ASSIGNMENT

Semester 1 Spring Drive 2013

B.A. Journalism and Mass Communication

Subject Name: English Literature I

Subject Code: BJ0030
(Book ID: B1027)
4 credits (60 marks)

All questions carry 10 marks. Answers for 10 mark questions should not exceed
more than 400 words.
Answer the following questions:
Q. 1 List out five of the most renowned short story writers, briefly explaining their styles
and salient features.
[2x5 = 10 marks]
.
A. 1 Some of major short story writers and their Style and Salient are appended
below:(i) Saki. Saki is pen-name of Hector Hugh Munro. One of the salient features of his
style is his trademark wit. The Story Teller, The Lumber Room and Tobermory are
some of his best stories. His one-liners are very popular. For example he remarks
that Discipline, to be effective, must be optional.
(ii) Katherine Mansfield. Salient feature of the stories of Katherine Mansfield is the
technique called 'epiphany'. A sudden remark, a symbol, or moment epitomizes and
clarifies the meaning of a complex experience. This usually comes at end of the
story - either for the character in the story or for the reader. The best example of
this style can be seen in The Dolls House.

(iii) Rudyard Kipling First salient feature of Kipling is his love for animals and children.
The Jungle Book is a collection of animal stories for children. Kipling is one of
earliest writers to endow the animals with memorable individuality. Second major
feature of Kiplings stories is that, his early stories justified the English empire,
mythicised the ordeals and courage of the rulers (the white mans burden) and
gave them heroic status. Kipling wrote with great sympathy about lonely regimental
wives and young widows of Englishmen; but this sympathy did not extend to Indian
women. The third feature of Kipling is that his later stories reveal an instinctive
bond with India and its people.
(iv) William Somerset Maugham Despite of his novels, it is by virtue of his short
stories that Maugham will take his place among the classics of English fiction.

Maugham himself said that he had never pretended to be anything but a story
teller. His clear, precise and simple style makes easy reading. All short stories are
magazine short stories or newspaper. One of the salient features of Maugham was
his presentation of sexual love. His stories show his pragmatic attitude towards
morals. He was clearly on permissive side.

(v) Edgar Allan Poe. One of the earliest, greatest and most pioneering writers of
America. He was a master of the horror tale and science fiction. He was also a
humourist of a rare kind. Poe started the trend of clever detective stories. Thus,
Poe can be called the Father of Detective Stories. He is also one of the earliest
exponents of science fiction.

Q. 2 What is point of view? Explain the various points of view used to describe how a
story gets told.
[2+8 = 10 marks]
.
A. 2 Point Of View the way a story gets told the mode (or modes) established by an
author by means of which the reader is presented with the characters, dialogue,
action, setting and events which constitute the narrative in a work of fiction. Point
of view is narrative technique used by narrator. Narrator is one who tells the
story and narrative technique is how he tells the story. Let us examine the four most
important narrative techniques or points of view:First Person In first-person narrative, the narrator speaks as I, my, me, and
mine, and is to a great extent a participant in the story, or in most cases he is the
protagonist of the story.
The Second Person Narration: This name has been given to a mode of narration
in which the story gets told primarily as an address by the narrator to someone he
calls by the second person pronoun You. The second person may be a specific
character in the story or sometimes the reader.
Third person point of view In third-person narrative technique, the narrator is
someone outside the story who refers to all characters in his story by name, or he,
she, they. It is also called the omniscient point of view as the narrator is present
everywhere. Omniscient narrator can move from character to character, event to
event, having free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of his
characters and he introduces information where and when he chooses. In this style
of narration it appears like a camera is following characters, going everywhere and
recording. Most stories use the third person or omniscient point of view.
Stream of consciousness: The words Stream of consciousness was first used by
William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890) to describe unbroken flow of
perceptions, memories, thoughts and feelings in mind. He used the term with
reference to human mind. The story is told in such a way that the reader feels as if

they are inside the head of one character and knows all their thoughts and
reactions. Consider the following example from the story In Khandesh by Raja Rao:
Curtains follow curtains. It is like a prison house the storm. Walls of curtains that
tear with a breath Curtain again then suddenly the trees Like policemen
Hard, gory, smeared with black blood Clutter- clutter Clutter - clutter.
Q. 3 Write a detailed note on R.K. Narayans narration and humour.

[5+5 = 10 marks]

A. 3 Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan (1906-2001)

Narayan was a prolific writer who has left behind a veritable treasure of novel, short
stories, essays, an autobiography and a memoir.
Narration: He looked himself as a realistic fiction writer. In fact his uncle who read
the first few pages of his novel Swami and Friends screamed: What the hell is this!
You write that he got up, picked up a towel, rinsed his teeth, poured water over his
head just like a catalogue! A typical Narayan resembles the direct tradition of the
ancient Indian method of narration. The happy endings of most of his stories are
also similar to the ancient Indian tradition. He borrows from the idea of the narrator
too from our ancient tradition in few of his stories; the incidents are narrated by
character that he calls the Talkative Man just like Bodhisattva of Jataka Tales. His
talkative man is omnipresent and true to his name he is talkative. Therefore, the
narration is vivid and elaborate.
Narayans humour has earned him the sobriquet the master of the ludicrous. In
stories such as Attila and Engine Trouble he makes full use of an exaggerated
humour, and the result is a picture of sheer delight. Narayan combines humour with
satire as in the case of Lawley Road. He subtly makes fun of the administrators in
their unbounded enthusiasm nationalizing all the streets and parks with the
names of Gandhi, Nehru and Bose. In fact a single name is given to several streets
leading to overall confusion. The story continues this idea of blind nationalism and
the statue of Lawley is scornfully dismantled and sold by the municipal authorities.
But it is later reinstated as somebody proves that Sir Fredrick Lawley was the
founder of Malgudi.

Q. 4 Explain the origin and development of essays.

[2+8 = 10 marks]

A. 4 The word Essay comes from French word essai, which means an attempt or
effort. Let us now see how it developed in subsequent ages.
The Elizabethan Age (1550 to 1630): In Old and Middle English Period there were
no essays or essayists. Essays started in Elizabethan Age. Sir Francis Bacon was

pioneer of the essays in English. Two other essayists of that age were Ben Jonson
and John Selden.
The Age of Milton (1630 to 1660): It is called the Age of Milton because John
Milton who supported the puritan ideals reigned supreme in this age. It was an age
of treatises rather than essays.
Restoration or the Age of Dryden (1660 to 1700): Dryden was the most versatile
writer of this age. He was the only major essayist in this age. Dryden wrote his
Essay of Dramatic Poesy in 1688.
The Age of Pope or the Augustan Age (1700 to 1750): Augustan Age is also
called the Golden Age of English essay. Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Sir Richard
Steele and Joseph Addison are the major essayists of this age. It is also a
significant age as we see the birth of periodical essay in this age.
The Age of Johnson (1750 to 1790): Periodical Essays continued in this age. Dr
Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith are the two most important essayists of this
period. After Goldsmith the Periodical essay showed sure signs of decline.
The Romantic Age (1790 to 1830): Romantic Age is generally considered as the
Golden Age of English Poetry. It was an era of dailies in place of periodical essays.
Romantic Age produced three great essayists Hazlitt, De Quincey and Lamb.
Lamb towered among them all as the Prince of English essays.
The Victorian Age (1830 to 1890) Thomas Carlyle, Macaulay, Thackeray and
Stevenson are the major essayists of this age. First three popularized the treatise
mode of essays rather than the literary mode.
The Modern Age (1890 to 1945): The number of essayists in the Modern Age is
very large and hence we will concentrate on a few major essayists like G.K.
Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, E.V. Lucas, A.G. Gardiner and Robert Lynd, Sir Max
Beerbohm, A.G. Gardiner and A.A. Milne.
Among the 20th century essayists, E.V. Lucas (1868-1933) is one who is generally
regarded as the true inheritor of the manner of Lamb. He is one of the most prolific
essayists of our age.
Q.6 Write a short note on Guy de Maupassants works and themes as well as his style
and salient features.
[5+5 = 10 marks]
A.6 Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Maupassant was born on 5 August 1850 in France.

(i) Works and themes: Guy de Maupassant wrote six novels. But he is best
remembered as one of the most popular short story (conte in French) writers ever.
It is foolish and idle to ask the question Who is the greatest story writer ever and
which is the best story ever? But if one asks who is the greatest story writer who
has written the largest number of the best short stories, then we can probably
mention the name of Maupassant. He has written more than three hundred stories,
a majority of which are of the highest order. He got famous by his first short story,
he worked methodically and produced two or sometimes four volumes annually. In
1881, he published his first volume of short stories under the title of La Maison
Tellier. The major themes of Maupassant are about the futility of war and the
innocent civilians who get crushed in it, the rising middle class and the lower
classes of France, the fading nobility, peasants and the poor, love, everyday
existence and of course his favourite theme, prostitution. Some of his most popular
stories are, The Necklace, Fear, The House of Madame Tellier, Playing with Fire,
Shali, Idle Beauty and Love, Pages from a Sportsmans Diary.
(ii) Style and Salient Features: Maupassant wrote in such a natural way that it is hard
to believe that he had a clear-cut theory of contes or story writing. Most critics have
argued that Maupassants method of story writing is standardized. To begin with,
there is a subject matter of an everyday relevance. The stories had a single scene.
Next he began to underplay the element of plot in favour of characterization. Most
of his stories appear at first to be nothing more than brief and rather transparent
narrations but the best of them succeed in giving truthful insights into the hidden
lives of people caught amidst the trials of everyday existence. Most of his stories
have the unexpected end that sting in the tail upon which short story writers
both good and bad, depend upon. An efficient effortless conclusion is the
characteristic of most Maupassant stories. Like all great writers he combined the
realistic and the poetic; his gift was to see the romance in the fact.
Q.6 Write a summary and analysis of A Cup of Tea.

[5+5 = 10 marks]

A.6 Summary of the Story

Rosemary Fell is a young, brilliant, extremely modern,
well dressed, well-educated and pretty as well as a very rich woman. She goes for
shopping in her car. After buying an armful of flowers from florists shop, she goes
to the antique shop. There she is fascinated by an exquisite little enamel box. But
the price was twenty eight guineas and she keeps it for another day. Outside
antique shop she met a poor, young girl who asks money for tea. Rosemary wants
to show that even rich have kind heart and she drives her to her plush house. In
her plush home she heaps all kinds of kindness on the young girl. The girl is offered
tea and food. Then Philip, Rosemarys husband comes in and is surprised to find a
poor young girl in his bedroom. On inquiry he finds out that the young girls name is
Miss Smith. Philip and Rosemary talk confidentially about Miss Smith. He tells that
Miss Smith was astonishingly pretty and absolutely lovely. He tells his wife that he
was bowled over by the beauty of Miss Smith. Rosemary becomes jealous. She
gives three pound notes to girl and sends her away. Later, all dressed up, she goes
up to her husband and asks if she can buy an expensive enamel box she saw in

morning, actually she wished to know whether her husband found her also
absolutely lovely and astonishingly pretty!
Analysis of the story
Major themes of this story are class distinctions (rich and poor), women and
jealousy. When Philip tells that Miss Smith is absolutely lovely, she forsakes all her
compassionate theories and sends off the object of her jealousy. Major characters
in this story are Rosemary Fell, Miss Smith and Philip. Shop man and house maid
Jeanne are minor characters.
Writer has given a psychological insight into the character of Rosemary and Philip.
In case of Rosemary, her desire to prove that rich people had hearts and that
women were sisters was hypocritical may be to show her nobility and to show off
later in front of her friends. Philip judged the extraordinary beauty of the girl, which
his wife was blind to for hours. The setting of the story is London as we come to
know from the words pounds, guineas.
Katherine Mansfield uses the third person or omniscient narrator technique in this
story.