Suggestions (Board Question) For American Literature 4th Year With PDF Answer

Mofizur Rahman
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Suggestions (Board Question) For American Literature 4th Year With PDF Answer

Suggestions (Board Question) For American Literature 4th Year With PDF Answer


  • Final Suggestion-2021 With Answer (PDF)
  • Department Of English
  • Subject: American Literature: Fiction and Drama
  • Subject code: 241111


Part C (Broad Question With Answer) American Literature:Fiction and Drama

Question-1:Comment on the use of symbols in the story "Young Goodman Brown" 2013,2017,2019

Ans: Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is full of symbolism throughout the story. Perhaps the most interesting examples of symbolism include the title character, Young Goodman Brown, as well as his wife, Faith, and the woods that Young Goodman Brown enters on his journey.

Symbols of Color and Light: In order to emphasize many themes. Hawthorne incorporates symbols into his short story. The woods itself is perhaps the most prominent symbol because it represents a place away from the boundaries of civilization. Here, the townspeople shed their Puritanical masks.

The dim and obscuring light in the woods highlights the mysterious nature of Goodman Brown's experience. Once the Black Mass begins, the dark woods burst with red flashes of light, suggesting the wild, chaotic nature of the Satanic processions.

Faith's pink ribbon also serves as a powerful symbol. While at first it may represent naiveté, it takes on a darker connotation, suggesting a loss of innocence when Goodman Brown finds it in the woods after witnessing his wife take part in the Black Mass.

Faith-Young Goodman Brown's wife is an obvious symbol for Young Goodman Brown's faith. Although Brown dies a bitter man, blaming the wickedness and hypocrisy of others, he leaves his Faith first.

Young Goodman Brown - This too is a hammer over the head symbol. Young Goodman Brown symbolizes the innocence of young, good men, who are all tempted and to some extent all give in. Brown's joumey, therefore, represents the loss of innocence.

The Forest-Puritans believed the woods to be the habitat of the devil. The woods in "Young Goodman Brown" are an obvious symbol of the devil's abode. It can be construed further as the journey into sin and darkness continues.

Salem-Salem remains the most notorious colonial town in American History, famous for its witch trials in 1692. At the core of the Salem Witch Trials was the hypocrisy of the town's more prominent citizens and the stupidity and pride of the town's clergy in encouraging the trials to take place. It would not be a stretch, therefore, to assume that the "good people" of Salem would have communed with the devil (symbolically speaking).

The devil's serpent staff-When Goodman Brown meets the man whom Hawthorne later reveals to be the devil, Hawthorne draws attention to the man's staff, which resembles a black serpent and almost seems to twist like a live snake.

To sum up, it should be affirmed that almost every character and happening of the story are symbolical. By using different kind of symbols, Hawthorne has shown the influence of evil in the world of mankind, and ultimate result of evil.

Question-2:Bring out the chief features of the character of Young Goodman Brown.2017,2013,2019

Ans: Young Goodman Brown is a character that undergoes many changes throughout the story. He is very much influenced by the events that unfold in the woods that night. He is also changed by the characters around him, or rather his knowledge of their hidden sins.

Goodman Brown shows both innocence and corruption as he vacillates between believing in the inherent goodness of the people around him and believing that the devil has taken over the minds of all the people he loves. At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown believes in the goodness of his father and grandfather, until the old man, likely the devil, tells him that he knew them both.

Goodman Brown believes in the Christian nature of Goody Cloyse, the minister, and Deacon Gookin, until the devil shows him that Goody Cloyse is a witch and the other two are his followers.

Finally, he believes that Faith is pure and good, until the devil reveals at the ceremony that Faith, too, is corruptible. This vacillation reveals Goodman Brown's lack of true religion--his belief is easy to shake-as well as of the good and evil sides of human nature.

Through Goodman Brown's awakening to the evil nature of those around him, Hawthome comments on what he sees as the hidden corruption of Puritan society.

Goodman Brown believes in the public professions of faith made by his father and the elders of his church and in the societal structures that are built upon that faith.

Hawthorne suggests, however, that behind the public face of godliness, the Puritans' actions were not always Christian.

The devil in the story says that he was present when Brown's father and grandfather whipped Quakers and set fire to Indian villages, making it clear that the story of the founding of New England has a dark side that religion fails to explain.

The very fact that Goodman Brown is willing to visit the forest when he has an idea of what will happen there is an indication of the corruptibility and evil at the heart of even the most faithful Puritan.

Whether Goodman Brown worships God or the devil, it makes no difference; it is not his faith in his religion that was lost. It was his faith in other people, and their goodness that vanished.

It seems a desolate life when one cannot trust or turn to anyone for advice or comforting. Sharing your life with other people, which Brown surrenders, seems to be as much a part of human nature as sin.

Q.3: How is Young Goodman Brown tempted to sin by curiosity? Discuss.[NU:2016] Or How was Young Goodman Brown taken in the world of evil?[NU:2014]

Ans. "Young Goodman Brown is a famous short story in American literature. It sketches how a good man becomes evil and participates in an unholy communion. It is an allegory of Give an account of how Young Goodman Brown was taken in the communion of evil. The temptation that every faces and of human tendency to prejudge others on insufficient evidence.

On the night Goodman Brown joins the communion of evil, he says goodbye to his wife, Ornapan Faith, outside of his house in Salem Village. Before departure he promises to his wife to be forest. He soon comes upon a man in the road who greets Goodman Brown as though he had been expecting him. The man carries a walking stick. This walking stick looks like a craved, serpent.

The man offers Goodman Brown The staff, saying that it might help him walk faster, but Goodman Brown refuses. Goodman Brown tells the man that his family members have been Christians and good people for generations. He also says that he feels ashamed to associate with him. The man replies that he knew Goodman Brown's father and grandfather, as well as other members of churches in New England, and even the governor of the state.

The man's words confuse Goodman Brown and so he wants to return to the village for Faith's sake. At that moment, an old woman comes limping through the woods. Goodman mo Brown recognizes her as Goody Cloyse, a pious, respected woman from the village. The man taps Goody Cloyse on the shoulder. She identifies him as the devil and reveals herself to be a witch, on her way to the devil's evil forest ceremony.

Once again Goodman wants to tum back for Faith's sake. Before disappearing, he gives Goodman Brown his staff, telling him that he can use it for transport to the ceremony if he changes his mind. As he sits and gathers himself, Goodman Brown hears horses traveling along the road. Soon he hears the voices of the minister of the church and Deacon Gookin, who are also apparently on their way to the ceremony Being Shocked, Goodman Brown swears that even though everyone else in the world has gone to the devil, for Faith's sake he will stay true to God. However, he soon hears voices coming from the ceremony and thinks he recognizes Faith's voice. She screams her name, and a pink ribbon from her cap flutters down from the sky.

Goodman becomes certain that there is no good in the world because Faith has tumed to evil. He grabs the staff, which pulls him quickly through the forest toward the ceremony. When he reaches the ground where the ceremony is taking place, the trees around it are on fire, and he can see in the firelight the faces of various respected members of the community, along with more disreputable men and women and Indian priests. But he doesn't see Faith, and he starts to hope once again that she might not be there.

A figure appears on a rock and tells the congregation to present the converts. Goodman Brown thinks he sees his father beckoning him forward and his mother trying to hold him back. Before he can rethink his decision, the minister and Deacon Gookin drag him forward. Goody Cloyse and Martha Carrier bring forth another person. Goodman Brown discovers that this person is none but Faith herself. He tells Faith to look up to heaven and resist the devil, and then suddenly finds himself alone in the forest.

In fine we may say that the story is about losing innocence and becoming evil in nature. Goodman Brown loses his innocence because of his inherent corruptibility.


Q-04: The inherent tendency to evil of human nature has been
depicted in the story "Young Goodman Brown".-Discuss.[NU:2015] 

Ans: Young Goodman Brown is a long short story of a tragic theme - the theme of man's universal predicament consequent on his tendency to evil in an existence which demands good as its sustaining principle.Hawthorne depicts the fact that man is inherently disposed to evil and is in its grip, and cannot wriggle out. The author's purpose is also to convince us of the power of evil.

Hawthorne wants to depict the human tendency to evil in this story, through the character of Young Goodman Brown. In the beginning of the story, we see that Young Brown took leave of his married wife and insisted that he should spend the night in her arms, hy wife, Faith, one evening on an errand of evil.

Though his newly paid no heed to her request, and asserted that he must stay that night away from her. His wife bade him goodbye though with a sad heart to proceed forward because he had some premonition of evil Young He went through a very dense forest. After some time, he felt hesitant. Brown soon heard the tramp of horses along the road. Among the horse-riders he heard the voices of the minister and the deacon Gookin.

There were confused noises which he recognized as those of his townsfolk, both good and bad, holy and unholy. The dark cloud swept away. Something fluttered lightly down through the air, and caught on the branch of a tree. He seized it and found it was a pink ribbon. He could understand that his Faith was gone, spoiled or involved in sin. He lost faith in all goodness.

Maddened with despair, he grasped his staff of maple and set forth once again at a great speed. He now became more fiendish than the fined. He saw blazing trees, and a rock rose as a pulpit, and a congregation of sinful people, an apparition that closely resembled some divinity of the New England's Churches. He joined the congregation of evil people and the apparition that baptized him and his wife, Fath. Just then Goodman Brown cried out,

"Faith, Faith! Look up to Heaven and resist the wicked one!"

The broad outline of the story gives sufficient indication of how Young Brown was influenced by his inherent tendency to evil. Though he had conflicts in his mind several times about the justifiability of the curse he was taking, he was ultimately overcome by his inherent tendency to evil. We can also mention some particular instances of his proneness to evil In the very beginning of the story we see that he was going on an evil mission without any rhyme or reason, and took leave of his newly married wife all of a sudden one evening.

The elderly man who looked much like himself and with whom he came across in the forest revealed to him that his father and grandfather had also been his disciples in the matter of doing evil things. Goodman Brown also found Goody Cloyse as a member of the evil communion. He found the minister and deacon Gookin riding to the congregation of evil people. Last of all, what gave a staggering blow to his remaining goodness was the conversion of his wife Faith to evil. All these instances of evil people around him created in him a belief that was confirmed by the dark figure of the fiend who asserted that evil was the only happiness of man.

The author also convinces us of the power of evil. Goodman Brown saw a congregation and approached it with whom he felt a floathful brotherhood, by the sympathy of all that was loathful in his heart. Apparition, the dark figure welcomed them all to the "Communion of the grave. "It described all kinds of sins committed by people who are revered as holy men, or innocent people, and branded the whole as one mighty blood spot of sin. He then conferred on them all the power to penetrate the deep mystery of sin in every bosom, the fountain of all wicked arts. Here, the power of evil, rather the uncanny power, is made manifest in the highly effective lines. It is the power of the devil which is given to the worshipers of evil


Q-5.Consider The Hairy Ape as a social satire.2013,2015,2019 Ans: A satire is usually in the form of a comedy, but The Hairy Ape is no in the form of a comedy. It is in the form of a tragedy. A satire produces laughter in the beholders, but this drama does not. The satire here is largely indirect but there are some direct satirical remarks about the rich upper class people through the mouths of some of its characters.

Eugene O'Neill has satirized the contemporary American society in The Hairy Ape. But it may also be regarded as the criticism of any society in the contemporary world where scientific and technological developments have got hold of any advanced. civilized society. This play is regarded as a famous social satire.O'Neill is a critic of post-war American society as a whole; his plays study man not in relation to fate and God, but in relation to his social environment.

In his plays he shows that the social environment is soulless and mechanical, and that it causes frustration, disillusionment and sense of alienation. The Hairy Ape presents a profoundly pessimistic social philosophy which rejects entirely the status quo, but sees no answer for man in a better society, and no hope for destroying the existing society.

The play provokes thoughts, dramatizes a problem, stresses its evil, promotes understanding, and this in itself constitutes a step towards its solution. The play presents an extremely negative view of life of the mechanized America. The worker best adapted to the system is a "hairy ape". The capitalist class is even more terribly dehumanized for it has lost all connection with life.

It is simply procession of gaudy marionettes. "Both govemment and religion are treated as devices for maintaining the status quo. The church substitutes political conservatism for Christianity, substitute's bazaars, methods of making money, for concern with the meaning of life and death. On the whole, the state, as pictured in The Hairy Ape is a device for dehumanizing its citizens and for preventing change."

Though Yank feels, in the beginning of the drama that he is satisfied with his condition of life as a stoker in a large ship, he later on rejects this acceptance and complacency after his rude confrontation with Mildred, a girl of the rich class. O'Neill is more concerned with the psychological and philosophical implications of the machine age, and herein lies his originality as a social critic.

The Hairy Ape is such a moving play, and so universal in its appeal because it is a dramatization of the tortured and anguished soul of Yank, the everyman. His example shows that "The truly vicious effects of the capitalist State are not physical, but spiritual. "Although he is against the organization of the State and the economic system as it is, he is contemptuous of any hope in a changed social or economic system. In his final comment on the LW.W. Yank rejects any hope of bettering man by bettering society,

The machine age is crushing man's soul as well. The Hairy Ape is dramatization of the tortured and anguished soul of Yank. The truly vicious effects of the capitalist state are not physical, but spiritual.

The Hairy Ape presents a profoundly pessimistic criticism of life of the American society, or of all societies resembling the American, which most societies are at the moment


Q. 6: Discuss the major themes of O'Neill's 'The Hairy Ape' [NU:2017]

Ans: In literature theme refers to the central and dominating idea or the implicit message of a work. Eugene O'Neill is a great dramatist. He has treated a good variety of themes in the drama The Hairy Ape'.

The resounding theme of 'The Hairy Ape' is the human regression by industrialization and technical progress. Industrialization has reduced the human worker into a machine. The men are programmed to do one task. They are turned on and off by whistles. This process has taken men into a Neanderthal or ape-like state. This is made clear by O'Neill's stage direction which indicates that the firemen look like Neanderthal.

Thus we see that one of the workers, Paddy looks like a monkey. The longer the firemen work the further back they fall on the evolutionary path. This regressive process is represented through the character of Yank. Yank is a Neanderthal on the ship and becomes an actual ape at the zoo.

Another important theme in the play is the theme of isolation and the quest for identity. Yank is found to be confident and proud of his superior strength from the beginning of the play. Though he is detached from home, he says he belongs to the ship. His sense of belonging is shattered when Mildred Douglas encounters him in the ship and remarks' the filthy beast! Mildred's remark shatters the very foundation of his faith in the contribution of machines and sense of belongingness. His disillusionment to the contribution of machines to the progress of human condition and the society dependent on those conditions begins.

In search of Mildred, Yank becomes a nuisance for some people in the Fifth Avenue and so is sent into custody. After release he goes to 1.W.W. There he is rejected membership. Then he goes to a zoo where he addresses a gorilla as his brother but he is not accepted by the ape class and is killed. In this way Yank becomes gradually isolated until his death. Thus The Hairy Ape' focuses on Yank's loss of faith and belief in himself as well as in the world in which he lives. In search of his identity he discovers that he is alone and that the world is impossible to live in.

The disintegration of modern civilization is another important theme. From the study of the life of Yank it becomes clear that he is the victim of the disintegration of modern civilization. Modern civilization has become virtually a spiritual and cultural wasteland. This is due largely to the social and spiritual system prevailing in the present day world. The dramatist has pointed his finger at that socio-economic system which tends to degrade humans into beasts.

The degeneration of the human psyche is another theme of this play. Yank suffers, but not alone. The rich class also comes under the degenerating influence of the machine age. Mildred Douglas is a decadent aimless product of society. The members of the society are devoid of mind, soul and will. Modem machines and technology have rendered them spiritually dead. This world is a spiritual wasteland.

In the light of the above analysis of the themes of the play we can say that O'Neill has successfully combined several themes in his play "The Hairy Ape 

Q. 6: Discuss the major themes of O'Neill's 'The Hairy Ape' [NU:2017]

Ans: In literature theme refers to the central and dominating idea or the implicit message of a work. Eugene O'Neill is a great dramatist. He has treated a good variety of themes in the drama The Hairy Ape'.

The resounding theme of 'The Hairy Ape' is the human regression by industrialization and technical progress. Industrialization has reduced the human worker into a machine. The men are programmed to do one task. They are turned on and off by whistles. This process has taken men into a Neanderthal or ape-like state. This is made clear by O'Neill's stage direction which indicates that the firemen look like Neanderthal. Thus we see that one of the workers, Paddy looks like a monkey. The longer the firemen work the further back they fall on the evolutionary path. This regressive process is represented through the character of Yank. Yank is a Neanderthal on the ship and becomes an actual ape at the zoo.

Another important theme in the play is the theme of isolation and the quest for identity. Yank is found to be confident and proud of his superior strength from the beginning of the play. Though he is detached from home, he says he belongs to the ship. His sense of belonging is shattered when Mildred Douglas encounters him in the ship and remarks' the filthy beast! Mildred's remark shatters the very foundation of his faith in the contribution of machines and sense of belongingness. His disillusionment to the contribution of machines to the progress of human condition and the society dependent on those conditions begins.

In search of Mildred, Yank becomes a nuisance for some people in the Fifth Avenue and so is sent into custody. After release he goes to 1.W.W. There he is rejected membership. Then he goes to a zoo where he addresses a gorilla as his brother but he is not accepted by the ape class and is killed. In this way Yank becomes gradually isolated until his death. Thus The Hairy Ape' focuses on Yank's loss of faith and belief in himself as well as in the world in which he lives. In search of his identity he discovers that he is alone and that the world is impossible to live in.

The disintegration of modern civilization is another important theme. From the study of the life of Yank it becomes clear that he is the victim of the disintegration of modern civilization. Modern civilization has become virtually a spiritual and cultural wasteland. This is due largely to the social and spiritual system prevailing in the present day world. The dramatist has pointed his finger at that socio-economic system which tends to degrade humans into beasts.

The degeneration of the human psyche is another theme of this play. Yank suffers, but not alone. The rich class also comes under the degenerating influence of the machine age. Mildred Douglas is a decadent aimless product of society. The members of the society are devoid of mind, soul and will. Modem machines and technology have rendered them spiritually dead. This world is a spiritual wasteland.

In the light of the above analysis of the themes of the play we can say that O'Neill has successfully combined several themes in his play "The Hairy Ape

Q-08:Portray Yank as a modern tragic hero.
Or, Consider Yank as a tragic character. [NU, 2016]

Ans: The Hairy Ape is a great tragedy of O'Neill though it has a subtitle - A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life'. The tragedy is not a conventional one in the classical or Aristotelian tradition having a hero and extraordinary person with a tragic flaw. But it is a modem tragedy with its protagonist as an antihero. Its subtitle does not reflect the theme of the drama, which is undoubtedly a tragic one.

According to Aristotle, tragedy must involve the reversal of fortunes of a powerful person from good to bad, due to the protagonist's hamartia Aristotle also wrote that tragedy must create a sense of fear and pity in the viewer, which can then lead to catharsis. But modern
writes like O'Neil or Arthur Niller have written tragedies on common man.

Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape is also a tragedy but not in the classical sense of tragedy." The Hairy Ape is a tragedy for its portrayal of a common man's (Yank) struggle of finding his belongingness in industrial society. The play depicts the struggle of a modern man's search of his identity in 2 complex modern society. It criticizes both an individual and the industrial society.

The play has a tragic end that inflicts pity in the readers for Yank and people like him, The Hairy Ape does not have a conventional hero as defined by the classics or Aristotle. The hero of this play is beastly, filthy and course. He is the dominating character in the play.

Though there were flaws like pride and anger in Yank the protagonist of The Hairy Ape", he does not suffer for any tragic flaw. He suffers because of social forces which were stronger than him. He struggled hard against the forces of capitalism and industrialism but he could not win.

Driven by excessive anger Yank decides to take revenge from the rich girl by killing her. He visits Fifth Avenue to fulfill his resolution. He attacks people there and is put into jail, where he comes to feel that he is a hairy ape. After his release from the prison he tries to join Industrial Workers of the World union or WW which, according to some inmates, helps workers But he was thrown to the street from there because of his thoughts of revenge.

First his life on the ship was shattered then he could not find belongingness with the workers as well. Failing everywhere he tries to visit a zoo where he tries to befriend a gorilla whom he addresses as brother and tries to embrace him. The gorilla crushes him and throws him into the cage. Yank dies there miserably like an animal. After his demise the writer comments that at last he found his identity and knows where he belongs.

Throughout this struggle Yank defines "belonging" as power. When he thinks he belongs to something he gains strength, when Yank is rejected by a group, he is terribly weak. However, Yank is rejected by all facets of society: his fellow firemen / Stokers, Mildred, the street goers of Fifth Avenue, the IWW, and finally the ape in the zoo. Yank symbolizes the struggle of modem man within industrial society-he Saltinot breaks class or ideological barriers, nor create new ones.

The Hairy Ape is a penetrating tragedy on human predicament in the Wie is merely ironical.It points the satirical intent of the playwright modem industrial age. The subtitle A Comedy of Ancient and Modern The rich class might look at it as comedy because a beastly man dies. The playwright's intent is that the readers should think over the question, why such a powerful man belonging to the working class dies. He is a victim of the mechanical social system. His death should cause pity and sorrow for a human being though ordinary.

Q. 9. What is the significance of the title The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.2013,2015,2019

Ans: A good title is one of the most important elements of a book. A very effective title is one that teases the reader, makes him ponder over its meaning and relationship to the book One such book/title is The Sun Also Rises by Emest Hemingway. The title suggests an importance of time and a cyclical motif. Yet it also has a hopeful tone, focusing more on beginnings than on endings.

There are many cycles in the book and one of the most evident is that of Lady Brett Ashley and men. Brett has affairs with Cohn and Romero in the course of the book. In both cases there is a process of wooing, acceptance, and eventual rejection that takes place. It is also suggested that having affairs is a common practice for her, making that a cycle in and of itself.

The idea of cycles is also evident in a more ritualized form through the bull fighting and the Catholicism. Bull fighting is a very stylized affair that is mentioned throughout the whole book, Catholicism is also very ritualistic and is concerned with a religious cycle of life, death, and resurrection.One of the best examples of cycles and the passage of time is the contrast of Romero and Belmonte. Belmonte is an old bull-fighter who has passed his prime; his sun is setting. Romero is a young bull fighter who is just coming into his own; his sun is rising Belmonte, "no longer had his greatest moments in the bull- ring. He was not sure that there were any great moments (219). This contrast suggests the cycle of life and death.

This cycle of life and death can be seen on a much larger scale by looking at the ex-patriots. The ex-patriots are members of the post-World War I generation that is sometimes referred to as the Lost Generation. They went through the horrors of War and depression in their young lives and found themselves living in Europe and seemingly devoid of morals, spirituality and purpose.

The title "The Sun Also Rises" suggests that while things might be bad for them now, there is always a tomorrow. Hemingway is hopeful for the future and dismisses the past and present by showing it as part of a greater cycle. There is another possible interpretation of the title and that is as a sexual metaphor. The sun may be rising but Jake's winky sure ain't. With this interpretation there seems to be a theme of unrequited love.

Jake loves Brett and she feels the same about him. Yet he is an incomplete man. He lost a part of himself in the war. To a certain degree his whole generation lost something in the war. And that is why they struggle on trying to find satisfaction and fulfilment in life, yet never able to fully achieve it.

The sun is setting on the lost generation, their best days have passed them by. And that is why the thirty-four year old Brett cannot be with the nineteen year old Romero. They are on different sides of the cycle.It is also possible that Hemingway is saying that the sexual nature of relationships is not important. This is a bit of a stretch but if one looks at the title as in contrast to Jake's impotence, then it basically means; so what if your winky doesn't rise, the sun does The title "The Sun Also Rises" is great in that it makes the reader ponder its meaning and relevance to the story. He shows enough images of loss and heartbreak to give this book a possible depressing tone.

The Sun Also Rises is about cycles. One can never be saddened by an ending, a new beginning is always just around the comer. And so although the sun may set on good times, it always rises again.



Q.10: How did the idea of masculinity change after World War I as you find in 'The Sun Also Rises'? [NU. 2018,2013]

Ans: Throughout Emest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises', the idea of old-world masculinity is recalled. Hemingway in his novel reveals how a powerful woman is a threat to old masculinity within the changes in the era in which the novel was written. The First World War or the Great War changed many things in society. After the Great War, the views of people in society changed extremely.

The people believed that God is by their side and he will protect them; but after World War 1 they started to believe everything in a new way, following a new philosophy, Modernism. During that time, artists changed their way of presenting their work. The word 'modern' becomes generalized for all types of people. Writings as a piece of art showed the direct effect of modemism. Emest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises' portrays an example of that through the changes in the idea of masculinity in society.

Regeneration of femininity was a response to the changes after the First World War. In that time, women not only had more opportunities but were needed to step up as managers to balance out the lack of masculine presence lost by the war.

Ernest Hemingway portrays an independent female character named Lady Brett Ashley. the main female character of the novel. She is a selfish and careless woman. She is also beautiful and smart. During World War I, she was a nurse and was with Jake Barnes during his recovery from his wound. The central character of this novel is Jake Barnes. In the war, Jake becomes injured and his injuries make him impotent, but his sexual desire is active. This laceration causes not
only the pain but a great deal of confusion regarding his relationship with Lady Brett Ashley.

Lady Brett Ashley rejects Jake due to his inability to fulfil her sexual desire, though both the characters love each other. Here we realize that Jake's wound still gives him the pain and hunt him every day, as he cannot escape from the injury that but got in World War 1. Their relationship is ironic in that they both love each other but can never be together.

The novel sets on the basis of the situation of the effect of World War I. The youth, in this period of time, were greatly affected by this war. This caused the failure in values and standards in the young generation: this also damaged their thought to live. Emest Hemingway portrays the lives of the people of this lost generation in his novel The Sun Also Rises'. The novel shows the physical and emotional trauma, the religious abandonment and the way the members of the lost generation escape from their affected lives.

On the other hand, while Jake is impotent, Lady Brett is more open in her sexuality. The conflict between these two characters gives an image of a gender role reversal. It is visible that the changes had come because of the Great War. The character of Lady Brett is the direct threat to the old tradition of masculinity. Jake is unable to please Brett sexually and is at odds with himself. Jake says - "All I wanted to know was how to live in it. Hemingway shows Jake searching for answers in an attempt to come to terms with his new life.

The destruction of Jake's old self and the start of a passive man can be seen as a feminine trat Hemingway, in this novel, shows the new type of man by Jake Bames without old trending masculinity and a new woman through Lady Brett Ashley with independent thought. Moreover, Jake finds a new way of life that the people might be indifferent or ignorant of one's actions.

Yet, it does not matter. because, only one's conscience can justify or condemn an individual for his actions. The ultimate teaching is to give away the selfishness and be checked on his desire according to his capability. This directly discourages the old fashioned masculinity and gives a space to the feminine thought to emphasize is intensity.

Therefore, in the novel Brett is the strongest character of all. On the contrary, Jake is much soffer than the other characters. The feminine character in this novel is strengthened over masculinity which clearly beats the pre-war idea of masculinity.


Q.11:  "The Sun Also Rises" is a tragic novel.[NU:2017]

Ans: Ernest Hemingway, the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature and the Pulitzer Prize, is one of the most talented writers in the twentieth century. With his sensitive insight and distinguished writing technique, he explores the alienated spiritual human predicament in modem society. records the catastrophes brought by the inhuman warsand describes the destined tragedy in confrontation of the individual and society The Sun Also Rises, his first novel, published in 1926, helps to establish him as the preeminent writer of his day.

Hemingway paints in The Sun Also Rises the image of the postwar generation, a group of American young people with war trauma, wandering and searching for superficial excitement along the journey from Paris to Spain. Jack Barnes, the protagonist, physically and psychologically injured due to the violence of war searches for courage and meaning in life. As Hemingway's first attempt on tragedy, it's such a shocking masterpiece revealing spiritual bankruptcy and the tragic fate of "the lost generation" after World War I in a world filled with chaos and meaninglessness. This thesis is divided into five parts.

The first part involves a brief introduction to Hemingway's Iterature achievement and his vision of life in the early period of time. The experience of participating in the First World War exerts great influence on him. The cruelty of the war shatters the ideal of this passionate and enthusiastic young man.

The first chapter is a review of tragedy theory, with focus on its development and modem tragedy. Tragic review on this novel is also included in this chapter. This novel defined as a modem tragedy, is much related to the existence predicament of the individual in modem society Code hero Jake owns this tragic spirit and gets psychic triumph in the alienated human spiritual predicament. The important literature review on the tragic field is also included in this part.

The second chapter focuses on the exploration of tragic roots in this novel. The First World War is the very root of all the tragedies. The spiritually depressed and corrupted atmosphere permeates the whole 1920s. Hemingway's early life experience is still an indispensable element in building his tragic consciousness as reflected in the novel.

The third chapter is a discussion of the lost characters' miserable life, including the morality bankruptcy, death of love and complex of anxiety veiled in the surface of hedonic life. The group of "lost neurotics represented by Brett Cohn and Mike sink into the pathetic life, addicting to alcohol, sex, dance and other pleasures. As a foil, they lead a spiritually empty and depraved life, which serves as the reinforcement of Jake's tragic spirit.

The fourth chapter states that the tragic spint in the novel is performed in both the Dionysian and Apollonian forces. Infatuated with the beauty of nature, and static activity of fishing and swimming in the countryside, Jake gets comfort and self-control in Apollonian dreams. Except for the nature which endows the Apollo character, bullfighter Romero is another epitome of Apollonian dream.

In the Dionysian force, the ecstatic activities in the San Fermin tlesta like drinking, singing and dancing all day and night, make Jake unconsciously melt into a larger community and unity and overcome the suffering. Bullfight, as another Dionysian form in the revel, also has metaphorically tragic implications. In face of terror and absurdity of existence, code hero Jake distinguishes himself from his degenerated group, under the guidance of the impulse of Apollo and Dionysus, and finally gets his spiritual triumph in the irreversible life trauma.

The last part is a condusion that out of pity and fear in the traditional tragedy, the code hero's tragic spint les in the affirmation of life. Although in the unequal tragic battle against the universe, Jake gets his reconciliation and triumph in inner heart by confronting and accepting the catastrophe with man's grace and dignity. In modern society. Jake's life philosophy of affirmation of life inspirational human plight has its inspiration and enlightenment for modern people.

Q.12: Evaluate The Sun Also Rises as fictional chronicle of a "lost generation". [NU:2015]

Ans: The Sun Also Rises "is one of the greatest novels of Ernest Hemingway. This famous American novelist was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1954 for his outstanding contribution to literature. He was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. He was born in 1899, the same birth year of our Kazi Nazrul Islam and Jibananda Das. But it is a matter of great regret that Hemingway killed himself with his own pistol in 1961 to get rid of frustration. A big question arises, 1s suicide a solution to remove frustration? The Subscribe common answer is certainly no.

However, Hemingway wrote this novel after the end of the First World War. We know that war is a big curse. "The Sun Also Rises deals with a lost generation. The members of this generation were extremely frustrated, aimless, jobless and purposeless. The First World War made them so. The setting of this novel is Paris and Spain. That is, it begins in Parm and ends in Madrid, Spain, Jake Barnes is the protagonist of this reputable novel He participated in the First World War as a soldier. A big injury has made him impotent. So, he is not suitable to many any girl. "The Sun Also Rises as a fictional chronicle of a lost generation is discussed below:-

After the end of the First World War, some American and British people went to Paris for better living and ife security. Jake Bames was an American expatriate. He was working as a journalist in Paris. He was an energetic soldier in the First World War. He showed his charisma in the war. But he became impotent when his sexual organ was attacked with a weapon. Lady Brett Ashley is a major member of the lost generation. She looked after him in the war. She was a British nurse. She was also living in Paris with some of her friends including Jake. She was extremely beautiful, charming and lusty. Her husband divorced her for her abnormal physical relationship with other people. She was a promiscuous lady. That is, this lady was fond of making carnal relationships with many people.

Jake Barnes loved her very profoundly as well as sincerely. She also realized his deep love for her. When he proposed to her for marriage in Paris, she rejected him saying that he was an impotent person. It is true that no girl wants to marry an impotent person. Everybody has biological needs. Either way, she told him that she loved him but she would not marry him. She apologized to him. Then, he became very upset thinking that no gir would marry him. But he was a very generous, handsome and energetic person. He could convince any person. He was a very practical person. He was a representative of the lost generation which Hemingway made popular.

Most of the events of this novel happened in 1920. At the characters were very upset and they were bound to live in Paris. All of them passed their time by drinking wine and gambling Brett used to drink wine and champagne a lot. Truly speaking, they used to drink wine to get rid of frustration. But, does wine remove our frustration? The answer is "No." Drinking wine is forbidden in every religion. Besides, wine is detrimental to our heath. We should refrain ourselves from drinking wine. However, Jake had a good friend named Robert Cohn. He was also living in Pans.

He was a novelist. His financial condition was very good. He was an American expatriate. His first wife eloped with another person in America. Later on, he came to Paris with his girlfriend Frances. But Cohn fell in love with Brett. Though he knew that his impotent friend Jake Bames loved her, he made a camal relationship with her several times. This is a trait of the characters of the lost generation. They were spiritually dead. They did not understand anything without physical relation and money. Regarding wine, a character told Brett. "This wine is too good for toast drinking, my dear. You don't want to mix emotions up with a wine like that. You lose the taste."

This novel is a little bit autobiographical. Emest Hemingway also went to France after the First World War for better life and life security. In her personal life, he was very upset. When he could not remove his sorrow, he committed suicide A man commits suicide when he or she gets an intolerable shock. We cannot say that Jake Bames is the mouthpiece of the novelist because despite his physical problems, he did not commit suicide. He was very practical. He tried to enjoy his ife along with his friends in Paris. Most importantly, he loved only one girl in his life and she was none but divorced Brett. So, certainly he deserves our sympathy and love.

In the light of the above discussion, we can say that "The Sun Also Rises" is a fictional chronicle of a lost generation. Here "lost generation" means the people who had to leave their own countries for better life and living after the First World War. The salient rats of this generation are aimlessness, unemployment, purposelessness immorality, lack of spirituality, fondness for physical mlation, lack of cordiality and so on Hemingway shows all the trats through some characters. He deserves our love and appreciation for showing the lost generation


Q.13: How has Saul Bellow depicted American life and society in 'Seize the Day"?

Ans. Saul Bellow has portrayed American life and society as rootless and fraudulent and isolated among the population and financial gambler.

Firstly, we find rootlessness in American society in which Tommy Wilhelm is a man in his mid-forties, temporarily living in the Hotel Gloriana on the Upper West Side of New York City, the same hotel in which his father has taken residence for a number of years. Tommy is out of place from the beginning. living in a hotel filled with elderly retirees and continuing throughout the novel to be a figure of isolation amidst crowds.

The readers secondly get a picture of fraudulence and joblessness due to the lack of quality. The reader begins to discover through Tommy's thoughts and through a series of flashbacks that Tommy has just recently been sacked from his job as a salesman, he is a college drop-out, a man with two children, recently separated from his wife, and he is a man on the brink of financial catastrophe. Tommy has just handed over the last of his savings to the fraudulent Dr. Tamkin, who has promised to knowingly invest it in the market.

Besides, he has apparently fallen in love with a woman named Olive whom he cannot marry as his wife is unwilling to divorce him. Tommy is unhappy and in need of assistance both emotionally and financially. The following chapters focus on Tommy's encounters and communication with Dr. Tamkin, a seemingly fraudulent and questionable psychologist, who gives Tommy endless advice and thus gives the assistance he had looked for from his father. Whether Tamkin is a fraudulent or questionable as a psychologist, and whether he is a liar and a charlatan is a question that is constantly being posed to us.

Another characteristic of American life and society is lack of relationship among the American people. In the novel it has been seen that whenever Tommy talks with his father, Dr. Adler sees his son as a good for nothing word. Tommy is refused financial assistance and also refused any kind of support, emotionally or otherwise, from his father The flashbacks highlight, among other things, Tommy's meeting with the cunning Maurice Venice, the talent scout who shows initial interest in young Tommy and his good looks. Wilhelm, however, is later rejected by the same scout after a failed screen career in Hollywood as an actor. He nevertheless attempts to discontinue his college education and goes to California, against his parent's will and warnings.

There is gambling in the stock market of the American life. Tommy and Dr. Tamkin travels back and forth to and from the stock market, meeting several characters along the way. The novel finally illustrates Tommy's heavy loss in commodities in which Tamkin has invested Tommy's money. Tommy has lost all of his savings but still has the monetary demands of his family to meet. Furthermore, Tamkin has disappeared.

To conclude, we can say that the picture upholds the disintegration of the family life in Western Civilization. It is indeed a social picture of American life. The emotional barrenness, lack of fellow-feeling has rendered Western Civilization a true waste land.

Q.14: Comment on the theme of isolation in the novel 'Seize [N.U. 2016]


Ans: The well-known world seems an indifferent one due to isolation. And isolation comes from a money minded world, relatives devoid of feelings, and the want of fellow-feelings among the population.

Firstly, isolation comes from the money minded and mercenary world. Bellow is particularly concerned with the well-worn modern dilemma or the individual, desperately detached and profoundly alone in a society whose only God is money. When the story begins, Bellow's hero, Tommy feels out of place in this tough world of money, selfishness and exploitation. It is a world which has a non human and animal like frame work, where feelings and emotions have no importance.

Secondly, isolation originates from the careless relatives who are devoid of any feelings for others. As the story opens, Tommy is in a state of extreme ignorance, forty-four years old, over-emotional and heavily dependent. He is caught and crushed in a world where feelings and emotions have no importance. He is disillusioned in a world where no one cares and no real communication is found among men. In the lower middle class, densely populated area of New York City, Tommy lives in Hotel, Gloriana. His father also lives in the same hotel.

Although people talk to each other, do business pass the time, there is no emotion. Tommy's biological father Dr. Adler even is unwilling to become involved in his son's desperate loneliness. In Tommy's case his aged, rich and successful father is physically present but not emotionally. Tommy needs money which his father could provide him but Dr. Adler does not give him money. However, Tommy needs communication with an understanding hear more than money. Again and again he endeavors vainly to get through the boundary that surrounds his father. The appeal is always futile. He gets nothing from him but selfish advice. His father's response is old, detached, yet bitter and angry. analytical denunciation of Tommy's past failures and present disgrace.

Thirdly, isolation is created due to the lack of fellow-feelings among the population. There are other characters, for example, Maurice Venice, Mr. Pearls, old mr. Rappaport from whom Tommy finds no consolation. His wife Margaret has left him but will not give him divorce. Isolation is present between them. Margaret tortures and exploits him. She always victimizes her husband. Among others Maurice Venice is another agent of disillusionment. Mr. Pearls, a German refuge from a concentration camp and Mr. Rappaport, an elderly clutching player of stock markets. Each of these figures is responsible for Tommy's aloofness.

In conclusion, we can say that in 'Seize the Day' the sense of despair and isolation of a modern city dweller is portrayed by the image of a howling wolf. Wilhelm is a city-bred man, but still he feels out of place in New York. When night comes he feels like howling from his window like a wolf. He is sorrowful due to his isolation and out of this isolation the world appears to be an indifferent world.

Q.15:How did Tommy Wilhelm get his freedom in 'Seize the Day'?[NU:2018]

Ans: Tommy Wilhelm is the protagonist of the novella who longs for freedom throughout the book. He becomes free from the pretended soul and his love for humanity gives him freedom and Salvation through realizing the persons around him, understanding his own position.

The first way to understand the people around him. He is attracted to the way in which the eccentric Dr. Tamkin thinks. On the contrary, Dr. Tamkin Wilhelm thinks that Wilhelm is rich but as time passes, Dr. Tamkin understands that Wilhelm is not rich and takes his last dollars and hiding place. Then Wilhelm cam understands the psychological complications and achieves his wastes and at last, he goes to consolation and freedom.

Wilhelm gains salvation and consolation after coming out of the present shell of his own self. Wilhelm stops playing the roles he has been holed into and he finds the person himself, as Dr. Alder's son. Further still, he needs to release himself from Margaret, not from his obligations as a father, but from his victimization of her. In short, the paradox lies in the fact that one must lose everything in order to be free.

The novel portrays Tommy as a man who is drowning. The imagery that surrounds him is the imagery of water and he is constantly "descending" and "sinking" into hellish depths. However, the author must bring into question the character of Tommy because although he constantly blames others, such as his father, his wife, or Dr. Tamkin, for his strife and place in life. He must learn to take credit for his own mistakes.

He is character in flux, a character that wavers between victimization and a temptation to martyrdom and a self-acceptance, and he wavers too between childishness and maturity. Nevertheless, it is this very fluctuation that will help him on his way to seeking truth because, as Dr. Tamkin says, the path to victory is not a straight line.

The final element that frees Tommy is love. When Wilhelm can find solidarity with the rest of the society and becomes the part of the large body of humanity instead of always being isolated in the crowd. In the end of the book, Wilhelm feels love for the stranger in the coffin. He mourns for the stranger as if he can feel the sorrow from the core of his heart and that gives Wilhelm consolation and salvation.

It can be said that in the end of the novella Wilhelm frees himself
from pretended soul and finds himself as a person and that brings consolation and salvation through the disillusionment about the harsh reality of the modern world. He commits sin and then gains redemption. 

Q.16: How did Mr.Tamkin convince Tommy to invest money in 'Seize the Day"? [NU:2018]

Ans: Dr. Tamkin plays many roles throughout the novel. The role of Surrogate father, the role of truth-teller, the role of healer or Psychiatrist and a source of parody. Tamkin claims to occupy many positions in society - from master builder to inventor to psychologist.

Tamkin appears to be a liar in his claims many times but there are many truths hidden within the lines of his lies. Tamkin claims to be a psychologist and in fact in the end proves to be healing Tommy. Talon presents Tommy with alternatives and with many ways of thinking which open a new kind of path for Tommy that leads him to self-healing Additionally, by the very act of offering his assistance, psychologically and emotionally as well as monetarily, Tamkin is acting as a father should act. Moreover, he becomes a father figure for Tommy, a surrogate.

Dr. Tamkin is a psychiatrist as well as an advocate of Reichman philosophy. He believes in juxtaposition. However, there are many truths within his lies and one might come to understand his lies as simply stories or parables. A man who believes in the power of juxtaposition and the force of opposites working together, a man who believes in flux and in alternative ways of looking at the world, it makes perfect sense for the reader to find truth within his lies. The paradox, itself, is a work of juxtaposition.

Tamkin is a fast-talking con artist. He raises the con to a transcendent level. He convinced Tommy to invest his last seven hundred dollars in the commodities market and to make Tamkin the custodian of the funds. The chief commodity, lard, is now falling, and Tommy is sickened at the thought that he will soon be bankrupt. Meanwhile Tamkin comforts, cajoles, and wheedles.

He lectures Tommy on the evils of money and of the pursuit of a form of aggression. Tamkin patronizes Tommy, telling him that neither Tamkin nor Tommy needs the money, that it is all a game Tamkin seems to offer Tommy sympathy and understanding. Tommy's head distrusts Tamkin but Tommy's heart accepts the possibility of Tamkin's being honest. Despite all of his lies Tommy believes him and lost his last money and is shattered.

In conclusion, we can say that though Tamkin has deceived Tommy he works as an eye-opener who makes Tommy realize the reality

Q.17: Do You consider Wilhelm a victimized hero in "Size the day"?[NU:2013,2014] Or, How does Wilhelm become the victim of American drama.[NU:2015]

Ans: Seize the Day" is a noted novella by the American novelist Saul Bellow. He was a Jewish writer. So, he introduced some Jewish characters in this novel. He was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in Sterature in 1976 for his outstanding contribution to American literature. This novella plays a vital role in helping him to get the prize. A novella is a short form of a novel. The main theme of this famous novella is the victimization of the protagonist. The setting is Hotel Gloriana, New York.

Tommy Wilhelm is the protagonist or central character of this novella. He is the victim of his faults. He is responsible for his downfall. Tommy is a person of failure. This type of lazy person does not deserve to survive in this materialistic and competitive world. He is totally opposite to his father. Here, we cannot tell the fact that "like father, like son "He has two sons. He does not have a good relationship with his wife Margaret.

They live separately. He gives her divorce but she does not accept it. Because if she accepts it, he will marry his Christian girlfriend Olive. He will also stop sending money to her. His father is Dr. Adler who is very rich and money-minded. We do think that Tommy Wilhelm is a victimized hero. Because he is a victim of negligence of his father, wife, girlfriend Olive etc. He is also a victim of social inequality and injustice. The victimization of the protagonist is discussed below.

Tommy is a person of failure from the beginning of his life till the end. He is responsible for being unsuccessful in every sector. He joined a job as a salesman. But his owner fired him from the job because he was unable to convince the shopkeepers. A salesman must be smart, intelligent and industrious. But he was a very lazy person. Laziness brings about his suffering.

For his laziness, his wife did not live with him. For laziness, he was suffering financially. His father did not love him because of his sloth and indifference. So, everything happened because of his bad habit Later, he invested his money behind the share market. Dr. Tamkin suggested that he invest the money. At last, he lost his money in the share market. He understood the character of loafer Dr. Tamkin. Here he is a victim

The relationship between Tommy Wilhelm and Dr. Adler is not friendly and cordial. In fact this novel shows us the real picture of the relationship between a son and a father in America. It shows us that their relationship is artificial. A father has no time to look after his son. He is busy with himself. Dr. Adler is much different from his slow coach son Wilhelm. According to Alder, his son is good for nothing. He does believe that his son is unfit in this material world. He does not give importance to his lazy son. Their relationship is very bitter and unhappy.

Dr Adler is very unsympathetic and unfriendly to his own son. He feels proud of his merit and status. He never thinks of the betterment of his own son. It seems to us that Wilhelm is not his son. He is a very stern and practical person. He is a worshiper of money and wealth. He believes that money is a must in our life. He does not understand anything without money. He thinks that money brings happiness and mental peace. He also thinks that we can buy happiness with money. Since he is a rich man, he thinks of himself as a happy person.

On the other hand, his son Wilhelm is very helpless. He does not have enough money. Wilhelm shows his failure everywhere. He is unfit in every job. He is very much respectful to his father. He knows that it is a sacred duty of a son to respect his own father and mother, His father insults him many times but he never disrespects his father. His father is very indifferent to him Adler is very cruel and unkind to him.

Tommy Wilhelm is a person of failure. He wanted to be a hero in Hollywood as he was a good looking person. He went to Hollywood but failed to be a hero. In business he failed. It seems that he was born to be a person of failure: His father never thought of his career. Love for his son is valueless to Dr. Adler. His attitude to his son is not father-like. There is no lack of respect for Wilhelm to his father. He loves and respects his father from the core of his heart. It is not an artificial love. It is a sacred love. But his father loves money more than anything. He thinks that money makes the difference between a son and a father. He also thinks that a moneyless person has no value in this world.

At last, we can say that in "Seize the Day, the protagonist Tommy Wähem is a victimized hero. He did not get the touch of happiness in his life. He is a victim because nobody came to help him during his hard days. A father is like a friend. A father supports a son in any problem. But Tommy is unlucky in the sense that his own father Dr. Adler did not help him mentally or financially Besides, Dr. Tamkin betrayed him. His wife tortured him mentally. His girlfriend did not marry him. For all these reasons. Tommy is a victimized hero of this novella

Q.18: What picture of racial violence do you get in Beloved?

Ans: Toni Morrison's Beloved gives us a true description of the black slaves in America, especially, the black women by the white masters. Just before and after the Emancipation Act in 1863 such was the suppression of the blacks.Blacks were treated worse animals. The slaves were beaten, bruised, raped, hanged, rented out, loaned out, bought up, brought back, stored up, exchanged, mortgaged, won, stolen or seized just like commodities.

The story of Beloved is based on the historical event of a slave woman named Margaret Gamer, who killed her child because she did not want her children to suffer as she had in her life. Toni Morrison has recreated sociological and psychological problems of blacks of the time keeping the basic story same as Garner.

The novel revolves around this incident and its consequent effects upon the mother whose heart is at times filled with a sense of guilt and remorse. The mother who kills the child in the novel is Sethe and her mother-in-law is Baby Suggs. Mysteriously enough there is a resurrection of the dead child who comes back to live with Sethe at 124 Bluestone Road introducing herself as Beloved. All these lend a complexity to the novel. Sethe is haunted by the incident of killing her child.

Beloved narrates violent dehumanization of millions of black people at the hands of white masters. A few examples of the violent treatment of whites on the blacks are given here. Baby Suggs, mother of Halle and mother-in-law of Sethe had eight children by various fathers, and all of them except Halle were taken from her. Sethe was sexually abused and assaulted by the two young men with "mossy teeth". But she was unable to assault the white schoolteacher who with the slave-hunters had come to take away her children and herself to slavery again in Sweet Home.

Paul D worked on a chain gang in Alfred, Georgia, where prisoners were forced to fellate white guards every morning. In addition Ella was locked up and repeatedly raped by a father and son she called "the lowest yet" and Stamp Paid's wife, Vashit, was forced into sex by her enslaver. Baby Suggs was compelled to have sex with a straw boss who later broke his promise of not selling her child. Sethe's mother was "taken up many times by the crew" during the middle passage, as were many other enslaved women.

Sethe's journey of suffering leaves physical scars on her back, another Indication of the terrible violence practiced on slaves. Schoolteacher's nephews beat her when she was pregnant with Denver to the point that they injured her so badly that her back skin had been dead for years. They held her and sucked her breasts. The fact that they took her milk by force was clearly traumatizing to her as well as to her husband Halle, who saw what happened but was unable to do anything. Consequently. Sethe feels lost, fractured, mother. Her special individual experience and suffering make her robbed of her identity and fundamental essence as a woman and as a capable of killing her children to save them from the brutality of slavery. The victim of this infanticide is her two year old daughter Beloved.

Thus both black man and woman were object of bestial tortures of White Supremes. A black woman was an easy prey as an e desire and as breeders of more slaves for the white master's. The black men being economically poor, dependents and not free to move away with his family had to suffer as well. That's why woman relationship in the black community was seriously impaired.


Q.19: Critically discuss the role of Paul D in Beloved. [N.U. 2014]

Ans: Paul D is characterized as a man who "can walk in a house and make the women cry". There is a "blessedness" in him that allows former slave women to trust him and tell him their secrets. He is constantly in doubt of his own manhood as he has been treated as an inferior animal by Gamer and later the schoolteacher. He has survived many inhumane, humiliating. and unbearable sufferings but at times he appears weaker than Sethe especially as he fails to obtain fatherly role or stop himself from Beloved's manipulation.

Paul D, as with most other blacks in America, is denied humanity and above all, his identity. His individualism has been taken from him which is visible in his name Paul D which is not different from his brothers. The naming of course did not come from his parents but from his white owners.

In the narrative we find that Paul D has lived through extremely harsh conditions in his life. He was sexualy suppressed by Gamer, eaten like a beast by schoolteacher, he has even witnessed a close companion being burned alive, he was also sexually abused by white en in Alfred, Georgia, he got almost drowned by mud water and to ve himself from the fugitive catchers he hid in unbearable places.

These are enough to prove to himself his manhood. Yet these experiences are not enough to prove his manhood, rather Paul D feels ashamed and dehumanized more because of the White's oppression. He wants to be the head of the household for Sethe.But his crashed self esteem does not help him to rise from the ashes.

The brutality of slave life leaves Paul D. heartless. In chapter 7 he says he has put all his memories and affection "buried in his chest where a red heart used to be." He was afraid to like or show affection Sethe. He says he finds it dangerous to love another person. But this to anything. But in his later life he finds companionship towards changes as the story progresses. He begins to fall in love with Sethe.

Paul D is a man whom Sethe feels safe around because he comforts her very well. Because Paul D finds out that Sethe murdered Beloved and was jailed for doing so, Paul D does not believe this at first Even though Stamp Paid tells him what had happened again, he continues to deny it. However, he realizes that Sethe did kill the child with a handsaw and he leaves the house. But the absence makes him realize that he loves Sethe.

That is why he goes to Sethe and asks her if they could have a child together. "I want you pregnant, Sethe. Would you do that for me? She protests, but he just says, "Think about it "He knows that it is the only way of holding onto her and making sure that she doesn't leave him for Beloved.

But he is forced out of the house hold by Beloved. He tries to repress his painful memories by keeping them in what he calls the tobacco tin where his heart once was, but Sethe and Beloved force him to confront his troubled past. Beloved seduces Paul D and coerce him to have sex so that he will be out of Sethe's life but this seduction and coercion actually brings Paul D closer to seethe.

As he has sex with Beloved, he begins saying, "Red heart. Red heart. "When he calls out "red heart," it is a reference to Chapter 7. When the author says that the tin box was "buried in his chest where a red heart used to be "Red heart" suggests that he is beginning to heal. Beloved entices Paul D into betraying Sethe, but in doing so she gives him something that will eventually make him stronger to accept his bad memories which he had kept locked out for long. And now he comes in terms with those bad memories for Beloved and But Sethe which might lead him to a stable future.

Q.20: Why did Sethe try to kill beloved?2018 Or, Is Shethe's murder of her own child justified?Discuss in the light of your reading of Beloved by Toni Morrison.2013

Ans: Toni Morrison's Beloved centers around the fantastic story of the appalling slaughter of a daughter by her own mother. The mother is Sethe and her daughter is Beloved. Sethe was the daughter-in-law of Baby Suggs, the wife of Halle and the mother of Howard, Buglar, Beloved and Denver.

Eighteen years ago she lived as a slave at a farm called Sweet Home Sweet Home was run by a cruel man known as a school teacher, who allowed his nephews to brutalize Sethe while he took notes for his scientific studies of blacks. Sethe fled, although she was pregnant. She delivered the child along the way with the help from a white woman named Amy. Sethe's husband, who was supposed to accompany her, disappeared.

After her escape to Cincinnati with her four children, Sethe enjoyed only twenty-eight days of freedom before she was tracked down by her old master. Rather than allowing her children to be back to slavery, she attempted to kill al of them, succeeding only in killing the baby girl. She stopped her white master by cutting the throat of her daughter with a handsaw. Her attempt to kill them all was extremely brutal but in some cases though hardly but justifiable. The question is whether it was done out of love or a way to free herself?

Sethe was ruined by repeated rape and untold humiliation by the white masters. Still she considered her children the best and clean thing of herself. So she wouldn't let anybody taint that part of her. Sethe would go to any extent to dirty herself to retain the purity of her children. This is evident when she agrees to offer sex for ten minutes to engraver before his young son. She did it as a price to be paid for engraving the word 'Beloved on the tombstone of her dead daughter. And the ten minutes for her were more unbearable than even her killing of the little daughter.

If we consider the matter deeply, we will see that there lies selfishness in her refusal to accept personal responsibility for her baby's death. She continuously says that she didn't want them to be taken back to Sweet Home. She displays her love by mercifully sparing her daughter from a horrific life. But Sethe refuses to acknowledge that her show of mercy is also murder.

Throughout Beloved', Sethe's character consistently displays the dualistic nature of her actions. Soon after Sethe's reunion with Paul D. she describes her reaction to Schoolteacher's arrival: "Oh, no. I wasn't going back there [Sweet Home). I went to jail instead". Thus we see she killed Beloved as a way to avoid going back and retain her freedom. Sethe's words suggest that she has made a moral stand in favor of killing Beloved.

Even when Paul D. leams of what Sethe has done and confronts her with it. Sethe reasons to Paul D.,... So when I got here, even before they let me get out of bed, I stitched her a little something from a piece of cloth Baby Suggs had. Wel, all I'm saying is that's a selfish pleasure I never had before. I couldn't let all that go back to where it was, and I couldn't let her or any of 'em live under a School Teacher. 

That was out". Sethe's love for her children is apparent, yet she still shifts the burden of responsibility away from herself. She acknowledges that it was a "selfish pleasure" to make something for her daughter, yet Sethe refuses to admit any selfishness in her act of murder.

Sethe had a love for her children and her life that she committed a crime that was in a way understandable due to the circumstances. Although she denied it her actions were selfish. Using her children as a way to escape slavery and returning to sweet home, she believed she was sending them to a better place.


Q.21: Tony Morrison's beloved portrays an institutionalized
dehumanization of the slaves. Elucidate.[NU:2017]

Ans: "Beloved" is a novel of slavery by Toni Morrison. She was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1993 in literature. This American novelst was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. "Beloved" deals with an institutionalized dehumanization of the slaves. She is an anti-racist novelist. According to her, racism is a big threat to the development of a country. She followed the 16th American President Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Junior and Nelson Mandela. Slavery is an inhuman practice.

Sethe is the protagonist of "Beloved" She was a victim of racial violence. She was sold as a slave when she was 13 years old. Paul D is a major character of this novel who suffered a lot for slavery. Slavery destroyed his whole life. This novel shows us the miserable condition of the slaves. The white people considered them as subhuman, not human beings. The institutionalized dehumanization of the slaves of this novel has been discussed below:

Sethe was a tragic character. She suffered a lot in her whole life. She was sold as a slave to the plantation of Mr. Gamer. The name of this plantation was Sweet Home. She was the only female slave in this plantation. Other male slaves are Sixo, Paul D. Paul F. Paul A She had to face the lusty violence from her male slaves. She fell in love with Halle.

He was a kind and good male slave. He also loved her deeply. Later on, they married each other. She became a mother of three children by Halle. Her sons were Howard and Buglar and the only daughter was unnamed. It must be mentioned that her master Mr. Garner and Mrs. Gamer were very kind and affectionate. They had humanity.

When Mr. Gamer died, a school teacher became the owner of the plantation. The school teacher was a deadly racist. He tortured the slaves. The slaves were extremely dissatisfied with his behavior. He was a racist like Mary Turner of "The Grass is Singing" by Doris Lessing. Sethe and other slaves planned to escape from the plantation. They tried but some of them were captured. Sethe was captured but she was pregnant that time. The nephews of the school teacher violated her physically.

Later, the school teacher whipped her severely. Her husband Halle was also captured and he was tortured cruelly. To see the painful condition of his wife Sethe, he became mad. The school teacher killed Sixo, a good slave. Regarding slavery, Sethe says "Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed. There is no bad luck in the world but white people.

"Sethe escaped from the plantation somehow. Before that she sent her three children to her mother-in law named Baby Suggs Baby Suggs was also a slave. Sethe became senseless in a forest. Later on, a white girl named Amy Denver saved and took care of her. With the help of Amy Denver, Sethe gave birth to a daughter in the boat. Since Amy Denver helped her a lot, she named her newly bom child Denver. Later, she went to her own house at 124 with her new daughter She passed 28 days in her house with Baby Suggs.

Paul D went to the house of Sethe to tell her about his suffering He escaped Sweet Home but he was tortured very cruelly by his master. He became shelter less, aimless and relative less. Meanwhile, Beloved visited the house of Sethe Sethe understood that Beloved is the spint of her daughter. Beloved blamed Sathe for killing her. Sethe told Beloved that she killed her to save her from being a slave. Denver had a good relationship with Beloved. But when she saw that Beloved was dominating over her mother, she left Sethe. In the end of the novel, Beloved disappeared and Sethe became alone.

In the light of the above discussion, we can say that 'Beloved portrays an institutionalized dehumanization of the slaves. slaves beggar description. Toni Morrison expresses her hatred against slavery in her novel. We have to say good bye to slavery. We cannot say that slavery has been completely removed from this world. Still now, slavery is prevalent in African countries. It is Our sacred responsibility to hate slavery and slave masters. Toni Morrison deserves our love and appreciation for her fight against slavery.

Q.22: How does Toni Morrison present in Beloved the white people's attitude towards the black people in American society.[NU:2016]

Ans: Toni Morrison's popular novel Beloved 'is set after the American Civil War. Morrison was inspired to write the novel by the incident of a slave woman, Margaret Garner, a Kentucky slave, who killed her child because she did not want her children to suffer as she did in lior life.

In 'Beloved Morrison brings out the white people's attitude towards the black people in American society. To the whites the blacks were nothing but slaves. The novel shows how the Whiteman's system of slavery destroyed the most important aspects of a woman's life, the mother child relationship.

Sethe chooses death for her baby, rather than slavery. Baby Suggs grieves inconsolably when her children are sold. Sethe sees her own mother as a woman who was brought from Africa on a slave ship. only a few months before the woman was killed. Denver loves her mother but at the same time she fears her because she is a murderer. These and other facts prove the negative attitude of the white people towards the black people.

To the white people the family life of the black people did not have any value. While Sethe is lying with Paul D at the house of Bluestone Road, she remembers Halle, her husband. Though they were husband and wife working in the same plantation, they barely got a chance to get united. For several years they saw each other in full daylight only on Sundays. The rest of the time they spoke and touched only in darkness. When Sethe was fleeing away from Sweet Home, Halle was with her but on the way he disappeared for no apparent reason. The reason may be that he saw Sethe being raped by the Whites with his own eyes.

The white people did not value the love and affection of the black people. Baby Suggs had eight sons. She loved them very profoundly but all of them were sold, throwing her into the ocean of despair. Baby Suggs was an unofficial preacher. She preached to her people to love their flesh and love all that the whites hate in them: their skin, their eyes, their hands and their hearts. Reacting sharply to the atrocities and cruelty of the schoolteacher and his men she said, "Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks."

Denver had profound love for her mother. But the system of slavery instilled a hidden fear into her heart. She says, "All the time, I'm afraid the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again. In her subconscious mind she feels afraid of her mother because she is a killer. She thinks that what made it appropriate for her mother to kill her own daughter might happen again.

Moreover, we come to know how profound Denver's love for her father was. Denver through her memory visualizes her father. She thinks that her father Halle is an angel like man who could study the human heart. He felt for the suffering humanity. She is convinced and hopeful that her 'daddy' will return to her. She has spent her childhood waiting for him and hoarding the stories that Baby Suggs, her grandmother used to recount about her favorite son.

To sum up we can say that we can easily trace the negative attitude of the whites throughout theol The whites.made them victims of violence aggression and destination Resmite tomorrow."


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