Summary of D.H. Lawrence's "Why the Novel Matters"

 

D.H. Lawrence is a famous novelist, poet and an essayist.  He introduced modernism in English literature.  His novels, though created much vibration then, are current in their thoughts and manners.  Why the Novel Matters is a critical essay, wherein Lawrence tries to establish the superiority of novel and the novelist over other professions. 

To prove his point D.H. Lawrence talks about life and the way we understand human beings.  He introduces a term called man alive for everyone of us being busy and alive.  He calls the fingers that are busy writing as man alive.  The fingers are equally man alive as our brain.  Fingers and brain are equal and there is no superiority between them.  Things that are not alive are considered as dead. 

According to Lawrence, a novelist is better than a parson, the philosopher or the scientist.  The parson speaks about souls in heaven and the afterlife. But for the novelist heaven is in his palms and at the tip of his nose.  The novelist is not concerned about life after death. He is wholly concerned about life at present and with the man alive.  For philosophers nothing but thoughts is important. These thoughts Lawrence says are nothing but ‘tremulations on the ether’. They are not alive. They are like radio news and messages.

According to Lawrence nothing is more important than life. Living things are more valuable than dead objects. A living dog is better than a dead lion but a living lion is better than a living dog. Lawrence says that scientists and philosophers find it difficult to accept the value of the living.

For the scientist a living man is of no use.  For a scientist a man is a heart, a liver, a kidney, a gland or a tissue. But for the novelist the only thing that matters is a whole living man. Lawrence refuses to believe that he is a body or a soul or a brain or a nervous system. He considers himself to be a complete whole made up of all these parts, a whole that is greater and more significant than the individual parts. And for this reason he is a novelist and he considers himself superior to the saint, the scientist or the philosopher.   

Lawrence calls the novel a book of life.  The novel has the capacity to influence a man more effectively than any other book.  The ideals of Plato and the Ten Commandments affect only a part of a man alive. But a novel is capable of shaking the whole of a man alive. This is because a novel deals in nothing else but man alive. In this regard Lawrence calls the Bible a ‘great confused novel’.  For Lawrence, the Bible, Homer and Shakespeare are all great novels because they communicate to the reader. Their wholeness affects the whole of man alive. They do not stimulate growth in a particular direction but shake the whole man alive into new life.

According to Lawrence the strength and appeal of a novel lies in the dynamic nature of its characters which reflects the importance of constant change in the life of a man alive. Nothing is constant and there are no absolutes. There is only a constant flow and change.  A man today is different from what he was yesterday and tomorrow he will be different from what he is today. A man loves a woman because of the constant change in her. It is the change that startles and keeps a man and woman in love with each other. Loving an unchanging person is like loving an inanimate object like a pepper pot.

Lawrence says that one can learn about the importance of change from a novel. In a novel the characters do nothing but live. But if they begin to act according to a fixed pattern – always remaining good or bad – the novel loses its life force. Similarly a man in his life must live and not try to follow a pattern or else he becomes a dead man in life. 

Finally Lawrence says that a novel helps a man to see when a man is alive and when he is dead in life. The novel helps to develop an instinct for life. This is because the novel does not advocate a right path or a wrong path. The concept of right and wrong vary according to circumstances.  The end result of the novel is the whole man alive.  Thus Lawrence asserts that the novel is a book that can touch the life of a whole man alive and that is why the novel matters. 

 

 

 

Summary of A.K. Ramanujam's "A River"

  

Introduction

A.K. Ramanujam was born in Karnataka and brought up in Madras.  He is considered as one of the major modern poets of Indian poetry in English.  He has published many poems.  In almost all his poems he uses images of traditional India and places them in the modern context.  A River is one of A.K. Ramanujam’s finest poems.  It is about river Vaigai, which flows through Madurai.  Through this poem the poet talks about the old and modern Tamil poets, who have not given importance to human sufferings and emotions.

 

River during Summer Season

He begins the poem by introducing river Vaigai, which runs through Madurai, a city of temples and poets.  During summer, the river gets dry and trickles in the sand.  When all the water vanishes, the river poses straws and women’s hair clogging in the iron bars under the bridges.  The bridges are also worn out and needs mending. The river has only sand, which is like bare ribs.  There are a few wet stones, which are like sleepy crocodiles.  Apart from the stones one could see buffaloes resting in the sun.

 

Old Poets’ Observations

Ramanujam talks about the old poets, who had been in Madurai during rainy season.  They had seen river Vaigai flooded with water.  They praise the flooded water.  Their praise is all about the way the river raises by inches and how it covers the steps in the bathing place.  The poets also give a live relay, as the common people do, on how it carried away three village houses, a couple of cows named Gopi and Brinda and a pregnant woman.

 

New Poets’ Observations

            The new poets are also like the old poets.  They quote the old poets with minor changes to achieve sensation.  They say how the water level raises in the river and how it carries away a village house, a couple of cows named Gopi and Brinda and a pregnant woman probably carrying identical twins within her. 

 

A.K. Ramanujam’s Satire

            Through this poem A.K. Ramanujam satirizes on how the olden day poets and modern day poets does not view the human pain when the river dries or when the river carries their properties and people.  He comes down heavily upon the poets who are more like normal human beings and forsake to represent human emotions and troubles, which is a duty of a poet.  The poet subtly affirms the work of a poet and at the same time highlights the wrong done by the old and modern poets.

 

Summary of Bacon’s “Of Friendship”

 

Introduction

Bacon is considered as the father of English prose.  He has written many prose pieces on various topics.  His language is to the point and short.  He uses powerful words.  In almost all his prose pieces, he tries to prove himself as an educated scholar.  He quotes Latin and Greek works and myth casually to prove his knowledge.  The prose “Of Friendship” shares Bacon’s ideas and views about friendship.

 

Lonely People

Bacon begins the essay by quoting Aristotle, who once said that people who are alone are either god or a beast.  He calls a lone human to be a beast because when we are alone we would hate society and behave like animals.  Bacon does not accept a lonely man to be godly because they cheat people in the name of higher conversation.  Bacon claims that people who are in crowd also would feel alone and look at others as pictures and mere sounds.  This is true for people living in big cities.  When a city is big, solitude is also big.

 

Principle Fruit of Friendship

The major advantage of friendship is that it makes us to share our heart in an open way.  It is a medicine that cures our hear.  We share our griefs, joys, hopes, suspicions and counsels with a true friend.

 

Friendship in the Past

In the past, kings would spend money over people and make them friends.  They raise their servants and ordinary people s their friends.  According to Bacon, such friendship should not be maintained.  He gives the example of Sylla and Pompey, Ceaser and Brutus, Augustus and Agrippa, Septimius Severus and Plautianus etc. All these men tasted a bitter fruit of friendship. 

 

First Fruit of Friendship

Friendship increases joy.  It reduces the intensity of sorrow.  If a man shares his happiness with a friend he feels more happy.  If he shares his sorrow, he feels lighthearted.

 

Second Fruit of Friendship

The second fruit of friendship is about understanding.  Friendship brings light when we are darkness or in confusion.  A friend is therefore a counselor.  He helps us to come out of our confusion.  It is better to share our problem with our friend than to meditate for a whole day.  If we are in a trouble we should think critically and friends would help us with our thought.  Friendship will help us and guide us.

 

The Final Fruit of Friendship

            The last fruit of friendship is the multi-purpose of friendship.  Friends are helpful to us in many ways.  For example when a friend dies at an early age, it is our duty to continue the noble works of our friend in his remembrance.  If we cannot talk something openly with our close relations, a friend can do that for us.  A friend is far better than any relation is.

 

Conclusion

Bacon concludes the essay by comparing life with a stage.  A stage needs many actors and a person cannot perform on his own.  If a man does not have friends it is better he exit from the stage.

Summary of Abraham Lincoln's " A Letter From Abraham Lincoln to His Son’s Teacher"

Introduction

Abraham Lincoln was the President of America.  His father was a hard working cobbler.  Lincoln worked harder than his father and he became the President.  After becoming the President, he fought for the equality of people and brought peace between the black and the white people.  “A Letter From Abraham Lincoln to His Son’s Teacher” is a letter written by Lincoln to his son’s teacher.  This letter shows Lincoln’s vision and his idea about real education.

Theme of Abraham Lincoln’s Letter

Abraham Lincoln’s son joins school for the first time.  Lincoln writes a letter to his teacher explaining what education is and his vision for the younger generation.  In his letter, Lincoln wants the teacher to teach his son not only subjects and books but to teach life.  He wants the teacher to teach him gently.  His son should learn that 10 cents earned is valuable than a dollar found.  It is good to fail than to cheat.  His son must not envy others.  He should learn to be glorious in failure and sad in success.

Teaching Faith, Love and Courage

            Lincoln says that to live life we need faith, love and courage.  He does not want his son to learn just from books but to go out and learn from nature.  His son should know that every scoundrel has a hero, for an enemy there is a friend and for every bad politician there is a leader.  His son must be courageous to be impatient and patient to be brave.  He must have faith in himself, so that he will have faith in mankind.

Idea of Listening

            Lincoln wants his son to listen to all people.  He should not believe in whatever he hears.  His son should filter what he hears and take only good things.  He must be unique.  He must believe himself and not follow the crowd.  He must be confident with his talents and brains.

 

Conclusion

            Through this letter Lincoln not only orders the teacher but teaches life to all of us.  Though this letter was written long back, it still holds truth and is applicable even today.

Summary of George Bernard Shaw's " Spoken English and Broken English"

Introduction

George Bernard Shaw is a famous English dramatist.  He has written many plays.  Most of his plays are called problem plays or social dramas because they deal with social issues.  Shaw tries to give solutions to social problems.  “Spoken English and Broken English” is a speech given by Shaw at BBC.  This talk is about spoken English.  Shaw tries to define and simplify what spoken English is.

 

Shaw’s Views on the BBC Committee

Shaw opens his speech by saying that the target audiences of his speech are foreigners who want to speak English and the native people, who want to speak perfect English.  Shaw says that there is no such thing called as correct English.  No two British persons speak the same way.  Shaw is included in the BBC to show the correct pronunciation of words.  His chairman is a Poet Laureate.  One of the members is an actor, who delivers dialogue in a fine way.  Shaw is selected because he is a playwright and a good speaker.  Shaw says that the committee members differ with themselves in pronouncing words like ‘yes’ and ‘no’.  Shaw himself is from Ireland and other members are from different countries.

 

Spoken English – Broken English

Shaw says that there is a variety of English.  People speak different English in public and different English at home.  In his home, Shaw’s wife would say that he always mumbles.  Shaw asks the listeners to eavesdrop on a couple through a keyhole on how they speak.  After some time we should knock on the door and enter the room and we would see that their language is entirely different.

 

Shaw’s Warning to Foreigners

If a foreigner visits England and he speaks good English, he would not be understood by the native speakers.  His English will have a different accent.  Even when he speaks correct English the native speaker will think him to be a beggar or a trickster.  Shaw advises a foreigner to speak in broken English because he will find many people to help him.  Shaw also warns people not to speak correct English because it would affect the sentiments of the native people.

 

Conclusion

Through this speech, Shaw simplifies English speech.  He proves that there is no correct English but only acceptable English.