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 ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2017-2018)
M.E.G.-10
English Studies in India
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teachers/Tutors/Authors for the help and guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions in given in the Assignments. We do not claim 100%

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accuracy of these sample answers as these are based on the knowledge and capability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample
answers may be seen as the Guide/Help for the reference to prepare the answers of the Questions given in the Assignment.

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As these Solutions And Answers are prepared by the Private Teacher/Tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be

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denied. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample

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Answers/Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer and for up-to-date

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and exact information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the
university.
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Answer all questions.

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Q. 1. How did English/ English Studies gain support and consolidation in post independent India?
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Ans. In the present day situation English studies is of great importance. And same was the case before and after
independence. a
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Before Independence the three Presidency Universities in 1856 were established with the aim of creating a class
which would serve British interests as well as would consume British goods and follow their taste. The Britishers
wanted to create a class of people who might be interpreters between them and the millions whom they governed: a

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class of persons ‘Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect’.

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English was symbol of power and prestige before independence and still it has maintained its position. In
Indian universities, the introduction of English gave social power and material gain to a particular class. In India,
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English grew as a language having power and political benefits. The superiority of English educated class separated
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the middle class from the large number of people. As in the universities, English studies were introduced by colonial

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rulers, for their own benefits. The preference given to the literature over the ability of people to read and write gave

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a small vision and a superior vision of higher education resulting in a difference among the learner’s social position
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and the learning subject. This as a result created a gap between the superior educated class and the large number of

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people which it was trained to dominate/administer over.

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According to Gandhiji,
‘‘The English medium created an impossible barrier between me and the members of my family, who had not
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gone through English schools–I was fast becoming the stranger in my own home. I certainly became a superior

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person. Even my dress began to undergo imperceptible changes’’.
Superiority of English educated class is a social reality. It was essential to be English-educated for all administrative

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jobs in colonial government which is still needed even after the 60 years of independence. For English educated
people there are always opportunities in the job market. Even today English literature is an optional exam for the
persons who want to be in Indian Civil Services and it is compulsory for them to pass it. Even the idea of a degree
in English honours as a tool of authority in our social cultural and economic arena became clear in the way it never
before was. Seeing the importance of English in the present day situation, the students rush after it. The aim of
middle class people was and still is to educate their wards in English medium so that they make a bright career and
may get the power. Non-speaking class feels inferior to the English speaking. In any sector we go, English studies
have made its own room. The privilege of English in the higher levels of legislative, executive and judicial power,
its dominance in the education, at seminars, in workshops, in areas of profession and in the field of scientific
knowledge/techniques has made the position of English-speaking group strong in our society. Even the demand for
English-educated group has increased and is still increasing in the field of information technology, broadcasting and

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media, in multinational companies and in corporate banking etc. The people whether they are in job or at home or in
any field want to learn English not only for career but also for power and prestige. It is proved by the mushrooming
of institutions in every nook and corner providing crash courses in conversation preparing students for interviews,
competitive exams and much more.
According to Nirad C.Chaudhari:
‘‘English is not a mere instrument for us but a force shaping and moulding personality, making us a wholly
different kind of character from what we should have been if we did not know the language’’.
By character here Mr. Chaudhari means not only an individual, but the class of English educated person. English
has gained so much importance in the society that even the poorest person who earns very little, wishes to send his
child in an English medium school. Most of the schools whether big or small have become English medium and the
number of Hindi medium schools has come down.
Seeing the present day situation, the above mentioned lines seem right. Although English was introduced in India

m
as a help to Britishers, but now it has become an integral part of Indian languages. As already mentioned, the
introduction of English in the Indian universities was concerned with colonial politics. In this process, in 1856, the

o
establishment of three Presidency universities was done to generate superior and those people who would be able to
copy British style and taste and consume British goods. For the colonizers a need arose to change “a class” of people

c
.
“who may be interpreters between us and the millions who we govern: A class of persons of Indian in blood and

t
colour, but English in taste and opinions, the morals and in intellect.” (Macaulay)

g
In Indian universities, the introduction of English helped in getting social power and material gain. It gained its

a r n
position of power and prestige. As a result of the superiority or the dominance of the English educated people over
i
others, professional middle class got separated from the other ordinary people. In universities, introduction of English
d
literature was also done keeping its values in mind. So, the preference given to the literature over the ability of people
a
to read and write gave a small and superior vision of higher education resulting in a difference among the learner’s

educated ones and the masses trained to govern. m

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social position and the learning subjects. This all resulted in creating the difference between the two groups i.e.

Q. 2. Would it be correct to label Toru Dutt as the earliest Indian English Woman Writer? Comment

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Ans. When we read the writings of Toru Dutt at first sight, it does not appear that her writings have anything like

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the glimmerings of a feminist consciousness. So mainstream assessments of her life and work negate any possibility

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of interpreting her as the earliest Indian English writer whom readers might identify as articulating a woman’s point of

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view. So Padmini Sen Gupta, Toru Dutt’s biographer, has remarked, “Toru was interested, but not a very great extent
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in the position and status of Indian women. It is natural that her short life, so absorbed in writing and scholarship, could

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spare little time for social reform and work.” Ananda Mohan Bose, a brilliant Bengali of the times, whom she had met

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often at Cambridge, went to see her at Calcutta, when the Dutts still had hopes of revisiting Europe. Toru Dutt
writes– f
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“He (Mr. Bose) wanted me to visit his school for adult girls. The girls aren’t generally of orthodox Hindu

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parents, but rather of Brahmos or followers of Keshab Chunder Sen’s religion. He was very sorry to hear that
probably we should be going to Europe, for he thought I would be of great help and use in the education of my
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country women.”
Toru Dutt herself was protected from the orthodox world’s rules in the freedom which her community enjoyed
and it is possible she gave little thought to the problems which beset women, except to complain that in Europe she

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could be much freer. She couldn’t mix much with Bengali society because of the existing discrimination between
men and women, Sabhas were only for men, and women in general were kept in the seclusion of their homes.
However, Malashri Lal has advanced another perspective proffering an alternative Toru Dutt in her book, “The Law
of the Threshold–Women Writers in Indian English Focusing exclusively upon the fragmentary fiction, Bianca or
the Young Spanish Maiden”. Lal argues that this novel was perhaps wilfully suppressed by the otherwise enlightened
father of Toru because he probably detected an uncomfortable parallel between the story of Bianca and the real
woman–writer, his daughter. Lal’s argument hinges upon a split that she perceived between the feminine subjectivity
of Bianca, the young Spanish protagonist of Toru Dutt’s novel and the patriarchal constraints imposed upon her by
her father, Alonzo Garcia. The father’s hindrance of Bianca’s choices in life and of her way of life in general, which
results in her suffering from a nervous breakdown, is read by Lal as Dutt’s refraction of her own negotiations with her

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father, Govin Chunder, who was at once caring for his daughters yet careful to dictate the course that their life should
take. Lal reads Dutt’s ill health and subsequent premature death as being symptomatic of the sense of claustrophobia
that must have gripped her, as she existed within the confines of her Calcutta residence unable to live the lives of the
women about whom she read.
Although Toru Dutt was mainly concerned with the French Romantic poets, but she didn’t confine herself to
them. The subjects dearest to her were pathetic ones–those that spoke of separation and loneliness, exile and captivity,
illusion and dejection, loss and bereavement, declining seasons and untimely death. Her own life was an odd mixture
of sushine and sorrow, laughter and pathos, beauty and tragedy, success and regret. Besides being inspired by the
French Romantics, she was also guided by Elizabeth Barette Browning, John Keats, Charlotte Bronte and not least
by Jane Austen. The famous work, which gave Toru unbeatable reputation was the Ancient Ballads and Legends of
Hindustan. One of these ballads are about goddess Uma, two about Sita and Savitri, four describe the experiences of

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youngsters, Dhruv, Butto, Sindhu and Prahlad, and the remainder are about the male heroes Lakshman and Bharat.
These ballads and legends show that Toru Dutt was the first Indian English writer to make extensive use of Indian,

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at least Hindu mythology, though there are scattered references to these in the work of her predecessors. Her treatment
of Hindu mythology reveals an instinctive empathy with the situations and conditions of life which they represent,

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despite the fact that she herself was a second-generation Christian brought up in a semi-westernised domestic
environment.

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At the end we can say that the writings of Toru Dutt are charged with the lyrial effusions of joy and sorrow, anger
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and pathos, dejection and hope. Apart from ballads and legends, she is known for her autobiographical poems in
which ‘Our Casuarina Tree’ is associated with her childhood.
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Born as a Hindu, Toru Dutt was a tripartite influence of French education, lectures at Cambridge and the study
of Sanskrit Literature. The assimilation between the accident and the orient nourished her poetic skills. Toru Dutt
a
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was a Hindu by birth and tradition but an English woman by education, French at heart, a poet in English, a prose
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writer in French, who at the age of eighteen made India acquainted with the poets of French in the rhyme of England,
R
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Review was to write about Toru Dutt, in August 1879. y e
who blended in herself three souls and three traditions and who died at the age of twentyone, in the full bloom of her
talent and on the eve of awakening of her genius. Undoutedly she was the earliest Indian English writer. The Saturday

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“There is every reason to believe that in intellectual power Toru Dutt was one of the most remarkable women

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that ever lived. Had George Eliot died at the age of 21, she would certainly not have left behind her any proof of
application or originally superior to those bequeathed to us by Toru Dutt.”
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Q. 3. ‘Rajmohan’s Wife is about transgression’. Would you agree? Discuss this statement in the light of
Bankim’s understanding of transgression?
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Ans. Bankim was not amongst the reformers and he tried to keep himself away from the reformists in his
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writing. Perhaps it is this aspect of his real life that comes in his novels as well. His own life also had different

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colours so naturally the impact of his life can be seen in his writings as well. One thing is clear that transgressions in

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Bankim’s novels are not alone in the case of widows but also with others. Let us see the case of Durgesh Nandini.
Hero Jagat Sinha who is the lover of Tilotama, also faces the problem with Ayesha’s growing intense sexual love for
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him. The barrier between Jagat Sinha and Ayesha arises out of the “deep prohibitions between the two religious

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communities”. According to Kaviraj “Bankim’s concern is chiefly for liminality–by which he means relationships
that are made at the threshold. He elaborates his point by discussing conflict between the demands of desire and

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those of duty. Kaviraj through these lines is pointing out the same problem which Bankim wrote in some of other
novels as well and it is the basic difference between the two–the thinking of a person, i.e. what he himself likes to do
and what he has been taught by society. We can see both these concepts in almost every of his novel, whether it is
Rajmohan’s Wife or Bishabbriksha, Indira or Krsnkater Vil. In all these at last the social bondage and restriction of
society forces them to stop to do as they (characters) wish to do. Matangini loves Madhav, but she has to leave him.
She confesses it, but one can very well understand the pain in her words when she says, “Yes, if the human mind can
be taught to forget, I will forget you i.e. part now and for ever”. Same in the case of tragedy for which only the
circumstances aren’t responsible, the inability of a person to raise his inner voices is also responsible to some extent.
Although wishes are one’s own feelings and are independent, but if we compare them to social practices or social
norms, we will find similarity in them to an extent that they also come out from the social man as the voice of
conscience. So to some extent a person himself is responsible for tragedy as he does not hear the voice of society.

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Even in Indira also, a young girl, the heroine of the novel, although married but not met her husband is looking forward
to being united with him. This results in a series of incidents rather improbable and unconvincing. Her troop rests in an
alone and dangerous area and she is robbed. Due to her beauty, a younger bandit advises to take her along with them
but is stopped by a senior bandit from doing so. She finds herself in an unfamiliar village almost nude. She requests
many people and as a result of kindness of a lady she gets the job of a cook in a house where she comes very close
to the lady and tells her about her husband and the couple living in the house decides to reunite them. Here number of
things are to be thought of. The position of the heroine is such that she can’t go back to her own parents and even she
can’t understandably arrive robbed and disheveled at her husband’s home. The difficulties are worldly as well as not
so worldly. Now Indira is helpless. She is unable to express her feelings. She can’t tell the truth of incidence as no one
will believe her words that robbers had not robbed her virginity. She is invited to her husband’s house but not as a wife.
Helped by the couple she decides to seduce her husband into falling in love with her. So at last she overcomes the
‘modesty natural to a virtuous woman’ in order to seduce the husband thereby demonstrating the constructed nature

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of female virtue. The fact that her lively mistress enacts the ways of a temptress with such ease and experience
shows that Indira is not an exception.

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The text also involves the sense of transgression that is the subject of this chapter. The text describes the wish
and the demands arising due to these wishes as well as due to duty. There is happy ending possible as a result of the

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legal foundation of marriage. Still, they must go through the trial by fire. The husband is the sufferer because of

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thinking that he is involved with someone out of wedlock. On the other hand, the woman is also a sufferer as she
knows that her husband thinks that she is also transgressing. It is only when he realizes that she in reality never
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transgressed any social boundaries and that he won’t have to feel shame that a resolution can be brought out. This

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betrays an extreme sense of insecurity in the nineteenth century Indian woman. Bankim overlooks this aspect and
shows or we can say brings about things divested of immediate relevance.

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To finish with are the words of Sudipto Kaviraj’s extremely thoughtful study on Bankim–
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‘‘Stories of his novels often turn around a conflict between the two inevitabilities, two things that are equally

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necessary truths of human life. A social world requires definitions, a kind of basic social map which defines permissions
and prohibitions. At the same time, there are the elemental drives of human nature which these social constructs are
meant to discipline into reasonably safe forms, but hardly can. The social and moral worlds in which men actually

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live are made up of these two dissimilar and contradictory elements– the desires that control men and controls that

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make society. Much of Bankim’s fictional movement arises from this central conflict between the inevitability of
moral orders and the inevitability of their transgression’’.
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Q. 4. Critically examine the link between the teaching of English and Literary Texts.

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Ans. English has always been the language which adjusts and borrows from other sources. Now it has gained
acceptance from all quarters. The same is with the translation. The classical as well as modern texts from Indian
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languages are being translated into simple English. After independence the English has taken new form as well as
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translation also got much more stronger place in its theoretical as well as practical aspect qualitywise. There have

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been a number of translations by the western translators which they have done for the same text. The translations
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which were done by the orientalists in Indian languages were very much selective and were according to western
context and taste. These translations were normally done by missionaries as well as administrators (e.g. William

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Jones). The motive behind this was to understand the local customs so that the colony can be governed easily.

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Although orientalists tried their level best to translate the text according to Indian context, but even then those
translations were deeply embedded in western fabric. Mostly texts from Arabic and Sanskrit were translated as they

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were seen as major hindrance in the way of spreading of English education. There was a conflict between colonial
politics and translation practice.
Small scale publishers have helped in correcting the deficiencies in the orientalist translations. These publishing
houses have proved to be an asset to the translations as they translated classical as well as contemporary writings of
English in modern Indian languages. In this context, they proved to be a boon in the field of translation. One
appreciable point of Indian translators is that they translated the text keeping in mind the Indian audience instead of
western ones. As a result, there is much better understanding between the English and other Indian languages. It also
affected the teaching and learning methods of English. In Indian context translation is being used as teaching/
learning process for years. In academis also, translation is playing very important role in classroom teaching. The
teacher of English as well as the translator both face the same problems and some times adopt same methods to solve
them or handle them. In this way, there is a deep relation between the teacher and the translator. Indian English

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teachers face the problems while translating different cultures, historiesa A teacher works like a communicator
between two cultures and clear each and every point of the source text to learner.
When we teach George Eliot’s ‘The Mill on The Floss’ in the classroom, the teacher’s attention normally is
centered on the education of the son and daughter, about the restrictions on the girl’s freedom and choice of one’s
friend in Indian culture. In context of large family setup, the Dodson can be referred. This type of reading is done in
the regional languages or Hindi. And it is a privilege for the students to work through the text in their own culture
framework. And undoubtedly, this explanation is in bilingual form. As a matter of fact, bilingual is in the blood of
normally every Indian. Normally Indians learn more than one or two languages after his/her birth. One language
which he gets by birth i.e. his mother tongue and the other which he learns from the surroundings. So in case of
English literature translational approach is highly needed. According to Aizaz Ahmed:
“It is only by submitting the teaching of English literature to the more crucial and comparatist discipline of
historical and cultural studies and by connecting the knowledge of that literature with literatures of our own, that we

and parasitic existence.”

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can begin to break that colonial grid and to liberate the teacher of English from a colonial determined, subordinated

Our main aim is to show the position of English in Indian society. To show importance of English, its evolution has

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been discussed. Apart from it, a historical view of the introduction of English studies in Indian universities has been

and its present day position worldwide.

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taken into consideration through the struggle period for independence from colonial rule to the years after independence

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According to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, “English is today studied because of its commercial and so called

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political values. Our boys think, and rightly in the present circumstances, that without English they can’t get government
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service. Girls are taught English as a passport to marriage—I know husbands who are sorry that their wives can’t talk
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to them and their friends in English. I know families in which English is being made the mother tongue. The cancer
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has so eaten into the society, that in many cases, the only meaning of education is a knowledge of English’’.

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Seeing the present day situation, the above mentioned lines seem right. Although English was introduced in
India as a help to Britishers, but now it has become an integral part of Indian languages. As already mentioned, the
introduction of English in the Indian universities was concerned with colonial politics. In this process, in 1856, the

d
establishment of three Presidency universities was done to generate superior and those people who would be able to

in ks
copy British style and taste and consume British goods. For the colonizers a need arose to change “a class” of people
l
t u
“who may be interpreters between us and the millions who we govern: A class of persons of Indian in blood and
n oo
colour, but English in taste and opinions, the morals and in intellect.” (Macaulay)

O b
In Indian universities, the introduction of English helped in getting social power and material gain. It gained its

s r -
position of power and prestige. As a result of the superiority or the dominance of the English educated people over

.e o
others, professional middle class got separated from the other ordinary people. In universities, introduction of English

f E
literature was also done keeping its values in mind. So, the preference given to the literature over the ability of

b d
people to read and write gave a small and superior vision of higher education resulting in a difference among the
learner’s social position and the learning subjects. This all resulted in creating the difference between the two groups

we u a n
i.e. educated ones and the masses trained to govern. According to Gandhiji,

H
‘‘The English medium created an impossible barrier between me and the members of my family; who had not

w Th
gone through English schools–I was fast becoming a stranger in my own home. I certainly became a superior
person. Even my dress began to undergo imperceptible changes’’.

w
Even in the present day India, the cultured superiority of English educated class is a social reality. Before
independence English was needed to get government jobs and even after 50 years of independence the situation has
not changed. Still you go to any place, whether it is job market, business, social function and cultural function
everywhere an English educated person gets respect immediately. Even today, the seekers of Indian Civil Services
have to pass through the exam of English. For getting the jobs in government sector, English studies, is essential.
English has made its place as a global language.
Q. 5. Would you agree with Namvar Singh that ‘neo-colonialism’ can be resisted? Discuss.
Ans. Forces of neo-colonialism are those western powerful nations which try to control and misuse without
involving any military power. The aim gets support from the activities of liberation, privatization and globalization
which allow free movement of labour and capital across nations. In a global economy, the policy of open market of
the new world system does not succeed in ensuring a level playing field for all the players. The nations who are
financially weak have to agree to the demands of the powerful American–European group. This benefits a worldwide

6
interface which has broad cultural influences for the underdeveloped and developing economies of the globe. The
visible growth in mass-media, information technology as well as communication technology has posed some new
threats of cultural domination whose results are very much different not only in case of impact studies but also in the
opposition methods that may be chosen to follow a course of action. In the essay ‘Decolonizing the Indian Mind’,
Namvar Singh recognized the colonization as one most important incident/event of the 20th century. It is very important
that he kept on expressing his curiosity about the new category of colonization and explores the methods in which
new colonisation can be protested or opposed. He refused to accept the solutions of changing the traditions, which
are achieved easily, to nationalize or to an anti-west sentiment. He advises to set up a global network of opposition
along with several anti-colonial persons and groups who have actively conveyed their discontent with colonialism
and imperialism. West is seen as complicated, multi- dimensional entity which is needed to be negotiated carefully
and not to be neglected at all. Singh keeps on stressing about the absence of a single tradition in India. According to
him there exists a number of traditions in India. The tradition which is used to resisting the new fierce attack of

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colonialism has to be reconstructed as “the rediscovery of the past by the present is desired.” It indicates that the
tradition which will be formed as the past of the nation will be according to the necessity of the present. In this way

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it would be wrong form of tradition. The question arises that whose tradition is it to be? Singh sites two examples of
1. The colonial powers of the present day who even today have a personal reason for their interest in their
previous colonies,

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times in history.

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2. And those who feel the necessity to view India and the third world as a backward and a place of the earliest

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The colonial powers choose only those things from the past of India which helped them present India as backward

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and primitive. They only thought of their own interests. Another example is that of the one dimensional and conservative

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tradition that was shown by the Hindu fundamentalists which brings about the India’s real past. These both groups
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formed a tradition which had an aim which is either political or commercial or both. Apart from it, Singh also refused
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the option of opposing non-colonialism with the help of “national allegory.” He puts up a question about the possession

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of the nation. According to him, the poor, the backward and the Dalit do not identify with the country as it obtains in
present day situation. He marks out that the nationalism of 20th century has done its job in every way and there is no
need to reconstruct or revive it. Singh debates that resistance/ opposition can be arranged in an orderly way by

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keeping in mind the truth of the present. In the cultural field, according to Singh, it is very important to recognize the

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dominance of colonization even if a smaller percentage of masses has been culturally colonized. It means, colonization

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of a small number of Indians is one which constructs cultural control and shows power. The resistance to new

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colonialism directs Namvar Sings to find substitution for a ‘Third World Literature.’ He clearly accepts the division of
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the world into three, a stage that Aijaz Ahmad strongly proved wrong from the postcolonial position.

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