Monday, 28 November 2016
Thursday, 24 November 2016
paper-12 ELT
Roll no:34
Subject: English Language teaching(ELT)
Topic: Language Awareness by Leo Van Lier
Submitted to S.B. Gardi Department of English
Year: 2015-17, MA sem-3(part-2).
Language awareness by leo van lier
Introduction:
Language awareness has been conceptualized in several different ways. In
round table discussion in the UK in 1982 it was defined as a person’s sensitivity
to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human
life’(Donmall 1985: 7). Van Lier (1995:xi)defines it similarly as “an
understanding of the human faculty of language and its role in thinking, learning,
and social life”. These definitions are quite broad and accommodate various
interpretations and practices. In this review I look at the most common ways in
which language awareness has been understood
in the past ,the ways in which it is currently being interpreted , practiced
and promoted.
Background:
The concept of
language awareness is not new. Language awareness proponents have always firmly
opposed a view of language learning (both first and second) that focuses on
prescriptive instruction and is concerned primarily with correctness, and only
secondarily with understanding, appreciation and creative expression.
In US
language awareness, especially in the English language ( first language) education of college students, has been conducted through
the study of texts examining language from a variety of perspectives, including
literary, political, cultural and everyday uses. In more current interest in
language awareness stems largely from three sources: first, a practical,
pedagogically oriented language awareness such as that of the language
awareness movement in UK, ; second a more psycholinguistic focus on
consciousness- raising and explicit attention to language form; and, third, a
critical , ideological perspective that looks at language and power, control
and emancipation.
The Language awareness movement in the UK
The language awareness movement of the early
1980s in the UK followed a period of intense debate about the role of language
in education, spurred on by the influential report of a national commission (Department
of education and science 1975), and the work of linguists and educators
including Douglas Barnes, Michel Halliday, Lawrence Stenhouse and Harold Rosen.
In 1982 the national council on language in
education (NCLE) set up a language awareness working party, which formulated
the definition mentioned in the introduction. The NCLE Initiative, chaired by
john trim and later john Sinclair, led to several developments. In 1986 a
National Consortium of centers for language awareness (NCcLA) was set up by
Gillian Donmall which promoted a range of innovative activities.
In
1992 an association for language awareness was founded that has since had
conferences in wales, England, Ireland and Canada, and produced an
international journal called language awareness.
A number
of publications have established language awareness as an active area in
educational linguistics. Some of these publications are discussed in the next
section, but it is worth mentioning the pioneering work of Eric Hawkins (1987a,
1987 b). Hawkins also produced a series of booklets for secondary school
students (described in Hawkins 1987a). A more overtly critical language
awareness stance is illustrated in a series of small secondary school books
published in south Africa (Janks 1993), and in a resource book produced for
students and teachers in multilingual and multiethnic schools in London(ILEA
1990)
Another major initiative was the
language in the National Curriculum(LINC)project directed by professor Ronald Carter, which
produced materials for teacher education and was commissioned by the British
government, only to be rejected as soon as it was completed for not
sufficiently addressing basic grammar and correctness. It took a critical
approach to language which displeased the then Conservative government.
Nevertheless, the materials have had a significant impact as a publication of
the University of Nottingham (Carter 1990,1997;Donmall-Hicks1997).
Consciousness-raising, Focus on forms and various
approaches to explicit teaching and metalinguistic awareness:
Many researchers and teachers argue that awareness, attention and
noticing particular features of language adds to learning. In 1981, Sharwood
Smith published an influential article proposing that the teaching of formal
aspects of language need not necessarily proceed by rules and drills, but can
be done by judiciously highlighting relevant aspects of language (Sherwood
smith 1981, 1994).
Second
language (L2) learners regularly have misconception about the target language;
e.g. they may misuse a lexical item due to its similarity to their first
language (L1) or because of the context in which they learned the word. By
making explicit this problem, L2 learners’ knowledge of their own language can
be similarly used to raise conscious awareness about features of the target
language.
Language Awareness assumes that some form or level of awareness about
linguistic use, knowledge and learning is beneficial for learners. There are
widely varying opinions of how such awareness can be brought about. At the
traditional end this might include explicit teaching of form, metalinguistic
rules and terminology. However, most advocates of language awareness question
the effectiveness of the explicit teaching of prescriptive grammar and warn
against a return to the ‘ The ghost of
the grammar past’ (Donmall 1985). Currently, more inductive and implicit ways
of focusing on form generally preferred, and it is usually regarded as
essential that a focus on form must derive from a focus on meaning and context.
In this sense, Long (1996) distinguishes a focus on form within a meaningful
context from a focus on forms when teaching is driven by grammatical items.
Critical perspectives on language and discourse:
According to Clark and Ivanic, the purpose of
critical language awareness is to ‘present the view that language use is part
of a wider social struggle and that language education has the opportunity to
raise learners’ awareness of this’(1997: 220). As such, the target audiences of
critical work in classrooms are often discriminated minorities or otherwise
disenfranchised populations, i.e. ‘children from oppressed social groupings’.
However, Janks points to frequent ‘slippage’ from awareness or critical
literacy to ‘emancipation’, and warns that claims for the empowerment of
learners need to be further researched. In addition, both learners from
privileged and oppressed backgrounds need a critical perspective on the
circumstances and mechanisms of inequality.
Research:
The approaches to language
awareness discussed above have led to a variety of research efforts, although
researchers active in this field agree that solid evidence of the success of
the language awareness is rather scarce. Garrett and James report a number of
classroom-based studies illustrating diverse aspects of language awareness, but
few report solid research findings. Indeed, Garrett and James’s chief message
is a call for research showing evidence of the benefits of language awareness.
They discuss the research agenda in terms of five interdependent domains:
affective (including attention and curiosity), social, power, cognitive and
performance.
In the Realm of
affective and other individual factors, researchers have looked at attention
and focusing (Schmidt 1995; N. Ellis 1995a), and the relationships between implicit and
explicit learning (N.Ellis 1994). Schmidt (1994b) reviews much of the
experimental research in this area, and concludes that attention to input is a
necessary condition of learning, at the very least for explicit learning and
probably also for implicit learning, i.e. learning that occurs unconsciously
and automatically.
One of the claims of
proponents of language awareness is that drawing attention to and working with
interesting and meaningful manifestations of language enhances motivation and
positive attitudes to language and language learning. So far the evidence for
this is largely anecdotal, based on reports of action research in elementary schools
(Bain et al.1992) and teacher development (van Lier 1996; Wright and Bolitho
1997). Similarly, the reasonable expectation that a greater awareness of
language fosters a better understanding of speakers of other languages and
dialects, and thus might enhance inter-group relations, awaits confirmation by
research studies(Wolfran 1993).
Practice
The preceding section was dominated
by the familiar theme in our field that ‘further research is needed’. Fortunately
, the teacher interested in the practical side of language awareness can find a
large number of useful tips, examples and descriptive accounts. In this section
some of the resources that are available are introduced without distinguishing
between different age or proficiency levels, nor between formal, ludic (playful)
or critical language awareness work. The interested teacher or teacher educator
can use published examples as ideas for the development of suitable activities
for specific classes and contexts. In addition, there are many ideas available
outside educational settings that can be enormously productive, such as puzzle
and word-game publications available at newsstands.
Most work in language awareness is
inductive. This means that, using data provided or collected, leaners observe
and analyze patterns of interest and come up with descriptions or tentative
rules, usually in group work. In most cases the data are from authentic
sources, the learners’ environment, the internet or elsewhere. In my own work I
have used field work conducted by learners as data, e.g. by asking learners to
bring examples of target language use to class, written down on 3x5 cards that
I collected as ‘entry tickets’(van lier 1996). Although field work and data
collection are easiest in L2 environments, most foreign-language environments
should also allow for such work, particularly if the internet and its
inexhaustible resources are used well. Teachers can also use concordancers with
authentic texts in order to raise awareness of grammatical, stylistic, and
lexical features (Johns and King1991).
Awareness – raising itself is not
sufficient. It must be integrated with action/collaboration and with
reflection/interpretation/analysis. Thus, one possible approach is a
progression from perception to (inter)action to interpretation and so on, in
cyclical and spiral fashion.
Current and future trends and
directions:-
There is a perpetual tension in
language teaching between form and meaning, and the pendulum swings back and
forth. Thus, the recommendations made by the LINC project in the UK were soon
followed by a call for a return to teaching proper (i.e. Prescriptive) grammar.
Similarly, the enthusiasm for the whole language approach to literacy in the US
has recently been replaced by a backlash demanding a phonics approach(Goodman
1997), and in some school districts in California even calling for an explicit
ban on the use of whole language methodology.
There is no reason to
expect that this pattern will disappear at the start of the twenty-first
century, although one hopes that certain gains will endure. An increasingly
important role for perception (including awareness, attention and focusing) in
language learning is predicted along with a realization that perception and
action go hand in hand. The use of authentic resources will continue to favour
inductive approaches to the integration of formal and functional aspects of
language.
In terms of research there
is likely to be a growing role for contextualized research such as case
studies, action research and classroom observation studies. A number of
researchers are now looking at complexity theory for ideas to develop rigorous
procedures for researching learning processes in intact complex settings (Larsen-freeman1997b;Van
Lier1998a).
In the last two decades, language
awareness has created an identity that assures it a place within educational
linguistics. The variety of approaches and the opinions within language
awareness are a strength rather than weakness, since they allow for healthy
debate and act as incentives to explore different options, methods and
directions. Two particular areas that should gain in strength are concerted and
integrative approaches to language awareness across the curriculum, and a
strong push for language awareness in teacher education.
paper-11 post- colonial literature
Roll no: 34
Subject: The
post-colonial literature
Topic: On
Palestinian identity: A conversation with Edward said
Email id:
nupurvyas1995@gmail.com
SEM– 3 M.A,
part- 2
Submitted to
S.B. Gardy Department of English, MKBU (Bhavnagar)
Introduction:
-Edward Said (1 November 1935 – 25 September 2003) was a
Palestinian professor of literature at Columbia University, a public
intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies. Born
in Palestine, Said was an American citizen from birth by way of his father
Wadir Said, a U.S. Army veteran of the First World War (1914–18).
Educated in the Western canon, at British and American
schools, Said applied his education and bi-cultural perspective to illuminating
the gaps of cultural and political understanding between the Western world and
the Eastern world, especially about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the
Middle East. His main influences were Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, Aimé
Césaire, Michel Foucault, and Theodor Adorno.
As a cultural critic, Said is known for the book Orientalism
(1978), a critique of the cultural representations that are the bases of
Orientalism—how the Western world perceives The Orient. Said’s model of textual
analysis transformed the academic discourse of researchers in literary theory,
literary criticism, and Middle Eastern studies—how academics examine, describe,
and define the cultures being studied. As a seminal work, Orientalism
has been a subject of scholarly controversy.
As a public intellectual, Said was a controversial member
of the Palestinian National Council, because he publicly criticized Israel and
the Arab countries, especially the political and cultural policies of Muslim
régimes who acted against the national interests of their peoples.Said
advocated the establishment of a Palestinian state to ensure equal political
and human rights for the Palestinians in Israel, including the right of
returnto the homeland. He defined his oppositional relation with the status
quo as the remit of the public intellectual who has “to sift, to judge, to
criticize, to choose, so that choice and agency return to the individual” man
and woman.
Israeli-Palestinian issue:-
The Israeli–Palestinian conflictis the ongoing struggle
between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century. The
conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is sometimes also used in reference to
the earlier sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine, between the Jewish yishuv
and the Arab population under British rule. It has been referred to as the
world's "most intractable conflict", with the ongoing Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip reaching 49 years.
Despite a long-term peace process and the general
reconciliation of Israel with Egypt and Jordan, Israelis and Palestinians have
failed to reach a final peace agreement. The key issues are: mutual
recognition, borders, security, water rights, control of Jerusalem, Israeli
settlements, Palestinian freedom of movement, and Palestinian right of return.
The violence of the conflict, in a region rich in sites of historic, cultural
and religious interest worldwide, has been the object of numerous international
conferences dealing with historic rights, security issues and human rights, and
has been a factor hampering tourism in and general access to areas that are
hotly contested.
Many attempts have been made to broker a two-state
solution, involving the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside
the State of Israel (after Israel's establishment in 1948). In 2007, the
majority of both Israelis and Palestinians, according to a number of polls,
preferred the two-state solution over any other solution as a means of
resolving the conflict Moreover, a majority of Jews see the Palestinians'
demand for an independent state as just, and thinks Israel can agree to the
establishment of such a state. The majority of Palestinians and Israelis in the
West Bank and Gaza Striphave expressed a preference for a two-state solution.
Mutual distrust and significant disagreements are deep over basic issues, as is
the reciprocal skepticism about the other side's commitment to upholding
obligations in an eventual agreement.
Within Israeli and Palestinian society, the conflict
generates a wide variety of views and opinions. This highlights the deep
divisions which exist not only between Israelis and Palestinians, but also
within each society. A hallmark of the conflict has been the level of violence
witnessed for virtually its entire duration. Fighting has been conducted by
regular armies, paramilitary groups, terror cells, and individuals. Casualties
have not been restricted to the military, with a large number of fatalities in
civilian population on both sides. There are prominent international actors
involved in the conflict.
The two parties engaged in direct negotiation are the
Israeli government, currently led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), currently headed by Mahmoud Abbas. The official
negotiations are mediated by an international contingent known as the Quartet
on the Middle East (the Quartet) represented by a special envoy that
consists of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United
Nations. The Arab League is another important actor, which has proposed an
alternative peace plan. Egypt, a founding member of the Arab League, has
historically been a key participant.
Since 2006, the Palestinian side has been fractured by
conflict between the two major factions: Fatah, the traditionally dominant
party, and its later electoral challenger, Hamas. After Hamas's electoral
victory in 2006, the Quartetconditioned future foreign assistance to the
Palestinian National Authority (PA) on the future government's commitment to
non-violence, recognition of the State of Israel, and acceptance of previous
agreements. Hamas rejected these demands,which resulted in the Quartet's suspension
of its foreign assistance program, and the imposition of economic sanctions by
the Israelis. A year later, following Hamas's seizure of power in the Gaza
Strip in June 2007, the territory officially recognized as the PA was split
between Fatah in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The division of
governance between the parties had effectively resulted in the collapse of
bipartisan governance of the PA. However, in 2014, a Palestinian Unity
Government, composed of both Fatah and Hamas, was formed. The latest round of
peace negotiations began in July 2013 and was suspended in 2014.
On Palestinian identity: A conversation with Edward
said:-
Salman Rushdie: For those of us who see the struggle
between eastern and western descriptions of the world as both an internal and an
external struggle, Edward said has for many years been an especially important
voice. Professor of English and Comparative literature at Columbia and author
of literary criticism on, among others, Joseph Conrad, Edward has always had
the distinguishing feature that he reads books. We need only think of the major
trilogy which precedes his new book, after the last sky. In the first volume,
Orientalism, he analyzed‘the affiliation of knowledge with power’, discussing
how the scholars of the period of empire helped to create an image of the East
which provided the justification for the supremacist ideology of imperialism.
This was followed by the ‘The Question of Palestine’, which described the
struggle between a world primarily shaped by western ideas- that of Zionism and
later of Israel- and the largely ‘oriental’ realities of Arab Palestine. Then
came covering Islam, subtitled ‘How the media and the experts determine ‘How We
see the rest of the world,’ in which the west’s invention of the east is , so
to speak, brought up to date through a discussion of responses to the Islamic
revival.
Said claims all manner of things,
including, in chpter1, to have met creatures from outer space: ‘in the
so-called age of ignorance before Islam, our ancestors used to form their gods
from dates and eat them when in need. A
crucial idea in ‘After the last sky ‘concerns the meaning of the Palestinian
experience for the form of works of art made by Palestinians. In Edward’s view
the broken or discontinuous nature of Palestinian experience entails that
classic rules about form or structure cannot be true to that experience;
rather, it is necessary to work through a kind of chaos or unstable form that
will accurately express its essential instability. Edward then proceeds to
introduce the theme-which is developed later in the book-that the history of Palestine
has turned the insider (thePalestinianArab) into the outsider.
In part two, ‘interiors’, which greatly develops the theme of the
insider and the outsider, Edward refers to a change in the status of the Palestinians
who are inside Palestine. Until recently, among the Palestinian communityin
general, there was a slight discounting of those who remained inside, as if
they were somehow contaminated by the proximity of the Jews. Now, however, the
situation has been inverted: those who go on living there, mainting a Palestinian
culture and obliging the world to recognize their existence have acquired a
greater status in the eyes of other Palestinians.
The
third part, ‘Emergence’ and the fourth part, ‘past and future’ turn to a
discussion of what it actually is or might be to be a Palestinian. There is
also account of the power to which Palestinian are subject, of the way in which
even their names have been altered through the superimposition of Hebrew
transliteration.
The text goes on to talk about Zionism, which he
addressed in his earlier book The Question of Palestine. We should note the difficulty
in making any kind of critique of Zionism without being instantly charged with anti-Semitism.
Zionism as historical process, as existing in a context and having certain
historical functional. In the west, everyone has come to think of exile as a
primarily literary and bourgeois state. Exiles appear to have chosen a
middle-class situation in which great thoughts can be thought. In the case of Palestinians,
however, exile is a mass phenomenon: it is the mass that is exiled and not just
the bourgeoisie.
Edward
said says that most people in who feel strongly aboutPalestine and Palestinian
have had no direct experience at all. They think of them essentially in terms
of what they have seen on television: bomb scares, murders and what the secretary
of state and others call terrorism. This produces a kind of groundless passion,
so that when he introduced to someone who may had heard of him, they react in a
very strange way that suggests ‘maybe you’re not as bad as you seem’. The fact
that I speak English, and do it reasonably well, adds to the complications, and
most people eventually concentrate on my work as an English professor for the
rest of the conversation. Most of the
time you can feel that you are leading a normal life,but every so often you are
brought up against a threat or an allusion to something which is deeply
unpleasant. You always feel outside in some way.
Further, SalmanRushdie
asks that has there been any change in your ability to publish or talk about
the Palestinianissue. Edward said answers that to some extent. This is one
issue on which, as you know, there is a left-right break in America, and there
are still a few groups, a few people-like Chomsky or Alexander Cockburn- who
are willing to raise it publicly. But most people tend to think it is better
leftto the crazies. There are fewer hospitable places, and you end up
publishing for smaller audience. Ironically, you also become tokenized, so that
whenever there is a hijacking or some such incident, he get phone-calls from
the media asking him to come along and comment. It’s a very strange feeling to
be seen as a kind of representative of terrorism. You’re treated like a
diplomat of terrorism,with a place at table. Further Salman Rushdie asks a Palestinian
chooses to do something it becomes the Palestinian thing to do? Edward said
answers that that’s absolutely right. But even among Palestinians there are
certain code words that define which camp or group the speakercomes from;
whether from the popular front, which believes in the complete liberation of Palestine,
or from the Fatah, which believes in a negotiated settlement. They will choose
a different set of words when they talk about national liberation.
Then there are the regional accents. It is very strange indeed to meet a Palestinian
kid in Lebanon who wasborn in some refugee camp and has never been to Palestine
but who carries the inflections of Haifa, orJaffa, in his LebaneseArabic.
Further Rushdie asks in the context of literature rather than history, you
argue that the inadequacy of the narrative is due to the discontinuity of Palestinian
existence. Is this connected with the problem of writing a history? Said
answers that yes, there are many different kinds of Palestinian experience,
which cannot all be assembled into one. One would therefore have to write parallel
histories of the communities in Lebanon, the occupied territories, and so on.
That is central problem. It is almost impossible to imagine a single narrative:
it would have to be the kind of crazy history that comes out in midnight’s
children, with all those little strands coming and going in and out. Further Rushdie
asks the picture on the cover is really quite extraordinary- a man with a kind
of starburst on the right lens of his glasses. As you say, he has been blinded
by a bullet in one eye, but has learned to live with it. He is still wearing
the spectacles….and still smiling. Said answers that jean told me that he took
the photo as the man was en route to visit his son, who had been sentenced to
life imprisonment.
paper-10 American Literature
Subject:
American literature
Roll no: 34
Topic: The
Great Gatsby is a novel of American dream.
Introduction:
What is the
meaning of American Dream?
The America
Dreamis a national ethos of the United States, the set of
ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality) in which freedom
includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social
mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a
society with few barriers. In the definition of the American Dream by James
Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller
for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of
birth.
The American
Dream is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that
"all men are created equal" with the right to "life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness."
The
American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or
nationality, can be successful in America if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a
pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism
and misogyny, xenophobia, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of
class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class
hierarchy.
The 1920s in
particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the
accompanying xenophobia), changing women’s roles (spurred by the right to vote,
which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality. The country was
also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone
could “strike it rich” on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was
built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was
published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of
the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on
display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby’s parties.
The
American Dream in The Great Gatsby
Chapter
1 places us in a particular year – 1922 – and gives us some background
about WWI. This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of
hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in
Chapters 2 and 3. And as we mention above, the 1920s were a particularly tense
time in America.
We also meet
George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter 2, both working class people who are
working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle
through her affair with Tom Buchanan.
We learn
about Gatsby’s goal in Chapter 4: to win Daisy back. Despite everything he
owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for
Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5, when Daisy
and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could in fact
achieve his goal.
In Chapter
6, we learn about Gatsby’s less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him
look like the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem like
someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of
that dream is Daisy.
However,
in Chapters 7 and 8 everything comes crashing down: Daisy
refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby
and then himself, leaving all of the “strivers” dead and the old money crowd
safe. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn’t even
achieve all his wealth through hard work, like the American Dream would
stipulate – instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and
honestly under Dan Cody, but lost Dan Cody’s inheritance to his ex-wife.)
In short,
things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with
Nick’s sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream.
American
Dream Quotes
But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden
intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward
the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn
he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing
except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end
of a dock.
In our first
glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something
in sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is
often understood as part of The Great Gatsby’s meditation
on The American Dream – the idea that people are always reaching towards
something greater than themselves that is just out of reach. The fact that
this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end
and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were
born with money and don’t need to strive for anything so far off.
Over the
great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker
upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps
and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen
from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its
first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.
A dead man
passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn
blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us
with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was
glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber
holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white
chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed
aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.
"Anything
can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought;
"anything at all. . . ."
Even
Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder.
Early in the
novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream – we
see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of
unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the
American Dream – economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a
carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like “anything can happen,”
even a happy ending.
However, this
rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel.
And even at this point, Nick’s condescension towards the people in the other
cars reinforces America’s racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the
American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a “haughty
rivalry” at play between Gatsby’s car and the one bearing the “modish Negroes.”
Nick “laughs aloud” at this moment, suggesting he thinks it’s amusing that the
passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested.
In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends
in Chapter 1, even if it doesn’t admit it honestly.
His
heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew
that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her
perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he
waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck
upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like
a flower and the incarnation was complete.
This
moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby’s larger dreams for a
better life – to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the
novel’s tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream
Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her
feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to
achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the
novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an
optimistic one.
...as the moon rose higher the
inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old
island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast
of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's
house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human
dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the
presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he
neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with
something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.
And as I sat there brooding on the
old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the
green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue
lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp
it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast
obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on
under the night.”
The closing
pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that
seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back
to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the
Buchanan’s green light. Nick notes that Gatsby’s dream was “already behind him”
then, in other words, it was impossible to attain. But still, he finds
something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly
reached out toward that brighter future.
Analyzing
Characters Through the American Dream
An analysis
of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty
cynical take on the American Dream.
Most
character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on
Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we’ll
discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of
discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream,
carefully consider your chosen character’s motivations and desires, and how the
novel does (or doesn’t!) provide glimpses of the dream’s fulfillment for them.
Gatsby himself is obviously the best
candidate for writing about the American Dream – he comes from humble roots
(he’s the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously
wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people also
incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of
Gatsby’s dream.
However,
definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream,
people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby’s case, he
very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime. Gatsby does
attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but
that doesn’t work out since Cody’s ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance.
So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his
desired wealth.
So while
Gatsby’s story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that
he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar
for the American Dream. Furthermore, his success obviously doesn’t last –
he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back.
In other words, Gatsby’s huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy “He
knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to
her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God are
as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.
George
and Myrtle Wilson
This couple
also represents people aiming at the dream – George owns his own shop
and is doing his best to get business, though is increasingly worn down by the
harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and
status through an affair with Tom.
Both are
disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal – Myrtle certainly has access
to some of the “finer things” through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while
George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn’t have
the funds available. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt
to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the
evidence of his wife’s affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory
that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.
In the
end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that
in this world, it’s dangerous to strive for more than you’re given.
George and
Myrtle’s deadly fates, along with Gatsby, help illustrate the novel’s
pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is it
that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and
Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly
dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don’t face any consequences?
And on top of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is
not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.
Tom and Daisy
as Antagonists to the American Dream
We’ve talked
quite a bit already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle – the three characters who
come from humble roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what
about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? What is
their relationship to the American Dream?
Specifically, Tom and Daisy have
old money, and thus they don’t need the American Dream, since they were born
with America already at their feet.
Perhaps
because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream – Daisy by
refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy.
This is
especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively
hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and
“careless,” and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own
recklessness.
In other
words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters
have strongly affects their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives,
their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn’t seem to
matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American
Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the
top.
Daisy as
a Personification of the American Dream
As we
discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby,
Daisy’s voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:
"Her
voice is full of money," he said suddenly.
That was it.
I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible
charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . .
. High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . .
If Daisy’s
voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth,
it’s not hard to argue that Daisy herself – along with the green light at
the end of her dock – stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick
goes on to describe Daisy as “High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the
golden girl,” he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much like
the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a
Mario game!).
But Daisy,
of course, is only human – flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the
huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in turn, means that the
American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold
weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America.
Furthermore,
you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy
represents Gatsby’s ultimate goal, but at the same time , her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream: she is born
with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no
consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.
paper-9 Modernist literature
Roll no:- 34
Subject:- The Modernist literature
Topic:- Waiting for Godot- dialogues
behind philosophy of life.
Sem -3 part 2
Email id- nupurvyas1995@gmail.com
Introduction:
Waiting for Godot, Beckett's first
play, was written originally in French in 1948 (Beckett subsequently translated
the play into English himself). It premiered at a tiny theater in Paris in
1953. This play began Beckett's association with the Theatre of the Absurd,
which influenced later playwrights like Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard.
The most famous of Beckett's subsequent plays include Endgame
(1958) and Krapp's Last Tape (1959). He also wrote several even more
experimental plays, like Breath (1969), a thirty-second play. Beckett
was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1969 and died in 1989 in Paris.
The whole play is about philosophical reading of
existentialism and absurdity.Beckett is considered to be an important figure
among the French Absurdist’s. “Waiting for Godot” is one of the masterpieces of
Absurdist literature. Elements of Absurdity for making this play are so
engaging and lively. Beckett combats the traditional notions of Time. It
attacks the two main ingredients of the traditional views of Time, i.e. Habit
and Memory. We find Estragon in the main story and Pozzo in the episode,
combating the conventional notions of Time and Memory. For Pozzo, particularly,
one day is just like another, the day we are born indistinguishable from the
day we shall die.
It is very clear from the very word “Absurd” that it
means nonsensical, opposed to reason, something silly, foolish, senseless,
ridiculous and topsy-turvy. So, a drama having a cock and bull story would be
called an absurd play. Moreover, a play having loosely constructed plot,
unrecognizable characters, metaphysical called an absurd play. Actually the
‘Absurd Theatre’ believes that humanity’s plight is purposeless in an
existence, which is out of harmony with its surroundings.
This thing i.e. the awareness about the lack of purpose
produces a state of metaphysical anguish which is the
central theme of the Absurd Theatre. On an absurd play logical construction,
rational ideas and intellectually viable arguments are abandoned and instead of
these the irrationality for experience is acted out on the stage.
The above mentioned discussion allows us to call “Waiting
for Godot” as an absurd play for not only its plot is loose but its characters
are also just mechanical puppets with their incoherent colloquy. And above than
all, its theme is unexplained. “Waiting for Godot” is an absurd play for it is
devoid of characterization and motivation. Though characters are present but
are not recognizable for whatever they do and whatever they present is purposeless.
So far as its dialogue technique is concerned, it is purely absurd as there is
no witty repartee and pointed dialogue. What a reader or spectator hears is
simply the incoherent babbling which does not have any clear and meaningful
ideas. So far as the action and theme is concerned, it kisses the level of
Absurd Theatre. After the study of this play we come to know that nothing
special happens in the play nor we observe any significant change in setting.
Though a change occurs but it is only that now the tree has sprouted out four
or five leaves.
“Nothing happens, nobody comes … nobody goes, it’s
awful!”
The beginning, middle and end of the play do not rise up
to the level of a good play, so absurd. Though its theme is logical and
rational yet it lies in umbrage.
Moreover, “Waiting for Godot” can also be regarded as an
absurd play because it is different from “poetic theatre”. Neither it makes a
considerable use of dream and fantasy nor does it employ conscious poetic
language. The situation almost remains unchanged and an enigmatic vein runs
throughout the play. The mixture of comedy and near tragedy proves baffling. In
act-I we are not sure as to what attitude we should adopt towards the different
phases of its non-action. The ways, of which the two tramps pass their time,
seems as if they were passing their lives in a transparent deception. Godot
remains a mystery and curiosity still holds a sway. Here we know that their
endless waiting seems to be absurd. Though the fact is that they are conscious
of this absurdity, yet is seems to imply that the rest of the world is waiting
for the things, which are more absurd and also uncertain.
“Waiting for Godot” is an absurd play for there is no
female character. Characters are there but they are devoid of identity. These
two Estragon and Vladimir are old acquaintances, but they are not sure of their
identity. Though they breathe, their life is an endless rain of blows. They
wait for the ultimate extinction, but in a frustrated way. This thing produces
meaninglessness, thus makes the play absurd.
Moreover, what makes the play absurd is its ending. We
note that the ending of the play is not a conclusion in the usual sense. The
wait continues; the human contacts remain unsolved; the problem of existence
remains meaningless, futile and purposeless. The conversation between the two
tramps remain a jargon, really a humbug and bunkum speech. So all this makes
the play an absurd play.
Absurd Theatre is a term applies to a group of dramatist
in the 1950’s. Martin Esslin was the first to use this term ‘Absurd’ in his
book “The Theatre of the Absurd”. Eugene Ionesco, Arthur Admor, Harold Pinter
and Jean Garret are the writers who belong to this category.
Now let’s understand dialogues behind philosophy of life:
1.
Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s
awful.
The play starts with Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for godot. And
the play end with similar waiting for godot. In between they are passing their
time through different activity. The philosophy of life is that when you
constantly waiting for someone or when you are in adverse situation, that seems
that time has become static. Whereas, the play is also static. Nothing changes
in the play except tree. It is very much connected with existential meaning of
life. In life, we are doing things for some purpose. Example like; We are
earning money for our livelihood and for our future safety. When time comes,
nothing remains to us. Sometimes we don’t know our meaning of life. We
constantly are doing the same things for sake of life. Theory of time is and
how time passes is very important in the play.
2.
People are bloody ignorant apes.
In these play, reference
of Christ savior and the two thieves. Religious scriptures told that one of the
thieves was saved from hell. It is satire on religious scriptures and as well
as people, who easily believe when things comes to them. People are very much
ignorant to the truth. They don’t question to authority. Whatever comes they
accept it without examines the things.
3.Pozzo: I don’t seem able…..(long
hesitation) to depart
Estragon: Such is life
Meeting and departing is a
part of life. In life we met many people in life and when time passes we depart
also. It is called life. We can’t hold the time. Life is constantly go on
changing each and every second. We have to move with time.
4.
Let’s us not waste our time in idle discourse,
let’s us do something, while we have chance.
Becektt uses satirical
sentence for modern and post-modern human being. People are wasting time in
talking the present matter of life, rather than doing the things. When people
have chance to do the things but they wasting time in talking about trivial
things.
5.
A habit is a great deadener.
When you have habituated
with something, it is very difficult to come out from that. Habit is a thing
that you don’t know about your habit, whereas others can see your habit.
Example: Breathing is a habit. Without breathing anyone can’t live. Everyone
can’t free from their habit. Bad habit leads to bad life.
6.
Nothing simpler, its natural order.
Life is not easy. Nature
is very cruel. We make life easy through technology. Nature is very harsh. In,
nature things are always chaotic. We make life easier through things. Life is
all about sorrows and suffering. We are conditioned that life is good and happy
but reality is life is difficult.
7.
Tell
him to think:-
As result of two world wars people become unemotional human
being. People have lost the sense of emotion and thinking capability. In war
there were no values like humanity and spirituality. There were only bloodshed
and disaster. People were thirsty for one or another blood. That why Beckett
used interrogative sentence ‘’you thinking’’?
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