could have been cast in a unique mould with the trials, challenges and opportunities that he encountered in South Africa. This helped him to become one of the most charismatic and creative leaders of the twentieth century.

Journey to South Africa: Curiously, it was an accident that provided the impulse for Gandhi's visit to South Africa in 1893. After his return from England  qualifed as a barrister, he started his legal career in Bombay. But it was not a successful one and so he decided to settle at Rajkot, Gujarat. It was at this time, that Dada Abdullah, an Indian merchant in Natal, offered to engage him for a civil suit in that country. The contract was for a year; the remuneration was £105, a first class return fare, and actual expenses. So, towards the end of May 1893 he landed at Durban. In a Durban court he was ordered by the European magistrate to take off his turban. He refused and left the courtroom. A week later, when he was on his way to Pretoria, he was unceremoniously thrown out of the first-class carriage at Maritzburg station. In retrospect, this incident seemed to him one of the most creative experiences of his life. He resolved not to accept injustice as part of the natural or unnatural order in South Africa.

Gandhi as a Political Campaigner: While in Pretoria he studied the conditions under which his countrymen lived, and tried to educate them on their rights and duties, but he had no intention of staying on in South Africa. In June 1894, when the year's contract drew to a close, he was back in Durban, ready to sail for India. But he happened to glance through the local newspaper The Natal Mercury and learnt that the Natal Legislative Assembly was considering a bill to deprive Indians of the right to vote. ‘This is the first nail in our coffin’ Gandhi told his hosts. Neither as a student in England nor as a lawyer in India had Gandhi taken much interest in politics. In July 1894, when he was barely twenty-five, he blossomed overnight into a proficient political campaigner.

Gandhi as a Politician: A sound instinct guided young Gandhi in organizing his first political campaign. He drafted petitions to the Natal Legislature and the British government. Though his effort was not a successful one, but he made commotion in Natal, England, and India. So, the Indian community begged him to stay on to continue the fight on their behalf. Gandhi felt that what the Indian urgently needed was a permanent organization to look after their interests. In deference to Dadabhai Naoroji who had presided over the Indian National Congress in 1893, he named the new organization Natal Indian Congress. Without knowing the function of Indian National Congress, Gandhi was able to fashion the Natal Indians with his innovative ideologies. 1. His strategy was twofold. In the first place, a spirit of solidarity had to be infused into the Muslim merchants and their Hindu-Parsi clerks, the semi-slave indentured labourers from Madras and the Natal born Indian Christians. 2. Secondly, the widest publicity was to be given to the Indians' case to quicken the conscience of the peoples and governments of Natal, India and Great Britain.

In these early years of his political apprenticeship, he formulated his own code of conduct for a politician. He did not accept the popular view that in politics one must fight for one's party right or wrong. He avoided exaggeration and discouraged it in his colleagues. He did not spare his own people, he was not only the stoutest champion of Natal Indians, but also their severest critic.

Gandhi’s Political Ideology: In 1896 Gandhi went to India to fetch his wife and children and to canvass support for the cause of Indians overseas. On landing at Durban in January 1897, he was assaulted and nearly lynched by a white mob. Two years later, he raised an Indian ambulance corps during the Boer War.  'What we [Indians] want', Gandhi told the British High Commissioner in South Africa, 'is not political power, but we do wish to live side with other British subjects in peace and amity, and with dignity and self-respect’. This is precisely what the Boers and Britons did not want. Instead of considering the welfare of Africans and Indians, General Smuts later declared that the South African government had made up its mind to make this a white man's country.

Satyagraha: In 1906 the Transvaal government published a particularly humiliating ordinance for the registration of its Indian citizens. The Indians held a mass protest meeting at Johannesburg, and under Gandhi's leadership took a pledge to defy the ordinance. Thus, was born ‘satyagraha’, a new method of redressing wrongs and fighting oppression without hatred and without violence. The principles and the technique of the new movement evolved gradually in the ensuing months and years.

The satyagraha struggle in South Africa lasted eight years. It had its ups and downs, but under Gandhi's leadership the small Indian minority sustained its resistance against heavy odds. Hundreds of Indians chose to sacrifice their livelihood and liberty rather than submit to law. In the last phase of the struggle in 1913, hundreds of Indians including women, went to jail. Many Indians working in mines were shooted. It was a terrible ordeal for the Indians, but it was also a bad advertisement for the rulers of South Africa. Even Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy of India, publicly condemned the measures adopted by the South African government, by calling it uncivilized. Under pressure from world opinion and from the Government of India and the British government, the South African government concluded in 1914 what came to be known as the Gandhi-Smuts agreement. Not all the Indian grievances were redressed, but the first dent had been made in the armour of racial discrimination, and Gandhi was able to return to India. Perhaps he had already sensed that the racial problem in South Africa could not be solved so long as European imperialism-rule over Asian and African peoples by European nations- continued.

Gandhi’s Personality: It was not only Gandhi's politics but his personality that was shaped in South Africa. His interest in moral and religious questions had dated back to his childhood, but it was in South Africa that he had an opportunity of systematically studying them. The study of comparative religion, helped him develop into a man who understands that the real spiritual progress is to translated his beliefs in workday life. The book that became Gandhi's bond with Hinduism was the Bhagavad Gita. It was from it that he imbibed the ideal of aparigraha (non-possession).  

Conclusion: Thus, Gandhiji, an ordinary lawyer, turned into a political leader in South Africa. His ideologies against racial discrimination and injustice put him on the high pedestal of world’s politics. Through his political career, Gandhi had also developed his personality – a simple man with indomitable spirit. The birth of non-cooperation or ‘satyagraha’ is the soul of Gandhi’s political policy which earned equality and freedom not only to the Indians in South Africa but also Indians in India.

If (Rudyard Kipling)

 Introduction: The poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling is a bundle of suggestions from a father (poet) to his son. In the poem, the poet expounds the virtues of stoicism and gentleman behaviour. In it, Kipling tells his son how to cope with different situations in the life ahead. The poem is divided into four stanzas having eight lines each. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ‘abab.’

Discussion:

The poet tells his son that he should keep calm and patient when others fail and put the blames on him. He should trust himself when all others doubt him. However, he should also make a room for their doubts to creep in and try to understand what made them doubt him. Then, the poet says that one should wait patiently for achieving success and should never be tired by waiting because success comes to those who work hard and remain patient. Next, the poet informs his son that other people will often tell him lies. However, he should never lie in his life and always remain truthful. He also advises his son not to hate others even though they hate him. Instead, he has to spread love.

The poet at the same time teaches the existential strategy of life by advising his son neither to look too good, nor talk too wise He thinks that if the son acts upon all the advises given by the poet, certainly his son will look too good and wise among the common. The poet says that he should dream big but he should not make the dreams to rule him like his master. Similarly, he should think about his good future but never make thoughts his ‘aim’ because in order to succeed in life one has to work hard. Mere dreaming and thinking will never lead one to the path of success. Hence one should dream of goals and think of a better future and at the same time should work hard to achieve them.

The poet says that one should treat both “triumph and disaster” in the same vein because both are “impostors” or fake, and they are not long-lasting. The poet also says that if the son takes triumph as his destiny, he will face fall or if he takes disaster as his fate, he will perish. The poet advises that one should speak only the truth and should also have the courage to face it when it is misused by others. One should also have the courage to see the things built by him even in his broken condition and try to rebuild them with worn-out tools i.e. with the energy or skills that he has.

The poet says that one should make one heap of all the achievements that he has made and then he should take big risks. If one fails after taking big risks, he should start again from the beginning without thinking or saying anything about the loss to others. One should try again and again until succeeded. The poet says that one should use his “heart, nerve and sinew” i.e. courage when he becomes tired to be succeeded. When nothing is left in life, one should have strong “Will” power which may encourage him to “Hold on” his life on this earth.

The poet also advises that one must keep his common virtue intact if he happens to be with king or common people. He should never take pride or ego if he is either rich or poor.  Next, the poet warns his son saying that he should allow neither his friends nor enemies to hurt him, because both of them do not have any principles or ideals to hold on. He must understand that people often remain dependent on him but he should never allow them to remain completely dependent on him.

The poet says that one should never give others too much importance or else he will get emotionally attached to them which in turn will hurt him in the future. Next, the poet talks about the importance of time. According to him, time is precious and will never come back. Hence one should utilize every second of life, usefully. Finally the poet tells his son if he acts upon all the advice he has given above, he will be able to achieve whatever he likes and he will be a “Man”, a human being.

Conclusion:

Thus, Rudyard Kipling in “If” by giving advices enlightens his son. This has certainly become a valuable philosophy of life for man need to adapt. If man adheres to the above advices given by the poet to his son, as hoped by the poet not only his son but also the people who follow his advices will turn into “Men”  

Essay on Dramatic Poesy (Dryden) - Text

 SALIENT FEATURES OF DRYDEN’S CRITICAL FACULTY

Dr. Johnson calls Dryden “the father of English Criticism”. His poetic talents did not prevent him from critically assessing the worth of real poetry. The essay that we have taken up for critical analysis is the only major work of literary criticism that Dryden wrote. His prefaces, epistles dedicatory etc. contain some critical material, no doubt, but they have been written for justifying some of his own standpoints. They cannot be considered objectively critical works. Dryden established English norms for proper criticism. Rules and regulations should be taken as general guides and not as strict disciplinarians. In his plays his aim was to delight the audience who flocked to the theatre for a full night’s entertainment. He fully appreciated and made full use of the variety in his patrons at the theatre to introduce an immense variety in his plays. Discarding arbitrary rules and regulations, he could make his plays truer to life and nature. He is one of the  champions of liberal classicism. His limitations. There are many limitations and shortcomings in the art of literary criticism as Dryden developed. He did not deal with ultimate problems of literature. He indulged in lengthy discussions on specific matters of technique and method such as comparative merits of rhyming and blank verse. He took up several points for discussion but not in a systematically developed manner.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS OF THE ESSAY

      “The Essay of Dramatic Poesy” had the Horatian motto prominently displayed on the title page. This motto announces in unmistakable terms what the general public can and should expect. Practical issues along with theoretical ones should be pondered over and so Dryden’s aim was to stimulate thought about them. He also proposed criteria for judging plays as well for writing them because the readers of the Essay at that time were expected to be his audience at the theatre. Dryden did accomplish his aim in ways that entertained and convinced those readers.

 

      The main theme. Five points of discussion emerge from the Essay (a) What are the distinct merits of the ancient and modem poets? (b) Can the French School of Drama be called superior to that of the English? (c) Can the Elizabethan dramatists be considered superior to Dryden’s contemporaries of the seventeenth century? (d) Do plays acquire more literary worth by strictly adhering to the rules laid down by the ancient writers and critics? (e) What are the comparative merits of rhyming verse and blank verse?

      The form of the Essay. Dryden has introduced four persons engaged in a dialogue for the discussion of the topic mentioned above. The four persons are (1) Crites who defend the ancients. It is evident that Dryden meant his own brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard. (2) Eugenius: This is Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst to whom Dryden dedicated his essay. He is the spokesman for the moderns. (3) Lisideius: He stands for Sir Charles Sedley. He defends the French Drama and is inclined to believe in the superiority of the French over the English. (4) Neander: This is Dryden himself. He advocates the superiority of the English over the French and the modems over the ancients. No one person states the whole truth. Every speaker makes his own contribution to the discussion. The give and take of views are freely indulged in and the readers are expected to draw their own conclusions.

SYNOPSIS OF THE MAIN ARGUMENTS OF ‘ESSAY OF DRAMATIC POESY’

Introduction. Dryden’s Essay of Dramatic Poesy is concerned with some of the major controversies of the day. The main themes or critical issues discussed by Dryden in the Essay are: (i) the comparative worth of the ancients and the modems, (ii) the relative merits of the contemporary French and English Schools of Drama, (iii) whether the Elizabethan dramatists were in all respects superior to the dramatists of Dryden’s age, (iv) the extent to which the worth of a play depends upon its conformity to the dramatic rules laid down by the ancients, and (v) the comparative merits and demerits of blank verse and rhyme in serious plays. These issues are discussed in the form of a debate among four speakers who, while they may stand for real individuals of the poet's time, are more important for the ideas they represent.

 

Crites: spokesman for the ancients. Crites undertakes to present the case for the ancients, (i) Dramatic art was indigenous to ancient Greece and the drama there had gained an early maturity, (ii) Dramatists were highly esteemed in ancient Greece and thus encouraged to excel at their work. In the modem age lacking deserved encouragement and healthy competition, the dramatists were not interested in doing well. (iii) The ancients emulated nature, the distortion of which aspect led to the decline of drama in the present, (iv) Men of the present looked mainly to the ancients for their rules of the drama. The ancients observed the Unities well. They saw to it that a play’s action fell as nearly as possible within twenty-four hours, the natural duration of the day, and was equally divided between the Acts. The Unity of time, however, was not followed by the modern English dramatists. Nor did they follow the Unity of place as practiced by the ancients. The French observed this unity of representing the same scene throughout a play. The Unity of Action implies that there should be only one great and complete action. These Unities are violated by the modem dramatists who thus render their plays unnatural and improbable, (v) The ancients had possessed the power of expression in a superlative degree. Crites thus argues that the ancients are superior to the moderns.

 Eugenius presents the case for the moderns. Eugenius replies to the arguments of Crites, (i) The modern dramatists had actually improved on the work of the ancients though it was always difficult to assess fairly the value of contemporary writings, (ii) The ancients too had defects. The division of the play into protasis, epitasis, etc. was ineffective. Their tragic plots were mostly based on hackneyed tales of Thebes and Troy, while in comedy characters were limited to certain stock types, (iii) The Unities were not always observed by the ancients. At times the strict observance of the Unities of time and place led them into absurdities. In any case, apart from the Unity of action those rules were not Aristotelian but French in origin. (iv) Other defects in technique include excess of speech at the cost of action leading to monotony, many instances of faulty diction and metaphors. The ancients having had writers exclusively devoted to either tragedy or comedy, should have achieved perfection in each field, and there is no justification for their defects. (v) Apart from technical defects the ancients also exhibited a faulty moral attitude. Instead of ‘punishing vice and rewarding virtue’ they often displayed “a prosperous vice and an unhappy piety’’ Their themes of lust, revenge and ambition gave rise to horror rather than pity in an audience. Love, with its moderating influences, is conspicuous by its absence in ancient tragedy.

 Crites’s concession. The discussion is brought to a close by Crites’s concession that whether the moderns surpassed, or merely differed from the ancients, yet the ancients had they lived in later times would doubtless have made many changes. The change in ideas and values accounts for much of the difference between the ancients and modems.

The debate now takes a new turn, and Lisideiqs and Neander enter on a discussion of the respective merits of French and English plays

 

Lisideius: Contention of French superiority over English drama. To begin with Lisideius grants that English plays of forty years previously had clearly surpassed those of the French. However, political turmoil at home had since hampered the progress. (i) The French, aided by Richelieu and Corneille, had lately reformed their stage so that it had become unrivaled in Europe, (ii) The superiority of the French dramatists firstly lay in their observance of the three Unities. They had discarded the absurd tragi-comedies with their mingled passions and yet provided variety in plenty, (iii) The French based their plots on familiar history but modified and transformed for dramatic purposes, whereas Shakespeare’s historical plays were nothing but chronicles, cramping years into hours in an unnatural fashion, (iv) Another notable feature of the dramatic art of the French was their economy in plotting, their selection of significant details, which, while constituting a great and complete action, yet allowed for a more searching treatment of emotions and passions, (v) The French method of characterization too was effective as it gave due importance to characters even while exalting one of them. Each character had a suitable role to play. (vi) No less notable was their skill in narrative though too much explanation could become tedious. On the other hand, there were many incidents in a story which could not well be represented on the stage, such as duels, battles and scenes of cruelty and these were best related, not acted. Such narratives could be both impressive and convincing, whereas to represent an “Army with a drum and five men behind it” was merely ridiculous, while a death-scene in an English tragedy was often the most comic part of the play, (vii) Other commendable points about French drama were a logical development of the plot, and the use of rhyme in preference to blank verse.

Neander (or Dryden) spokesman for England and liberty. Neander now takes up the challenge and with the skill of a great advocate strikes at the heart of the question. He grants the French some plus points but vindicates the English at the same time. (i) The French drama had regularity and decorum, while the English plays had many irregularities but these virtues and defects were not enough to place the French above the English, (ii) The beauties of the French plays were artificial, lacking touch with actual life, hence defective if considered with the laws of Nature as the ultimate test. Moliere, notably, followed the English tradition for variety of humor.  (iii) Neander disapproved of the rigid separation of tragic and comic elements in French plays. He preferred the English characteristic of mingling the serious and the mirthful as (a) contraries set off each other, (b) the juxtaposition of a comic scene amidst continued gravity provided relief, (c) compassion and mirth are coexistent in nature also, and (d) tragic-comedy is a more pleasant way than was known to the ancients or any modems who have eschewed it.  (iv) Neander could not admire the barrenness and severity of French plays in excluding under-plots and minor episodes. Provided such details contributed to the main design, their value lay in adding a pleasing variety, the effect being similar (as he puts it) to that of the two-fold movements of planets in the Primum Mobile. (v) That the preoccupation of the French with a single theme (or Unity of action) gave opportunity for impassioned appeals was unconvincing, since such appeals consisted mostly of long-winded and boring declamations. Furthermore, long speeches were untrue to life, while short speeches were more likely to stir the emotions. As for comedy, repartee was “one of its chief graces”.   (vi) Variety was enhanced by having a large number of characters. If skilfully managed, as by Ben Jonson, the large number of characters need not cause confusion.     (vii) As regards showing violence on stage, such scenes had become part of the English tradition, being a concession to the native temperament which somehow delighted in these things. As for incredibility, if an audience could imagine an actor as a king, they could also imagine three soldiers to represent an army. And if the English were guilty of showing too much action on the stage, the French were guilty of showing too little action. A mean path must be taken, eschewing the indecent and the incredible but representing the beautiful. Death, however, must not be shown on stage.  (viii) The French dramatist Corneille had observed that French dramatists had suffered from too strict an observance of the rules, and had thereby banished from the stage many artistic beauties. (ix) Regular English plays were not entirely wanting—an example being Jonson’s Silent Woman. For the rest, however, English plays were more original, more varied and spirited. Neander now goes on to illustrate these qualities from the works of outstanding English dramatists.

Neander’s appreciation of Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher and Jonson. Neander hails Shakespeare as the largest and most comprehensive soul of all modem, and perhaps ancient poets. Reference is made to his unlaboured art, his inborn genius, his life-like characterization, though he is also said at times to stumble into bombast and punning.

 

Crites’s attack on rhyme and Neander’s defense. After vindicating the English dramatists, which is the main object of the Essay, Dryden is unable to conclude without some reference to the question of the verse most suitable for dramatic purposes. Crites notes that blank verse had established itself in popular favor since Shakespeare and others had written, and rhyming verse was an unnatural and artificial form of expression. Aristotle too had held that tragedy was best written in verse nearest prose. Nor could he accept the argument that rhyme was instrumental in curbing wild fancies; for a dramatist unable to control these fancies in blank verse would not be able to control them anyway.

Neander marshalls all his arguments in favor of rhyming verse and boldly asserts that it is more natural and effectual than blank verse in serious plays. Rhyming verse had been universally adopted abroad and could be made to resemble prose by varying the cadences, by running the sense on from one line to another, or by irregular devices. Blank verse was no verse at all, at its best only poetic prose. The truth was, so Neander felt, that the possibilities of blank verse had been exhausted by those earlier dramatists. All that was left for a later age with its different genius was to employ rhyming verse in which excellence unknown to the earlier age had lately been achieved, Furthermore, rhyming verse was, according to Neander ‘the noblest kind of modem verse’, and the only adequate verse-form for tragedy. Tragedy was a representation of ‘Nature wrought up to a higher pitch’ and for such a treatment of Nature, rhyming verse was the only verse form. Moreover, rhyme was an aid to judgment.

 

Conclusion. The Essay concludes at this moment in a picturesque fashion, with the moonlight playing on the Thames, as the boat reaches its destination, and the disputants disperse on their several ways.

     

Cyrus Mistry's "Percy" (Text)

 While it was still night in their small cluttered flat the old woman rose quietly and flicked on the harsh, naked light of the overhead bulb. The sleeping figure of her son on the bed parallel to her stirred. Some days she let him sleep longer, till she had lit the stove and put on the kettle. But today, she rudely pulled off the sheet which he had drawn over his head, and called in her throaty, rasping voice:

 

‘Percy! Percy! Are you getting up? Are you awake? I haven’t slept all night.’

Percy sat up in bed and groaned, rubbing his eyes. Outside, it was turning grey and birds had begun to chirp softly.

Mother and son went about their morning chores and ablutions silently. Banubai lit the wick stove and put the kettle on. Percy took in the milk bottle from the verandah, switched off the night lamp and proceeded to fold the sheets. Then, using a polythene hose fitted with a nozzle, Percy filled water in the large plastic drum and brass pots in the kitchen and bathroom. The plastic nozzle had become loose, and the force of the water in the tap created a fountain of spray which drenched his shirt and wetted the floor all around him. While the steaming water in the soot-blackened kettle soaked in the colour of tea leaves, the old woman and her son stood outside on the verandah facing east, flicking their kashtis and reciting their morning prayers. When they had finished, Banubai noticed that his sudrah was very damp, and she made him change it; Percy was prone to colds.

After tea, Banubai and Percy swept and swabbed the three small rooms and kitchen of their flat (Banubai had long ago decided to dispense with servants, whose slave she didn’t want to be), taking turns with the broom and mop. Next, from her collection of rangoli boxes the old woman selected a little one, perforated with the outlines of a pair of fish, and printed patterns of chalk on the threshold of every doorway. By now the coals on the fire would be hot and sparking. Using a pair of pincers, Banubai arranged them carefully on the afarghan and sprinkled them with incense dust. Then, raising the silver smoking receptacle high in the air, and mumbling her prayers softly, the small figure of Banubai walked through their rooms, circumnavigating the many old pieces of furniture, fumigating every corner with the incense smoke, dispelling the last vestiges of night and ungodliness from their homestead. She had had a traditional upbringing. She liked to do everything right, the way it was prescribed by her ancestors. Ever since her husband died, eighteen years ago, there had been no one to prevent her from doing things just right: the way she liked to do them.

Soon it would be time for Percy to leave for work. The firm of Bhairam Cheliram & Sons Pvt Ltd opened early, at a half past eight, and closed at half past four. He had been working there for the last fifteen years, first as delivery boy, and now as Chief Clerk (as it happened, there was only one clerk employed by the firm).

Percy was thirty-four, and was going to turn thirty-five next month, but Banubai didn’t trust him to fry his own eggs for breakfast.

‘You’ll splash hot oil on yourself, you ninny. Don’t even try!’ she had said cuttingly the only time he had put the frying pan on the stove to make his own breakfast. ‘And how much oil! Marere mua, you’ve finished half my tin! Do you know how much this one tin costs?’ She bullied him too much, she sat on his head. He knew it. Sometimes, in his heart, he rebelled against her tyranny, her strict routines. But he never spoke his resentment. It was better to be obedient if you were a duffer. And Percy had had long training in servility. Maybe he could have managed quite well on his own, better than she thought he could. But he wasn’t sure. He had never been without her, and the thought had never occurred to him that he might, some day.

Half an hour later, as Percy was getting dressed to leave for office, he discovered there wasn’t a single button on his trouser flies. His other two pairs were with the dhobi.

‘Mumma!’ he called out to Banubai in his flutey, quavering voice. ‘Mumma, all my buttons are gone. Not one left. Stitch me some now, will you? How can I go like this?’

‘My eyes don’t work so well anymore. Haven’t I told you, start doing things with your own hands now. How much can one person do? I have but two hands,’ Banubai harangued her son. ‘If something happens to me tomorrow, God forbid, what will become of you? Give, give. . . Bring needle and thread. And my specs.’

Her protestations notwithstanding the short and wiry Banubai, who was sixty-eight, was very active still. Holding the needle within an inch of her nose, she threaded it skillfully, at the first try. Then, bending over the trousers, she muttered under her breath, softly but audibly, ‘Where will I find you a wife? Who will marry you, a chap like you . . .?’

And Percy, who was standing beside her in his shirt and his shoes, with a towel wrapped around his midriff declared, ‘I don’t want anyone, Mumma, I don’t want! I’ll stay here with you. You can look after me better than any wife.’

‘Ja, ja gadhera! Show some sign of brains when you open your mouth,’ Banubai shouted at him; but it was playful ire, and a half smile diffused her grouch of concentration.

As soon as Percy left the house, Banubai retired to the kitchen and began furiously to knead the dough which she had left overnight in a wet cloth. She had an order to meet today, for one dozen popatjis and two dozen bhakhras. Three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Banubai walked from door to door in her own colony and to neighbouring Parsi homes, with a bag full of doughnuts, pickles, sweet malido, spicy vasaanu, and other homemade delicacies, which she sold at a modest price, in this way supplementing Percy’s small income.