Book Review: In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell

This collection of Russell contains different essays on social questions in which he scrutinizes many aspects of modern life. Spread over fifteen chapters, Russell makes interesting points, some of which I mention in this book review. 

Russell believes that formerly there was 'a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency' (p. 22). He also says that the more we know the more harm we can do each other (p. 151). Regarding fruits he adds that apricots and peaches were first cultivated in China (p. 35).

Writing about America Russell states that America is a man-made world; moreover it is a world which man has made by means of machinery (p. 143). In America 'educational commissions point out that fifteen hundred words are all that most people employ in business correspondence, and therefore suggest that all others should be avoided in the school curriculum' (p. 29).

Russell stresses on the need to introduce a communal element into architecture (p. 44). He further adds in the same chapter, that it is marriage and the family that introduce the instinct of privacy (p. 47). Russel enforces that the world needs two things. One is socialism and the other one is peace. Both are contrary to the interest of the most powerful men of our time (p. 80). He claims that in Germany and Italy Fascism arose out of Socialism, by rejecting whatever was anti-nationalistic in the orthodox program (p. 86).

Russell says that many modern inventions tend to make people silly (p. 136). He further says that 'the effect of mass production and elementary education is that stupidity is more firmly entrenched than at any other time since the rise of civilization' (p. 138). Russell writes that uniformity in matters of  thought and opinion is much more dangerous (p. 144). Regarding writers that author is of the view that it requires 'unusual firmness of character to produce good work and remain poor' (p. 106).

Russel also states that 'science and industrialism are nowadays the distinctive marks of western civilization' (p. 120). Russell says that he is afraid that Europe, however intelligent, has always been rather horrid, except in the brief period between 1848 and 1914 (p. 131). 

Overall in the book the author writes about superstition, power, economics, common characteristics of fascism, industrialism, war, socialism, skepticism, belief, civilization, science, peace, cinema, language, power, modernity, and many other ideas. 

Read More

Critical Writing on Leo Tolstoy's How Much Land Does a Man Need

The physical surrounding is a country side where the land is vast and beautiful. It is situated in Europe. The land of Bashkir community seems to have a tribal setup. This time period is the 19^th century in Eastern Europe where the Baskhirs live. It was a summer day with high intensity of heat as the protagonist felt the heat when he was ascending the hill.  

A peasant by the name of Pakhom travels in search of land to a country side where he is to meet a village elder. Here he negotiates with the village elder to buy some tract of land of the beautiful country side. A deal is finalized between them.

Pakhom starts his journey at dawn and has to make it to the starting point by sundown as per his agreement with the village elder. As Pakhom proceeds he is tempted to cover more land. He wishes to walk through more territory and he is promised to have the land which he marks on foot. Pakhom finally reaches the hill from where he started his journey. Exhausted and drained of all energy he could not even stand on his feet. He collapsed and died of exhaustion in front of the villagers. His death was marked by an ordinary grave dug out for him by his workers.

The village elder seemed a fool. In replying to Pakhom’s query the village elder said that all of the land on which Pakhom would walk would be given to him. Here this statement was a verbal irony as the village elder surely knew that Pakhom would not be able to complete his journey in time.

The narrator used foreshadowing by hinting that Pakhom was on an easy going journey and was to cover another three miles of the territory. Surely this shows that as the story would develop his greed for more land would also increase and would take him to any extent.

Pakhom is the major character involved whereas the village elder is the minor character. Pakhom is the protagonist in the story and the unnamed village elder is the antagonist. Pakhom is a dynamic character as the narrator explains aspects of this character steadily, ranging from his experiences of travelling to buy more land and the struggle on his walk as he is greedy for more land he wishes to buy on a very cheap price.

An external conflict develops between the main character Pakhom and the village elder. Pakhom who struggles to acquire more land thinks that Bashkirs would think that he is an idiot who did not keep his word by abandoning his journey. This also shows that how Pakhom in order to avoid embarrassment strives harder to get to the top of the hill. It depicts the traditional village social life which is a conflict between man and society.

Human beings are greedy in nature and are always tempted to gain more in any way possible. In our quest for wanting the best we as humans put our lives on the line and often end up with destroying ourselves. This theme is universal in nature as it reflects that every human being in this world would have an end. The theme of this story is brought to focus by the title of the story. The constant struggle on part of the protagonist to acquire more land makes him forget about the actual land needed for him. It is also a Marxist critique of literature as Marxism is against the hoarding of resources in a few hands, which in this case is the lust for ownership of more land on Pakhom’s part. In support of equality it criticizes man for his greed which is a cause of inequality in society.

The point of view is a 3^rd person omniscient.

Read More

Critical Writing on Salman Rushdie's Midnight’s Children

The novel midnights children is written by Salman Rushdie who is enormously famous for writing Satanic verses which is mostly condemned by Muslims all over the world as Muslims regard it as a falsification and critique of their religion Islam and it’s Prophet.

Midnights children is one of the most well-known yet narrative stories that is contented by people all over the world. 

It is a novel based on from British colonialism to partition of India and is a great example of magical realism and postcolonial literature. It revolves around a character called Saleem Sinai who is also the narrator of this story. He tries to picture his childhood and all the little incidents that took place earlier in his life which moulds his identity and gives this story a brighter look.

Saleem Sinai was born in Bombay, at the stroke of midnight on 15th August, 1947.Along with him are the other one thousand children all born in the early hours of India’s independence. Saleem Sinai starts off with his family background introducing his grandfather Adam Aziz who is a doctor. Saleem Sinai describes of how in Kashmir in the early spring of 1915 his grandfather Adam Aziz hits his nose while attempting to pray and decides never to bow in front of God or any other person. Moving forward, Saleem describes of how his grandfather Adam Aziz checks a patient named Naseem (future wife of Adam Aziz) who complains of having headache and is covered with white sheet. Once the sheet is uncovered Adam Aziz gets a chance to see Naseem’s face at which point he falls in love with her.

Furthermore, Padma is an important character because she keeps on reminding Saleem to hurry up and finish the story. She is basically a voice of reason, loves Saleem and takes care of Saleem and cooks food for him. Later on in the story, it talks about Adam Aziz’s daughters, Mumtaz who falls in love with Nadir and Emerald who falls in love with Major Zulfiqar. Nadir leaves out a note for Mumtaz announcing a divorce. After a short time period, Mumtaz gets married to Ahmed Sinai and changes her name to Amina Sinai.

Apart from this, a major milestone occurs that is Saleem Sinai was switched at birth with Ahmed and Amina Sinai’s baby. In reality Saleem is Methwold’s son who is an Englishman and came to India for trade.Therefore, the above mentioned are some of the main characters introduced in the story that evolves around Saleem Sinai’s life.

However, in my opinion Rushdie has written this novel in a very descriptive manner making it not only difficult but hard to keep track of so many characters. A variety of characters emerge, disappear, and recur later on, so one constantly needs to go back and check who is who and how they are related. The sentence structure is extremely long which makes it detached with other paragraphs. The overall plot of the story is perplexed. Whereas, the writing style is narrative and wordings are easy to understand but the stretch of long sentences makes it difficult for a person to concentrate. In this story, there are a lot of irrelevant instances which crafts it to be longer and thus, becomes boring.

Rushdie has used unreliable and enormous information in his novel which relies on memory and undermines the traditional forms of history as a unity of recorded fact. I believe, our truth of understanding differs from others and how memory is shaped and recreated is a symbol of Saleem Sinai’s flawed narration and historical exposition which cannot be phrased as pure reality and authenticity at all times.

Moreover, the story is quite fascinating but too stretched that a person can lose focus and can get puzzled with so much of unnecessary detail. However, the writing style is solid and initially annoying in a way that seems almost purposeful, with repeated instances of the narrator trailing ahead to a point that he feels is significant but then, before revealing anything of importance, he decides that things must come in their proper order. In short there is a lot of disorganization between instances which makes it mystifying. I think this story is quite happening as there’s too much of dramatic events and at the same time too much of action.

Honestly, while reading this story I actually felt that it is a history book as it doesn’t seem relevant that whenever something big happens in history at the same moment something occurs in Saleem’s personal life. I feel Rushdie's writing is a broad, viscous disharmony of sensory inspiration. The overall surroundings, different languages, different religions and style of living of India’s culture came alive through Saleem’s style of narrating the story.

Therefore, to conclude, I believe midnights children is a book which is well researched and a good example of magical realism. I feel Salman Rushdie has written this story in a very intense and expressive way which makes you curious to know of what will happen in the next chapter. In each chapter there is some what a major turning in the story which makes it an interesting read. Not only this, but I think it’s a good example of post colonialism literature and about changes which occurred in the Indian subcontinent during or after the partition of Indian sub continent.

Read More

Critical Writing on Ismat Chugtai's Lihaf

English Translation by M.Asaduddin

In this short story, the author dwells upon the social depicts drawn on the independence of women in the pre-partitioned subcontinent. It emphasizes on the earlier Muslim society when women were deprived of their degree of freedom. In the era where women had no right to express their opinion or to have an opinion of their own, in the era where a woman's will was nothing but a question mark.  Here the question of negligence is raised of women in her marriage life. The story triggers toward women identity; influencing the conscious of the society as it reveals the dimensions of life behind the veil of a woman of those times.

Here the author narrates the story of Begum Jaan who is married to a much older Nawab. Nawab and Begum Jaan are two persons totally opposite from each other including in their classes. Their marriage was merely a profitable business deal as Nawab was very rich belonging to a feudal family and Begum Jaan was not quite well-off belonging to a lower-class family. They both were poles apart in their differences, however married to each other proposed by their families. In spite of their odd age difference, Begum Jaan was married by her family as an approving profitable option. This social norm was and even today is practiced in continuity in the society to a large extent.

The lack of independence given to women in marriage plays an important role in the story. Begum Jaan was not allowed to leave the house and was ordered to live a life of segregation and in complete isolation. She was not allowed to meet anyone. Begum Jaan’s presence was primarily as decorative furniture in the house. Whereas, the Nawab was free to indulge in his desires and mysterious hobbies. This also throws light on the issue of gender discrimination and the author also shows the dilemma of women under male domination that focuses onto women oppression. The author creates a patriarchal background in which the woman is suppressed by her husband which is still an unquestionable norm in the society. 

It is completely besieging how such inequality can lead a woman to utter isolation and depression. It is a sympathetic condition for the reader. Nawab was completely void to Begum Jaan’s presence as she had not existed to him. Begum Jaan was completely heartbroken and her pain and loneliness had known no human bounds. Her sexual desires were kept hidden in herself and there was no one to fulfill them. Even the romantic novels and sentimental poetry made her remind of her dejection by the Nawab. 

In their marriage, Nawab completely imprisoned Begum Jaan which was a society norm she had to comply with. Her existence was obscene to Nawab and she couldn't express any gratitude towards their marriage. Her marriage was profound to be a helpless ritual which she had to be in. 

Nawab was completely oblivious to his new bride‟s desires or rather he chose to ignore them. He lacks the imagination to realize the fact that his new bride Begum Jaan has confined to their marriage with certain hopes and desires. He failed to acknowledge the sexual expectation of his new bride. 

The rejection by her husband and the feeling of segregation and isolation in

Begum Jaan developed an intimate attraction between her and Rabbu. To her, Rabbu wasn‟t her slave; it was a more intimate relationship than the typical master-slave relationship. Her homosexual desires were boundless to such extents that she would not hesitate to molest a child while her „slave‟ was on leave. Begum Jaan’s lesbian relationship with Rabbu was due to the rejection of her sexual desires by Nawab. Had her sexual desires been satisfied with Nawab, the lesbian encounter was not to been occurred. This is how the author wants us to understand the idea on deviant sexuality. 

Lihaf needs to be evaluated under the intertwined themes of marriage, suppression of women and neglect of female sexuality and desires. The author emphasizes on feminist perspective raising important questions on marriage and its importance being limited to an economic and social venture.

To me the story is not only about lesbianism. Chugtai wrote this short story in a very bold manner and is very critical about the condition of women in society. She examines the plight of women as they are denied their civil rights, autonomy, and self determination and hence become the victims of socio-cultural injustice. To conclude, this story is merely related to the expression of female psychological desires. The emotional breakdown and neurotic behavior of Begum Jan shows the desperation of women who are deprived of their sexual desires. 

An unsatisfied married woman is vulnerable to her sexual desires and the author wants the reader to understand the female psyche that‟s unique in nature. Women have extreme sexual desires and the author wants to create an idea on the issue of homoerotic desire between women that is wholly unspoken in the society. The author remises as she sympathizes with the sexual repression of women in a middle-class deceitful society. The story ends up horrifically reinforcing on negative stereotypes about lesbianism. The story is ultimately a sad one about loneliness and sexual repression about a woman‟s quest exploring and understanding the sufferings of married life. 

Read More