Reference material for SA2 (Literature) THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (prose)

Summary: Private Quelch was not an ordinary soldier under training. Even though he was in his initial years of training,

Private Quelch had the attitude of one who had a great ambition in life. He wanted to become an officer soon and rise to higher ranks in the army. For this he worked, day and night, read books and revised his army lessons. Even though he knew much more than what a soldier should know, Private Quelch had a weakness; he used to exhibit his knowledge where ever he got a chance. He questioned his instructors, corrected their lecturers and sermonized his fellow soldiers. Once he corrected one of his instructors, Corporal Turnbull, while the latter was giving a lecture on hand grenade and got the most shameful punishment that he could ever get; permanent cook house in-charge. However, that was not the end of the man who knew too much! He was found lecturing the cooks on matters like how to peel potatoes. Q.1. Why was Private Quelch nicknamed ”Professor"? Ans: Private Quelch was nicknamed "Professor" because of his lanky and stooping structure. He wore horn rimmed glasses through which he frowned. He had the annoying habit of lecturing on any given topic. Q.2.What did the Professor mean by 'intelligent reading'? Ans: According to Professor, intelligent reading meant reading up on a topic before a lecture, and finding out everything about the topic. For instance, he had read up the training manual of the rifle in order to be prepared for the instructor's lessons. Q.3. Describe Corporal Turnbull. Ans: Corporal Turnbull was a young man who was not to be trifled with. One was not to fool around with him. He was a great soldier and was considered a hero by most of the men on his squad. He was a physically and mentally tough man. He judged the character of Private Quelch accurately and assigned him permanent duties at the cookhouse, hoping to be able to curb Quelch's habit of showing off. Q.4.' Private Quelch knew too much.' Give reasons to prove that he was unable to win the admiration of his superior officers or his colleagues in about 100 words. Ans: Everyone felt that Private Quelch knew too much. Initially they respected him for his knowledge. However, everyone soon grew tired of his continual lecturing. The instructors also got irritated when he interrupted the training sessions. The Professor was always trying to outshine his colleagues to win the admiration of his superior officers. When there was a training session on grenades, Private Quelch interrupted the instructor to give his own inputs. When the other Privates were getting trained on the particulars of the rifle, he interrupted the instructor to exhibit his own knowledge of the topic. Q.5. Give a detailed character sketch of Private Quelch.

very ambitious- determined to get promotions , had clear ambitions of the medals he wanted to earn

very intelligent and hardworking- read up on a topic before attending a training session

pompous and proud- always showing off his knowledge and boasting about what he knew

annoying- had the irritating habit of lecturing people all the time

always wanted to outshine/overshadow his colleagues

wanted to please his seniors

enthusiastic and tireless about everything, even punishments

unabashed- gave lectures and sermons shamelessly and without caring about what people thought of him

spoke in a monotonous voice, which often became boring for the listeners

intelligent reader- knew what to read, would already read and understand a particular topic before the lecture began

was indifferent in his approach-did not learn a lesson even after being deputed permanently to the cookhouse- continued with his lectures

Attempt the following questions:.

a. How did Private Quelch manage to anger the Corporal? b. Do you think Private Quelch learnt a lesson when he was chosen for cookhouse duties? Give reasons for your

answer. c. What were the Professor's ambitions in the army? d. You are the 'Professor'. Write a diary entry after your first day at the cookhouse, describing the events that led to this

assignment, also express your thoughts and feelings about the events of the day in about 175 words. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

KEEPING IT FROM HAROLD (prose) Summary: Mr and Mrs Bramble were immensely proud of their ten year old son, Harold. He was a prodigy and an exceptional child by all standards. An intellectual, he won prizes in competitions. He was very classy and so superior that even his parents developed a complex. Harold was a model of excellent behaviour and he respected his parents a lot. Mr Bramble was a professional boxer and had been proud of his fame but ever since Harold was born, he had kept this as a secret. Harold was told that his father was a commercial traveller. Mr Bramble, who had thrived on his feats in the boxing ring, trembled to see his name in print now. Both Mr and Mrs Bramble were secretly a little afraid of their son and did not wish to fall in his esteem. Mr Bramble was already thirty-one years old and he had decided to have his last boxing match and then

retire. A week away, Bill Bramble was scheduled to have his last fight, the twenty-round contest with American Murphy at the National Sporting Club, for which he was training at the White Hart down the road. Mrs Bramble sends Harold for a walk but she is surprised to see her husband and her brother, Major Percy Stokes in the doorway. She is shocked to know that Bill has decided not to fight and there is lot of discussion regarding his decision with Percy Stokes. Mrs Bramble makes it clear that this step was unacceptable to her, even if she did not like her husband's profession. Bill Bramble was supposed to win five hundred pounds, and one hundred and twenty, even if he lost. This money was very much needed to cater to Harold's education. The trainer, Jerry Fisher, enters at this juncture and he is also shocked to discover that Bill has decided to back out at the eleventh hour. Jerry begs, pleads, cries and tempts Bill but he is steadfast in his decision because this fight will be covered by all newspapers and Harold will discover this secret. Tempers are running high, and at this critical moment, Harold makes his entry. Mr Jerry Fisher feels cheated, he wants his revenge. So he spills out the entire story to Harold, despite all opposition. Bill feels let down in front of his son and tells him frankly that he was not a man of wrath but just a professional boxer and he is withdrawing from his last match. Harold, who had been watching all, suddenly surprises everyone. He is angry with his parents for hiding this secret but the content of his speech takes everyone's breath away. Harold reveals that he was betting his pocket money on the defeat of Jimmy Murphy and his friends would have been awfully proud of him, had they known that his father was 'Young Porky'. He even requests for a photograph of his father to impress his friends. This talk encourages Jerry Fischer and Bill also goes to complete his training. Harold goes back to playing games with his mother and continues with his affectionate chat Q.1. Do you agree with Harold's parents' decision of hiding from him that his father was a boxer? Why? Why not? Ans: Yes, Harold's parents did the right thing by hiding the truth about his father's profession. They were not sure how he would react when he heard the truth. They did not want him to feel inferior or embarrassed in front of his schoolmates. They feared that his friends, who came from a higher class of society, would make fun of him and would look down upon him. OR Harold's parents' decision to hide the truth from him is not justified. By doing so, they were keeping an important aspect of his life a secret from him. They were living with false ideas which could lead to painful results. They were just being overprotective towards him. Q.2. Why was it necessary to keep Harold's father's profession a secret from him? Ans- Harold used to study in an elite school. He was highly intelligent and had great career prospects. His parents feared that he would feel inferior and embarrassed if he discovered the truth about his father's profession. Q.3. How did Harold come to know that his father was a boxer? Ans- One evening, when Harold returned from his walk, and entered the room unannounced, he found the elders talking about him. At the first opportunity Bill's coach blurted out the truth that his father was the famous boxer 'Young Porky'. Q.4. Why was Mrs. Bramble upset when she came to hear that Bill had decided not to fight? Ans-Although Mrs. Bramble did not like her husband's profession as a boxer, she did not want him to quit because it earned them good money and made it possible for them to educate Harold. If he beat Murphy at the final match, he would win prize money of five hundred pounds .Even if he lost, he would still get some money, and this money would be a blessing because it was enough to give Harold a better start in life. Q.5. Who was Jerry Fisher? What did he say to try and convince Bill to change his mind? Ans-Jerry Fisher was Bill‘s trainer and he had been working hard at White Hart to train Bill for the upcoming boxing match. Jerry tried to tempt Bill with the prize money. He also said that he would tell Harold the truth about Bill's profession. If Bill withdrew, even Jerry‘s career and reputation as a trainer would suffer. All the hard work they had put in together would be wasted. Q.6. How did Harold react when the truth of his father's profession was out? Ans- Harold was upset with his parents that they had kept the truth from him. He had been secretly following boxing and had even put bets on the game. He felt that he could have flaunted his father‘s reputation as the famous ―Young Porky‖. His friends would have treated him differently and would not have called him names, if they had known that he was the son of the famous boxer. Attempt the following questions in brief paragraphs:

a. Give a detailed character sketch of Bill Bramble. b. Give a detailed character sketch of Harold Bramble. c. Why did Jerry Fisher give out the truth to Harold? d. Mrs Bramble was a family oriented woman. Comment. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

SONG OF THE RAIN (poem) Summary: 'Song of the Rain' is a beautiful poem appealing to the sensitive hearts touched by the heavenly beauty of the rains. The poet, Kahlil Gibran composed this poem as a eulogy in praise of rain and its affection for earth. The poem is written in the first person, and rain itself is the speaker. Rain has held a mirror to its identity and activity in the poem. Rains look like 'silver threads' while falling on earth. It is a divine gift from the gods to nature. Nature accepts this gift as a blessing to nourish and nurture her 'fields and valleys'. Rains are as beautiful as pearls. Rain drops shine with the white gleams of the pearls in the 'crown of Ishtar', goddess of fertility and love in the Babylonian Pantheon. Rains come down with showers of pleasure and joy for everyone and everything. It makes the hills laugh, the flowers rejoice and all things feel elated. Rain is a wand of magic with a transforming touch. Rain, a messenger of mercy in the poet's speak, connects the field with the cloud high in the sky. It fills in the void between the sky and the earth. Raindrops quench the thirst of the earth and cure the blisters caused by the

heat of simmering summer. The heavenly blessing works as a panacea to many problems. The deafening voice of thunder announces the arrival of rains on earth, just like a king's arrival is heralded by the beating of drums. The rainbow sprinkling a handful of seven different colours across the blue surface of the sky after the clouds disappear declares the departure of rains from earth. Rain springs up from the deep of seas and oceans. It‘s soars to great heights with the breeze and then, comes back to its source. Thus, rain runs round in a cyclic process. Out of its caring attitude towards earth, this natural phenomenon comes down to nourish, refresh and rejuvenate flowers and trees in a million ways. The verity is that not everyone can percept the soothing feel, affectionate nature and caring attitude of the rain. The song of the rain does not warm every heart. Only the sensitive hearts can understand the emotions of the rain and be touched by its presence. Q.1. How is rain a messenger of mercy? Ans- Rain is a messenger of mercy because it quenches the thirst of the dry fields. It helps flowers to bloom and valleys to flourish. It helps the clouds by making them lighter when they are heavy with rain water. Q.2. How do you think the rain cures the ailment of the clouds? Ans- The clouds suffer from an ailment as they are heavy and laden with water. They get cured when the rain comes down and relieves them from their swollen condition. Q.3. "I am like earthly life … "Why does the poet call rain as earthly life? Ans- Just like everything on earth is born and dies, so does the rain. It is referred to as earthly life because it has beginning and comes to an end too. Just as life is created by the combination of the five elements, rain is also a creation of these five elements. Just as, after death, the human body merges into these elements, and the soul goes to heaven, similarly when rain falls and the water rises back into the sky when it evaporates. Q.4.In what way is rain‟s coming to the earth both a sorrow and a pleasure? Ans- Rain‘s coming down to the earth is a pleasure because it gives life and nourishes everything on the earth. It helps flowers bloom and fields to flourish. It is sorrowful that the raindrops have to leave the beautiful memories of the sky and have to come down to the earth. Q.5.Notice the imagery built around 'sigh of the sea', 'laughter of the field' and 'tears of heaven'. Explain the three expressions in context of rain. Ans- The poet has used vivid imagery throughout the poem to express the moods and nature of the Rain. ► When the poet calls the Rain ―sigh of the sea‖, there is a relief expressed in the lines. The sea is relieved and sighs that now that it has rained there will be fresh water brought to it by the rivers that run down the hills and mountains. ► The poet calls the Rain ―a laughter of the field‖ because when it rains the fields are nourished and it is a sign that there will be fertility. So, it brings greenery and prosperity and raises the productivity. So, the fields are happy and they laugh and make merry. ► The Rain is also called ―tears of heaven‖ as when those silver threads pour down from the sky‘s tomb, it feels as if the heaven is crying, and those drops are delivered to the nature on the Earth by the hands of God. Q.6. Draw a parallel between the rain and a song. Ans- Just as a song comes from the heart, the rain comes from the heaven. A song, like the rain, is inspired from the various aspects of Nature. Both the rain and a song provide happiness and spiritual and emotional satisfaction. A song satisfies the thirst of the soul, while rain satisfies the thirst of the fields. Poetic devices used in the poem:

A. Personification- A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities. NOTE: This device has been used throughout the poem, as the rain has been personified. Eg:

When I cry the hills laugh

I touch gently at the windows

I am the sigh of the seas; the laughter of the field B. Metaphor-A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have

something in common. Eg: I am dotted silver threads

I am beautiful pearls plucked from the crown of Ishtar Wings of death My announcement is a welcome song

C. Simile- A stated comparison (usually formed with ―like‖ or ―as‖) between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common. Eg: I am like earthly life

D. Alliteration- The repetition of an initial consonant sound. Eg:

I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven

I am beautiful pearls plucked from

I am a messenger of mercy

E. Allusion- A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event --real or fictional, from history or mythology. Eg:

I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the crown of Ishtar (here, reference is made to Ishtar who belonged to mythology)

F. Exaggeration/ Hyperbole- Eg:

I descend and embrace the flowers and The trees in a million little ways An example of the rhyme scheme- There is no specific rhyme scheme followed in the poem.

Attempt the following questions in brief paragraphs:

a. How is the falling of rain like a ‗welcome song‘? b. In the poem ‗Song of the Rain,‘ how does rain help in establishing a bond between the field and the cloud? c. How is the arrival and the departure of rain announced? d. Write an autobiography of rain.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… THE BISHOP’S CANDLESTICKS (drama) Summary- The Bishop's Candlesticks is an extremely moving story. The play is based on an incident in Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables. The story revolves around three main characters. A Bishop is a noble and kind hearted soul. He does not mind selling away his silver to pay for a poor lady's house rent. He seems to have given away quite a large part of his savings as charity. They are now very poor and have just a pair of silver candlesticks left. The Bishop's sister is a typical practical lady. She is worried about the future. There is not much money left with the Bishop. The house is running on her money. She learns that the Bishop has sold the silver salt and pepper shakers to pay the house rent of poor Mere Gringoire. This upsets her. They have had their supper and she decides to retire for the night. A convict walks in through the open doors. He is desperate. Hungry and having escaped from jail, the convict threatens to kill the Bishop. The Bishop is calm and controlled. He offers to give him some food to eat. He also listens to his story. We begin to understand the great hardships borne by the convict. He had to steal some bread to feed his ailing wife. He was arrested and sent to jail. Meanwhile, his wife died. The poor man was treated cruelly in jail. Finally,one day he escaped from jail but was again unable to find any food. That's when he comes to the Bishop's house. The Bishop gives him food to eat and a place to sleep. The convict is too tempted by the silver candle sticks and steals them. The sister is extremely hurt and offended by the convict‘s behavior. The convict is seen roaming around suspiciously and is caught by the sergeant. The convict is brought back to the Bishop's house, when they discover the candlesticks on him. The Bishop's sister in relieved to get back the silver candlesticks. But the Bishop tells the sergeant that they were a gift from him to the convict. He gives them to the convict and shows him a safe escape route.

Q.1. Do you think the Bishop was right in selling the salt cellars? Why? Why not? Ans- Yes, the Bishop did the right thing to sell the salt cellars in order to help Marie‘s mother pay the rent for her house. With the money that he got from selling the salt cellars, the old lady was able to pay her rent. The Bishop exhibited kindness and benevolence (generosity) through this action. Q.2. The convict says, “ I am tool old a bird to be caught with chaff”. What does he mean by the statement? Ans- The convict has gone through a period where he confronted only brutal treatment, merciless torture and no love and faith. When the bishop told him that he would go inside to bring the keys to give him food, he considered this to be a trick to get him caught and be arrested. He warned the bishop not to leave, as he thought this to be a trick to get him caught. Q.3. Before leaving, the convict asks the Bishop to bless him, what brought about this change in him? Ans. The drama sees a transformation of an atheist (non-believer of God) into a theist (one who believes in God). The convict at the beginning proclaimed his hatred and strong dislike towards church and preaching. But, the Bishop, with simple messages like, kindness, sympathy, love soothed his sore heart and brought back human sensibilities in him. At the end the Bishop showed the highest level of mercy and compassion and made him feel the power of love and mercy. His journey to Paris was a new beginning to him. To walk on the new path for a better life, he thought blessing from the Bishop would do him good. OR The Bishop had shown kindness and affection towards the Convict. He had shown faith in the Convict. The warm attitude of the Bishop had changed the Convict‘s approach towards life. He had lost all faith in goodness of people after his miserable experience in prison. He had become rough and beastly. He had lost his identity and had remained just a number by which people called him. The Bishop‘s friendship had begun to warm up his heart, and he expected that the Bishop‘s blessings would help him take a straight path in life. Q.4. Character sketch of the Bishop:

selfless and generous- donated generously for the poor, even sold things from his own household to help the needy

caring and thoughtful- gave Marie his own muffler so that she could be warm

calm and composed- he did not get agitated and afraid when he saw the Convict break into his house

friendly and warm- called the Convict his friend, offered food and a bed to the Convict in spite of knowing that he was a wanted prisoner

optimistic – showed faith in the Convict and believed that he was capable enough to start a new life

behaved like a sensible gentleman- wanted to protect the Convict from being sent back to jail

did not differentiate between people- treated all of his parishioners equally

believed in forgiving people- did not press charges on the Convict for stealing his candlesticks

cared for his sister‘s emotions Q.5. Character sketch of the Convict:

cared for his wife- was ready to steal for her

ten years in prison had hardened his heart

had turned beastly after the despicable behavior that he received from the prison keepers

did not feel remorse or guilt when he stole the Bishop‘s candlesticks

sensitive and emotional- his heart melted because of the Bishop‘s kindness

he was surprised with himself when he realized that the Bishop‘s friendly attitude had awakened in him the need to have a fresh start in life

Q.6. Character sketch of Persome:

cared about her brother- treated him like a child and looked after him

discriminating between the rich and the poor

has a sharp tongue and spoke bluntly

haughty- proud about being the Bishop‘s sister

callous- insensitive towards Marie‘s mother and believed that people were taking advantage of her brother‘s kindness

exaggerates the situation when she discovers that the Convict had entered into her home

suspicious about the Convict‘s intentions, and did not want to give him food and shelter.

Q.7. “.....now I‟m a number 15729 --------- I‟ve lived in hell for ten years.” What was the background of this remark made by the convict?

Ans. By saying that he is not a man now but number 15729, the convict reveals the tragic life he had in the prison for the last ten years. The prison was like a hell where he was chained up like a wild animal and lashed like a hound. He was fed on filth, covered with vermin, slept on boards, and if he complained, he was lashed again. This torture had taken away his soul changing him into a beast, so much so that he had forgotten that he was a human being and just remembered himself by the number given to him in the prison, i.e., 15729.

Attempt the following questions in brief paragraphs:

a. The Bishop is a living example of the greatest tenet of Christianity—forgiveness. Justify this statement by giving evidence from the text.

b. Identify the incidents which changed the convict‘s life. Do you think the convict should be treated the way the Bishop treated him to reform?

c. Why does the Bishop allow the convict to take away the candlesticks and escape to Paris? d. Why was Bishop attached to the candlesticks and what did he do with them in the end.

…………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… THE SEVEN AGES (poem)

Background of the Poem William Shakespeare was a great playwright and poet who reflected the intricacies and realities of life in a very subtle manner. In his famous play 'As You Like It', Jacques gives a speech about the seven stages in a man's life. Jacques' speech became a masterpiece and extracts of the speech are often quoted in literature. Since Jacques was a melancholy character, he presents a negative picture of life. Summary In this poem, Shakespeare describes various stages of human life. He compares this world to a stage where men and women as actors and actresses perform the drama of human life. The birth and death of human beings is similar to the entrance and exit of characters of stage. Shakespeare says that each human being performs seven parts in this small drama on the stage of the world. Stage 1- He makes his entry as a baby who is fully dependent upon others. All that he does now is to cry and vomit in the nursing mother's arms. He needs to be constantly attended to. Stage 2- This stage ends when the infant grows into a school child. Shakespeare describes him as a boy having a face fresh like morning, with his bag hanging on his side, walking unwillingly to school. He is reluctant to leave the protected environment of his home. Stage 3- When time passes onwards the schoolboy transformed into a youngster. He is not an adult yet and due to lack of maturity, he indulges in infatuations. He composes songs for his beloved and sighs deeply for her. He tries to explain his feelings through his songs. Stage 4-The young emerges as a brave soldier. His desires and ambitions give a more aggressive look. He has become hasty and fights over minor issues. He willingly sacrifices his life for his honour. He is also hot headed and rash in his actions now. Stage 5-The age of bravery soon passes and man moves to a mature and sensible phase when he plays the role of a judge. He has cold, unemotional eyes and wears a beard of formal cut. He gives lectures to people and delivers wise sayings. Man, having acquired wisdom, prosperity and social standing through experience, begins enjoying life. his social status is visible in his expanded waistline. Stage 6-The stage also comes to an end and the sixth age arrives. The wise judge is an old man now. His legs are thin and body has shrunk and his strong voice changes into a squeaking voice. His spectacles hang loosely on his nose. He has lost his firm and assertive nature.

Stage 7-The seventh and the last stage of a man's life is the time of exit the world. He is once again dependent upon others as he was in infancy. He has become forgetful and has been forgotten by others. He loses his abilities of sight, sound and taste. He has lost his teeth. Shakespeare has called this age second childhood.

Poetic devices used in the poem: 1. Analogy: the comparison of two things by explaining one to show how it is similar to the other. Eg-All the world's a stage And all the men and women merely players; The word ―World‖ is compared with ―Stage‖ where ―All the men and women‖ are compared with ―Players‖ 2. Caesura: the pausing or stopping within a line of poetry caused by needed punctuation. Eg-

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail The punctuation of commas (,) are used to pause the phrase in order to strengthen the meaning and to help the reader get the meaning of it. 3. Imagery: Imagery involves one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight). Eg-

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, (line 17)

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;(line 21)

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice (line 23)

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all (line 25)

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."(line 28) 4. Simile: the comparison of two unlike things by saying one is like or as the other Eg-

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

It simile the passion of men in their romance age with the “furnace” (Sighing like furnace) 5. Repetition- Repeats the same word or phrase in one line to emphasise an idea Eg- sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything An example of the rhyme scheme- This poem has been written in free verse (a poem without either a rhyme or a rhythm scheme, although rhyme may be used, just without a pattern. ) Theme: All The World is Stage. The central idea of the poem is about life and it comparison to the stage. The stage is the analogy of life with men and women as the players.

Attempt the following questions in brief paragraphs: a. What does the poet mean by entries and exits? b. What parallelism has been drawn between the stage and the world? c. Explain bubble reputation. d. What is the theme of the poem? e. Describe the last stage of man, according to the poet.

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OH, I WISH I'D LOOKED AFTER ME TEETH (poem)

Summary; In ―Oh, I Wish I‘d Looked After Me Teeth‖, the poet Pam Ayres expresses her anguish over her decayed teeth and cavities. She regrets over the fact that she kept on eating both hard and soft sweets of all kinds. She says that she never noticed the decay while she brushed her teeth yet the conclusion was decayed teeth. The poem is in a form of warning to children who eat too many sweets. It has been written in a humorous tone. The poet looks back and recalls the different kinds of sweets she had eaten when she was young. She now wishes that she had resisted the temptation to eat sweets indiscriminately. She wishes that she had paid more attention to dental care. She was too careless and never listened to her mother's instructions about dental care. She had never spent too much tome brushing the teeth.

She tried to brush with up and down strokes, put lot of tooth paste on her teeth, but the damage was already done. Decay had given way to cavities and eventually to drillings and fillings. Now during adulthood, the poet regrets but nothing can change the condition of her teeth. Painful injections and visits to the dentist have become her routine. The poet feels so miserable and guilty over how she used to mock at her mothers ugly and false teeth. She had made fun of her mother's dentures, and now she herself has to undergo harsh dental treatment to save her teeth. A fate similar to her mother's teeth is waiting for her now.

Q.1. "…But up-and-down brushin' And pokin' and fussin' Didn't seem worth the time-I could bite!"

What do these lines convey?

Ans-The lines mean that the poet would brush her teeth just for the sake of brushing. She would rather spend that time eating sweets. Q.2. Why did the poet go to the dentist? How could she have avoided it? Ans : The poet had neglected her teeth. Decay, cavities had already appeared and there was no way the visit to the dentist could have been avoided. If she had not been so careless and stubborn in youth, this could have been avoided. Q.3. “When I had more tooth there than fillin‟ To pass the gobstoppers” (i) Explain the first line. (ii) What does „gobstopper‟ mean? (iii) Why did the poet eat it? Ans. (i) The first line refers to the time when the poet had teeth and no cavities to be filled or otherwise. These were strong good teeth. (ii) Gobstopper means a large, hard sweet. (iii) The poet in her youth had been very fond of sweets. She was not far-sighted or strong willed to resist the temptation of eating them. When she was young, she had not visualised the dangers of cavities and painful teeth and gums. Q.4. But now comes the reckonin' It's me they are beckonin'. Explain the above lines. Ans- The poet feels that she has to face the consequences of mocking her mother's false teeth. It is her time now to go through the same fate. An example of the rhyme scheme: When I think of the lollies I licked And the liquorice allsorts I picked, Sherbet dabs, big and little, All that hard peanut brittle, My conscience gets horribly pricked. The rhyme scheme is a a b b a

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BESTSELLER (prose) Summary: The narrator was travelling in a chair-car heading towards Pittsburg on business. He saw a passenger hurling one of the bestselling novels to the floor. He recognized the passenger as his old acquaintance John A. Pescud, a travelling salesman for a plate-glass company. During the journey they discussed about American Bestsellers. Pescud remarked that the story of bestsellers was so uninteresting because of its unlikely real life situations and its insignificant connection with ordinary human beings. He also commented that in bestselling novels, scenes and characters are not consistent with reality and life. As they talk further on, he told the narrator about his marriage. His wife‘s was Jessie Allyn, the only daughter of the oldest family in Virginia. Her father Colonel Allyn possessed the reputation of the biggest man and the finest quality in Virginia. Pescud told the narrator how they met in a journey where he had least expected to find his life partner. Pescud narrated the incident how he chased her all the way on their journey from Illinois to Cincinnati. Like an American hero, he followed her up till her home and decided to talk. The next morning he visited Allyns and not only met the Colonel but also impressed him by his honest motives. Finally, Pescud told that two evening later he got a chance to meet Allyns alone. Colonel inquired about his family and was convinced that he was right for his daughter and got the two married. Pescud told the narrator that he would get down at Coketown in order to buy Petunia cutting for his wife as she was fond of them. Q1.What was john Pescud's opinion of bestselling novels?

Ans- Pescud believed that the stories about bestsellers were not realistic. The themes revolved around romances between royals and commoners, fencing, imaginative encounters and all the things that never happen in real life. In real life, one would always select a prospective bride from a similar background. Q.2. What does John say about himself since his last meeting with the narrator? Ans- John tells the narrator that he had become a successful salesperson since the last time that they had met. He had acquired a piece of property and was doing very well at work. His salary had been raised considerably, too. Q.3. How did John's first meeting with Jessie's father go? Ans- For the first few seconds that Pescud met Colonel Ally, he was very nervous. He quickly composed himself. He told the colonel everything about himself. He stated his proposal and made his intentions of marrying Jessie very clear to her father. He was transparent about his salary and career. The colonel eventually warmed up to Pescud, and laughed when Pescud narrated anecdotes and stories. Hence, the first meeting between John and Colonel Allyn was a successful one. Q.4. Why did John get off at Coketown?

Ans- John got off at Coketown because his wife had fancied some petunias in one of the houses, and she wanted to plant them in her own home. So, he thought that he would drop off at Coketown in the night and see if he could dig up some of the cuttings and blossoms for her.

Q.5. John is a hypocrite. Do you agree? Why? Why not? Ans- Yes, John Pescud comes across as a hypocrite because, on the one hand, he criticised romantic bestsellers. On the other hand, he himself had a romantic marriage. He had called bestselling novels melodramatic and unrealistic. He had spotted Jessie on a train, had trailed/followed her to her hometown, met her father, wooed her in the style of any romantic hero in a bestselling novel and then married her. Thus, he did not practice what he preached about bestsellers, and appeared to be a hypocrite. Q.6. Character sketch of John A Pescud.

hardworking an ideal salesman- could sell his product easily to customers, got promotions at regular intervals

honest and transparent in his approach towards Jessie and Colonel Allyn

humble and polite- did not hesitate to tell the truth about his life to Colonel Allyn

friendly and jovial- made friends with Colonel Allyn easily

courteous and chivalrous- did not break the norms of wooing a girl, waited to take her father's approval before he courted Jessie

loving and caring toward his wife0 got off at Coketown just to get petunias for her

respectful towards Colonel Allyn

a romantic person at heart Attempt the following questions in brief paragraphs:

a. How did Jessie know that Pescud was following her? b. Pescud is short and not the stuff that heroes are made of. Yet he wins Jessie. What do you think were the main

reasons that went in his favour? c. Discuss the significance of the title "Bestseller". What role does it play in John Pescud's life? d. Give a character sketch of Jessie. e. give a character sketch of Colonel Alyn

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

LONG READING TEXT- GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

Part 3- Voyage to Laputa

Overview

Gulliver steps onto the floating island- LAPUTA People- He finds them very strange even though they are of a size similar to his. Their heads are slanted to the left or

right, and their clothes have pictures of either musical instruments or astronomical signs. The people here have terribly short attention spans, so they carry around "Flappers- used for hitting other people

during conversation in order to keep them focused. Houses are built very poorly and with no right angles. This is odd because the men here are obsessed with

mathematics. The people here never have peace of mind. They are constantly worrying about dangers such as the possibility that the sun might go out.

Gulliver learns that Laputa is floating above Balnibarbi, the island on which he landed his canoe. Laputa contains 10,000 acres and is perfectly circular. It is able to move about the surface of Balnibarbi but not beyond its borders, and it can move up and down because of its magnetic forces.

The women often cheat on their husbands, especially with their preferred men from Balnibarbi, but the men are so wrapped up in mathematics that they do not notice.

The King of Laputa is not remotely interested in the government of England. At Balnibarbi Gulliver meets Munodi: Munodi's home is beautiful and kept well, but when the two travel out into the

country Gulliver finds that the rest of the land is barren and sadly kept. Munodi explains that this is because many years back, people from Balnibarbi visited Laputa, and when they returned they decided to change things to a more academic way of living.

Experiments performed at the Academy Of Lagado

scientists trying to extract sunlight from cucumbers. trying to turn excrement back into the food. trying to make gunpowder from ice. designing new methods of ploughing the fields for better yields doctor curing patients by blowing into them. machines producing random set of words linguist removing all elements of language except nouns scientists making wafers with mathematical formulae written on them. trying to employ spiders as weavers of silk.

Gulliver expresses his concern at the uselessness of these experiments as they only tried to reverse natural processes

Glubbdubdrib- the island of sorcerers or magicians.

Gulliver learns that the governor has the power to bring back the dead for the purpose of serving him. Gulliver is given the option to bring back anyone he would like. He chooses Alexander the Great, who tells Gulliver

that he actually died because he drank too much. He then brings back a parade of other famous dead. Gulliver spends a great deal of time speaking with various famous dead people. He speaks with Homer, Aristotle, and

Descartes and even gets them into conversation with one another. Nearly everything that he learns is different from what has been recorded in the history books. Swift shows here that

history cannot be trusted, especially because those involved typically are not the ones who write their own history. In Luggnagg, Gulliver meets a king who has his courtiers lick the floor as they approach him, crawling on their hands

and knees. Once again, we find Swift commenting on the ridiculous rules of royals who abuse their power. Immortality turns out not to be as wonderful as many people think. The Struldbrugs are depressed, perhaps because

there is no reason to act quickly. They have all the time in the world. Meanwhile, they have plenty of time to see what mortals have done for themselves and their society in their fleeting time alive.

Satire in Part 3; "In Part III Swift is concerned mainly with attacking extreme devotion to theoretical reasoning at the expense

of the practical demands of living. His satire is directed toward what he felt was the dogmatism of the scientific community of his time, and against certain political practices and events he found objectionable. Swift's comments about extreme devotion to one way of thinking and/or to one favored discipline apply not only to his own time and country." …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Part 4: Voyage to the Land of Houyhnhnms

Overview- Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, but after the mutiny of his crew and a long

confinement in his cabin, he arrives in an unknown land. This land is populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures who serve the Houyhnhnms. The word 'Houyhnhnm', in their tongue, signifies a Horse, and its etymology, the Perfection of Nature." Gulliver tries to explain war and the reasons why humans kill each other. His master says that Yahoos in England are

worse than Yahoos because they use their reason to gain power but use it badly. He paints a particularly disturbing picture of lawyers and doctors, saying that lawyers are the stupidest among the

Yahoos and doctors are corrupt and seldom cure their patients. Gulliver's description of the horses, the Houyhnhnms, is almost idyllic: "The behaviour of these animals was . . .

orderly and rational . . . acute and judicious." Houyhnhnms live simple lives wholly devoted to reason. They speak clearly, they act justly, and they have simple laws. Each Houyhnhnm knows what is right and acts accordingly. They are untroubled by greed, politics, or lust. They live a life of cleanliness and exist in peace and serenity. The only word for evil is "Yahoo― Swift defines Houyhnhnm as meaning "perfection of nature." The horses are uncorrupted by passion — either base or noble. They are devoid, for example, of charity. Also, they are not subject to temptation. They manifest innocent human nature. What they do — and what they say and think — is akin to human nature, but

the character of the Houyhnhnms is far from Gulliver's. They are ignorant of many things which most people would consider venial. They cannot, for example, understand

lying — or even the necessity for lying.

The Yahoos They are filthy and they stink. They are omnivorous but seem to prefer meat and garbage. They are "the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals which nature ever produced. They are mischievous and

malicious. The Yahoos, however, are not merely animals; they are animals who are naturally vicious and represent Mankind

depraved. Swift describes them in deliberately filthy and disgusting terms, often using metaphors drawn from dung. In terms of

their evolution, the words used to describe the Yahoos are "degenerating by degrees." Swift positions Gulliver midway — figuratively and literally — between the super-rational, innocent horses (the

Houyhnhnms) and the filthy, depraved Yahoos. Gulliver, however, reacts to the Yahoos with immediate and overpowering detestation and is horrified by the Yahoos'

similarity to him.

He lacks the humility to see himself as a sort of Yahoo. Rather, his pride leads him to try to become a horse.

CHARACTERS

Lemuel Gulliver: At the beginning of the novel, Gulliver is a man through whose eyes the reader sees the inhabitants of the places he visits. Mostly, he recounts his observations in an expressionless mode. He appears to have no desires but is lead from place to place by fate. He gives detailed description without judgement. He often fails to see the greedy, weird, morally corrupt nature of the people around him even when it‘s all too clear to the reader.

However, Gulliver‘s stay in the land of Houyhnhnms exposes his loss of objectivity and innocence. He finds himself midway between the rationality of Houyhnhnms and the bestial nature of Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms impress him so much and the Yahoos disgust him so much that he becomes obsessed with trying to become like Houyhnhnms. Finally, he gives way to an insanity in which he seems to believe himself to be Houyhnhnms and rejects even the best of humans as Yahoos. At the end of the book, he is still trying to readjust to life among humans.

Swift also emphasizes the importance of self-understanding. Gulliver is initially remarkably lacking in self-reflection and self-awareness. He makes no mention of his emotions, passions, dreams, or aspirations, and he shows no interest in describing his own psychology to us. Accordingly, he may strike us as frustratingly hollow or empty.

By the end, he has come close to a kind of twisted self-knowledge in his deranged belief that he is a Yahoo. His disgust of the human condition, shown in his shabby treatment of the generous Don Pedro, extends to himself as well, so that he ends the novel in a thinly disguised state of self-hatred.

Laputians: The Laputians represent the folly of theoretical knowledge that has no relation to human life and no use in the actual world. As a profound cultural conservative, Swift was a critic of the ‗new-fangled‟ ideas springing up around him at the dawn of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, a period of great intellectual experimentation and theorization. He much preferred the traditional knowledge that had been tested over centuries. Laputa symbolizes the absurdity of knowledge that has never been tested or applied.

Even down below in Balnibarbi, where the local academy is more inclined to practical application, knowledge is not made socially useful. Indeed, theoretical knowledge there has proven positively disastrous, resulting in the ruin of agriculture and architecture and the impoverishment of the population. Even up above, the pursuit of theoretical understanding has not improved the lot of the Laputans. They have few material worries, dependent as they are upon the Balnibarbians below. But they are tormented by worries about the trajectories of comets and other astronomical speculations: their theories have not made them wise, but neurotic and disagreeable. The Laputians do not symbolize reason itself but rather the pursuit of a form of knowledge that is not directly related to the improvement of human life.

The Flapper: Laputians are so distracted with their internal world of Deep Thoughts that they need to be reminded of what they are doing at any given time. This is why all the Laputian nobility must be accompanied by a servant at all times. These servants carry a kind of rattle at the end of a long stick that they use to touch the mouth of a Laputian who is supposed to be speaking, the ear of a Laputian who is supposed to be listening, and the eye of a Laputian who is supposed to be looking at something.

The Laputian King: The Laputian King is the same as all of his people except more so: he is a representative model Laputian. This means that he is more than usually distracted. When Gulliver first goes to meet him, it takes an hour for the King to notice that there is someone to meet him. The Laputian King does not think highly of Gulliver because Gulliver's math and music are not as good as the Laputians'. Lord Munodi: Lord Munodi is the one sensible man in all of Laputa and is mocked and hated by all. Lord Munodi belongs to an extremely important family with a large estate on Balnibarbi. This is the only thing that keeps him from being totally thrown out of Laputa. He is despised by the King and his court for not adopting new and experimental modes of managing his family estates along with everyone else. Munodi is a rare example of practical intelligence. Having tried unsuccessfully to convince his fellows of their misguided public policies, he has given up and is content to practice what he preaches on his own estates. He is a figure of great common sense and humanity amid theoretical delusions and impractical fantasizing. As a figure isolated from his community, Munodi is similar to Gulliver, though Gulliver is unaware of his alienation while Munodi suffers acutely from his. Indeed, in Munodi we glimpse what Gulliver could be if he were wiser: a figure able to think critically about life and society. Lord Munodi's good sense and old-fashioned ways make him an excellent companion for Gulliver. It is Lord Munodi who manages to get a guide for Gulliver through the Royal Academy in Lagado, much to Gulliver's interest.

The Lagado Royal Academy: The Lagado Royal Academy is a lampoon of the Royal Academy in London in Swift's day (Lagado is the main city of Balnibarbi). The experiments Gulliver records – men trying to turn excrement back into food, extract sunbeams from cucumbers and so on – are examples of the seeming idiocy of academicians. It is believed that most of the ludicrous experiments mentioned in the book had actually been carried out by the scientist members of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, a scientific society founded in 1660.

Thus, the Lagado Royal Academy satirises abstract or theoretical knowledge which is often pursued for its own sake, with no thought to the practical applications or consequences in the real world. Even today, huge amount of public is spent worldwide on projects that may or may not have long-term results for human kind.

The Projectors: The Projectors believe in pursuing science and philosophy without any regard for practical outcomes. The

projectors pay little attention to their hygiene or grooming. They're completely absorbed in their projects. The question that Swift raises is- are these projects really worth this kind of concentration? The Projectors want to melt ice into gunpowder, to use spider webs to replace silk threads, softening marble to be used in pillows, condensing air into a dry powder etc. They focus on the complex and abstract, which renders all of their grand plans totally useless in practice. Swift doesn't let his satire of scientific life pass without yet another stab at politics in eighteenth-century England. Gulliver claims that the political Projectors go beyond funny, into sad with their madness. They go so far as to believe that government should be staffed by people who deserve their positions. Gulliver finds it so ridiculously farfetched and unlikely that government will ever be able to do its job that he won't comment on most of their projects – clearly, sarcastic on Swift's part.

The Island of Glubbdubdrib: Gulliver can't immediately find a ship to take him from Balnibarbi to the island of Luggnagg. He

is escorted to a nearby island called Glubbdubdrib, a secret island. The Glubbdubdribbians are a race of magicians. The island has a Governor who raises people from the dead for a term of 24 hours (as ghosts). He can raise a given person once every three months. Gulliver befriends the Governor, who offers to raise any dead person Gulliver wants to meet, but only if Gulliver confines his questions to the period this person was alive. On the first day, Gulliver calls up several famous heroes: Alexander the Great, who conquered all of Greece and Persia (modern day Iran); Hannibal, a general from North Africa who fought the Ancient Romans by crossing the Alps into northern Italy; Julius Caesar, the first Roman Emperor, and his chief rival, Pompey the Great; and Marcus Junius Brutus, who assassinated Caesar in an attempt to preserve the Roman Republic from becoming a hereditary monarchy. Gulliver finds that heroes are not what they are represented to be. Gulliver finds out that several famous stories about Alexander and Hannibal are not true. Alexander didn't die from a fever, he reveals. He died from drinking too much. And Hannibal never broke any rocks blocking him from the Alps using vinegar. This introduces one of the key themes of this section of the novel: that history is a misrepresentation of facts. Gulliver also finds an opportunity to talk to famous writers. He meets two hugely famous writers, Homer and Aristotle. Gulliver makes a jab at people who spend their time commenting on other people's literature. He points out that neither Homer nor Aristotle know the people who got famous for commenting on their works: in Homer's case, Eustathius and Didymus, and in Aristotle's case, John Duns Scotus and Ramus. Gulliver believes that you become famous for pioneering your own great literature and ethical models, not by criticising or appreciating someone else's work. Instead of endless analysis of what other people have said or written, he prefers useful learning: applied science and practical philosophy, which considers what is right and wrong. The King of Luggnagg: Gulliver's stopover in Luggnagg is the result of a bureaucratic snag. He's not allowed to leave the island until he has received official permission to do so after meeting the Luggnaggian King. This King's behaviour is yet another example of random cruelty that too much power inspires in a person. Gulliver memorizes a set expression to be allowed to speak to the King, "May your celestial majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons and a half". This super-complimentary expression is an example of formal language being used in court settings to flatter the people in power and not to be truthful. Courtly life makes lying a necessary tool to keep people in power happy. The King makes Gulliver kneel in front of him and lick the ground in front of his feet. This is common practice in this kingdom. The ground can be very gritty because the King doesn't always order it cleaned. Sometimes, after greeting the King this way, his subjects stand before him with their mouths full of dust, desperately trying not to cough because coughing in front of the King is against the law and could get them executed. We also learn that sometimes, the King assassinates people he's not fond of by sprinkling the ground in front of his feet with poison. So, when they greet the King, his subjects never know if they're going to live or die from the experience. What's more, accidents have happened in the past where the poison hasn't been properly cleaned up and people have died. When Gulliver finally leaves Luggnagg, the King gives him presents and a written letter of recommendation to the Emperor of Japan.

The Struldbrugs: The struldbrugs are totally unique to Luggnagg. They have normal, mortal parents and children.

The struldbrugs are immortal. They are marked by a dot above the left eyebrow that changes colour as they grow older until it is black at age forty. These immortals are not eternally young. They age normally until eighty. Once the struldbrugs are 80 years old, they have "not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men" but they are also opinionated and cranky because they're worried about living forever. Thus, the struldbrugs provide a satire of both old age and the dream of living forever. Gulliver's description of their decayed physical condition is distressing. The problems with living forever as an old person include: The marriages never last – by law, they get dissolved automatically at 80 – because no two people could stand each other for eternity.

According to the law of Luggnagg, the struldbrugs become legally dead at 80 and can no longer hold their own property. This is to stop them from taking over the world and holding it forever. But in practice, it also means that the struldbrugs have to beg for existence. Language changes all the time. So, struldbrugs over the age of 200 can't understand the words of the younger generation. The pathetic condition of the struldbrugs makes fun of the fantasies of immortality that Gulliver starts with. He imagines that he would hold all the power and knowledge in the world due to his long life. Really, becoming hugely wealthy and learning everything would mean depriving future generations of their own opportunities to own land and invent new things. Gulliver dreams that, if he lives forever, the world would stagnate around him and nothing would ever change – the world would be fixed in one place to suit him.

Japan: Gulliver takes a lot of time to locate the different imaginary islands he visits, but the one place that Gulliver actually

visits during his travels – the one place that is both real and not England – is Japan. As Gulliver is planning his route home from Laputa, he travels from Laputa to Balnibarbi, the continent below it, and then northwest to the island of Luggnagg, and then northwest again to Japan. From Japan, Gulliver manages to get passage to England by pretending to be a Dutch merchant. Posing as a shipwrecked Dutchman, Gulliver uses his letter of introduction from the Luggnaggian King to ask the Emperor of Japan for the right to travel to "Nangasac," presumably Nagasaki, to rejoin his countrymen. The speed with which Gulliver skims over a real foreign country, Japan, to get back to telling tales of fake foreign countries might emphasize that the target of Swift's satire is closer to home. Houyhnhnm Land

Like Brobdingnag, Houyhnhnm (pronounced "whinim") Land is completely cut off from other nations. There are two distinct kinds of people living on Houyhnhnm Land, and it is the differences between these two that form the final part of the satire of Gulliver's Travels..

The Houyhnhnms

The Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rational existence, a life governed by sense and moderation of which philosophers have long dreamed.

The Houyhnhnms feel no need to lie nor any word for lying. The best example is when Gulliver has to explain lying as "the thing which is not" a phrase that the Master Horse uses to get as close as he can to "lie" in Houyhnhnm language.

They do not use force but only strong convincing power. The Houyhnhnms seem like model citizens, and Gulliver‘s intense grief when he is forced to leave them suggests

that they have made an impact on him greater than that of any other society he has visited. The Houyhnhnms don't need laws or a special class of lawyers because they are completely governed by reason. Breaking laws is not rational, so they don't need to spell out their codes of behaviour. They all agree about the

rightness of what to do. They don't understand opinions or factions. To have an opinion about something, you have to speculate about

something you can't know for sure. The Houyhnhnms accept only hard facts. They value "friendship and benevolence" above everything else. The Houyhnhnms also practice strict family planning, dictating that the parents of two females should exchange a

child with a family of two males, so that the male-to-female ratio is perfectly maintained. The Houyhnhnms have a strong class system. Gulliver refers to "the race of inferior Houyhnhnms" who are born to be

servants. These animals are allowed to have more kids so they can serve the high-born Houyhnhnms better. Different colors of Houyhnhnms also appear to be better suited to different stations in life. The Houyhnhnms eat a restricted, balanced diet which keeps them healthy until they are ready to die of old age. Their lives seem harmonious and happy, although quite lacking in vigour, challenge, and excitement Houyhnhnms seem too good to be true: after all, their society is one without love, energy, or really any reason to

keep struggling or striving for anything. They just keep going on an even level, not too happy, not too sad, but comfortable in their own excellence. Maybe

the Houyhnhnms themselves are a satire of the pursuit of reason at all costs. Although they are examples of virtue and rationality, the horses are also dull, simple, and lifeless. Their language is underdeveloped and they do not understand the complexities of human nature. Their lives do not have the complicated qualities of selfishness, love, hate, and all other emotions. In other words, the

Houyhnhnms‘ society is perfect for Houyhnhnms, but it is hopeless for humans.

The Master Horse: The Master Horse is the gray horse whom Gulliver first meets when he's being attacked by Yahoos upon his arrival in Houyhnhnm Land. Gulliver thinks of himself as serving the Master Horse. The main reason the Master Horse appears in this novel is to sharpen Gulliver's comparisons of the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos. (Refer to the previous write-up on The Houyhnhnms for more details.) The Sorrel Nag :The sorrel nag is the Master Horse's servant. When describing horse colors, "sorrel" means reddish brown, and "nag" means run-down or not as good as a thoroughbred horse. He seems to be a member of that servant class of horses the Master Horse mentions.

The Yahoos: Gulliver first meets Yahoos when he runs across a herd of deformed animals with hair on their bodies. They

seem agile. The females have bare faces, without the long, goatish beards of the men. These creatures are violent and easily frightened. When Gulliver strikes one with the flat part of his sword, a whole bunch of them swarm around him attacking him. Swift describes the Yahoos as vile and savage creatures, filthy and with unpleasant habits, resembling human beings far too closely for the liking of Gulliver. The Yahoos are primitive creatures representing the distasteful materialism and ignorant elitism Swift encountered in Britain. Over the years, they have completely lost all language and technology – a proof of the degeneration of mankind. The Master

Horse tells Gulliver a few things his people have observed about Yahoos which are comparable to humans:

They fight at little or no provocation- were violent and cowardly. They are endlessly greedy: they have an inexplicably fondness for shiny stones which they hoard secretly in their

kennels. This is a reference to human avarice. The Yahoos are also greedy for food- so much so that even if there are only 5 Yahoos supplied with enough

meat to fill 50, they will still attack each other for control of these supplies. They eat to excess so that they are prone to diseases just like human beings.

The Yahoos like sneaking up and stealing things or attacking – they hate doing things honestly and upfront. Yahoos are the only animals in Houyhnhnm Land who ever get sick. They treat their own illnesses with

"medicines" mixed from their own excrement. Yahoos, just like the rich, idle Englishmen are subject to the fashionable eighteenth-century disease of spleen, for

which the only remedy is hard work. The Yahoos symbolize man as the incorrigible sinner. They represent the fact that man is essentially governed by passions, seeks his own advantage, pursue pleasure

and avoid pain. Swift, thus, saw men as the disgusting and foul Yahoos and made it plain that reform of species was out of question.

Despite the fact that European Yahoos appear better than Houyhnhnm Land Yahoos, with their shaved faces,

clipped hair, filed nails, and clothing, in essential nature they are the same.

All Yahoos, no matter where they are from, love war, theft, bodily pleasures, luxury, medicine, and lying. In fact, both the Master Horse and Gulliver decide that the Houyhnhnm Land Yahoos are better than European

Yahoos because they don't try to hide their vicious natures under a mask of cleanliness and civilization. They are much stronger than Gulliver, and more able to stand the heat of the sun. To the Master Horse, it's very strange to see a Yahoo pretending to use reason to explain things that cannot be

rational, like war and lying than to see naked Yahoos acting according to their gross instincts. Because man has free will, and immoral and destructive behaviour. Instead of using reason to choose virtue, man

uses reason to enlarge his vices. Don Pedro de Mendez : Don Pedro de Mendez is the Portuguese captain who finds Gulliver on his island and encourages him to return to England. Don Pedro is a minor character in terms of plot, but he plays an important symbolic role at the end of the novel. He treats the half-deranged Gulliver with great patience, even tenderness, when he allows him to travel on his ship as far as Lisbon, offering to give him his own finest suit of clothes to replace the seaman‘s tatters, and giving him twenty pounds for his journey home to England. Don Pedro never judges Gulliver, despite Gulliver‘s abominably antisocial behavior on the trip back. Ironically, though Don Pedro shows the same kind of generosity and understanding that Gulliver‘s Houyhnhnm master earlier shows him, Gulliver still considers Don Pedro a repulsive Yahoo. Were Gulliver able to escape his own delusions, he might be able to see the Houyhnhnm-like reasonableness and kindness in Don Pedro‘s behavior. Don Pedro is thus the touchstone through which we see that Gulliver is no longer a reliable and objective commentator on the reality he sees but, rather, a shrewd observer of a reality. He is also the first Yahoo whom Gulliver speaks to after leaving Houyhnhnm Land. His generosity to Gulliver seems to cast at least a little bit of doubt on Gulliver's dire conclusions about the awfulness of man. Maybe Don Pedro is Swift's way of distancing the reader from Gulliver, even though he is our first person narrator.

Themes

Science: We see lots of different science in this book: both the Lilliputians and Gulliver are good with mechanics and engineering, the Brobdingnagians emphasize practical scientific education, and the Laputians favour math and music over all other subjects. What really seems to matter to Gulliver is how that science is applied. According to Gulliver, knowledge for its own sake or excessively abstract speculation is of no use. As his time in Laputa teaches us, what's the point of a mathematical equation for tailoring if the suit that comes out of it fits wrong and looks bad?

Individual Versus Society: Gulliver’s Travels explores the idea of utopia—an imaginary model of the ideal community. There

is something unsettling about the Houyhnhnms‘ indistinct personalities and about how they are the only social group that Gulliver encounters who do not have proper names. They are all so good and rational that they are more or less

interchangeable, without individual identities. There is absolute fusion with their society and lack of individuality.

Gulliver never speaks fondly or nostalgically about England, and every time he returns home, he is quick to leave again. Gulliver never complains explicitly about feeling lonely.Thus, if Swift‘s satire mocks the excesses of communal life, it may also mock the excesses of individualism in its portrait of a miserable and lonely Gulliver talking to his horses at home in England.

The Limits of Human Understanding: The idea that humans are not meant to know everything and that all understanding has

a natural limit is important in Gulliver‟s Travels. Swift singles out theoretical knowledge in particular for attack: his portrait of

the disagreeable and self-centered Laputians, who show blatant contempt for those who are not sunk in private theorizing, is a clear satire against those who pride themselves on knowledge above all else. Swift insists that there is a realm of understanding into which humans are simply not supposed to venture. Thus his depictions of rational societies, like Brobdingnag and Houyhnhnmland, emphasize not these people‘s knowledge or understanding of abstract ideas but their ability to live their lives in a wise and steady way. Satire: The general theme of Gulliver‟s Travels is a satirical examination of human nature. Swift satirizes the petty, envious, selfish, foolish and cruel traits of humanity and it‘s corrupt institutions, especially

government. The voyage to Laputa is a scathing attack upon science in the 16

th and 17

th centuries and reveals Swift‘s thorough

acquaintance the Royal Society, the leading publication of the scientific community of his day. The third voyage clearly shows Swift‘s disdain for abstract theory and ideology that is of no practical use to humans. But it is the final voyage that reveals Swift‘s ultimate satiric object- man‘s inability to come to terms with his true

nature. His ultimate object is to improve humanity and society and hopes to change people‘s attitudes and behaviours by holding them up to ridicule.

The abuse of power: Who holds power, why they hold it, and how they use or abuse it are recurring themes throughout the novel. Swift questions why certain people hold power over others. There are numerous examples of this in the book- The Laputian king, the king of Luggnagg, Lord Munodi as an example of rejection of power, the power that Houyhnhnm hold over the Yahoos. Excrement While it may seem a trivial or laughable motif, the recurrent mention of excrement in Gulliver‘s Travels actually has a serious philosophical significance in the narrative. It symbolizes everything that is crass and ignoble about the human body and about human existence in general. It obstructs any attempt to view humans as wholly spiritual creatures. Since the Enlightenment culture of eighteenth-century England tended to view humans optimistically as noble souls rather than vulgar bodies, Swift‘s emphasis on the common filth of life is a slap in the face of the philosophers of his day. Thus, when Gulliver urinates to put out a fire in Lilliput, or when Brobdingnagian flies defecate on his meals, or when the scientist in Lagado works to transform excrement back into food, we are reminded how very little human reason has to do with everyday existence. Swift suggests that the human condition in general is dirtier and lowlier than we might like to believe it is. The Ending The last chapter of Gulliver's Travels provides a logical conclusion to the development of Gulliver's character. From an ordinary man, Gulliver is transformed to a dedicated hater of mankind. In the first part of the novel, he observes two islands, Lilliput and Blefuscu, which symbolize the smallness and insignificance of warfare between England and France. In the second part of the novel, Gulliver visits Brobdingnag, where the giants of the island make him feel small. The third part pokes fun at airy and abstract thinking. And the fourth and final part, set in Houyhnhnm Land, reinforces all of the lessons Gulliver has learned so far: 1).England (and Europe in general) is foolish and violent.2).Being practical and simple, instead of luxurious and elaborate, leads to a better life.3).Actually, it's not just Europe that's bad, it's all of humankind.

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