Journal of World Literature - Assignment Example

Journal 6 -World Literature When the time changes, so do the people Their thoughts expression and ideas undergo the change They change trends, they change fashions They change themselves With every new Change. The God has changed, so does his people The concept of right and wrong has changed The love has changed, so do the other things The life altogether seems to change The rising sun is worshipped The older generation is rejected New ideas are welcomed the older ones are disposed and not retained The change is the law of nature I understand, my dear friends I, hunger artist thrive for your attention I find people not impressed and whelmed My acts are not for your mockery but for your appreciation Where is the basic humanity? People have become callous and vile This all, is the part of change. 2. A Memoir is defined as a memory and it is quite similar to an autobiography but is structured differently. An example from Night is, “some years later, I watched the same kind of scene at Aden….”The author reminiscences how during their captive period, when there train passed the German town after traveling nonstop for ten days and nights, the German work man threw a piece of bread on the wagon and a dozen of men jumped on each other for that very piece. They fought with each other to death and this incidence amused the spectators and same incidence was repeated after many years, the passengers of the boat amused themselves by throwing the coins on natives and when the writer requested the lady who started it to stop, her response was, “I love charity.” The Carbide Tower, which rises in the middle of Buna and whose top is rarely visible in the fog, was built by us. Its bricks were called Ziegel, briques, tegula, cegli, kamenny, mattoni, téglak, and they were cemented by hate; hate and discord, like the Tower of Babel, and it is this that we call it: —Babelturm, Bobelturm; and in it we hate the insane dream of grandeur of our masters, their contempt for God and men, for us men. Is the expression from the memoir A Good day. The tower of hate was built by the captives and it was an insane dream of their masters. And presently that building stands as a curse of divine and Germens also feel that. At sunset, the siren of the Feierabend  sounds, the end of work; and as we are all satiated, at least for a few hours, no quarrels arise, we feel good, the Kapo feels no urge to hit us, and we are able to think of our mothers and wives, which usually does not happen. For a few hours we can be unhappy in the manner of free men. This extract also explains the plight of the workers in the camp. It is the day when they have a stomach full. There is a certain change in everyone’s attitude. Everyone is satisfied and there is no grumbling and fights that arise due to empty or half full stomachs and in fact their leader doesn’t feel any urge to hit them. The irony is when the stomach is full the near and dear one’s are remembered. The above three examples from the Memoirs relate how effectively they take the readers into flash back and evoke the images as they have happened just before the reader’s eyes. As both these memoirs are the survivor type in nature they are able to capture writers struggle and sufferings. It does not just appear before the reader as a fiction but with a personal reconstruction and impact. 3. Destruction was caused or perpetrated by individuals who neither felt nor expressed any remorse for their actions; one of the leaders that fall in this list is Saddam Hussein. He was born on 28 April 1937 in the village of al-Awja, near Tikrit, on the Tigris River in northwest Iraq, into a landless but influential Sunni family. He was a member of the al-Khatab clan. Saddam later fabricated his genealogy to claim direct descent from the Prophet Mohammed. He had a battered childhood as his father abandoned his mother when she was pregnant with him and he was brought up in the custody of his maternal uncle as his mother remarried. With such emotionless up bringing Saddam never felt remorse for what he did in his later years as a ruler. Though he is not a soldier and has never received any formal military training Saddam was ranked as a lieutenant-general in the Iraqi Army. In 1976 he was promoted to the position of General. He did what he felt was convenient for him with no compunction. As Lions and lice don’t waver in their course. Why should they, when they know they’re right?  A personality cult was soon built up around the now-absolute leader. Statues of Saddam and memorials to his "achievements" are constructed in almost every city, town and village in the country. His portrait was displayed in every business and government office and in most private homes. He was idolized in the state-controlled media. To criticize or mock him publicly was to risk death. That is, if snakes had hands, they’d claim their hands were clean. He was a ruthless ruler and to gain his end he massacred every individual who came in his way. He was anti Kurdish therefore very notoriously killed them in the garb of saving the country from the terrorist. His regime was dictatorial, murderous and repugnant. The buzzard never says it is to blame.  Assignment II 1. The winter is here with a gloomy face The morning rises with a sorrow state The night draws very fast Evening walks are the things of the past When the summer approaches It is the joyous adventure By the sea side and the swimming pools The life is full of venture. The flowers of different nature bloom Filling the life with lively morrow and noon The night walks in the starry bed Is the happiest moment, I’ve ever felt Love you spring! For your buoyancy and charm The life is vibrant in nature’s arms (embrace) The rain is welcoming with drizzle or downpour Fills around A soft smell of soil that relieves the soul Hasn’t God has made the world complete With seasons, all four. 2. Point of view determines what the author tells the reader about events in a story and, thus, how the reader reacts to those events. If the story is related from the point of view of the villager, there are few things which he might ignore as he is unaware of the truth. The villager narrates his experience in this way. “As it was too hot and everyone in the village are having siesta. I observed two women going towards the village from the railway station. As, I have never seen these two before, and I followed them. On the way, I kept thinking about their purpose of coming to the village. I planned that I will ask the younger one about her reason of coming here. I noticed that they were not carrying any luggage that means they were not invited by any one as well. Out of curiosity, I went after them and observed that they reached the priests house .On the very first knock they were taken in and it seemed that they were known to the priests and his family. For quite a long time, when none of them came out, I thought of peeping inside and look what I found. This woman is priest’s brother’s wife. When the entire village heard this, they throng at the priest’s door to see this old woman with beautiful daughter.” The truth is not this .It is the villager’s interpretation and at the end of the story, the reader starts assuming a lot of things. Why is this woman here with her daughter? Is she related to the priests any way? Is she shrinking away from her responsibility of taking care of her daughter and giving her custody to the priest? The end given by the author is unclear in the sense that one is curious to know what the elderly woman did next. But if looked at the story through villager’s interpretation than altogether new ideas are related. 3. One of the themes of The Censors, by Luisa Valenzuela, is the danger of censorship. They can impose danger both to an individual and to a society. The story The Censors relate to those dangers in a very expressive way. Juan, is caught off guard, he discovers Mariana address from a confidential source and writes her a letter. Now, Juan’s dilemma is not the text of the letter but his concern is that people out there can read between the lines and if they are able to interpret/misinterpret the real ideas then surely he is in trouble. To get out of trouble, he joins the department of censors and with his good luck and fate is able to reach the department where they analyses the content of divisive letters. Working there with consistency and diligence, he is able to get departments support and favor and reaches the letter he wrote to Mariana. As such letters are dangers to the society because they carry divisive contents; the writers of such letters get severe punishment to avoid any disruption in the society. The irony of the situation is that, Juan as a individual enjoys promotion and the other favors of the department .He is a consistent worker and is appreciated for his hard work. He is able to scrutinize the letters so minutely that his analysis is an example. It becomes his natural habit of examining dissident content. He does his work with certain fervor and ardency which becomes to natural to him. As the fate would have it, he comes across the letter, he wrote to Mariana and analyses it with the same fervor and enthusiasm forgetting completely that he has joined the department to get rid of this letter and destroy it before it falls in someone’s hand. He wanted to save himself from the repercussions of writing subversive content but in turn invites ramifications for himself by his own act. The paradox lies in the fact that he could have avoided his death by destroying the letter forever but his gusto for his work brings his death. Assignment III 1. I saw him dying, I saw him crushed I saw him bleeding I saw him flushed with blood What was his fault? What was he punished for? Was he a criminal or a traitor? A renegade or a collaborator No, he was a warrior He would be medaled after the war Has anyone thought? What his wife will live for The kids would be admired as the kids of a warrior But for a day or two and then Every year on some day and forgotten altogether They deserve a childhood and youth in the shade of their parents Stop the wars please Give peace a chance The world is beautiful When peaceful and calm Give us a break I want to live and enjoy life I want to serve my country alive. 2. The Norwegian Rat is deliberately ambiguous and can therefore be interpreted on a literal or figurative level. There is lot of ambiguity in the play and this leads to its different interpretations at different levels. For instance, the story begins with the statement, “Fortunately we were not alone in this affliction”. Gradually as the story advances, we understand that the affliction he is talking about is related to Rats. It is not easy to understand that a small creature such as rat could be such a big trouble. The method the senior house holder of the society tells them to adopt is also farcical. First he tells them to keep cats to kill rats. The implication of keeping the cats produces another ambiguity in the story. In the second meeting he tells the society dwellers to put rat poisons at the vulnerable places like kitchen and be careful with children and the poultry. The proposition of rat poison everywhere inside the house is also amusing and brings forth another ambiguity what’s next? The story The Norwegian Rat is more or less can be called a farce as it depicts the vain, infantile and sometimes irrational behavior of the senior house holder. It is amusing to see, how human beings respond to the situations and tend to exaggerate it. The story is also a satire on the government and its organization. They are nor taking the responsibility of tackling the situation and instead expects the citizens to incur expense for their safety. The other situation which is a direct lash on the government is that the actual rats are not that dreadful and cause havoc. It is the government people who, one should dread. They, like rats have voracious appetite and would eat away the hard earned income of the citizens of the country and walk away with ease. 3. Dear Readers This is a day of great delight and happiness. Our beloved leader, Nelson Mandela, is sworn in the first democratically elected President of our country, South Africa. This greatest moment has arrived at last. I congratulate all our friends and well wishers and my deepest wishes for our dear leader whose persistent efforts have shown us this beautiful day. It has not happened all of a sudden. Our country has struggled a lot to attain this independence. Many sacrifices have been made, many lives have lost, many people suffered and then at last we are able to see this day of glory. Our leader is one of the leaders who have fought against apartheid. We were racially segregated everywhere in our own country. We were deprived of all the rights of the citizen. He got imprisoned for life for us, he acted against the government. He spent 36 years of his life in prison for our people. He worked tirelessly over the next few years to negotiate an end to apartheid and minority rule, gaining widespread respect and support in the process. No sacrifice is greater than this. I once sat down on a bench at Cape Town railway station where the notice "Whites Only" was obscured. A few moments later a white man approached and shouted: Get off! It never occurred to him that he was achieving the opposite of his dreams of superiority and had become a living object of contempt, that human beings, when they are human, dare not conduct themselves in such ways. It was really beyond comprehension, why the skin color is so superior. Are we not the human beings? Or are we different with four hands or two heads? Except for the skin color we have all things common. We are created by same god who made you, then why such discrimination? This question bothered everyone in our community and the answer came from the efforts of our glorious leader. Our fight for Right and against unjust under the guidance of our leader has reaped fruitful results and now that he is the president of our country, we rest assure that all the things will be alright and at last the truth prevails. Yours Bessie Head. Assignment IV 1. Both The Jay and Love Must Not Be Forgotten deal with marriage. Love Must Not be Forgotten is a story that brings forth a very discerning fact about marriage in certain cultures. To remain spinster is better than getting struck in a love less marriage. The writer’s expression in the beginning of the story produces a very striking reality that I am thirty, the same age as our People’s Republic. For a republic thirty is still young. But a girl of thirty is virtually on the shelf. A girl is compelled to marry and her desires are completely ignored by the society. Society is run by the law and morality .These rules expect the two people to be bound with each other, bring up kids, raise and nurture a family and remain together throughout their lives even when they have no sense of bonding or attachment between them. The writer of this story faces this dilemma, she is been forced to marry a person whom she doesn’t love at all and is unable to comprehend his feelings for her .She has experienced her mother going through a loveless marriage and reaching her end carving for the love of a man who was obliged to be the other lady’s husband. They were ardent lovers but could never reveal their feelings to each other. They tortured themselves in a morally bound marriage. The writer doesn’t want to get struck in that impasse. After reading her mother’s diary, she feels that relations should not be judged with conventional moral standards. The writer in the end says that most of the tragedies in life are because of people who make this society. There are few old rules that need to be abandoned and one must be given the right to choose the life he/she wants to live or pleases to live. There is always likelihood that one who takes such steps against the norms of society could be called neurotic or a heretic .But once you put the chains of an indifferent marriage around your neck, you will suffer for it for the rest of your life. 2. The textbook suggests that some aspects of life in Ocean of Words have parallels within our own personal experiences. As human beings, there is often more that makes us similar to one another than that which makes us different. Three separate aspects of the story that could be considered universal are, first, the beginning of the story when Zhou Wen is called a book worm by his comrades. He wants to avoid them for the same reason and tries to sneak into place where he can read quietly. The second instance is when his Ocean of words is demanded by the Director Liang and Zhou refuses. And the third instance appears, when Zhou gifts his ocean of words to the Director Liang. I remember when I was doing my graduation in Science and Technology and was studying in campus. My friend and roommate Rachel was very studious .as there were six more girls sharing the same room she was an eye sore not because she asked for anything just because she was very intelligent and worked very hard. She was one of the college toppers. But the position holders work harder to retain their positions. She used to burn midnight oil. But the other four girls always created some or other nuisance to distract her and complained against her. But Rachel never responded back and kept most to her. It so happened that on one occasion, another girl named Shiba, out of these four trouble makers fell ill. She was hospitalized. Her parents therefore decided that she should come back to her home town and resume her studies when she gets well. She came back to rejoin the college after ten days. The final examinations were at hand. All four of them continued with their nuisance and now expected Rachel for help. Rachel was furious at their previous behavior and therefore refused. It came as a surprise to me for Rachel always helped others. She conceded to me that she is very upset with their behavior and told me something about her past that for her getting a master’s degree in Science and technology is very important because her parents were just school pass out and could never enter the college. They have done all kind of odd jobs to bring up seven kids .They never had consistent jobs and it all happened because they lacked specialization and that hindered them to progress beyond a mediocre life style. She told me, it is easy to mock at someone but empathy comes when you undergo the same situation. Shiba and her friends failed the final exams and have to continue the same class. Shiba suffered a personal tragedy as her father was rusticated on corruption charges and the sole responsibility of family fell on her shoulders. For her to qualify this year became mandatory as this way she could get apprenticeship and subsequently the job. Rachel came to know about all this one day. She went to Shiba and offered her previous year notes and told her in case she needed any other assistance, she came come to her any time. 3. The poems Quang Binh and Requiem both deal with tragic historical events. In the poem Requiem, the poetess describes that on the doomsday it is not the living but the dead who are walking the street, the children are the sufferers and they are praying .The poet uses a perfect imagery describing that the time is rolling backwards and the sun which represents the beginning of new day has eclipsed. He further produces a contrast and writes that the souls of the deceased celebrate the same birthday and they will grow old together as their love is founded on death and they are all connected now. Quang Binh on the other hand deals with an altogether different emotion that relates the trauma of a soldier who has come back to his native place, the place where he belongs. He was away from his place serving the country and when he is back he recalls and remembers what his brothers have said. He reminiscences the time he spend with his friends and the army approaching over the thorns and pebbles. The entire night they could hear the firing of guns and our hearts flowed back to the head of the Ben Hai River. It is though unclear whether he has lost his friends and relatives but it is very clear that he finds himself alone and isolated. Both the poems are the expressions of tragedies of war. The basic idea conveyed by both the poets is that the war has never done any good. It is the cause of destruction and agony. Read More