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ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2017-2018)

B.E.G.E-105
Understanding Prose
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 Teacher/Tutors/Authors for the help and guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions given the Assignments. We do not claim 100%
accuracy of these sample answers as these are based on the knowledge and capability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample

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answers may be seen as the Guide/Help for the reference to prepare the answers of the Questions given in the assignment.
As these solutions and answers are prepared by the private teacher/tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be
denied. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/
Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer and for up-to-date and exact

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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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1. Comment on the dominant variety of prose (narrative, expository or descriptive) present in each of the
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following passages. Write a brief critical appreciation of each passage in about 250 words each:
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(a) In recent years there have been many studies that support the idea that developing compassion
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and altruism has a positive impact on our physical and emotional health. In one well-known experiment,

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for example, David McClelland, a psychologist at Harvard University, showed a group of students a film
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of Mother Teresa working among Calcutta s sick and poor. The students reported that the film stimulated
feelings of compassion. Afterward, he analyzed the student s saliva and found an increase in

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immunoglobulin-A, an antibody that can help fight respiratory infections. In another study done by
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James House at the University of Michigan Research Center, investigators found that doing regular

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volunteer work, interacting with others in a warm and compassionate way, dramatically increased life

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expectancy, and probably overall vitality as well. Many other researchers in the new field of mind-body

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medicine have demonstrated similar findings, documenting that positive states of mind can improve our
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physical health. In addition to the beneficial effects on one s physical health, there is evidence that

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compassion and caring behaviour contributes to good emotional health. Studies have shown that reaching
out to help others can induce a feeling of happiness, a calmer mind, and less depression.
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Ans. This is the famous descriptive prose written by Geeta Chhabra - The Gold Mine. Dr. Howard C. Cutler a
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psychiatrist by profession from Phoenix, Arizona, first met the Dalai Lama in 1982 while visiting India on a research

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grant to study Tibetan Medicine. In his book, The Art of Happiness, Dr. Howard C. Cutler writes this. Survey after

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survey has shown that it is unhappy people who tend to be most self- focused and is often socially withdrawn,
brooding, and even antagonistic. Happy people, in contrast, are generally found to be more sociable, flexible and

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creative and are able to tolerate life's daily frustrations more easily than unhappy people. And, most important, they
are found to be more loving and forgiving than unhappy people. Researchers have devised some interesting experiments
demonstrating that happy people exhibit a certain quality of openers, a willingness to reach out and help others.
Now these things may sound to be too good to be true and well be pressed to think if we can achieve these ends. The
answer is Yes. By bringing about a certain inner discipline, we can undergo a transformation of our attitude, our
entire outlook and approach to living.
When we speak of this inner discipline, it can of course involve many things, many methods. But generally
speaking, one begins by identifying those factors, which lead to happiness, and these factor, which lead to suffering.
Having done this, one then sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead to suffering and cultivating
those which lead to happiness. Personal happiness can manifest as a simple willingness to reach out to others, to
create a feeling of affinity and goodwill, even in the briefest of encounters.

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(b) As giant waves swamped their boat and tossed it around, the six fishermen realized this was no
ordinary storm. It was 2 pm. Naresh, 45, and Prakash 31, scrambled to retrieve their fishing nets—each
worth about Rs. 20,000/- and vital to their livelihood—while three others, Kedar, Ganesh and Eknath,
all in their twenties, and 59-year-old Pandurang, frantically bailed out the rising water using cooking
vessels. The 9x3-metre boat Sai-Darbar groaned, threatening to tip over. Prakash ran to the rudder, his
sinewy arms strained to keep the tiller—the rudder s control—steady. “I can t handle this alone,” he
screamed. Naresh joined hands with Prakash. The boat needed to remain diagonal to the waves to keep
it from capsizing. The waves continued to lash the boat. After an excruciating hour, they could see Arnala
s boating channel, marked on either side by rocks, just 500 meters away. They let out hoarse cheers.
Almost home! Just then a huge seven-metre wave crashed into them. They screamed as the boat was half-
submerged. Kedar, Ganesh and Eknath, who were sitting in the boat s rear, were flung over board.

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Ans. This is a descriptive prose which talks about the huge waves of the oceans and sea. Waves usually evoke a
sense of calm. Just ask anyone who's relaxed on a beach or drifted off to the "ocean" setting of a noise-generating

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sleep machine. But nature can rapidly churn seas and lakes into apocryphal chaos. Gigantic waves are awe-inspiring

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and fearsome sights. Once considered mythical and lacking hard evidence for their existence, rogue waves are now

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proven to exist and known to be a natural ocean phenomenon. Eyewitness accounts from mariners and damage

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inflicted on ships have long suggested they occurred. Rogue waves are considered rare but potentially very dangerous,
since they can involve the spontaneous formation of massive waves far beyond the usual expectations of ship designers,
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waves are therefore distinct from tsunamis.

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and can overwhelm the usual capabilities of ocean-going vessels which are not designed for such encounters. Rogue

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(c) Contrary to popular belief, the camel does not store water in its hump. The hump is a food reserve

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composed mainly of fat. Although water is produced when the fat is broken down, the oxygen used in the

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process causes an additional loss of water through the lungs. This more or less cancels the amount of

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water gained from the hump. The main advantage of the hump is that the camel s fat is concentrated in
a single place—5 allowing the camel to lose heat freely from the rest of its body. Another way in which
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camels conserve water is by retaining the urea which most mammals excrete in their urine. The urea is
built up into proteins by bacteria in the camel s stomach. In addition, camels avoid sweating by allowing
their body temperature to vary over a greater range than that of any other mammal. Camels do not

a time.
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begin to sweat until their body temperature reaches 46 C (45 F) a temperature that would produce a high
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fever in a human. After a lengthy period without water, camels will drink up to 180 litres (40 gallons) at

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Ans. This is a expository prose which talks about the myth which says that camel store water in their humps.
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Camels store fat in their humps, not water. As a camel goes without food, its hump begins to shrink. If it stays hungry

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long enough, its hump will disappear. Camels are just very efficient at using water, and they're well-adapted for

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dehydration. The camel seems to be designed - both inside and out - to hold on to whatever water it takes in. Its fur
prevents the camel from sweating too much. Its blood cells are also tiny enough to keep circulating as the camel's
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blood thickens from dehydration - but elastic enough to hold lots of water. If a thirsty camel finds an oasis, its red

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blood cells might balloon to more than twice their size - while its hump remains unchanged.
A camel's hump does not hold water at all - it actually stores fat. The camel uses it as nourishment when food is

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scarce. If a camel uses the fat inside the hump, the hump will become limp and droop down. With proper food and
rest the hump will return to normal. The hump is not used for water storage, but camels can go for long periods of
time without water. They drink large amounts of water - up to 20 gallons at a time. This water is stored in the animal's
bloodstream.
Q. 2. Write a critical analysis of the story ‘The Other Women’ By Dina Mehta with special reference to the
prose style.
Ans. Discussion: The story first appeared in a short story collection named ‘The Other Woman and Other Short
Stories’ in 1981. The story presents a humorous and at the same time ironical account of the problems that creep up
between the protagonist and his wife in the story. It also comments on the superficial understanding of aesthetic
which is completely divorced from the reality of the physical world.

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The story takes us into the life of Maganlal and his wife. We are told that Maganlal is somewhat middle-aged,
he is little bald and little fat and suffers from insomnia, i.e. inability to sleep, and because of this he has learned to
fear dark. We see him, intrigued and tensed, he goes in to his study and sits on the table to start working but his mind
is not with him rather on the past events wherein his wife has accused him of something he is not guilty of. After
sometimes he falls asleep.
The narrator tells us that that Maganlal was married three years ago, and during the time of marriage he heard
the rumors that it was his wealth that attracted Vimla to be his wife, and because Vimla’s brother has squandered his
deceased father’s fortune leaning the family is destitute. Maganlal, however was not a man to pay attention to the
rumors, and he at that time he also was a proud writer of six successful Hindi films, and considered himself to be a
great artist.
The narrator tells that Maganlal accepts and is quite consciously aware of the fact that his scripts were copied
from Hollywood films to which he added popular ingredients suitable for Indian audience to make it work in India.
Still he does not think that this fact takes away anything from his brilliance. He seems to be very proud of his

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creation the character Jit Bharti, who is played by the actor Nikhil Fernandes, who has become a super star because
of Maganlal. We are also told that Maganlal secretly wishes to possess good looks of Nikhil and he suspects that
Vimla, his wife, also appreciates the good looks of Nikhil, though she strongly denies any such appreciation.

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We are brought back to the study of Maganlal, where he is trying to concentrate on his work but all his attempts

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are in vain. Then narrator goes on to tell us something more about his life. His friends often urged him to join his

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family jewelry business, and thus it is revealed that the main source of Maganlal rich lifestyle is not his script

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writing but his family jewelry business. But Maganlal is man who can have no satisfaction is jewelry business. He

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enjoys is writing and is satisfied by the success of his scripts and movies even if all the profit is minted by the
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others.

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Vimla thinks that either his husband should join his family business or stop writing clichéd scripts. She has her
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degree in English literature and says that Maganlal writings lack aesthetic depths. She asks him to follow cinematic

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geniuses like Ingram Bergman, Satyajit Ray, and Samuel Beckett. What is interesting here is to notice that she does
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not ask him to create something original rather to follow someone. It is clear that her education and her brother
Sunil’s influence have led her to appreciate one kind of art and disdain another. Though Maganlal is not able to

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understand that why his wife does not like his works but is very upset by the fact that his own wife does not like

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what he writes. After asserting that he is the master of the house and would as he would like but in vain he loses his

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sleep and his dissatisfaction with his character Jit grows as, a result he is not able to write anything on the similar
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line.

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In order to win his wife’s appreciation he decides to write something different, something which his wife would

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appreciate. Having decided so, he starts working on the new script by devoting all his time to it, and also working

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late at night. Unlike his previous works which he shared and discussed with his wife, he keeps this as a secret.
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Here the story takes a humorous and at the same time ironical turn, when Vimla noticing her husband’s changed

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behaviour and thinks that he is cheating on her and having an affair with some other woman. Her suspicion is

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strengthened by the Maganlal’s confusion on this sudden and very absurd charge. Since then she starts trying to
Maganlal confess the name of that other woman, who actually does not exist. Her attempts include everything from
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seduction to prayer but the result is nothing. And here we realize that the opening of the story presents a scene

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which has followed one such day of bickering between husband and wife.
The story now takes us to the present moment where we see Maganlal sitting on his study table, without having

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written anything. The dawn is about to approach so he goes on to his side of the bed and sleeps. He wakes up
hearing some noises, which he later discovers to be his brother-in-law Sunil. Vimla leaves both the men to talk.
Sunil accuses Maganlal for not being faithful to his wife and rudely humiliates him as he is stupid and has no brain.
Maganlal who is trying to explain things to Sunil till this point gets angry and slaps him screaming that he will not
leave that other woman. Listening to this Vimla comes running and falls at the feet of Maganlal saying that he must
not leave her for some other woman. Maganlal says Sunil to get out of his house and then turns toward his wife.
Prose Style: Mehta’s prose style in the story is strongly marked by irony and humour. Many ironical happenings
can be noticed in the story. The first of which is Vimla falling asleep while in the middle of Maganlal’s explanation.
Another ironical fact is that Maganlal does not find anything wrong in imitating Hollywood movies and considers
his story as simply a ‘synthesis of contrary trend and values’. And still he considers himself a great writer. Then we

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have Maganlal trying to write a story to please Vimla, whereas Vimla suspecting Maganlal of infidelity. And the
most ironical thing in the story is the effect that Maganlal’s false confession brings. The title itself is quite ironical,
as the other woman does not even exist.
Some of the other features of the prose style is use of parenthesis, adjective and non-liner style of narration.
Q. 3. Write character sketches of all the five major characters of The Binding Vine.
Ans. Characters in the Novel: Let us now look at some of the main characters of the novel. There are more a
dozen characters in the novel who make their contribution to the plot but we will limit ourselves to those characters
who are the motivating forces in the novel.
Urmi: Urmi is the protagonist narrator of the novel, who is grieved at her daughter’s death during the beginning
of the novel. In fact it is through Vanaa’s reminiscencing about Mira that Urmi’s healing process begins. Urmi gets
Mira’s poems out of the trunk, which had sat for decades in the attic, gathering dust, and starts reading them. It is
while reading these poems written by a college going teenager Mira, by a Mira who was married off to a man whom

Mostly without having any option.

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she could not love, that Urmi realizes the various facets of pain that many a woman has to bear. Very often silently.

The healing process which begins by reading Mira’s poems, continues when Urmi accidentally meets Shakutai

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in the hospital where Vanaa works as a medical social worker. Shakutai’s eldest daughter Kalpana has been brought

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to the hospital after she was brutally beaten up and raped. Urmi feels compelled to help Shakutai, to listen to her, to

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keep her company. During the long wait in which Kalpana lies in coma, Urmi makes a bold, modern, and a very

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humanistic statement, in that she tries to convince Shakutai that it was not Kalpana who did anything wrong, it is

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not that she invited trouble upon herself by dressing up, by painting her lips and nails, but it is Kalpana who is
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world is very different from her own.
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terribly wronged. For a long time, Urmi herself does not understand her need to come and sit with Shakutai, whose

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It is when Shakutai asks her repeatedly, ‘What shall I do, Urmila?’– mirroring her own anguished cry of what

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shall I do now, how do I survive Anu’s death -, that Urmi thinks of the awesome courage of the few who tried to find
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an answer to such questions. She thinks, “…what use have they been to us? Detachment, love, brotherhood, non-

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violence – they’re just words…” And Urmi realises that … (one) can never opt out, (one) can never lay it down, the

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burden of belonging to the human race. There’s only one way out of this Chakravyuha. Abhimanyu had to die, there

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was no other way he could have got out”, and that … we are absorbed in the daily routine of living … that the main

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urge is always to survive. And as Mira once wrote: “Just as the utter futility of living overwhelms me, I am terrified

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by the thought of dying, of ceasing to be” the main urge human beings have is always to survive, and in surviving
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one looks for the spring of life, one constantly searches for love, for support from other human beings.

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According to Urmila, women should have the courage to express themselves and expose the evils of the society

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fearlessly. She is indigent at their uncomplaining attitude in the name of family honour.
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The need to express one’s feeling and to be heard by the society is the urge for today’s women. Urmila draws

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society’s attention to her protest and sees less pain in attempting to changes the societal roles and attitudes. At the

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end of the novel, Urmila is seen recollecting the bonds of love that provide the “spring of life” for human survival.
She believes that the things in the system are gradually improving not at a high speed, but at a slow pace, hence
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Urmila is not a rebel against the existing system.

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Urmila not only fights her own battle, but also endeavors to help other women, the poor and the downtrodden.
She believes strongly that women should have the courage to express themselves and expose the evils of the society,

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and that they be ready to fight for their rights. She is very much upset and troubled about those families, whose
uncomplaining attitude of the victims in the name of family honour, Urmila is an independent undivided from the
beginning with and identity of her own.
She draws the attention of the society to the inequality of sexes and there is less agony in attempting to change
societal roles and attitudes. In spite of all this, she does not rebel against the established system, for she believes that
the things are improving gradually but at a slow pace. But any way the system was improving. The novel is a work
that should be read as a projection of ideas as women’s solidarity, female bonding and value of sisterhood in male
dominated culture.
Urmila is practical unlike the pseudo feminist Preeti, who is overenthusiastic to fight for equal right for women.
To her, Preeti is the symbol of the shallow female opportunist without integrity. She talks with Urmila regarding the
judgement, in a case, by a husband against his wife to reinstate their conjugal rights. Preeti excitedly says that the

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judge had delivered his judgement stating that, a wife could not be forced to have physical relationship with her
husband against her will. Preeti is very excited and says, “…Isn’t it radical, absolutely earthshaking, in this country,
I mean? Can you imagine the consequence?”
Urmila tells to Preeti clearly that a single judgement by a simply judge makes no difference to all the women’s
lives, and that it is impossible for every woman to file a case in a court of law against their husbands, she even
refuses Preeti’s offer to make a film of Mira’s story. This is her moderation that is seen ever in her feminism. She
values the sanity of women hood and marriage.
Throughout the novel Urmila does not exhibit male hatredness. She never desires to seek a world, a life without
men. She has like-minded male friend-Dr. Bhasker, to whom Urmila is not just somebody’s wife but also an individual
with an identity of her own. He loves her for her passion for truth and justice. Malcolm and Dr. Jain are also
essentially humane and have great respect for Urmila.
Kishore: Kishore is Urmi’s husband. He works in merchant navy and stays on ships most of the times and
therefore we don’t see him much in the novel. He is one character in the novel, who is a remote figure and has not

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been given much expression. But at the same time he is sentimental deep down. We learn that he shed tears at the
night of Anu’s death silently. There is no doubt that he is a supportive husband. He makes Urmi feel secure whenever

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he is around, in that sense his presence is strength giving to Urmi. But since he works on ship and is not around most

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of the time, especially when Urmi craves his presence. He is open minded as he has no objection for Urmi to work,

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even though he earns too much to need any other working member in the family. Urmi works not because she needs

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money but because she is an independent woman and wants to spend what she has earned and not what Kishore has

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sent her. Kishore is very well aware of the fact that Urmi does not spend a dime sent by him but even then he does

to have Kishore as husband.

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not try to influence her decision and interfere in her way of life. And because of this Urmi feels that she is fortunate
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Kishore is more of an introvert, if not a literal introvert. His approach to Urmi is always respectful and considerate,

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even when he used to live in neighbour of Urmi. Both Kishore’s and Urmi’s families were close. Urmi being

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Vanna’s friend always came to their house but Kishore never became unduly friendly to her. We are given two

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accounts of Kishore from Urmi’s memory. First when Kishore drove Urmi and Vanna in Aju’s car and second after

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Aju’s death Kishore’s presence helped her so much that she fell in love with him, in spite of his reserved nature.
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Kishore is like an ideal husband and Urmi highly respects him for that, but still sometimes she resents his reserve

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and unapproachable nature. She says, “Kishore will never remove his armour, there is something in him I will never

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reach”. There are times when Urmi craves for Kishore’s companionship which he is not able to provide. But still the

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fact remains intact that Kishore is a loving husband and a doting father. Though he is not physically present in the

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novel most of the time, still one can feel his strong presence throughout the novel.

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Mira: Sashi Deshpande suggests here how sometimes a marriage makes a woman extremely meek and submissive.
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The novelist here ventures into a completely untouched subject of marital rape in Indian writing in English. Mira

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has aversion to physical intimacy with her husband and still has to put up with his obsession for her. She gives voice
to her inner self in her poems “in the solitude of an unhappy marriage, who died giving birth to her son at twenty-

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two”. It so happens that many years after her marriage, Urmi receives an old trunk full of books and a few other
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things from Mira’s husband’s stepmother, referred to as akka. Among these books, Urmi finds Mira’s diary which is

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not a daily account of her routine life but a communion with herself”. When akka hands over Mira’s jewelry to

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Urmi, she says, “they are Kishore’s mother’s”, but while giving boks and diaries to her, she says, Take this, it’s
Mira’s”
The poems and entries in the diary of Mira are proof enough for Urmi to conceive the forced sexual activity

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Mira had to under go in an incompatible marriage. The extent of her molestation in marriage can be gauged from the
following lines:
But tell me, friend
did Laxmi too twist brocade tassels
round her fingers and tremble,
fearing the coming of the dark-clouded, engulfing
night.
Through her photographs and poems, Urmi gets an image of her mother-in-law as a very lively and intelligent
girl snuffed off in a forced marriage. Mira’s inhibitions about her voicing a desire to become a poet are clear in the
following lines:

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Huddled in my cocoon, a somnolent silkworm.

Will I emerge a beauteous being?
Or will I, suffocating, cease to exist.
Thus, Shashi Deshpande suggests her that forced violation of a woman’s body even in marriage can be as
traumatic as rape, even though it is not placed in the same bracket. In her short story “Intrusion” this very concern
has been voiced again as the wife finds herself in a situation wherein the husband forces her into the sexual act. The
protagonist feels her body has been invaded by her insensitive husband.
Here the writer suggests that such incidents are common in the Indian social set-up where it is incumbent upon
a wife to serve the husband in bed like a prostitute. Thus Mira’s diary is a glaring revelation of her “intense dislike
of the sexual act with her husband, a physical repulsion for the man she married”.
Urmi, in the end, understands her mother, but Mira holds her mother responsible for her unhappy lot of her
married life. Mira’s mother being dead at last, many of her (Mira’s) myriad questions remain unanswered. As a

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apprehensions about womanhood were not baseless. None in the family ever bothered about her emotions or
resentment and her unwillingness was taken as mere childish resistance.
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college-going girl, she was forced into a marriage she was scared from the beginning because of her nurturing. Her

daughter or suggested delay, thereby intervening and forestalling the marriage.

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She had thought that, at this time, her mother would support, who could have refused early marriage for her

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Her mother is more of a caretaker than the decision-maker of her family with little stand on important issues.

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She is an unassertive woman and always says, “Nothing is in my hands”. Her mother’s silence and passivity pushed

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Mira to her marriage to a man whom she could not love and who hardly understood her feelings. Mira led an
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unhappy married life-in a way, a repetition of her mother life.
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Mira’s mother remains a mute spectator of her daughter’s drab existence and did nothing for Mira’s life. As a
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traditional woman, Mira’s mother had her own world of dreams about her daughter and, hence, she remains content
with seeing Mira married and pregnant.

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Generally, the daughter shares her sorrow with her near and dear one, particularly mother, to unburden the

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grief-sicken heart. Had Mira neither regrets nor feeling of sorry for her mother as she didn’t want to share her

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feelings with her mother. She felt alienated from her. The intensity of her unhappiness is known to her mother, who

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said, “she knew I was not happy, I know she knew it, but she was afraid to ask me, afraid I would admit it”. Mira’s

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stand against her so-called mother and her insistence on the conventional role of daughter-in-law is implicit that she

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neither wants to become a victim of the trap in which women are being caught in their lives. Nor does she want to
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be forced by her mother into the same trap which her mother, willingly or unwillingly, had been caught. In fact, her

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mother has a secret hope that their daughter’s fate would be better than their own in the conventional role.

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Shakutai: Shakutai comes from the lower order of the society and they represent the working-class women.
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However, their relationship as mother and daughter is as same as their counterparts from the middle class families.

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Shakutai is a typical, protective and affectionate mother, who had nurtured fear in her heart since her daughter grew

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up physically; she hates her daughter being dressed up in a fashionable manner or her using cosmetic. She feels that
it would unnecessarily attract male attention, “If you paint and flaunt yourself, do you think they’ll “leave you
Alone.” H
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Shakutai’s husband had left her for the love of another woman; at that time Shakutai had three children. When
Kalpana grew up, she thinks, her father had gone away from them due to her mother’s failure. Shakutai recalls her

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daughter’s accusation;” …She was furious with me! “You drove him away,” she said, “you’re always angry, always
quarrelling, that’s why he’s gone”.
To a certain extent, the mother, Shakutai, is unhappy with Kalpana because of her stubbornness and unfeeling
towards her:
She never tells any thing. Didn’t even tell me how much her pay was, can you imagine that? Me, her own
mother, as is I was going to take her money away from her! I don’t want any thing …can you believe it, she gives her
father money more easily, than she gives me. She doesn’t grumble at that, even though she knows he will use it for
gambling”.
On seeing her daughter, who appears to be lying like a vegetable, Shakutai is shocked. She hysterically refuses
to accept that she was raped. Her immediate reaction to Vanna conveys her unbelievable state, “Its not true, people
are trying to blacken my daughter name”.

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Realizing the importance of the imperatives of physical protection, economic support and social approval,
Urmilla shows the instinctive sympathy of the mother for her daughter. Shakutai overhears the conversation between
Vanna and Dr. Bhasker, the doctor-in-charge, and recoils in fear the moment she hears the words like ‘report’
“rape”, and she cries, “-don’t tell anyone will never be able to hold up my head again, who’ “marry the girl, we are
decent people. Doctor”.
The mother, like the rest, feels sorry for her daughter’s state. She blames her and cries in pain for her, but she is
relieved when the doctor’s report describes Kalpana’s rape incident as a car accident. Shakutai, after being deserted
by her husband for another women, she is burdened to look after her children alone. She is extremely anxious to get
her daughter Kalpana married and well-settled.
She could not bear the thought that her objective was in a shambles. Nor she dare defy the norms of the society
for the sake of the present tragic state of the daughter. She just wants to hinder the truth, which, to her, seems to be
an obstacle for fulfilling her objective. The same is the true in the case of Mira’s mother too.
While Mira’s mother kept silent and stood helpless at the misery of her daughter, Kalpana’s mother was worried
about the family’s name and its status quo.

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On one hand, Shakutai is proud of her daughter’s beauty. But, she openly condemns her behaviour, she holds
her daughter responsible for her tragedy, Shakutai’s behaviour is like any mother whether they come from the low
strata of the society or from the upper strata of the society,

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She shamed us, we can never wipe off this bolt. And Prakash blames me. What could I do? She was so self-

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willed cover yourself decently, I kept telling her, men are like animals. But she went her way you should have seen

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her working out, head in the air caking for nobody, opts all her fault Urmila all her fault.
Kalpana
in
a
Deshpande has based the character of a Kalpana on a nurse, about whom she once commented in an interview.
d
She said that the nurse was, “a very pretty, attractive woman, a radiant kind of a person”, and we can see clearly that
a
so is Kalpana. Kalpana’s ideas of life are different from those of her mother. She was on the threshold of her youth

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and had her own income. She loved to dress well and move around freely, feeling subservient to none. Her mother’s
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fears come true when Kalpana becomes the victim of her uncle’s lust, brutally beaten and raped by him.
Shakutai’s husband had left her for the love of another woman; at that time Shakutai had three children. When

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Kalpana grew up, she thinks, her father had gone away from them due to her mother’s failure. Shakutai recalls her

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daughter’s accusation; “…She was furious with me! “You drove him away,” she said, “you’re always angry, always
quarrelling, that’s why he’s gone”.
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colonialism?

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Q. 4. How does the essay ‘On Seeing England for the First Time’ reveal Kincaid’s anger against

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Ans. Theme: In the beginning, much of the essay is devoted to her personal account and profound mysticism

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she has about England. She goes into great detail on how everything in her daily life originates from England. One
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of the more humorous descriptions she writes about is her notion of the standard or proper English breakfast: “Each

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morning before I left for school, I ate a breakfast of half a grapefruit, an egg, bread and butter and a slice of cheese,

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and a cup of cocoa…” Kincaid is showing how her life is very much intertwined with the actual citizens of England.
That is, everyday life for her is heavily influenced by English customs–it’s as if she had been a citizen of England
all her life. H
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Kincaid seems to change her stance and overall view of England later on in the essay: “A flat-out declaration of
war would have put me on alert, and again in fact, there was no need for War-I had long ago been conquered. I did

w
not know very much of anything then-certainly not what a blessing it was that I was unable to draw a map of
England correctly.” Here, Kincaid is showing her utter disgust with England. She is finally realizing that England
has taken over her country. That is, colonization has ruined her native culture and customs.
In the latter-half of the essay, Kincaid gives her account of what it was like seeing England for the first time–not
just seeing a label on a product or the country on a classroom map. From the very outset, she sets a negative tone
which resonates throughout the rest of her description: “There were monuments everywhere; they commemorated
victories, battles fought between them and the people who lived across the sea from them, all vile people, fought
over which of them would have dominion over the people who looked like me.” This is showing her great contempt
of England. It seems that Kincaid has had a great rage building up ever since she was a young girl.

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Kincaid goes on to imagine how the English people would feel if there was a “role-reversal”: “What if I had the
power to simply banish them from their land, send boat after boatload of them on a voyage that in fact had no
destination, force them to live in a place where the sun’s presence was a constant?” She firmly believes this, and it
seems that she wouldn’t mind seeing this actually take place.
In the end, Kincaid states “I may be capable of prejudice, but my prejudices have no weight to them, my
prejudices have no force behind them, my prejudices remain opinions, my prejudices remain my personal opinion.”
This shows her great spite and anger with what England did, and how her culture was ruined by the many generations
of English people–which she had to painstakingly learn about in school. Kincaid wants to forget about her encounter
of seeing England for the first time. She wants to erase the memory of her “friend,” and any left-over remnants of
the English countryside.
Prose Style
Slavery takes many forms. Physical degradation often eclipses a much more insidious mental enslavement.

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When the mind is bound by fear, the slave will work because he is afraid of the consequences. However, when the
mind is bound by adulation, the slave will volunteer his services. The latter is more sinister because it is indirect but
equally effective. This form of slavery is what Jamaica Kincaid, the author of the passage, rebelled and fought

succeeds in expressing her rebellious and distasteful attitude towards England.

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against. Employing a medley of rhetorical strategies including syntax and careful selection of diction, Kincaid

.
Beginning the passage with recollections of her childhood, Kincaid recalls how England seemed to be “A

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special jewel.” From England Kincaid received her “sense of what was meaningful, and... what was meaningless.”

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Even her “source of myth and the source from which [she] got [her] sense of reality” were based in England.
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However, imbedded in her seeming praise of England are patches of nonconformity. Patches such as “though
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[England] looked like a leg of mutton, it could not really look like anything so familiar... because it was England.”
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This demonstration of flawed circular reasoning represents the larger picture. It represents the flawed ideas of the

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islanders who worshipped England rather than scorned it. Her sarcastic voice is again evident when she says,
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“England was a special jewel all right, and only special people got to wear it.” Her use of “special” and “all right”

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highlight her real feelings. This unique technique that Kincaid uses to criticize England (masking excoriation in

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praise) reflects the way that England made themselves out as the “good guys,” worthy of emulation and reverence,

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but really forced the de facto slavery of the native people on the island and elsewhere. Her use of sarcasm demonstrates

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her distasteful attitude. As the passage progresses, an attitude of inferiority is shown. The idea that England is

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wonderful and since the islanders are not “England” they are therefore inferior manifests. She rebels against this
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idea. Though she eats the “pretty,” English way and eats a big breakfast, Kincaid rebels because “[she] knew then

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that [she] enjoyed [her] food more when [she] ate it with [her] bare hands.” Since her mind is free of English

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influence, she is still technically free.
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Finally, in the last paragraph, Kincaid’s true feelings shine through. Having started many of her previous sentences

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with “England,” Kincaid switches her use of syntax and uses “I.” Her blunt statements “I had long ago been conquered”

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and “I did not know then that this statement was part of a process that would result in my erasure” invoke sympathy
from the reader. Her focus on what England had done to her in the past carries resentment because England had
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imposed her will on Kincaid when “[she] did not know very much of anything.” Targeting her at a young age, she

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was unable to fight the influence. Being the victim of England’s imperialistic agenda, Kincaid shows her outrage
and distaste towards the occupants of her homeland.

w Q. 5. Write a detailed note on Nehru’s prose style in the letter ‘The Quest of Man’.
Ans. Theme: Though the style of the letter is simple and elegant, the subject matter is philosophical. Perhaps
the writer chose a simple style in order to make his reader, who was his fourteen years old daughter, understand the
complex subject. The way it has been written it appears that the letter is a story about human civilization.
In first three paragraphs the writer talks about the place where he has been imprisoned and the joy he felt on
being near mountains and greenery. We cannot sense any bitterness in his voice on being confined to a solitary
stay in a prison. The writer enjoys the nights’ cool air and when he looks at the tree and mountains at a far off
distance, he becomes quite joyous.
In the fourth paragraph, the writer of the letter talks about the worth of his writing, about which he indeed is
skeptical. But in spite of his skepticism he continued to write letters. In the next two paragraphs, i.e. paragraphs
five and six we see an attempt from the writer’s side to recreate the history of human being from the primitive to

10

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the modern times. He starts with the discovery of fire and agriculture and then talks about different empires and
civilizations. He wonders if he has missed the greatest human challenge to reveal and uncover the mysteries of
universe. He says that he talked about different civilization that have come and gone but somewhere he missed to
talk about the human quest to understand the world.
In the next paragraph, i.e. paragraph seven, the writer talks about man’s journey to know about the world he
lives in. He says that man’s mind is the greatest asset which helps him in his journey. Once Nehru starts writing
about the man’s quest to know the world his skepticism fades away and he feels that he siting with his daughter and
talking.
In the paragraph eight and ten, the writer explains the twin approach to know the world. The twin approach is
through religion and through science. He says that while religion chooses the path of belief and faith and spirituality,
science believes in reason and experiments. He feels that there could not possibly be one answer to man’s quest as
the quest has taken two forms – one is to understand himself andthe other is understand the nature. He says that
while religion focuses on the inner nature of man, science focuses on the outer nature. According to him both are

dogmatic like religion.

Prose Style
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important. But still he says that he would like the approach of science as it is open minded and rational and not

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The first thing to note in this letter is its simple and elegant style which makes anyone who reads it as much an

.
addressee as Indira, to who the letter was intended. The letter seems to be written in such a way as if both the reader

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and the writer are conversing with each other. The letter uses a direct form of address in order to make it appear that

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writer is directly addressing the reader. We say that the prose style of this letter is conversational, personal, informal
and subjective.
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studeid in this course.
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Q. 6. Compare and contrast the prose style of a travelogue from the various prose forms that you have
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Ans. A travelogue is the detailed description of writer's perceptions, impressions and comments about attractions

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of places, as they travel from place to place. It's the journal which provides the insight of writer's feelings, experiences.
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It can be of forms but with sole idea is providing glimpse of the events occurred or it can include a day-to-day
description of experiences during the trip. A travelogue can also be termed as literature of recorded facts, literature
of recorded impressions and feeling during travel.
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From a literary point of view, it is a canon of literature forming a picaresque novel having element of adventure

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writing, exploration writing, nature writing and guide-book etc. but travelogues have more relation to history than
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to literature, since history is sometimes culled from travel records, owing to this prospect they have more value to
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history than to the literary values. Chiefly speaking travelogue can be just an occasional piece of writing with

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ephemeral nature with no just claim to literary value. This genre of writing serves as a receptacle of records for a

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certain place, its people, customs, ceremonies, providing the world with an account of the prevalent social milieu
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and extensive insight into their culture and habitation.

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A fable is a short allegorical tale emphasizing on a moral or any principle of behavior. The characters of fables

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are usually animals that portray like human beings, though they keep their animal traits intact. The moral of these
fables is highlighted towards the end of the story in the form of a proverb and is generally enacted. The oldest fables
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describe stories of why crows are black, or why different animals display different characteristics, such as a sly fox,

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a dignified lion, and so on. The earliest fables came from Greece and India, while the oldest Western fables were
those of Aesop.

w A prose narrative limited to a certain word limit is defined as a short story. It generally includes descriptions,
dialogues, and commentaries. However, one characteristic that distinguishes a short story from the other kinds of
prose is the concentration on a compact narrative with detailed character drawing. In general, short stories are
believed to have existed decades back, even before the art of writing was known to man. The oldest recorded
example of a short story is considered to be the Egyptian tale of "The Two Brothers" dated around 3200 BC.
Q. 7. What were Anne’s early recollections of Jewish persecution? Discuss with reference to the excerpts
from her diary.
Ans. Discussion: Perhaps the most famous personal account of the Holocaust, The Diary of Anne Frank was
written in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, between 1942 and 1944. The Franks were a Jewish family originally from
Germany, where Anne was born in 1929. Anne’s father, Otto, had come from a wealthy background, but his family’s

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fortune was lost after World War I. Anne’s diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and ends shortly
after her fifteenth. At the start of her diary, Anne describes fairly typical girlhood experiences, writing about her
friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys, and her academic performance at school. Because anti-Semitic
laws forced Jews into separate schools, Anne and her older sister, Margot, attended the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam.
Anne’s early recollections of Jewish persecution: Anne matures considerably throughout the course of her
diary entries, moving from detailed accounts of basic activities to deeper, more profound thoughts about humanity
and her own personal nature. She finds it difficult to understand why the Jews are being singled out and persecuted.
Anne also confronts her own identity. Though she considers herself to be German, her German citizenship has been
revoked, and though she calls Holland her home, many of the Dutch have turned against the Jews. Anne feels a
tremendous solidarity with her aggrieved people, and yet at the same time she wants to be seen as an individual
rather than a member of a persecuted group.
During the two years recorded in her diary, Anne deals with confinement and deprivation, as well as the

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complicated and difficult issues of growing up in the brutal circumstances of the Holocaust. Her diary describes a
struggle to define herself within this climate of oppression. Anne’s diary ends without comment on August 1, 1944,
the end of a seemingly normal day that leaves us with the expectation of seeing another entry on the next page.

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However, the Frank family is betrayed to the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944. Anne’s diary, the observations

.
of an imaginative, friendly, sometimes petty, and rather normal teenage girl, comes to an abrupt and silent end.

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The family’s escape to the ‘Secret Annexe’: The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up

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to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks

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were forced into hiding. With another family, the Van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel, they moved into a
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small secret annex above Otto Frank’s office where they had stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from
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Otto’s firm helped hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside
world. a
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The residents of the annex pay close attention to every development of the war by listening to the radio. Some
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bits of news catch Anne’s attention and make their way into her diary, providing a vivid historical context for her

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personal thoughts. The adults make optimistic bets about when the war will end, and their mood is severely affected

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by Allied setbacks or German advances. Amsterdam is devastated by the war during the two years the Franks are in

l
hiding. All of the city’s residents suffer, since food becomes scarce and robberies more frequent.

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Anne often writes about her feelings of isolation and loneliness. She has a tumultuous relationship with the

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adults in the annex, particularly her mother, whom she considers lacking in love and affection. She adores her
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father, but she is frequently scolded and criticized by Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan and Mr. Dussel. Anne thinks that her

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sister, Margot, is smart, pretty, and agreeable, but she does not feel close to her and does not write much about her.

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Anne eventually develops a close friendship with Peter van Daan, the teenage boy in the annex. Mr. Frank does not
f
approve, however, and the intensity of Anne’s infatuation begins to lessen.

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Anne’s relationship with her parents: Anne’s mother Edith Hollander was originally from Aachen, Germany,

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and she married Otto in 1925. Anne feels little closeness or sympathy with her mother, and the two have a very
tumultuous relationship. Anne thinks her mother is too sentimental and critical. Edith dies of hunger and exhaustion
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in the concentration camp at Auschwitz in January 1945. Anne’s father Otto is practical and kind, and Anne feels a

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particular kinship to him. He was born on May 12, 1889, into a wealthy Frankfurt family, but the family’s international-
banking business collapsed during the German economic depression that followed World War I. After the Nazis

w
came to power in Germany, Otto moved to Amsterdam in 1933 to protect his family from persecution. There he
made a living selling chemical products and provisions until the family was forced into hiding in 1942. Otto is the
only member of the family to survive the war, and he lives until 1980. Anne thinks that Margot is pretty, smart,
emotional, and everyone’s favorite. However, Anne and Margot do not form a close bond, and Margot mainly
appears in the diary when she is the cause of jealousy or anger. She dies of typhus in the concentration camp a few
days before Anne does.
Anne’s relationship with others in the Secret Annexe: The father of the family that hides in the annex along
with the Franks and who had worked with Otto Frank as an herbal specialist in Amsterdam. Mr. Van Daan’s actual
name is Hermann Van Pels, but Anne calls him Mr. Van Daan in the diary. According to Anne, he is intelligent,
opinionated, pragmatic, and somewhat egotistical. Anne initially describes Mrs. Van Daan as a friendly, teasing

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woman, but later calls her an instigator. She is a fatalist and can be petty, egotistical, flirtatious, stingy, and disagreeable.
Anne first sees Peter as obnoxious, lazy, and hypersensitive, but later they become close friends. Peter is quiet,
timid, honest, and sweet to Anne, but he does not share her strong convictions. During their time in the annex, Anne
and Peter develop a romantic attraction, which Mr. Frank discourages. Peter is Anne’s first kiss, and he is her one
confidant and source of affection and attention in the annex.
Q. 8. Explain the main features of Laurence’s speech.
Ans. Features Of Laurence’s Speech–Conversational Tone: The most noticeable part of the speech is its
conversational tone. By admitting her nervousness Laurence at once take all her listeners into confidence while
affirming that she is not going to talk down on them rather she will talk to them, one to one. This style is also present
when she shares her personal experience in Africa with the audience.
Clarity of Expression: Another aspect of her speech is clarity of expression which show clarity of Laurence’s
thought. It seems that she is quite clear about what she has to say and there is no place for ambiguity. She uses lucid
and simple language. She picks one idea and then the idea itself leads her to different idea.

deliver a powerful speech. Power comes from her knowledge and belief. She uses facts and not her imagination to
convince the audience.
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Forceful Style: Quite strikingly Laurence does not make any use of any rhetorical device but still manages to

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Use of Humour and Pathos: Her speech makes use of both humour and pathos. She is humorous when she

.
says her listeners that not worry when growing old. She pokes fun at parent-child relationship. While in the same

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essay she also succeeds in presenting a pathetic picture of post nuclear war of ruined cities, people suffering and

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crying for help, where there is no medical supplies, no electricity, and no water. These visualized description leaves
impact on listeners.
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