A Tea Party - Ruth Prawar Jhabvala Summary

Introduction

Ruth Prawar Jhabvala was born on Germany.  She has written many novels and short stories.  A Tea Party is about Prem, a college lecturer, who goes to a tea party with his wife.

Indu’s Dressing

Prem works as a lecturer in Khanna Private College.  Mr. and Mrs. Khanna invites all the teachers for a tea party.  Prem asks his wife Indu to come along with him.  Indu takes more time in dressing.  She wears her best saree.  She wears more jewels.  She looks different from her normal look.  Prem looks at her with surprise.

Prem’s Instruction

They both go out of the house.  They talk less while walking.  Indu asks Prem about the way she should behave in the party.  Prem asks her to talk with people in a decent way.  This is new for Indu.  Indu is uneducated. 

Dishes at the Tea Party

Mr. and Mrs. Khanna receive them happily.  They both enter and take their seat.  Varieties of dishes are served in the party.  The women pass the dishes to men.  The men ask them take it.  All women start eating.  Indu likes the sweets very much.  She eats the dish and forgets about others around her.

Prem’s Embarrassment

            Mr. Chadda is also a lecturer in the college.  He stands up and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Khanna for the party.  He says that such parties would help them build a good relationship.  Everyone agrees with him.  During his talk, Prem sees Indu eating lots.  This embarrasses Prem.  Indu does not care for him and she eats a lot.  He feels bad about her behaviour.

Conclusion

            By the end of Chadda’s speech, everyone starts moving home.  Prem feels sad that he did not speak.  He  does not wish to scold Indu for her behaviour.

A Talk on Advertising - Herman Wouk Summary

 

Introduction

Herman Wouk in his essay A Talk on Advertising talks about the negative features of advertising.  He considers advertising job as cheating people and earning more money.

Marquis’ Invitation

The author goes to Marquis’ office on his invitation.  In his office, Herman Wouk finds different things used by an advertiser.  The office was filled with many pictures, captions, models, etc.  The author takes this invitation as a chance to assault advertisement.

The Evil of advertisement

Herman Wouk opens the essay by asking many questions about the basic needs of human beings.  He asks why people eat.  He answers that people eat because they feel hungry.  They pay money and get their food.  The shopkeeper gets money and serves food.  But people today are not satisfied with ordinary food.  They drink wine, smoke, and eat unhealthy food.  The author blames advertisement for making people to eat all these.

Abuse of Language and Arts

Herman then talks on how advertisers abuse language.  He takes a product named “Aurora Dawn”.  The word aurora mean early morning.  The word dawn mean early morning.  Herman scolds the advertisers for unnecessarily repeating the words with same meaning.  Herman then takes a shampoo named “double-bubble”.  Shakespeare first used the word double-bubble.  The advertisers abuses Shakespeare by using his words for a cheap product like a shampoo.

Abuse of nature

The author then talks about the real-estate businessmen who consider the lands to be their own and not as god given.  They daringly use the caption “come buy” for the lands given by god.

Dismal Pilgrimage

He then talks about a serious problem.  He calls the youths going towards cities with the aim of joining advertisement field as dismal pilgrimage.  He says that not all the youths become a success and many lose their lives.

Conclusion

The author concludes he essay by apologizing for assaulting advertising.  He also wishes that at least two persons would leave the advertisement job on reading his essay.