Common Wealth Literature PDF
Common Wealth Literature PDF
Common Wealth Literature PDF
THASLEEM
Telephone Conversation (Wole Soyinka )
The theme of Telephone conversation rests upon the conflict between the
protagonist and the absurdity of racism that makes the antagonist take a
negative stance towards him. The struggle begins with the protagonist’s
confession of being an African; a black man which sparks up the notions
of racism inside the landlady who denies renting him the house. The fear
of being judged on the merit of being a black man, projects a heavily
corrupt image of the society where individuality is at stake
The title reveals the fact that two people are talking on the phone, so the
beginning of the poem is on a positive note: The man is searching for a
house and the land lady has named a considerable price, and the area
where it is located is an impartial and not racially prejudiced. Also the
man could enjoy his privacy as the land lady does not live under the same
roof. The African man is ready to accept the offer, but maybe there has
been a similar incident in his past, for he stops and admits to her that he
is black, saying he prefers not to waste the time travelling there if she’s
going to refuse him on that bounds.
There is silence at the other end; silence which the black man thinks is
the reluctant result of an inbred sense of politeness. However he is wrong
because when she speaks again, she disregards all formalities and asks
him to explain how dark he is. The man first thinks he has misheard but
then realizes that that is not true as she repeats her question with a varying
emphasis. Feeling as if he has just been reduced to the status of a
machine, similar to the telephone in front of him, and asked to choose
which button he is, the man is so disgusted that he can literally smell the
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stench coming from her deceptive words and see red everywhere around
him. Ironically he is the one who is ashamed by the tense and awkward
silence which follows, and asks for clarification thinking sarcastically
that the lady was really helpful by giving him options to choose from. He
suddenly understands what she is trying to ask, and repeats her question
to her stating if she would like him to compare himself with chocolate,
dark or light? She dispassionately answers and his thoughts change as he
describes himself as a West African Sepia as it says in his passport. The
lady remains quite for a while, not wanting to admit to her ignorance, but
then she gives in to curiosity and asks what that is. He replies that it is
similar to brunette and she immediately clarifies that that’s dark.
Now the man has had enough of her insensitiveness. He disregards all
constraints of formality and mocks her outright, saying that he isn’t all
black, the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are completely
white, but he is foolish enough to sit on his bottom so it has been rubbed
black due to friction. But as he senses that she is about to slam the
receiver on him, he struggles one last time to make her reconsider,
pleading her to at least see for herself; only to have the phone slammed
on him.
Wole Soyinka uses two main literary devices to drive home the message
of the poem. The first of the two is imagery. Right at the beginning, the
imagery used to describe the mental image the man has of the woman:
“lipstick coated, gold rolled cigarette holder piped”, just from listening
to her voice shows one that he thinks that she is, socially speaking above
him, from a higher social class.
Then when he hears her question regarding how dark he is, he is so
humiliated and angry that he sees red everywhere. The imagery of the
huge bus squelching the black tar is symbolic of how the dominant white
community treats those belonging to the minor black one.
The next most evident use is that of irony. In the beginning of the poem,
the African says that he has to “self-confess” when he reveals his skin
color to the lady. The color of his skin is something that he has no control
over, and even if he did, it is not a sin to be dark skinned, so the fact that
the man feels ashamed and sorry for this is ironical and casts light on how
ridiculous racism is that one should apologize or be differentiated against
solely because of the color of one’s skin. Also, it seems almost comical
that anyone should be so submissive when he has actually committed no
mistakes.
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On the other hand, the lady is continuously described in positive terms,
suggesting that she is of a good breeding and upper class. Even when the
reader finds out that she is a shallow and racist person who exhibits
extreme insensitivity by asking crude questions, the man seems to think
that she is ‘considerate; and her clinical response to his question shows
only ‘light impersonality.’ The repeated and exaggerated assertions of the
woman’s good manners and sophistication drip with irony as her speech
contradict this strongly.
Also the basis of the woman rejecting to lease her house to the man is
because of the prejudiced notion that African Americans are a savage and
wild people. This idea is completely discredited by the ironical fact that
throughout the poem the man retains better manners and vocabulary than
the woman, using words such as “spectroscopic” and “rancid”, whereas
she does not know what West African Sepia is and is inconsiderate in her
inquiries. Using irony in this manner, Soyinka proves how absurd it is to
judge the intellect or character of a man depending on the color of his
skin only.
The poem deals with a foul subject, that of racism and prejudice, in a
lighthearted, almost comical manner. A most important device which
Soyinka has used to highlight this sense of racism, which was previously
widespread in western society, is that of the telephone. Had the person
been speaking face to face with the lady, this whole conversation would
never have taken place. She would have either refused outright, or would
have found a more subtle way of doing so. The whole back and forth
about ‘how dark’ the man is wouldn’t have occurred. Thus the telephone
is used to make the issue of racism clear and prove how nonsensical it
really is.
Written in an independent style and delivered in a passively sarcastic
tone, this poem is a potent comment on society. Soyinka might be
speaking through personal experience, judging by the raw emotions that
this poem subtly convey: those of anger, rage, shame, humility and an
acute sense of disgust at the apathy and inhumanity of humans who won’t
judge a book by its cover but would turn down a man for the color of his
skin. In today’s world, racism might be a dying concern; but that does
not mean that discrimination against other minorities has been
completely eradicated. Despite the progressing times, people continue to
harbor prejudices and illogical suspicions about things they do not
understand: may it be others ideals, religions or traditions and customs.
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Thus this poem remains a universal message for all of us, as Soyinka
manages to convey just how absurd all prejudices are by highlighting the
woman’s poor choice of rejecting the man just because he does not share
the same skin color.
‘Telephone Conversation’ is a favorite, both for its excellent use of rich
language and the timeless message it conveys.
Nothing remained
But self-confession. "Madam," I warned,
"I hate a wasted journey—I am African."
When the landlady asks for clarification, the narrator only confuses
matters further:
The insistence on the skin colour indicates that the landlady might accept
a light-skinned tenant who could "pass" at being white. However, this
only serves to increase her ignorance and insensitivity. The double
meaning in the final, innocent question, "wouldn't you rather / See for
yourself?", is hilarious because of the way that the speaker is actually
asking the landlady if she wants to see his bottom to check the colour.
Instead of talking something about the price and things concerning the
house renting, the two speakers talk about their skin color. This issue was
bought up by the landlady at first. There was a pun, 'indifferent', to shows
the intention of the landlady. From the word 'indifferent', the landlady
seems not too aware who her house is rented to, however, she does aware
From what she asks the caller, 'are you light of very dark', she determines
not to rent her house to an Africa, she's obviously discriminating the dark
people, which cause the speaker angry.
It is then the man decides not to rent the house, instead of telling the
woman how dark he is directly, he play word tricks on the woman.
The poet describes the woman 'lipstick coated, long gold-rolled cigarette-
holder piped', it seems that the woman is wealthy and well-educated, it's
a bit ironic, from the outlook of the woman, it seems that the poet want
to convey the idea that the woman is good and 'considerate', however, the
poet actually want to point out the outlook of a person doesn't mean
anything, the woman is actually arrogant and impolite in the view of the
poet.
The most sarcastic point is the woman doesn't understand what the man
means when he says 'sepia' and 'brunette', which both mean very dark in
color. From the words the man uses, he wants to convey that racism is
not fair in the society because the Caucasian judge the African low class
and uneducated only by looking at their appearance, however, he simply
plays the word tricks on the woman, although it's a bit rude, and it show
African can be more educated than the one who is white, this reinforces
the point that African deserves high status in the society, it is not only the
white people can take charge over the African.
In the last part of the poem, the poem make use of humor because the
woman doesn't seem to understand what he is talking about, so he asks
the woman if she wants to look at his whole body to see if it is whole
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black in color, he especially states 'his bottom is raven black'. Although
the woman wants to suppress her anger and be polite, instead, she can't
stand any longer and she offs the conversation first at last.
The poet thinks there shouldn't have any racism existed, people can't
judge other by only looking from their appearance, instead, they should
see and know others fully so as to judge what kind of people he is.
Just as the sentences are stilted, we get the impression of stilted-ness and
lack of connection between the narrator and the woman. The
conversation has been made awkward by the introduction of the race
question. The narrator and the woman are not relating to each other. They
are reduced to trying to figure each other out, or decode each other's
meaning.
Written in the first person narrative point of view, the poem “Telephone
Conversation” by Wole Soyinka is a poetic satire against the widely-
spread racism in the modern Western society. The poem is about a
telephone conversation in England between the poetic persona seeking to
rent a house and an English landlady who completely changes her attitude
towards him after he reveals his identity as a black African. The motif of
a microcosmic telephone conversation, therefore, is employed by the poet
to apply to a much broader, macrocosmic level where racial bigotry is
ridiculed in a contest of human intelligence, showcasing the poet’s
witticism as well as his ingenious sense of humour.
What makes him come to his senses from this sudden dumbfoundedness,
however, is ironically the foul smell of the telephone booth, which the
persona humorously refers to as a facility of children’s play. “Stench of
rancid breath of public hide-and-seek” dragged him out from his dream-
The contrastive images that the poet has so far established of the persona
of the African origin and the landlady of the western European society
serve to increase the tension in the atmosphere, precipitating the conflict
to its climactic moment. Although the African man had already provided
an answer, the landlady did not understand as she was not only bigoted,
but also definitely under-educated, as compared to the poetic
persona. She continued asking rudely, “…till truthfulness changed her
accent / Hard on the mouthpiece “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding /
“DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” Paying no attention to the
landlady’s disrespect for him, the persona started to turn the table
completely against her, as he took a firm control over the conversation,
defending the dignity and integrity of his ethnic identity from the ruthless
onslaught of the racist landlady. To effectively show this, the poet
juxtaposes various major European hair colours together in a deliberately
confusing manner, suggesting that although being an African, the persona
is nonetheless a person no different from any Europeans – “Facially, I am
brunette, but, madam, you should see / The rest of me. Palm on my hand,
soles of my feet / Are a peroxide blond. Priction, caused – / Foolishly,
A River
In Madurai,
city of temples and poets,
who sang of cities and temples,
every summer
a river dries to a trickle
in the sand,
baring the sand ribs,
straw and women's hair
clogging the watergates
at the rusty bars
under the bridges with patches
of repair all over them
the wet stones glistening like sleepy
crocodiles, the dry ones
shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun
The poets only sang of the floods.
He said:
the river has water enough
to be poetic
about only once a year
and then
it carries away
in the first half-hour
three village houses,
a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda
and one pregnant woman
expecting identical twins
with no moles on their bodies,
with different coloured diapers
to tell them apart.
The above lines satirize and debunk the traditional romantic view of the
river Vaikai in Madurai, by the ancient poets. He is derisive too, of the
new poets who have no wit but to blindly copy their predecessors.
Humor is presented in the names of the cows and the colored diapers of
the twins to help tell them apart. Yet this too, is an attack on the orthodoxy
of Hinduism. While cows are given names, no one knows who the
pregnant woman is nor are they concerned. Human sacrifices were
performed to appease the gods because of droughts in Tamil Nadu, and
the drowned twin babies may be a reference to such cruel and orthodox
rituals.
This becomes ultimately clear that they are not sympathetic with
suffering human beings. They are totally callous and indifferent. This
kind of attitude makes their poetry weak and unappealing, dry and
cheerless.
In this poem, the poet refers to the river Vaikai which flows through the
city of Madurai. Madurai, reputed for its rich cultural and spiritual
heritage, is a well known city in Tamil Nadu. In the poem A River the
poet presents two strikingly contrasting pictures of the river: a vivid
picture of the river in the summer season and the river in its full flow
when the floods arrive with devastating fury.
In the summer, the river is almost barren and arid. Only a very thin stream
of water flows revealing the sand ribs on the bed of the river. There is
also the picture of the river in the monsoon season, flooded and with its
immense destructive power yet startlingly beautiful in its majestic flow.
Both the old and the new poets have celebrated the beauty of the flooded
river but they were not alive to or sympathetic with human suffering
caused by the monstrous flood.
2. What do the images of the river drying to a trickle and the sand ribs
suggest?
The river drying to a trickle conveys the scorching heat of summer that
dries up everything and makes life unbearably miserable with the
accompanying famine and starvation.
The dried river exposes the sand dunes at the bottom of the river and they
bring to our mind the skeletal rib cages of a starved human being.
Both the images bring out the ugly aspect of the dried up river that brings
drought, which in turn causes gruesome misery and starvation. Human
suffering caused by the drought is suggested by the river drying to a
trickle exposing the bone-dry expanse of the sand dunes.
3. What do the straw and women's hair do? What do they signify?
4. How does the poet describe the stones or boulders at the bottom of the
river? To what does he compare them? Why?
Using the figure of speech simile, the poet compares the wet stones to
sleepy crocodiles and the dry boulders to shaved buffalos.
The sleepy voracious crocodiles hint at the impending disaster because
of the unhygienic and polluted environment. Probably, the disaster has
already occurred because the poet evokes the image of shaven buffalos.
In all probability, the buffalos have lost all their hair because of some
fatal disease caused by the contaminated water and the environment.
5. Bring out the irony in the last line of the extract: The poets only sang of
the floods.
The poet paints a picture of disaster and ruin by presenting the dried river
in summer and the likely consequence of the unhealthy environment on
man and beast. However, both the old and the new poets are apathetic to
the bleak and harsh reality around them. Ironically these poets totally
ignore the misery around them and write about the romance of the river
in flood.
7. What were the destructions caused by the river? What was the reaction
of the people towards this tragic occurrence?
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The poet says that the monstrous flood had carried away three village
houses, a pregnant woman and a pair of cows. These images signify the
terrible loss of property (three village houses], enormous loss of human
life (a pregnant woman) as well as the loss of villagers’ livelihood (a
pair of cows).
The people were apathetic toward the tragic destruction caused by the
flood; they talked about superfluous matters like the exact number of
cobbled steps run over by the flood or about the gradual rising of water
in the river. The use of phrase ‘as usual’ suggests the familiarity of the
villagers with the havoc caused by the flood. The flood has become a
usual annual event and the villagers have become immune to its
destructive fury.
9. How do you react to the poet’s description of the unborn twins kicking
at blank walls of the womb?
The poet here depicts a harrowing picture of human struggle and its
futility. The twins are frantically kicking at the wall of the womb of the
pregnant women to escape from their awful condition. However, the
struggle is futile. They also drown along with their mother. The scene is
too deep for tears.
In a way, the poet implies that for the common man the struggle starts
even before his birth and there is no escape from the bleak and dreary
life he has to face in the world.
Obituary by A K Ramanujan
Added to the legacy is a dilapidated house. The poet mentions that the
decrepit house leant on the coconut tree through their growing years. The
deterioration in their quality of life is apparent, from the metaphor of the
house. Furthermore, it may also signify that the family had to live a
parasitic life borrowing from others (the way the house leans on the
coconut tree).The poet utters that his father being ‘the burning type’ burnt
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properly at the cremation. The phrase may connote the features of the
father, his physicality being dried and parched. It may also refer to his
wry temperament. Further, it verges on the meaning that the person was
a chain smoker, if we observe the following lines:
he burned properly
at the cremation
as before,easily
His eyes appeared as coins in the funeral pyre, and were not any different
and came across as they always did. This amounts to the fact that they
did not have any feeling in them even while he was alive. They are coin-
like in their metallic stare. Again, a person’s eye balls reflect whatever
he looks at. Perhaps the speaker indicated that his father’s eyes were
always on money. He also left some half-burnt spinal discs that were half-
burnt that the priest advised the children to pick ‘gingerly’ or carefully
and immerse in the Thriveni, the confluence of the three rivers where the
bones of the dead are immersed as per the Hindu rites. No conspicuous
or insignificant tombstone was erected for the dead person bearing dates
of his birth and death. Therefore, neither was his birth of much
consequence nor was his death. He is deemed so incapable, that even his
birth is a Caesarean one for which, he did not have to put in much effort.
His death also came easily to him in the form of heart failure at the fruit
market.
All he gained in his life worth mentioning, is that he managed to get two
lines of obituary inserted in some newspaper in Madras. The paper was
sold to hawker, who in turn sold it to a grocer from whom the poet
occasionally bought provisions. This underlines the triviality of whatever
the father has achieved. The poet states that earlier on, he used to read the
papers which had groceries like salt and jaggery wrapped up in it.
However, nowadays he does it for the reason that some day he may
succeed in finding those lines relating to his father’s obituary. Thus the
Being the
burning type he burned properly
at the cremation...
When the father was cremated, coins were placed on the body’s eyes In
keeping with the Hindu custom of swift cremation, bodies are cremated
within 24. After the cremation, the sons dug through the ashes to find hot
coals to throw in an eastward fashion into the river. The father would
have no headstone with the dates of his birth and death. To the son, the
dates are parentheses encapsulating the time of the father’s life. From his
birth to his death, the son feels that his father did many things incorrectly
or incompletely:
He hears that his father’s obituary took two lines in a local newspaper
four weeks after his cremation. The son often bought sugar cane placed
in one of these newspapers shaped like a cone. In the beginning, the son
says that he looks for the paper for fun, and then he says he would like to
have the obituary.
in newspaper cones
that I usually read
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for fun, and lately
in the hope of finding
these obituary lines.
Since the narrator is the oldest son, he will be responsible for any ancient
rituals that the culture requires. There is little mourning when a Hindu
dies because they believe that once a person is born he or she never dies.
Often there is little crying. The son does not show any strong feelings for
the father’s death which may be due to the Hindu custom or his irritation
with his father. Now, everything is different. Understandably, the mother
is changed; her husband has died. Despite the displeasure with his father
voiced by the narrator, he still respectfully wants to have the paper with
the father’s obituary.
The poem "Obituary" by A.K. Ramanujan is a literary work that has the
author, in the poem, waxing nostalgic about a father's life and death. It is
a vivid, emotional, and intense poem that looks back on the life and times
of a dear loved family member. The author relates that the father left
behind a legacy that will live on for him:
The author reflects that this man was cremated and disappeared all too
easily from this physical existence. He alludes to the transience of life
and the pain those left behind experience in a patriarch's absence. The
author muses about the physical remnants left behind from the father's
cremation: eye coins in the ashes and several spinal discs. This is the only
tangible evidence of the man left behind and this is painful to the family.
Essentially the poem deals withour brief time on this planet and what we
accomplish and ultimately leave to posterity. The poem also reflects on
the dignified way the family is encouraged to honor the deceased family
member as they are to throw his remains to the east where there are three
rivers that congregate by a railroad station.
The poem is vivid as it reflects on the father's past life in a Brahmin ghetto
and his death due to heart failure. The reader learns that the man died
suddenly while at a fruit market. The author reflects on how the father's
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life has been reduced to a two line snippet in an obituary and how the
death of the man changed the mother significantly and how each year
they have the ritual of honoring and remembering this beloved man.
And he left us
a changed mother
and move than
One annual ritual (53-56)
How does the poet neutralize the emotions that is caused by his father's
death?
The poem is, of an intensely personal emotion that the death of the father
is neutralized by the continuing link with the father the changed mother.
What does the poet tells about the eternal truth of life?
The author reflects that his father was cremated and disappeared all too
easily from this
physical existence. He alludes to the transience of life and the pain those
left behind
experience in a patriarch's absence. The author muses about the physical
remnants left behind from the father's cremation: eye coins in the ashes
and several spinal discs. This is the only tangible evidence of the man left
behind and this is painful to the family.
The second stanza slips from third to first person. In the 2nd and 3rd
stanzas the multicultural mix of the society in which the speaker has
grown up is introduced through the self-pity ploy. These two stanzas
insistently introduce a major strand of this poem’s thematic: identity. The
challenge to coherent formation of identity is indicated here as related to
the mixing of cultures that are not devoid of intolerance toward one
another. Amid the unhappy school life, a poetic career has without much
ado announced itself: ‘That year I won the scripture prize’. This line is
suggestive of the inclination of the child.
The last line of the 4th stanza is typical of Ezekiel in the use of antithesis.
Intimations of failure are always around the corner in his
autobiographical poems. The above two stanzas squeeze a long duration
into rapidly moving lines. Growing up amid diverse influences the
The third section swiftly moves on in life: the speaker is mature now. He
is through his experiments. He is ripe with his experiences so that he can
now give out his conclusions. That is, within the poem the narration of
experiences is now over, and it is time to draw out philosophical
implications. ‘The later dreams were all of words’ picks up the theme of
poetic career. The poem is now poised to give us a peep into the poetic
process.
These two stanzas, jerkily moving away from the earlier stanza, sum up
the speaker’s socio-political stance. The colonial divide between the
metropolis as the centre and ‘India’ as a backward place is alluded to
here. Staying in India is seen as a committed move. The ambivalent place
of the ‘homely critic’ is stated in the first line of the above quoted stanzas:
‘Indian landscape sears my eyes’. The necessity to assert ones
commitment to ones station arises because of the ‘the foreigners’
viewpoint. From their point of view, being in the ‘backward place’
warrants an explanation. The speaker seems to agree that his station is
backward, though it is his own.
Interesting in the poem is the way it frames the question of identity. The
poem quite clearly takes India as the place from which this view is
generated. The view that raises the question of identity and the
backwardness of the place, first of all, sets up a binary opposition. This
binary opposition conveniently sets up two categories: something called
India and something called foreign. With this opposition there is a
termination of the question. Then the poem sets out to resolve the puzzle.
It admits that the ‘identity’ of the speaker spills over a pure category.
That is what the ‘foreign’ experiences suggest in the poem. Therefore,
the speaker has to point out the ambivalence in the identity of the self –
critical yet committed to home. This view at once enables a distance from
the totalized category of ‘India’ and an identification with it. The problem
of course is that, the binary invoked here deals with essentialisms. The
perspective developed in the poem is very comforting in a way, and often
is seen as politically correct too. But it confronts the question of identity
in a reductive polarization between ‘India’ and ‘the foreign’.
There is conflict in the very heart of the poetic voice, but the poet never
goes to showcase it, rather he tries to bury it in veneer of poetic craft.
I myself, decorously,
At parties foreign Indian wives `do not talk/ of course, they do not kiss’,
some feel atmosphere so corrupt yet some enjoy flirting. A totally chaotic
picture of Party-culture in India. In other poems of The Exact Name, `A
Virginal, Progress’, `Beachescene’ he is equally balanced, crafty, witty
and ironic.”Ezekiel takes a realistic and human view of love sex, stripped
of sentimentalism and romantic illusions”. (Harish Raizada in the article
`Nissim Ezekiel’s Poetry of Love and Sex’, Prasad p-74) He is never shy
of talking of sex as in `Progress’
`Suddenly, I feel
a thousand kisses.”
After separation when the male lover wants his ladylove back not out of
romantic sentiment only and platonic love, he wants her back with the
very physical pleasure she gives
repetition for the sake of emphasis, abrupt digression from the main topic,
wrong use of word lead to comic self revelation of the speaker’s
confusion of mind .
Besides, the odd Indianised spoken English, other noticeable things are
the vague sense of Indian brotherhood. Though the patriotic speaker
admits the Gujratis, the Maharastrisans, the Hindiwallas are brothers yet
he is strongly aware of their difference and behavioural peculiarity. It is
clear that one does not love other rather tolerates other being located in a
single geographical territory. That’s the stark Indian reality beneath the
veneer of glorified Indian nationalism and communal harmony – the
sentimental love of the one brotherhood is up to lips only, in the heart is
only thin vulnerable layer of tolerance. The same picture we can find in
`Cows’. The poet’s 70-year old school-mistress mother is aware that
Hindus worship holy cows, she cannot but hate the earthly foolish
animals for making pavements dirty-
The old lady does not hate the Hindus for their belief, she does not respect
also their belief, and she is disgusted of them. In other poems such as `the
Truth about the flood,’ `Rural Suite’ `Under trial Prisoners’ `Poverty
Poems’ he turns his attention from ordinariness of ordinary events to
littleness of big social issues. In `The Truth about the Flood’ the flood-
victims got help neither from the Govt. Officials nor from the student -
rescue party. The formers are busy in only supplying statistics and the
latters are more interested in taking photos of rescue service than the real
rescue operation. The poet knows the scenario will not change easily
soon; he does not claim to revolutionise, bring a sea change in a day.
That’s why he says –
Works Cited:
Summary-
“My Grandmother’s House” is a constituent poem of Kamala Das’s
maiden publication Summer in Calcutta. Though short, the poem wraps
within itself an intriguing sense of nostalgia and uprootedness. In her
eternal quest for love in such a ‘loveless’ world, the poet remembers her
grandmother which surfaces some emotions long forgotten and buried
within her-- an ironical expression of her past which is a tragic contrast
to her present situation. It is a forcefully moving poem fraught with
nostalgia and anguish.
The poet says that there is a house, her grandmother’s home, far away
from where she currently resides, where she “received love”. Her
grandmother’s home was a place she felt secure and was loved by all.
After the death of her grandmother, the poet says that even the House was
filled with grief, and accepted the seclusion with resignation. Only dead
silence haunted over the House, feeling of desolation wandering
throughout. She recollects though she couldn’t read books at that time,
yet she had a feeling of snakes moving among them-- a feeling of
Kamala Das is one of the three most significant Indian poets writing in
English today, the other two being Nissim Ezekiel and Ramanujan. Her
poetry is all about herself, about her intensely felt desire for love, for
emotional involvement, and her failure to achieve such a relationship. In
this poem, “My Grandmother’s House” Kamala Das, recalls her ancestral
home and her dead grandmother. This poem takes the form of a
confession comparing her present broken state with that of being
unconditionally loved by her grandmother.
The poet is now choked with the intensity of grief. She yearns for love
like a beggar going from one door to another asking for love in small
change. Her need for love and approval is not satisfied in marriage and
she goes after strangers for love at least in small quantity. But she does
not get it even in small change or coins. Her love-hunger remains
unsatisfied, and there is a big void, a blank within her, she seeks to fill up
with love but to no avail. The image of the window is a link between the
past and the present. It signifies the desire of the poet for a nostalgic peep
into her past and resurrect her dreams and desires.
The poem springs from her own disillusionment with her expectation of
unconditional love from the one she loves. In the poem, the image of the
ancestral home stands for the strong support and unconditional love she
received from her grandmother. The imagery is personal and beautifully
articulates her plight in a loveless marriage. Thus, the old house was for
her a place of symbolic retreat to a world of innocence, purity and
simplicity, an Edenic world where love and happiness are still possible.”
With the death of the Grandmother, her life that was hitherto filled only
with emotions becomes numb. Her veins thus become cold rather than
warm. It is as cold as the moon, the moon being an emblem of love. The
worms on the books seem like snakes at that moment, in comparison to
the size of the little girl; and in keeping with the eeriness of the situation.
The poetess also implies that the deserted house is like a desert with
reptiles crawling over. The poetess now longs to ‘peer’ at a house that
was once her own. She has to peek through the ‘blind eyes’ of the
windows as the windows are permanently closed. The air is frozen now,
as contrasted to when the grandmother was alive-the surroundings were
filled with the warmth of empathy. Kamala Das pleads with us to “listen”
to the “frozen” air; that is an impossibility. Neither is the air a visual
medium, nor can air cause any displacement because it is “frozen”. It is
an example of synesthesia.
Her pursuit of love has driven her to the doors of strangers to receive love
at least in the form of ‘a tip.’ Previously she was ‘proud’, as she did not
have to compromise on her self-respect. Now she has to move in the maze
of male monopolistic chauvinism, and beg for love in the form of change.
****
Works Cited:
Dwivedi, A.N. Kamala Das and her Poetry. Delhi: Doaba House, 1983.
Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling
Publishers, 1983. Kamala Das. “An Introduction”, Summer in Calcutta.
New Delhi: Everest Press, 1965.
_ _ _. My Story. New Delhi: Sterling Paperbacks, 1998.
King, Bruce. Modern Indian poetry in English. Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1987.
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A Far Cry from Africa (Derek Walcott, 1930 )
“A Far Cry from Africa” was written in 1962, one year before Kenya
gained its independence. Behind Walcott’s poem lies a particularly
bloody chapter in the colonial history of the African nation Kenya. From
1890 to its independence in 1963, Kenya was a British colony. An influx
of European colonists to Kenya in the first half of the 20th century meant
that, by 1950, there were over 80,000 white inhabitants living in the
colony.
But while anti-Imperialism may have been the underlying impetus for the
movement, its actions were more akin to a civil war than an independence
movement: the vast majority of its victims were Kikuyu with allegiances
to more moderate anti-British political movements. While between 50
and 100 white settlers were murdered over the course of 8 years, over
2000 Kikuyu were victims. British propaganda, however, portrayed the
uprising as a “savage” African response to British rule and white
“civilization.”
The poem starts with the painful jarring harsh experience of the rebellion
that changed the tranquil peaceful setting of the country. The nation itself
compared to an animal, as it indicates it is an animal like a lion. “tawny
pelt” And how Kikuyu started the bloody battle. The Kikuyu are
compared to flies who are feeding on blood. Next we are informed the
aftermath of the rebellion. The poet describes that the country before the
conflict was a ‘paradise’ and with an ironical comment he indicates the
death, inhumanity and destruction occurred in the land. There is the
juxtaposition of the conflict against something divine with the image of
corpses scattered through a paradise. The worms that can be seen as the
ultimate emblem of stagnation and decay, cries at the worthless death.
Sarcastically poet indicates how the humans are reduced to statistics. And
at the same time though scholars justify the presence of white men in
Africa and the process of civilizing the natives, the poet indicates the fact
that it was a failure with the brutal death of the small white child and his
family. People behave like animals ‘savages’ hints and remind us the
persecution endured by the Jews. Jews were killed in millions due to their
ethnicity during the time of Hitler. Though the time and the place is
different the same kind of situations repeat in the world time to time. Next
the poet creates a picture of white men in searching for natives who are
hiding behind the bushes. The sound of ‘ibises’ hints a bad omen. Again
the repetition is shown through the word ‘wheeled’. The civilized men
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thrived on conquering others. This process of violence and conquering
each other indicates the law of the jungle. The violence of ‘beast on beast’
can justify according to the law of nature, the law of jungle. Yet it cannot
be applied to the ‘upright man’ who are stretching out themselves to reach
the ‘divinity’. Apart from the task of stretching themselves to reach
‘divinity’ they end up with ‘inflicting pain’ which is killing and which is
the law of jungle; killing for prey. They call for the massacre they create
by killing as war. Ironically, wars between people are described as
following the beat of a drum — an instrument made of an animal hide
stretched over a cylinder. Though the natives think the act of killing white
men brings them ‘courage’ it ends up with fear. Moreover the poet
emphasizes the fact that though the natives justify their task mentioning
it as a ‘brutish necessity’ and considering it as a national cause they just
clean their hands with ‘the napkin of dirty cause’. So the poet suggests
the fact that the natives’ cause is dirty and ugly though they consider it
as right and nationwide. He sees a comparison with the West Indians
who had their share of harsh experiences with Spain. The fight is just as
the gorilla wrestles with superman. The gorilla in this context is
compared to natives and superman is compared to white men. The last
two lines indicate the situation of the poet, as he belongs to both cultures
how he feels inferiority regarding the situation. The mixed heritage of the
poet makes him unable to decide to which he should be partial. The title
itself too indicates the state of mind conflict of the poet, a cry from a great
distance away and moreover it shows the alienation and the inferiority of
the poet. The poem ends with a picture of violence and cruelty and with
the idea of searching for identity.
Walcott, in "A Far Cry from Africa," depicts Africa and Britain in the
standard roles of the vanquished and the conqueror, although he portrays
the cruel imperialistic exploits of the British without creating sympathy
for the African tribesmen. This objectivity allows Walcott to contemplate
the faults of each culture without reverting to the bias created by attention
to moral considerations. He characterizes the African Kikuyu in a
negative light: "flies/Batten upon the bloodstream of the veldt" (1245.2-
3). The Kikuyu resemble primitive savages who abuse the fertile
resources of their native plains. In this sense, the entrance of the British
appears beneficial not only to the inhabitants, but also to the suffering
land. However, Walcott contradicts this savior image of the British
through an unfavorable description in the ensuing lines: "The worm,
colonial of carrion, cries:/'Waste no compassion on these separate dead!'"
(1245.5-6). The poet casts the authoritative British figure as a worm, a
creature which exists below the fly on the evolutionary ladder. The
cruelty of the invaders toward their captives correlates with the
agricultural and technological ignorance of the Africans. Walcott's
feelings about his heritage remain ambiguous through his focus on the
failings of each culture. He portrays the futility of an empirical
comparison of the two cultures: "The gorilla wrestles with the superman"
(1246.25). The Africans, associated with a primitive, natural strength,
and the British, portrayed as an artificially enhanced power, remain equal
in the contest for control over Africa and its people.
Walcott further complicates his search for a legitimate identity in the final
stanza. He questions, "How choose/between this Africa and the English
tongue I love?" (1246.29-30). These lines identify the aspects of each
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culture that the poet admires. He remains partial to the African terrain
and way of life, while he prefers the English language and literary
tradition. The poet grapples with his affinity for progress and technology
contained within the British culture and his nostalgia for the rich cultural
heritage of Africa. The magnetism that each culture holds for Walcott
causes a tension which augments as the poem continues. The concluding
lines of the poem deny the poet resolution of his quandary: "How can I
face such slaughter and be cool?/How can I turn from Africa and live?"
(1246.32-3). Walcott's divided loyalties engender a sense of guilt as he
wants to adopt the "civilized" culture of the British, but cannot excuse
their immoral treatment of the Africans. "A Far Cry from Africa" reveals
the extent of Walcott's consternation through the poet's inability to
resolve the paradox of his hybrid inheritance.
GOVINDA'S DISCIPLE
Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal. With his
translations of some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West.
In fact his fame attained a luminous height, taking him across continents
on lecture tours and tours of friendship. For the world he became the
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voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for Bengal, he
became a great living institution.Although Tagore wrote successfully in
all literary genres, he was first of all a poet. Among his fifty and odd
volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894)
[The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914)
[Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The
English renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913),
Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The Fugitive (1921), do not generally
correspond to particular volumes in the original Bengali; and in spite of
its title, Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), the most acclaimed of them,
contains poems from other works besides its namesake. Tagore's major
plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar (1912)
[The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara
(1922) [The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders]. He is
the author of several volumes of short stories and a number of novels,
among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the
World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]. Besides these, he wrote
musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two
autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his
death in 1941. Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and
songs for which he wrote the music himself.
Analysis
The disciple presents a pair of gold bangles to his master. The master is
not pleased at his disciple’s gift. He wants to teach his foolish disciple
that attachment to this metal is a serious impediment to divine blessing.
A disciple who seeks divine life is expected to possess detachment from
the material world. The master lets one of the bangles roll down into the
river. The panic-stricken disciple jumps into the water to recover the lost
bangle. The master spent the time reading scriptures. As the daylight
faded, the disciple came up and begged his master to help him spot the
direction where the bangle fell to make yet another attempt. To his shock,
the master obliged him by throwing the other bangle to the same direction
where the first one fell.
This is how he teaches a lesson to his disciple and makes him realize
that he was only satisfying his ego and not showing real selfless regard
for his guru. What is left unsaid is more eloquent and effective. The
abrupt end gives the reader a powerful message.
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one can examine the imagery used to describe the bangles the first time
the guru examines them when given by the student. An example of
personification could be seen when the diamonds “darted shafts of light.”
The implication here is that the diamonds have come to life, reflecting
the severe love the student holds for the bangles, almost to value them
more than anything else. When Tagore writes that “it slipped from his
hand and rolled down the bank.”, in this figure of speech, the idea of the
object holding value is something that brings out how the student viewed
the object, explaining why he was destined to lose it.
Night Rain
What time of night it is
I do not know
Except that like some fish
Doped out of the deep
I have bobbed up belly wise
From stream of sleep
And no cock crow
It is drumming hard here
And I suppose everywhere
Droning with insistent ardor upon
Our roof thatch and shed
And through sheaves slit open
To lightning and rafters
I cannot quite make out over head
Great water drops are dribbling
Falling like orange and mango
Fruits showered forth in the wind
Or perhaps I should say so
Much like beads I could in prayer tell
Then on string as they break
In wooden bowls and earthenware
Mother is busy now deploying
About our room let an floor
Although, it is so bad
I know her practiced step as
lie on it. Man needs to treat his environment in a mode to pave the way
for a peaceful and successful co-presence, co-existence and co-
habitation among the various occupants, tenants or habitants of a given
ecological entity so that man himself can be happy.
It is evident that man’s struggle and encounter with the wild forces of
nature is practically inevitable since the survival of man is entirely tied
to his environment. The air, the water, the food and the materials for
man’s shelter are all products of nature. Man therefore should be
sensitive and conscious of his environment as well as what the
environment demands from him for a happy living.
Besides the effect of nature on man, the poem shows the ravaging
poverty in Africa where people lack basic necessities of life. There is no
decent shelter for the citizens. The victims of this poem, according to
the narrator, are wet even more than the birds which perch on a tree all
through the rain:
“We have drunk tonight of a spell Deeper than the owls or bats”
The poet systematically calls our attention to the perceived
inadequacies of the society we live- in combing the sober and the
humorous, the grim and the witty. Commenting about this trend in
African communities, Okey, D. Ebele, (1998) observes: “It is evident
today; the rural communities have been cut off from the urban areas
because their roads have become impassable. Most, if not all our
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communities, are smarting from their rustic eerie darkness. The people
of our hinterland are hungry for development, and desirous of the
opening up of their villages to beat back the forays of want,
deprivation, poverty, primitivism, superstition. Generally, they long for
better living conditions and the benefits of science and technology,” It
is therefore not surprising, if we link the event in this poem to the
neglect the Africans suffer in the hands of their governments. Instead
of marching on with primitive cultural practices, Africans should think
of fixing the system and prevent it from collapsing. As it were, the
economy is meltdown, occasioned by bad governance, repressive
policies, corruption and docile followership. African countries are in
bad state of indebtedness, flat broke up to their ears, even with cuts in
government expenditures like the removal of subside on basic daily
commodities. This pitiable and poor living conditions of most Africans
in forgotten villages is a serious issue, again, there is the need to
prepare for emergencies. The situation of the victims in J. P. Clark’s
“Night Rain” would not have been so bad if they had made provision
for the said rain. We all know the seasons of the year and their
peculiarities.
The Postmaster
The postmaster first took up his duties in the village of Ulapur. Though
the village was a small one, there was an indigo factory near by, and the
proprietor, an Englishman, had managed to get a post office established.
Our postmaster belonged to Calcutta. He felt like a fish out of water in
this remote village. His office and living-room were in a dark thatched
shed, not far from a green, slimy pond, surrounded on all sides by a
dense growth.
The men employed in the indigo factory had no leisure; moreover, they
were hardly desirable companions for decent folk. Nor is a Calcutta boy
an adept in the art of associating with others. Among strangers he
appears either proud or ill at ease. At any rate, the postmaster had but
little company; nor had he much to do.
In the loneliness of his exile, and in the gloom of the rains, his ailing
body needed a little tender nursing. He longed to remember the touch
on the forehead of soft hands with tinkling bracelets, to imagine the
presence of loving womanhood, the nearness of mother and sister. And
the exile was not disappointed. Ratan ceased to be a little girl. She at
once stepped into the post of mother, called in the village doctor, gave
the patient his pills at the proper intervals, sat up all night by his pillow,
cooked his gruel for him, and every now and then asked: "Are you
feeling a little better, Dada?"
It was some time before the postmaster, with weakened body, was able
to leave his sick-bed. "No more of this," said he with decision. "I must
get a transfer." He at once wrote off to Calcutta an application for a
transfer, on the ground of the unhealthiness of the place.
Relieved from her duties as nurse, Ratan again took up her old place
outside the door. But she no longer heard the same old call. She would
sometimes peep inside furtively to find the postmaster sitting on his
chair, or stretched on his bed, and staring absent-mindedly into the air.
While Ratan was awaiting her call, the postmaster was awaiting a reply
to his application. The girl read her old lessons over and over again,—
her great fear was lest, when the call came, she might be found wanting
in the double consonants. At last, after a week, the call did come one
evening. With an overflowing heart Ratan rushed into the room with
her—"Were you calling me, Dada?"
The postmaster said: "I am going away to-morrow, Ratan."
"Where are you going, Dada?"
"I am going home."
"When will you come back?"
"I am not coming back."
Summary
In the small village of Ulapur, an Englishman who owns an indigo
factory near it manages to get a post office established. A postmaster
from Calcutta gets separated from his family and transferred to this
village. From the noise of the city, he comes to a deserted village with
just scattered glimpses of people. Tagore, a lover of nature, uses it to
describe the surroundings. The postmaster's office has a green, slimy
pond, surrounded by dense vegetation. The way he describes this shows
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that postmaster is not in a position to appreciate his closeness to nature.
There are three central themes to this story.
Firstly, the story revolves around 'longing and separation'; starting and
ending with this. The postmaster is taken away from his family and
brought to a remote village. He was in a village, where its busy people
were no company, and he was left with not much work to do. He tries to
pacify his longing emotions by writing poetry. However, the fact that he
tries to write something external to him, like nature, makes it an
impossible venture. An orphan girl of the village, Ratan, helps him with
his daily chores. He speaks to her about his mother and sister in the
evenings, and would keep enquiring about her family. He would speak
with sadness of all those "memories which were always haunting him".
Secondly, 'companionship', and thirdly 'dependency' can be seen
through how the relationship between the postmaster and Ratan grows
through the course of this story. Ratan did not have many memories of
her family to be recalled. There were only fragments, like pictures, of
her father coming home in the evening, and her little brother whom she
played with, fishing on the edge of
the pond. Once she met the postmaster, 'Dada', she spent her days with
him. She would sit outside his shed, being only a call away from him,
and doing all the small chores. Dada would share his meals with her.
Then in the evenings, she would listen to him talking about his relatives
and in imagination make them her own.
Tagore translates the longing ringing in Dada's heart to nature, when
he says, "A persistent bird repeated all the afternoon the burden of its
one complaint in Nature's audience chamber." A man, who initially
failed his attempt at verse, thinks of this as parallel to his emotions.
Poetry is something that comes from the inner overflow of emotions.
He hopes for the presence of a loving human being he could hold close
to his heart. The postmaster can't stand the quietude of Ulapur. He
longs for the noises of traffic and life in Calcutta. One evening, he tells
Ratan that he is going to teach her to read. She grows closer to him.
She sees him as her only relative. She grows dependent. But, as the
season's rain seemed like it would never end, like the constant patter
on the roof, Dada was troubled by his heart's exile. He falls sick in his
solitude. Ratan takes care of him, and he recovers just taking her
presence for granted. But, he then decides that he has to leave this
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village. He writes an application of transfer, based on the
unhealthiness of the village. The transfer is rejected. He tells Ratan
that he has resigned and will be leaving the village. She asks him to
take her with him. He thinks of it as an absurd idea and she is haunted
by his reaction. Next morning, she fills a bucket of water for him. He
bathes and waits for the next postmaster to arrive. He consoles Ratan
saying that he would inform the postmaster about her. He even offers
her some money to keep. She refuses both and expresses that she
doesn't want to stay there any more.
Ratan has lived a life of loneliness. Dada was her only companion, and
the only one who seemed to understand her. She is broken, when he has
to leave without her. He leaves as soon, as the new postmaster arrives.
He hesitates for a moment as the boat leaves, but it is too late for him to
take her with him. Tagore illustrates the two ways a human mind works.
The postmaster uses the element of philosophy to console himself. He
tells himself that meeting, attachment, and departing are all part of life.
It will all settle with the passage of time. The wind that fills the sails of
the boat indicates the reason the postmaster fills his heart with, as he
separates himself from the village. However, Ratan stands outside the
office "with tears streaming from her eyes." She has succumbed to a
common human folly, as Tagore expresses, of hope. She has been
separated from her only bond and now longs for it to return.
Tagore ends by saying that humans often fall into hope than seeing the
reason, and long before we realize, disappointment becomes too hard to
handle.
Q. What do you think is the chief elements of the story – The
Postmaster?
This is a touching story of a city-bred young man working as a
postmaster in a remote village to earn his bread and butter. He lives
here more out of compulsion rather than a choice. Rabindranath’s finely
crafted poetic narrative brings out the haunting home-sickness of the
educated young man at a place where he finds no suitable companion as
well as the mellow natural greenery and serenity that encompasses him
here. On the other hand, the despair and agony of Ratan, the young
orphan girl who foolishly identified her kind master as her elder brother
as he took a personal interest in her, has also been worded very
artistically in this moving story. This the postmaster did partly to pass
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his long leisure which hung heavy in his hand and partly not to be
distracted by the memories of his near and dear ones who were in
Calcutta. When the moment of parting finally came, and when the
postmaster, having felt a bit of compassion for the servant-girl, offered
her recommendations and money, Ratan was rendered heart-broken.
Having believed that she was going to find genuine love and a home
sooner or later, the offer of money burned the very core of her being.
Bursting into tears, she ran away refusing all the help.
The postmaster despite his not so little feelings for Ratan realized with a
heavy heart that no lasting relationship was possible with her.Finally, as
his boat begins sailing swiftly and the village of Ulapurn recedes further
in the distance, he tries to find comfort in the thought that “there are so
many separations and deaths” in the world
Q. What do you think is the chief elements of the story –
ThePostmaster?
This is a touching story of a city-bred young man working as a
postmaster in a remote village to earn his bread and butter. He lives
here more out of compulsion rather than a choice. Rabindranath’s finely
crafted poetic narrative brings out the haunting home-sickness of the
educated young man at a place where he finds no suitable companion as
well as the mellow natural greenery and serenity that encompasses him
here. On the other hand, the despair and agony of Ratan, the young
orphan girl who foolishly identified her kind masteras her elder brother
as he took a personal interest in her, has also been worded very
artistically in this moving story. This the postmaster did partly to pass
his long leisure which hung heavy in his hand and partly not to be
distracted by the memories of his near and dear ones who were in
Calcutta. When the moment of parting finally came, and when the
postmaster, having felt a bit of compassion for the servant-girl, offered
her recommendations and money, Ratan was rendered heart-broken.
Having believed that she was going to find genuine love and a home
sooner or later, the offer of money burned the very core of her being.
Bursting into tears, she ran away refusing all the help.
The postmaster despite his not so little feelings for Ratan realized with a
heavy heart that no lasting relationship was possible with her. Finally,
as his boat begins sailing swiftly and the village of Ulapur recedes
further in the distance, he tries to find comfort in the thought that “there
are so many separations and deaths” in the world
---------- -------------
SETTING
The novel is set during the late 1800s/early 1900s in a small village called
Umuofia situated in the southeastern part of Nigeria. The time period is
important, as it was a period in colonial history when the British were
expanding their influence in Africa, economically, culturally, and
politically. Umuofia is an Igbo village with very well defined traditions.
It is a village that is respected by those around it as being powerful and
rich. Each person has a hut or obi that is located in the center of a
compound. Each of the wives has a separate obi with a shed for goats and
an attached chicken coop. The main occupation of the men is sowing and
growing yams since yams are considered the most important crop. The
women grew less significant crops like coco-yams, beans and cassava.
When Okonkwo is banished from his village, he takes his family to his
mother’s native village called Mbanta, where he is given two or three
plots of land to farm, and a plot of ground on which to build his
compound. The next seven years of Okonkwo’s life are spent in the
village of Mbanta. He then returns to Umuofia where the rest of the novel
takes place.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major Characters
1.Okonkwo
The hardy and ambitious leader of the Igbo community. He is a farmer
as well as a wrestler, who has earned fame and brought honor to his
village by overthrowing Amalinze in a wrestling contest. Still only in his
thirties, he has three wives and several children who all live in their own
homes in his village compound. Okonkwo has resolved to erase the
stigma left on him by his father’s laziness and is very successful growing
yams. He has very strong economic and political ties to the village and is
treated with admiration and respect. Okonkwo is a man of action.
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2.Obierika
Okonkwo’s close friend, he helps him with the crops during his period
of exile, and keeps him informed of the radical changes taking place in
the village. He is a thoughtful man, who questions the traditions of
society. He is also Maduka and Ekuke’s father.
3.Ekwefi
Okonkwo’s second wife, she is the mother of Ezinma, her only living
child, whom she will do anything for even if that means defying
tradition.
4.Ezinma
Ekwefi and Okonkwo’s daughter, she is born after many miscarriages
and is loved and pampered by her mother. She has a special relationship
with Chielo, the woman who acts as the voice of Agbala, the Oracle.
Okonkwo is fond of her and often wishes that ‘she were a boy.’
5.Nwoye
Okonkwo’s son from his first wife. He is a sensitive young man who,
much to his father’s dismay, joins the Christian missionaries.
6.Ikemefuna
A boy who is bought as hostage from Mbaino, and who lives with
Okonkwo for three years. He is a clever and resourceful young man yet
comes to an unfortunate end.
7.Chielo
The priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves, who carries
Ezinma on her back to the caves, saying that Agbala wants to see her.
8.Uchendu
Okonkwo’s maternal uncle with whom he spends seven years of his
exile, along with his family.
9.Mr. Brown
The Christian missionary who first introduces the tenets of Christianity
to the people to take them away from their superstitious and age-old
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customs. He is a kind and understanding man who is accommodating
towards the Igbo.
11.District Commissioner
The man behind the whole affair, who handcuffs the six leaders of the
village and imprisons them. At the end of the novel, he orders his men
to take down the dead body of Okonkwo from the tree, and bury it.
Minor Characters
1.Unoka
Okonkwo’s father who during his entire lifetime never lifted his hand to
till the earth, and had passed his time playing the flute. Okonkwo
always remembers his father’s failure and strove to be as different from
him as possible.
2.Maduka
Obierika’s son who participates and wins the wrestling contest.
3.Ogbuefi Ezendu
The oldest man in Umuofia who forewarns Okonkwo not to get too
close to Ikemefuna, since the Oracle had pronounced his death already
and then tells him not to participate in his death. He dies a venerated
warrior with three titles to his name.
4.Enoch
The overzealous Christian who tears off the mask of the egwugu,
creating strife in the community.
5.Agbala
The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves, she dispenses advice and
6.Ojiubo
Okonkwo’s third wife and mother of several of his children.
Protagonist
Antagonist
The antagonists are the Christian missionaries who wish to invade the
content villages of Africa with their Western concepts and way of
thinking and convert the people into Christianity. The customs of African
culture are scorned and degraded. Gradually, many people are persuaded
into converting themselves into Christianity, with a few exceptions,
including Okonkwo. It is the missionaries who are the final cause of the
death of Okonkwo. Their behavior toward the leader of the village is
disrespectful and it is understandable that Okonkwo had to retaliate in the
only form he knows, by resistance to Christianity and loyalty to his
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culture’s traditions. The reader sees the heartlessness of the district
commissioner who is only concerned about the material he has
accumulated for the book he wishes to publish.
Climax
The climactic point in the novel arises when, Okonkwo, without his
realizing it, shoots a young member of his community and kills him.
Though this was an accident, Okonkwo has to abide with the law that
deems he should be banished from his village for seven years. This is an
unfortunate situation, since until then Okonkwo has been steadily rising
in wealth as well as status in his community and very soon would have
acquired more titles. The calamity however results in his downfall. He
now has to live in exile for seven long years of his life in his mother’s
land.
Outcome
The outcome of the novel is Okonkwo’s return to his village after his
exile and his self-destruction. He discovers that everything has changed
when he is not given the kind of welcome he had expected. Too much
has happened since Okwonko’s departure and the villagers have other
things to worry about. Okonkwo can no longer dream of becoming head
of the village because he has lost too many years in exile, and when he
returns, all of the customs, values and beliefs of the village have been
destroyed.
With the invasion of the Christians, the villagers find themselves at a loss.
With their sweet words and strong beliefs, the missionaries manage to
dissuade the villagers from their own religion and customs. The
Christians even begin living in the evil forest, in order to prove to the
villagers that all their beliefs about its evilness are baseless. Twins and
outcasts were allowed to enter into their church.
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The missionaries also provide many good services to the villagers. They
build a church, a hospital, a school and also a court and trading store for
the villagers. Yet ultimately the core of their culture has been subjugated
to Western ideology and the traditional economy as well as social well
being of the village is gone forever.
SHORT SUMMARY
Things Fall Apart is about the tragic fall of the protagonist, Okonkwo,
and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo is a respected and influential leader within
the Igbo community of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. He first earns
personal fame and distinction, and brings honor to his village, when he
defeats Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest. Okonkwo determines to
gain titles for himself and become a powerful and wealthy man in spite
of his father's weaknesses.
Okonkwo despises and resents his father's gentle and idle ways. He
resolves to overcome the shame that he feels as a result of his father's
weaknesses by being what he considers to be "manly"; therefore, he
dominates his wives and children by being insensitive and controlling.
After the coming of the locusts, Ogbuefi Ezeuder, the oldest man in the
village, relays to Okonkwo a message from the Oracle. The Oracle says
that Ikemefuna must be killed as part of the retribution for the Umuofian
woman killed three years earlier in Mbaino. He tells Okonkwo not to
partake in the murder, but Okonkwo doesn't listen. He feels that not
participating would be a sign of weakness. Consequently, Okonkwo kills
Ikemefuna with his machete. Nwoye realizes that his father has murdered
Ikemefuna and begins to distance himself from his father and the
clansmen.
In her role as priestess, Chielo tells Ekwefi (Okonkwo's second wife) that
Agbala (the Oracle of the Hills and Caves) needs to see Ezinma.
Although Okonkwo and Ekwefi protest, Chielo takes a terrified Ezinma
When Ogbuefi Ezeudu dies, Okonkwo worries because the last time that
Ezeudu visited him was when he warned Okonkwo against participating
in the killing of Ikemefuna. Ezeudu was an important leader in the village
and achieved three titles of the clan's four, a rare accomplishment. During
the large funeral, Okonkwo's gun goes off, and Ezeudu's sixteen-year-old
son is killed accidentally.
During Okonkwo's second year in exile, he receives a visit from his best
friend, Obierika, who recounts sad news about the village of Abame:
After a white man rode into the village on a bicycle, the elders of Abame
consulted their Oracle, which told them that the white man would destroy
their clan and other clans. Consequently, the villagers killed the white
man. But weeks later, a large group of men slaughtered the villagers in
retribution. The village of Abame is now deserted.
Okonkwo and Uchendu agree that the villagers were foolish to kill a man
whom they knew nothing about. Later, Obierika gives Okonkwo money
Six missionaries, including one white man, arrive in Mbanta. The white
man speaks to the people about Christianity. Okonkwo believes that the
man speaks nonsense, but his son, Nwoye, is captivated and becomes a
convert of Christianity.
Some members of the Igbo clan like the changes in Umuofia. Mr. Brown,
the white missionary, respects the Igbo traditions. He makes an effort to
learn about the Igbo culture and becomes friendly with some of the clan
leaders. He also encourages Igbo people of all ages to get an education.
Mr. Brown tells Okonkwo that Nwoye, who has taken the name Isaac, is
After Mr. Brown becomes ill and is forced to return to his homeland,
Reverend James Smith becomes the new head of the Christian church.
But Reverend Smith is nothing like Mr. Brown; he is intolerant of clan
customs and is very strict.
The next day at a meeting for clansmen, five court messengers who
intend to stop the gathering approach the group. Suddenly, Okonkwo
jumps forward and beheads the man in charge of the messengers with his
machete. When none of the other clansmen attempt to stop the
messengers who escape, Okonkwo realizes that they will never go to war
and that Umuofia will surrender. Everything has fallen apart for
Okonkwo; he commits suicide by hanging himself.
The novel deals with the rise and fall of Okonkwo , a man from the village
of Unuofia. Okonkwo was not born a great man, but he achieved success
by his hard work. His father was a lazy man who preferred playing the
flute to tending the soil. Okonkwo was opposed to his father’s way of
life, and always feared failure. In order to prove his ability, he had
overthrown the greatest wrestler in nine villages, set himself up with three
wives, two barns filled with yams and a reputation for being a hard
worker. The reader learns that he was also one of the egwugwu--the
masked spirits of the ancestors. His importance is proved when he is sent
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as an emissary to Mbaino in order to negotiate for hostages, and he
returns successfully with a boy, Ikemefuna and a virgin.
Okonkwo has his faults, one of them being his impatience of less
successful men and secondly his pride over his own status. His stern
exterior conceals a love for Ikemefuna, who lives with him; an anxiety
over his son Nwoye, who seems to take after his father; and an adoration
for his daughter Ezinma. His fiery temperament leads to beating his
second wife during the Week of Peace. He even shoots at her with his
gun, but luckily he misses. This shows his short temper and a tendency
to act on impulse, a tendency that backfires on him later on in the novel.
The boy, Ikemefuna, is ordered to death by the Oracle of the Hills and
Caves. Though Okonkwo is upset, he shows his fearlessness and
impartiality by slaying the boy himself. His final fault against his tribe is
when he unintentionally shoots a boy and kills him; for this he is banished
from the village for seven years and has to live in his mother’s village of
Mbanta. This is a great disappointment for him although he is consoled
and encouraged by his uncle, Uchendu.
The reader now hears of the arrival of the Christian missionaries, who
take over the village of Mbanta, as well as Umuofia, set up a church and
proceed to convert the tribesmen to Christianity. At first, they face much
resistence, but gradually many of the tribesmen including Okonkwo’s
own son, Nwoye, are converted and follow the path of Christ. After his
period of exile, Okonkwo returns to Umuofia with his family and finds it
totally changed. The missionaries have done a lot for the village.
Umuofia is prospering economically, but Okonkwo is firm in his refusal
to charge his religion.
His tribesmen even refuse to cut him down and bury him since taking
one’s own life is a violation of the earth goddess, and his men would not
bury such a man. His friend Obierika’s words describe the tragedy most
powerfully “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You
drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog.”
THEMES
Major Themes
The major theme of the novel is that British colonization and the
conversion to Christianity of tribal peoples has destroyed an intricate and
traditional age-old way of life in Africa. The administrative apparatus
that the British imposed on the cultures of Africa were thought to be just
as well as civilizing although in reality they had the opposite effect of
being cruel and inhumane practices that subjugated large native
populations to the British. In conjunction with the colonizing practices,
Western missionaries endeavored to move native peoples away from the
superstitious practices that they perceived as primitive and inhumane and
convert them to Christianity.
Minor Themes
One of the minor themes that Achebe addresses in this book is the
complex and subtle rites and traditions that make up Igbo culture. Achebe
wrote Things Fall Apart in response to representations of Africans as
primitive or as “noble savages” by European writers. In his novel,
Achebe explodes these Western constructions by presenting a society that
is as complex and dynamic as any culture in Western society. His
characters are also complex beings rather than stereotypes. It is in fact
the white colonialists and missionaries who appear to be one-
dimensional.
Along with the major theme of the destruction of African culture due to
colonization, the readers also see how orthodox traditions and customs
rule the people of the society. Absolute loyalty and obedience to the tribal
religion is inculcated into the minds of the people from their childhood.
Strict adherence to the laws, as well as gender roles create a community
that is extremely close knit, but once this bond is broken, tribal ways give
way easily and fall apart. This breakdown of society is seen as tragic as
people suffer and communities become divisive.
Mood
The title of the book as well as the epigram sets the tone of the novel
quite accurately. It comes from a W.B. Yeat’s poem called “The Second
Coming.” Yeats was a late 19th century Irish poet, essayist, and
dramatist. The actual verse that Achebe uses as his epigram is:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the
falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed
upon the world.
The novel focuses on the downfall of Okonkwo and often conveys a sense
of loss and tragedy. When the reader reads about the egwugwu, the
marked representatives of the ancestral spirits, the mood conveyed is
extremely dramatic and even frightening.
Introduction
For many writers, the theme of a novel is the driving force of the book
during its creation. Even if the author doesn't consciously identify an
intended theme, the creative process is directed by at least one
controlling idea — a concept or principle or belief or purpose
significant to the author. The theme — often several themes — guides
the author by controlling where the story goes, what the characters do,
what mood is portrayed, what style evolves, and what emotional effects
the story will create in the reader.
From Achebe's own statements, we know that one of his themes is the
complexity of Igbo society before the arrival of the Europeans. To
support this theme, he includes detailed descriptions of the justice codes
and the trial process, the social and family rituals, the marriage customs,
food production and preparation processes, the process of shared
leadership for the community, religious beliefs and practices, and the
opportunities for virtually every man to climb the clan's ladder of success
through his own efforts. The book may have been written more simply as
a study of Okonkwo's deterioration in character in an increasingly
unsympathetic and incompatible environment, but consider what would
have been lost had Achebe not emphasized the theme of the complex and
dynamic qualities of the Igbo in Umuofia.
Destiny
Related to the theme of cultural clash is the issue of how much the
flexibility or the rigidity of the characters (and by implication, of the
British and Igbo) contribute to their destiny. Because of Okonkwo's
inflexible nature, he seems destined for self-destruction, even before the
arrival of the European colonizers. The arrival of a new culture only
hastens Okonkwo's tragic fate.
Two other characters contrast with Okonkwo in this regard: Mr. Brown,
the first missionary, and Obierika, Okonkwo's good friend. Whereas
Okonkwo is an unyielding man of action, the other two are more open
and adaptable men of thought. Mr. Brown wins converts by first
respecting the traditions and beliefs of the Igbo and subsequently
allowing some accommodation in the conversion process. Like Brown,
Obierika is also a reasonable and thinking person. He does not advocate
the use of force to counter the colonizers and the opposition. Rather, he
has an open mind about changing values and foreign culture: "Who
knows what may happen tomorrow?" he comments about the arrival of
foreigners. Obierika's receptive and adaptable nature may be more
representative of the spirit of Umuofia than Okonkwo's unquestioning
rigidity.
A factor that hastens the decline of the traditional Igbo society is their
custom of marginalizing some of their people — allowing the existence
of an outcast group and keeping women subservient in their household
and community involvement, treating them as property, and accepting
physical abuse of them somewhat lightly. When representatives of a
foreign culture (beginning with Christian missionaries) enter Igbo
territory and accept these marginalized people — including the twins —
at their full human value, the Igbo's traditional shared leadership finds
itself unable to control its whole population. The lack of a clear,
sustaining center of authority in Igbo society may be the quality that
decided Achebe to draw his title from the Yeats poem, "The Second
Coming." The key phrase of the poems reads, "Things fall apart; the
center cannot hold."
Choosing a Language
Achebe agrees, however, with many of his fellow African writers on one
point: The African writer must write for a social purpose. In contrast to
Western writers and artists who create art for art's sake, many African
writers create works with one mission in mind — to reestablish their own
national culture in the postcolonial era. In a 1964 statement, also
published in Morning Yet on Creation Day, Achebe comments that
African people did not hear of culture for the first time from Europeans.
. . . their societies were not mindless, but frequently had a philosophy of
great depth and value and beauty, . . . they had poetry, and above all, they
had dignity. It is this dignity that African people all but lost during the
colonial period, and it is this that they must now regain.
Yet by using English, Achebe faces a problem. How can he present the
African heritage and culture in a language that can never describe it
adequately? Indeed, one of the primary tasks of Things Fall Apart is to
confront this lack of understanding between the Igbo culture and the
colonialist culture. In the novel, the Igbo ask how the white man can call
Igbo customs bad when he does not even speak the Igbo language. An
understanding of Igbo culture can only be possible when the outsider can
relate to the Igbo language and terminology.
The Igbo vocabulary is merged into the text almost seamlessly so the
reader understands the meaning of most Igbo words by their context. Can
any attentive reader of Things Fall Apart remain unfamiliar with words
and concepts represented by chi, egwugwu, ogbanje, and obi? Such Igbo
terms as chi and ogbanje are essentially untranslatable, but by using them
in the context of his story, Achebe helps the non-Igbo reader identify with
and relate to this complex Igbo culture.
Like Chinese, the Igbo language is a tonal one; that is, differences in the
actual voice pitch and the rise or fall of a word or phrase can produce
different meanings. In Chapter 16, for example, Achebe describes how
the missionary's translator, though an Igbo, can not pronounce the
Mbanto Igbo dialect: "Instead of saying 'myself' he always said 'my
buttocks.'" (The form k means strength while k means buttocks.)