Even though women were center stage in the 19th-century colonial nationalist conversation in Bengal, they were not invited to be a part of it. High caste, Brahmin Hindu traditionalists had a strong foothold on not only women’s freedom, but their simple value as individuals. The woman went from an innocent child-bride, to being a confined wife, and then an outcaste widow. Against their policy to stay out of the conversation, the British colonizers finally decided to step into the growing dialogue. Even though there were advocates for them, women continued to be discussed as objects between the British colonizers and Indian men, not as an individual to be considered. Exploring the literature of the time, written both by men and women, shows that though the women may not have been summoned to speak, their voice was being raised. In his short stories, “The Living and the Dead” (1991) and “Exercise-book,” (1991) Rabindranath Tagore brings forth the unnoticed woman’s voice in the Bengali nationalism colonial conversation, and he does so specifically through references to nature imagery. Through this imagery and in contrast to men’s conservative, oppressive, and “pure” desire for women in the nationalism conversation, one is able to realize what each woman was uniquely able to call out and contribute- the desire for societal, individual, and intellectual freedom.
Within “The Exercise Book,” Tagore uses nature imagery to both express how young brides felt, but also to critique the
Reviews the amendments of the 1868 Indian Act, highlighting the conflicts of superiority of rights to Indian men over women. Discusses the avoidance of violence and discrimination against women within communities and the need for an equal relationship between genders
The Graveyard book, written by Neil Gaiman is a stupendously well-crafted book detailing the life of Nobody Owens, or Bod, a boy whose family has been ruthlessly slaughtered. Bod crawls to the graveyard next to his house, where the inhabitant ghosts take him in and adopt him, where he lives until Bod decides that he wants to live with his own kind: the living. While it is true that all books open up worlds of literature, no book does it better than the Graveyard book of leaving you with an utterly unforgettable experience you will never find in any other book. The Graveyard book accomplishes this task thorough it’s exhilarating, hard-to-put-down nature, it’s age appropriate writing style, it’s inspirational plotline, and lastly, it’s extremely creative ideas and various concepts found throughout the book.
Some say that people never change. They may be right, but no one really knows. What people do know is that every living person has one thing in common, something that will never change. Everyone will die, there’s no way around it. Every “new” and “old” generation will succumb to the same ghastly fate. The differences in the “old” generation and “new” generation sometimes collide in life. The contrast between generations in James Joyce’s “The Dead” is similar to the contrast in the generations today. The “baby boomer” generation is the old fashioned generation preoccupied with hospitality and tradition, where as, “generation x” is the new generation, preoccupied with knowledge and intellect.
James Joyce emerged as a radical new narrative writer in modern times. Joyce conveyed this new writing style through his stylistic devices such as the stream of consciousness, and a complex set of mythic parallels and literary parodies. This mythic parallel is called an epiphany. “The Dead” by Joyce was written as a part of Joyce’s collection called “The Dubliners”. Joyce’s influence behind writing the short story was all around him. The growing nationalist Irish movement around Dublin, Ireland greatly influences Joyce’s inspiration for writing “The Dubliners”. Joyce attempted to create an original portrayal of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The historical
Nearly everything could be represented by a god or goddess. Death and the afterlife was represented by Osiris. Aten and Ra were sun gods. The Egyptians felt that they needed to pray and build temples for these gods and goddesses to stay in their favor. These gods were believed to control everything, and if the Egyptians pleased them they would be rewarded. They worshipped their gods by making offerings. They would leave flowers and food in temples to show their respect. Commoners were not often allowed in temples. Priests had plenty of power because the gods were often feared. Most Egyptians did not actually love the gods, but feared their wrath. Commoners could occasionally attend ceremonies. At these ceremonies animals were often sacrificed.
When one reads Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s “The Interview”, it is very clear how gender roles are predominate within the family that is portrayed. Using this family as an extension to represent all of India, Jhabvala gives us some insight into the daily lives led over there. The story is told through the eyes of an upper-class man who is completely dependent upon his family, specifically his brother and the women in the house. This essay will examine the male and female roles that are presented in this short story, how they parallel each other, and the deeper meanings hidden within the text.
In the novel The Dead, Gabriel Conroy, who is the nephew of Julia and Kate Morkan, is the main character of the story. One night he and his wife attended a party, which was given by his two aunts, and there were many other members in the party. The story revolves around their life and memories.Gabriel Conroy felt a blur between his soul and the dead. Some people died, but they are still alive because they have true love. Some people are alive, but they are still dead because they never love.I like the story for three reasons.
Mahasweta Devi’s short story, “Giribala,” is about the life of Giribala, a girl of Talsana village located in India. Born into a caste in a time when it was still customary to pay a bride-price, Giri is sold to Aulchand by her father. From this point on, we see a series of unfortunate, tragic events that take place in Giri’s life as a result of the circumstances surrounding Giri’s life. There are many issues in Giri’s life in India that Devi highlights to readers. First, the economic instability of the village leads to an extremely poor quality of life for the lower, working classes. Next, the cruel role of women determined by men in society is to either satisfy the sexual desires of men or to reproduce offspring who can work or be sold off to marriages. There are also other social norms and beliefs which discriminate against women that will be discussed.
Almost everybody who falls in love may think that they will be the same person as they were before meeting someone and putting then into your life. That as a matter of fact is very different. You may not know your real you when loving and caring so much about someone. There are many things to think about whenever you find your loved one. For example, their past friends, their past life , and actions. The author of this story “The Dead” makes us reveal various aspects of Gabriel’s character by using imagery, point of view, and diction.
Medieval China, as seen in the Stories from a Ming Collection, was characterized by distinct separations between men and women’s abilities, typical old fashioned family structure, and a desire to advance their social status. Throughout all the stories in this book, it dives deep into different aspects of how men and women are treated, how families were structured and how that affects their lives, as well as the values these people held. A very common trend in the stories was how different men and women were treated and the limitations they may or may not had.
“Nuit of the Living Dead” written by David Sedaris, the setting in rural France leads to part of the comedic element of this story. Reading this story very much feels like trying to follow an ADD chipmunk. There are generally several thought patterns running simultaneously throughout the entire thing. It’s a quick, fun, charmingly quirky read.
On Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross For my book review, I read On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Dr. Kubler-Ross was the first person in her field to discuss the topic of death. Before 1969, death was considered a taboo. On Death and Dying is one of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century. The work grew out of her famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this paper, I give a comprehensive book review as well as integrate topics learned in class with Dr. Kubler-Ross' work. Like Piaget's look at developmental stages in children, there are also stages a person experiences on the journey toward death. These five stages are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining,
Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.
Although a scene of a funeral home might come to mind when a reader first hears a short story aptly named “The Dead,” the tale actually takes place in the festive setting of a winter dance at the home of the two aunts of the main character, Gabriel Conroy. James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” has a literal title, because its main concept is death – both physical death and spiritual death.
She makes an important point when trying to go beyond the female (otherness), by paying careful attention to differences among women themselves, and by putting emphasize on the multiple realties that women faces, and by that trying to uncover universalist interpretations (Parpart and Marchand 1995:6). She reveals the inadequacy of binary categories by showing us how power is defined in binary terms, between the people who have (men) and the people who do not (women). This is a consequence of seeing women as a homogenous group, and contributes to the reinforcement of the binary division between men and women (Mohanty 1991:64). By assuming that women are a already constituted group with the same experiences and interests, gender is looked upon as something that can be applied cross cultures (Mohanty 1991:54), and it also produces an assumption about the “average third world woman” as poor and uneducated, in contrast to the educated, modern Western women (Mohanty 1991:56). Implicit in the binary analytic lies the assumption that the third world woman only can be liberated through western rationality. Mohanty is making an important point when emphasising the need to challenge these objectifications (Udayagiri 1995:163).