Life goes on and after death. There is always hope – even in the desert there is an oasis. This is what the “The English Teacher”, which is a semi-autobiographical book, is all about. It is about life and death. It gives plenty of thought to see death not as a loss, but as a new life. It tries to teach us that human beings have the power to move on, despite all the odds and that life continues after death. R.K.Narayan talks about an English teacher who is trying to come to terms with himself. He talks about his professional life but mostly about his personal life, and also about his pain and the obstacles that he has to face, in order to find the inner peace, harmony and balance in his life.
From the beginning of the book, we are introduced to the teacher whose name is Krishna. We have this kind of man who wants to have control of everything in life and who cannot accept the unpredictability. He sets goals in his life and he is struggling to achieve them or else he will feel disappointed. Mostly of the times he achieves his aims; “I had done almost all the things I wanted to do, and as a result I felt heroic and satisfied” but later on he continues and utters “all done to perfection, I was sure, but always leaving behind a sense of something missing”. By this, we can understand that this man is sort of gathering dissatisfaction. He feels vacant, not fulfilling and he is not contented with his life and with his profession. There are times when he catches himself wondering why he gives so much importance in insignificant things such as English grammar or spelling as long as he feels that perhaps there is something better for him out there. So one day he comes to a decision that the next morning he will alter his routine....
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...be happy. He doesn’t accept any help from anyone because he wants to do everything on his own to get himself busy in order to be liberated of his pain. In a way he is shutting his sorrow away until he obtains the strength to deal with it and to reach his inner peace and harmony.
In conclusion, R.K.Narayan, through his short novel, examines many large issues – love death, loyalty, and fate. He tries to teach us the unpredictability of life. Things don’t always work out the way we expect them but they do always happen for a reason. You cannot plan or schedule your life because nothing is fixed forever. Life is a journey and every single moment of our life is a process of learning. We need the journey and all these experiences in order to change and to become better. Krishna teaches himself, and the novel tries to teach us, to be grateful to life and death.
Intertextuality The difference between short stories and novels extends far beyond the obvious, Short stories are often read in a single sitting and can be defined as a brief version of logical events usually revolving about a singular plot. Whilst a novel may retain many of the characteristics of a short story the format builds upon these basic ideas and concepts, expanding on themes and extending the plot and shaping the story through complicated interaction between characters. The process of
There are many issues involved with adapting a classic novel for the small screen, but probably the most important of these is the degree of loyalty the adaptation should make with the original novel. For a director it is almost impossible to remain perfectly loyal to the novel. For instance,around the time of the first director, David Lean, filmmaking had not advanced to such a stage for it to be possible to, as shown in the book, animate the roots of a tree to look like dead people’s hands. Another
who not at once thinks about herself and rather depends on other people’s happiness. Throughout the short novel she does, indeed, find herself showering in wealth, but as the story draws closer to an end, her grief grows immense and endless with sparks of hope here and there. The people
War has been the focus of a considerable body of fiction numbering over two hundred novels and at least fifty short stories in English, Afrikaans, French, German Dutch, Swedish and even Urdu if we count the translation of Rider Haggard's Jess in 1923. For the social and literary historian it provides over a hundred year record of the relationship between literature and history. The vast majority of novels and short stories about the Anglo-Boer conflict were published around the time of the war and
experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. II. John Steinbeck’s Life A) Family 1. His dad served as the county treasurer. 2. His mom was a school teacher. 3. He was one four children and was the only boy. B) Childhood and Adolescence 1.Born on February 27, 1902 2.Began telling stories as a child 3. Sent short stories to magazines under a false name 4. He was interested in biology, the study of human life 5. Large guy, advantage because he excelled in
be felt by just reading his words. Growing up in Mississippi, Faulkner was exposed to the Deep South and everything it had to offer, both good and bad. Through his writings, William tackles some of the most difficult issues of his time period and sheds light to the every day issues going on in the South. William Faulkner set the precedent for future generations, and he will arguably never be contested in his southern style. Without William Faulkner, American literature would be blind to the truth
businessman penned outstanding works like "The Golden Gate", "A Suitable Boy", "An Equal Music", and "Two Lives". The first book written by him was in verse form and records the lives of young professionals in San Francisco. "A Suitable Boy", 1441 paged novel pushed him into the lime light. The book brimmed with lives of the Indian migration, was based on post-independent India, and it received diverse views from the critics. "An Equal Music" in 1999 was predestined on the lives of classical musicians in
It is often pointed out in the novel that while Lenny is by no means intelligent, he has physical strength far beyond the other men. Is this an accurate portrayal of mental disorders or mental illness? And what could have been done about it in the 1930s? It is never said if anything can be done about Lennys condition but this could be because of Georges own ignorance. Lenny’s hallucinations and memory are other points to be researched as well. Also, people would often call Lenny a lunatic. What was
He adds that the later novels seem more “mannered” and have less “impact” (p. 3). Comley and Scholes (1998) suggest that literary critics agreed that Hemingway’s style has undergone several changes. Cowley (1962, p. 46) argues that “by the early 1930’s Hemingway’s technique, apparently simple in the beginning, was becoming more elaborate”. Epstein (1982, p. 557) agrees that Hemingway was reduced to having produced only one good novel The Sun also Rises, some good short stories, and “the originator
September 25, 1897 and died on July 6, 1962. He was the author of many novels and short stories… and was even awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. One of his most famous novels written was, As I Lay Dying. Faulkner spent most of his writing life in Mississippi and set all of his fiction there. Using his literary prowess, Faulkner ultimately created an entire world out of his various novels in which he named Yoknapatawpha. His novels force us as readers to become more aware of the process of telling
Jane Austen is best known for novels such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, wherein the female protagonist spends the majority of the book falling for her brooding male counterpart. However, while specks of this common theme are present within Northanger Abbey, a large aspect of the novel is Austen’s use of satire to mock gothic novels of the time. Throughout the story, Austin also seems to jeer at the culture in which she has placed her characters. She structures her characters with
The Unconventional Kate Chopin Kate Chopin, a female author in the Victorian Era, wrote a large number of short stories and poems. She is most famous for her controversial novel The Awakening in which the main character struggles between society's obligations and her own desires. At the time The Awakening was published, Chopin had written more than one hundred short stories, many of which had appeared in magazines such as Vogue. She was something of a literary “lioness" in St. Louis and had
displays this perfectly: “It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour workweek, the minimum wage. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.” While the Union played a large part in securing labor laws and food safety requirements, there was one person who gave the much-needed monumental push for even more human rights. That person is author and human rights activist, Upton Sinclair. Without Upton Sinclair’s literature
In life most people have some type of obstacle or problem in the way of their path. Just like F. Scott Fitzgerald who had many issues dealing with alcohol and other problems throughout the course of his life. Some of these obstacles were difficult to deal with, so F. Scott Fitzgerald found inspiration through his wife Zelda Sayre, who was reason behind many books. As proof by his willingness to his wife and dedication to his work, leads to conclude F. Scott Fitzgerald was ambitious and goal driven
changes. Flannery O’Connor, a prominent Catholic writer from the South, was one of the many who examined society and shared their philosophies. O’Connor shocked her twentieth century readers with the haunting style and piercing questions in her short stories and novels, which were centered on a combination of her life experiences, her deep Catholic faith, and the literature of the time. Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925 into one of the oldest and most prominent Catholic families