E-C-304. English Language Teaching

Name : Patel Payal G

Roll no : 16

M.A.Sem-III

Paper : E-C- 304. English Language Teaching-1

Year- 2011

Topic: English as a coin in India (Based on “Satan and Sarswati : The Double Face of English in India”)

Submmitted to Mr. Devarshi Mehta

Department of English

Bhavnagar University

Bhavnagar

English as a Coin in India

ABSTRACT:  English language is having duality in India. It is a part of plagiarism, yet it becomes fashion. The need of it, is restricted at the school and college level. It is because of not enough facility of higher education institutions in our mother tongue. Teacher or originator of all these problems needs proper guidance. They are playing with the future of the students. Is our learning need based or is it rather competition based?

 It is well known proverb that every coin has two sides, same as English plays dual roles in India. It is having advantages as well as disadvantages at educational level, as it is having two forms like Satan and Sarswati. The very establishment of India is constructed in English when India got independence, it was paralysed because of the virus named constitution of India which is written in English, not a single country except India is having its constitution in another language but its own national language. The case of plagiarism is clearly visible through Indian constitution. The writers or the makers of it show their torpor which is the greatest disease India is facing ever. English has become a fashion. The condition of people is that whenever they make any mistake they say ‘I am sorry’, sometimes ‘sorry’. So, these words like sorry and thank you have become most public things. What point here comes is, the average students cannot go beyond these ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’. They learn only those two words which are useful for day to day life, and whatever they study is just competition of information based learning. Do they really want this kind of teaching? It is very difficult for any strange person to a new language or to speak the second language the way he speaks his mother tongue. For example;

“Agr n Aaya p0I xu krxo ?

nhI bulaya p0I xu krxo ? ”

This example clearly makes the point clear that it is very difficult to convey the person’s idea, thoughts and feelings into second or target language. It is something like,

“bgRr xu =`e !ok5anI vedna !”

There is one another example to justify this point, which is as under;

“wat to qava pDe !”

Can one translate it into target language? The translation like, “you have to eat rice” is not accurate to the meaning. It is difficult that is why the translator better writes some sentences to get the close meaning like, “please, have some rice, please ! please!”

It is right that English is the window to peep into the world, but there are some people who have peeped into the world without opening that window. One cannot judge the person’s language.  Students are not genuinely interested in English and fortunately they learn speaking English, it is an achievement. The root cause of not learning the target language the way they speak their mother tongue, is nothing but cultural difference. For instance; English people do not have the concept of marriage. So they are not that much involved in the equipments of marriage like, m>g5sUt/, is>dUr and there are also some other words which they find difficult to translate like guLlI marvI, pEEEsa s5gavva, 3I>gavu, v/t, qlela, etc. cannot be explained in English containing the same sense or meaning. Similarly some facilities are the gifts to India by the English. They have given education system, postal system, railway system, and telephone system, not even that, they connected  Indian princely states and that is why in India higher education is into English. Some words are also derived from it. For example; ‘boy-friend’, which is very difficult to translate into mother tongue. There are many other examples like; ‘telephone’, ‘mobile’, ‘television’, ‘mixture’ (a machine). If Indian try to translate the words, especially in Gujarati, they become refined not the exect meanings because all the things are invented by the English and they gave their own selected names. Though the students are learning English, they do not have some basic knowledge. For example; if there is one Rosy madam who teaches, students call her ‘Rosy Miss’. At what angle this English seems English, it is rather Indian English. Students do not know the day to day words in English and that is why they speak punctured English. These things affect the students’ speaking level. They speak neither English perfectly nor mother tongue but mixture of both.

From 1960-70 English was not studied by students and after that period and when the bill was passed, English became compulsory from 5^th standard. For Indian students the text book is merely the text book but for English students it is course book. They were more interested in grammar but so far as the grammar is concerned Indian students do not know their own mother tongue’s grammar, how can they be expert in English grammar. Even the facilitators do not know Gujarati grammar. They do not teach poems with ‘0>d’,they just simply deal with the poems. Now, a day the teachers who are not graduate or master in English they teach English to the students. This is the current condition of India. The policy-makers are not educated that is why education system suffers. Now the makers have brought the change in policy but the students are not prepared for that. It is difficult to go beyond the mother tongue. For instance, one cannot describe the features of ‘Hanuman’ in English. Because if they say, Hanuman is a servant of Rama, is not correct, as he is not his servant but his ‘das’ and this word cannot be translated according to the English dictionary. There are other words like ‘l>gur, va>dru’,etc. English word for all those words is only monkey, as Hanuman is not a monkey but kip and they do not have the meaning of this word. Indian code is different from their code. India is a multilingual country so, the languages interconnect. For example; the word ‘jEsI kI tEsI’ is somewhat similar to ‘jevI tevI’. Gujarati has borrowed the things. The concept of positive transfer and negative transfer is also applicable to this fraction. The students must have knowledge of mother tongue so that they can see the similarities between target language and mother language. Indian English is different from authentic or real English. For instance; “Wanted Teachers”. Are teachers criminal? Then there is also another example that ‘sir’ must be a man and ‘teacher’ must be a lady. Can not a man be considered as a teacher? There is another example of Indian English that one teacher warns a student for his mischief and says him “ Meet me behind the class when the lecture is empty.”  If one British or any foreigner reads this sentence, he would definitely commit suicide. This is the example of  how language changes.

Students cannot express their feelings in English. For example;

“te kale Aa[sk/Im qa2o to he ne?”

“tu maro ip/y imt/ 0e n>[?”

“mne yad krto to ka> ?”

These words like ‘he ne, n[, ka>’ cannot be explained or expressed in English. Students cannot put question tags all the time to translate it. They should be very careful about how it operates or functions to translation of feelings into English. If the students want to learn the language they must use it. They should follow the term, use the language and learn the language.

English is running as a link language in the present time. The British ruled over India more than two hundred years. So, the influence of them is remaining still, although their permanent departure from India. But if English is not seen as the language of communication, what needs is to change the attitude towards English. Learning another language makes one bigger and gives one a wider vision.

There are different forms of one language. For example; English has different names like, ‘Indian English’, ‘British English’, ‘American English’ etc. Thus, the language is having their different forms according to its convenience to the country. Many cities have not accepted Hindi as their national language. For example; Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Bengal etc. do not like Hindi and even that they are not ready to accept themselves as Indians. They have accepted Christianity. Why has this type of situation occurred? Because only India has two official languages at the national level Hindi and English. The reason is very clear why they have accepted English as their national language. English has been considered as the second language and the policy makers have written the Indian constitution into English and have declared Hindi as their national language. It is rather bit difficult for Gujarati because in Gujarat, there are three official languages like Gujarati, Hindi and English. So, it is very challenging to learn other unknown language for the person who is not able to understand or speak his mother tongue.

English has been compulsory but the students do not know its reason as a compulsory subject and still they study that subject. Do the students use English in their routine life whatever they study in school or college? The answer is perhaps ‘no’ because they do not know the English words or some native words like; “Aag5Iyo, ibn- sa>p/daiyk, ]Tkln ib>du, d5, 2rI” etc. Even they do not know what to say if the hinge (Aag5Iyo) is making noise and the oiling is not done. They cannot manage a simple sentence. The perfect sentence is “Hinge creaks when it is not oiled.” But how many students know the perfect answer, rarely they know or perhaps no one knows the answer. Here, it is said that need of the student is more important. So, instructor or the facilitator should concentrate upon need based learning. The syllabus designer should take the need of the students into consideration.

Need- based Learning:

This learning involves the dichotomy between boys’ and girls’ need. One should take into consideration sex and gender, words boys need, words girls need, structure boys need, structure girls need and for that their background is very important. Every age has its demands. For example; what the students of 10^th standard need as far as their teaching is concerned. No doubt, they learn as much as they can but they cannot use their learning in real context or day to day life. English has not become the students need yet. It is just their medium not goal. Students learn English because of higher education and good job. Their point of view is utilitarian not learning. Syllabus designer did not have strategies, plans or aims even those things are borrowed like the identity. So, it is all about the socio- cultural dimensions of English as second language.

R.K. Singh has given an appropriate solution for that, as he writes if the instructor wants his pupils get good command of language, then the instructor must,

(i) encourage a teaching programme that is responsive to their specific needs,

(ii) pursue such teaching activities from which pupils know they are learning something useful.

(iii) adopt a flexible teaching approach that results in success of the pupils.

What, here, he wants to say is, do not buy whatever they sell and be flexible in your own learning and teaching, as it conveys the need analysis. This is how English plays its role as two faces, Satan and Sarswati in India.

Conclusion:

“Whoever knows grammar in one language also knows it in another so far as its substance is concerned. If he cannot, however, speak another language or understand those who speak it, this is because of the difference of words and their formation which is accidental to grammar.”

-         Anon

-         13^th Century.

Work Cited:

E.Annamalai. “Satan and Sarswati : The Double Face of English in India”. Ed: Omkar Koul, “English in India”. Print.

Singh R.K. “Teaching of English: A Plea for Practical Attitude”. Ed: Omkar Koul, “English in India”. Print.

E-C-305. Post-Colonoal Literature

Name- Patel Payal G

Roll no- 16

M.A.Sem-III

Paper- E-C-305. Post-Colonial Literature.

Year- 2011

Topic- “Orientalism”

Submitted to Mr. Dilip Barad.

Department of English.

Bhavnagar University.

Bhavnagar.

“Orientalism”

Orientalism is an established text of cultural studies in which Edward Said has challenged the concept of orientalism or the difference between east and west. He writes that the European through colonization came across the lesser developed countries of the east. They found their culture much uncivilized and that is why they established the science of orientalism, which was the study of the people from exotic civilization. Said, further more writes that the European divided the world into two parts like the east and the west, the occident and the Oriental or the civilized and the uncivilized. By giving this concept or by dividing the world into two shapes, they want to prove their superiority. This was completely an artificial or imaginary boundary. The European defined them with the use of orientalism, which clearly shows that they are also the part of orientalism not the inventors of it.

The European believed that it is their duty to civilize the world. As the world is still not totally civilized one. Though they do not know the concept of civilization and uncivilized, they have tried to give the characteristics of Orientals. For example, the Arabs is defined as uncivilized people and in the same way Islam is seen as religion of the terrorist. They have started giving tags to the people of the east.

The book “Orientalism” is having main three chapters with some sub-chapters like;

(i)                The scope of Orientalism

(ii)             Orientalist Structure and Restructures.

(iii)           Orientalism Now.

These are the main parts of this text which Edward has described in detail. The overall views of these chapters are as under.

The Scope of Orientalism:

 In this chapter Said explains the development of the science of orientalism and how the European considers the orientals as “non-human beings.” The European have given the concept for themselves and for Orientals like “Ours” and “theirs” and this is how they are marginalized by the European, which is one of the major elements of post-colonial study. As the book is studied under the main title post-colonial literature, it shows how the Orientals are colonized by the European, as they consider them to be more refined race on the web. They have become not only the oriental’s masters but also teacher, as they have decided to teach them civilization.

The European describe the Orientals the way they perceived them or in other words they were orientalzing them. Once the various teams were sent to the east to observe them silently by living with them, and the outcome was the generalization. As it is earlier said, the European used the orientalism to define themselves, for example, the qualities of the orientals are like laziness, irrationality, uncivilized, rudeness etc. which make the Europeans active, civilized, rational, sophisticated etc.  Thus, to describe their qualities they use the orientals. Again the concept of master and slave occurs in this book which relates to Frantz Fanon’s ideology in his well-known work “Black Skin White Masks”, that the world is divided into only two major aspects master and slave. The blacks are whites pet animals. So, here, also the European defines orientalism the way they believe or imagine them to be.

Another feature of orientalism is the culture of the orientals who is explained by the Europeans, Edward writes. For example, Islam was made into Mohammadism because Mahammad is the founder of Islam, the same thing can be found in Christianity that this religion is established by Christ, as he is the founder of it. So, his religion is Christianity from Christ, thus, Islam should be Mohammadism from its founder Mohammad. But the Islamic or Muslim do not understand this terminology, as they  have no say at all regarding this matter.

Orientalist Structures and Restructures:

In this chapter, Said has a slight change in the attitude of the Europeans towards the east people or orientals. The orientals are becoming well-known through their writings, their literary works earn them publicity. The European highly believed that the oriental land and behavior as romantic, as they are highly romanticized or recognized by the European poets and writers and they also presented it in their western world. After this long process, the European consider the east society people no more evil, because they show their purity as inferior to the European, so it is their right to study and rule such an innocent race. Now, what is more important, which makes them more superior or inferior is their race. The racism is the root cause in destroying the good terms between the countries especially the people who are coming from different race.

What the European gives their argument in their favour that they gave the colonization and that is why they meant to rule over their nation, as they have also brought the development in their nation. It clearly shows that they are biologically superior and most important thing which they believe that it were the European who discovered, rather invented the orients, the orients were not discovered the Europeans. To justify his point to that perspective Said applies Darwin’s theories and  their superiority too.

Edward Said also explains the works of two most renowned orientalists of the 19^th century. Whose names are Silvestre de Sacy and Ernest Renan, who have given their dimensions regarding orientals. Said also respects Sacy for his contribution to this field. Edward Said writes that Sacy has organized the information of orientals in a way that it would be very useful for the future orientalist. Renan Ernest also has taken advantage of Sacy’s views and work for orientalism and the science of philosophy is having an important relation. So, it is overview of this chapter “Orientalist” structure and Restructure.

Orientalism Now:

In this chapter Said said that the geography of the world is shaped by the colonization of Europeans. He also talks about the world politics and its changing approach in 20^th century. The main difference which he has presented in this book is first the orientals remained silent observers but now they have started taking part in everyday life’s events. This is not to appreciate their life style but to rule over them properly, Lawrence of Arabia is one of those orientalists. They can rule over, as it is their prime aim.

Said also discusses the contribution of two other scholars like Massignon and Gibb. Massignon is somewhat liberal to the orientalists and tries to protect their rights. There are also some impacts of World war-I and World War- II to this orientalism. Gibb was during his time the famous Islamic orientalist.

USA became the centre of orientalism after Europe which was happened because of World war- I. all the orientalists studied the orientals to contribute their government and through which they can deal with the orient countries. And after the World War- II, the European colonies were gone and after that they started believing that, there were no more orientals and occidents, but that was not the end. The Europeans still put generalization. For example; Arab were represented as cruel and violent people, Japanese were associated with Karate where as the Muslims were considered as terrorists. So, what clearly it suggests is however, the globalization or universal awareness may be spread but such prejudice ia always  established.

Edward concludes his book by saying that he does not say that the orientalist should not make generalization, or they should also take the various things into consideration. But he also writes that the boundary should not be drawn by the Europeans.

Overview:

Said summarizes his work “ Orientalism” in these terms;

“My contention is that orientalism is fundamentally a political

doctrine willed over the orient because the orient was weaker

than the West, which elided the orient’s difference with its

weakness… As a cultural apparatus. Orientalism  is all

aggression, activity, judge- ment, will- to-truth, and Knowledge.”

                                                                                 [Orientalism p.204]

 The term orient is a mirror image of what is inferior to the west. The concept of superiority and inferiority is pervaded throughout the book “Orientalism” , and also the symbols of masters and slaves, so the orientals can be like them. There is one quote of this orientalism like,

“Orientalism is a manner of regularized writing, vision and

study, dominated by imperatives, and ideological biases

ostensibly suited to the orient.”

Even Frantz Fanon has also written about post- colonialism and what becomes more important is humanity; no more color and no more race. So; his point of view can be applied to this “ Orientalism” that they are not associated with superiority or minority, uncivilized but the whole globe is based on humanity. Because after the Judgment Day, no one would remain on this earth to rule over not even Noah’s Arch would save this time any human being, so why to fight for or desire to be master, the boss. Though it is better that the Europeans attitude has changed to some extent towards the east but it does not mean that the question of identity or especially humanity is solved. It is still their with different forms in society.

Said’s Project:

Said writes that the rejection of Orientalism involves a rejection of biological generalizations, racial and religious bias, cultural structures, and these differences like, the plan of Said is to emphasis on narrative rather than vision in interpreting the Orient. To be clear Said did not use the term orientalism but it was used, especially by the Middle East.

Conclusion:

To sum up this point, Rudyard Kipling’s quotation is suitable to this subject as he writes,

“East is east, West is west, and never the twain shall meet.”

It is appropriate to the book “Orientalism”, Edward Said asks and argues like : but where is this sly, devious, despotic, mystical oriental? The idea of the oriental is a kind of myth produced by European through it was influenced especially after 18^th century. The book “Orientalism” aims to concentrate on myth, but more than it, Said’s goal is to identify orientalism as a discourse.

Assignment: Paper- E-C-201. The Romantic Literature.

Topic: Traits of Romanticism in “Wuthering Heights”.

Student’s name: Payal G Patel

Roll no: 18

M.A. Sem – II

Batch – 2010-‘11

Submitted to – Mr. Jay Mehta

Department of English

Bhavnagar University

Bhavnagar.

Traits of Romanticism in “Wuthering Heights”

Romantic Features:

                                 In this novel “Wuthering Heights”, LOVE is at the center whether it is about first generation of Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Edgar Linton and Isabella or about second generation of Cathy, Linton and Hareton. The developments of the first generation’s love are similar and mixed with the developments of the second generation, but not completely the same. Because the first generation is not at the rest even at their ends also, but there is the happy ending of the novel with the second generation. We find in this novel the complexity of love like,

                          Catherine                                                                  Cathy

                                                               Edgar                                                                    Hareton      

Heathcliff                                                                               Linton                                 

                        Isabella

Romanticism contains the elements of internal and external conflict like;

 Nature versus Civilization

     Or

 Wild versus civilized, and

Natural  versus  Artificial.

                                        Here, we can easily apply the conflict of wild versus Civilized to the character of Heathcliff, that his nature is somewhat like wild and who has been insulted by many of the civilized persons. But Heathcliff is more insulted by Hindley, Catherine’s brother. Though there are many opposite attributes in the society, the love of Catherine and Heathcliff remains unshaken. But we should not forget Catherine’s ideas about Edgar. He is smart and handsome as well as well-dressed and well-mannered and by all these attributes Catherine is impressed by him at least for a while. And during this time the seeds of jealousy are being sown into the heart of Heathcliff.

Because of her love with Heathcliff and to make him prosperous and successfull person, Catherine decides to get married with Edgar and says to Nelly, the narrator of the novel, as well as the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights, that she loves Edgar because he is rich and graceful, and he would make her the greatest lady in the region. So, here, we find complexity of Catherine’s nature but she also says that she is doing all these only for Heathcliff and also declares that her and Heathcliff’s souls are one. Heathcliff overhears the conversation between Nelly and Catherine and leaves the place. His love converts into hate and this is more important here because it is the cause of the tragedy of all the characters, and the root of it is love after all.

There are also many romantic elements in the very beginning that both Heathcliff and Catherine spend their most of the time with each other especially they visit the Moor and share their love. So, Up till now Emile Bronte has described the pure and innocent love but after Heathcliff’s overhearing the conversation, he disappears for three years and during this time Catherine’s genuine love for Heathcliff can be seen. Through she got married with Edgar, Heathcliff remains in one corner of her heart and waits for him. Definition of love is also given by these both characters Catherine and Heathclifft, what is thwarted love of Heathcliff. He yearns for Catherine but the longing of Heathcliff can not be fulfilled in life. Here, Death is more important element, which unites two souls’ or loving souls.

Wuthering Heights as a Gothic fiction:

The gothic elements like terror, mystery, secrets, deaths, the supernatural, madness etc. are pervaded throughout the novel. For example we feel terror in the very beginning when the dogs namely Gnash, Wolf, in chapter-II, attack on Lockwood. When Catherine’s ghost appears to Lockwood and requests him to let her in.

There are many such examples in the course of the novel. Another thing should be pointed out is the names of the dogs which are very symbolical and also the dogs’ scene also symbolize something heinous will happen. Because to suggest such things there are more than two or three dogs scenes. This element also gives a share in the gothic fiction. Then we also find that in the very beginning the note of something mysterious is presented by the ghost. As far as the elements of secret is concerned, we find that in the characters like Catherine who hides the secret of Heathcliff to Edgar, Nelly who hides the secret of clash which was done by the middle generation to Cathy, even Heathcliff who hides most of the things in his heart and follows the plans made out of his mind. Death is the most significant aspect in this novel, because it is only death which reunites Catherine and Heathcliff. But, in gothic world it symbolizes something that is macabre and disgusting. We find out many deaths of the characters like Mr. Earnshaw, Frances- Hindley’s wife, Mr.and Mrs. Linton, Catherinr, Hindley, Edgar, and Heathcliff,so we may say that this novel is not LIFE but DEATH. The supernatural elements also we may see in this novel that Heathcliff is haunted but Catherine’s spirit. We also see Heathcliff’s madness that he digs out the land where Catherine is buried. So, in a way it suggests his madness of love, thus, these all elements are the part of gothic fiction in this novel.

Now, the madness of Heathcliff signifies his psycholodical state of mind. There is the mental chaos in him. So, we may compare Heathcliff’s character with the narrator of the short story “Ligeia” written by Edgar Allan Poe. Because in this short story also we find mental state of the narrator, that he has the strange experience with Ligeia, his first wife and Rowena, his second wife. The short story is based upon the theory of the transmigration of the souls. Ligeia comes back several years after her death to her husband in the dead body of his second wife Rowena. Then, the story also describes the beauty of Ligeia. So, here, we find two types of elements same. First is the transmigration of the souls of Heathcliff and Catherine from their bodies, and another one is concerned with psychological state of mind. Heathcliff’s character is also gothic one.

There are also other important indicators of gothic literature like the themes of –isolation -         Fear, darknes -        Loss of faith in humanity.

These all can also be found in this novel as it suggests the world of gothic elements.

Passionate yet thwarted love between Heathcliff and Catherine:

                                                        Both of them love is genuine. They also show their love at the course of time. Catherine declares that,

“I am Heathcliff’s; he is always in my mind.”

Suggest how much she loves Heathcliff. Even Heathcliff loves Catherine by heart and after her death, he sees everywhere Catherine’s face even in other characters also, that to avenge he concerns with Hareton, he sees Catherine. He can not bear to look at Hareton’s face because when he looks for the resemblance to Hindley, all he sees is Catherine. And Cathy also reminds him of Catherine.

While discussing the element of love, we should not forget the other characters also because in romantic fiction the traits of love are same whether it is of the hero-heroine or any of the others. For example Isabella who has one-sided love for Heathcliff and he uses her as an instrument to destroy the lives of other characters like Edgar and Catherine, and to get power over both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. But what is more important here is Isabella’s love for Heathcliff. Love between Hindley and Frances also has been portrayed because without her love or life Hindley gets him into debt becomes drunkard. Edgar’s love for Catherine is sincere, because throughout her life he loves her. And the love of third generation is also drawn by the narrator. So, these all are the romantic traits of love

Now, the element of love with the reference to gothic aspects can be seen in this novel. When Catherine dies, Heathcliff becomes something like madman. He opens the coffin to have a glimpse o Catherine’s face. Walter Peter saw in “Wuthering Heights”;

“the characteristic spirit of romanticism, particularly in the figures of Hareton Earnshaw, of Catherine Linton and of  Heathcliff – teaching open Catherine’s grave, removing one side of her coffin, that he may really lie beside her in death’ figures so passionate, yet woven on a background of delicately beautiful, moorland scenery, being typical examples of that spirit.”

The scene of locket is in a way significant. Heathcliff and Edgar both love Catherine. When Heathcliff comes in to view Catherine in her coffin, he takes the lock of Edgar’s hair out or her locket and replaces it with his own. Even a simple lock of hair becomes one of the traits of love. But Nelly Dean takes both the locks together and puts them both in the locket, it shows Catherine’s two lovers.

The area of Moors also symbolizes something related with their love. (Heathcliff and Catherine). The severe and wild moors symbolize the unruly nature of their love. In chapter –IX, Catherine declares for Heathcliff that,

“Whatever souls are made of his and mine are the same.”

shows their uniqueness of love. As earlier i have written, Heathcliff sees everywhere or in all the characters the face of Catherine is now reached its climax that he says in chapter -xxxIII,

“In every cloud, in every tree- filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day, i am surrounded with her image.”

As time passes, Heathcliff becomes increasingly obsessed with his dead love, and he finds reminders of her everywhere. He begins conversing with her ghost. And when Heathcliff dies he is buried next to Catherine’s grave, here, it symbolizes spiritual love rather than physical one. It also symbolizes that after death one may be free like Catherine and Heathcliff from the worldly terms.

 And there is also an occurrence that someone sees the souls of Catherine and Heathcliff together at the Moor. There is also the trait of love in their death that after their death the duet of their grave was mingled which suggests the extraordinary love.

Conclusion:

              As a Romantic Literature contains some of the romantic aspects like love, passion, emotions, feelings etc., we find them in this novel. But at the same time we also find gothic romances, Wuthering Heights does not build to an intense, violent climax before its ending rather its tension quality.

For Heathcliff, the end of life can mean only one thing:

 “THE BEGINNING OF HIS REUNION WITH CATHERINE”

Another thing we may say is the life of Catherine and Heathcliff can be compared with the love life of Romeo and Juliet, of Heer and Rhanja whose love throughout their lives did not fulfill but their deaths made their love immortal.

Assignment: Paper- E-C-202. Indian Writing in English. Post Independence

Topic: “The Shadow Lines “ as a Memory Novel

Student’s name: Payal G Patel

Roll no- 18

M.A.Sem – II

Batch- 2010-‘11

Submitted to – Mr. Devarshi Mehta.

Department of English.

Bhavnagar University

Bhavnagar.

“The Shadow Lines” as a Memory Novel.

                     Before the discussion of “The Shadow Lines” as a memory novel, lets have a glance at Amitav Ghosh's works. He has written many novels as well as non-fiction. He has written the novels like,

(1) The Circle of Reason (1986)

(2) The Shadow Lines (1988)

(3) The Calcutta Chromosome (1996)

(4) The Glass Palace (2000)

(5) The Hungry Tide (2004)

His works like,

(6) Sea of Poppies (2008)

(7) River of Smoke (2011)

Also have been well-renowned by many critics and readers.

 His Contribution to Indian Writing in English (IWE) :

                                            Amitav Ghosh has added a feather of his works on the cap of Indian literature. He has written for many publications also including ‘The Hindu’, ‘the New Yorker’ and ‘Granta’ and taught in the universities in India. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government for his distinguished contribution to literature. For “The Shadow  Lines” he won the Sahitya Akademy Award and also many other prizes for other works. This is how Ghosh has contributed his greatest aspect of life, his writings.

The Shadow Lines by Ghosh portraits a picture of symbolism and space. The concept of distance and time are very symbolically portrayed that physical borders divide countries while imagery borders divide human beings.

The very title of this novel seems to be a philosophical one which suggests the borders of countries as well as borders of human mind that human mind is also divided into parts like conscious, unconscious and subconscious. In a way it suggests not only human body or shape but also inner struggle to choose between light and darkness. Ghosh through shadow lines seems to suggest that we view or judge ourselves but it is not always the view for us by others, and until we get deeper understanding of ourselves; we remain in the shadow lines of our enlightenment.

The word shadow, itself symbolizes the mixing of both light and darkness. So, by using this word what Ghosh wants to say is the shadow we see is not always the same reflection of that shadow; after all it is the shadow of our own body but not our inner psyche or mind.

In the history of literature also shadow is perhaps the archetype of secrets. This word suggests something hidden part, the same is presented in the novel that in the memory of the narrator which is hidden part in the narrator’s mind; he narrates the story from his own perspective.

The novel is based on the narrator who was English educated but Indian born person. The narrator shares his own views of foreign countries. Though narrator is English educated, his values, ethics and culture is more Indian than American, suggests that crossing the borders and migrates from any country does not mean that one has crossed culture as well as ethics of his country. The narrative technique of this novel is different because the story of this novel contains layers and each layer is the part of private and public events but the significance of these layers is they all are united as a one.

This novel tells the story of the generation of the narrator’s family which is spared Dhaka, Calcutta and London. The narrator has covered fact and fiction that he has described two or three riots with historical background and some incidents are described through imagination or through his way of perspective.

“The Shadow Lines” as a memory novel

The Shadow Lines is basically a memory novel that covers past and present, childhood and adulthood, India and Bangladesh as well as Britain, Hindu and Muslim. It contains social and political aspects. Memory is an integral part of our psychological process. Auden has said,

“All our intuition mocked

The formal logic of the clock.”

That means reality clock does not restrict your biological clock. It is a scientific clock. Here, in the novel, there are many narrators like Grandmother, May Price and the main narrator who narrates the story with reality and imagination. According to Oxford English Dictionary realism is defined as “clock resemblance to what is real:’’ fidelity of representation, the rendering of precise details of the real thing or scene. This seems to suggest that realism is a representation of someone’s reality which may not get someone others reality. Amitav Ghosh   in his book “The Shadow Lines” presents both reality and imagination.

For example, by placing the text in a real historical time that is post Colonial India with the reference to several historical circumstances like the partition and riots which were really happened and these situations involve the characters around them in the novel. Thus, with these facts the fictional characters are portrayed. He also uses dates as a mean to create a timeline history of the characters to match it with the actual history or historical timeline. For example, the story is also placed in a very real culture, London and Bangladesh with the reference to real places in these cities like Gole Park, Dhakuria Overbridge and Gariahat Road in Calcutta. (pg-8,9) and Lymington road in West Hampsted also adds to the reality effect.

We also may see the concept of borders in the conversations between the characters like Grandmother says to narrator’s Grand father about crossing the borders like,

“Once you start moving you never stop. That’s what I told my sons when they took the trains. I said I don’t believe in this India-Shindia. It’s all very well, you’re going away now, but suppose when you get there they decide to draw an other line somewhere! What will you do then! Where will you move to! No one will ever have you anywhere. As for me, I was born here, and I’ll die here.” (216)

From, this, we may have a question that Do borders exist? And perhaps the answer we may get borders do not exist as far as the geographical area is concerned. Even for some people philosophical borders do not exist, for example Tridib’s (narrator’s uncle), and May’s love has its own reality; it crosses all boundaries and shadow-lines. The narrator’s borders of mind also do not exist because he discusses about the childhood and adulthood and here, we find the mixture of both in his story. Tridib has rightly said,

“We could not see without inventing

What we saw, so at least we could try to do it properly.” (37)

What Tridib here, wants to suggest is we se the things which we have invented but what about those things which are under the darkness. We also see some aspect through imagination also which are not really in existence. Through the characters of Tridib and May the narrator’s perception is perhaps of cosmopolitanism.

“The whole world is a man’s birthplace.”

This quote by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius shows us the basic idea of cosmopolitanism. If we discuss this term deeply, we would find the true sense of the narrator. This term, cosmopolitanism is the theory that a person belongs to no country or nationality but to the humanity, and the world as a whole. For example, when the narrator’s cousin Ila discusses, for the first time, of Nick Price, the child of their age in English family, the narrator wishes to be like him. He also admits “After that day Nick Price...became a spectral presence beside me in my looking glass...always bigger and better, and in some ways more desirable.” (49). It suggests that when Ila describe s Nick, the narrator sees Nick as his mirror image. Here, also we do not find any type of border neither philosophical nor geographical.

The novel is simply the recollection of memory. Here, the faculty of imagination plays a very crucial role because generally we that fact can not exist without fiction. What is the core issue of this novel is the National identity and the events, incidents are the shadow- lines. We better quote here Shelley, as he says,

“We look before and after,

and pine for what is not

our sweetest songs,

with pain are fraught.”

                          [Ode to Skylark]

This novel is about “seeing” and “not seeing”. This also involves the stream of consciousness. The boy narrates everything out of his memory. When we remember the things we are reinterpreted, and whenever we try to interpret any part of our memorial event we have or there may be some different points of view. So, it is all about the way of perceptions.

Another thing should be noted down is its structure. As our memory part is not in a coherent manner, similarly the structure of the novel reflects the thought process of the narrator which also is not systematic. Thus, the sequence of the novel reflects the thought process. Here, the narrator tries to picture the exact process of his memory perception. Memory and imagination work together. They not only co-exist but also work together.

We also may have a question like, is memory imaginative? And the answer is related with the experiences and incidents of one’s memory. For example when we imagine the things, we recall experiences, events, incidents through our memory which already exist. Imagination fabricates our memory means we make up facts that are not true interpret of memory. We do not know the exact location but still we imagine the things. Memory is divided into certain categories like consciousness and unconsciousness. When we have not enough control over consciousness we go to unconscious parts and which touch to the surface of the conscious part. In this novel most of the events are imaginative except two or three riots as earlier it has been discussed. Memory is collective consciousness and archetype as well.  For example to make this novel universally acceptable he uses archetypes. We find shadow lines existing in existing theory. So, what is conveyed here is categorization is purposeless process because borders do not exist.

One should not avoid the different technique of Amitav ghosh. It is the systematic study of Narratology. The narrative technique relives the way of narrator’s perception of the things here. The role of memory is important because nations, religions, wars, violence, partition etc divide people but memory does not divide. Imagination creates a world that cannot be divided. The shadow lines between people and between countries have merged and become one. Borders did not exist in the countries ever but in our mind.

The division of the novel into two parts- “Going  Away “ and “ coming Home” – is itself a conscious attempt of the novelist to break down some of the time-  tested notions of experiences. For example the Grandmother of the narrator was born and brought up in Dhaka and now living in Calcutta, recalls her childhood days and mentions to her son that in those days before partition there were no borders,

“I could come to Dhaka whenever I wanted.”(152)

All that time the narrator experience his views over coming and going.

“ Tha’mma, Tha’mma! I cried. How could you have ‘come’ home to Dhaka? You don’t know the difference between coming and going!”(152)

There are two possible interpretations like one is the process of coming and going and another thing is the nation without boundaries. Throughout the novel what is more important is the clock whether it is biological clock or reality clock. As earlier the idea has been derived, the reality clock has been restricting your biology clock.    

              

Conclusion:

                      This novel is open-ended, so reader may give any of the interpretations.  One of them is, Amitav Ghosh seems to suggest the borders in the minds of human beings and humanity.