Edward said on 'Orientalism

Hello Readers !

Welcome to my blog,

This task related to Edward said on 'Orientalism' this task given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir head of department of English MKBU.

1. Write brief summary of said' s interview, 

2.   On understanding Israel- Palestinian issue

Orientalism is a 1978 book by Edward W. Said, in which the author establishes the eponymous term "Orientalism" as a critical concept to describe the West's common, contemptuous depiction and portrayal of "The East," i.e. the Orient. Societies and peoples of the Orient are those who inhabit the places of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. Said argues that Orientalism, in the sense of the Western scholarship about the Eastern World, is inextricably tied to the imperialist societies who produced it, which makes much Orientalist work inherently political and servile to power.

1. Write brief summary of said' s interview

Close your eyes and think of Medieval Europe. You see knights jousting, great feasts, and even greater castles. Now think of the Middle East during the same time period. Remember, this was the time of the 'Arabian Nights.' Chances are you aren't thinking of massive castles and feasts. Instead, for many people, overly-romantic images of trading posts with camels, pushy merchants, and monkeys. In fact, you may have even went as far as to think of belly dancers!

According to Palestinian literary historian and theorist Edward Said, your whole approach to imagining the ancient Middle East is biased. After all, the Middle East built many castles and actually surpassed Europe in every intellectual field, yet most Westerners immediately go to tamed monkeys and belly dancers. This bias was called Orientalism. Orientalism was also the book of the same name, which studied and criticized the fields that had already been studying anything related to the Middle East, and, to a lesser degree, South Asia.

Edward Said was proud of the achievements of those from the lands of his ancestors, and felt that while it was bad enough for the everyday person in the West to think of belly dancers and squeaking monkeys when they thought of places like Baghdad or Cairo, it was a completely different thing for the so-called experts to have any of that in their minds. Said never denied that those things existed, but instead argued that too much of a big deal was made about them.

What is Orientalism ?:-

https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2016/07/edward-said-on-orientalism.html?m=1

            "Orientalism” is a way of seeing that imagines, emphasizes, exaggerates and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures as compared to that of Europe and the U.S. It often involves seeing Arab culture as exotic, backward, uncivilized, and at times dangerous. Edward W. Said, in his groundbreaking book, Orientalism, defined it as the acceptance in the West of “the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on.”

Edward Said:-

 'Edward Said' was born in 1, November, 1935 and died in 25 September,2003 at New York. He was professor in Columbia University. He was well known for Occidental-ism and Orientalism. Here this task given by Prof. Dilip Barad Sir. Into this task given various concepts which about Edward Said's interview on Orientalism.

2)  On understanding Israel- Palestinian issue

     Israel-Palestine issue:-

                            Said grew up in what was then called Palestine and is now called Israel and the Occupied Territories. Said explains about Palestinian’s local complexities and about mixed backgrounds of Arabs and Jews, Arab Muslims and Arab Christians and Israeli Jews. Palestinians, still, is under constant threat of Israel. MAny a times in the interview video, Said's refers to Palastine and to Palastine issue. So, let us know it in brief.

                    The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. 

The ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has killed and wounded many people. It has done even graver damage to the humane principles at the heart of both Judaism and Islam. Among Jews and Muslims in Israel and Palestine the golden rule has been largely forgotten.

References:-

1) http://arabstereotypes.org/why-stereotypes/what-orientalism

Thinking activity :- Waiting for Godot

Abstract:-

Waiting for Godot (1952) is a conventional and remarkable play that is written by Irish author Samuel Beckett. The play Waiting for Godot is part of theater of absurd and it is written during modernism. This research is divided into three different sections and conclusion. Firstly the introduction for this research is given and the twentieth century drama, theater of the absurd, and the summary of the play. Also in an independent section we show other people’s work on the play Waiting for Godot. Later on we clarified the Biblical and Quranic symbols in Waiting for Godot and shows the comparison of the symbols in the holy books Quran and Bible in Waiting for Godot. Eventually, conclusion will be drawn as the final outcome of the study.

Waiting' is too much  irritating for anybody. We  all are waiting for our ultimate truth and that  is the Death only. We all are doing something so that we  can pass the time and reach our final destination which is already decided. But we can't accept it easily.

'Waiting For Godot' is a poignant play about a ceaseless waiting, about repetition, the meaninglessness , the absurdity of waiting .  Samuel Beckett gives the philosophy of life using absurdity in this play. Ordinary reader can't understand the meaning , the real depth of this play only very few are able to understand what Beckett tries to say in this play.

 Writer Samuel Beckett inspired from the painting ‘Longing’ which is drawn by Casper David Friedrich. In this painting we find the setting ( A country road ,tree and Evening).This painting shows  longings of our life. As waiting remains through out the play. Both are endless . A country road describes that Show must go on. Tree is the symbol of hope .And only this waiting and longing is support our life.

Writer Samuel Beckett uses  "Tree" in setting of the play and also as the symbol. In first Tree is a barren tree .  And in second play tree is grown up with four or five leaves. The barren tree shows the 'Hopelessness' of Valdimir and Estragon.  In Act-1 nothing happens and the same things are repeated in Act-2. But the minor change is that now Tree has four or five leaves on it  which suggest the 'Hope of Tomorrow'. Valdimir looks at the tree and notice that and says that...."Yesterday evening all bare and black . Now it has leaves on it."  Symbols represents that the things are constantly changed in life also. All things are going to change through time and all days are not same .It constantly changed into gloomy or happiness . So, Tree represents both  the sides of life - and have hope for tomorrow. Hope is endless and hope is the only thing through which human being is alive today. Hope never going to die. Hope supports us to avoid the meaninglessness of life .

  In the both Acts Evening turns into Night and during this time ' Nothing to be done.' This expression is the central idea of the play.  Both Valdimir and Estragon are waiting throughout the time but ...

           

                         " Nothing happens , nobody comes , nobody goes, it's awful."

Uncertainty of the lives are somehow afraid of us and the same way both characters are  also suffering from it. Let's see some dialogues of the play which is important to explain the importance of moon light in t e play :

Estragon : Wait! I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off alone, each one for himself. We weren't made for the same road.

Valdimir : It's not certain.

Estragon : No, nothing is certain.

As we know that  the play has some effect of  Second World War and therefore somehow we see the insecurity of the life .sometimes it seems like that time is moving very slow and sometime it is very fast and the same way Day quickly turns into night. In the play Evening turns into night. Light always not gives the  positive attitude in life. Somehow night is connected to Death. And Valdimir said that ' Will Night never comes?' means they have questions that whether they get salvation or not from the life.

The director feels the setting with some debris with appropriateness.  Through the debris director wants to shows the fragmentations of life and nothingness of life. Final truth is the death only. All things are broken down . Nothing sustain  for on the earth. One has to die , things has to break down . Through the debris Director shows that it is futile attempt to last forever or being immortal.

  Essence  never changes and in the play also the essence of nothingness not changes throughout the whole play. It remains in each actions.  " Nothing to be done " is the expression of the play reveals the absurdity of the life. Vladimir and Estragon both are doing nothing as such which is significant in life.  And Nothingness becomes the theme of the play. ' Nothingness' is the central idea of the play.

With the help of historical background, we can read this play with colonial and post colonial aspect. As we know that Irish  people are suffering from slavery of English. Lucky himself can't free from this idea. Master - Slave relationship fully described here. After the blindness of his master ( Pozzo) Lucky can't be free because he doesn't want. So, Ireland always be slave of England and we read this with colonial perspective.  Master - Pozzo don't like to give the answers to others. With Furiousness Pozzo says that...." Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! Whhen! One day , is that not enough for you , one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day , the same second , is that not enough for you? " None of My Business" . Thus , we read  also the 'White Man's Burden' in this play.

Thinking Activity: Imaginary Homelands: Selected Essays: Salman Rushdie

 Hello Readers !

Welcome to my blog,

This task related to  Imaginary Homelands: Selected Essays: Salman Rushdie, Department of English MKBU university.

INTRODUCTION-:

Salman Rushdie is the most controversial writer among Indian writing in English. His book published under the title “Imaginary Homeland” is the collection of the essay written between 1981 and 1992. All the essays are based on Salman Rushdie’s experience of the contemporary time scenario. This book is the collection of the controversial issues of the decade. In those days Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of India.

            “This book is an incomplete, personal view of the interregnum of 1980s, not all of whose symptoms it has to be said, were morbid.” (introduction-1) It clearly says that all are his personal views that may be are may not be completely right, according to him it was a decade, what Gramsci has said “the old was dying and yet new could not be born.” (Rushdie, 1992)

The book ‘Imaginary Homelands’ divided into six sections. They are.

1) Midnight’s children.

2) Politics of India and Pakistan.

3) Indo-Anglian literature.

4) Movie and Television.

5) Experience of migrants, -Indian migrants to Britain.

6) Thatcher/ flout election –question of Palestine

The moral rage, then, is genuine. So too is the idealism. They are both in their own way impressive and on a number of occasions they hit their targets. The problem is that moral rage and idealism are a highly destructive combination, and unless they are guided by real insight and by a great deal of ordinary human sensitivity they can often end by hitting the wrong targets – with disastrous consequences.

 

One indication that there is something wrong with Rushdie’s aim is provided by the text of his celebrated – or notorious – Channel 4 broadcast on racism. A particular section of his talk disturbed me when I first heard it in 1982 and it disturbs me still:

In Germany, after the fall of Hitler, heroic attempts were made by many people to purify German thought and the German language of the pollution of Nazism … But British thought, British society has never been cleansed of the filth of imperialism. It’s still there, breeding lice and vermin, waiting for unscrupulous people to exploit it for their own ends.

British racism, of course, is not our problem. It’s yours. We simply suffer from the effects of your problem. And until you, the whites,  see that the issue is not integration, or harmony, or multi-culturalism, but simply facing up to and eradicating the prejudices within almost all of you, the citizens of your new and last Empire will be obliged to struggle against you.

What we encounter in Rushdie’s broadcast is not the rhetoric of liberation. It is the rhetoric of mastery being pressed into service on behalf of the oppressed. So long as Rushdie spoke on behalf of the powerless against the powerful, this rhetoric seemed just and humane to many. Tragically, however, when his own sophisticated insensitivity to the language of faith brought him into conflict with Muslims who, at their most extreme, were themselves rigid and even racialist in their response, he reacted by using similar rhetoric. Instead of recognising that Muslim extremism, like white racialism, is the reaction of people who themselves feel oppressed, vulnerable and wounded, and that moderate Muslims were deeply offended too, he made the mistake of treating all those who opposed the novel as though they were part of a demonic host. As a result a tragedy which might have been defused in its early stages was inexorably deepened.

Rushdie seems not to have recognised that the rhetoric of pollution and the images of lice and vermin which he uses here were part of the very substance of National Socialist propaganda. What such language perfectly expresses is the extreme racialist’s assumption that he is himself an island of purity and that all corruption, cruelty and uncleanness reside outside him in an alien people which must be cleansed from the face of the earth. Instead of seeking to analyse this self-righteous and repressive frame of mind Rushdie comes perilously close to adopting it himself. The result is a kind of racialism-in-reverse in which he speaks out as the member of a class of wronged and all-virtuous victims against the enemy – the corrupt, all-sinful whites.

Essays & Criticism 1981-1991

Salman Rushdie at his most candid, impassioned, and incisive—Imaginary Homelands is an important and moving record of one writer’s intellectual and personal odyssey. These 75 essays demonstrate Rushdie’s range and prophetic vision, as he focuses on his fellow writers, on films, and on the mine-strewn ground of race, politics and religion.

Praise

“Whether he is analyzing racial prejudice in Britain or surveying an India riven by fundamentalism and politics of religious hatred, he writes as an impartial observer, a citizen of the world. Subtle and witty, these concise, eloquent pieces are a pleasure to read.” —Publisher’s Weekly

Conclusion: -

A work of literature is an expression of feeling, experience, but it doesn’t mean to force him to leave the country, we Indian really need to understand it that the freedom of thinking can bring better life in society by the writer and free thinkers like Salman Rushdie. In the conclusion of the essay, as a radical thinker he compared a writer within himself with a dog from the novel “The Dean’s December”, as barking of the dog protagonist Dean imagine dogs’ barking as protest against his limit of experience.  “for god’s sake the dog is saying open the universe a little more”.

Works Cited

Rushdie, S. (1992). Imaginary Homelands. In S. Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands (pp. 1-25). London

The nature of the second language acquisition and learning

Assignment

Name- Hareshwari Y. Kapdi

Roll no. 7 

Entertainment no-2009108420200020

Paper name - A English Language Teaching-1

Topic- The nature of the second language acquisition and learning.

MA Sem-3

Submitted to- S.B. Gardi department of English MKBU

Abstract :-

The language is not to be considered merely as a medium of instruction or a subject of learning at all levels of education, but as a powerful medium of expression as it plays a vital role in developing intellectual and cultural life of an individual. Language learning is essentially fun, or should be, if it is done naturally, in line with how the brain learns. We learned our first language quite well, without explicit instruction. Unfortunately, the teaching of second languages has been turned into a complex classroom ceremony. Now let’s discuss The Nature of the Second Language Acquisition and learning in this I discuss three points Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism and Task based Language learning. Now let’s discuss one by one in detail

Key Words: Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism and Task based Language learning.

Second language refers to any language learned in addition to a person's first language; although the concept is named second-language acquisition, it can also incorporate the learning of third, fourth, or subsequent languages. Second-language acquisition refers to what learners do; it does not refer to practices in language teaching, although teaching can affect acquisition. The term acquisition was originally used to emphasize the non-conscious nature of the learning process,[note  but in recent years learning and acquisition have become largely synonymous.

SLA can incorporate heritage language learning,but it does not usually incorporate bilingualism. Most SLA researchers see bilingualism as being the end result of learning a language, not the process itself, and see the term as referring to native-like fluency. Writers in fields such as education and psychology, however, often use bilingualism loosely to refer to all forms of multilingualism. SLA is also not to be contrasted with the acquisition of a foreign language; rather, the learning of second languages and the learning of foreign languages involve the same fundamental processes in different situations.

Second-language acquisition (SLA), second-language learning or L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics, but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines, such as psychology and education.

A central theme in SLA research is that of interlanguage, the idea that the language that learners use is not simply the result of differences between the languages that they already know and the language that they are learning, but that it is a complete language system in its own right, with its own systematic rules. This interlanguage gradually develops as learners are exposed to the targeted language. The order in which learners acquire features of their new language stays remarkably constant, even for learners with different native languages and regardless of whether they have had language instruction. However, languages that learners already know can have a significant influence on the process of learning a new one. This influence is known as language transfer.

The primary factor driving SLA appears to be the language input that learners receive. Learners become more advanced the longer they are immersed in the language they are learning and the more time they spend doing free voluntary reading. The input hypothesis developed by linguist Stephen Krashen theorizes that comprehensible input alone is necessary for second language acquisition. Krashen makes a distinction between language acquisition and language learning (the acquisition–learning distinction),[1] claiming that acquisition is a subconscious process, whereas learning is a conscious one. According to this hypothesis, the acquisition process in L2 (Language 2) is the same as L1 (Language 1) acquisition. Learning, on the other hand, refers to conscious learning and analysis of the language being learned.[2] Krashen argues that consciously learned language rules play a limited role in language use, serving as a monitor that could check second language output for form assuming the learner has time, sufficient knowledge and inclination (the monitor hypothesis). Subsequent work, by other researchers, on the interaction hypothesis and the comprehensible output hypothesis, has suggested that opportunities for output and for interaction may also be necessary for learners to reach more advanced levels.

Research on how exactly learners acquire a new language spans a number of different areas. Focus is directed toward providing proof of whether basic linguistic skills are innate (nature), acquired (nurture) or a combination of the two attributes. Cognitive approaches to SLA research deal with the processes in the brain that underpin language acquisition, for example how paying attention to language affects the ability to learn it, or how language acquisition is related to short-term and long-term memory. Sociocultural approaches reject the notion that SLA is a purely psychological phenomenon, and attempt to explain it in a social context. Some key social factors that influence SLA are the level of immersion, connection to the L2 community and gender. Linguistic approaches consider language separately from other kinds of knowledge and attempt to use findings from the wider study of linguistics to explain SLA. There is also a considerable body of research about how SLA can be affected by individual factors such as age and learning strategies. A commonly discussed topic regarding age in SLA is the critical period hypothesis, which suggests that individuals lose the ability to fully learn a language after a particular age in childhood. Another topic of interest in SLA is the differences between adult and child learners. Learning strategies are commonly categorized as learning or communicative strategies and are developed to improve their respective acquisition skills. Affective factors are emotional factors that influence an individual's ability to learn a new language. Common affective factors that influence acquisition are anxiety, personality, social attitudes and motivation.

Individuals may also lose a language through a process called second-language attrition. This is often caused by lack of use or exposure to a language over time. The severity of attrition depends on a variety of factors including level of proficiency, age, social factors, and motivation at the time of acquisition. Finally, classroom research deals with the effect that language instruction has on acquisition.

 What is First language?

      First language means mother tongue .Primary language that the child would learn.

       First language has an importance influence on the second language acquisition.

   First language is our identity.

The field of second language acquisition (SLA) studies is characterized

by two different traditions. One tradition is linguistic and focusses on the

process by which learners build up their linguistic knowledge of the second

language (L2). Here the focus is on learning. Human beings are credited

with an innate capacity to learn language which explains why the process

of learning manifests distinct structural regularities. Human beings also

possess a common set of wants and needs, which they express through

language; this, in tum, accounts for commonalities in the way the L2 is

used. The other tradition is psychological; it focusses on the different ways

in which learners cope with the task of learning and using an L2. Here

the focus is on the learner. Human beings are individuals; they differ with

regard to gender, age, motivation, personality, learning style, self-esteem

etc. Each person has her own way of going about things with the result

that there is immense diversity in both the way learners learn and in what

they achieve. The teacher needs to take account of both of these tradi-

tions-she needs to consider how learners learn and she needs to consider

how they differ.

Ø What is Second language Acquisition?

      SLA means the processes through which    someone acquires one or more second or foreign language. (Nunan)

       SLA is also closely related to  cognitive psychology , and education 

        According to Kreshan, the Acquisition of a language is naturalistic process, where as learning a language is a conscious one.

        Second language is a   foreign language.

       More informative , L2 can be said to be any language learned in addition to one’s mother tongue

        L2 – target language

  According to David Nunan’s Essay Second Language Acquisition

The term second language acquisition (SLA) refers to processes through which someone acquires one or more second or foreign language. (David)

Ø Two types of Contrastive Analysis 

v Positive transfer

        These studies were conducted in the belief that a learner’s first language (L1) has an important influence.

v Negative transfer 

        Proponent of constructive analysis argued that where L1 and L2 rules are in conflict , errors are likely to occur that are  result of ‘interference’ between L1 and L2.

Ø Research

Product orient Research

         Morpheme order means minimum meaningful language

         In the order ‘natural’ sequence

         Language competence morpheme is second level of the rules

Instead of using CA to predict difficulty or explain errors, teachers could use it to compile instructional materials that address the contrastive differences of the two languages, and then employ the contrast-oriented instruction to first raise learners’ consciousness about the difficult grammatical forms and then learn them.

Ø According to Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

According to Krashen there are two independent systems of second language performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The 'acquired system' or 'acquisition' is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. The 'learned system' or 'learning' is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the language, for example knowledge of grammar rules. According to Krashen 'learning' is less important than 'acquisition'. (Krashen)

Ø Process oriented Research

      Research reviewed above focused on the product or outcome of acquisition.

Ø Learning and language acquisition of language two in Indian context.

Learning and language acquisition has observations.

        Very little acquisition takes place most of the time learning occurs that two not is in real sense. Because of the lack of atmosphere very little acquisition except in English medium schools or convent school and metro cities-because lack of motivation, lack of practice.

       Background of language 1 is helpful in learning language L2.

        Sometimes habits or incomplete knowledge of language L1 many create clashes while learning language L2 because very often students do not have enough knowledge of language L1.

        When language L2 is learnt in Indian context grammar is much more emphasized.

        Learning of language L2 has become mechanical artificial and boring.

        Natural order of four basic skills of language learning is not maintained perhaps that is whey learning of language L2 becomes strainers.

Language acquisition in children takes place they get motivation, feedback all these two affects language acquisition. Natural order of four basic skills of language learning is

ü Listening

ü Speaking

ü Reading

ü Writing

Conclusion:-

In a sense, then, helping learners to grow and catering for diversity calls

for the same set of basic skills from the teacher. In particular, the teacher

needs to be a good communicator. The truth of this observation becomes

more and more apparent to me as I observe lessons in different parts of

the world. Teachers vary enormously in their abilities to communicate

effectively in the classroom. Some are expert, able to provide the kinds

of interactional conditions that help learning to grow and to adapt how

they communicate with individual learners to cater for diversity among

them. Other teachers are less expert.

Language pedagogy has been traditionally seen in terms of 'ap-

proaches', 'methods' and 'techniques' (Anthony, 1963). It is true that

teachers need to know what to do in the classroom, so these concepts are

useful. But ultimately, stimulating growth and catering for diversity is not

a question of any of these, but of how well the teacher can communicate

with her learners.

Works Cited:-

Ø David, Nunan. Second Language acquisition. Ed. Nunan David. Cambridge University Press , 2001.

Ø Krashen. "Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition." (1982).

Ø Nanan, David. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languagev. Ed. Ronald Carter David Nanan. Cambrige University Press, 2001.

Black skin, white mask

 Assignment

Name- Hareshwari Y. Kapdi

Roll no. 7 

Entertainment no-2009108420200020

Paper name - The postcolonial literature

Topic- 

MA Sem-3

Submitted to- S.B. Gardi department of English MKBU

# Introduction :

Post-colonialism means time after colonialism. Post-colonialism is study of culture after the physical and political withdrawal of an oppressive power. Post colonialism rejects the dominance of western culture. It challenges Western Knowledge system about East.

# BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK DIVIDED INTO 8 CHAPTER : 

1. The Negro and Language ;-

 In the first chapter, “The Black Man and language”, Fanon shows that how language can  present colonialism, how it can show mindset of black and white people. He says,“The Negro will become whiter-become more human-as he masters the white man’s language”

He explains it with example that, in Martinique, where Fanon grew, people communicate with dialect Creole. But people saw French better than Creole. They started feeling shame with their dialect. It is not because of scholarly opinion but because of being under French rule. He noticed that people came back educated from France, they act as if they no longer knew Creole and speak perfect French. He noticed that, it is not because they want to be white (because French is white’s language) or they think that white people are better or something but to prove they are equal.

As Fanon believes that, ‘To speak a language is appropriate its world and culture’. As language is also part of culture, they (blacks), through learning of their language, try to become culturally whiter.

2.    The Woman of Colour and the White Man :-

     The effect of white people also touched to the society. Black Woman also wished the White Skin which White woman has. So they wanted to be as white as White woman Here one can find that how desire of “WHITENESS’ is more in the Black woman. Because of that many ‘FAIRNESS CREAM’ and their industries grow faster and faster. As reader can understand that how Whiteness is showed as something goodness and Blackness is showed something like a dark side. Because of getting White Skin the colonized women look down on their own. Race and deep down want to be white. Here, an individual can give an example from literary work that how Black women wished to have White Skin of Bluest Eye just like White people have.

      “The Bluest Eye” by ‘Toni Morrison’ ‘we find a black girl Pecola Breedlove desires to have the blue eyes of white men and woman.

 

1.   The Man of Colour and the White Woman :-

     The third chapter “The man of colour and the White woman” is about black man’s psychology after being colonized by whites. Fanon argues that, the nature of the relationship is also rooted in the latent desire to become white.

     Every black man and mulatto have only one thought to be like white to gratify their appetite for white woman, to marry white woman. They started denying their culture and woman and marry white girl, less for love than satisfying their ego and inferiority.

     Fanon explains this desire with example of Jean Venuese, hero of a novel “Un home pareil aux autres” by Rene Maran. He is black, but like other Europeans, he falls in love with white woman. He wants to separate himself from his race and wants to marry white… Fanon, very effectively, presents hidden desire of black man to marry white woman. 

     “The history of the colonial negro is the history of this strife this longing to attain self – conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He does not wish to Africanize America, for America or Europe has too much to teach the world and Africa. He wouldn’t bleach his negro blood in a flood of white Europeanism, for he knows that negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both Negro and an European without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face.” 

2.    The So-called Dependency Complex of the colonized peoples

      Here, the writer argues against Fanon’s view that people of colour have a deep desire for white rule, that those who oppose it to do not have a secure sense of self that they have a chip on their shoulder. From this chapter I came to understand that the stereotypes of Happy Darkies, Uppity Negroes and White Saviours all come from the need of white people to feel that their power in society is good and not racist.

3. The fact of Blackness (Fanon: The Lived Experience of the Black Man)

    “There is a fact: White men consider themselves superior to black men. There another fact that black men want to prove to white men, at all costs, the richness of their thought, the equal value of their intellect.”

     Fanon proposes that “blackness" is not a self-created identity, but a construct that is placed upon black people by the white man. Therefore the black man has no true sense of himself or his true identity because he never had a chance to create one for himself. As black people, there is responsibility to carry on the traditions and cultures of the race, only for those identifiable characteristics to be ignored and replaced by the negative connotations like, tom – toms, cannibalism, racial defects, etc. created by the white man. Regardless of what the Black man or woman does in regards to the advancement of society as a WHOLE, “Black or Negro” will always be in the pretext. Despite the suffering of Jews although somewhat similar to the suffering of Blacks,

                              “The Jew can be unknown in his jewishness”

4. The Negro (The Black Man) and Psychopathology:

      Here writer ask question to reader that, Why should people fear black?  Question asked here. Part it has to do with white men’s repressed homosexuality and their strange hang-ups about black men’s penises. More generally, black men are viewed as a body, which makes them seem like mindless, violent sexual, animal beings. Add to that all the bad meanings that the word “black” had even before Europeans set foot in black Africa.

5. The Negro and Recognition:-

      Fanon describes his last point in chapter seven “The black man and recognition”. In this chapter Fanon presents mentality of black people of putting their own people down to feel good.

      He writes about his people of Martinique, with putting down others, they can feel better about themselves. The reason of their mentality is an inferiority complex. The fault is not of black people but it comes from white rule, which forces blacks to live in a world where their human worth is questioned. Blacks are not in a position to put down white people, so they prove their worth by putting down each other. Like mulatto girl does not want to marry with black or mulattoes feel superior and prove blacks inferior.

6. Way of conclusion:

    The last chapter of this book “By way of conclusion” is, as the title suggests, a conclusion. In this chapter he talks about some solution which can try to remove this inequality and injustice between blacks and whites.

      This final chapter discusses the escaping the prison of one’s past and one’s race

      “The negro is not: Any more than the White Man”.  In Fanon’s words, his writing

      “Exposes an utterly naked declivity where an authentic upheaval can be born”

     In these eight chapters, Fanon talks about psychology of white colonizers and black people’s desire to be like white men. He talks about issue of language, marriage between white and black and psychology behind it. White mindset of ruling, black’s inequality and struggle for human existence. He explains his all the arguments of psychology with real examples of his surroundings.

Fanon throughout the book deals with the inner struggle of black when they were colony ‘the black man and language’ deals with language. Here we saw the ideal of blackness, notion of desire, and idea of identity, what is humanism? Other,

self ego, civil rights, human rights, self desire, the idea of Negritude, idea of darkness. For him Black is attitude, attitude comes from culture.

Black Skin, White Masks is certainly an amazing engagement with the fate of the black individual in society. The book deals with various questions and dilemmas faced by all humans. Its power lies in the fact that it remains surprisingly optimistic in spite of its serious subject matter. Fanon recognizes the problems faced by the former colonised and is quite aware of the psychologically draining position that he/she occupies. Yet, he focuses his attention on the debunking of whiteness as the epitome of being. He seeks to “work out new concepts” (Fanon, 1961, 255) and remains optimistic that this can indeed be done.

Conclusion :-

Thus, black skin and white Mask is remain Important work to give voice to the problems of racial discrimination to black people. It attacks the notion white superiority. Black people   have desire to became white. Because being white is means superior. So they have desire to became white. And even Mulatto, mixed race people finds problem in matching with either white or black people. They feel superior among black and inferior among white people. So it gives voice to such issues of society.

Works Cited: 

1.http://hiteshparmar1234.blogspot.in/2014/10/paper-no-11-critique-on-black-skin.html .

2.http://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/frantz-fanon-black-skin-white-masks/.

3.http://weblog.liberatormagazine.com/2009/11/finger-on-page-frantz-fanons-black-skin.html#.VDv-D_nKtaA.

Assignment-The cask of Amontillado

Assignment

Name- Hareshwari Y. Kapdi

Roll no. 7 

Entertainment no-2009108420200020

Paper name -The American literature

Topic- The  cask of Amontillado

MA Sem-3

Submitted to- S.B. Gardi department of English MKBU

# Introduction:-

Edgar Allan Poe born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.[1] Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

"The Cask of Amontillado"

"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado"  is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective.

Montresor invites Fortunato to sample amontillado that he has just purchased without proving its authenticity. Fortunato follows him into the Montresor family vaults, which also serve as catacombs. For unknown reasons, Montresor seeks revenge upon Fortunato and is actually luring him into a trap. At the end of the story, the narrator reveals that 50 years have passed since he took revenge and Fortunato's body has not been disturbed.

Scholars have noted that Montresor’s reasons for revenge are unclear and that he may simply be insane. However, Poe also leaves clues that Montresor has lost his family's prior status and blames Fortunato. Further, Fortunato is depicted as an expert on wine, which Montresor exploits in his plot, but he does not display the type of respect towards alcohol expected of such experts. Poe may have been inspired to write the story by his own real-life desire for revenge against contemporary literary rivals. The story has been frequently adapted in multiple forms since its original publication.

The Cask of Amontillado FORTUNATO HAD HURT ME A thousand times and I had suffered quietly. But then I learned that he had laughed at my proud name, Montresor, the name of an old and honored family. I promised myself that I would make him pay for this that I would have revenge. You must not suppose, however, that I spoke of this to anyone. I would make him pay, yes; but I would act only with the greatest care. I must not suffer as a result of taking my revenge. A wrong is not made right in that manner. And also the wrong would not be made right unless Fortunato knew that he was paying and knew who was forcing him to pay. I gave Fortunato no cause to doubt me. I continued to smile in his face, and he did not understand that I was now smiling at the thought of what I planned for him, at the thought of my revenge. Fortunato was a strong man, a man to be feared. But he had one great weakness: he liked to drink good wine, and indeed he drank much of it. So he knew a lot about fine wines, and proudly believed that he was a trained judge of them. I, too, knew old wines well, and Edgar AIlan Poe: S toryteller I bought the best I could find. And wine, I thought, wine would give me my revenge! It was almost dark, one evening in the spring, when I met Fortunato in the street, alone. He spoke to me more warmly than was usual, for already he had drunk more wine than was good for him. I acted pleased to see him, and I shook his hand, as if he had been my closest friend. "Fortunato! How are you?" "Montresor! Good evening, my friend." "My dear Fortunato! I am indeed glad that I have met you. I was just thinking of you. For I have been tasting my new wine. I have bought a full cask of a fine wine which they tell me is Amontillado. But..." "Amontillado! Quite impossible." "I know. It does not seem possible. As I could not find you I was just going to talk to Luchresi. If anyone understands wines it is Luchresi. He will tell me...." "Luchresi? He does not know one wine from another!" "But they say he knows as much about wines as you know." "Ho! - Come. Let us go." "Go where?" "To your vaults. To taste the wine." "No, my friend, no. I can see that you are not well. And the vaults are cold and wet." "I do not care. Let us go. I'm well enough. The cold is nothing. Amontillado! Someone is playing games with you. And Luchresi! Ha! Luchresi knows nothing about wines, nothing at all." As he spoke, Fortunato took my arm, and I allowed him to hurry me to my great stone palace, where my family, the Montresors, had lived for centuries. There was no one at home. I had told the servants that they must not leave the palace, as I would not return until the following morning and they must care for the place. This, I knew, was enough to make it certain that they would all leave as soon as my back was turned. I took down from their places on the wall two brightly burning lights. I gave one of these to Fortunato and led him to a wide doorway. There we could see the stone steps going down into the darkness. 

Edgar AIIAN Po e Asking him to be careful as he followed, I went down before him, down under the ground, deep under the old walls of my palace. We came finally to the bottom of the steps and stood there a moment together. The earth which formed the floor was cold and hard. We were entering the last resting place of the dead of the Montresor fam- ily. Here too we kept our finest wines, here in the cool, dark, still air under the ground. Fortunato's step was not sure, because of the wine he had been drinking. He looked uncertainly around him, trying to see through the thick darkness which pushed in around us. Here our brightly burn- ing lights seemed weak indeed. But our eyes soon became used to the darkness. We could see the bones of the dead lying in large piles along the walls. The stones of the walls were wet and cold. From the long rows of bottles which were lying on the floor, among the bones, I chose one which contained a very good wine. Since I did not have anything to open the bottle with, I struck the stone wall with it and broke off the small end. I offered the bottle to Fortunato. "Here, Fortunato. Drink some of this fine Medoc. It will help to keep us warm. Drink!" "Thank you, my friend. I drink to the dead who lie sleeping around us." "And I, Fortunato - I drink to your long life." "Ahh! A very fine wine, indeed! But the Amontillado?" "It is farther on. Come." We walked on for some time. We were now under the river's bed, and water fell in drops upon us from above. Deeper into the ground we went, past still more bones. "Your vaults are many, and large. There seems to be no end to them." "We are a great family, and an old one. It is not far now. But I can see you are trembling with the cold. Come! Let us go back before it is too late," "It is nothing. Let us go on. But first, another drink of your Medoc!" I took up from among the bones another bottle. It was another wine of a fine quality, a De Grâve. Again I broke off the neck of the Edgar Poe: Storyteller bottle. Fortunato took it and drank it all without stopping for a breath. He laughed, and threw the empty bottle over his shoulder. We went on, deeper and deeper into the earth. Finally we arrived at a vault in which the air was so old and heavy that our lights almost died. Against three of the walls there were piles of bones higher than our heads. From the fourth wall someone had pulled down all the bones, and they were spread all around us on the ground. In the middle of the wall was an opening into another vault, if I can call it that -a little room about three feet wide, six or seven feet high, and perhaps four feet deep. It was hardly more than a hole in the wall. "Go on," I said. "Go in; the Amontillado is in there." Fortunato continued to go forward, uncertainly. I followed him immediately. Soon, of course, he reached the back wall. He stood there a moment, facing the wall, surprised and wondering. In that wall were two heavy iron rings. A short chain was hanging from one of these and a lock from the other. Before Fortunato could guess what was happening, I closed the lock and chained him tightly to the wall. I stepped back. "Fortunato," I said. "Put your hand against the wall. You must feel how the water runs over it. Once more I ask you, please, will you not go back? No? If not, then I must leave you. But first I must do everything I can for you." "But...But the Amontillado?"" "Ah, yes, yes indeed; the Amontillado." As I spoke these words I began to search among the bones. Throwing them to one side I found the stones which earlier I had taken down from the wall. Quickly I began to build the wall again, covering the hole where Fortunato stood trembling. "Montresor! What are you doing!?".

    Edgar AIlan Po e I continued working. I could hear him pulling at the chain, shak- ing it wildly. Only a few stones remained to put in their place. "Montresor! Ha-ha. This is a very good joke, indeed. Many times will we laugh about it - ha-ha – as we drink our wine together - ha-ha." "Of course. As we drink the Amontillado." "But is it not late? Should we not be going back? They will be expecting us. Let us go." "Yes. Let us go." As I said this I lifted the last stone from the ground. "Montresor! For the love of God!!" "Yes. For the love of God!" I heard no answer. "Fortunato!" I cried. "Fortunato." I heard only a soft, low sound, a half-cry of fear. My heart grew sick; it must have been the cold. I hurried to force the last stone into its position. And I put the old bones again in a pile against the wall. For half a century now no human hand has touched them. May he rest in peace!

References:-

• Van Luling, Todd (January 19, 2017). "A Vengeful Arch-Nemesis Taught You Fake News About Edgar Allan Poe". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 23, 2019.

•  Meyers 1992, p. 259 To read Griswold's full obituary, see Edgar Allan Poe obituary at Wikisource.

• "Poe & Boston: 2009". The Raven Returns: Edgar Allan Poe Bicentennial Celebration. The Trustees of Boston College. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2012.

• "The Stories of Edgar Allen Poe: Manga Classics - Barnes and Noble"

Assignment- The Modernist English literature

Assignment

Name- Hareshwari Y. Kapdi

Roll no. 7 

Entertainment no-2009108420200020

Paper name -The Modernist English literature

Topic- waiting for Godot:- Samuel Beckett 

MA Sem-3

Submitted to- S.B. Gardi department of English MKBU

∆ Introduction:-

# About Author Samuel Beckett :-

  Samuel Beckett was born on 13 April, 1906 at Foxrock, Dublin, Ireland and died on 22 December, 1989 in Paris. His pen name was Andrew Belis. He was a novelist, playwright, poet, and essayist. Some of his remarkable.

# Waiting for Godot:-

(1955) a play by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett about two men, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting for a third man, Godot, who never comes. The play is a typical example of the Theatre of the Absurd, and people use the phrase ‘waiting for Godot’ to describe a situation where they are waiting for something to happen, but it probably never will.

# works are:

1.  Murphy (1938),

2.  Molloy (1951),

3.  Endgame (1957),

4.  Malone Dies (1951),

5.  The Unnamable (1953),

6.  Waiting for Godot (1953),

7.  Watt (1953),

8.  Endgame (1957),

9.  Krapp’s Last Tape (1958),

10. How It Is (1961)

  He was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in literature. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy. He is one of the most influential writers of the 20thcentury.

Waiting For Godot with Religious Interpretation

# What is Samuel Beckett famous for?

Beckett is most famous for his play En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot; 1953). Like most of his works after 1947, the play was first written in French. Beckett worked on the play between October 1948 and January 1949.

Abstract

Samuel Beckett was an Irish playwright, poet and novelist best known for his play ‘Waiting for Godot’. Strongly influenced by fellow Irish writer, James Joyce, Beckett is sometimes considered the last of the Modernists. Though the play commonly interpreted within the context of the theatre of absurd, existentialist literature, it is also Christian allegory and also interpreted with religious interpretations. We can also find other aspects in this paly like Political and Psychoanalytical it provides better understanding.

Here we can discuss that nothingness in Waiting for Godot it shows some deep meaning in life in different way. ‘Waiting for Godot’ gives a message that while doing nothing there is something.

# What are the symbols in Waiting for Godot?

The tree, near which Estragon and Vladimir meet, is completely bare of leaves at the beginning of the play. It represents the only organics element in the setting, and it is dead or dormant. This tree portrays the world as barren and lifeless, emphasizing the lack of purpose and meaning the characters must contend with.

# Waiting for Godot Themes:-

The main themes in Waiting for Godot include the human condition, absurdism and nihilism, and friendship.

• The human condition:

 The hopelessness in Vladimir and Estragon’s lives demonstrates the extent to which humans rely on illusions—such as religion, according to Beckett—to give hope to a meaningless existence.

• Absurdism and nihilism:

 Faith seems meaningless to Beckett and his characters, who pin their hopes on a God-like figure called Godot who ultimately does not come.

     •Friendship: 

Vladimir and Estragon care deeply for each other, and their relationship highlights the importance of support from friends in life.

# Existentialism in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

JAKE BRANNEN

• Jules Irving as Lucky, 1957

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a play that presents conflict between living by religious and spiritual beliefs, and living by an existential philosophy, which asserts that it is  up to the individual to discover the meaning of life through personal experience in the earthly world. Support for this assertion regarding the nature of the play is based on first hand interpretation of the dialogue and action within the play itself as well as interpretation of quotes and ideas from Samuel Beckett and his critics.

# Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett: A Tragedy

In the tradition of tragedy there is always a profound understanding of suffering and helpless humanity. The tradition continues from the ancient Greeks to the modern playwrights - Luigi Pirandello, Arthur Miller, Jean-Paul Sartre and Samuel Beckett, to name only a few. It has been said that Beckett's plays are a poignant expression of boredom, despair, and pessimism.

 

There are occasional silver linings of comicality and laughter, but they serve to thicken and deepen the clouds of life. We are faced with the ultimate truth that we are doomed to solitude, alienated from the universe. The characters remind us of robots and automata, who have no passion, conflict or emotion. They have no freedom of will, freedom of action, or freedom of movement. Waiting for Godot is a grand world of despair, where man is reduced to the reactions of a puppet, where the world is left behind. Waiting for Godot bars from the stage all forms of mobility and natural communication between characters, and, therefore, the result is crippled and monotonous.

The atmosphere in the play is tragic, and yet Waiting for Godot is not a tragedy in the conventional sense. Aristotle insists that a tragedy should have certain characteristics, namely plot; character, a complete action, an ideal tragic hero, and Catharsis. The ancient Greek tragedies are religious in impulsion, rhetorical in style, serene in action, and ironical in the plot. Judged from the Aristotelian as well as the Greek point of view, Waiting for Godot does not seem to be a tragedy. For in it there is no plot; the action, if any, is incomplete; there is no artistic embellishment in the language of the play; there is no tragic hero, who compels our admiration; there is no Catharsis either. In the tragedies of the twentieth century the heroes, the anti-heroes, are victims of circumstances rather than the architects of their own destiny. The social, political, and economic values have replaced the gods of ancient Greek tragedy.

Though the ancient criteria of tragedy are not found in Waiting for Godot, it is a tragedy. The heroes of the play, Vladimir and Estragon, have been together for fifty years. They were once on the top of the Eiffel tower, which is the symbol of happiness and prosperity. But they are two ill-clad tramps with no roof over their heads, hunger gnawing them at their entrails. They evoke pity and fear. They are shrouded in mystery, and yet the readers and the audience do not experience any Catharsis, which is not mere tragic relief but emotional equilibrium. We leave the auditorium in a state of despair. The two tramps wait, knowing full well that it is an exercise in futility.

There is hardly any action in the play. Throughout the play the two tramps wait in a state of helplessness and nurse no hope. They pass the time in the idle gossip, singing songs, playing eristic bouts, indulging in cross talks, doing physical exercises and playing the parts of Pozzo and Lucky. They have none of the heroic endurance or stoical fortitude of Prometheus, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. "Nothing is to be done"- that is the keynote of the play. They have no urge for action, no lust for life. Out of sheer boredom they are ready to commit suicide. But that decision also falls through only because the branch of the tree they like to hang themselves from is too weak, nor is there a cord to hang themselves with.

They are Waiting for Godot, for Godot's arrival alone can terminate their helplessness, despair and inaction. But Godot does not come in spite of his unwritten message that he will. The boy brings a message, but that does not raise any hope. He presents an image of Godot - an image that is not cheering or heartening. For Godot, before coming, will have to "consult his family", "his friends", "his agents", "his bank account", "his correspondents", and even "his books".

Vladimir and Estragon are the representatives of the suffering humanity, travailing in a hostile universe. Pozzo and Lucky present similar picture of despair and helplessness. They deepen and heighten the tragedy of a man and suggest that helplessness is not the destiny of the two tramps alone, but of all beings. Lucky is treated by his master as an animal. Once graceful and beautiful, he has now fallen upon evil days. He has lost all human dignity. He is taken to the fair for sale, his neck tied with a string. Pozzo is so heartless that on seeing Lucky weeping bitterly, he simply says: "Old dogs have more dignity." The master is power-mad, and as if by an act of Nemesis, he becomes blind. The word 'blind' may be taken figuratively also. He is blind, for he has not the patience to appreciate the other man's point of view. But as he becomes blind, he is as helpless as the rest. Lucky becomes dumb, and is yet made to think on behalf of his master.

The tragic refrain of the two tramps is: "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes; it's awful." Vladimir says: 'There's nothing we can do " And Estragon says: "All my lousy life I've crawled about in the mud! And you talk to me about scenery! You and your landscapes! Tell me about the worms!"

Pozzo, a little humanized by his blindness, says: "One day trim any other day, one day he went dumb, one day I went blued, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you ? They gave birth astride of a grave, the light gleams and instant, then it's night once more."

Waiting for Godot is a tragedy of the modern man. The hero is not one person, but the entire humanity, suffering and groaning with no hope of redress. And yet the play has its Catharsis. The greater the anxieties and the temptation to indulge in illusions, the more beneficial is this therapeutic effect.

Summer up:

  I concluded my topic with the question, 'What is the meaning of our presence in the universe?' May be nothing or may be something. Somehow it's like a dream and somehow it is like the reality of our existence. Thank you!

  

Resources:-

• https://prezi.com/m/ezbsvsbuboyh/christianity-and-waiting-for-godot/

• http://poojabajadeja1315.blogspot.com/2014/10/waiting-for-godot-with-religious.html?m=1

• Noorbakhsh Hooti. "Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: A Postmodernist Study." English Laguage and Literature Study Vol.No 1 .june 2011 (n.d.): 40 - 49.