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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH 2022-23

VI SEM SUMMARIES

TELEVISION -- ROALD DAHL

The poem Television was written by Roald Dahl, the most popular British writer of his
time. 'Television' is a poem that shocks young TV watchers rudely. The poet addresses the
parents to convince the children about the negative impact of watching television on their minds.
He says that they have learned an essential lesson about television. It is that television is an 'idiot
box'—that it makes the viewers stupid and dull. Therefore, children should not be allowed to
come near the television set and view its programs. The poet adds that the television set should
not be installed inside our houses. He says that it has been observed that children sit or stand
before the television set lazily and stare at the screen continuously. They go on watching
television until their eyes seem to come out. The poet humorously says that a week ago, he saw a
dozen eyeballs of children lying on the floor due to excessive TV watching.

Children go on staring at the television screen. They seem to be hypnotized by it. However, what
they get from this activity could be more beneficial. The poet admits that parents have some
advantages in letting their children watch television. Children remain quiet and do not disturb
them. They do not climb out of the windows. Nor do they indulge in fights with one another.
They leave their parents free to cook lunch or wash utensils lying in the sink. Television
watching is a passive activity. It blocks fresh thinking. So it makes the child viewer dull. He
cannot distinguish between the real and the fantastic. His brain becomes as soft as cheese, and he
loses the power to think and imagine things.

The poet knows the parents will ask him if the television set is removed. There will be no means
left for them to entertain their children. They will like to know how to entertain them. The poet
retorts by asking a rhetorical question as to how they used to entertain themselves as children
before this 'monster' (television) was invented. As children, they used to read and read and read.

MVS Govt.Arts & Science College (A), Mahabubnagar, Dept. of English.

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The nursery shelves were full of books. Surprisingly, they would spend half of their lives reading
books. Reading books was the only and the main source of entertainment in the past. The poet
here reminds the parents that the children's rooms were full of books in the past. These books
contained wonderful stories about giant monsters, gypsies, queens and princesses, whales, and
treasure islands. In some of these stories, the smugglers and sea robbers operated in boats with
covered oars. There were stories about elephants and cannibals. The cannibals used to eat a very
sweet-smelling dish named after Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus in Homer's epic poem
'The Odyssey .'The children who read about it wondered what the dish could be.

Long ago, children used to read many books. Therefore, the poet's plea to parents is to throw
away the television set and put it in its place on the wall, install a bookshelf, and fill it with
books. Children would protest, be angry, make dirty faces, cry loudly, bite, kick, and hit the
elders with sticks. Parents should ignore their reactions for their ultimate benefit. The poet
persuades parents to remove the television set without any fear. He assures them that their
children have nothing to do and would begin to feel the need to read something in about a week.
Once they begin to read, they would take to reading voraciously. The poet is in an assuring
mood. He tells the parents that once the television set is removed and the children start reading
books, they will be so much charmed by books that they will wonder why they used to watch the
stupid ‘machine.’ ‘Later, they would love their parents to replace the television set with books.

THE FRINGE OF BENEFITS OF FAILURE, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF

IMAGINATION -- J.K. ROWLING

The essay 'The Fringe of Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination' was
written by J.K. Rowling. She is well-known as a British novelist, screenwriter, and film
producer. She is the author of best selling fantasy series Harry Potter. The present selection is an
extract from the graduation speech delivered by Rolling at Harvard University on June 5, 2008.
Rowling has a moving address full of ideas and hopes. See advises students not to fear failure
and encourages them to use their privileged position to serve the needy. Emphasizing the

MVS Govt.Arts & Science College (A), Mahabubnagar, Dept. of English.

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importance of imagination, she says it is only through a vision that one can feel the pain of others
and create a better world for everyone.

Indeed her parents wanted her to take a vocational degree. Still, Rowling chose English literature
to study modern languages. She did not criticize her parents for hoping because her parents had
experienced poverty. Poverty entails fear and stress, and sometimes depression. She did not both
there about poverty and failure when she was studying. She said that she had failed on an epic
scale after short-lived marriage she became jobless alone. She faced the critical position she felt
was the biggest failure at that junction. In her words, failure is fun because failure means
stripping away the inessential. Rowling was free because her greatest fear had been realized, and
she became the solid foundation for rebuilding her life. Some failure in life is immovable, and it
is impossible to leave without failing at something. The loss gave the inner security she had
never attended by passing examinations. She said that her friend's value was about the price of
rubies. She stated that we will never truly know ourselves are the strengths of our relationships
until both have been tested by adversity.

Further, she describes the importance of imagination because she describes the importance of
creativity. After all, it played a role in rebuilding everyone's life. She defended the value of
bedtime stories, supported a lot of bedtime stories, and learned to value imagination in a much
broader sense. Imagination is the fount of all invention and innovation. Unlike any other creature
on this planet, humans can learn and understand with imagination, power, and a brand of
fictional magic. She stated that and province one thousand times every day of our lives. With our
inescapable connection with the outside world, we simply touch other people's lives by existing.
She emphasized our capacity for hard work, and the education we have earned we have earned
and received gives us unique status and unique responsibilities.

Furthermore, she emphasized our position and influences to raise our voice for those with no
voice. We must choose to identify not only with the powerful but with the powerless. Suppose
we retain the ability to imagine ourselves in the lives of those who do not have our advantages.
In that case, it will not only be our proud then it will earn only be our proud families who
celebrate our existence but thousands and millions of people whose reality we have helped
change. She concluded that life is a tale that is not considered how long it is but how good it is.

MVS Govt.Arts & Science College (A), Mahabubnagar, Dept. of English.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- ELIZABETH RALPH MERTZ

The poem Accomplishments was composed by Elizabeth Ralph Mertz. She deals with
gender roles and humor. The poem Accomplishments deals with gender roles cleverly,
highlighting the differential expectations for mothers and fathers. The poem describes how men
and women seem to operate in the poem and explain how men and women seem to work in two
distinct spheres. At the same time, women are naturally expected to take care of the domestic
spare and are in public spheres. Men's role is seen as the provider and protectors, women as the
home and family caretakers, and the men's contribution is celebrated. Still, women's contribution
remains invisible labor. The author questions who cared for their toddler when Aristotle was
writing his books and when Milton searched for rhymes. If the women were not caring for the
toddlers, what did they accomplish with their work? Next, she discusses Dante, who
contemplated hell and sorts of sonnets Shakespeare. Did they have their juniors interrupt them?
Then she talks about the teachings of Socrates and the Plato’s Phaedo. Did they clean the mess
of their children? Did they have their children interrupt them, and then she talks about the
education of Socrates and the table? Did they clean the lot of their children's Play-Doh? They
never went through that because there was a woman to do all.

Next, she asked if Edmund Burk had his kid's ablutions, would he have spoken on revolutions
now because there was a woman to care for her children. The author asked how Homer and
Aesop became famous for their works because of their wives. They would not have to set the
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table every time. Then Mertz tells when Newton was busy with his calculus work in the lab, a
woman labored to whiten his laundry. Who cooked food when Darwin sought for? Then he says
how women are to find the clothes from a file of four feet for Holmes and Brandeis. Finally, the
author expresses the greatness of women behind every man's accomplishment. Though they clear
all their tasks, manage their house and family, and care for their children as though they are
students at a University. How great the woman is and how difficult it is for a woman to succeed
despite the difficulties. She continues her career as a wife to her husband, mother to a child,
daughter of her mother, and mother of her son.

MVS Govt.Arts & Science College (A), Mahabubnagar, Dept. of English.

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THIRD SUGGESTION--CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

The essay 'Third Suggestion' is extracted from Dear Ijeawele, an epistolary form
composed of fifteen suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The work is the product of
correspondence between Adichie and her friend Ijeawele. Ijeawele just gave birth to a baby girl,
Chizalum, and asked Adichie for advice on how to raise her to be a feminist.
The purpose of the manifesto is to undo this gender inequality by raising girls to reject
traditional gender roles and expectations. As Adichie characterizes it, gender roles are like a
straitjacket designed to restrict women's freedom and limit their potential. Her hope is that this
work will contribute to a more gender-equal world.

This is the most theoretically heavy portion of the book. It introduces the concept of gender roles
and discusses to what extent a culture constructs gender by conditioning men and women to
behave differently. We're often told that men and women behave as they do because of their
gender: Men are active, rational, and industrious because they're men; Women are passive,
emotional, and caring because they're women. We're told that gender dictates how we perform
particular tasks or react in certain situations. Our gender, essentially, defines who we are and
limits what we're capable of as individuals. This view treats gender as natural—a fact of human
nature that we're all born with. But, the author argues, this couldn't be further from the truth. In
her view, boys and girls are born equal, and it's a society that thrusts gender roles onto children
by conditioning them to behave differently based on their sex.

Almost from the moment, babies are born, society begins to condition boys and girls differently.
Girls dress themselves differently, talk to differently, handle differently, and choose different
toys for them to play with. Boys are usually given active toys to play with, such as vehicles. In
contrast, girls, such as dolls, are typically given toys related to care work. The author describes
how she once saw a mother refuse to buy her daughter a toy helicopter because she already had
dolls to play with. Children's clothes and toys do not need to be categorized by gender. They
could be categorized by size, age, or type. The fact that society organizes products by gender is a
choice, and it's one that Adichie argues has harmful outcomes, especially for girls.

MVS Govt.Arts & Science College (A), Mahabubnagar, Dept. of English.

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It's harmful because it squeezes children into predefined molds. Instead of being allowed to
discover what they like and find interesting, children are told what they ought to enjoy and find
interesting. This curtails their curiosity and sets arbitrary limits on their field of exploration,
which may hold back their development. So, instead, Adichie implores parents to treat their
daughters as individuals first and "girls" second. As she says, "'because you're a girl' should
never be a reason for anything". So, let her play with whatever she wants to play with and pursue
whatever she wants to pursue. Adichi suggested that her friend to teach her daughter to be active
and independent. And, Let her experiment and satisfy her curiosity.

Information procured and edited by

Asst. Prof. of English

MVS Govt.Arts & Science College (A), Mahabubnagar, Dept. of English.