English Literature And Theory This blog contains the explanation of various critical theories that provide a new insight to view literature and interpretation of various literary texts.

Paper is written by famous Singaporean woman Catherin Lim. Catherine explores the greed towards easy money making and how it leads city people to the tragic result.

Tay Soon and Yee Lian are main characters of the story. They belong to middle class family and they have strong ambition to buy a well managed building with all perfection. They dreamt of beautiful house having marble floors, oval shaped sitting rooms and fantastic swimming pool. They both share their plan to all the family members including Yee Yeng, Yee Lian's sister but mother of Tay Soon didn't pay any attention or concern to them. She was engaged in her traditional profession, i.e, vegetable business. She was completely contained and happy. She also suggested them not to keep such dream but for Tay Soon. it was not only dream. He thought it could be fulfilled if he handled the money appropriately because he had saved 40,000 in bank.

In that period, Tay was attracted to share market because share price was rising. So, he invested his 30,000 at risk in share market. Fortunately, he was able to make $100,000 within short period of time. At that time, he proudly told his mother that he was able to buy 50 houses like mother's. He further was excited towards the share and invested more money. But unfortunately, the value of share began to fall rapidly. There was no any device to control the declining. He invested all amount of money. Few remaining money was also invested in last attempt but it was also in despair. His hope of building modern house was broken into pieces. He himself broke physically. He left eating and started beating his wife and children. His condition was worse and worse and he was admitted in hospital. At last, it was mother who ordered a beautiful paper house somewhere in the market to satisfy his son. At last, Tay Soon was dead and paper house was put on his dead body and they both were burnt together and turned into ashes.

This story is giving satire on the ambition of young generation in Singapore who are crazy for material gratification. The structure of story is divided into three parts - opening, climax, and anti-climax. In opening, we can see Tay Soon and his strong aspiration to have modern house. In the climax, we can observe his excessive greed towards money hoarding. The anti-climax is a total ruin of Tay Soon due to the greed for paper in this story. "Paper" stands for many things such as plain paper, money, etc. The growth of the value of paper means their success in matter. In this story, "Paper" denotes bank, cash, share, certificate, prosperity, game, etc. And on the other hand, it also indicates Tay Soon's ambition, effort, sleeplessness, broken and deserted. And lastly "Paper" also stands for material success and failure both. "Generation Gap" between young and old is also shown in the story. The feeling of Tay Soon is taken lightly by his mother and feeling of mother is taken lightly by son.

"An Episode of War" is a story written by Stephen Crane, an American writer. In this story, he presents a very inhuman picture of war in the battle field or in the barracks or at the hospital. Here we find the scene of seriously wounded soldier who makes tremendous effort to live a normal life.

Theme of the text:

The writer wants to convey that war doesn't do good to anyone; it is always inhuman and destructive in nature; it is everywhere in the world.

Summary

The Lieutenant is the main character of the story but his name is not mentioned. Once, he was distributing the coffee powder in the barracks. Corporals and other representatives of each squad (groups) were in queue. The Lieutenant was very busy in his duty. Suddenly, he cried out because he was shot. The other soldiers also cried out after seeing the blood in Lieutenant's sleeves. He fell dangerously on the ground and straightens his body. He looked towards the forest and found puffs of smoke appeared after the fire. The Lieutenant tried to continue his work but he failed because his wounded hand did not support him. At the same time, a sergeant appeared forward and kept the sword in his scabbard. Then, the Lieutenant left the place holding his right wrist and set out for the hospital.

While passing through the line of battle, he could see many new things. He was always there but did not know some people. He noticed a general in black horse come to the field as soon as he reached there., a bodyguard appeared and saluted him. The guard also handed him a piece of paper which indicated a historical painting. Everything around the officer was in motion. He heard the thud of hoofs and the cries of some soldiers. The Lieutenant looked at the troops until they disappeared. The battle was continued. The scene was tragic and devastating. He saw the smoke rolling upward and some people moved to different place. Some soldiers followed the Lieutenant and showed him the way to hospital.

The Lieutenant saw another scene at the road side. A brigade was making coffee for the passers by He also halted different staffs for some time and noticed that several officers came to the brigade and asked about the unknown thing or tricks but he resumed his journey to hospital. After sometime he reached he hospital compound and saw the low tents in the hospital. Two ambulances were covered with deep mud and a crowd of bandaged men were moving around. Others were sitting under trees caring about their wounds. Even at the hospital, he heard continuous cries in wailing.

At the hospital a surgeon greeted him with a friendly smile. Later on his face turned serious after seeing the wound in the Lieutenant's hand. He examined the wound with hatred and brought the Lieutenant to the operation theatre. At this point, the Lieutenant was very much worried about his arm, He doubted that it might be cut off. His doubt came true. Thus, his hand was amputated His family cried after seeing this tragic scene. And the Lieutenant felt ashamed and said that the hand was not as important as anything else - that is duty towards the nation; name and fame in the world.

The poem, "When Icicles Hang by the Wall " is taken from Shakespeare's play "Love's Labour Lost". It is a song to criticize the winter season but poem doesn't present the direct and strong criticism. Poet is able to manage modest criticism to select the objective words. In the poem, the poet very cleverly to shows his dislikeness towards winter season.

According to the poem, when winter comes it brings several influences, the walls are covered with ice, everything including human's life get influenced by the cold and due to extreme cold, each phenomena come to freeze. To prevent excessive cold, Dick blows his nail and Tom Carries fire logs into the house. Milk freezes as soon as it is poured into the pail. The blood of living creatures comes to freeze. The snow has covered the way and made it muddy. The staring owl sings at night while Joan is keeling kitchen pots. Priests is unable to deliver his preaching due to his old age and coldness. Birds sit for brooding into their nests to skip away from the cold and due to heavy cold Marian's nose becomes red and raw. These all are the symptoms of winter season mentioned in the poem that shows the arrival of winter season. All people used to sit around the fire-place and the sounds of the roasted crabs could be heard. They ate and drank to prevent the coldness of winter season. Through all these images, we can notice winter is not pleasant in England.

The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece is an extract from "From The Golden Bough(1890)" written by Sir James Frazer(!884-1941). Below is a thorough summary of the text.

Custom of sacrificing scapegoat seem to be originated as precaution of possible calamity, crisis and danger but the scapegoat was likely to come from the poorer class. Modes of sacrificing scapegoat differs from culture to culture. But the underline objective/purpose of sacrificing in every culture is same i.e purification of sin. Other objectives of scapegoating were to prevent calamity, disasters, starvation, suffering, tragedy and so on.

It was believed that scapegoating helped regain the fertility of the soil and vegetation(crops) yielded as expected by husbandsmen. Similarly practitioners of scapegoating believed that their offering of scapegoat would herald (to bring something surprisingly) good fortunes and happiness. Besides, tradition of human scapegoating was widely practiced in different parts of ancient Greece with an aim of averting evil spirit and malignant force. Though rational behind offspring scapegoat cannot be justified, it is deeply rooted in various cultures as an essential part of culture.

Sir Frazer concludes that through scapegoating, it practised with specific mission, ultimately it is nothing but search of power or search of support of super power. He also concludes that tradition of scapegoating shows that there is abundant use of power. It is the fact that the one who is made a scapegoat come from socially outcast group or from powerful class of people. At the same time it is noticeable that powerful ones offered powerless as scapegoat with an expectation of having good fortune and success.

In the harbour people are busy playing, drinking and selling fruits, etc. A death ship sailed to that place. The boatman anchored that ship with a rope. There was a corpse covered with the colorful silk cloth. No one was interested in that dead body. The boatman showed a great two-storied house on the left of the sea and they took the corpse to the door of that house. A small boy opened the door and they all entered. The door was shut. Flock of doves was delighted to fly around the house as if their food was inside. A woman on the boat gave some grains and the doves ate happily.

A gentleman came to the harbour and looked around gloomily. He knocked at the door. The boys opened the door and they welcomed him warmly. The boatman came there and led him to the first floor. The bearers were setting the candles on the head of the dead body. They lighted the candles but it did not give more light. The corpse looked like a hunter. The gentleman went near the corpse and put his hand on his forehead. he knelt down and started praying. All the bearers were sent out. The dead body opened the eyes suddenly and asked him who he was. The gentleman said that he was Burgomaster of Riva. The dead body said that he was hunter Gracchus. He had fallen down in the Black Forest of Germany long ago when he was hunting there. He had been dead since then. The ship missed the way and they were there. He struggled to climb the steps up to go to the heaven but all in vain. When he reached the door of the other world, he was awakened by the light and found himself on the boat. The wife of the boatman offered him the same wine. He stayed there on the wooden bed covered with a dirty shroud. His beard and hair were tied together. He heard the water hitting his ship.

The terrible fete came after his death. he was brought to a wrong place. He had performed his duty of hunter responsively before his death. It was not a fault, not a sin. No one helped him. The thought of helping him became a kind of illness that had to be cured by taking to bed. Therefore he did not ask for help in the end. Burgomaster asked him how he would stay with them in Riva. He answered that he knew nothing. The ship had last rudder and it was driven by the wind that blew in the undermost region of death.

There was no patient to doctor except Olson, who had asked him to visit his sick daughter to treat her. When he reached the patient's house, the sick child's mother welcomed him to the kitchen where the sick child was on the lap of her father. The father tried to get up to greet the doctor, who let him sit down comfortably. The doctor took of his overcoat and looked around. The parents looked at him distrustfully.

The sick child looked at the doctor with her eyes wide open to show her protest but did not move at all. She was an attractive and strong child. Now she was breathing rapidly. The doctor knew that she had high fever for three days. There were many sick persons around. The doctor asked if she had a sore throat. The parents replied together that she had not. There were many students suffering from diphtheria in her school. He called her to open her mouth to inspect her but she did not obey him. The mother assured that he would not hurt her. The doctor however, did not like the mother's expression. The sick child nearly clawed the doctor's eyes. His glasses dropped to the kitchen floor, Mathilda's parents were ashamed. They spoke the words of apology. The mother shook the sick child by her arm. The doctor now broke in. He said that he was to examine her throat anyway. Therefore, either the child had to open her mouth or he would have to open it for her.

She did not move at all. She began to breathe faster. Then the fight began. The doctor said that if the parents took the responsibility, he would not examine her throat. The father then tried his best to open her mouth but could not do it. The doctor told her to put her in his lap and hold her wrists. Then the child began to scream. She said that they were killing her. The doctor grasped the child's head with his left hand and pressed the instrument between her teeth. He tried his best to examine the throat but he could not. The child broke his instrument instead. The doctor then asked for some kind of spoon to open her mouth, which was already bleeding. Her tongue was cut so she shrieked hysterically. The doctor was also furious. He could have torn the child apart. but he had social duty to perform. He had to protect that child. Therefore, he finally used his force to examine the throat. He discovered that she had a sore throat for three days and struggling hard to keep her secret. Now she was truly furious and began to attack. She had only been defensive before. She tried to get off her father's lap and fly at the doctor while her eyes were full of tears of defeat.

To Bobolink , for Her Spirit presents the real picture of the deeds and dedication of the autograph seekers in American city, New York. In America and abroad also young people especially the fan of movie stars have set a tradition. They spend a lot of time waiting for their favourite movie stars outside the club, restaurant or pub house etc. They gather at the clubs and discuss about the individuals life and career of the movie stars. This play focuses on how some young people spend their time waiting on the movie stars. How do they undergo the extreme hardship watching and waiting at entrances of clubs and restaurants.

The play is about the group of old and young admirer of film stars. Bobolink and Nellie are experienced and senior autograph collectors. Other two boys Renaldo and Frits, and a pairs of girls Gretchen and Annemarie are quite young and inexperienced. They are waiting for Perry Como outside the gate of 21 clubs. The play presents their futile attempt of autograph hunters.

Bobolink and Nellie have collected a good deal of autographs while others are just learning the art. Young group cannot distinguish the film stars from common people and just go asking for their autograph. They have classified the autograph seekers into two categories, stuck up and not stuck up. They have the opinion that the great actors and actresses like Lana Turner, Tyrone Power etc. etc. are not stuck up. Renaldo and Frits approached two couples suspecting them to be the same movie stars but Bobolink and Nellie maintained their dignity. Bobolink declared that she had no time to waste for anybody who might be famous in future. Till the end of the play they are waiting for their celebrity.

Appropriate references to people and places in the dialogue and stage directions serve to create the atmosphere of glamour which fascinates the young people. In spite of the domination of the senior, the junior's hope and enthusiasms are irrepressible. They remind us that we should have devotion and belief in our work. Every person in every society has the object of admiration. An athelete, a guru, a leader, etc may provoke our intense admiration. Identifying ourselves with him enables us to fulfill our wish through a kind of day dream. The only difference is that some people are able to give due importance to our responsibilities despite such vain dreams.