Gender Stereotypes In Trifles

Gender Stereotypes In Trifles The Nineteenth century was built around a society that contradict a strong point in the United States Constitution, that all men are created equal. Even though segregation was one of the main problems that got acknowledge, gender stereotype was often the case in most home throughout society. In the plays A Dolls House, by Henrik Ibsen, and Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, the characters show stereotype through gender. This includes the belief that women are lesser people, child like in their action, and in need of being controlled. Nora was the main female character in the play A Dolls House; she lived in a lavish home eating macaroons, drinking champagne and hosting banquets. Nora lived her life, in one sense, as a complete lie. She never thought for herself or had her own opinions. Noras father would tell her what he thought about everything, leaving her no opinion but his. If she did have an opinion of her own she kept quiet knowing he would not have agreed. She played his little doll until she moved in with Torvald, her husband. She felt as though she was passed from her father hands into Torvalds hands. Now she played the role of Torvalds little doll, pretending to take on his views of everything. This evidence of gender stereotype is shown in the way Torvald treats his wife Nora, and in the way Nora acts to please her husbands. In the first act of the play we come across the first instance of Torvald name calling his wife in a child like manner is that my little lark twittering out there?(Ibsen 796) This is the first of many names Torvald use to give his wife child like tendencies. Torvald also refer to Nora as a squirrel, a spendthrift, a songbird, and a goose. Torvald shows ownership of Nora by calling her my richest treasure, denoting his attitude toward Nora as his possession. This stereotypical oppression by Torvald serves a purpose of keeping women in their place, and keeping men on the top of the social structures. One can easily determine Nora as immature and childlike in her action, this stereotype is not only presented by Torvald, but by Nora as well. When Torvald ask Nora what did she want for Christmas she replies in a very child like manner. Nora speaking quickly you might give me money(Isben 798) when Torvald said yes Nora said Oh do Dear Torvald, please, please do! Then Ill wrap it up in beautiful gold paper and hang it on the Christmas tree. Wouldnt that be fun? (Isben 798) As one reads on Nora come home in say Oh yes, Torvald, we can squander a little now. Cant we ? Just a tiny, wee bit. Now that youve got a big salary and are going to make piles and piles of money. With this excerpt, we see a child-like attitude, not only in Noras manner of speaking with the statement Just a tiny, wee bit, but also in her attitude toward money and the unrealistic expectations of making piles and piles of money. The following example also shows Noras childish manner in her personal interactions with her husband. Her manner seems more like that of a favorite daughter, accustomed to getting her way, than that of a wife, also keeping with the stereotype concerning control by keeping oppression high. Through-out A Dolls House, men are seemingly in the dominant position, and they manipulate their power to control women in ideological sphere so that their own identity and social status may be retained and be acknowledged by the society. As exposed in A Dolls House, men are in a financially and ideologically superior position over women while women are kept in a subordinate position and are confined to their homes as they are not economically independent and have to rely on their husbands for support. What causes this situation to exist in the 19th-century Europe is the social context in which people held the notion that men were supposed to be responsible to their families and provide all the necessities that a family needed, while women were supposed to maintain their sacred duty of a good wife and mother. In the case of the male protagonist Helmer Torvald, his ideology is conditioned by social standards and his conception of manliness is based on mans social values. Gender stereotype was not only shown by the male writers, but also by the female writers as well. In the play Trifle by Susan Glaspells the stereotypes made are those of the women being concerned only with trifling things, that are loyal to the female gender, and that women must live under their spouses. Trifles is based on an actual event that took place in Iowa at the turn of the Nineteenth century. The play Trifles involves a murder case that explores gender relationships, power between the sexes, and the nature of truth. In the play Trifles, the victim in the suspect is not the main focus of gender stereotype: instead the gender stereotype is presented by the investigator in his associates, follow by their wives. In the opening act of the play the men enter the house, follow by their wives. This stereotypical action was to show the dominate status of men. In Trifles, the male characters make several assumptions concerning the female characters. These assumptions show the way in which the men view the women, and are purely gender stereotypical. The first assumption that of women being only concerned with trifling things, is seen beginning with line 120 when the sheriff say Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin about her preserves. I guess before were through she may have something more serious than her preserves to worry about. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. These lines show the attitude toward women prevalent throughout the play. It is the mens nonchalance toward the small details that ultimately undermines the murder case. The second stereotype presented by the men concerning the women is that of being loyal to their own gender. In line 140, the County Attorney states, Ah, loyal to your sex, I see. But you and Mrs. Wright were neighbors. I suppose you were friends, too. This statement also makes an assumption concerning country women being neighborly. The County Attorney assumes that because the two women were neighbors, they were naturally friends, and spoke regularly. Because of the way the men treated the women they expresses discomfort at the mens violation of Mrs. Wright house. They didnt think about the law, instead they care more about the relationships than the rules. The action by the women shows a very stereotypical asset between the bonds they have for each other, instead of doing whats right by the law. The men try to diminish the female identity or role in the societal context by setting up in unfavorable image of female as ideologically submissive and dependent, that men are the subject or the absolute, and that women objects is existence and defined by males. The consequence of this stereotypical thinking causes the women to hide the truth from the men in Trifles. The women knew that Mr. Wright kept Mrs. Wright isolated from the world: Therefore the men remain oblivious to the action of the women hiding the truth. Their men vision and, their way of knowing narrows their focus in this play. In this case gender stereotype leads to a type of blindness on what happen in the farmhouse. If the men had discovered the evidence they would have had no doubt about on how to use it. The women discovered the evidence, but since gender stereotype was a factor it lead them to hold the truth from the men. As the women read Mrs. Wright story the understood it as if it was their story. I think the ir decision are based on gender, it springs from their maps of the territory, one fundamentally. The third stereotype the men make concerning the women can be found in line 159, when the Sheriff says I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does be all right, Do you want to see what Mrs. Peters is going to take in? Oh, I guess theyre not very dangerous things the ladies have picked out. No, Mrs. Peters doesnt need supervising. For that matter, a sheriffs wife is married to the law. It is here assumed that, because Mrs. Peters is the sheriffs wife, she will do only what she should. Mrs. Peters has been asked to bring a couple of things to Mrs. Wright in jail, and if she finds anything that may be of use to the case, she is asked to let them know. After Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the very evidence that could incarcerate Mrs. Wright, they proceed to hide it from the men, providing the greatest evidence for the loyalty among women issue, and departing from the assumptions of women being trifling and subservient. In Trifles, the women both conform to and depart from the assumptions made by the men. Mrs. Hale has found an important piece of evidence, a dead bird. The ladies decide not to allow the men to know of the true reason for the birds death. This departs from the stereotype depicting women as only being concerned with trifling things. As concerns the loyalty of one woman to another, evidence is found in line 366 that seems to allude to such a bond. Line 366 begins when the County Attorney say Is there a cat? Mrs. Hale glances in a quick covert way at Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Peters say Well, not now. Theyre superstitious, you know. They leave. These lines also show a departure from the assumption that women are subservient to their men in that they lie to the men. In line 411 one can see more evidence of the almost sisterly bond between women. Mrs. Hale says I might have known she needed help! I know how things can befor women. I tell you, its queer Mrs. Peters reply with We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same thingsits all just a different kind of the same thing Here one gets the idea of women depart from the stereotypical roles assigned to them by men.

Self: Plunging into the Other Side of the Mirror Essay -- Self Conscio

Self: Plunging into the Other Side of the Mirror Only in a mirror do we find ourselves. We cannot do it when we are apart, distanced, from who and what we are: we need to see our shapes, our selves, in the way we cannot see ourselves subjectively. But still, the glass plays with us, contorting and distorting, even if it is nothing more than a straightforward, honest reflection. It is our minds which are the true lenses. Why do we feel this compunction throughout the ages to look at our own reflections? It is inbred into us; it begins at such a tender age, this obsession with oneself. I never really took much notice of it while I was young, partly because I myself was never overly concerned with my appearance, and partly because my generation was not so image-conscious. However, as the years have passed, I have grown into an awareness of this larger societal issue, watching as more and more pre-teen girls doll themselves up in tight jeans, baby T-shirts and glitzy make-up. Like observing the gorillas in the mist, I watch as these girls preen and pluck, check themselves over and over in their compacts and handheld mirrors, readjust their clothes and redo their hair. It is, from a clinical viewpoint, disturbing. I doubt any of those girls remember the first time they ever saw their reflections in mirrors. If they even did, I further doubt that they would make anything of it, ponder its repercussions, question the greater impact of this first awakening. It is not an emotional, sexual, or intellectual awakening, no: it is a subtle and important transition from the world of the oblivious to the waking world of self-consciousness. As a very young child, I looked for myself in any reflective surface I could find. I would cra... ...ingle noticeable change. My roommates constantly voice their bewilderment at these frequent self-deprecations of mine. It is probably tiring for them to have to reassure me, time and again, but I have fed for too long on my own seeds of hatred and regret; now, like Persephone, I am drawn into that underworld, lost within its dark corners. I am me, I do realize that. But when I look at my other self, that frowning, miserable girl in the mirror, I cannot yet see what Walker saw in herself. However, I no longer look for myself in the mirror, not truly. Yes, it is a starting place, like the very last step to the top of the high dive. But I still have those five very long feet to walk before I can dive off into that most vast of mirrors, and I want to be able to enjoy that shimmering and sparkling last look at myself before I plunge, deeply and honestly, into my self.

Intangible Justice is in the Soul Essay -- Essays Papers

Intangible Justice is in the Soul Plato’s Republic, although officially divided into ten books, can be separated into two very distinct sections. The first section, roughly spanning Books I through IV, contains a rather tangible investigation of justice in practice. Namely, the section considers what acts or occurrences are just, either in a city or in a man. The second section, beginning around Book V and continuing through the end of the dialogue, deals with the much more abstract issue of justice in a soul. The backbone of this section is the Allegory of the Cave, and the establishment of the philosopher. Within these discussions, a new concept of justice is revealed which proves to be the most profound in the dialogue, and comes closest to answering the question of Socrates’ success in convincing Glaucon and Adeimantus that it pays to be just. The discussion surrounding the Allegory of the Cave, known well independently of the Republic, begins as an attempt by Socrates to â€Å"make an image of our nature in its education and want of education.† (Plato, Republic[1], 514a[2]). Here, Socrates begins to emphasize the connection between the nature of human education and justice—a theme that will become a central element in the definition of justice that the Allegory produces. The Allegory itself begins with a description of people raised in a dark cave who can see only the shadows that a fire behind them projects onto the wall they are perpetually facing. The images the people see, the â€Å"puppets† (514b), are all they have ever known, and are therefore thought of as reality, and not a filtered version void of details. Socrates, in fact, calls the people â€Å"prisoners† (514a). Socrates then turns the tables and, perhaps signal... ...mention of the benefits of keeping one’s soul free of chaos, Socrates shies away from actually addressing whether it pays or not to be just. The very fact that the second unofficial section of the Republic, which proves to be more dominant than the first, deals with justice in the soul furthers this phenomenon. In the end, justice is in a person’s soul and has little to no connection with the tangible world, and therefore cannot provide tangible benefits to following or disobeying it. This is the real message of the Republic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Plato. Republic. Trans. Allan Bloom. Basic Books, 1968. [2] Stephanus numbers and letters used to cite all works of Plato. They will be used to cite all further quotes from Plato’s Republic. [3] This is in fact the definition of an allegory.

German Indian Partnership for IT Systems Essay

Very good morning to all of you and a warm greetings on behalf of Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable transportation and urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science and National Academy of Science and Engineering Germany (ACATECH).. Today we have guests of honour Mr. Rolf Saligmann, German General Consul, Bangalore, Mr. Subir Hari Singh IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka, Dr. Christian Aulbach, Science and Technology Counselor, German Embassy, Delhi, Dr. A. Ravindra IAS, Advisor to Chief Minister, Govt. of Karnataka. We also have on the dias Prof. Dr. Otthein Herzog, Executive Board member, National Academy of Science and Engineering, Germany who is the main brain behind this event. We also have Prof. B.N. Raghunandan, Divisional Chair, Earth and Environmental Sciences, IISc who will preside over the function. Warm welcome to other dignitaries off-the dias, Guests and Invitees, press and TV persons, my dear colleagues and students, Ladies and Gentlemen. A warm welcome to all of you from CiSTUP which is started in 2009 with a generous support from Govt of Karnataka in particular BMTC, KSRTC, BDA and NERTC. In about 2 years, we have started a masters programme in transportation and infrastructure engineering, carried out many research and consultancy projects for the Govt of Karnataka and others, organized many conferences, symposium, brain storming sessions and round table meetings to address issues related with our cities in particular urban issues. CiSTUP has grown into a full fledge centre having more than 50 scientists/researchers and students associated with the centre carrying out many important research projects which is of interest to our city, state and the country in the areas of infrastructure, transportation and urban planning. We are organizing a Symposium and a workshop as part of German Indian Partnership for IT Systems (GRIP IT) on the 19th (today) and 20th May (tomorrow) respectively, The symposium is on – ‘Smart Mobility and Energy Concepts for Megacities’. The GRIP IT Workshop on Smart cities is planned  for 20th May 2011 at the Institute and it is restricted to selected and invited participation from industry and academicians. GRIP IT project is planned to act as a catalyst for future research and development collaborations between India and Germany by bringing together the German and Indian partners from the world of academics and industry and to provide a platform for networking. The focus of the initiatives are around the theme ‘Smart Cities’ – the various topics, technologies and the potential research and development potentials in and around the theme. The objective of the workshop is to further deepen our initiatives towards establishing a joint team of German and Indian research and industry partners to pursue high potential research topics of common interest to both countries and to explore possibilities of submitting joint proposals under the EU research framework programme. Towards the objective of identifying the right topics for a potential joint research initiative, we have initiated two studies – one on mobility and the other on energy. The results of the study would be presented at the workshop tomorrow to help focus on the right topics and to work on the next steps towards joint research proposals. It gives me great pleasure to welcome the dignitaries on the dias and off the dias to this Inaugural function of â€Å"Symposium on – ‘Smart Mobility and Energy Concepts for Megacities’. This is a joint initiative of CiSTUP and ACATECH, Germany. It is a great occasion for CiSTUP, IISc and ACATCEH to come together to start a joint collaborations in the area of smart cities. We would like to take this opportunity to express our hearty welcome, on my behalf and on our Institute’s behalf, to Honorable Consul General Rolf Saligmann for honoring our invitation to be the chief guest of this function and inaugurate the symposium. German Consular General is very supportive for such activities leading to large scale indo-german colloborations. We extend a warm welcome and present a bouquet of flowers to Mr. Rolf Saligmann, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany. We also welcome Mr. Subir Hari Singh IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary, Govt. of  Karnataka and commissioner BMRDA, who is always supportive for such developmental initiatives and for accepting to grace this function and deliver his address. We present a bouquet of flowers to Mr. Subir Hari Singh. A warm welcome to Dr. Christian Aulbach, Science and Technology Counselor, German Embassy, Delhi, for this function. We present a bouquet of flowers to Dr. Christian Aulbach. A warm welcome to Dr. A. Ravindra IAS, Advisor to Chief Minister, Govt. of Karnataka, who is always supportive for such initiatives in CiSTUP and at the institute, we thank him for accepting to grace this function and deliver his address. We present a bouquet of flowers to welcome Dr. A. Ravindra. 2 Hearty welcome to Prof. B.N. Raghunandan for accepting our invitation to be with us today as a President of the function. We welcome him and present a bouquet of flowers to Prof. B.N. Raghunandan. We miss amongst us our beloved Director Prof.P. Balaram and Associate Director Prof. N. Balakrishnan, who are very supportive for such activities, who are unable to be here with us today due to other engagements. Hearty welcome to Prof. Dr. Otthein Herzog, Executive Board member, National Academy of Science and Engineering, Germany who has spent lot of time with me in coordinating this event. We extend hearty welcome and present a bouquet of flowers to Prof. Dr. Otthein Herzog. We have many distinguished professors, academicians and leading persons from germany and India. Also we have leading persons from R&D groups and Industry amongst us. Hearty welcome to all the speakers from Germany, India and also Officers of ACATECH and Dr. Ulrich Golgzback, Mr. mathew Joseph, Project manager at ACATECH. Special welcome to all the dignitaries off the dais and Invitees from the Govt of Karnataka, BMTC, BDA, KSRTC, DULT and Indian Institute of Science for taking the time off from their busy schedule to grace this function. We welcome press, TV persons, and officers of our institute, my colleagues from the centre and department, students and other invitees. Once again I extend hearty welcome to all of you for this inaugural function of the Symposium. ONCE AGAIN I EXTEND A WELCOME TO YOU ALL. Sitharam =========================== Prof. T.G. Sitharam, Ph.D.(Canada), FIGS, FIE; Chairman, Centre for infrastructure Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) and PROFESSOR Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, INDIA Tel.No.+91-80-23602261 / 22932919 ; Fax no. 080 – 2360 2261 (phone/fax) / FAX no. 0802360 0404 (dept) email: sitharam@civil.iisc.ernet.in (preferred) / proftgs@gmail.com. web URL: http://civil.iisc.ernet.in/~sitharam ; mobile: 9448273751

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 4

â€Å"You're shaking. Let me do it alone,† Meredith said, putting a hand on Bonnie's shoulder as they stood together in front of Caroline Forbes's house. Bonnie started to lean into the pressure, but made herself stop. It was humiliating to be shaking so obviously on a Virginia morning in late July. It was humiliating to be treated like a child, too. But Meredith, who was only six months older, looked more adult than usual today. Her dark hair was pulled back, so that her eyes looked very large and her olive-skinned face with its high cheekbones was shown to its best advantage. She could practically be my babysitter, Bonnie thought dejectedly. Meredith had high heels on, too, instead of her usual flats. Bonnie felt smaller and younger than ever in comparison. She ran a hand through her strawberry-blond curls, trying to fluff them up a precious half inch higher. â€Å"I'm not scared. I'm c-cold,† Bonnie said with all the dignity she could muster. â€Å"I know. You feel something coming from there, don't you?† Meredith nodded at the house before them. Bonnie looked sideways at it and then back at Meredith. Suddenly Meredith's adultness was more comforting than annoying. But before she looked at Caroline's house again she blurted, â€Å"What's with the spike heels?† â€Å"Oh,† Meredith said, glancing down. â€Å"Just practical thinking. If anything tries to grab my ankle this time, it gets this.† She stamped and there was a satisfying clack from the sidewalk. Bonnie almost smiled. â€Å"Did you bring your brass knuckles, too?† â€Å"I don't need them; I'll knock Caroline out again barehanded if she tries anything. But quit changing the subject. I can do this alone.† Bonnie finally let herself put her own small hand on Meredith's slim, long-fingered one. She squeezed. â€Å"I know you can. But I'm the one who should. It was me she invited over.† â€Å"Yes,† Meredith said, with a slight, elegant curl of her lip. â€Å"She's always known where to stick in the knife. Well, whatever happens, Caroline's brought it on herself. First we try to help her, for her sake and ours. Then we try to make her get help. After that – â€Å" â€Å"After that,† Bonnie said sadly, â€Å"there's no telling.† She looked at Caroline's house again. It looked†¦skewed†¦in some way, as if she were seeing it through a distorting mirror. Besides that, it had a bad aura: black slashed across an ugly shade of gray-green. Bonnie had never seen a house with so much energy before. And it was cold, this energy, like the breath out of a meat locker. Bonnie felt as if it would suck out her own life-force and turn it into ice, if it got the chance. She let Meredith ring the doorbell. It had a slight echo to it, and when Mrs. Forbes answered, her voice seemed to echo slightly, as well. The inside of the house still had that funhouse mirror look to it, Bonnie thought, but even stranger was the feel. If she shut her eyes she would imagine herself in a much larger place, where the floor slanted sharply down. â€Å"You came to see Caroline,† Mrs. Forbes said. Her appearance shocked Bonnie. Caroline's mother looked like an old woman, with gray hair and a pinched white face. â€Å"She's up in her room. I'll show you,† Caroline's mother said. â€Å"But Mrs. Forbes, we know where – † Meredith broke off when Bonnie put a hand on her arm. The faded, shrunken woman was leading the way. She had almost no aura at all, Bonnie realized, and was stricken to the heart. She'd known Caroline and her parents for so long – how could their relationships have come to this? I won't call Caroline names, no matter what she does, Bonnie vowed silently. No matter what. Even†¦yes, even after what she's done to Matt. I'll try to remember something good about her. But it was difficult to think at all in this house, much less to think of anything good. Bonnie knew the staircase was going up; she could see each step above her. But all her other senses told her she was going down. It was a horrifying feeling that made her dizzy: this sharp slant downward as she watched her feet climb. There was also a smell, strange and pungent, of rotten eggs. It was a reeking, rotten odor that you tasted in the air. Caroline's door was shut, and in front of it, lying on the floor, was a plate of food with a fork and carving knife on it. Mrs. Forbes hurried ahead of Bonnie and Meredith and quickly snatched up the plate, opened the door opposite Caroline's, and placed it in there, shutting the door behind her. But just before it disappeared, Bonnie thought she saw movement in the heap of food on the fine bone china. â€Å"She'll barely speak to me,† Mrs. Forbes said in the same empty voice she'd used before. â€Å"But she did say that she was expecting you.† She hurried past them, leaving them alone in the corridor. The smell of rotten eggs – no, of sulfur, Bonnie realized, was very strong. Sulfur – she recognized the smell from last year's chemistry class. But how did such a horrible smell get into Mrs. Forbes's elegant house? Bonnie turned to Meredith to ask, but Meredith was already shaking her head. Bonnie knew that expression. Don't say anything. Bonnie gulped, wiped her watering eyes, and watched Meredith turn the handle of Caroline's door. The room was dark. Enough light shone from the hallway to show that Caroline's curtains had been reinforced by opaque bedspreads nailed over them. No one was in or on the bed. â€Å"Come in! And shut that door fast!† It was Caroline's voice, with Caroline's typical waspishness. A flood of relief swept over Bonnie. The voice wasn't a male bass that shook the room, or a howl, it was Caroline-in-a-bad-mood. She stepped into the dimness before her.

Comparative Study Between Waiting for Mahatma and Kanthapura

TITLE :- COMPARISON BETWEEN THE IMAGES OF ‘GANDHI’ IN KANTHAPURA AND WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA Name :- Purbita Bhattacharya M. A. 1ST SEMESTER ROLL :- ME 110042 PAPER – 2 SUPERVISED BY :- PROF. CHANDRANATH ADHIKARY The novel WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA deals with the story of a young man named Sriram whose life revolves round the influence of Mahatma on him during the years of Indian Freedom Struggle. In his age of twenty he meets a girl named Bharati, an ardent Gandhi follower and was collecting money for some funds. Her life is pretty much revolving around Gandhiji and his movement.By presenting Mahatma realistically in town Narayan has portrayed a concrete image of Gandhi. The people of Malgudi can see Gandhi, can touch him and even can spend time with him by attending his lectures and the shavas. Narayan, here, through this novel has shown the down-to-earth image of Gandhi. He comes to town, moves on his own whims and fancies, does not stay at the guest house nor wi th the rich persons, and prefers to stay in the untouchable colony, gives speeches and also meets with people. Even in this novel we are shown that Bharati takes Sriram to meet Gandhiji. And Sriram is told to do what Bharati tells him.She becomes his ‘Guru’. Later, Sriram moves to cave in hills, gets deeper into the Quit India Movement, tries to force the marriage issue with Bharati but gets rejected. Then he gets involved with a terrorist called Jagadish – who is wanted by the police. He visits his grandmother in disguise who survives a death scare and is rescued off dramatically in her funeral pyre when her toes start wiggling. Then Sriram gets arrested at the burial grounds and goes to jail. His only solace is that Bharati is also in jail somewhere. In jails he meets many different types of criminals and is finally released after the British leaves India.Then he again meets Bharati who invites him to Delhi. He there proposes her again and they seek the blessin g of Mahatma who promises to perform their wedding himself on the very next morning. On the next morning they go to the prayer meeting where a person rushes up to the stage to the Mahatma and shoots him. â€Å"WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA† dwells on the freedom struggle, the Mahatma and his ways, and the kind of an impact he had on the youth in those days. By the physical presence of Gandhi, Narayan brings up many arguments through different characters, those who embrace a violent route and those who follow Gandhiji.But such was the power of his conviction that they followed him and his words to death. â€Å"Love the enemy, and then will he change†, said Gandhiji and they all tried to love their enemy. They practiced non-violence, spun the charka and made khadi, shunned all foreign things, behaved like true Satyagrahis – all at an age when they would hardly understand the true importance of what they are doing. Gandhiji’s take on untouchability is shown impact ing Sriram as he wonders how his grandmother ill treats the boy who comes to clean the road.The much sacrifices were demanded from the youth and his followers, and they did try to be the perfect examples of what Gandhiji had asked for them. The Abstractness of Gandhi’s Image in â€Å"KANTHAPURA† by Raja Rao Till now we were concentrating on the concrete image and impact of Gandhi through Narayan’s â€Å"WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA†. Now in comparison with this image I have chosen â€Å"KANTHAPURA† , by Raja Rao, which also shows the impact of Gandhi on the villagers but not by his physical presence, but by the presence of Gandhi in the villagers’ mind.They have never seen Gandhi, but they are familiar by the name of Gandhi as the image of ‘God’. â€Å"KANTHAPURA† is also a document of the National Struggle of India for Independence. The man, who is struggling and bringing out the image and influence of Gandhi to the villager s, is Moorthy. Like â€Å"WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA† , â€Å"KANTHAPURA† was also written before Independence and is dealing with the magic of Gandhianism that changes India from a somnolent to an unquestionable battle ground for British Raj. Kanthapura is a village as traditional and self sufficient as any other Indian village.But the first sign of disturbance comes from outside but is brought to them by their own beloved Moorthy – a Gandhi-man. The villagers’ love for Harikatha is gently subverted by him and made into a tool to spread the message of nationalism and Gandhi’s principle. Jayaramachar, a popular harikatha singer sings the myth of Gandhi and his divinely task of driving the ‘red man’ from our land. Slowly the entire community warms up against the British rule. With the principle of non violence sullied by the villagers Moorthy – like the Mahatma – undergoes fasting, ritualistic purification in temple.Raja Rao has presented Gandhiji as a myth to the villagers of Kanthapura. Gandhi, was like the mythological character to them. They have not seen Gandhi, but Moorthy seems to them similar to Gandhi. In him the villagers can find out their Gandhi. So that at the last phase of the novel we can see that Moorthy has been mythicised like Gandhi by his village people. The Comparative Study between the Gandhian Impact on both â€Å"WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA† and â€Å"KANTHAPURA† :- Gandhi is often being cited more as a matter of form and convenience than a deep conviction.The Gandhian impact on contemporary Indian literature has brought about results at various levels, and in various direction. As regards the writer’s choice of language, we have seen that one result of the Gandhian influence has been a general preference for the mother tongue or the regional language, and occasionally a purposeful bilingualism, the same writer handling his mastery his own mother tongue as well a s English.Besides whatever the language medium chosen, the stress has been more on simplicity and clarity and immediate effectiveness than on ornateness or profundity or laborious artistry, and this has been as marked in English writing as in writing in the regional languages. As regards the choice of themes and the portrayal of character, the Gandhian influence has been no less marked. There has been a more or less conscious shift of emphasis from the city to the village, or there is implied a contrast between the two – urban luxury and sophistication on the one hand and rural modes and manners on the other.R. K. Narayan, however makes Gandhi himself a character in â€Å"WAITING FOR THE MAHATMA†. Gandhi materially and directly affects the fortunes of Narayan’s heroine – Bharati, and her lover Sriram; and the novel ends with Gandhi’s death at the hands of an Asian on the way to prayer. Whereas Raja Rao has made Gandhi a mythical aspect in his novel â€Å"KANTHAPURA†. The villagers of Kanthapura sacrifice their all while following the Gandhian ideology. They were betrayed. Because Gandhiji, after meeting with the Viceroy, withdrawed the Boycott. But still they followed the way of Gandhianism towards Nationalism.CONCLUSION:- In both the novels by these contemporary writers we can see that Gandhiji laid stress again and again on moral and spiritual values in contrast to material achievement, although this had its place too; he knew that too much industrialization must spell disaster to the seven lacks of Indians villages; and he adopted the loin cloth and the Sevagram way of life because he felt that, for the teeming millions of Indians, no other life is possible – yet he knew that even such bare colourless life could be made reasonably full and purposive.Although for at least 60 years, at least Gandhi has been the subject of biographical and expository studies – J. J. Doke’s M. K. Gandhi : The Man Wh o Became One with the Universal Being followed 15 years after the approach of the Gandhi birth cenetary had understandably stimulated of late a greatly increased flow of Gandhian literature. Mahatma Gandhi : 100 years , edited by S.Radhakrishnan, was brought out by the Gandhi Peace Foundation in 1968, and contained numerous tributes by Gandhi’s friends and admirers, all over the world. While several contributors – Rajaji, Richard B. Gregg, Swami Ranganadhananda, B. N. Rau, G. Ramachandran – have tried to stress one or another aspect of Gandhi’s life and personality, many others have bemoaned the fact that Gandhianism is hardly a live force in India today.

The Central Role of Lurie in Coetzees Disgrace Essay

The Central Role of Lurie in Coetzees Disgrace - Essay Example Thus, a story â€Å"speaks to† each person in a similar fashion. â€Å"By reading a moral story, a child learns how important it is to â€Å"live† a virtue and gains a deeper understanding of the moral life†( Narvaez 157). On the other hand, Ormond (47) concurs with this notion when he suggests that â€Å"from a Vygotskian perspective, gradual entry into adult activities enables children to engage in behaviors and thinking skills within their zones of proximal development.† In this case, the author’s development of character revolves around the language, the perception and the thoughts of Lurie, who appears to direct the character associated with all the aspects of character development. Against this background, this paper will discuss the central role of Lurie in the author’s development of different characters throughout the book. The book clearly presents the position of men and women as well as sex and the disgrace that comes with it. The author writes these ideas through the eyes of Lurie, where the reader is exposed to his spoken dialogue as well as the unspoken thoughts – which portray his discourse, desire and passions. Even though the novel is written in third person, the language, perceptions and the thoughts of Lurie dominate the narrative, which shows that character development for all others is filtered through that of Lurie. However, exposure to Lurie’s person does not present intimacy; so much as it portrays his isolation. Through the story, Coetzee represents different characters through that of Lurie. For example, he presents the position of all others – through the subjective outlook of Lurie. However, this is not entirely true; as it appears that his shallow outlook of women is what has caused his two previous divorces and his inability to connect with women. This leads to the contrast that he is