ENGLISH III

SUPPLEMENTARY STUDY MATERIAL: ENGLISH III                                          DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, S.S.GOVERNMENT ARTS COLLEGE

                  Ed.  J. Dinesh Kumar

   My Vision for India

Introduction:                                                                                                                                                                        “Sight is about what lies right in front of us.  Vision is what lies ahead” goes the old adage. India is an old civilization and an extremely complex society. Her glorious past, natural beauty, resources, vast size and above all her unique geographical location has always given her the place of pride in the world. With the ups and downs of history it has retained its vibrancy. Yet, due to callousness and lethargy on our part and due to the negative slant of the media here, we as a nation have not been able to attain the status of a developed nation thus far.

In this famous speech delivered in Hyderabad, Dr. Abdul Kalam outlines his three visions for his motherland India and pleads Indians to be involved in the nation-building process and to make India a developed nation.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  First Vision:                                                                                                                                                                     The first vision is that of ‘Freedom’.  The pages of Indian history are filled with stories of invasion, of conquerors and pilfering. Though many countries invaded us, captured us, conquered our minds yet we have not done this to any other nation since we respect the freedom of others.  That is why Kalam advocates ‘Freedom’ as the first vision.  He believes that India got its first vision of freedom in the year 1857 when India started on her first war of Independence. We must protect and nurture our freedom otherwise no country will respect us.

Second Vision:

Kalam advocates ‘Development’ as the second vision. He reasons out to change the outlook of branding India as a developing nation even after fifty long years after attaining independence. It is time to look upon ourselves as a developed nation. He supports his opinion by highlighting the underestimated realities:  We are among top 5 nations of the world in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and we have achieved 10% growth in most areas.  We have achieved global recognition yet we lack the self confidence to see our nation as a developed nation. 

Third Vision:

 The third vision is that India must stand up to the world.  Unless we emerge as a pioneer no one will respect us.  Only strength respects strength.  We must boost both our defence and economic stability, and more importantly both must go hand-in-hand.

The Indian Media’s Obsession with stories of Failures and Disasters:

Dr.Kalam wonders why the media in India is so cynical. Kalam observes though there are many stories of success and achievement  like that of Dr.Sudharshan who has transformed a tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit our media seems to be adamantly obsessed  with stories of failures and disasters.                                                                                                              Kalam contrasts the Indian media with that of the Israeli media. In Tel Aviv, where gory killings, deaths and bombardments take place every now and then, the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to.

 The Nation’s Obsession with Foreign Things:

Dr.Kalam is surprised at the people’s obsession with foreign things. We want foreign TVs, foreign shirts and foreign technology. There is an obsession for everything that is imported. According to Dr.Kalam, self respect comes only with self-reliance.                          

Conformity in Foreign Countries but Detached in Motherland:

In India, we blame the government for being inefficient, the laws for being outdated, the municipality for not picking up the garbage and so on. But what do we do about it? In Singapore, one does not throw cigarette butts on the roads. One wouldn’t dare to speed beyond 55mph in Washington and threaten the traffic cop with one’s strong political connections. One wouldn’t spit paan on the streets of Tokyo. When the same Indian can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries, he cannot bring himself to do that in his own. One will throw papers and cigarette butt on the road the moment one touches the Indian ground. If one can be an involved and appreciative citizen in another country, why cannot one be the same here back in India?

The Easy way Out: Blame it on the System:

 We wanted to sit back comfortably expecting someone to pamper us in all deeds. We expect the government to clean the garbage all over the place, but we will never stop throwing stray papers.  We blame Indian Railways and Indian Airlines to provide the best in everything but we fail to learn the proper use of Public property. We talk about burning social issues like dowry, child marriage but we fail to follow them when it comes to our own life. 

And for all these unconstructive behaviour on our part, we blame it on the system. The whole system has to change, we seem to justify. For us, the system consists of everyone to the total exclusion of the self(the me).  When it comes to making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and wait for the Mr. Clean to come along and work miracles for us, or we leave the country and run away.

We flee from India in search of greener pastures and if problem arises there they would plead to Indian government to rescue them. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system, because our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Conclusion:

Dr.Kalam winds up with the words of J.F.Kennedy to his fellow Americans, and relates it to Indians: “Ask what we can do for India and do what has to be done to make India what America and other Western countries are today.”

        ON SAYING PLEASE

Introduction:

A.G.Gardiner examines how good manners are essential in all human beings for the collective smooth conduct of everyday life. It is definitely an open secret that ‘pleases’ and ‘thank you’ – the little courtesies can help in fostering good will and harmony. Despite knowing it, many of us in most situations do not keep up good manners. The most intriguing fact is that the so-called bad manners and inappropriate social behavior are not punishable by law. Gardiner presents to us a sketch of an exemplary bus conductor who was at his best behavior and saved the penny-less author from embarrassment to make the readers realize that our life is brightened by contact with such good mannered persons.

No Law against Bad Manners:

A.G.Gardiner jolts the audience with his statement that no legal system could attempt to legislate against bad manners, or could sanction the use of violence against something which it does not recognize as a legally punishable offence with the example of a burglar thief who breaks into one’s home. If the inmates of the house attack the burglar the law will acquit them. But if the inmates of the house are physically assaulted, the law permits them to retaliate with reasonable violence. With such a system of law in action, discourtesy cannot be treated as an offence but the resulting assault is an offence. No court in its capacity can cover the vast areas of offences.

Gardiner examines this status quo of the law in particular context - the lift operator who refuses to perform his duty when one of the passengers refused to use ‘please’ even after being insisted upon. The next day, the lift man was fired. The lift man was offended by the haughtiness and took it as a slur on his social standing. Had the lift man being assaulted physically, he could have got a legal redress. But discourtesy is not a legal offence. The conceited gentleman cannot be booked under law but will be written down as an ill-mannered fellow. While it is true that no law can compel one to say ‘please’, there is a social practice much older and much sacred than any law which enjoins us to be.

Bad Manners – a threat to Civilization/sacred social practices?

Bad manners start a vicious circle. If a person’s self-respect is wounded, he remains uneasy till he inflicts such a wound on some other person. In Sheridain’s play ‘The Rivals’ the father, Sir Anthony Absolute rebukes his son, Captain Absolute who in turn goes out and passes it onto his personal servant Fag. Fag gets relief for his feeling by going into the quarters and kicking the page boy. Bad manners would infect the world with ill-humours. Bad manners probably do more to poison the stream of general life than all the crimes. A good mannered person will find that his work becomes easier by the ready co-operation that he gets from others.

Gardiner’s Tribute to the Polite Bus Conductor:

Gardiner pays his tribute to a particular bus conductor. The author recollects his encounter with a bus conductor. Gardiner leaves behind his wallet absent-mindedly and boards the bus. He realizes it just a few seconds before the conductor approaches him to issue tickets. Gardiner expects a harsh treatment but to his surprise the conductor sounded very passenger-friendly, quite different from conductors who are intolerant to elderly passengers and a killjoy to the merry students. The conductor accepted the explanation and issued the ticket. When the author asked him as to how to return the fare, the conductor simply replied “oh, you’ll see me some day all right”. A few days later the author was hurt by a man wearing heavy boots, but his good humor made the author forget the pain.

Conclusion: Strive for Spiritual Victory

If bad manners are infectious, so are good manners. ‘Nothing clears up my spirits like a fine day’ said Keats. In lightening the spirits of his passengers the conductor has lightened his own task. His liveliness and fun was not a wasteful luxury but a sound investment.

Gardiner adds up the comment on the lift-man by narrating a story of Chesterfield.  In his time the London streets were without pavements of today, and a man who took the wall had the driest footing. ‘I never give the wall to a scoundrel’ said a man who met Chesterfield one day in the street. ‘I always do’ said Chesterfield, stepping with a bow into the road. To conclude, we understand that had the lift operator treated the haughty gentleman in the best possible civilized manner, he would have attained ‘spiritual victory’ over him.

                                                             

                                                      THE LADY OR THE TIGER?

Semi-Barbaric King’s method of Trial by Ordeal :
The "semi-barbaric" king of an ancient land uses a unique form of trial by ordeal for those in his realm accused of crimes significant enough to interest him. The accused is placed alone in an arena before two curtain-draped doors, as hordes of the king's subjects look on from the stands. Behind one door is a beautiful woman appropriate to the accused's station and hand-picked by the king; behind the other is a fierce (and nearly starved)tiger. The accused then must pick one of the doors. If by luck (or, if one prefers, the will of heaven) he picks the door with the woman behind it, he is declared innocent and set free, but he is required to marry the woman on the spot, regardless of his wishes or his marital status. If he picks the door with the tiger behind it, the tiger immediately pounces upon him--his guilt thus manifest, supposedly.
Princess and Her Love:
When the king discovers that his daughter, the princess, has taken a lover far beneath her station, the fellow is an obvious candidate for trial in the arena. On the day of his ordeal, the lover looks from the arena to the princess watching from the stands, for some indication of which door to pick. Even the king doesn't know which door hides the maiden. But the princess has made it her business to find out, as her lover knew she would. She makes a slight but definite gesture to the right, which the young man follows immediately and without hesitation. As the door opens, the author interjects, "Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the lady?"
The Princess Dilemma:
The author then playfully sets out for the reader the dimensions of the princess's dilemma, and of the reader's dilemma in answering the question he has posed. The reader is reminded that the princess knew and "hated" the waiting maiden, one of her attendants, whom she suspected of being infatuated with the princess's lover. The princess, the reader must remember, is "semi-barbaric," too, or she wouldn't have come to witness the ordeal at all; and though she has shrieked often at the thought of her lover torn to bits before her eyes, the thought of his dancing out of the arena with his blushing bride has afflicted her more often. In either case, the princess knows her lover is lost to her forever. She has agonized over her decision, but by the time she arrives at the arena, she is resolute, and she makes her gesture to the right unhesitatingly.
The Open-ended Climax:
 The author denies being in a position to answer his question with authority, and the story ends with the famous line, "And so I leave it all with you: Which came out of the opened door - the lady, or the tiger?"

       HOW TO BE A DOCTOR

Introduction:

Stephen Leacock in his essay ‘How to be a Doctor’ discusses the status quo of the medical treatment accorded. Leacock expresses his genuine happiness over the advancement made in the field of medicine. At the same time, he fails not to shed light upon the various discrepancies that has crept its way into medical practice. The once considered noble a profession has now degenerated to become a highly commercialized profit-centered enterprise. The concept of Chain Hospitals, advanced laboratories and Intensive Care Units with the state-of-the-art facilities has only made affordable health care a dream. The patients who are already inflicted with both physical pain and mental agony has to shell out a lumpsum(an individual’s lifetime savings) in order to seek cure to the ailment. Leacock has a dig at this upper-handed, inhumane and unethical practice of the Doctor, the so-called noble profession.

Advancement in the Field of Medicine:

The pride of the growth in the field of medicine can be felt even in our day-to-day life. It has given a death-blow to several age-old superstitious and irrational practices to relieve pain and cure diseases. Today the once unheard names of the diseases have become common household names, not to mention the list of must-to-have medicines at home. Leacock in a humorous way says the Doctors of today can be trained in eight months rather than eight long years, as it is the medical equipments which carries out most of the work(more than assistance). In the present context of medical education, it becomes sufficient to train the doctors to handle the medical equipments. Today the system of Specialist Doctors has become quite common. Leacock has a dig at this and he says “…whatever is wrong with the patient the doctor insists on snipping off parts and pieces of extracts of him and sending them mysteriously away to be analyzed. He cuts the lock of hair and marks it, Mr.Smith’s hair, October 1910…”

The Old Generation Doctors Vs Modern Day Doctors:

The previous generation doctors would diagnose the source of patient’s medical complications by letting the patient talk and using their professional experience to locate the source. The doctors then were very frank in discussing the course of treatment and the diagnosis procedures, and made the patient feel at ease. But today, doctors spend little time talking and briefing to the patient.  Leacock gibes at the modern day doctor’s approach as non-transparent and fails to inspire the patient with confidence.

Conclusion:

Leacock after such a long essay full of gibes at the doctor is at the same time down- to- earth too, as he says even if we all know this – as soon as we have a pain within us we would rush for a doctor. Even the sound of an ambulance gives hope and assurance that we are in safe hands. We hope the modern day doctor’s would change their ways.

                                                               

           THE SPORTING SPIRIT

George Orwell’s ‘The Sporting Spirit’ emphasizes the need for the players and the spectators to possess genuine sporting spirit. Exchange of Sports and athletic teams are generally expected to foster friendly relations between the countries, but in reality, the outcome of such exchanges fosters bitterness rather than friendliness. The author surveys the history of sports to ascertain the real cause of such state of things. Nationalism, pride, hatred, jealously and cut-throat competition accounts for the decline in the sporting spirit and healthy competition. In our mad rat race to win(winning alone) we have failed to appreciate the value of true sportsmanship.

It is commonly believed that sports creates good will among the nations, as common people who meet one another in the sports ground and in the stadium would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. But the reality of international sports is so different from this perception of sports. Even the Olympic Games have become an arena for politics and hatred. Orwell delves deep into the issue to probe into the causes. Nearly all the sports practiced now-a-days are competitive. The player plays to win. Evidently, there is a dearth of participatory spirit and the urge to win alone reign supreme in the minds and hearts of both the player and the spectator. Winning the game has become a matter of prestige. Orwell raises a sensible question in this regard: “How come winning a game of running, jumping and kicking a ball become a test for national virtue?” It is the failure to understand this simple logic that the spectators work themselves into furies over absurd contests.

The spectators’ attitude to sports can influence the players and the game itself to a large extent. In countries like India and Burma – where both playing games and nationalism are both recent developments, fierce passions are aroused easily and the notion of playing the game according to the rule vanishes. People want to see one side on top and the other side humiliated and they often forget that victory gained through fraudulent practices lacking ethics and through the intervention of the crowd is meaningless.

Orwell then proceeds to inquire into how this modern cult of sport arose. Most of the games we play now are of ancient origin, but sport was not taken very seriously between Roman times and the nineteenth century. Sports gained momentum only after it began to be seen as a money-making enterprise fueled by nationalist spirits. The author goes on to explain the shaping factors of the psyche of the player and the spectator viz., large-scale sports with mixed audience leading to growth of patriotic zeal( “the lunatic modern habit of identifying oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige” as Forster puts it). Violence in sports field is physical brutality(spending of surplus energy) mixed up with politics.

Orwell winds up his essay with a fervent plea for good sportsmanship, quoting the Olympic oath: “ in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams”.

     THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

Introduction:

The story is written in first person and is in biographical mode. It is a perception of Khushwant Singh of his grandmother through his own eyes.

Description of Khushwant Singh’s Grandmother:

Khushwant Singh recalls his grandmother as an eternally old person. She was an extremely religious person. It was difficult for him to believe that once she too was young and pretty like other women. The stories about her childhood games were like fairytales to him. She was short, fat and slightly stooped in stature. Her silvery white hair used to scatter on her wrinkled face. Khushwant Singh remembers her hobbling around the house in spotless white clothes with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other busy in telling the beads of her rosary. Her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayers. Possibly she was not beautiful in worldly sense but she looked extremely beautiful with the peacefulness, serenity and the contentment her countenance displayed.

Grandmother and Khushwant Singh in Village:

Khushwant’s relationship with his grandmother went through several changes when he was a small boy. In the first stage Khushwant lived in a village with her as his parents were looking for the opportunity to settle down in the city. In village grandmother took care of all the needs of the child. She was quite active and agile. She woke him up in the morning, got him ready for the school, plastered his wooden slate, prepared his breakfast and escorted him to the school. They fed street dogs with stale chapattis on their way to school which was a great fun for them. She helped him in his lessons also .It was her domain and she was the queen of her kingdom. In this period she was the sole unchallenged guardian, mentor and creator of the child Khushwant.

Grandmother and Khushwant Singh in City:

The turning point came in their relationship when they came to city to stay with Khushwant’s parents. In city Khushwant joined an English School and started to go to school in a motor bus. Here the role of his grandmother in his bringing up was curtailed a little bit. Now she could not accompany him to the school. Despite taking lot of interest in his studies she could not help him in his lessons because he was learning English, law of gravity, Archimedes’ principle and many more such things which she could not understand and this made her unhappy. She found herself at loss. One more thing which disturbed her a lot was that the kids were not learning about God and scriptures in the school instead they were given music lessons which was not an honorable thing in her opinion. To her music was not meant for gentlefolk. It was meant for beggars and prostitutes only. She highly disapproved this and as she could not change it she was dismayed and withdrew herself to some extent. Perhaps she had realized that in the makeover of the child her role was finished and this very thought saddened her most.

Grandmother’s Self-imposed Seclusion:

After finishing school Khushwant went to university. He was given a separate room. The common link of their friendship was snapped. His grandmother confined herself to a self imposed seclusion. She spent most of her time in reciting prayers and by sitting beside her spinning wheel. She rarely talked to anyone. The only recreation for her was in the afternoon when she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. As a kind hearted person, in village she used to feed street dogs, here in city she focused on birds and they too became very friendly with her. This was the phase when she found herself totally isolated and aloof but she braved this isolation with grace and dignity.

Grandmother turns wild with happiness:

Khushwant’s grandmother was a strong person. Whatever she went through in her heart she always restrained herself from demonstrating her emotions. He recalls that when he went abroad for further studies his grandmother was there to see him off on railway station quite calm and busy telling the beads of her rosary and reciting prayers as always. When he came back after five years he found her more and more religious and more and more self contained. She spent still more time in prayers and in spinning the wheel. Feeding the birds was her only source of happiness. But just the day before her death for the first time she broke this routine and gave up her prayers. That day she sang the songs of the home coming of the warriors on a withered drum along with the ladies of neighborhood in order to celebrate her grandson’s return from abroad. Next morning she got ill.

Grandmother’s Death Call:

 Although the doctor said it was a mild fever and would go away she could foresee that her end was near. She was upset that she omitted her prayers just before the final departure from the world. She did not want to waste any more time talking to anybody. She laid down peacefully in bed praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and rosary fell from her lifeless fingers. To mourn her death thousands of sparrows flew in and sat scattered around her body in utter silence. They even ignored the breadcrumbs thrown for them by Khushwant’s mother. They only flew away after the corpse was carried away for last rites.
So this was the charismatic grandmother of Khushwant Singh.                                                                         

The Dear Departed

Introduction:

Stanley’s play ‘The Dear Departed’ is a fine portrayal of the greed, jealousy and lack of sincerity of the daughters in the case of an old father who was mistaken to be dead. In this ironical play, the author satirizes the degradation of moral values in the British middle class. It throws light on the increasing trend in the society of leaving elderly generation abandoned and neglected. The story also supports the idea that the elderly generation has the right to live merrily.

Grandfather declared Dead:

 The grandfather appears dead to his daughter Mrs. Slater. She and her husband sent a telegram to her sister Elizabeth and her husband.  Before her sister could come, Mrs. Slater plans to loot whatever she wants of her father’s belongings. The play opens up with Mrs. Slater who calls her daughter Victoria and scolds her for playing when her grandfather is lying dead and she wants Victoria to change her dress into black before her aunt and uncle could come.  She asks why they are coming and her mother replied that she has sent them a telegram about her father’s death.  Meanwhile, Henry enters with a parcel of food.  He asked her wife whether her sister Elizabeth would come since the two sisters had quarreled so badly last time.  Amelia asserted that Elizabeth would surely come to share her father’s property.

Amelia’s Greed:

Amelia feels that, Henry can wear Abel’s new slippers since her husband’s slipper have become old. But her husband says they are not the right size.  Amelia said the slippers will stretch.  She also wanted to own her father’s new bureau.  She wanted Henry to help her in replacing the new bureau to their room and put her old chest of drawers in its place.  If her sister Elizabeth knows she will ask for a hard bargain said Amelia. When they both tried to replace the bureau Victoria asked her father Henry, are they going to steal the bureau before aunt Elizabeth could come?  Amelia brings clock too from Abel Merryweather’s room.  She asks her child Victoria to be quiet and she must not breathe a word about the clock and bureau to her aunt. 

Elizabeth’s Greed:

They heard a knock at the door while they were bringing down the bureau. Mr. and Mrs. Slater guessed it to be Elizabeth and her husband. Amelia instructed Victoria not to open the door before they could signal her to open.  Later they received Elizabeth and Ben.  She asked Amelia about the details of the old man’s death.  Mrs. Slater recollected her father had been so cheerful that morning and immediately after breakfast went to pay insurance premium, later he went to bed saying he does not want dinner.  Mrs. Slater went to his room with a tray after dinner and he found the old man lying cold and dead.  Then they discuss about the announcement in the newspaper obituary column, about the old man’s death.  Elizabeth insists others to take down the list of grandfather’s property.  She added that her father had promised to give his gold watch to her son Jimmy after his death.  Amelia got shocked and surprised.  Victoria tells them that Abel did not go to pay his premium; instead he went to Ring ‘o’ Bells along with his friend.  Mrs. Slater wanted Victoria to bring the key bunch from grandfather’s room to check for the receipt in the bureau.

Grandfather comes back Alive:

Victoria rushes down from grandfather’s room saying that the grandfather is getting up.  Everyone was shocked.  Then, a chuckling is heard outside.  It took some time for them to be sure it is him and not his ghost.  Abel asks Amelia what has happened to his new slippers and he finds Henry wearing it.  She explains that she asked him to wear them and stretch them for him.  Victoria was too happy to see her grandfather alive again and asked him what has happened to him.  Abel replied that he had a slight headache and he is all right now.  He suddenly looks at the bureau and clock and shouts at Henry and Amelia for moving them to their room.  They both stood speechless. 

New Will by Grandfather:

Now grandfather knew why everyone was wearing black mourning dress.  He suspected that, two sisters have already started dividing things between them. He said that he is going to destroy the will and make a new one on the following Monday.  Later he said that he has got three duties to be fulfilled on Monday.  First one is to meet the lawyer and change the will. Second to pay the premium. Finally, to get married with Mrs. John Shorrock, the owner of Ring ‘o’ Bells at St. Philip’s Church.  He also declared that his property will go to the one who takes care of him.  Since both the daughters have considered him as a burden he is going to get married to a widow who looks after him with pleasure.  Finally he thanked Amelia and her husband Henry for bringing the bureau downstairs so that carrying it to the Ring ‘o’ Bells (public house) would be easy.  So, the dears are united instead of departing!

The Boy Comes Home

Milne’s play “The Boy Comes Home” is a light comedy. It throws light on the generation gap. The old generation thinks that the young generation is immature just like a schoolboy and that it should obey the old generation. In fact, the young generation is mature and it can take the right decision.

Philip is a young man of 23. He lives with Uncle James who is his patron. He has returned after four years of war. On the very first morning, he comes for breakfast at ten. Uncle James keeps a strict discipline in the house. According to his orders, breakfast is served at eight.

Philip has row with Mrs. Higgins because of this. She threatens to leave the job if she is asked to prepare breakfast at ten. Philip handles her very cleverly.

Uncle James comes to see Philip. He wants to ask him to join his jam business; however, just before Philip’s entry into the room, he goes to sleep. In his dream, he meets with Philip. He orders him to join him in the jam business. However, Philip wants to learn some other profession. Uncle James thinks that Philip is just like a schoolboy and he cannot choose a career for himself.

To prove that he is mature, Philip relates his experience at Somme. However, Uncle James still insists on his own decision. He threatens to use the power of the purse. At this, Philip takes out a revolver and a bomb out of his pocket and frightens Uncle James to death. He agrees to do what Philip wants.

In the meanwhile, Uncle James wakes up. He is now a changed man. When Philip actually comes to talk to him, he is rather confused and repeats the same things what Philip has said in his dream. Philip at once agrees to join the jam business. Uncle James is not sure about his dream.

PIE AND THE TART

Introduction:

Hugh Chesterman’s play ‘The Pie and the Tart’ is set in the fifteenth century France. It portrays the then French life in a humorous way.

The Condition of Jean and Pierre:

John and Pierre are beggars. As the play opens, they pity themselves for not having taken food for the past few days. Pierre and Jean are roaming in the street because they do not have a house. They both talk about their troubles. Pierre says that he was arrested for begging and the judge did not consider him as a human being. They both plan to get some food by begging.

Gaultier and Marion:

They both decide to go to different streets and beg. Jean goes to Gaultier’s bakery shop and knocks the door. Gaultier scolds him and shuts the door. On the other street, Jean knocks the back door of the bakery and Marion: Gaultier’s wife scolds him. Gaultier comes out of the house with Marion and says that he is going to dine with the Mayor. He says that he would send a person to take the eel pie from the shop for dining. Gaultier says that the person would kiss her hand to get the pie. Marion agrees for the plan.

Jean’s Plan:

Jean overhears their plan. He asks Pierre to kiss Marion’s hand and get the pie. Pierre goes to the bakery and says that Gaultier has sent him and he tries to kiss her hand. Marion believes him and gives him the pie. Both Jean and Pierre enjoy eating the pie. They both liked the pie very much. Pierre says that he saw a tart in their house and asks Jean to get the tart as he got the pie.

Gaultier’s Return: 

In the meanwhile, Gaultier comes home angrily and says that the Mayor is not in home. He asks Marion to give the eel pie. Marion says that she has given it to a person. Gaultier scolds her for being stupid. At this time, Jean comes to the door asking for the tart. Gaultier beats him up and asks for the pie. Jean says that Pierre has got the pie. He also brings Pierre to Gaultier.   Pierre’s Idea: Pierre comes there and says that he gave the pie to the Mayor, who came home just then. He says that the Mayor had asked for the tart. Gaultier feels happy. Thus the boys manage to dupe the gullible Gaultier couple.

REFUND

The play ‘Refund’ is full of humour which deals with an extraordinarily ludicrous situation. The main character in the play is Wasserkopf. Wasserkopf in German means one with a ‘water-head’, an eccentric person. His is forty years old. The play opens with the visit of an alumnus to his former school with a peculiar motive. He wanted the principal to refund the tuition fees that he paid to the school while he was a student. He claimed the refund because according to him he did not learn anything at school. He retorted that his school certificate was useless as he had not been able to secure a job so far. This unique idea of claiming a refund of fees was given to him by his classmate, Leaderer.

The Principal, who had never encountered such a baffling situation before, summons an emergency meeting of the staff. The Masters did not take long to realize that they were dealing with a crafty and cunning individual. Wasserkopf’s idea was to take a re-examination, fail in the exam and go home with a refund. Therefore, they decided to outsmart the former student by proving all his answers right, however erroneous they might be. The Mathematics Master said that in the implementation of the play they had to stick together. They had to be united and ought to help each other in implementing their plan.

The first question was from the History Master. The Master asked him how many years the ‘Thirty years’ war lasted. The answer was in the question itself. But Wasserkopf who was keen on giving wrong answers, said that the thirty years war lasted seven metres. The History Master did not know how to prove this answer right. Fortunately for him, the Mathematics Master aided him by proving that the answer was right on the basis of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The Master argued that time and space are relative terms and therefore years can be represented in terms of metre. Therefore, Wasserkopf’s answer was right.

 One by one each teacher put forth questions to him and justified his wrong answers to be correct and they marked him excellent. Though Wasserkopf provided wrong answers and used abusive words to each teacher, they did not show their anger because they had to prove that he was an excellent student.

The Physics Master’s question was whether objects actually become smaller as people moved away from it or if it was an optical illusion. To this question, the answer given by Wasserkopf was ‘Ass’. This is also proved correct by the Physics Master who demonstrated that the melancholic look of the ass is also an optical illusion. Therefore, Wasserkopf has given a metaphorical explanation.

 The Geography Master asked him “What city of the same name is the Capital of the German Province of Brunswick?” The Geography Master did not have much difficulty in proving that the capital of the German Province of Brunswick is ‘Same’ as Wasserkopf had insisted.

 The Mathematics Master was the smartest of them all. He laid a clever trap and the student fell into that trap. First, the Master asked the student an ‘easy’(which is actually difficult) question, on the circumference of a one-hundred and nine sided regular polyhedron. The question shocked all the Masters and the Principal. Wasserkopf, with all his knowledge, would have found that question difficult. But he gave an almost correct answer. The Mathematics Master said that the student had failed in Mathematics and hence should be given the refund. And he cleverly trapped Wasserkopf and made him calculate the exact amount that should be refunded. Wasserkopf did not realize that this was his difficult question. He calculated the exact amount and said it was 6,450 crowns and 50 Heller. Once the Mathematics Master got the exact answer he revealed to Wasserkopf that the second question was his ‘difficult’ question.

Thus through the combined efforts of all the masters Wasserkopf was made to pass the re-examination. Finally, he was shown the door without a refund. The masters had finally succeeded in outwitting a crafty and sly pupil.

The Discovery

Herman Ould’s play ‘The Discovery’ dramatizes the events on the last night of Christopher Columbus’ sailing expedition to search for a sea-route to India. The crew is restless at the outset and becomes eager for a fight as the play unfolds. The high-handed attitude of Columbus and absence of sympathy for the justified complaints of the crew leads to a situation close to mutiny. Destiny, however has decided to bring laurels to Columbus and crown his efforts with the discovery of a new land. The play conveys both the strengths and flaws in the character of this great explorer.

            The background of the play is a ship called ‘Santa Maria’ wherein it was driven by the sailors who were governed by a Captain named Columbus in a venture of discovering a new land.  The play opens with sailors on board; Juan (sailor) was kneeling and adjusting the ropes that support the ship for sail.  Diego Garcia another seaman laughs and talks ill about the captain. Juan now appreciates the views of Diego and says Columbus is an unfortunate captain. 40 seamen were working under Columbus and they were nudging and nagging on the captain to return home. 

Columbus comes to the spot when the two (Pedro and Diego) talk about mutiny (fight against authority).  Columbus is a tall man who was around 46 years of age and easily irritable.  He suspects the conversation that takes place between Pedro and Diego.  Later Pepe (page boy) appears from the hatch. Columbus prays for good wind.  Wind is God for him. Pedro says that all the seamen longs to get back to their children, wife, friends, and sweet hearts and they urge to return back home. 

            Pedro points out to Columbus that the seaman does not have the vision to discover a new land. Columbus confesses that he is an impatient person and gets angry very easily.  Pedro speaks on behalf of his fellow sailors stating that they were patiently waiting in the hope to discover Spain.  But we are yet to discover anything and the ill luck follows us.  Suddenly Pepe runs up to the captain and says that he hates all the seamen, since they drink and sing ill about the captain.  Pedro is now asked to stop the noise of singing but the seamen never listened.  This made Columbus more restless and angry.  Now, Francisco appears and tells Columbus that his fellow sailors are very angry on the captain and warns him that the anger of the sailors is dangerous and harmful to Columbus.

            Pedro was now asked by the captain to arrange for a meeting with the crew in the ship.  In the meeting the captain’s view was opposed by Francisco (head of the seamen) in discovering a new land saying that there is a limit for duty and the sailors are home sick and they wanted to meet their beloveds.  Again the seamen begins to sing which kindles the anger of the captain and calls the sound as the ‘snarling of angry beast’. Francisco takes up a big stick and says that the discipline is a thing of the past. Columbus now orders to meet Guillermo Ires (seamen) who makes the roar of songs.  He tries to stop them and warns them that they will spend the rest of the night in prison.  He wants Guillermo to get down. 

            Guillermo tells Columbus that they have waited long and he tried to test the patience too much and he wants the ship ‘Santa Maria’ to go back to Spain.  Captain pays high respect to Guillermo as a sailor but sometimes he couldn’t resist the tongue of Guillermo. Columbus tries to prove other sailors that he is an authoritative person and the sailors began to rebel. Pepe now stands between the rebellious sailors and the captain.  Pepe is the only loyal person in Columbus discovery.  Pedro tells Columbus that his loyalty has never been in question.  Juan says he and others are simple men.  Guillermo promises to wait till the next day.  Francisco proves that he is not on the side of Columbus.  Finally the next day the land is sighted.  There is happiness all around.  Finally Columbus discovered the new land.

                                                  The Shirt by Francis Dillon

            A king who has everything is not happy. The queen convenes a meeting to solve the problem.  The meeting is attended by the Chancellor, nobles, councilors, magicians, and some commoners. The Court jester, the poet, and the leader of the army were also present.

Buckram is a commoner who feels that the jester must introduce new jokes. Buckram brings a physician from Germany who says that the king must wear the shirt of a happy man  for seven days to be happy.  Then a committee is formed to form a workable definition of happiness. The committee consists of forty two definitions. The forty two definitions were reduced to two. One definition favours the brain, and the other favours the brawn.

            The queen is still unhappy. She searches for a happy man throughout the country and she is disappointed. She wants to give up her search and return to her country.  At that time, she sees a beggar. The beggar is singing happily. He says that he has no money.  He does not need money. He sings because he likes to sing. The queen is happy. At last, she has found a happy man.

            The queen offers to take the beggar to the palace, but he prefers to remain at the gate. Finally, he is taken to the Court. The king asks for his shirt, but the beggar replies that he has no shirt. The king is so much amused and he starts laughing.

He could not control his laughter, and he continues to laugh. Thus his melancholy is gone completely, and everybody is happy.

                                                   DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

Short Summary:

 ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ is a classic horror story. Dr. Jekyll is a kindly old doctor, with two very old friends, Utterson and Lanyon. Mr. Hyde is a smaller, younger man, with a capacity for evil that seems to emanate from him and repels everyone he meets. But there are links between them. Hyde gives the family of a child he has beaten a cheque signed by Jekyll. Hyde has a key to the back entrance to Jekyll’s house, and Hyde can come and go at will and give orders to Jekyll’s servants. Most disturbing of all for Mr Utterson, Dr Jekyll’s lawyer, is the doctor’s will, which leaves all the doctor’s money to Hyde should the doctor disappear for three months or die. Clearly, Hyde has some power over the doctor, and the lawyer fears he may murder him for his money.

Gradually, Hyde’s acts of cruelty get worse, culminating in the murder of a famous man. Finally, we learn the truth about the two men. They are one and the same. Jekyll has been conducting experiments to release the evil man inside his good self, but the experiments get out of control. Mr. Hyde emerges at will and it takes stronger doses of chemicals to return to the form of Jekyll. Jekyll runs out of chemicals and Hyde emerges forever, only to kill himself before he can be captured.

The major theme of the novel is the dual nature of the human psyche. Within every person there is a good and bad side. At the end, Dr Jekyll wants to kill(suggested in his name) the part of himself that he hides ( an even clearer name parallel).  The novel represents a battle between the good and the evil. It seems that evil triumphs in the end, since Mr Hyde overcomes Dr Jekyll. Evil triumphs because human beings are weak-willed. Does Jekyll keep changing into Hyde because Hyde is too strong, or because Jekyll craves the more interesting and exciting evil personality?

Detailed Summary:

 On one of their regular walks through London, Mr. Enfield, Mr. Utterson’s friend, points out a door to a dark, ugly house. He then tells Utterson a story about something that happened to him when he was on his way home one night at three o’clock in the morning. He saw an ugly, little man step on a child and then walk away. Enfield ran after the man and caught him. The crowd of people that had gathered around the little girl were very angry and demanded money from the little man, whose name was Mr. Hyde. Hyde went through the door to an ugly house and came back with a cheque signed by another man, who Enfield knew to be kind and famous for his work. Enfiled doesn’t say who this man is, but Utterson believes he knows anyway that the man is Mr. Hyde.

 Utterson has Dr Jekyll’s will. His beneficiary is Hyde, the ugly, little man who nobody likes and Utterson is very unhappy about this. He goes to see Dr Lanyon, an old friend of both his and Dr Jekyll’s, to ask if he knows anything about Mr. Hyde. Lanyon knows nothing but he tells Utterson that he no longer sees Jekyll very much because of his strange scientific ideas. One day, Utterson meets Mr. Hyde by the door to the old house and he realizes that there is something evil about the man. He asks to see Dr Jekyll, as the door is really a back entrance to Jekyll’s house, but Hyde says he is not at home. Later, Utterson goes to the main entrance of Jekyll’s house, but the servant also says that the doctor is not at home. He tells Utterson, however, that Mr. Hyde is free to come and go in the house and that he can give orders to the servants when Jekyll isn’t there. About two weeks, later after a dinner, Utterson asks Jekyll about Mr. Hyde, but Jekyll reveals little and he makes Utterson promise to help Hyde with the will if anything happens to him.

Nearly a year later, a servant sees an old man murdered with a stick from her window. The murderer behaves like an animal and the servant recognizes him as Mr Hyde. She informs the police, who find a letter addressed to Utterson in the old man’s pocket. The police visit Utterson and he takes them to Hyde’s house, but he isn’t there. Utterson then visits Jekyll and finds him looking very ill. Jekyll shows Utterson a letter from Hyde in which he says sorry for the things he has done. Later, Utterson shows the letter to his chief clerk, who claims that the handwriting is very similar to that of Dr Jekyll.

For some time, nobody hears anything about Mr. Hyde, and Jekyll beings to socialize again. One day, however Jekyll refuse to see Utterson. Utterson goes to see Lanyon, who is dying. Lanyon tells Utterson that he will know a terrible secret after his death. When Lanyon dies, Utterson receives a letter that can only be opened after Jekyll’s death. Utterson, a good and honest lawyer, puts it in his safe. One day, on a walk with Enfield, Utterson decides to shout up to Jekyll from the courtyard and invite him to go with them for a walk. They see Jekyll at the window looking very sick. He refuses their offer kindly, but suddenly Utterson sees a terrible look of fear on Jekyll’s face.

Jekyll’s servant visits Utterson and tells him something is terribly wrong. Utterson goes with the servant to Jekyll’s house and when they knock on the door of the doctor’s workroom, they hear a voice that is not his. The servant shows Utterson a note, which was left outside the room asking for a chemical. The handwriting seems to be Jekyll’s.  The servant also says he saw a person come out of the workroom and he suspects that it’s Hyde. They break the door down and find Hyde wearing Jekyll’s clothes. He is dead. There is a letter from Jekyll asking Utterson to read Lanyon’s letter. Lanyon explains that Jekyll drinks chemicals that transform him into the evil person, Mr Hyde. He says he saw the transformation himself in his office.

We learn about Jekyll’s story from a letter he left for Utterson. When he was a young man, Jekyll realized he had a good side, which wanted to work hard as a doctor, and a bad side, which had a great love of fun. He  began thinking about the possibility of separating the two sides. Through experiments with chemicals he managed to do this and Mr. Hyde was created. At first, Jekyll was happy, but then the experiments got out of control. Hyde began emerging at will, becoming stronger than Jekyll. Jekyll began to worry about the bad things that Hyde was doing. Progressively, Jekyll had to take stronger doses of chemicals to become himself again. Finally, he ran out of chemicals and Hyde emerged forever. Fear of being hung as a murderer, however, makes him commit suicide.

With due acknowledgements to Penguin’s Reader Teacher Support Program,http://ekandek.blogspot.in, http://englishnotesforba.blogspot.in and http://notedesk.blogspot.in/2012/12/i-semester-general-english-notes.html for their contributions.

The softcopy of the above material is available at supplementarystudymaterialforenglish.blogspot.com