Wednesday, June 29, 2011

John Donne (1572- 1631) a metaphysical lyrical poet

John Donne (1572 1631) was a metaphysical lyrical poet famous for his use of the metaphysical conceit: a strange and interesting comparison between two subjects when they, in fact, have very little in common at all. These comparisons are so outrageous that in doing so, Donne's poetry could almost be considered metaphysical humor.' A classic example of Donne's work, "The Flea" (1633), shares much of the style and banter of "Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star". In "The Flea", Donne attempts to persuade a woman to make love with him by describing a bedbug that had bitten them both, and then comparing that insect to a wedding bed. In Donne's argument, because their blood was consequently mingling within the insect, was that they were already unified in a symbolic sanguine marriage, and so the physical act of love between them now would be of little consequence to the woman's principles. This same sense of humor, the one that made John Donne such a historical poet, is what a reader would find in Donne's "Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star."

D.N. Aloysius

John Donne-Biography

The son of a prosperous ironmonger of Welsh, John Donne was born in London, England in 1572, and was raised a Londoner and a Roman Catholic. His mother, Elizabeth, a great niece of Sir Thomas More came from a cultured, devout family: her father, John Heywood, wrote interludes (short plays that are put on during breaks in other entertainment); and her son Henry, John's brother, died in 1593 of a fever caught in Newgate Prison, where he was imprisoned for sheltering a Roman Catholic priest. Donne's father died when John was four, and his mother married a well-known physician. Donne was educated at home by Roman Catholic tutors until he was twelve years old. John and his brother Henry were then admitted to Oxford University, where he spent approximately three years.
After some years at Oxford (from 1584) and possibly Cambridge, Donne studied law at Lincoln's Inn from 1592 to 1594. It was also in the 1590s that he wrote many of his love poems. He also composed poetic letters, funeral songs, and witty remarks, which were published after his death as Songs and Sonnets.
He was dismissed from his post and temporarily imprisoned, and for about a decade he and his growing family were largely dependent on relatives and patrons.
Donne continued to write worldly poems and, about 1609 or 1610, he produced a powerful series of "Holy Sonnets," in which he reflected on sickness, death, sin, and the love of God.. He briefly served as a Member of Parliament in 1601 and again in 1614.
In 1615 Donne was ordained. A serious illness in 1623 inspired his Devotions, which are moving meditations on sickness, death, and salvation.
In 1631, Donne left his sickbed to preach his last and most famous sermon, "Death's Duel." On March 31, 1631, he died.
Donne's was a complex personality, an unusual blend of passion, zeal, and brilliance; God and women were his favorite themes, but his subject otherwise ranged over the pagan (people who do not worship the Christian God) and the religious, the familiar and the unclear, the sarcastic and the sincere, the wittily bright and the religiously wise.

Sources:www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/Donne-John.htm-23.06.2011

D.N. Aloysius

Go and catch a falling star...

John Donne’s “Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star” (1633) is a perfect example of Donne’s earlier playfulness with metaphysical conceits and female sexuality. As a younger poet, before Donne became an Anglican Theological Doctorate famous for his sermons, John Donne was a rather ‘maiden-obsessed’ Jacobean poet with a reputation for sonnets about the women of London. John Donne’s “Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star”, is an example of some of the humorous works Donne would come up with for the drunken jokers of English taverns to recite when out of favor with the ladies.
John Donne (1572 – 1631) was a metaphysical lyrical poet famous for his use of the metaphysical conceit: a strange and interesting comparison between two subjects when they, in fact, have very little in common at all. These comparisons are so outrageous that in doing so, Donne’s poetry could almost be considered metaphysical ‘humor.’ A classic example of Donne’s work, “The Flea” (1633), shares much of the style and banter of “Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star”. In “The Flea”, Donne attempts to persuade a woman to make love with him by describing a bedbug that had bitten them both, and then comparing that insect to a wedding bed. In Donne’s argument, because their blood was consequently mingling within the insect, was that they were already unified in a symbolic sanguine marriage, and so the physical act of love between them now would be of little consequence to the woman’s principles. This same sense of humor, the one that made John Donne such a historical poet, is what a reader would find in Donne’s “Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star.”
SONG: GO, AND CATCH A FALLING STAR
Go, and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me, where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind. -
If thou be'est born to strange sights, 10
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear
No where
Lives a woman true, and fair. -
If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such pilgrimage were sweet. 20
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.
(John Donne, 1633)
John Donne’s “Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star” is a metaphysical conceit of the unnaturally small frequency of fair and virtuous women in the world. Donne uses the fantastic and impossible examples of catching falling stars; pregnancies with mandrake roots; and hearing mermaids singing to describe just how hard it is to find a beautiful woman who will stay true and loyal to her husband. Donne describes in the second and final stanza of “Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star” how if one were to search the world for a thousand days and nights, seeing many strange and wonderful things, they would still not find a single faithful woman. Donne even goes so far as to state in the last stanza that if he were to know where that perfect woman was, even if she was next door, she would already be false with several men before he even managed to walk the few steps to reach her.

Sources:www.bukisa.com/articles/83951_john-donnes-song-go-and-23.06.2011

D.N. Aloysius

Go and catch a falling star By John Donne

In "Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star", John Donne weaves a cynical fairy tale full of impossibilities. He seems to be using an almost mocking tone as he speaks about trying to find a woman that is "true" and "fair", comparing the quest to attempting to explain the mysteries of many mythological creatures or events. The title itself is as example of such a comparison; it would indeed be impossible to "catch a falling star". Donne was a Jacobean poet and preacher who wrote many sonnets, love and religious poems, Latin translations, songs, satires, and sermons. He is known for his stylistic use of metaphors and the metaphysical conceit, which is basically an extended metaphor that combines two unlike ideas into a single idea, using imagery. Though he was highly educated and talented, he lived in poverty for many years, and was often persecuted for his family's Catholic faith. The harsh life that Donne led for many years of his life may have led him to adopt a cynical approach to many things, including finding "the perfect woman", something that leads to cynicism even among people today.
As mentioned, the title of the poem is the first indication of Donne's cynicism. He tells the reader to "go and catch a falling star" in the first line as well, basically waving off their quest for a woman that is true. He compares the two journeys, explaining that the chances of finding such a woman are the same as the chances of catching a falling star; impossible. This is also Donne's first use of the metaphysical conceit, which he continues to use throughout the poem.
The next line tells the reader to "get with child a mandrake root". This is yet another impossible situation for a variety of reasons. Mandrakes are mythical plant-like creatures, with roots that take on the form of a person. When pulled up out of the ground, Mandrakes are said to shriek and scream so powerfully that they can kill people standing around them, and are almost always male. Therefore, it would be impossible to impregnate a Mandrake root. Not only are they a fictitious creature, but they are all male, and would kill anyone who attempted to get close enough to one to impregnate it.
In the third line, Donne asks to be told "where all the past years are". Donne is essentially asking where time goes once it has past, something that is also impossible to know. The reader may struggle upon this question, wondering themselves about the mysteries of time, and whether or not we will ever be able to find the
Sources:www.helium.com/items/1097676-song-go-catch-a-falling-23.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

John Donne

John Donne (1572 1631) was a metaphysical lyrical poet famous for his use of the metaphysical conceit: a strange and interesting comparison between two subjects when they, in fact, have very little in common at all. These comparisons are so outrageous that in doing so, Donne's poetry could almost be considered metaphysical humor.' A classic example of Donne's work, "The Flea" (1633), shares much of the style and banter of "Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star". In "The Flea", Donne attempts to persuade a woman to make love with him by describing a bedbug that had bitten them both, and then comparing that insect to a wedding bed. In Donne's argument, because their blood was consequently mingling within the insect, was that they were already unified in a symbolic sanguine marriage, and so the physical act of love between them now would be of little consequence to the woman's principles. This same sense of humor, the one that made John Donne such a historical poet, is what a reader would find in Donne's "Song: Go, and Catch a Falling Star."

D.N. Aloysius

Hills like white elephants

Hills like white elephants
An American man and "a girl" sit drinking beer in a bar by a train station in northern Spain making self-consciously ironic, brittle small talk. The woman comments that the hills look like white elephants (hence the story's title). Eventually, the two discuss an operation, which the man earnestly reassures her is "awfully simple . . . not really an operation at all . . . all perfectly natural" (726).
The woman is unconvinced, questioning "what will we do afterward," but says she will have the operation because "I don't care about me" (727). A few moments later, however, she avers that they "could" have everything and go anywhere, suddenly as earnest as he had been earlier. When the man agrees that they "can" do these things, however, the woman now says no, they can't, her change in verb tense suggesting that the possible lives they once could have pursued (and produced) are even now, before any firm decision has been spoken, irrevocably out of reach. When the man says that he will go along with whatever she wants, the woman asks him to "please please please please please please please stop talking" or she will scream. The train arrives during this impasse, and once the bags are loaded, the woman, smiling brightly, insists she feels fine.
This story deftly and painfully captures the difficulty of talking about, or rather around, abortion. The fact that neither person specifies what this "operation" is called exemplifies their communication problem, as does the man's odd comments about the procedure "letting the air in," the woman's fumbling with her metaphor, and the tonal shifts in each person's remarks, from sarcastic to earnest to resigned. An effective way to stimulate discussion of this story is to have two readers assume the two voices.
Sources: litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view... - United States-21.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

Hills Like White Elephants

First published in transition in August of 1927, “Hills Like White Elephants” became an important piece in Hemingway's second collection of short stories, Men Without Women. Hemingway wrote the story soon after the publication of his 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, while living in Paris. Men Without Women was well-received, as were Hemingway’s other early works. He was embraced by the expatriate literary community in Paris and received strong reviews on his work in the United States and abroad. Although he continued to write novels and stories throughout his career, the early short stories are often considered to be among his finest works. ‘‘Hills Like White Elephants,’’ a widely-anthologized and much-discussed story, offers a glimpse at the spare prose and understated dialogue that represents Hemingway’s mastery of style.
The story, told nearly in its entirety through dialogue, is a conversation between a young woman and a man waiting for a train in Spain. As they talk, it becomes clear that the young woman is pregnant and that the man wants her to have an abortion. Through their tight, brittle conversation, much is revealed about their personalities. At the same time, much about their relationship remains hidden. At the end of the story it is still unclear as to what decision has or has not been made, or what will happen to these two characters waiting for a train on a platform in Spain.
Hills Like White Elephants Summary
The story opens with the description of distant hills across a river in Spain. An American and his girlfriend sit outside a train station in the heat. No other details about their relationship are provided at the beginning of the story. They decide to order beer, and the woman who works at the bar brings the drinks to their table. The girl remarks that the distant hills look like white elephants, but the man discounts her remark.
The story continues to unfold through dialogue, and it becomes clear that the girl, Jig, does not understand Spanish while the American does. In addition, it begins to become apparent that the two are having some sort of disagreement. The subject of the disagreement, however, is hidden, until the man says, “It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig. . . . It’s not really an operation at all.
Sources:www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides4/Hills.htm-21.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

Hills like white elephants

The story takes place at a train station in the Ebro River valley of Spain. The year is not given, but is almost certainly contemporary to the composition (1920s). This particular day is oppressively hot and dry, and the scenery in the valley is barren and ugly for the most part. The two main characters are a man (referred to only as "the American") and his female companion, whom he calls Jig.
While waiting for the train to Madrid, the American and Jig drink beer and liquor called AnĂ­s del Toro, which Jig compares to liquorice. Their conversation is mundane at first, but quickly drifts to the subject of an operation which the American is attempting to convince Jig to undergo. Though it is never made explicit in the text, it is made clear (through phrases of dialogue such as "It's just to let the air in" and "But I don't want anybody but you," among numerous context clues) that Jig is pregnant and that the procedure in question is an abortion.
After posing arguments to which the American is largely unresponsive, Jig next assents to the operation, while saying: "I don't care about me." However, he then responds, "You've got to realize that I don't want you to do it if you don't want to." He continues, "I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you." She attempts to drop the subject, but the American persists as if still unsure of Jig's intentions and mental state. She insists, "Would you please please ... please stop talking?" He is silent a while, and repeats, "But I don't want you to," and adds, "I don't care anything about it." She interjects, "I’ll scream."
The barmaid comes out through the beaded curtains with two glasses of beer and puts them down on the damp felt pads. She notes, "The train comes in five minutes." Jig was distracted, but then smiles brightly at the woman and thanks her.
He leaves the table and carries their bags to the opposing platform, but still no sight of the train in the distance. He walks back through the station, and everyone else is still waiting reasonably for the train. Pausing at the bar, he drinks another Anis, alone, before rejoining Jig. He then asks her, "Do you feel better?" She again smiles at him, "I feel fine. There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine." The story ends.
Symbolism and setting
Jig's reference to white elephants could be in regard to the baby. The American could see the baby as a white elephant and not want to raise it because of the cost, while Jig could see the child as an extraordinary addition to her mundane life of drinking and mindless traveling.[1]
"Hills Like White Elephants" shows Hemingway's use of iceberg theory or theory of omission: a message is presented through a story's subtext; for instance, in "Hills Like White Elephants" the word 'abortion' is never uttered although the male character seems to be attempting to convince his girlfriend to have an abortion.[2]
The title of the story, "Hills Like White Elephants," is an allegory of the innocence of what seemed to be but is not (Jig's lust towards an American man) from Jig's perspective in regards to her affair with a man who simply sees the pleasure in being with her in the flesh. Innocence is revealed when Jig orders a drink that she has never had before, and does not know the taste of. This is an allegory which develops into mixed feelings as the story unfolds. Jig muses, "Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe." This clearly reflects that, in her innocence, she is confused. She does go on to express his immorality towards her as she expresses that everything to her tastes like licorice.This reflects her intoxication which goes beyond the physical, as he abused her physically, and also emotionally. The American answers, "Oh cut it out", which is a pun intended as a nod toward abortion, and goes on saying, "Well, let's try and have a fine time."
The title of the story refers to an aspect of its setting which is symbolically important in many ways. Jig draws a simple simile by describing the hills across the desolate valley as looking like white elephants. The implication is that, just as Jig thinks the hills in the distance look like white elephants, the American views the couple's unborn child as an approaching obstacle, a hindrance to the status quo or status quo ante. To avoid this impending responsibility, he attempts to manipulate Jig into having an abortion by presenting the operation as a simple procedure that is in her best interests, a panacea for all that is ailing her and troubling their relationship.
Furthermore, this symbolism combined with Jig's question "That's all we do, isn't it--look at things and try new drinks" and her statement that even exciting new things she has waited a long time to try, like absinthe (sometimes valued as an aphrodisiac), merely end up "tasting like licorice," implies that the couple's perpetually ambling, hedonistic circus-like lifestyle has become something of a metaphorical white elephant to her. It appears that she seeks more stability and permanence in life; "It isn't ours anymore," she states of the carefree lifestyle she and the American have been pursuing from one hotel to the next.
The symbolism of the hills and the big white elephant can be thought of as the image of the swollen breasts and abdomen of a pregnant woman, and to the prenatal dream of the mother of the future Buddha in which a white elephant (in this case, a symbol of prestigious leadership) presents her with a lotus flower, a symbol of fertility.[3]
The reference to the white elephants may also bear a connection to the baby as 'a valuable possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness.'
Apart from the eponymous hills, other parts of the setting provide symbolism which expresses the tension and conflict surrounding the couple. The train tracks form a dividing line between the barren expanse of land stretching toward the hills on one side and the green, fertile farmland on the other, symbolizing the choice faced by each of the main characters and their differing interpretations of the dilemma of pregnancy. Jig focuses on the landscape during the conversation, rarely making eye contact with the American.[4]
At the end of the story, the American takes the initiative to pick up the couple's luggage and port it to the "other tracks" on the opposite side of the station, symbolizing his sense of primacy in making the decision to give up their child and betraying his insistence to Jig that the decision is entirely in her hands.
Some have noted the similarity of the two damp felt pads, on the table, and nursing pads. Meanwhile, Jig is the one who is pregnant, and in the end, she concludes, "There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine."
Dialogue
"They look like white elephants," she said.
"I've never seen one," the man drank this beer.
"No, you wouldn't have."
"I might have," the man said. "Just because you say I wouldn't have doesn't prove anything."
The girl looked at the bead curtain. "They've painted something on it," she said. "What does it say?"
"Anis del Toro. It's a drink."
"Could we try it?"
The reader must interpret their dialogue and body language to infer their backgrounds and their attitudes with respect to the situation at hand, and their attitudes toward one another. From the outset of the story, the contentious nature of the couple's conversation indicates resentment and unease. Some critics have written that the dialogue is a distillation of the contrasts between stereotypical male and female relationship roles: in the excerpt above, for instance, Jig draws the comparison with white elephants, but the hyper-rational male immediately denies it, dissolving the bit of poetry into objective realism with "I've never seen one." She also asks his permission to order a drink. Throughout the story, Jig is distant; the American is rational.[5] While the American attempts to frame the fetus as the source of the couple's discontent with life and one another, the tone and pattern of dialogue indicate that there may be deeper problems with the relationship than the purely circumstantial. This ambiguity leaves a good deal of room for interpretation; while most critics have espoused relatively straightforward interpretations of the dialogue (with Jig as the dynamic character, traveling reluctantly from rejection to acceptance of the idea of an abortion), a few have argued for alternate scenarios based upon the same dialogue.[6]
Sources:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hills_Like_White_Elephants-21.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

Hills Like White Elephants

The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.
‘What should we drink?’ the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
‘It’s pretty hot,’ the man said.
‘Let’s drink beer.’
‘Dos cervezas,’ the man said into the curtain.
‘Big ones?’ a woman asked from the doorway.
‘Yes. Two big ones.’
The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer glass on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.
‘They look like white elephants,’ she said.
‘I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his beer.
‘No, you wouldn’t have.’
‘I might have,’ the man said. ‘Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.’
The girl looked at the bead curtain. ‘They’ve painted something on it,’ she said. ‘What does it say?’
‘Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.’
‘Could we try it?’
The man called ‘Listen’ through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.
‘Four reales.’ ‘We want two Anis del Toro.’
‘With water?’
‘Do you want it with water?’
‘I don’t know,’ the girl said. ‘Is it good with water?’
‘It’s all right.’
‘You want them with water?’ asked the woman.
‘Yes, with water.’
‘It tastes like liquorice,’ the girl said and put the glass down.
‘That’s the way with everything.’
‘Yes,’ said the girl. ‘Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.’
‘Oh, cut it out.’
‘You started it,’ the girl said. ‘I was being amused. I was having a fine time.’
‘Well, let’s try and have a fine time.’
‘All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?’
‘That was bright.’
‘I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?’
‘I guess so.’
The girl looked across at the hills.
‘They’re lovely hills,’ she said. ‘They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the colouring of their skin through the trees.’
‘Should we have another drink?’
‘All right.’
The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.
‘The beer’s nice and cool,’ the man said.
‘It’s lovely,’ the girl said.
‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,’ the man said. ‘It’s not really an operation at all.’
The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
‘I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’
The girl did not say anything.
‘I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural.’
‘Then what will we do afterwards?’
‘We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before.’
‘What makes you think so?’
‘That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.’
The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.
‘And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy.’
‘I know we will. Yon don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it.’
‘So have I,’ said the girl. ‘And afterwards they were all so happy.’
‘Well,’ the man said, ‘if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.’
‘And you really want to?’
‘I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.’
‘And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?’
‘I love you now. You know I love you.’
‘I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?’
‘I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t think about it. You know how I get when I worry.’
‘If I do it you won’t ever worry?’
‘I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.’
‘Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t care about me.’
‘Well, I care about you.’
‘Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.’
‘I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.’
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.
‘And we could have all this,’ she said. ‘And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I said we could have everything.’
‘We can have everything.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can have the whole world.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can go everywhere.’
‘No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more.’
‘It’s ours.’
‘No, it isn’t. And once they take it away, you never get it back.’
‘But they haven’t taken it away.’
‘We’ll wait and see.’
‘Come on back in the shade,’ he said. ‘You mustn’t feel that way.’
‘I don’t feel any way,’ the girl said. ‘I just know things.’
‘I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do -’
‘Nor that isn’t good for me,’ she said. ‘I know. Could we have another beer?’
‘All right. But you’ve got to realize – ‘
‘I realize,’ the girl said. ‘Can’t we maybe stop talking?’
They sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.
‘You’ve got to realize,’ he said, ‘ that I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to. I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you.’
‘Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along.’
‘Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else. And I know it’s perfectly simple.’
‘Yes, you know it’s perfectly simple.’
‘It’s all right for you to say that, but I do know it.’
‘Would you do something for me now?’
‘I’d do anything for you.’
‘Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?’
He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.
‘But I don’t want you to,’ he said, ‘I don’t care anything about it.’
‘I’ll scream,’ the girl siad.
The woman came out through the curtains with two glasses of beer and put them down on the damp felt pads. ‘The train comes in five minutes,’ she said.
‘What did she say?’ asked the girl.
‘That the train is coming in five minutes.’
The girl smiled brightly at the woman, to thank her.
‘I’d better take the bags over to the other side of the station,’ the man said. She smiled at him.
‘All right. Then come back and we’ll finish the beer.’
He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks. He looked up the tracks but could not see the train. Coming back, he walked through the bar-room, where people waiting for the train were drinking. He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably for the train. He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.
‘Do you feel better?’ he asked.
‘I feel fine,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.’

Sources: www.gummyprint.com/.../hills-like-white-elephants-complete-story-21.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

Hills Like White Elephants

Type of Work
......."Hills Like White Elephants" is a short story that observes the classical unities--that is, the action follows a single storyline (without subplots) that takes place in one place on a single day.
Publication
......."Hills Like White Elephants" was first published in Paris in transition magazine (spelled with a lower-case t) in August 1927. In October of the same year, Scribner's published it in New York as part of a Hemingway short-story collection, Men Without Women.
Setting
.......The action takes place in the mid-1920s at a train station in Zaragoza, a major city in northeastern Spain on the Ebro River. Zaragoza is approximately 170 miles northeast of Madrid. The region around Zaragoza receives scant rainfall. The greenery observed by Jig may have flourished through irrigation.
Characters
Jig: Woman traveling in Europe with a male companion. The author does not disclose whether they are single, engaged, or married; however, it appears likely that they are girlfriend and boyfriend.
The American: Man traveling with Jig.
The Woman: Waitress at the train station.
People in the Barroom
Plot Summary
.......On a hot day at a train station in Zaragoza, Spain, a man and woman sit at a table on the shady side of the building while they prepare to order drinks. Because only the man speaks Spanish, he orders for them—first beer, and then AnĂ­s del Toro (absinthe, a powerful liqueur). A set of tracks runs on each side of the station. The train for Madrid will arrive from Barcelona in forty minutes on the sunny side of the building.
.......In front of them, the land is dry. There are no trees. Distant hills appear white in the sun, and the woman says they look like white elephants.
.......While they sip their drinks, their conversation reveals that the woman, Jig, and the man, identified only as an American, are at odds over her pregnancy. She wants the child and hints that she would like to settle down. He wants her to abort the child, saying the procedure “is awfully simple” and “not really anything.” Afterward, he says, life for them can continue as before.
.......Jig observes that the liqueur tastes like licorice. In fact, she says, everything tastes like licorice. Her remark, apparently made out of boredom, irks the man.
.......“Oh, cut it out,” he says.
.......They go back and forth on the question of the child. Jig finally says, perhaps with a taint of sarcasm, that she will have the procedure “because I don’t care about me.” The man says he does not want her to have it “if you feel that way.”
.......Jig gets up and walks to the end of the building. There, she looks around to the land on the other side. She sees trees, grain fields, and the Ebro River, then says, “And we could have all this.” When the man tells her that they can have whatever they want—“We can have the whole world”—Jig says, “It isn’t ours any more . . . And once they take it away, you never get it back.”
.......A woman brings them two more beers and alerts them that their train will arrive in five minutes. The man then carries their two suitcases, each displaying labels from all the hotels at which they lodged, to the other side of the station. When he returns, he asks how she feels. She replies, “There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.”.
Narration, Style, Unanswered Questions
.......Hemingway wrote “Hills Like White Elephants” in third-person point of view that limits the narration to what the characters say and do; it does not reveal their thoughts. Hemingway's style—developed in part when he worked as a newspaper reporter and correspondent early in his career—is simple and compact, with short sentences and paragraphs devoid of verbosity. Adjectives and adverbs are few. However, this straightforward style, which he used in all his major novels and short stories, often conveys complex themes and suggests—but does not explicitly state—motives, mind-sets, attitudes, and so on. In this respect, Hemingway is imitating life, for seldom do two interacting human beings—for example, you and your teacher, you and your spouse, or you and your boss—know each other’s intimate thoughts. You usually must guess at what he or she is thinking; you must interpret. Among the questions the narration does not answer are the following:
• How do Jig and the American support themselves? Is he one of the members of the so-called lost generation, a group of writers who knocked about Europe in the 1920s after being alienated by American values? Does one of them come from a wealthy family?
• What is Jig's nationality? The author refers to the man as an American, possibly implying that she is from England, Canada, Australia, or another nation where English is spoken.
• Are Jig and the American single, engaged, or married? It seems likely that they are single, but the narrator never explicitly says so.
• What happens to Jig and the American after they leave the train station?


Themes
Confronting the Future
.......Jig and the American have been traveling in Europe from hotel to hotel in pursuit of pleasure. However, at Zaragoza, Jig expresses dissatisfaction with their nomadic existence, especially now that she is pregnant. For her, Zaragoza represents a moment of truth, a crossroads at which they must confront their future. She apparently wants to have the baby and settle down to a normal life, symbolized from her perspective by the greenery and thriving grain fields on one side of the station. He wants her to abort their baby so that they can continue their adventures. Carpe diem!—seize the day!—that is his rule for living.
.......In an attempt to persuade him that they are going in the wrong direction, Jig says their life has become boring and repetitive: “That’s all we do, isn’t it—look at things and try new drinks?” But the man sloughs off her question and renews his attempt to break down her resistance to the abortion. One problem for her is that she has difficulty asserting herself. She even asks his permission when she wants a drink. For example, when he mentions AnĂ­s del Toro, she says, “Could we try it?” Later, she says, “Should we have another drink?” Near the end of the story, she asks, “Could we have another beer?”
.......When he continues to press the issue of an abortion, she becomes frustrated and says, “Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” Just before the train arrives, he asks her how she feels. “There’s nothing wrong with me," she says. "I feel fine.” Whether these last two sentences of the story mean that she has decided to choose the baby over the abortion, or vice versa—or simply decided to put off a decision for another day—is a matter for the reader to interpret.
Inability to Communicate Effectively
.......Jig and the American have difficulty articulating their feelings. Rather than bluntly stating their views, they imply, hint, euphemize. In the end, their conversation frustrates Jig, who tells the American, "Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”
Selfishness
.......The man appears to be manipulating Jig in order to perpetuate a lifestyle in which she is a convenient outlet for his libido. He is even willing to sacrifice a human life, Jill’s unborn child, so that he can continue their joyride.
Too Much of a Good Thing
.......The ancient Greeks had a saying: "All things in moderation; nothing in excess." But Jig and the American have apparently been living a life of excess. Consequently, life is no longer fun for Jig. When she samples a strong and dangerous liqueur to try to revive her interest in their great adventure, she says disappointedly that “everything tastes like licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited for so long, like absinthe.” Clearly, she is ready to abandon their dissipated way of life to settle down.
Evasion of Responsibility
.......The American seems unable to accept responsibility, for whatever reason. Rather than facing the challenges of normal life, he continually puts them off.
Climax
.......The climax occurs when Jig ends the conversation, saying, "Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”
Symbols
White Elephants: From the perspective of the American, one of the hills resembling white elephants is the enlargement of the uterus that is becoming, or will soon become, evident as Jig's baby grows. A white elephant is a largely useless object that may be expensive to own and maintain, according to one of its definitions in standard dictionaries. From the perspective of Jig, one of the hills may represent the lifestyle of her and the American.
Railroad Tracks: Railroad tracks run side by side but never meet. Thus, they could symbolize the relationship of Jig and the American.
Zaragoza: The last letter of the alphabet occurs twice in the name of this city. Jig and the American may be two z’s that have reached the end of the road.
Green Side of the Station: Obviously, this represents life, the baby, a new beginning.
Arid Side of the Station: This represents dissipation and death.
Ebro River: This waterway, which originates in the Cantabrian Mountains and flows 565 miles to the Mediterranean, represents vitality, life. It can also represent the passage of time.
AnĂ­s del Toro: This represents the excitement the American offers Jig. But it fails to stir her.
Baggage: This represents the past, which is the same as the future to the American. When he picks up the suitcases and carries them to the other side of the station, he is indicating that he wants to continue as before.
Author Information
.......Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American writer of novels and short stories. Before turning to fiction, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star and served as a First World War ambulance driver before enlisting with the Italian infantry and suffering a wound. After the war, he worked for the Toronto Star and lived for a time in Paris and Key West, Fla. During the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, he served as a newspaper correspondent, then lived in Cuba until 1958 and Idaho until 1961, the year of his death by suicide. His narratives frequently contain masculine motifs, such as bull-fighting (Death in the Afternoon), hunting (The Green Hills of Africa), war (A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls), and fishing (The Old Man and the Sea). All of these motifs derive from Hemingway’s own experiences as a traveler and an adventurer. Arguably, he was a better short-story writer than a novelist, although it was his longer works that built his reputation.
Study Questions and Essay Topics
1. Does Jig love the American? Does he love her?
2. Write an essay that takes a stand on what Jig has decided to do.
3. The following statement containing a quotation that appears in the plot summary above: When the American tells her that they can have whatever they want—“We can have the whole world”—Jig says, “It isn’t ours any more . . . And once they take it away, you never get it back.”Comment on what Jig means when she says that "once they take it away, you never get it back.”
4. Write a short psychological profile of Jig or the American.
5. Write another ending for the story that tells what Jig plans to do.

Sources: www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides4/Hills.htm-2.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

Hills Like White Elephants

The short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway , is about a young couple and the polemic issue of abortion. Though the word “abortion” is nowhere in the story, it is doubtlessly understood through Hemingway’s powerful use of two literary elements: setting and symbolism.
From the first paragra Ernest Hemingway ph the setting immediately introduces the tense atmosphere that will surround the rest of the story. The story takes place in Spain in the late 1920’s. The setting is described as follows:
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. […] The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went to Madrid.
The couple is in the middle of making a drastic decision where there are only two choices, two directions, just like the two rail lines that pass by the station. The openness and loneliness around the railroad station imply that there is no way to back out of the problem at hand and that the man and the girl must address it now. The heat turns the scene into a virtual teakettle, boiling and screaming under pressure. The landscape that encompasses the station plays a fundamental role in the conflict of the story through its extensive symbolism.
When the girl sees the long and white hills she says that “they look like white elephants.” As she observes the white hills she foresees elatedly the birth of her baby – something unique like the uncommon white elephant. The color white symbolizes the innocence and purity of her unborn child. She also admires the rest of the scenery:
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were the fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees..
The fields of grain and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness, which symbolize her current pregnant state and the life in her womb. The Ebro River also represents life, as it germinates the fields. Just as the girl appreciates the panorama and its connection to her unborn child the “shadow of a cloud,” which represents the abortion of the fetus, overcomes her happiness. After an exchange of words with the man she again looks at the scenery, but this time in a different way, as the following sentence illustrates: “They sat down at the table and the girl looked across the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.” The man is obviously in favor of the abortion, and everything he says is an effort to persuade her into it. As she considers his point of view she looks at the dry side of the valley, which is barren and sterile, symbolizing her body after the abortion. The man and woman continue arguing and stop for a little when she says, “Would you please please please please please please please please stop talking?”
He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.
The American apparently wants this abortion because he wants to keep his current lifestyle. The bags with all the hotel labels on them are symbolic of his vivacious spirit. If the woman goes ahead with the pregnancy, he would have to settle down and raise a family, which would mean forgoing his youthful desires of seeing the world.
The story ends with the couple expecting their train’s arrival in five minutes. There is no resolution and there is no decision stated regarding the abortion. Hemingway’s interweaving of setting and symbolism helps him juice each sentence to provide maximum detail. This story was not only intended for the pleasures of reading, but also though provocation. Hemingway has intentionally left the readers to conclude for themselves what will happen next.

Sources: www.gummyprint.com/.../hills-like-white-elephants-literary-analysis-

21.06.2011

D.N. Aloysius

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), born in Oak Park, Illinois, started his career as a writer in a newspaper office in Kansas City at the age of seventeen. After the United States entered the First World War, he joined a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army. Serving at the front, he was wounded, was decorated by the Italian Government, and spent considerable time in hospitals. After his return to the United States, he became a reporter for Canadian and American newspapers and was soon sent back to Europe to cover such events as the Greek Revolution.
During the twenties, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris, which he described in his first important work, The Sun Also Rises (1926). Equally successful was A Farewell to Arms (1929), the study of an American ambulance officer's disillusionment in the war and his role as a deserter. Hemingway used his experiences as a reporter during the civil war in Spain as the background for his most ambitious novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Among his later works, the most outstanding is the short novel, The Old Man and the Sea (1952), the story of an old fisherman's journey, his long and lonely struggle with a fish and the sea, and his victory in defeat.
Hemingway - himself a great sportsman - liked to portray soldiers, hunters, bullfighters - tough, at times primitive people whose courage and honesty are set against the brutal ways of modern society, and who in this confrontation lose hope and faith. His straightforward prose, his spare dialogue, and his predilection for understatement are particularly effective in his short stories, some of which are collected in Men Without Women (1927) and The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1938). Hemingway died in Idaho in 1961.

Sources:nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/.../hemingway-bio.htm-21.06.2011

D.N. Aloysius

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2010 June (8)
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2010July -26
1. To a Skylark- Summary
2. To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley
3. To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley
4. John Donne’s poems
5. Metaphysical poetry
6. Metaphysical poets
7. The Lumber Room
8. The Dumb Waiter
9. Great Expectations
10. Great Expectations
11. Break, break, break’
12. Victorian Poets
13. The Lady of Shalott
14. Early spring
15. The Charge of the Light Brigade
16. The Eagle
17. Alfred Tennyson
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19. History of English Literature
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2010 August-7
1. Continuous Assessment Test-2010/ENGL-1212
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3. Thomas Hardy
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2010 September-9
1. American and British English pronunciation differe...
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2010 October (69)
1. History of English Literature
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3. A brief history of English literature
4. The Old Man and the Sea - Santiago-Analysis
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7. The Old Man and the Sea-Overview
8. Othello: Plot Summary
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10. Othello Summary by Michael McGoodwin
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13. Othello-Plot overview
14. Othello-characters
15. Othello Summary
16. Standard English and SL English
17. Standard English
18. Standard English
19. Standard English Standard English (often shortene...
20. What is a Global Language?
21. English as a global language
22. English as the Global Language: Good for Business,...
23. English is a global language
24. Place of English in the world today
25. English In The World Today
26. British and American English
27. British and American English
28. British and American English- Spelling
29. American and British English -Spelling
30. American and British English
31. American and British English spelling differences
32. Morphology
33. Interlanguage
34. ECLECTIC METHOD-2
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37. Total Physical Response-2
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39. Total physical response-1
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64. Discourse Analysis
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66. BBU External Degree- English Language-2010
67. BBU External Degree- English Language-2010
68. BBU-External Degree/English Language-2010
69. Buddhasravaka Bhiksu University-Seminar BA Part-1/...


2010November (12)
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2010December (10)
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2011 January (6)
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2011 February
1. Thousand miles to go!! -Subajana Jeyaseelan 26.02.2011
2. Motherweeps subajan-25.02.2011
3. How Poverty leads women conquering for survival –subsjana21.02.2011
4. Friendship by Subajana 20.02.2011
5. Healthy balance in scheduling our duties and respo...
6. Bhiksu University-Diploma Course-20.02.2011
7. Rajarata University -Diploma in Business Economics...
8. British Council-Cambridge KET English - Nimesh San...
9. Valentine’s Day By Subajana Jeyaseelan- Lecturer i...
10. Valentine's Day-14th February, 2011
11. Rajarata University of Sri Lanka - Internal Degree...
12. Rajarata University of Sri Lanka/Diploma in Busine...
13. Rajarata University of Sri Lanka/Internal Degree P...
14. Bhiksu University-Anuradhapura/Diploma/Assignments...
15. Diploma in Business Economics-Business Communicati...
16. How Poverty leads women conquering for survival –subsjana21.02.2011

2011-March
2. The Secret Sharer By Joseph Conrad 1857-1924 Inter...
3. Thushan Malinda-Anuradhapura 06.03.2011
4. Yasith Chalangana Kodikara- Anuradhapura-06.03.201...
2011-April

1. The Lumber Room
2. Hamlet
3. Shakespeare's sonnets
4. Semantics
5. Semantics
6. Semantics
7. Heart of Darkness - Analysis
8. Heart of Darkness
9. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
10. Heart of Darkness- Analysis of Major Characters
11. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
12. Heart of Darkness -Analysis
13. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
14. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
15. Heart of Darkness -Joseph Conrad
16. Heart of Darkness-Character List
17. Heart of Darkness-JOSEPH CONRAD
18. Heart of Darkness
19. First Language
20. Wuthering Heights-Character List
21. Wuthering Heights- Character List ...
22. Wuthering Heights- plot-characters
23. An Analysis of "Wuthering Heights" by Charlotte Br...
24. Wuthering Heights-Characters
25. Wuthering Heights- Summary
26. Wuthering Heights Setting Symbolism
27. Wuthering Heights Plot Analysis
28. Wuthering Heights
29. Joseph Conrad- Secret sharer
30. Joseph Conrad- Secret sharer
31. Joseph Conrad- Secret sharer
32. Joseph Conrad- Secret sharer
33. Joseph Conrad- Secret sharer
34. Joseph Conrad- Secret sharer

2011-May
1. James Joyce
2. Remembrance- Emily Bronte
3. The Boarding House- By James Joyce
4. Communication Skills- ICT 3210- Rajarata Universit...
5. Communication Skills- ICT 3210-24.05.2011
6. Othello
7. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
8. Great Expectations- Summary
9. Essays-A/L
10. Othello
11. Essays -A/L
12. Remembrance -Emily Bronte
13. Précis

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Great Expectations-Characters

Pip - The protagonist and narrator of Great Expectations, Pip begins the story as a young orphan boy being raised by his sister and brother-in-law in the marsh country of Kent, in the southeast of England. Pip is passionate, romantic, and somewhat unrealistic at heart, and he tends to expect more for himself than is reasonable. Pip also has a powerful conscience, and he deeply wants to improve himself, both morally and socially.
Estella - Miss Havisham’s beautiful young ward, Estella is Pip’s unattainable dream throughout the novel. He loves her passionately, but, though she sometimes seems to consider him a friend, she is usually cold, cruel, and uninterested in him. As they grow up together, she repeatedly warns him that she has no heart.
Miss Havisham - Miss Havisham is the wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pip’s village. She is manic and often seems insane, flitting around her house in a faded wedding dress, keeping a decaying feast on her table, and surrounding herself with clocks stopped at twenty minutes to nine. As a young woman, Miss Havisham was jilted by her fiancĂ© minutes before her wedding, and now she has a vendetta against all men. She deliberately raises Estella to be the tool of her revenge, training her beautiful ward to break men’s hearts.
Abel Magwitch (“The Convict”) - A fearsome criminal, Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. Pip’s kindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himself to making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. Behind the scenes, he becomes Pip’s secret benefactor, funding Pip’s education and opulent lifestyle in London through the lawyer Jaggers.
Joe Gargery - Pip’s brother-in-law, the village blacksmith, Joe stays with his overbearing, abusive wife—known as Mrs. Joe—solely out of love for Pip. Joe’s quiet goodness makes him one of the few completely sympathetic characters in Great Expectations. Although he is uneducated and unrefined, he consistently acts for the benefit of those he loves and suffers in silence when Pip treats him coldly.
Jaggers - The powerful, foreboding lawyer hired by Magwitch to supervise Pip’s elevation to the upper class. As one of the most important criminal lawyers in London, Jaggers is privy to some dirty business; he consorts with vicious criminals, and even they are terrified of him. But there is more to Jaggers than his impenetrable exterior. He often seems to care for Pip, and before the novel begins he helps Miss Havisham to adopt the orphaned Estella. Jaggers smells strongly of soap: he washes his hands obsessively as a psychological mechanism to keep the criminal taint from corrupting him.
Herbert Pocket - Pip first meets Herbert Pocket in the garden of Satis House, when, as a pale young gentleman, Herbert challenges him to a fight. Years later, they meet again in London, and Herbert becomes Pip’s best friend and key companion after Pip’s elevation to the status of gentleman. Herbert nicknames Pip “Handel.” He is the son of Matthew Pocket, Miss Havisham’s cousin, and hopes to become a merchant so that he can afford to marry Clara Barley.
Wemmick - Jaggers’s clerk and Pip’s friend, Wemmick is one of the strangest characters in Great Expectations. At work, he is hard, cynical, sarcastic, and obsessed with “portable property”; at home in Walworth, he is jovial, wry, and a tender caretaker of his “Aged Parent.”
Biddy - A simple, kindhearted country girl, Biddy first befriends Pip when they attend school together. After Mrs. Joe is attacked and becomes an invalid, Biddy moves into Pip’s home to care for her. Throughout most of the novel, Biddy represents the opposite of Estella; she is plain, kind, moral, and of Pip’s own social class.
Dolge Orlick - The day laborer in Joe’s forge, Orlick is a slouching, oafish embodiment of evil. He is malicious and shrewd, hurting people simply because he enjoys it. He is responsible for the attack on Mrs. Joe, and he later almost succeeds in his attempt to murder Pip.
Mrs. Joe - Pip’s sister and Joe’s wife, known only as “Mrs. Joe” throughout the novel. Mrs. Joe is a stern and overbearing figure to both Pip and Joe. She keeps a spotless household and frequently menaces her husband and her brother with her cane, which she calls “Tickler.” She also forces them to drink a foul-tasting concoction called tar-water. Mrs. Joe is petty and ambitious; her fondest wish is to be something more than what she is, the wife of the village blacksmith.
Uncle Pumblechook - Pip’s pompous, arrogant uncle. (He is actually Joe’s uncle and, therefore, Pip’s “uncle-in-law,” but Pip and his sister both call him “Uncle Pumblechook.”) A merchant obsessed with money, Pumblechook is responsible for arranging Pip’s first meeting with Miss Havisham. Throughout the rest of the novel, he will shamelessly take credit for Pip’s rise in social status, even though he has nothing to do with it, since Magwitch, not Miss Havisham, is Pip’s secret benefactor.
Compeyson - A criminal and the former partner of Magwitch, Compeyson is an educated, gentlemanly outlaw who contrasts sharply with the coarse and uneducated Magwitch. Compeyson is responsible for Magwitch’s capture at the end of the novel. He is also the man who jilted Miss Havisham on her wedding day.
Bentley Drummle - An oafish, unpleasant young man who attends tutoring sessions with Pip at the Pockets’ house, Drummle is a minor member of the nobility, and the sense of superiority this gives him makes him feel justified in acting cruelly and harshly toward everyone around him. Drummle eventually marries Estella, to Pip’s chagrin; she is miserable in their marriage and reunites with Pip after Drummle dies some eleven years later.
Molly - Jaggers’s housekeeper. In Chapter 48, Pip realizes that she is Estella’s mother.
Mr. Wopsle - The church clerk in Pip’s country town; Mr. Wopsle’s aunt is the local schoolteacher. Sometime after Pip becomes a gentleman, Mr. Wopsle moves to London and becomes an actor.
Startop - A friend of Pip’s and Herbert’s. Startop is a delicate young man who, with Pip and Drummle, takes tutelage with Matthew Pocket. Later, Startop helps Pip and Herbert with Magwitch’s escape.
Miss Skiffins - Womack’s beloved and eventual wife

Sources: www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/characters.htm-16.06.2011
D.N. Aloysius

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Reply to an inquiry

Samson and Sons Ltd,
P.O. Box No. 81,
Colombo,
26th July 2006.

The Director,
The Polytechnic,
52, Galle Road,
Colombo 3.

Dear Sir,

Canon Copier
Thank you for your letter dated 212nd July inquiring about our products.
We are pleased to give you the following details :-
Payment - can be arranged on an installment basis.
Service and guarantee - One year free servicing, with guarantee for the replacement of any defective parts.

We enclose our catalogue which contains information on model IR201 together with the current price list.
We look forward to receiving your order in the near future

Yours faithfully,
……………………
W.S. Samarakoon
Sales Manager

Encs. catalogue and price list

Letter of Apology

Spring Grove Hotel,
Kandy.
16th of June,2006.

Mr. S.K. Wijenaike,
“Fair View”,
10th Lane,
Colombo 3.

Dear Sir,
Further to my letter of 11th June, I am now able to inform you that I have ………….. regarding your complaint, and deeply regret finding that you were ………….. while you were a guest at one our hotels.
………….. the waiter concerned had been under notice as the result of ………….. and may have been suffering from a sense of grievance.
He has left our employment since the ………….. of which you ………….. otherwise we would have dismissed him immediately.
The absence of the Manageress was ………….. but I have satisfied myself that circumstances made it ………….. The Manageress asks me to convey ………….. to you, and I may ………….. that nothing of the kind will mar ………….. one of our hotels.
I wish to ………….. for the trouble you have taken in ………….. this complaint. The management appreciates any information that would help to maintain the ………….. established in our hotels.


Yours faithfully,
………………..
R.D. Roberts
Managing Director.

Reminders

Regent Paints Ltd,
York Street,
Colombo 15.
20h of July,2006.

Mr. L.S. Perera,
No. 44, 10th Lane,
Colombo 08.

Dear Sir,
Payment of statement of Accounts No. 2015 for Rs. 50,000/=.
We regret very much that despite three letter on the above subject, we have not received payment so far.
As we cannot afford to wait for an indefinite period, we insist that our accounts should be settled within 10 days from the date of this letter, failing which we shall be compelled to pass on this matter o our legal adviser.

Yours faithfully,
…………………
G.S. Siriwardane,
Manager.

Reminders

Regent Paints Ltd,
York Street,
Colombo 15.
20h of July,2006.

Mr. L.S. Perera,
No. 44, 10th Lane,
Borella.

Dear Sir,
Payment of statement of Accounts No. 2015.
We have already written two letters dated 20th July and 5th August reminding you to make the above payment, and regret that we have had no reply to either of them.
As the payment is long overdue and this is affecting our own arrangements, we request you once again to please look into this matter and let us have your cheque without further delay.

Yours faithfully,
…………………
G.S. Siriwardane,
Manager.

Reminders

Regent Paints Ltd,
York Street,
Colombo 15.
20h of July,2006.

Mr. L.S. Perera,
No. 44, 10th Lane,
Borella.

Dear Sir,
Our records reveal that we have not received payment of our statement of accounts No. A 2013 dated 15th June.
Presuming that you have not received our statement of accounts, we are enclosing a copy and shall be glad to have your cheque at an early date.

Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
…………………
G.S. Siriwardane,
Manager.

Enc. Copy of statement of accounts No. A 20154

Letters

“Fair View”,
10th Lane,
Colombo 3.

8th of June,2005.

The Managing Director,
Spring Grove Hotel, Kandy.

Dear Sir,
I wish to complain of the unsatisfactory service of Spring Grove Hotel.
During a recent visit there, I was subjected to the insolence of one of the waiters, who subsequently refused to disclose his name.
I attempted to get in touch with the Manageress but this proved impossible as she was not to be seen, and none of the staff appeared to know her whereabouts. I was therefore compelled to leave without seeing her.
I am writing this to you in the hope that you will take some action regarding this.
I may add that as a regular traveler I have had considerable experienced of hotels, both at home and abroad, and never have I known of a parallel to this state of affairs.

Yours faithfully,
…………………
S.K. Wijenayake.

Letters

Ms. P. Rathnayake,
25, Kandy Road,
Kegalle.
25.05.2006

Manager,
Lotus Book Shop,
Main Street,
Kandy.

Dear Sir,

Delay in the delivery of books.,
I ordered 10 copies of the readers’ Digest from you on the 15th of this month, and you assured me that the books will be delivered to me by the 20th. I regret to say that I have not received these books yet.
I enclosed Money Order No. 55006, for Rs. 2,500/- in your favour. As these magazines are urgently needed I hope you would make arrangements to deliver them immediately.

Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
…………………
P. Rathnayake.

Letters

Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Diploma in Business Economics

DBE- 1152: Business Communication
D.N. Aloysius E-mail aloysiusrjt@gmail.com
Lecturer in English Web site-1 dnaloysius.blogspot.com
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities Web site-2 www.aloysiusdn.com
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
_____________________________________________________________________________________

122, Jayanthi Mawatha,
Anuradhapura.
19th February, 2011.

Managing Director,
Star Products,
Galle Road,
Colombo -02.

Dear Sir,
Application for the Post of Marketing Manager
I am writing in response to your advertisement for a Marketing Manager, which appeared in the Sunday Times of 13th February, 2011. I am presently employed as a Junior Marketing Manager at Williams Products Ltd. I completed my degree in Business Management at the University of Kelaniya in 2009. Hence, I am interested in joining your company as a Marketing Manager.
I have served as an Assistant Marketing Manager for 02 years. During this period, I gained a vast knowledge of distribution and sale of products. I was also instrumental in promoting and improving the marketing efficiency of the company. Prior to my present employment, I worked in India for 02 years as a Marketing Officer. There, I was attached to the Marketing Division.
I enclose my curriculum vitae, copies of testimonials and references, educational and service certificates. With my background and experience, I feel confident that I could immensely contribute to achieving the goals of your company.
I look forward to receiving your early reply.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
-------------------------
D.N. Samaranayake




122, Jayanthi Mawatha,
Anuradhapura.
19th February, 2011.

Managing Director,
Star Products,
Galle Road,
Colombo -02.

Dear Sir,
Application for the Post of Marketing Manager
I saw your advertisement for a Marketing Manager in the Sunday Times of 13th February, 2011 and wish to apply for the post.
I am enclosing my Letter of Application and certificates and references as requested.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
---------------------
D.N. Samaranayake






22, Kandy Road,
Anuradhapura.
19th February, 2011.

Manager,
Lake House Book Shop,
Main Street,
Kandy.

Dear Sir,

Delay in the delivery of books
I ordered 05 copies of Othello and 10 copies of Great Expectations from your book shop on the 19th of this month and you assured me that the books would be delivered to me on or before 10h February, 2011.I regret to inform you that I have not received these books yet.
I enclosed a Money Order No. 55006, for Rs. 10,500/- in your favour. As these books are urgently needed, I hope you would make arrangements to deliver them immediately.

Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
…………………
M. P. Ranawaka,

Letters

22, Kandy Road,
Anuradhapura.
19th February, 2011.

Manager,
Lake House Book Shop,
Main Street,
Kandy.

Dear Sir,

Delay in the delivery of books
I ordered 05 copies of Othello and 10 copies of Great Expectations from your book shop on the 19th of this month and you assured me that the books would be delivered to me on or before 10h February, 2011.I regret to inform you that I have not received these books yet.
I enclosed a Money Order No. 55006, for Rs. 10,500/- in your favour. As these books are urgently needed, I hope you would make arrangements to deliver them immediately.

Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
…………………
M. P. Ranawaka,

Letters

122, Jayanthi Mawatha,
Anuradhapura.
19th February, 2011.

Managing Director,
Star Products,
Galle Road,
Colombo -02.

Dear Sir,

Application for the post of Marketing Manager

I saw your advertisement for a Marketing Manager in the Sunday Times of 13th February, 2011 and wish to apply for the post.
I am enclosing my Letter of Application and certificates and references as requested.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

---------------------

D.N. Samaranayake

Wuthering Heights- Themes- Love and Passion

Passion, particularly unnatural passion, is a predominant theme of Wuthering Heights. The first Catherine's devotion to Heathcliff is immediate and absolute, though she will not marry him, because to do so would degrade her. 'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire." Although there has been at least one Freudian interpretation of the text, the nature of the passion between Catherine and Heathcliff does not appear to be based on sex. David Daiches writes, "Ultimate passion is for her rather a kind of recognition of one's self-one's true and absolute self-in the object of passion." Catherine's passion is contrasted to the coolness of Linton, whose "cold blood cannot be worked into a fever."

Sources: www.bookrags.com/Wuthering_Heights - United States-05.06.2011

D.N. Aloysius