XI - Look at a Teacup

Unit - 2

Look at a Teacup - Analysis

- Patricia Hampl

"Look at a teacup" is an essay written by Patricia Hampl. The essay shows two major themes; they are the relationship between the writer and her mother and the connection between present and the past. Both themes are presented by a teacup.

The teacup was bought by writer's mother in 1939 in Czechoslovakia when the Second World War started. The same year the writer's mother got married to an American who was born in Czechoslovakia. The same year Czechoslovakia was destroyed by the armies of Hitler. Now the teacup has been handed to the writer by her mother. It connects the mother and the writer and past and present because it was made in 1939 in Czechoslovakia and was with writer's mother then and now it has been with her. The writer likes her mother to give other things and the true historical information about her mother's past life. But her mother doesn't want to talk about past. So the only way writer can know about her mother's past life and her ancestral land Czechoslovakia is by looking at the teacup. It means the writer reads about her mother's past history in the teacup. Her mother hands over the culture and tradition to her by giving her teacup. By handing over teacup, her mother wants her to get married, but the writer refuses it. Her mother and writer are different in their opinions in other senses also. When the writer was small, she said work was most important thing in the world. But her mother said, family was important for a woman. Likewise, when her mother wanted her to get married, the writer thought that many people didn't get married. So it was not necessary to marry. She thought past was important but her mother thought future was important. Her mother wanted her daughter (writer) to carry on the culture but the writer wants to set her future life herself.

The cup is a detail, a small uncharred finger from the mid-century bonfire. The mid-century bonfire refers to the Second World War that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The word 'finger' refers to the work of art from Czechoslovakia. When Czechoslovakia was attacked by German soldiers, many things were destroyed, especially by fire. The cup, however, remained safe because it was taken to America by writer's mother. The cup was not burnt. Looking at the cup, the writer gets lots more information about Czechoslovakia at the time of its destruction by relating the pictures painted in the cup with the incidents that took place in the war. So, cup is a detail, a small uncharred finger from mid-century bonfire.

The writer says 'many things fell that year'. The year refers to 1939 when Second World War started in Europe. The war caused many things to fall, for example, human bodies fell dead in the streets after the explosions caused by falling bombs. The sentence also refers to people falling into their marriage beds. Many people got married in 1939 because they were worried about the war. Men were worried that they would be killed so they got married before they were sent to fight. Even young people lay dead on the battle field. Not only that, many countries fell on the hands of other countries when they were attacked by enemies.

There are pictures of falling flowers painted inside the cup. These flowers seem to have been dropped into the cup and they are falling towards the bottom. The writer has compared the falling flowers from falling bombs to getting married. By showing this, she shows her hatred towards marriage. Not only that, when the innocent people including the women and children were killed in war, people's faith on traditional values like marriage and their faith on humanity was lost. They lost their faith on sovereignty of their countries when they fell under the control of enemies. The falling flowers also refer to the destruction of their culture due to Second World War.

The teacup is an example of the art of Czechoslovakia. It is a finger and the nation Czechoslovakia is body. The writer shows that body (nation) was destroyed but finger (teacup) remained safe, representing the past glory of Czechoslovakia.

"The cup is a detail, a small uncharred finger from the mid century bonfire"

The sentence "The cup is a detail, a small uncharred finger from the mid century bonfire" has related various events of the past from just a small cup. The cup here, has depicted the history, according to the writer. The writer has compared the cup with the detail or source of information speaking the past. The mid-century bonfire refers to the Second World War that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The word 'finger' refers to the work of art from Czechoslovakia. When Czechoslovakia was attacked by German soldiers, many things were destroyed, especially by fire. The arts, cultural heritages etc. were lost due to the destruction caused by war. The cup, however, remained safe because it was taken to America by writer's mother. Thus, the cup was not burnt. Looking at the cup, the writer got lots of information about Czechoslovakia at the time of its destruction by relating the pictures painted in the cup, with the various incidents that took place in the war.

Thus, the cup is a small piece of art which remained undamaged in the destruction but includes the past within itself, and acts as a mirror of the bitter truths and heart breaking reality of the war and the past as a whole.

"Many things fell that year"

The sentence, 'Many things fell that year' takes us to the past, to 1939 when the Second World War began in Europe. The war brought massive destructions and caused many things to fall. In this context, the human bodies fell dead in streets after the explosions caused by the falling bombs. The sentence also refers to people falling into their marriage beds. Many people got married in 1939 because they were worried about the war and their life. The virginity and identity of women fell and they were confined to household affairs. Even the young people lay dead in the battle field. The sentence also talks about the infrastructures and nation development works that were collapsed as a result of war. Not only that, many countries fell on the hands of other countries when they were attacked by the enemies. The pride, prestige, sovereignty and nationality fell and collapsed. Citizens fell into the pit of slavery. The art, cultures, unity and everything else of the nation fell and collapsed.

Thus, this sentence has emphasized on the fact that the beautiful achievements of mankind fell into the dirtiest trap laid by mankind itself.

XI - Malini

Unit - 5

Malini - Analysis

- Rabindranath Tagore

The play "Malini" written by Rabindranath Tagore deals with love and hatred on the one hand the love has been shown in the purest form which is all indusive and all loving shown by the main character Malini. On the other hand in the name of love generating hatred and violence as shown by the character Kemankar. Moreover, this play is remarkable example how the sense of forgiveness is the best of human being. The essence of any religion should be based on humanity instead of drawing the demarcation line among different religions.

Malini is a princess who lives in simplicity. She does not want to put expensive clothes and jewelries as a result the queen is worried due to the behavior of her daughter. The queen expects Malini to behave like the princess but Malini is not showing in nature. She knows the bitter reality that outside the palace there are many with pain suffering and misery. She wants to put herself at the service of such sufferer. She believes that this world is like a stormy ocean where all human beings are trap inside the ship which is driven by inefficient captain. All the human beings are misled. Therefore Malini wants to drive the ship to the right destination.

Malini has followed a new creed (belief) i.e. Buddhism which has bothered the Brahmins who follows Hinduism. The Brahmins being afraid of Malini’s new creed demand for the banishment of Malini from the palace. The king remains in the state of confusion because on one hand he is a father and on the other hand he is a king. Neither he can banish his own daughter nor can he ignore the demand of his citizens. But quietly surprisingly Malini herself wants her own banishment. So that she can be among the laymen.

Supriya and Kemankar play the leading role among the Brahmins. They are friend to each other since their childhood and they have been taught same philosophy. However, there lies a huge gap in their way of thinking. Supriya is liberal and flexible in the sense that he can accept the ideas even if the truth. But on the other hand kemankar is rigid and dogmatic who cannot tolerate any ides i.e. against his religion. Whether that is base on truth or not. Kemankar being very much angry with Malini, makes the secrete plan to hire foreign armies and capture the kingdom along with the death of Malini. This secrete plan was known to Supriya therefore he revels Kemankar’s plan to the king. Kemankar is brought to the palace; he is put in chain and is asked for his last wish. Kemankar wishes Supriya to be in front of him. When Supriya is brought in front of kemankar they go through long conversation. When kemankar accuse Supriya of betraying his best friend and going against own aged long relation but Supriya keeps on defending himself by telling that he had not betrayed anyone rather he had supported Malini as an individual as for her beauty but for her sense of humanity, kindness, helpfulness and simplicity. Kemankar wants to hug Supriya. As Supriya is hugged he is hit on head with chain by kemankar. Supriya is dead on the spot.

The greatness of Malini is shown when she requests the king to forgive kemankar for his crime. Malini becomes the shining example of sense of forgiveness. When the anger of the king gets intensified seeing kemankar doing double crime but that has not affected Malini and that has not spoiled her sense of humanity…..

XI - The loving Mother

Unit - 1

The Loving Mother - Summary

Shoji Sakota was pharmacy in Japan .who live in the building where he had a drug store because his wife had died many years ago .As he lived in same building he sometimes worked in the drug store late as night .One stormy night while he was preparing annual business report as it was the end of the year, he heard a knock on the door .He ignored it and worked continuously. He heard the knock again thought it was caused due to wind. When he heard the knock for the third time, that was louder than before, he thought it was emergency. He went to the door, lifted the shade and put on the outside who seemed very nervous. He thought it might be the trick of women to rob him, so he said the shop had been closed and said to come on next morning. When she requested him to give something for her baby and said that was dying, he opens the door.

The women for an ame on the stick. She seemed abnormally pale she had shoulder length hair and she was wearing simple kimono that seem it had been worn to bed. He gave her an ame and paying money for it, she went quickly. Sakota stops working and thought about the woman. He found the woman quite mysterious. Her eye shows that she was from another world. The same thing repeated for another two nights. He wanted to ask her why she had not come on the day time but forgot when she was there. One night he asks his friend to take the photo of the woman to look at her face clearly. When she came again his friend took a photograph hiding behind the door, to their surprise the woman was not seen though they had seen her through the lens of camera. They decided to follow her if she came again.

When she came again they followed after she went away from the store. She didn’t mind them coming after her. After walking for some time she enters the building, climbing the third floor and disappears. They saw a door open and went inside. There in the room they saw a baby licking the ame. There was the person who was sleeping beside the baby. They were surprised to see the woman sleeping so fast. They thought she was acting of sleeping. Sakota went closer to her and touched her body, she didn’t move. She was cold and lifeless. They found that she had died many days ago…

XI - Oops! How's That Again?

Unit - 3

Oops! How's That Again?   - Analysis

 Roger Rosenbatt

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The essay "Oops! How's That Again?" written by Roger Rosenbatt deals with verbal error and outlines the responsible factors behind such errors. The essay starts with different types of verbal errors such as slip of tongue, mistranslation, bloopers and spoonerism. The essay also takes the reference of many psychologists and linguists to talk about the reasons behind such verbal error.

The writer in the essay talks about 'slip of tongue' as a verbal error which can also be taken as a careless or slight mistake. Sometimes, we want to say something but accidently, we happen to say something else. The proper example for slip of tongue is, businessman Peter Balfour wished Prince Charles long life and conjugal happiness with lady Jane instead of Lady Diana. Likewise, the Governor James Thompson was introduced as 'The mayor of Illinois'.

Mistranslation is another kind of verbal error which occurs if somebody is not good at translating one language into another. Nervousness and carelessness can also cause mistranslation to some extent. For example the slogan, "Come alive with Pepsi" was translated in German as "Come alive out of the grave with Pepsi". And elsewhere, it was translated as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave". Likewise, the writer talks about blooper which is known as a public mistake. This type of verbal error often occurs on television and radio. For instance, Herbert Hoover was introduced as Hoobert Heever.

Finally, the writer talks about spoonerism. When the initial (beginning) sounds of the letters of the words are replaced with one another, spoonerism occurs. For example: One spooner scolded his student, "You have hissed all my mystery lectures." Actually he meant to say:"You have missed all my history lectures."

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for the complete analysis of this chapter....