In the Month of July by Jean Arasanayakam

IN THE MONTH OF JULY

Jean Arasanayakam

            Jean Arasanayakam was a Srilankan poet and novelist.  She wrote her works in English.  The themes of her works were ethnic war and religious turmoil in Srilanka. 

            In her poem In the Month of July, the poet portrays the inner violence in human nature.  She also presents the pathetic conditions of the people affected by the violence and the futility of the ethnic war.

            The poem begins with a description of a young boy playing with pebbles under a tree. The boy skillfully tosses the pebbles from back of hand to palm.  The poet wonders whether the boy is able to perform this trick by sheer practice or by magic.

            The boy grows and now he is an adult.  The small pebbles which the boy once used have now disappeared and now he has small rocks. He uses those rocks as a weapon to attack his enemies who belong to different ethnic group. When he throws rocks at his enemies, the skulls of his enemies break and the brains splash on the pavement of the road.

            Then the poet recounts an incident that happened in Srilanka in the month of July, 1983. It was only then the ethnic war broke out violently. The poet saw a man fleeing from his chasing enemies. The man tried to escape them by climbing up a tree. But the mob pelted stones at him until he got down from the tree.  As the wounded victim lost his balance, he fell down the tree. The ferocious mob did not leave him but mercilessly trampled him to death.

            Thus Jean Arasanayakam presents the gruesome face of violence in a land that is affected by  ethnic problems.

Of Man's First Disobedience

OF MAN’S FIRST DISOBEDIENCE            

John Milton

     John Milton is one of the greatest poets in English.  He has written many well-known poems like Lycidas, L’Allegro and Ilpenseroso. But he is remembered even today for his great epic Paradise Lost.

      ‘Of Man’s First Disobedience’ is the first twenty six lines of Paradise Lost Book I. In these lines, Milton states the theme of his epic.  He also invokes the heavenly muses to help him in accomplishing the task of writing the epic.

       Milton begins his poem by declaring the theme of his epic- man’s first act of disobedience to God and the sorrowful consequences that followed from it.  This has a biblical reference.  God instructs Adam and Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  But disobeying God, Adam anad Eve eat the fruit and earn the displeasure of God.  Milton says that this sin of disobedience brought death to human beings and the loss of Paradise.

      Milton then invokes the Heavenly Muse, the goddess of poetry to sing about the subject through him. He makes it very clear that this muse is greater than the classical muse.  He associates his muse with the Holy Spirit which is a part in the creation of the Universe.  Hence, the poet hopes that his poem will be a pioneering one. Eventually, he requests the muses to inspire him to tell the human kind the greatness of God and his ways.

      The beginning lines from Paradise Lost is the befitting one for the great epic. It exhibits Milton’s use of grand style and his wide scholarship in biblical knowledge.

Mending Wall Essay

MENDING WALL

                                                                                                                        Robert Frost

            Robert Frost is the national poet of America.  Like Wordsworth, he is a poet of nature.  He is known as the poet of New England (North Eastern region on America) since many of his poems deal with the New England farmers.

            Mending Wall is one of the most widely quoted poems of Frost. It is a dramatic lyric or monologue. The speaker is the poet himself. The poem expresses the poet’s views and attitudes towards boundaries. The other character is the poet’s neighbour. He does not speak even a single word, but we come to know of his conservative views and orthodoxy, from what the poet says about him.

            The poet and his neighbour get together every spring to repair the stone wall between their respective properties. The neighbour, an old England farmer, seems to have a deep-seated faith in the value of walls and fences. He declines to explain his belief and only reiterates his father’s saying, “Good fences make good neighbours.”

            The poet remains unconvinced and asks the neighbour to look beyond the old-fashioned ideas.  His neighbour will not be moved.  The poet sees his neighbour as a person from an old era, a living example of a dark age mentality.  But the neighbour simply repeats the proverb again.

            Thus, the poem represents two opposing attitudes towards life – one is the surrender to the natural forces and the other battling with them. The poem also explores the role of boundaries in human society as the wall serves both to separate and to join the two neighbours..

SEIZE THE DAY - QUIZ

Saul Bellow

1. The story of Seize the Day is set in __________

            a) 1950s           b) 1920s          c)1890s            d) 1970s

2. When the story of Seize the Day opens, Tommy is living _________

            a) in his father’s apartment     b) wotj Dr.Tamkin      c) in the Hotel Gloriana d) with          his wife, Margaret

3. How old is Tommy Wilhelm?

            a) 44    b) 34    c) 24    d) 54

4. With whom does Tommy entrust his last of his money?

            a) his father     b) Margaret     c) Mr Perls       d) Dr.Tamkin

5. From where did Tommy graduate?

            a) Penn State   b) University of Minnesota     c) New York University         d) did not        graduate

6. Dr.Adler calls his son ________

            a) ‘My son’      b) Wilky          c) Tommy        d) Dr.Wilhelm

7. Tommy’s true name is ________

            a) Tommy Wilhelm     b) Tommy Tamkin       c) Wilhelm Tamkin      d) Wilhelm Adler

8. When Tommy asks his father the year of his mother’s death,  Dr.Adler says that it is_____

            a) 1932            b) 1941            c) 1924            d) 1936

9. ______is in need of money as he has recently lost his job and has a wife and two children.

            a) Dr.Adler      b) Tommy        c) Mr.Perls       d) Dr.Tamkin

10. Tommy is unable to marry __________ as his wife will not grant him a divorce.

            a) Susan           b)Judith           c) Olive           d) Mary

11. Tommy has become unaccustomed to _________ and misses the country.

            a) Boston         b) Massachusetts         c) New York   d) Texas

12. Tommy always drink _________ in the morning.

            a) orange juice             b) coffee          c) coca-cola     d) tea

13. ______ always appears a bit dirty and untidy.

            a) Mr.Perls       b) Tommy Wilhelm     c) Dr.Adler      d) Philpa

14. Tommy’s father suggests that Tommy shall _____________

            a) go to the Baths        b) play the stock market          c) give him his bill for the hotel          d) apologize to Mr.Perls

15. Philpa wants to borrow money from Dr.Adler to ___________

            a) rent a gallery for a painting exhibition        b) invest in the share market c) to help               her brother   d) to help her husband

16. Philpa is the daughter of __________

            a) Dr.Adler      B0 Mr.Perls     c) Dr.Tamkin   d) Dr.Wilhelm

17. ___________ is Tommy’s dog.

            a) Puppy          b) Jimmy         c) Scissors       d) Berkley

18. What does Wilhelm do at breakfast that angers his father?

            a) he begins to choke himself  b) he spits at this father           c) he punches his father              across the table            d) he calls him a coward

19. Dr.Tamkin wrote a poem about_______

            a) himself        b) Tommy        c) Dr.Adler      d) Margaret

20. Tommy’s grandfather called him ______ when he was young.

            a) Wilky          b) Hippopotamus        c) Little Tommy          d) velvet

21. Tommy ends up at ___________ at the end of the novel

            a) his father’s death bed         b) a parlour      c) the funeral of a stranger d) graveyard

22. In the opening chapter, Tommy eats breakfast with ___________

            a) his wife       b) his father     c) Olive           d) Maurice Venice

23. ___________ gives Tommy the advice he sought from his father.

            a) Olive           b) Tamkin        c) Detroit Purple Gand           d) Maurice Venice

24. At the end of the novel, Tommy finds himself weeping at the funeral of ___________

            a) Maurice Venice       B0 Tamkin      c) Dr.Adler      d) a complete stranger

25. Tommy comes to New York to _________

            a) seek his father’s assistance  b) pursue his love        c) audition for an acting role               d) invest in a hotel

26. _________ serves as a backdrop of Tommy’s feelings of isolation.

            a) World War II          b) Vietnam War          c) Cold War    d) Great Depression

Answers

1.                   a

2.                   c

3.                   a

4.                   d

5.                   d

6.                   b

7.                   d

8.                   a

9.                   b

10.               c

11.               c

12.               c

13.               b

14.               a

15.               a

16.               a

17.               c

18.               a

19.               b

20.               d

21.               c

22.               b

23.               b

24.               d

25.               a

26.               a

THE SCARLET LETTER - QUIZ

Nathaniel Hawthorne

1. The story of Hester Prynne is set in _________ century.

            a) 16^th              b) 17^th              c) 18^th              d)19^th

2.  The narrator of the story of The Scarlet Letter is _________

            a) an Attorney             b) a Minister    c) a Land Surveyor     d) a Customs Officer

3.  Hester and Chillingworth lived in________ before coming to America.

            a) Amsterdam             b) Paris            c) Edinburgh   d) Jamaica

4. Chillingworth has been living with ___________ before he appears in Boston.

            a) Puritans       b) native Americans    c) Spanish settlers       d) Canadians

5. __________ is situated immediately outside the door of the prison in which Hester is kept.

            a) a rose bush  b) a pine tree   c) a gallows     d) a graveyard

6. In what city do Hester and Peal live?

            a) Salem          b) Providence  c) Boston         d) Hartford

7. Mistress Hibbins is the sister of _____________

            a) the governor            b) Hester         c) Dimmesdale            d) Chillingworth

8. How does Mistress Hibbins eventually die?

            a) executed publicly as a witch           b) strangled by Chillingworth c) by diphtheria

            d) shot dead by Peal

9.  Hester supports herself financially as a _________

            a) prostitute     b) seamstress   c) nurse            d) farmhand

10. Hester is buried next to ___________

            a) Dimmesdale            b) Chillingworth          c) Pearl            d) the governor

11. Pearl did not recognize her mother Hester when she sees her with Dimmesdale in the               forest as Hester had removed ________

            a) the scarlet letter       b) her cap        c) her mask      d) her gloves

12. Pearl acknowledges Dimmesdale as her father at his death by _____________

            a) calling him ‘father’  b) interrupting his sermon       c) kissing him  d) crying on     seeing his corpse

13. What mark can supposedly be seen on Dimmesdale’s chest?

            a) a scarlet letter A      b) a tattoo        c) a mark of the devil  d) a red rose

14. Hester and Dimmesdale plan to escape their suffering by ___________

            a) going to live with the native Americans     b) boarding a ship bound for Europe

            c) killing Chillingworth           d) committing suicide

15. The narrator first encountered Hester Prynne story at _______

            a) a library       b) at an attic in Salem Custom’s office           c) school     d) a sermon

16. Hester made a ______ for Governor Winthrop.

            a) cloak for his swearing-in     b) night cap     c) pair of gloves          d) winter hat

17. Where do Hester and Peal live?

            a) in the poor house     b) in an abandoned cottage on the outskirt of Boston c) in the

            forest   d) in the house of Roger Chillingworth

18. Chillingworth pretends to be a __________

            a) minister       b) doctor         c) madman      d) scholar

19. Hester’s letter ‘A’ eventually come to represent ______ to the townspeople.

            a) Able                        b) Alone          c) Avaricious   d) Absolutely Admirable

20. The narrator lost his job in the Customs Office as __________

            a) he was lazy  b) he was writing when he should be working           c) he    misappropriated funds                        d) a new custom house President who is of a different         party was elected

21. ______accompanies Hester’s husband when he first appears on the outskirts of the crowd.

            a) a British sailor         b) his dog        c) his native American captor d) his minister             friend

22. Hester at first refuses medicine from her husband because she ________

            a) fears it is poisoned  b) prefers to suffer      c) doesn’t like the taste d) wants to save        it for her child

23. Chillingworth wants to remain in Boston because he wants to _________

            a) salvage his marriage            b) open a clinic            c) seek revenge on Hester’s lover       d) to torment Hester

24. Hester Prynne is good at ______

            a) music           b) writing stories         c) needle work            d) painting

25. Hester is never commissioned to make clothes for ______

            a) funerals       b) weddings    c) religious rituals        d) social galas

26. What best characterizes Pearl’s character?

            a) quiet            b) gentle          c) tormented    d) impious

27. Who harasses Hester and Pearl on their way to the Governor’s mansion?

            a) an angry drunk        b) the local sheriff       c) a group of children  d) Roger          Chillingworth

28. The townspeople wanted to take Pearl away from Hester because they ________

            a) fear Hester is abusing Pearl b) are concerned about Pearl’s moral upbringing 

            c) are worried that Hester cannot support Pearl financially    d) resent any happiness in       Hester’s life

29. Who finally convinced Governor Bellingham to let Hester retain guardianship over Pearl?

            a) Chillingworth          b)Dimmesdale c) Reverend Wilson    d) Hester Prynne

30. Chillingworth was sometimes referred to by townspeople as ___________

            a) toad b) leech            c) lizard           d) cockroach

31. Chillingworth wanted to live with Dimmesdale as he did not have a __________  

            a) son   b) daughter      c) wife             d) sister

32. Pearl pushed Hester away from Dimmesdale and Chillingworth as she suspected         Chillingworth to be a __________  

            a) devil            b) monster       c) beggar         d) leper

33. The narrator decided to write about the scarlet letter as he _________

            a) wanted to impress his family          b) was in love with Hester c) was Pearl’s       grandson         d) was interested in American History.

34. What motivates Chillingworth to remain in Boston?

            a) his lust for revenge  b) his love for Hester  c) his wish to suffer    d) his growing             reputation  

35. Who do the townspeople speculate as Pearl’s real father?

            a) Dimmesdale            b) Chillingworth          c) an anonymous sailor            d) the devil

            Answers

1.                   b

2.                   d

3.                   a

4.                   b

5.                   a

6.                   c

7.                   a 

8.                   a

9.                   b

10.               a

11.               a

12.               c

13.               a

14.               b

15.               b

16.               c

17.               b

18.               b

19.               a

20.               d

21.               c

22.               a

23.               c

24.               c

25.               b

26.               d

27.               c

28.               b

29.               b

30.               b

31.               c

32.               a

33.               d

34.               a

35.               d