Thinking Activities Petals of Blood

 Hello Readers,

Petals of Blood often surfaces in debates regarding the twentieth century’s most notable African novels. Nggu wa Thiong’o was a student of Chinua Achebe’s until they had a violent disagreement about philosophy, at which point Nggu wa decided to abandon English in favour of his native Kenyan tongue, Gikuyu. For Africans, an African language. Achebe intended for his work to reach a bigger audience. Ngg’s final English piece, Petals of Blood, appeared in 1977.

The novel largely deals with the scepticism of change after Kenya's independence from colonial rule, questioning to what extent free Kenya merely emulates, and subsequently perpetuates, the oppression found during its time as a colony. Other themes include the challenges of capitalism, politics, and the effects of westernization. Education, schools, and the Mau Mau rebellion are also used to unite the characters, who share a common history with one another.(From Wikipedia)

Neo colonialism : with reference to petals of blood:-

 Petals of Blood might be handled through the same emphasis placed by Thiong'o on the potency of the colonial languages as regards putting out new alienated identities and minds. To illustrate, when imparting the school memories in the past, Karega complains of the fact the Western literature and English language are taught at school in place of their national historical achievements and literature by turning attention to the black headmaster’s reprimand of the teachers concerning the insufficient education of English: “Teach them good idiomatic English” (Petals 173), which points out his adoption of the significance of

English and his anxiety to impose it on the colonized students.

 Karega continues to narrate the approach of the headmaster to Shakespeare whom he speaks in praise of since he attributes significance and perfection to this poet as is disclosed in the novel: “He read a passage from Shakespeare … ‘Those words are words of a great writer – greater even than Maillu and Hadley Chase.’ … whoever heard of African, Chinese and Greek mathematics and science?” (Petals 172). This specifies the belief that the Eastern nations have not been able to make any contributions to the scientific world whereas the Western science and literature as more estimable and praiseworthy subjects have to be instructed at each school in Africa.

 Karega reveals his discomfort caused by the subjects and fields of study at their school that are inculcated into them in order to make the Western figures and historical events absorbed well when he mentions it: “Chaucer, Shakespeare, Napoleon, Livingstone, Western conquerors, Western inventors and discoverers were drummed into our heads with even greater fury. Where, we asked, was the African dream?” (Petals 173).

Now I want you to go back to Ilmorog. Get yourselves together. Subscribe money. You can even sell some of the cows and goats instead of letting them die. Dive deep into your pockets. Your businessmen, your shopkeepers, instead of telling stories, should contribute generously. Get also a group of singers and dancers – those who know traditional songs. Gitiro, Muthuu, Ndumo, Mumburo, Muthungucu, Mwomboko, things like that. Our culture, our African cultural and spiritual values, should form the foundation for this nation. (Petals 172) While accentuating the nationalist premises and discourses in order to delude the natives into the conception that he strains only for his society’s advantage and well-being, Nderi, on the other hand, does not display any interest for the native citizens’ anxieties about famine and poverty, only suspending the agency of solutions and pointing them to beseech assistance from other citizens in Ilmorog. Turning to certain evasiveexpressions like “Thank you. My people of Ilmorog. This is the happiest day of my life since you gave me your votes and told me to go forward and forever fight as your servant in Parliament” (Petals 182), his speech encompasses so-called sincerity and modesty which at first alleviate these people’s apprehension; however, they rapidly notice their misunderstanding and being misled by Nderi whom they see as the only prospect of hope and concrete solution (Petals 182). These natives, as innocent and poor citizens who come near Nderi after a long travel merely in order to ask for his assistance, are arrested by the police since they are accused of prompting a protest and riot against Nderi although they are not involved in such a protest which is triggered by a number of citizens in the streets being really bothered by Nderi’s delusive and vain promises that he never stands by faithfully (Petals 183). Supposing these citizens as those who could pose an obstacle to his private and self-centered financial schemes, Nderi decides to exterminate them when dwelling on his profits as the writer puts it: KCO had originally been a vague thing in his mind. It had grown out of his belief in his cultural authenticity which he had used with positive results in his business partnership with foreigners and foreign companies… He, Nderi wa Riera, was convinced that Africa could only be respected when it had had its own Rockefellers, its Hughes, Fords, Krupps, Mitsubishis … KCO would serve the interests of the wealthy locals and their foreign partners to create similar economic giants! (Petals186) As a black politician who is convinced that the European logic and styles are essential to be imitated and attained by such societies as themselves, Nderi pursues the colonialist desires covering Kenya’s transformation into a setting which is a quintessential European country where imperialistic ambitions are brought into action. He wishes to produce a native country that does not lag behind the modern and developed European countries. Rather than getting a handle on Ilmorog’s sufferings and famine, he is obsessed with giving extension to his economic and political relations with foreign sectors and dignitaries being his cooperators on the course to generating a new country with the replacement of the so-called old, backward and expired one. In considering the native delegation members demanding immediate help and elucidating the country’s knots as overload and his adversaries, he contemplates that “It might be his enemies who had learned about the drought and engineered the whole thing to see what he would do about it, certainly to embarrass him” (Petals 180). The priest sums up the suffering and agonies experienced in the once colonized countries as he emphasizes: So I said: let me return to my home, now that the black man has come to power … I cried to myself: how many Kimathis must die, how many motherless children must weep, how long shall our people continue to sweat so that a few, a given few, might keep a thousand dollars in the bank of the one monster-god that for four hundred years had ravished a continent? And now I saw in the clear light of day the role that Fraudshams of the colonial world played to create all of us black zombies dancing pornography in Blue Hills while out people are dying of hunger, while our people cannot afford decent shelter and decent schools.

Thiong’o may be claimed to handle mainly the issues of the colonial languages and the local elites in his works. One of Thiong'o's views on the consequences of acquiring or learning the colonial languages is that colonialism is not only a process of material exploitation of the colonized societies with rigid force as this process also needs to encompass the alienation of the native minds which are preoccupied with the nationalist and patriotic ideology, so language takes on the role of making the native society vulnerable to the colonialist ambitions. He proposes the potential disadvantages of the colonial languages which have been utilized by the Western nations so as to bring the colonial process into its final and most effective phase where the native peoples begin to take up inferiority complex due to their local languages.

 culture. Supposing the language as a conduit of culture and worldviews of a society, he thinks that language serves as an integral process of inculcating the Western ideology into the minds of the native citizens. Thus, language learning is not an innocent process of enrichment and development in that it supplies the colonizing nations with new types of the colonized individuals who are unconsciously willing to be exploited because of being brainwashed by adopting the colonial language or the colonial culture and civilization. The reader often comes upon characters who are eager to learn the colonial languages and who are hammered with the Western views as well as these languages in the fiction of Thiong’o such as Njoroge in Weep Not Child and the black headmaster Chui in Petals of Blood. Thiong'o usually makes references in his theoretical works to the local elites in the once colonized countries in which the tools of colonization are transmitted to the native rulers whose only aim becomes accumulating their wealth and sway over the native land. He argues that the ex-colonized countries have to question their current circumstances and discuss if they desire to gain their entire independence by forcing the colonial powers and their exploitive system out of the country. Given that each once colonized nation owns the chance of generating its own colonialist elites who the white colonizers hearten to enter a rigorous partnership in exploiting the masses, the countries gaining their independence recently must construct a secure basis so that the harmful legacy of colonialism cannot trace a fitting space for its persistence.  

Work ciated:-

Karagoz, Cengiz. “Thiong'o's Criticism of Neocolonial Tendencies: Petals of ...” ResearchGate, İksad Publications -2020©, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342199989_Thiong'o's_Criticism_of_Neocolonial_Tendencies_Petals_of_Blood_and_Weep_Not_Child. 

Thinking Activity Vultures

"Vultures"

The sonnet begins with a dull, miserable setting. It is a dim first light, and the despondence isn't diffused even by the vultures roosted on the parts of a dead tree. There are two of them-probably mates-settled near one another, and one of them has a stone on a stem tangled its unkempt quills. Recently, those vultures had tracked down a cadaver in a channel, and had picked away its eyes and eaten everything of its gut. In the wake of being full and fulfilled, they tracked down a spot to rest closeby, so the remainders of the body were as yet in their view. 

"Vultures" is a sonnet by Chinua Achebe. The sonnet "Vultures" talks comprehensively about existence and humankind, utilizing the particular model that malicious creatures like vultures and the commandant in the Belsen camp are similar, both battling for endurance and joy. The vulture,"perching high on broken bone of a dead tree" is battling for endurance by taking care of off dead creatures. Similarly, the commandant attempts to get by killing guiltless individuals. In any case, the two of them have a few decent in them; the vulture adores the other vulture and the commandant cherishes his child.

After this depiction, the viewpoint changes from the vultures to considerations regarding the idiosyncrasy of affection. It is unusual how love, which is generally so specific, can in any case exist in even the eeriest of spots and when it does, it likes to turn it's face to the divider rather than to check the murkiness that encompasses it out. The third verse then, at that point, moves its concentration to the Commandant at Belsen Camp, who at the time is completing work and returning home for the afternoon. He possesses an aroma like consumed bodies, and stops at the sweet shop coming back to get chocolate for his kid, who is anxiously anticipating his return.

The last refrain discusses how there is in every case light in the murkiness, and love in evil. The artist contemplates whether it ought to be applauded that even a beast is gifted with a smidgen of delicacy a delicate gleam in its generally cold and deadpan heart-or regardless of whether it ought to be lost hope that for each little bit of adoration, we track down enormous measures of malevolence.

Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian writer and author. He is known for creating his fiction around components of reality-like how, in Vultures, he utilizes nature and individuals to portray unique ideas like love, light, haziness, great and malevolence. This sonnet utilizes solid symbolism. Achebe additionally utilizes stretched out allegories and portrayals to depict feelings. His correlations additionally help with painting the scene in the perusers' brains most distinctively. Vultures is parted into four lopsided refrains, and doesn't have a particular rhyme plot. It is written in third-individual free structure, and the embodiment of feelings is utilized to shape a more grounded feeling of understanding and appeal.

In the principal verse an exceptionally dull and inert environment is made. The artist portrays the,"… grayness and shower of one discouraged day break" and how the vultures" picked the eyes of an enlarged carcass in a water-logged channel". They eat appalling food to make due. Achebe starts the sonnet by making a dejected air. The utilization of vultures in the story is emblematic of death and avarice. This is additionally accentuated by the line "roosting high on bones of a dead tree."- the particular of the tree being dead is to address the importance behind the vultures. It is these subtleties that put things in place as well as assist the perusers with getting the overall topic of the sonnet. The vultures are portrayed with a "smooth slammed in head, a rock on a stem established in a dump of gross quills." and were said to have been eating a cadaver's remaining parts. This makes a dull and harsh air around the birds, causing them to appear to be coldblooded and inhumane. Nonetheless, in inconspicuous differentiation, one vulture is "settled near his mate" and "slanted lovingly". There is a sharp distinction between the cold mechanicalistic nature of the vulture's appearance and their affectionate activities towards each other yet, they exist together. This is a little clue to the bigger subject of the sonnet: the presence of light in murkiness and love in evil. Here, the vultures-which address dull, unforgiving things-are the fiendishness, however the adoration they have for one another is the light inside that cavern.

In refrain two, the writer begins to examine how love can exist in such an abhorrent pervaded spot, and how love isn't impacted by malevolent as found in the line of the poem"her face went to the divider!". The vulture is an emblematic component used to lay everything out, and presently in verse two, the center moves from the vultures and towards the theoretical subjects of affection. It is intriguing to take note of that Achebe embodies 'love' somewhat, alluding to the feelings as 'her' and depicting its presence in one's heart like it were an individual living on the earth-depicting 'love' as 'light' and 'demise' as 'obscurity', a shrewd correlation is made through symbolism. "Unusual how love will pick a corner in that charnel-house clean it and curl up there"- a charnel-house is a structure where cadavers and skeletons are kept-it represents inertia and annihilation. Saying that affection will 'loop up there' is indicates the manner in which love can show up even in the most over the top shocking times and inside the most wanton individuals. The line "Maybe even nod off - her face went to the divider!" proposes that however love will stay there, she is so sickened by the abominations she sees that she likes to be oblivious in regards to it. So she stays there, in obscurity place, however faces the divider so she doesn't need to observe anything. The symbolism of 'adoration' as a lady enduring even in a spot as horrendous as a charnel-house, declining to take a gander at the dead bodies yet additionally declining to leave, is the ideal portrayal of the presence of affection in the most incredibly dreadful and surprising circumstances.

Refrain three starts with an ellipsis to interface the vultures with the commandant of Belsen. Following a day of consuming human bodies, the ugly commandant with furry nostrils actually figures out how to show his affection for his child. "Delicate posterity" makes the kids looks as though they are human bodies fit to be scorched.

The third verse moves from the depiction of modified works to the perception of a human-the Commandant at Belsen Camp. It is extremely fascinating that Achebe decides to incorporate a portrayal of a man here after two refrains about nature and feeling this is what the future holds people and nature together in this sonnet. He shows how murkiness and light exist wherever nature and creatures, however in people, as well. The Commandant is depicted rather ominously Achebe potentially involves the Commandant as a human type of the vulture. Both address demise and haziness, and draw the essential association between human instinct and basically nature.

The Commandant possessed a scent like "exhaust of human meal" which lets the perusers know what he did that day-consumed people ridiculously. Notwithstanding, he is getting desserts for his kid. Inside the remorselessness and mercilessness of a conflict criminal, we see a delicate side-the warmth he holds for his child or little girl. Notwithstanding all that he did that day, every one individuals he hurt and passings he saw, he gets back to a small kid with adoration in his heart. This indeed features the presence of light even in the haziness. It summons the possibility that everybody has a few decent inside them, regardless of how horrendous their inclination or calling might be. The differentiation between his "human meal" aroma, and the utilization of the words "delicate posterity" to depict his kid, structure an unmistakable image of the striving concurrence of two components in a person. "Sitting tight at home for Daddy's return… " shows that the youngster knows nothing about all that her dad accomplishes at work-she simply needs to see him. This showcase of infantile guiltlessness and naivety is illustrative of adoration and light.

The sonnet gets done with the last refrain wrapping up the entire sonnet. It says in a pensive tone and inquires as to whether we ought to express gratitude toward God for the small bit of good we view as in evil or would it be advisable for us we feel despair for the malevolent that will remain for eternity. Up to this point, through three verses, we have seen and felt the presence of adoration inside the haziness through nature, through conceptual exemplification, and through human cooperation. The fondness for the mate was the light in the vulture's dimness, the 'lady' named love was the light in the frightful carcass room, and the "delicate posterity" was the light in the existence of the coldblooded Commandant. In the last verse, Achebe closes the sonnet with an overall reflection. He muses these considerations and puzzles over whether to be content or tragic regarding this little presence of affection.

He says "even a beast a minuscule gleam worm delicacy epitomized in frigid caves of a savage heart." Ogres are known in folklore for benefiting from individuals by and by, getting the subject of death addressed by the vulture, the charnel house and the Commandant. Either for devouring remaining parts of carcasses, containing bodies, or making bodies, every verse had a portrayal of death. In the last verse, it is the monster, who eats the human alive. The sonnet talks about that regardless of being a particularly frightening and savage animal, it has a miniscule measure of delicacy in its heart. The expression 'frigid caves' underlines the way in which merciless and cold the monster's heart is. Yet again this portrayal implies the presence of light in murkiness.

The sonnet is generally separated into four segments. The first of these notices two vultures as they rummage for food among human remaining parts prior to recharging with one another as mates. The subsequent area shows the defiant idea of affection and how love generally will be available. The third area follows the Commandant of Belsen as he purchases desserts for his adored posterity. Both of these help the perceptions in the last area which ruminates on how even in the most over the top abhorrent individual, love can come to fruition, while in each adoration there is the littlest bit of insidiousness.

Notwithstanding, the writer puzzles over whether this is a thing to be applauded or given up. Is it something positive that regardless of how much obscurity there would we say we is, will in any case find basically a glint of light? Or then again is it an incident that we can never observe light except if it is encircled by all out murkiness? These two viewpoints are like the yin-and-yang, which portrays dualism-the interconnected at this point inconsistent powers of the normal world: we can't find one without the other. One more highlight note is the manner in which Achebe completed the sonnet most explicitly, his arrangement of the lines regarding commendation and gloom. This request structure is a smart method for reverberating with the perusers, as the end line of a sonnet can establish the vibe for its last insight. It is fascinating that Achebe decided to end the sonnet in the wake of expressing the despondency rather than the applause it makes a supporting sensation of grimness after the sonnet comes to a nearby, as the murkiness appears to be suffering and ceaseless.

The fundamental philosophical inquiry of the sonnet is: "Would it be advisable for us to celebrate at the presence of good at all logical of spots, or sadness at the way that it is the actual presence of this great that takes into account the ceaselessness of fiendishness?"

An elective clarification is that adoration for fellow (family, kind) is inseparably connected with disdain of non-kinfolk (harsh).

Thinking Activity Chetan Bhagat Novel Revolution Twenty20

Hello readers, I would like to discuss a Revolution Twenty20 a novel among you. Which novels come into our syllabus. Our professor has given us a task in which a few questions have been asked? The answer is here in this blog.First I will introduce the novel.

Title: Revolution 2020

Author: Chetan Bhagat

Genre: Novel

Written: 2011

Length: 296 pages

Themes : Love. Corruption. Ambition

Revolution 2020 is bookended with a Prologue and an Epilogue in which Chetan Bhagat speaks with Gopal Mishra, "the young director of GangaTech College" -- a typical set-up for a Bhagat novel, framing the main story itself, Gopal's story. Sub-titled Love. Corruption. Ambition, it revolves around a trio of friends from Varanasi (formerly Benares): Gopal, Aarti, and Raghav, and the story gets going as they finish high school and Gopal and Raghav's futures are determined by how they did in the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). The novel was published in 2011; in the meantime, the AIEEE has been completely replaced by the JEE. Getting high marks on the exam is the only path to the elite universities of India -- especially the Indian Institutes of Technology -- the first and most important step to a promising career path.

1) If you were to adapt this novel for the screen, what sort of changes would you make in the story and characters to make it better than the novel?

➡️If I adapt this novel as a screen, I would like to edit Gopal's characterm Because in the last of Gopal's character novels, Chetan Bhagat has tried to portray him as a good person. I will turn him into a bad character based on all the mistakes he has made. And I want him to talk in a way that makes him understand his mistakes. She left Aarti for her own selfishness, that Aarti when she realizes her truth that I am not a good person. Even after she marries me, she will leave me. Before that, let me leave her and get her married to Raghav. So inside this scene I want to change that Aarti's marriage is not with Raghav but with Gopal. Then Aarti finds out all the truth about Gopal. Separating from her, she marries Raghav again. And Gopal understands all his mistakes that all this happened because of my mistake.

2) 'For a feminist reader, Aarti is a sheer disappointing character.' Do you agree with this statement? If yes, what sort of characteristics would you like to see in Aarti? If you disagree with this statement, why? What is it in Aarti that you are satisfied with this character?

➡️We see a lot of literature showing women being weaker than men. In which the position of woman is shown to be inferior to that of man. So in this novel of Chetan Bhagat, the female character Aarti is also shown a lower type of character than the male in that position. With which I agree. And if I express my thoughts here, for example, Aarti is a hopeless character. He comes from a good family whose family is involved in politics, they are very rich. But she cannot make her own decisions. It wants to be an Air Force but fails. So she works as a woman working in a hotel. That is, his thinking is not of the highest kind. Men have a higher level of thinking, they have a mindset till they become a class one officer. Aarti is not firm in his mind. When he goes to study in a cota factory, he meets Raghav as an intelligent man, she is attracted to him and falls in love with him. When Gopal on the other hand becomes a rich man, Aarti is attracted to Gopal and falls in love with him and is ready to marry him. When Gopal refuses to marry her, she marries Raghav. That is, Aarti is portrayed as a puppet throughout the novel. That is, the way men make decisions, the way women behave.

3)'For a true revolutionist, the novel is terribly disappointing.' Do you agree? If yes, what sort of changes would you make in character or situation to make it a perfect revolutionary novel? If you disagree, what is in the novel that you are satisfied with?

➡️The novel portrays Gopal as a corrupt man while Raghav is portrayed as a revolutionary. Gopal shows the corruption that is going on in the present times. While Raghav is portrayed as a revolutionary who has a lot of sorrows and failures in his path. And that character focuses more on revolution than love, so I totally agree that the novel is terribly frustrating for a true revolutionary. Everyone will follow the thing that is easy. Just like Gopal can easily get everything in his life, so people will follow Gopal. But Raghav has been portrayed as a true revolutionary. No one will follow him, because he has had a lot of problems in his life, which he has gone through and he has suffered a lot. He has also failed in many places in his life. If you follow Raghav, you will get failure just like Raghav. But I see Raghav here as a revolutionary. He can bring change in the society and as a result he will get a high position in the society. That will be the end of my story.

Thank You.

Research papar Demo

 " A play of black and white - A story of Othello with reference to Racism "

Abstract 

Racism is a term used in English literature. In this term you can find out the  different races. Othello is one type of racist play and domestic tragedy written by William Shakespeare. In this play only one man is black protagonist Othello.what is racism? Some other critics like Arushi Vijay, Shamin Ahmed, Diallo Simob wrote an article in Othello is racist play or racism.

Key word -Racism, Blackness, othello, tragedy, William Shakespear.  

Introduction :

William Shakespeare's play Othello written in 1603.This play is the tragedy of a noble hero brought down by a fatal flaw of jealousy in his character. Whereas Othell is a domestic tragedy, the tragedy of marriage with timeless themes such as love, thrust, suspicion, self- interest, racism, judgment and reason. The play suggests that ultimately if the social order is to continue this marriage and what it represents must be destroyed. This play set in the contemporary Ottoman - venetian war 1570-1573 fought for the control of the Island of Cyprus from 1489 a possession of the Venetian Republican.

Racism :

Racism was at the heart of North American slavery and the colonization and empire-building activities of western Europeans, especially in the 18th century. The idea of race was invented to magnify the differences between people of European origin and those of African descent whose ancestors had been involuntarily enslaved and transported to the Americas. 

By the 19th century, racism had matured and spread around the world.

What is Racism?

The term ‘racism’ is often  poorly understood. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as, "Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior." However, this is a simplified explanation of a complex issue.

Racism consists of ideologies and practices that seek to justify, or cause, the unequal distribution of privileges, rights or goods among different racial groups.

Racism is when someone thinks different skin color or religious beliefs make some people better than others. Racists bully people who are different from them. They do this by name-calling or violence.

Aarushi Vijay says not to accept all white people in Othello, because Othello is a black man Neguro. Even though he is a capable Warrior. but he is seen with a sense of hurted and called a 'think lips', 'Black Devil','Foul thief', 'Moor', 'Sooty bosom'.

Shamin Ahmed says Race is the driving force behind the tragedy of Othello. Othello is the timeless tale of the helpless moor, unfamiliarity  with Venetian culture resulting, because he is of a completely different racial background.

Diallo simob - ponte

In the 16th century what things of racism in Venetian society and contact between the vast majority of Europeans and non Europeans groups such as the moor African and Turks.The term moor(negro) is a used to isolate and a essentially ostracize, Othell.

Othello as a Racists play :

Shakespeare was a good writer and he has written many plays like ’ The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Romeo and Juliet, Othell, King Layer. Othello is a one type of tragedy play. So in this play one character is portrayed as a moor and black person. So every time we start back on the road to Venice and Othello, we find ourselves asking the same question: Is this a racist play, or a play about racism?

It is not easy to answer this question. Considering the time Shakespeare wrote this play, we have no idea of ​​racism at that time.but Curtainlay, There Is Evidence of Blacks in Elizabeth England Maring and Evening Land.The slaves were kept as a trade in which Africans were kept.

In England there is great bewilderment about “Blackamoores” and the hue of our skin with scholars theorizing the proximity of the sun or religious figures pointing to the curse of Ham to explain Blackness.( reference )

The play opens with Iago and Rodrigo warning Brabantio about “thick lips” and “old black ram” who has stolen his daughter from him and has

eloped with her. Othello is attracted to Timo and wants to love him and even decides to run with him. Iago envy Othello because he is a black man and he is serving as a general in the army.  So a conspiracy is hatched against Othello.

Iago traps Othello in his mind that Desdemona is cheating on him.  Othello agrees with Iago because of the color difference between his skin and Othello.  Othello looks at Desdemona with skepticism, Othello suspects him so much that he is ready to kill her.  And after killing him, get ready for himself. At the end, he also takes his life because now according to everyone, he is a “blacker devil” and he decides that he has no right to live anymore.Therefore, it can be said that the racial injustice prevailing in “Othello” not only poisons the Venetian view of Othello but also Othello’s view of himself.

The way we organize the play will make us realize from the beginning that a lot has been said about what has arisen so that he can swim as a different person.  Here body parts are also described in which Shakespeare appears in the play..

n 1.1, lines 87-93, Iago speaks,

“an old black ram

Is tupping your white ewe. Arise; arise;

Awake the snoring citizens with the bell,

Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you”

Iago raises a lot of questions here about the character of Desdemona and Othello, and he wants to say that Othello is a Venetian black man and Desdemona is a white innocent woman.  According to Othello, she is ready to run away with him.  The father of  Desdemona also states that Othello is the one who plotted. Barbantio calls him a “foul thief” and “sooty bosom.” Thus, we can see how morals and race combine in these slurs, where Othello always ends up as the devil because of his skin color.

In 2.2, lines 300-302, Iago again says

“Make the Moor thank me, love me and reward

me, for making him egregiously an ass.”

Here he is called not by his name but by different words.  He is portrayed by people not as a man but as an animal.  A different word 'moor' is used for it.  Which represents a different racism.  Iago is not the only one against it.  But Desdemona's father also considers his bad and portrays he as a slave.Venetian means people from the African side.  African is portrayed as a slave whose skin color is different.

When Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him because you are black, Othello thinks and speaks the following dialogue.

Towards the end of the scene, Othello says, (3.3.267-272)

“Haply, for I am black

And have not those soft parts of conversation

That chamberers have, or for I am declin’d

Into the vale of years (yet that’s not much)

She’s gone. I am abus’d: and my relief

Must be to loathe her.”

Here we can see that a Venetian is represented by a different race.  One of the tragedies is that Desdemona pretends to be cheating him.Now Othello doesn't see Desdemona's true relationship but he hates her.Now he not only hates her but is also ready to kill her.

We see in 5.2, Othello enters the room and he has by this point made up his mind to kill.

Desdemona. (5.2.3-5)

“Yet I’ll not shed her blood,

Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow

And smooth as monumental alabaster.”

Seeing his white skin now makes him jealous too, and he kills Desdemona because of the superstition in his mind without hearing anything from her. What is true? What's wrong?  He doesn't even give her time to explain and kill her.

 In this play like a not only for the love triangle but they represented the European things in how to live in this place Black and White people. In this type of tow category things also represented very well in that time.

Conclusion :

In Elizabethan times, Shakespeare tried to show how the Moors in those days portrayed the white man and how he treated them.  Othello is treated unfairly despite being a good soldier in this play.  It is also because of his color that he is not a white person but he is a black person so by envying him he can easily turn against Desdemona.  He also killed her on suspicion. Throughout the play we see that Iago succeeds in his creation and he finally convinces othello that Desdemona doesn't like him because he is a black person and so he is in a relationship with one of his own soldiers. Othello  is the timeless tale of the hapless Moor, because he is completely different racial background. But he is a very strong and Brave person. So he is an Army general. But his color is black so he has a painful life. So all things are represented in Othello is a racist play.

Work Citation :

Ahmed, Shamim 'Shuvo'. "Othello Race Research Paper ." 14 May 2011: 10.

Simon-Ponte, Diallo. "How Othello was Consumed By Racism...Not Jealous ." 15 October 2020.

Vijay, Aarushi. "Racism Injustice in "Othello: The Moor of Venice"." 30 September 2019: 9.

P-205 Assignment

 P-205 Assignment

New Historicism

Name- Kishan Jadav

Paper- Cultural Studies

Roll no-10

Enrollment no-3069206420200008

Email id- jadavkishan55555@gmail.com

Batch-2020-22 (MA Sem-III)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English,

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Introduction :

New Historicism is all about paying close attention to the historical context of the literary works. After all , play, poems, novels in general are products of a specific time and place. New Historicism is an approach to literary criticism and literary theory based on the premise that a literary work should be considered a product of time , place and historical circumstances of its composition rather than as an isolated work of art or text. New historians aim simultaneously to understand the work through its historical context and to understand culture as well as to history and cultural history through literature.

What is New Historicism?  

“A method based on the parallel reading of literary and non-literary texts, usually of the same time period.” New Historicism is a school of literary theory which combines critical theory into easier forms of practice for academic literary theorists of the 1990s. New historicists ask, 'How has the event been interpreted?' and 'What do the interpretations tell us about the interpreters?’. So New Historicism resists the notion that "...history is a series of events that have a linear, causal relationship: event A caused event B; event B caused event C; and so on(Tyson). New Historicist are Stephen Greenblatt, J.W. Lever, Jonathan Dollimore, H.Aram Veeser.

New Historicism is a literary theory based on the idea that literature should be studied and intrepreted within the context of both the history of the author and the history of the critic. Based on the literary criticism of Stephen Greenblatt and influenced by the philosophy of Michel Foucault, New Historicism acknowledges not only that a work of literature is influenced by its author's times and circumstances, but that the critic's response to that work is also influenced by his environment, beliefs, and prejudices.

A New Historicist looks at literature in a wider historical context, examining both how the writer's times affected the work and how the work reflects the writer's times, in turn recognizing that current cultural contexts color that critic's conclusions

Stephen Greenblatt :

Stephen Greenblatt first developed his work in 1980. Afterwards it goes on spreading during the same decade. He wrote in his book “Will of the World”, Context is replaced by “co-text”, that is an interrelated non- literary text from the same time period.

Michel Foucault & New Historicism :

New Historicism is always anti-establishment, on the side of liberal ideas and personal freedoms. Believe in Michel Foucault’s idea of an all-seeing—panoptic— surveillance State. The panoptic state brings power through rational practices, circulating ideology through the body-politic. The State is seen as a monolithic structure and change is nearly impossible.

What new historicists do 

1. They juxtapose literary and non-literary texts, reading the former in the light of the latter. 

2. They try thereby to 'defamiliarize' the canonical literary text, detaching it from the accumulated weight of previous literary scholarship and seeing it as if new. 

3. They focus attention (within both text and co-text) on issues of State power and how it is maintained, on patriarchal structures and their perpetuation, and on the process of colonisation, with its accompanying 'mind-set'. 

4. They make use, in doing so, of aspects of the post-structuralist outlook, especially Derrida's notion that every facet of reality is textualised, and Foucault's idea of social structures as determined by dominant 'discursive practices'.

Example: Re-reading of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (Laputa), Andrew Marvel’s To his Coy Mistress. 

Second they want to study how a work of literary work comments on and relates to its context. New historicism is a super influential theoretical school. The fact of the matter is that the new historicist transformed the way that literary criticism was done. They made it legit for literary critics to talk about politics ,class and power and to take an interdisciplinary approach to study of literature. New historicist aim to do two things: first they want to study how a work of literature reflects its sociocultural context.

Self –fashioning :

Self fashioning is a term coined by Greenblatt. Who made it up to described the way that renaissance authors like William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlow created identities for themselves according to the social ,cultural and political code of their time Early new historicist like Stephen green and Catherine Gallaher were inspired by three theorist : Michel Foucault ,Clifford Geertz and Raymond William.

Cultural as a text :

 Cultural is like a book New historicists think of culture as text and literary text are little text within this big text that is culture .Everything is text. 

Non Canonical :

New historicist like to study non canonical work alongside canonical work saying That distinction between “high” literature and “low” literature is just plain…useless.

Cultural Poetics :

Stephen Green blatt ,prefers to use “cultural poetics” to describe , instead of “new historicism "but it pretty much means the same thing, except instead of emphasizing that it is a new way to look for the historical sides of text. 

Representation :

The new historicist’s job is to see how literary representations reflect aspects of the social life of their time and also how they comment on or critique them.

History :

According to the new historicism history isn't just a list of facts that we compile. There are many different versions of history so many different ways to show up in art or literature. 

Materialism :

The new historicists take material conditions very seriously because they think that these conditions are really important in how literary works are produced and consumed by the audience .They described history and culture as material.

New Historicism & Shakespeare :

:

Shakespeare’s play “Merchant of Venice” Question always raised... The play shows Shakespeare to be anti-Semitic? For example, when studying Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, one always comes to the question of whether the play shows Shakespeare to be anti-Semitic. The New Historicist recognizes that this isn't a simple yes-or-no answer that can be teased out by studying the text. This work must be judged in the context in which it was written; in turn, cultural history can be revealed by studying the work — especially, say New Historicists, by studying the use and dispersion of power and the marginalization of social classes within the work. Studying the history reveals more about the text; studying the text reveals more about the history.According to Historicists: Work must be judged in the context in which it was written. Studying the history reveals more about the text; studying the text reveals more about the history.

Advantages of New Historicism :

Written in a far more accessible way than post-structuralist theory. It presents its data and draws its conclusions in a less dense way. Material is often fascinating and distinctive. New territory(subject). Political edge is always sharp, avoids problems of straight Marxist criticism.

Difference between Old & New Historicism :

Old Historicism :

 Hierarchical A historical movement: creates a historical framework in which to place the text. “The word of the past replaces the world of the past.  

New Historicism :

Parallel Reading A historicist movement. Interested in history as represented and recorded in written documents—history as text. The aim is not to represent the past as it really was, but to present a new reality by re- situating it.

Foucault’s archeological concept of history as archive, informs yet another tendency of the New Historicists, in that they consider history as fictionalised and as a “co-text” while traditional historians consider history as facts and as the background to the text, which is the foreground. Foucault observes that history is characterised by gaps and fissures contemporary historicists highlight the discontinuities and conflicts of history, rather than write in a coherent manner. He does not, like traditional historians, write history as a unified, continuous story. 

Conclusion :

New Historicism, then, underscores the impermanence of literary criticism. Current literary criticism is affected by and reveals the beliefs of our times in the same way that literature reflects and is reflected by its own historical contexts. New Historicism acknowledges and embraces the idea that, as times change, so will our understanding of great literature.Thus New Historicism applies the poststructuralist idea that reality is constructed and multiple, and the Foucauldian idea of the role of power in creating knowledge.

Citation :

Hickling, Matt. "New Historicism". RG, 2018, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324707317_New_Historicism. Accessed 24 Oct 2021.

Pallardy, Richard. "Stephen Greenblatt". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Nov. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stephen-Greenblatt. Accessed 24 October 2021.

P-204 Assignment

 P-204 Assignment

Queer theory

Name- Kishan Jadav

Paper- Contemporary Western Theories and Film Studies

Roll no-10

Enrollment no-3069206420200008

Email id- jadavkishan55555@gmail.com

Batch-2020-22 (MA Sem-III)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English,

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

 

Introduction :

Queer theory is often used to designate the combined area of gay and lesbian studies, together with the theoretical and critical writings about all modes of variance—such as cross-dressing, bisexuality, and transsexuality— from society’s normative model of sexual identity, orientation, and activities.Queer theory is often used to designate the combined area of gay and lesbian studies, together with the theoretical and critical writings about all modes of variance—such as cross-dressing, bisexuality, and transsexuality— from society’s normative model of sexual identity, orientation, and activities.So you can say the, Queer theory is a term that emerged in the late 1980s for a body of criticism on issues of gender, sexuality, and subjectivity that came out of gay and lesbian scholarship in such fields as literary criticism, politics, sociology, and history. Queer theory rejects essentialism in favor of social construction; it breaks down binary oppositions such as “gay” or “straight”; while it follows those postmodernists who declared the death of the self, it simultaneously attempts to rehabilitate a subjectivity that allows for sexual and political agency. Some of the most significant authors associated with queer theory include Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Michael Warner, and Wayne Koestenbaum."

      - From the Encyclopedia of Postmodernism, in Credo Reference

 The term “queer” was originally derogatory, used to stigmatize male and female same-sex love as deviant and unnatural; since the early 1990s, however, it has been adopted by gays and lesbians themselves as a noninvidious term to identify a way of life and an area for scholarly inquiry. See Teresa de Lauretis, Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities, 1991; and Annamarie Jagose, Queer Theory: An Introduction, 1996. M. H. Abrams & Geoffrey Galt Harpham .

The basics of queer theory :

“Queer theory’s origins are in LGBT studies – which focus on sexuality and gender. It soon distanced itself from those approaches due to disagreements with the stable identities that LGBT studies suggest. Queer theory emphasizes the fluid and humanly performed nature of sexuality – or better, sexualities. It questions socially established norms and dualistic categories with a special focus on challenging sexual (heterosexual/homosexual), gender (male/female), class (rich/poor), racial (white/non-white) classifications. It goes beyond these so-called ‘binaries’ to contest general political (private/public) as well as international binary orders (democratic/ authoritarian). 

 -According to Markus Theil 

These are viewed as over-generalising theoretical constructs that produce an either/or mode of analysis that hides more than it clarifies and is unable to detect nuanced differences and contradictions. But queer theory also analyses and critiques societal and political norms in particular as they relate to the experience of sexuality and gender. These are not viewed as private affairs. Just as feminists perceive of gender as a socially constructed public and political affair, so queer theorists argue with regards to sexuality and gender expression.

Queer theory looks at:

• According to Pushpinder Kaur.
• The general construction of sexuality in discourses of medicine, law or religion. 
•  Popular representation of the gay or the lesbian.
•  The public understanding of alternate sexualities. 
•  The ‘hidden history’ of homosexual writing and representation. 
•  The institutional (religion, family, medicine, law) structures that undergird popular representations of homosexuality. 
• The link between sexuality-based oppression and other discriminatory forms such as patriarchy and racism. 
• The geography of sexuality, with specific reference to ghettoization of gays and homosexuals.

Queer theory perceives sexuality and gender as social constructs that shape the way sexual orientation and gender identity are displayed in public – and thereby often reduced to black-and-white issues that can be manipulated or distorted. With regard to more classical IR topics, it critically assesses the assumption that all societies find themselves at different points along a linear path of political and economic development or adhere to a universal set of norms. Hence it embraces ambiguity, failure and conflict as a counterpoint to a dominant progressive thinking evident in many foreign or development policies. As a scholarly undertaking, queer theory research constitutes of ‘any form of research positioned within conceptual frameworks that highlight the instability of taken-for-granted meanings and resulting power relations’ .

Connection between queer theory and cinema :

Cinema is a powerful medium to catalyze social change. Like other art forms cinema is both a part of social reality and also a medium of portraying it. Films have subtle influence on society’s way of thinking Cinema has undoubtedly contributed a lot to the queer movement in India. Sexual minority consists of all those people who fall under the categories of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders. 

Here some Examples :

1. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga :

Rajkumar Rao and Sonam Kapoor play the lead in this one. As for the story, Rao falls in love with Kapoor who tells him about her sexual orientation and that she's in love with another girl. Rao, a struggling actor, then decides to help her unite with her love as she faces extreme opposition from her family and the society for her choice. The film is a light watch with multiple comic blasts and has an energising cast including Anil Kapoor. 

2. film Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan by Hitesh Kewalya.

This movie is about two gay person who love each other. After so long, finally Bollywood movies try to capture this kind of movie. The homosexual relationship between Aman and Kartik is very romantically portrayed with the kissing in the train to holding each other’s back no matter what. At times, people may try to assign the binaries of being feminine and masculine to any of the two. But again the stereotyping is kept at bay with both characters displaying both the traits in their action.

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan: Milestone In Queer Cinema

In this movie we found one marriage scene and there at finally Tripathi family knows about their son’s homosexuality. Movie depicted the conflict well and how the family tries to stop them. 

 Homophobia :-

In this movie their is symbol of Kali Gobi which represent the term homophobia (dislike of or prejudice against gay people). 

ड्रीम गर्ल के बाद शुभ मंगल ज्यादा सावधान में लड़की नहीं लड़के संग इश्क करेंगे आयुष्मान खुराना, देखिए फिल्म का मजेदार टीजर 

 Kali Gobi is the homophobia that resides in people’s heart, and they think they are right in enforcing it on others. But in the end, it is a rotten vegetable, not safe to be eaten. It has to be burnt from our systems with acceptance. Nobody can control how and what others may feel, and it is no one’s business to control who should be loved by whom.

3. Sadak 

Third gender played a significant role in Hindi cinema. Films like ‘Tamanna’, ‘Shabnam Mausi’, ‘Daayra’, ‘Darmiyaan’,‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ attempted to take a serious take on third gender. For the first time in the history of Hindi cinema, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt casted actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar as ‘Maharani’, a eunuch who was the lead villain of the movie Sadak.The actor’s performance fetched him a Filmfare award but the role did little to improve the image of eunuchs in the society. The movie depicted her as an evil brothel owner who tortures and traffics young women. In a film where the trans character got so much screentime, there was a constant reiteration of the harmful myths associated with the trans community, ultimately creating a stereotype in Indian mainstream culture.

4. Dear Dad 

 The most recent example being Aravind Swami in the film Dear Dad, where he comes out as a homosexual in front of his son and how he explains his side of the story. For an actor who’s made a comeback to Bollywood after a decade, the choice to pick the role and essay it with sincerity, was a welcome surprise for audiences. Even if the film hasn’t succeeded on the whole, the fact that the actor, known for his ‘masculine charm’, not worrying about his image is itself a welcome gesture.

Conclusion :

The development of queer theory in IR suggests that more rigorous questions of the impact of LGBT issues in international politics have begun to be successfully answered. It highlights the valuable contribution to analysing IR through until now unrecognised perspectives on sexual and gender expression. Queer theory has also proven to be theoretically inclusive in ways that LGBT and feminist scholarship sometimes has not. A question that remains is whether queer theorists can recognise – and perhaps transcend – their own racial, class and Western-centric orientations. Such broadening would also make it easier to find common cause with other affected minorities – not least to move from a purely critical or deconstructive mode to a more transformative and productive one. Precisely because queer theory is able to transcend the focus on sexuality and gender through general analytical principles, it lends itself to interrogating a wide range of IR phenomena. In a time when IR is often accused of being parochial, queer theory is a necessary corrective to powerful myths and narratives of international orders.

Citation :

Bhattacharya, Ananya. "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga Movie Review: Sonam Kapoor powers excellent lesbian love story." India Today 01 February 2019.

Chatterjee, Rituparna. "100 Years of Indian Cinema: Homosexuality in films." News 18 27 February 2013.

Das, Poulomi. "What Kapoor & Sons Teaches Bollywood About Coming Out of the Closet." Arre 18 March 2018.

Dhaliwal, Nirpal. "Dostana is a straight victory for gay comedy." The Guardian 3 December 2008.

J., Nupur. "Queer Voice Shines In “Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan”." Youth Ki Awaaz 3 May 2020.

Kaur, Pushpinder. "Gender, Sexuality and (Be) longing: The Representation of Queer (LGBT) in Hindi." Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies (2017): 9.

Nadadhur, Srivathsan. "Films for an inclusive society." The Hindu 12 September 2016.

Thiel, Markus. "Introducing Queer Theory in International Relations." 7 January 2018.

Tickoo, Sakshi. "Bollywood films that portrayed the LGBTQIA+ community realistically." City Spider 03 June 2021.