Wednesday, November 23, 2011

E-E-305 Post-Colonial Literature


v  Assignment paper:E-C-303 American Literature  
v Topic                     :Critique on "Black Skin, White Masks" 
v Student’s Name   : Gandhi Pooja S.
v Roll No                : 08
v URL                     : gandhipooja151011.blogspot.com
v Semester              : 3
v Batch                   : 2010-11

                    Submitted to,                                 
                          Dr. Dilip Barad                                           
                       Department of English              
                        Bhavnagar University
Ø Critique on “ Black Skin, White Masks”
According to Frantz Fanon,
             What is colonial? Colonial means geographic space organized by British country. What is colonial literature? Colonial literature means the literature produced during this time is called colonial literature. What is postcolonial literature? Postcolonial literature means ‘movement of colonization’. In the text Fanon discussed about postcoloniality is the mentality of person, colonial modernity came to India, whatever he discussed are about colour. Colour is crucial for Fanon. In the text he raises some questions like
What do we mean by psychopathology?
What do we mean by man?
What does a man want?
Why Whiteman is sealed in his whiteness and Blackman is in his blackness?
             Fanon does not talk about history or time but he talks about colour discrimination and socio-economic balance and how Blackman become rich, he talks about all these points. He says if this is an inferiority complex, it is outcome of Blackman’s mind. Blackman’s problem is collective question and not a individual question.
“I shall try to discover the various attitudes that the Negro adopts in contact with white civilization”.
According to Ziauddin Sardar,
              I think it would be good if certain things were said: Fanon and the epidemiology of oppression the opening gambit of Black Skin, White Masks ushers us towards an imminent experience: the explosion will not happen today. But a type of explosion is about to unfold in the text in front of us, in the motivations it seeks, in the different world it envisages and aims to create. But this not simply a historic landscape, although Black Skin, White Masks is a historic text, firmly located in time and place. Fanon’s anger has a strong contemporary echo. It is the silent scream of all those who toil in abject poverty simply to exist in the hinterlands and vast conurbations of Africa.
v I was born in the Antilles:
            Frantz Omar Fanon, born on 20 July 1925 in Fort-de-France, in the French colony of Martinique, was a complex figure, with multiple selves. He was, as he tells us, from Antilles but he ended his life thinking of himself as an Algerian. After the War, Fanon won a scholarship to study medicine and psychiatry in Lyon.
While still a student he met José Dublé, a French woman who shared his convictions against racism and colonialism. The couple married in 1952, had one son, and stayed together for the rest of their lives. He began to define a new black identity; and became actively involved in the anti-colonialist struggle. So when, in 1953, he was offered a job as head of the psychiatric department of Bilda- Joinville Hospital in Algiers he jumped at the opportunity.
v The architecture of this book is rooted in the temporal:
           Fanon wrote Black Skin, White Masks when he was 27. Published in 1952, it was his first and perhaps most enduring book. And it was ignored. Its significance was recognized only after the death of the author, particularly after the publication of the English translation a decade and a half later in 1967. It was a year when anti-war campaigning was at its height. There is urgency to Black Skin, White Masks that bursts from its pages. The text is full of discontinuities, changes in style, merging of genres, dramatic movement from analysis to pronouncements, switches from objective scientific discussion to deep subjectivity, transfers from theory to journalism, complex use of extended metaphors, and, not least, a number of apparent contradictions.
         Frantz fanon describe his opinion in the text by giving many chapters of the text and those are:

v Chapter-1 “The Negro and Language”
         
           Fanon becomes whiter as he renounces his blackness, his jungle in the French colonial army. The words Paris, Marseille, Sorbonne become the keys to the vault. He leaves for the pier, and the amputation. He added that we are the chosen people look at the colour of our skins. The others are black or yellow: that is because their sins. He also made fun of Bible:
“It is laid down in the Bible that the separation of the white and black races will be continued in heaven as on earth, and those blacks who are admitted into the kingdom of heaven will find themselves separately lodged in certain of those many mentions of our father………”
        At the bottom you are white because you have a command over it.

v Chapter-2 “The Woman of Colour and the White Man”
             
              In this chapter devoted to the relations between the woman of colour and the European, it is our problem to ascertain to what extent authentic love will remain unattainable before one has purged oneself of that feeling of inferiority or that Adlerian exaltation, that overcompensation, which seem to be the indices of the black weltanschauung. A woman named Mayotte capecia, her wish to marry Whiteman. She submits everything for him. She says about him “All I know is that he had blue eyes, blond hair, and light skin and that I loved him”. Hate is not inborn; it has to be constantly cultivated to be brought in to being, in conflict with more or less recognized guilt complexes. Hate demands existence and he who hates has to show his hate in appropriate actions and behavior; in a sense, he has to become hate.
              When Mullato proposed to the white lady, he crossed the boundary of white people. At the moment when the Mullato woman marries to white man, the society says how do you know it’s true? But which was common to the entire Mullato woman. Fanon says that when Mullato woman marries Whiteman or the Whiteman marries to Mullato woman what boundaries they face? This is the major question in this text.

v Chapter-3 “The Man of Colour and the White Woman”

Louis T. Achille said in his report to the interracial conferences of 1949:
“Some men or some women, in effect by choose partners of another race”.
               The neurotic feels relation to family, feeling of responsibility. The Negro wants to be powerful on the Whiteman that means they want to be powerful instead of Whiteman. If you have the value of yourself that means if you believes in yourself then and then you can empower the Whiteman, but the Blackman has lack of self esteem so he suffers from neurotic aggressive. It is not a tonic that you can drink but it is within you.

v Chapter-4 “The so-called dependency complex of colonized peoples”

             Mannoni, a French psychoanalyst paints:
Most natives are content to put whites above them and be dependent on them because it fulfills a deep need in their hearts, one that was there long before whites showed up. Mannoni calls this a dependency complex.
A few natives are unhappy because they suffer from an inferiority complex, which makes them want to be the equal of whites.
Not all peoples can be colonized: only those who experience the need.
European civilization and its agents of the highest calibre are not responsible for colonial racism. It comes from lower-level whites who blame their unhappy lives on the natives.
When black men with guns appear in children’s dreams at night it is not because of the terror of French rule: no, the guns stand for penises.

             Although Fanon has devoted 225 pages of the text, he says that Mannoni cannot understand postcolonial studies well. The central idea in Mannoni’s book id that the confrontation of ‘civilized’ and ‘primitive’ men creates a special situation the colonial situation and brings about the emergence of a mass of illusion and misunderstanding that only a psychological analysis can place and define.

v Chapter-5 “The fact of Blackness”

            Frantz Fanon wants to be a man. But in the white world in which he lives his skin colour becomes everything, more important than even his education and achievements. He is seen not as Dr Fanon but as a black man who is a doctor. Everyone is watching and waiting for him to make a mistake.
“I was walled in: neither my refined manners nor my literary knowledge nor my understanding of the quantum theory could find favor.”
Instead of being a person, a man, an individual, he is a black man, a Negro, an object, a thing that has value only in relation to whites, always a Negro, never a man. Look how handsome that Negro is.
The handsome Negro says, “Fuck you”, Madame.
Even though the Catholic Church and science admit that black people are every bit as human as white people – their hearts are on the same side! – And even though white people themselves admit that racism goes against all reason, they still do not want you to marry their daughter.

v Chapter-6 “The Blackman and Psychopathology”
         
              A study should be divided into two parts:
1.     A psychoanalytic interpretation of the life experience of the Blackman
2.     A psychoanalytic interpretation of the Negro myth
But reality, which is our only recourse, prevents such procedures. The facts are much more complicated what are they?
              Good-evil, beauty-ugliness, white-black: such are the characteristic pairings of the phenomenon of making use of an expression of ‘Manichaeism delirium’. Black-white is racial structure it also belongs to power. Fanon added that the problem ends when people restructure it.

v Chapter-7 “The Negro and Recognition”

               The Negro is comparison. There is the first truth. He is comparison: that is he is constantly preoccupied with self-evaluation and with the ego-ideal.
                Man is human only to the extent to which he tries to impose his existence on another man in order to be recognized by him….. It is on that other being, on recognition by that other being, that his own human worth and reality depend.
“Blackness is not black or whiteness is not white but blackness is created by white and whiteness is created by black. It is not thing.” – Fanon

v Chapter-8 “By way of Conclusion”

                The social revolution cannot draw its poetry from the past, but only from future. It cannot begin with itself before it has stripped itself of all its superstitions concerning the past. Earlier revolutions relied on memories out of world history in order to drug themselves against their own content.  





             


      




E-C-304 English Language Teaching-1



v Assignment paper:E-C-304 English Language Teaching-1 
v Topic                  : Teaching of English: A plea for practical Attitude
v Student’s Name   : Gandhi Pooja S.
v Roll No                : 08
v URL                     : gandhipooja151011.blogspot.com
v Semester              : 3
v Batch                   : 2010-11

                    Submitted to,                                 
                         Mr. Devarshi Mehta                                    
                       Department of English              
                        Bhavnagar University
Ø Teaching of English: a neutral language of communication
Abstract: -   English in India can be teaching as a second language. It is important to develop positive approach to teach English as a second language. To teach the second language need based, flexibility and pre-knowledge can be adopted in communication.
                English has been adopted as a second language but the researcher tries to convey that though, English is rules as second language but it becomes the link language of two different countries. English is used to develop mutual communication and coexistence after freedom struggle as well as before freedom struggle also. In India, our most of the works can be done in English language, though our national language is Hindi on paper. We adopted English as our official language. It helps in higher education, in politics, in railway system, in postal service, etc. in all these places English used to communicate. Hindi can be available but generally people use English to grow in second language.
                In present condition, English can be our lingua franca for communicate with other countries. Different countries have different languages to communicate but generally they know English as first or second language. English plays as a link language in political or historical areas also English speakers grows more and more in past three decades. English becomes first choice for second language learners in many countries.
                 In India, English used as an official language instead of Hindi, the people of India adopted English as an official language because English people can easily learn Hindi that is why, when Englishers left, we accepted Hindi as our official language but now in modern time English becomes our official language because in higher education, in bank services, all the systems are used on English or mother tongue. Generally, the learners of second language prefer English, because they thought that if they can speak or write English, their status grows higher.
                The second language can also easily medium of translation. If other learner does not know their mother tongue or other language at that time you can translate. It into English and serve to the learner. English plats vital role of power.
        E.g.in “The Black Skin, White Masks, fanon conveys the same message that English plays the role of power. In Britain also, he describes in the chapter-2 and 3 about the racism crisis. He added that the black woman wants to mart Whiteman and she describes that because of the man’s eyes and skin. She wants to marry the Whiteman but, as a Whiteman he rejects her idea because she is black and she has more than one language that is her mother tongue, colonial language and mix-up of two, other third language. So, Whiteman has English language to communicate so, they feel superior to black woman.
                The researcher wants to say that though English is our second language and our mother tongue influence is always on it but we have to change our attitude towards English. In education system, 1960 to 1970 English is optional subject, at that time we learn English from 8th standard. But now, English comes from 5th standard. Therefore, positive attitude towards English as a second language can be developed.
               English as a neutral language of communication and so teach, English in addition to the mother tongue means with learner’s cultural and intellect. To develop student’s (learner’s) views according to English, teach them the second language with the influence of culture and their own language. The second language learning is not the same as in Britain that, if learners learn new language as second language learning, then they forget their mother tongue. In India we have somehow opposite situation because, we learn English as a second language, with influence of mother tongue. So, the question about forgetting mother tongue is not with Indian language learners.
                The researcher wants to say, that each of us willing to contribute to our second important language, then take it as positive learning language. If we learn English, it becomes easily to us to communicate other countries people. Teach the second language, as we have teaching of mother tongue. It will help us to communicate. For teaching well of second language, we want to concentrate on what our learners wants to learn from the facilitator. Need based learning, pre-knowledge, and flexibility of approach. These three things can improve learner’s mentality about second language. In Need language learning, facilitator has to take in to consideration about the basic needs of learners. In this also what both the gender wants from the facilitator, the facilitator must follow it. E.g. what learners to learn, you have to follow it. In science, the learners what to learn more about practical things related to science but instead of it, we have course like that, students of science have to learn  English literature. Therefore, they are t more interested towards English as language.
                As a student of science, he/she wants to learn about the word that is used in science rather than, they are interested in English as a literature. We have this type of system in our syllabus. Therefore, the students of science generally are not good at English. Therefore, in need based learning, what the learners wants to learn and what will be helpful for student to learn more, the facilitator follows it.
                 Second, pre-knowledge about the topic, When the facilitator teacher any new topic of learning second language at that time, first check the pre knowledge of learner about the topic. If they are capable to learn new thing, then, teach new about the topic, if learners are unaware about the topic then first teach them, something about basic knowledge. So that learners can understand what they are going to learn. The facilitator can check this through the task or exercise fill up by learners. If the learners are not aware about basic structure about the second language then first teach them that that will be helpful to them in learning more.
                First, studies the present level that means their pre-knowledge then studies their desire level in need based analysis. E.g. in class-5, learner needs can be basic like cartoon, cycling, games, story-books, blind man’s bluff. That type of basic need can be of standerd-5 learners. But in T.Y. of graduation, their needs can be like internet, movies chatting, etc. at that type their needs are not like the need of stendeard-5 student. Every age has its own demand means the learners are growing from childhood to adulthood, their needs must be changes what the standerd-5 student want, that must not be need of standard-12 student.
                Teaching, according to learner’s needs that can be difficult task for facilitator to teach, but it helps them in their teaching. Teaching according to pre-knowledge is something very useful in learner’s life. Because what they are going to learn, they know it and mentally they can be prepare for it. Teachers teach the students as a means of communication. So, while teaching the topic at that time interaction between the facilitator and learners are important in teaching, the second language. Through that, the facilitator knows that, the learners can get it or not. The teacher can simplify the topic and then he/she can teach.
              In teaching, current level, activating their oral and written skills that mean making them aware about sociolinguist contexts in which various communication strategies can be used. Through that another important objective also active that through the learning the topic, they are satisfies or not, to give them opportunities to use language in interaction. They deserve an opportunity to think, to provide information from their world of knowledge, to express, their personal opinions to disagree with other people’s, to choose among equally valid alternatives, etc. then give them relevant activities, that proves that learners are learning the topic.
              In, the activities, give them the activities, that are relate to learner’s intellectual awareness. In learning, the new things in second language, intellectual awareness s more important, because if the learners are mentally involve in the activities or learning process then and then can be aware about the learning process. The activities of the topic, must challenging their cognitive and creative ability, because in cognitivism of mother tongue, learners can be the word, which he or she never learn, but in the second language learning cognitivism does not help to learn, without speak a word with that learning learners must be happy and believes that what they are learning that must be useful in future.
             The third point, flexible teaching approach of learning second language is most important because, in this believes students that, that can be possible. Negative teaching of second language, have to change by facilitator. To learn with easy methods or approach that help in learning second language by learners. Failure can be avoided in teaching, always encourage them and give reward after their speech. To teach, the facilitator, have to follow various approaches rather than specific method. It is possible to be flexible and adaptable in the English classroom. If the teachers respect the students and plan their curriculum to suit the needs of the class, won’t be much difficult. Using the mother tongue in explaining the plan and purpose of the language work in the class, the context and the structure and some key words and expressions before the class starts doing the language exercise is helpful as it makes the activities communicative. Even if, there is a big class with mixed abilities, we (facilitators) can always spot a few bright and independent learners. The approach of the facilitator must according to needs of the learners.
v Conclusion:
             Teaching English as a second language is opportunity to teach. If the teacher teaches according to, learner’s pre-knowledge, needs based, the learning must be there. To teach if the facilitator used flexible approach to teach, the communication must be takes place.
v Work cited:
Singh, R.K. “Teaching of English: A plea for practical Attitude”. English in India. Ed. Omkar N. Kaul. Indian Institute of Mines, Dhanbad. Print.     

E-C-303 American Literature


v Assignment paper:E-C-303 American Literature  
v Topic                  : Symbolism in “The Scarlet Letter”
v Student’s Name   : Gandhi Pooja S.
v Roll No                : 08
v URL                     : gandhipooja151011.blogspot.com
v Semester              : 3
v Batch                   : 2010-11

                    Submitted to,                                 
                          Dr. Dilip Barad                                           
                       Department of English              
                        Bhavnagar University
Ø Symbolism in “The Scarlet Letter”:
v The Prison Door:
                          The prison door is described as having never known "a youthful era”. It’s made of iron and is a little worse for wear, if you catch our drift. Yet, the wild rosebush that grows at the side of the portal is its saving grace. The rosebush represents kindness and forgiveness to the prisoners who must face either a prison sentence or a death sentence. The iron door seems to represent all that is strict and unrelenting in Puritan society, while the rosebush seems to represent the concept of "grace" or forgiveness. In Christian thought, grace is "unmerited mercy," that is, forgiveness of sins even though forgiveness is undeserved. Since the prison is a place of darkness and sin, the beauty of a wild rose bush growing in such an unexpected place is a symbol of grace.
v Pearl:
                      Pearl, Hester’s daughter, is a symbol of all that Hester gave up when she committed adultery and gave up her place in Puritan society. Pearl is a "pearl of great price, Hester has gone through hell and high water as a result of giving birth to a child. She lives in perpetual punishment because of Pearl, and that is why she loves Pearl so much. The name “Pearl” makes us think of precious jewels, and there is indeed something very regal about Pearl – we know that she becomes a great and wealthy heiress. The name “Pearl” also reminds us of the fact that pearls come from oysters, and oysters are hard to pry open at times. Pearl definitely is not an easy nut to crack – she mysterious and full of mischief.
v The Scarlet Letter:
                    The symbolism behind the scarlet letter A changes throughout this novel. Though initially this letter A symbolizes the sin of adultery, Hester Prynne alters its meaning through her hard work and charity. Some people begin to suggest that the A stands for "able," since Hester is such a capable woman. Others begin to recognize that the scarlet letter has begun to achieve holiness, righteousness. It has "the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril. Had she fallen among thieves, it would have kept her safe". Many years later, when Hester returns and voluntarily takes up the scarlet letter again, it has become, for her and others, a symbol of grace. 

Hester sews this letter herself while in prison, and the result is breathtaking:
On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter ‘A.’ It was……………………. which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age,…………………. but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.

                  By embroidering the “A” so finely and ornately, Hester takes control of her own punishment. She owns it. Though the letter causes Hester to live a lonely life of banishment and ostracization, it seems almost immediately to become a symbol for something far nobler than “adultery.” The letter showcases her talent and artistry – skills that allow her to make a living as a single parent in Puritan Boston.
v The Red Mark on Dimmesdale's Chest:
The red mark on Dimmesdale’s chest in the shape of the letter Ais the physical manifestation of the minister’s guilt. We are never given an exact description of this mark or its origins, but Dimmesdale tells Hester it is from God. Although he refuses to confess and be punished, his sin ultimately marks his body more permanently than Hester’s scarlet letter made from thread does.
v The Meteor:
                        The meteor in The Scarlet Letter exposes both a communal and an individual reaction. The Massachusetts Bay Colony community interprets the meteor-in-the-shape-of-an-A to be a message from God commemorating the life of the recently deceased Governor and proclaiming him to be an angel. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, sees this meteor as symbol of his own sin, as though God were trying to expose his secret to the entire world. He thinks solely about what the meteor means to him and him alone. More than one way to interpret anything.
v The Black Man:
                       The Black Man is a euphemism for Satan in this book. Hester considers the scarlet letter A to be the Black Man’s mark, and Pearl wonders aloud if the Black Man left his brand on Dimmesdale’s heart. Our narrator loves to compare Chillingworth to Satan as well. By invoking Satan, our narrator raises the question of whether humans are innately good or evil. A favorite pastime of the Black Man is to hang out in the woods and lure the locals to come hang out with him and sign their names in his book (with their own blood). Mistress Hibbons knows the Black Man well, apparently.
v The Forest and the Wilderness:
The forest and wilderness are seen as the home or dwelling place of evil by the townspeople. It’s the unknown. Such a wilderness is compared to the moral wilderness in which Hester has been lost for years: "She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest". The forest contrasts sharply with the town, or "civilization," the former representing a place where passion and emotion reign, and the latter, a place where law and religion prevail. Interestingly, Hester lives on the edge of town, on the border between wilderness and civilization. She straddles both worlds.

We associate Nature with kindness and love from the very beginning of this story, for our narrator tells us that the wild rosebush reminds all that “the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him”. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the woods, the brook and the trees seem to listen, talk, and to have secrets of their own. After a few hours in the woods with Hester, Dimmesdale becomes incredibly mischievous and unrestrained. The woods seem to affect people in interesting ways.
v The Brook:
                      Pearl plays on the other side of the brook while her mother and Dimmesdale chitchat is a particularly important brook. It babbles and talks, taking on an almost humanlike quality:
All these giant trees and boulders of granite seemed intent on making a mystery of the course of this small brook; fearing, perhaps, that,…………………. ……………….. and knew not how to be merry among sad acquaintances and events of somber hue.
                          Like Pearl, this brook seems to be almost childlike and yet full of all of the deepest, darkest secrets. It seems to know everything, and it doesn’t seem to be a cheery, gushing brook out of a fairy tale. There’s something distinctly sad about this streamlet. Pearl tries to cheer the brook up, but it won’t be cheered. Her mother tells her that she could understand what the brook was saying if she had suffered something in her life. Pearl thinks the brook is too boring and gloomy to be a plaything, so she finds other things to occupy her while her mother chitchats with Dimmesdale. Pearl hesitates at the edge of the brook, and it forms a kind of divide between her world and that of her mothers.
v The Role of Nature:
                           Puritans regarded nature as a force of evil; the Garden of Eden had been the site of the fateful fall of mankind, and they perceived that Satan was often at work in nature. When Pearl and Hester Prynne meet Arthur Dimmesdale in the forest, the woods are described as being dark and forbidding – a place of unholy passions. It is in these woods where Pearl felt most at home; she too was a symbol of religious evil, being more in touch with nature than with society.
v Night versus Day:
                          By emphasizing the alternation between sunlight and darkness, the novel organizes the plot’s events into two categories: those which are socially acceptable, and those which must take place covertly. Daylight exposes an individual’s activities and makes him or her vulnerable to punishment. Night, on the other hand, conceals and enables activities that would not be possible or tolerated during the day—for instance, Dimmesdale’s encounter with Hester and Pearl on the scaffold. These notions of visibility versus concealment are linked to two of the book’s larger themes—the themes of inner versus socially assigned identity and of outer appearances versus internal states. Night is the time when inner natures can manifest themselves. During the day, interiority is once again hidden from public view, and secrets remain secrets.
v Regeneration:
              While Hawthorne's characters are sinners, many of them are presented as people who actually gain salvation and regeneration before the story ends. Hester acknowledges her sin and boldly displays it to the world. The symbol of her shame, elaborately embroidered, and worn long after she could have removed it, is proof that she is trying to hide nothing. Her salvation lies in Truth. In her conversation with Dimmesdale when she apologizes for having concealed Chillingworth's identity she says, "In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did not hold through all extremity . . . . A lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side!”

v Conclusion:
                       Through the use different words we can identify the importance of symbols and the allegorical meaning within the symbols used by author in the text.