CU-BA-Eng-SEM-IV-English-IV

BACHELOR OF ARTS SEMESTER IV ENGLISH IV 1 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY Institute of Distance and Online Learning SLM Development Committee Prof. (Dr.) H.B. Raghvendra Vice- Chancellor, Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab:Chairperson Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Sehgal Registrar Prof. (Dr.) B. Priestly Shan Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Nitya Prakash Director – IDOL Dr. Gurpreet Singh Associate Director –IDOL Advisors& Members of CIQA –IDOL Prof. (Dr.) Bharat Bhushan, Director – IGNOU Prof. (Dr.) Majulika Srivastava, Director – CIQA, IGNOU Editorial Committee Prof. (Dr) Nilesh Arora Dr. Ashita Chadha University School of Business University Institute of Liberal Arts Dr. Inderpreet Kaur Prof. Manish University Institute of Teacher Training & University Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management Research Dr. Manisha Malhotra Dr. Nitin Pathak University Institute of Computing University School of Business © No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any formor by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior written permission of the authors and the publisher. SLM SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR CU IDOL STUDENTS 2 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

First Published in 2021 All rights reserved. No Part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from Chandigarh University. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this book may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. This book is meant for educational and learning purpose. The authors of the book has/have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the contents of the book do not violate any existing copyright or other intellectual property rights of any person in any manner whatsoever. In the event, Authors has/ have been unable to track any source and if any copyright has been inadvertently infringed, please notify the publisher in writing for corrective action. 3 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

CONTENT Unit 1: Literary Text: The Holly Panchayat, The M.C.C, The Card Sharper’s Daughter ........ 5 Unit 2: Writing: Reference to the Context from the text, Essay writing................................ 28 Unit 3: Grammar: Sentence Completion, Common.............................................................. 52 Unit 4: Vocabulary: Commonly misspelled WORDS: SPELLING Correction..................... 69 Unit 5: Literary Text: Toba Tek Singh, Squirrel .................................................................. 89 Unit 6: Writing: Reference to the Context from the text, Précis Writing ............................ 109 Unit 7: Grammar: Narration: Direct-Indirect, Sentence Rearrangement ............................. 125 Unit 8: Vocabulary: Homonyms, Homophones ................................................................. 141 Unit 9: Literary Poetry: Grandfather, I shall return to this Bengal...................................... 162 Unit 10: Writing: Reference to the Context from the Poem, Report Writing: Official Reports ......................................................................................................................................... 187 Unit 11: Grammar: Para Completion, Para-Jumbles .......................................................... 220 4 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT 1: LITERARY TEXT: THE HOLLY PANCHAYAT, THE M.C.C, THE CARD SHARPER’S DAUGHTER STRUCTURE 1.0 Learning Objective 1.1 Introduction 1.2 About the Author 1.3 Analysis 1.4 Characterization 1.5 Summary 1.6 Keywords 1.7 Learning Activity 1.8 Unit End Questions 1.9 References 1.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVE After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Comprehend the writings of Premchand, R.K. Narayan and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer.  Analyze the text as literary form of English Literature.  Appreciate the text from reader’s perspective.  Explain India through association of ideas in the texts and the external contexts. 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Holy Panchayat Holy Panchayat by the Premchand which was the first story to be published in Hindi. The holy Panchayat which is also called as Panch Parmeshwar originated mainly in village area. This story is about putting justice above someone’s own interest. This story described the two friends named Jumma and Algu. Jumma’s old aunt who handed him whole property on the belief that in return he would look after her and provide everything till, she lives. But due to everyday fight between aunt and Jumma’s wife, Jumma’s decided to go along with his wife 5 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

and refused to give any money to old aunt. Old aunt demanded her land, so Jumma had to appear in the Panchayat. Algu who was Jumma’s old friend also served in Panchayat but in the favor of old Aunt. Jumma got shocked and he felt that he was betrayed by his own friend. But Algu felt that justice should be done. Later Algu again came to Panchayat because, a merchant who bought an ox from him died by over working so merchant refused to pay him money. Jumma served in Panchayat but when he wanted to make a judgment against his friend, a conscience leads him to decide in Algu’s favour and after that they again become friends. This story represents a situation many of us face-- when in a position of power, do we rule justly when a loved one is at stake or do, we bend the rules? 'Panch Parmeshwar' is a story about two best friends Jumman Sheikh and Algu Chaudhary. A childhood friendship of the village panchayat is tested when, Alu has to make a decision that involves his friend’s family. When Jumman's aunt approaches the panchayat complaining that Jumman took her property forcibly and is now ill-treating her, Algu - who is a representative in the panchayat- is in a dilemma because the verdict can change his equation with Jumman forever. Will he make the right decision? The M.C.C The novel Swami and Friends is an episodic narrative that follows the daily life of Swaminatharian, a charismatic and lazy schoolboy, in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi with his father, mother, and granny. He attends the Albert Mission School and has an established cadre of friends, including Samuel \"the Pea,\" Sankar, Somu, and Mani, but the arrival of a new boy in school, Rajam, son of the police superintendent who speaks English like a European, threatens Swami’s popular status. They become rivals, enemies even, but swiftly reconcile and become fast friends. Swami invites Rajam over to his house and gives orders for his family to change their behaviour and clean up to put a good face for Rajam, whose family comes from more money. Swami’s old friends—the Pea, Sankar, and Somu— feel abandoned by his budding friendship with Rajam and begin calling Swami “Rajam’s tail” to humiliate him. Rajam eventually brings everyone together to his house and urges them to reconcile and get along, bribing them with prizes, which ends up working. Swami and Rajam, along with Mani, a tall strong boy who can beat up almost anyone, become a loyal trio. Swami gets into some trouble with another boy, the coachman’s son, after trying to get enough money to buy a wheel. Interrupting their provincial play is a nationalist strike as part of Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. Swami is swept up in the frenzy of the crowd and throws stones at the window of the headmaster's room, breaking it. The crowd of protestors is broken up by the policemen who violently beat the protestors, led by Rajam’s father, the superintendent. The next day, the headmaster questions and punishes him and all the students who were missing from school. Swami, acutely distressed, runs away from the school, muttering, “I 6 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

don’t care for your dirty school.” He is kicked out of the missionary school and enrols in the Board High School, deemed a more inferior institution. Rajam forgives Swami for his “political sins” and posits that they start a cricket club, which he crowns the Malgudi Cricket Club or M.C.C. for short. They gather their friends together and practice, but Swami arrives late to every practice because he is kept at school until late in the afternoon. Rajam grows exasperated by Swami’s tardiness and, with a friendly match coming up, coerces Swami to plead with the headmaster to let Swami leave class early for his cricket practice. The headmaster declines. Swami becomes desperate and asks a doctor to give him a certificate allowing him to leave early. The doctor refuses but says that he will speak to the headmaster. Swami begins leaving class early for cricket class, until the headmaster comes in and calls his truancy out in front of the classroom. The headmaster begins beating Swami, who is overcome with a mix of rage and humiliation. He takes the cane out of the headmaster’s hands, throws it out the window, and runs away. After the incident, Swami believes that he is doomed, kicked out of the two high schools, unable to face his father’s wrath at home. He sees his only option is to escape the town entirely, only coming back anonymously to play the cricket game. He wanders off but gets lost and very hungry and begins to miss his home. He regrets his decision to escape. He begins having wild, scary dreams and falls asleep on the road, where he is picked up by a man carrying a cart. Meanwhile, his father has been roaming the town looking for him and his mother and granny are very anxious. When the man identifies Swami, he calls his parents, and they pick him up. Swami is relieved to be found but upset when Mani tells him that he missed the cricket match and that M.C.C. lost. Rajam declares that he no longer cares for Swami, and they stop being friends. One night, Mani divulges to Swami that Rajam and his family are leaving Malgudi permanently because his father got transferred to another city. Swami wakes up early the next day to say goodbye to Rajam at the train station and give him a gift, a volume of Hans Christen Anderson’s Fairy Tales. They manage to wriggle their way through the crowd of police officers who are sending Rajam's family off, and Swami and Rajam face each other. Swami cries out that Rajam is going away and when will he ever come back? Rajam opens his mouth to respond, but his response is lost in the locomotion of the trains as it chugs away. Mani runs alongside the train and gives Rajam the gift of books. The train leaves, and Swami cries, wondering if Rajam will ever think about him again, and Mani tries to console him by saying that Rajam will write letters to Swami, but his answer seems flimsy and his face inscrutable. Six weeks pass, after which Rajam comes to Swami’s house to tell him that he forgives him for everything, from his political activities to his new status as a student at the Board School. The reader learns that Swami refused to return to the Mission School and that his father sent him instead to the Board School. Swami quickly found himself happily the center of attention at his new school, though he does not yet have close friends there. Back at the Mission School, Somu was left behind after failing an exam, Sankar moved away after his father was 7 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

transferred, and the Pea began school months late due to mysterious causes. Swami still sees Mani every day but had not seen Rajam since leaving the Mission School. Rajam finds Swami trying to build a camera, and Swami explains that a boy in his new class had done so. Rajam criticizes Swami for thinking that his new school is superior and Swami, wanting to win Rajam over, agrees that he does not like the Board School but says that he had no choice in leaving the Mission School. Rajam tells Swami that he should have stayed away from politics in the first place, and Swami agrees. Rajam is convinced by Swami’s consent and tells him that they should go back to being good friends. Rajam suggests forming a cricket team, and although Swami initially feels that he’s not good enough to play, Rajam convinces him to try. Rajam says that the team will be called the M.C.C. but Swami worries that they could get into legal trouble, since there is already a professional cricket team using that name. Swami suggests some other names for the team, and they make a list of all the possibilities, choosing Victory Union Eleven as an additional name. Swami brings up the idea that they might need to pay a tax to the government, concerned that their name will not be reserved unless they do so. Considering all of the Swami’s points, Rajam reflects that starting a cricket team is “the most complicated problem on earth” and feels sympathetic toward Gandhi’s opposition to the government. The Card Sharper’s Daughter 'The Card Sharper’s Daughter' is a novel written by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer.The story is about a card sharper Ottakkannan Pokker, his daughter Sainaba and his daughter’s lover Mandan Muthappa.Ottakkannan Pokker runs a small tea shop. He also makes quite a small living as a cardsharper. His daughter Sainaba who takes care of the tea shop falls in love with a poor man named Mandan Muthappa. Pokker disagrees to her daughter’s love as he always aimed to get her married to a better groom. The story narrates and describes the love between Sainaba and Muthappa. The story ends with how Mandan Muthappa defeated Ottakkannan Pokker in the card game. As mentioned earlier, ‘The Card Sharper’s Daughter’ belongs to the group of stories known as the Sthalam stories. All the features of a Sthalam story discussed above are therefore quite evident in this story too. The ‘humble historian’ makes an early appearance in the story and states in a mock serious tone that he is going to relate the history of how the arch card sharper Poker was done in by the slow-witted Muthappa and how the latter thus succeeded in winning the hand of Zainaba who Pokker’s daughter is There is the same exaggeration of a small event which lays bare its triviality when considered against the grandiose style used for narrating the same. We witness the use of the whole rigmarole of historical writing in the narrativization of this small event and we are also consistently exposed to a parody of political discourse throughout the narrative The narrator remains an amused observer merely recording objectively the ‘essential facts’ concerning the debunking of Poker by Muthappa. Yet the emphasis placed on ‘essential facts’ springs from the desire to give a resemblance of 8 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

history to the narrative. In a tongue-in-cheek manner Basheer has a dig at Marxist learnings when he describes Zainaba and Muthappa’s love affair as a people’s movement and makes a liberal use of the Marxist terminology in describing people and situations so that the small village, the Sthalam becomes a microcosm of a polity. Irony, satire and humour are all present in a deliberate parodying of not only historical fiction but also romantic conventions and political discourse. 1.2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Munshi Premchand Premchand, also spelled Prem Chand, pseudonym of Dhanpat Rai Srivastava, Indian author of novels and short stories in Hindi and Urdu who pioneered in adapting Indian themes to Western literary styles. Though best known for his works in Hindi, Premchand did not achieve complete fluency in that language until his middle years. His first major Hindi novel, Sevasadana, dealt with the problems of prostitution and moral corruption among the Indian middle class. Premchand’s works depict the social evils of arranged marriages, the abuses of the British bureaucracy, and exploitation of the rural peasantry by moneylenders and officials. R.K Narayan R.K. Narayan, in full Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, original name Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanswami, one of the finest Indian authors of his generation writing in English. He got an early taste of the local streets too as he walked down them hand in hand with his uncle. Later he was often there on his own when he sneaked out to roam at will, rapt with the boundless variety of life offered by the streets, observing each minute detail and storing it away to be unearthed later when required. The streets aroused his curiosity, gave free play to his imagination, enriched a multitude of feelings and instinctively led him towards a desire to express what he saw and noticed. In 1926, Narayan passed the University Entrance Examination and began his studies at Maharaja College. It took him four years to graduate, which he did in 1930 at the age of twenty-four. He toyed with the idea of returning to college for his MA but then decided against it on the advice of a friend. He then tried his hand at teaching but ‘...Narayan’s first experience as a teacher soured him on that profession for life....’. Narayan met his future wife Rajam in Coimbatore when he was staying with his sister. He saw her drawing water from a street tap and promptly fell in love. He crashed through all conventions by outrageously declaring directly to her father that he wanted to marry Rajam. More than his economic prospects, it was the non-compatible horoscopes that proved a hindrance. Objections were however brushed aside, and the marriage took place with traditional pomp and gaiety. The two were blissfully happy. 9 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Swami and Friends, Narayan’s first novel was ready, and he sent it to his friend Purna who was now at Oxford. Purna approached Graham Greene and showed him the manuscript. Greene recommended it to Hamish Hamilton who agreed to publish it and Narayan’s career as a novelist began. The reviews were good but there were hardly any sales. Hamish Hamilton consequently rejected the second novel The Bachelor of Arts, which was later published by Nelson. 1939 was a shattering year for Narayan as he lost his beloved wife after a bout of brief illness. He didn’t write for a very long time after that but gradually his life fell into a pattern when a major portion of his time was taken up by his writing. He even began a journal Indian Thought but was unable to sustain it. In The English Teacher he wrote about the deepest sorrow of his life - about the events surrounding his wife’s death and the subsequent happenings too. Throughout his literary career till date, Narayan has penned about twelve novels and more than two hundred short stories set in the imaginary town of Malgudi. The Guide won him the Sahitya Akademi award. In addition, he has published his own version of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata and his memoirs My Days and A Dateless Diary. V.M. Basheer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (21 January 1908 – 5 July 1994) was a Malayalam fiction writer from the state of Kerala in India. He was a humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer. He is noted for his path-breaking, disarmingly down-to-earth style of writing that made him equally popular among literary critics as well as the common man. He is regarded as one of the most successful and outstanding writers from India. Translations of his works into other languages have won him worldwide acclaim. His notable works include Balyakalasakhi, Shabdangal,Pathummayude Aadu, Mathilukal, Janmadinam and Anargha Nimisham. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1982. He is fondly remembered as the Beypore Sultan. He resolved to join the fight for an independent India, leaving school to do so while he was in the fifth form. Since there was no active independence movement in Travancore or Kochi – being princely states – he went to Malabar to take part in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930. His group was arrested before they could participate in the satyagraha. Basheer was sentenced to three months imprisonment and sent to Kannur prison. He became inspired by stories of heroism by revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, who were executed while he was in Kannur jail. After leaving Kerala, he embarked upon a long journey that took him across the length and breadth of India and to many places in Asia and Africa for seven years, doing whatever work that seemed likely to keep him from starvation. His occupations ranged from that of a loom fitter, fortune teller, cook, newspaper seller, fruit seller, sports goods agent, accountant, watchman, shepherd, hotel manager to living as an ascetic with Hindu saints and Sufi mystics in their hermitages inHimalayas and in the Ganges basin, 10 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

following their customs and practices, for more than five years. There were times when, with no water to drink, without any food to eat, he came face to face with death. At Kottayam, he was arrested and put in a police station lock-up, and later shifted to another lock up in Kollam Kasba police station. The stories he heard from policemen and prisoners there appeared in later works, and he wrote a few stories while at the lock-up itself. He spent a long time in lock-up awaiting trial, and after trial was sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment. He was sent to Thiruvananthapuram central jail. While at jail, he forbade M. P. Paul from publishing Balyakalasakhi. He wrote Premalekhanam while serving his term and published it on his release. Balyakalasakhi was published after further revisions, with an introduction by Paul. An astute observer of human character, he skilfully combined humour and pathos in his works. Love, hunger and poverty, life in prison are recurring themes in his works. There is enormous variety in them – of narrative style, of presentation, of philosophical content, of social comment and commitment. His association with India's independence struggle, the experiences during his long travels and the conditions that existed in Kerala, particularly in the neighbourhood of his home and among the Muslim community – all had a major impact on them. Politics and prison, homosexuality, all were grist to his mill. All of Basheer's love stories have found their way into the hearts of readers; perhaps no other writer has had such an influence on the way Malayali’s view of love. The major theme of all Basheer stories is love and humanity. In the story Mucheettukalikkarante Makal (The Card sharp's Daughter), when Sainaba comes out of the water after stealing his bananas, Mandan Muthappa says only one thing: \"Sainaba go home and dry your hair else you may fall sick.\" This fine thread of humanism can be experienced in almost all his stories. 1.3 ANALYSIS The Holy Panchayat The Holy Panchayat’ or ‘Panch Parmeshwar’ is set in a village and begins quite characteristically with Premchand at first introducing the reader to the physical as well as the emotional backdrops of the story. Jumman Sheikh and Algu Chaudhary show a deep bond of friendship, which goes back to their childhood days. The two belonging to different faiths shared nothing, not even food or religion. There was nothing to bind them except their mental and emotional affinity. The omniscient narrator intervenes at this point to tell us that this of course is the basic rule of friendship. Then he proceeds to describe how if Jumman had to go to Haj he would entrust Algu with the responsibility of looking after his house. Algu did the same if he had to be away anytime. We are given a glimpse of the beginnings of this friendship in the boyhood days of these men when both used to be students of Jumman’s father Jumrati. In a short paragraph Premchand sketches a vivid picture of the method of imparting and receiving education in a village. Algu 11 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

is ever willing to run odd errands for his teacher and to get his hubble-bubble ready for him. Despite Algu’s numerous odd jobs for his teacher, he could never succeed in studies and consoled himself by saying that education was not in his kismet. Premchand is here giving us a peep into the mind of an average Indian who is always ready to blame his kismet for his own failures. Jumman on the other hand did well and became known for his learning in the surrounding villages. Algu was known and respected for his wealth. Having set the story against this backdrop of a village scene and against this background of friendship and harmony, Premchand proceeds to develop it further and introduces a new character - Jumman’s old aunt. At this point we may stop to take note of a few things. Two things are important here. Firstly, the rural background of the story, which is going to necessitate the calling of the Panchayat. The theme of \"Holy Panchayat\" is the importance of putting justice above one's own interest. The story deals with two friends, Jumman and Algu. Jumman first has to appear before the panchayat when his elderly aunt, who had willed him her land in return for being cared for, decides she is not being treated well. Algu, Jumman's old friend, serves on the panchayat, or the local court, and decides in favor of the aunt. Jumman is surprised, and he feels that his old friend betrayed him, while Algu feels that he did his duty to administer justice according to his conscience. Later, Algu must turn to the panchayat when a merchant buys his ox and kills it from overwork and then refuses to play Algu for it. Jumman serves on the panchayat, and, while he wants to make a judgment against his former friend, his conscience leads him to decide in favour of Algu. At this point, the friends are reunited, as they understand that they must put their conscience before their friendship when serving on the panchayat. The M.C.C Rajam’s casual acknowledgement of the way that political differences separate him, and Swami underscores the theme that the pressure of English colonization appears everywhere, even in close boyhood friendships. The sudden disappearance of Sankar and Somu also shows how easily a person can go from close friend to distant memory, again challenging Swami to accept the changing identities of those around him.Just as Swami’s friends earlier accused Swami of thinking he was too good for them by hanging out with Rajam, so too does Rajam accuse Swami of thinking he is superior. That even the powerful Rajam would make this accusation shows the depth to which external ideas of power structures are embedded in the boys’ lives. Swami’s desire to please Rajam wins out over his political convictions, again showing the confusion that Swami feels as he attempts to take charge of his own priorities. Rajam and Swami’s plan to form a cricket team introduces the novel’s most important symbol, the English game of cricket. The boys do not discuss the fact that cricket comes from the country of their colonizers; rather, they simply embrace it as a way to enjoy themselves and legitimize their pursuits outside of their families. However, with his concerns about government regulations, Swami intuits that even in this harmless pastime, the effect of 12 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

political structures will still be present. By somewhat ironically equating the cricket team with Gandhi’s fight for Indian independence, Narayan shows the inextricability of the political from personal life. While the friends are excited that an adult organization like the sporting goods company has recognized their team as legitimate, they are not able to respond to the company’s request, showing how far they are from becoming truly autonomous. Their irrational belief that the letter was a mistake also shows the persistence of childish magical thinking in their lives. Swami and his friends remain intent on playing even without ideal equipment, perhaps symbolizing the way that the citizens of India must make do with lesser versions of the cultural artifacts brought to them by the English. The boys also end up needing help from Rajam’s father, demonstrating another way that their families of origin are still crucial to their pursuits. Swami’s sudden transformation, after a very short time playing, into the cricket star Tate indicates that not only is identity fluid, but it can also change based on scant evidence or even happenstance. Over the course of the rest of the novel, Swami is a continual disappointment to his cricket team, so it is noteworthy that he keeps the nickname Tate, nonetheless. Geography (Symbol) Geography is one of the subjects that Swami and his classmates learn at school, and they spend a lot of time memorizing the capitals of foreign countries and copying maps. His friend Mani spends many hours copying maps of Europe, India, and Africa in preparation for their exams. Learning geography is an important part in their colonial education in orienting and knowing the world, with Europe at the center. The setting of the novel, the town of Malgudi, is fictional, however, and thus Narayan refuses to map the village. The Protest (Symbol) The protest can be argued to represent many things, but first and foremost, it symbolizes the frustration that exists in India because of the colonial presence of the British who dominate the nation as a second-class society. The British represent the broken forces that exist among closed-minded people with economic interests. Among the problems is that India has become chronically poor because its resources are drained by the British. Cricket (Symbol) Not only is cricket a reminder of the colonial influence of Britain in India, but it is also a symbol of competition, and on the cricket, field is where Rajam and Swami actually come to a head. Rajam uses a threat against their friendship in order to control Swami's behaviour, but Swami cannot help but feel that it is wrong to skip school so that they can compete. The match represents Rajam's emotionally desperate understanding of \"victory\" as an important goal. Cricket highlights the conflict between Rajam and Swami and heightens the stakes, ultimately leading to them breaking up. 13 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Escape (Motif) Escape is a motif that continually resurfaces as Swami escapes from the headmaster in the Albert Mission School and then later at the Board High School. Escape is Swami's usual method of dealing with difficult or painful situations, but he often ends up getting lost, or in a worse situation than before. The Cane (Symbol) When the headmaster of Swami's school rejects his request to leave early for his cricket game, Swami becomes angry and throws his cane out of the window. This demonstration is a symbol because the action represents the value of the moment in Swami's real life. The stick becomes a symbol of freedom because the stick goes where Swami wants to go—outside of the walls and hierarchal order of school. The Card Sharper’s Daughter As mentioned earlier, ‘The Card Sharper’s Daughter’ belongs to the group of stories known as the Sthalam stories. All the features of a Sthalam story discussed above are therefore quite evident in this story too. The ‘humble historian’ makes an early appearance in the story and states in a mock serious tone that he is going to relate the history of how the arch card sharper Poker was done in by the slow-witted Muthappa and how the latter thus succeeded in winning the hand of Zainaba who Pokker’s daughter is. Irony, satire and humour are all present in a deliberate parodying of not only historical fiction but also romantic conventions and political discourse. Let us look at the story in detail to see how this is achieved. The First-Person Narrator The sense of the teller and the tale is created right from the first sentence itself and the ‘performance’ of the story begins. From the manner in which an emphasis is placed on ‘the moral’ of the story the teller’s apparent aim seems to be didactic. A sense of curiosity is aroused by placing hints that the story may go against the fair sex since ‘girls will find it neither amusing nor enlightening.’ Sweeping statements however, put the reader on guard — why murder all daughters in cold blood? We might well ask ourselves this question. The first-person narrator, who has set the ball rolling, now makes his appearance as the ‘I’ of the story and indicates that what he has just said is not a matter of personal opinion. He implies that he is the narrator as well as the writer here for he mentions his lady readers who might get incensed by his ‘blatantly misogynist observations’ and he hopes they would not condemn him ‘to eternal damnation’. Ottakkannan Poker is introduced as the ‘tragic protagonist’ and the narrator tells us that all ire of his lady readers should be directed at this figure rather than him for it is Pokker who had made the misogynist observation mentioned earlier. The other characters are Mandan Muthappa and Zainaba who is Poker’s daughter. Muthappa begins as a villain in the story but attains a heroic stature as the story progresses and ends up a chivalrous knight where he takes 14 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

up arms against Poker. Zainaba proves to be his ‘comrade in arms’. Once again, the manner in which these characters have been introduced, builds up expectations for a serious story, grand in ‘theme and heroic in stature. There is talk about a ‘battle’ about ‘comrades in arms’ about ‘chivalry’ about ‘tragedy’. A steady elevation of an event is being effected through a deliberate use of these terms that are drawn from romantic literature about knights and ladies when according to conventions battles are fought by these chivalrous knights for the love of their ladies. Notice that the main characters all have sobriquets prefixed to their names which in turn describe either some physical feature, a character trait or links them with a past event Thus Ottakkannan means one-eyed; Mandan means slow-witted, Thorapan is the mole, Anawari is the elephant-grabber and Ettukali is the spider. Prefixing descriptive sobriquets to a person’s name is a regional specificity as it is a common practice in Kerala. These sobriquets, however, also link these characters to other stories in the group because at times they refer to the events that have already occurred in an earlier story e.g., Anawari Raman Nair is called. Anawari, the elephant-grabber, because he had once mistaken a dung heap for an elephant and had stealthily tried to grab it. Similarly, Thoma is known as Ponkurissu Thoma because Ponkurissu is a cross made of gold and the sobriquet got attached to Thoma’s name because he had once stolen a gold cross from the Church. You must have noticed that the world we have just been introduced to is an anti-world peopled by characters who are the dregs of society being rogues and criminals all. They are the marginalised beings and Basheer’s technique of characterization is such that not even for a moment are we made to feel that he is criticizing them or moralizing through them. In fact, his attitude towards them is an indulgent one which accepts them along with all their failings. You may recall at this point that Basheer had himself come in close contact with such people on innumerable occasions, especially while being incarcerated along with their likes. He had looked at them just as human beings and consequently when he included these characters in his stories, he delineated them with the same indulgence and acceptance. The Event as History Having introduced the main characters and laid the ground for the story to unfold, the narrator comes to the verge of beginning the narrative but not before he has made it clear that what we are about to read is the narrativization of a historical event. Thus, the narrator refers to himself as ‘the humble chronicler’ and uses the textual apparatus of historical writing. This is the reason why he draws our attention to procedure. Like a historian he has given us ‘the essential facts’ and again like a historian he is going to base his narrative on these facts as well as whatever other data he has collected from ‘interviewing major characters’. Ultimately, he concludes by saying that he is now going to record the whole event for the ‘benefit of students of history’ thus driving the point further. The whole procedure of modern academic historiography will therefore be mobilized in this narrativization of a historical event. 15 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Laying the Ground for the Narrative to Unfold Having introduced the characters by name, Basheer moves on to now describe them and begin with Ottakkannan Pokker and then proceeds with the descriptions of Zainaba and Muthappa. It is made evident that these three are going to be the main protagonists of the story. In these descriptions a lot of emphasis is placed on the visual, so, while Pokker’s complexion is fair Muthappa is jet black in comparison. If Pokker is ‘one-eyed’ Muthappa ‘is ‘cross-eyed’. Pokker’s teeth are stained red since he is a voracious betel chewer whereas Muthapa’s smile is always charming. Both are therefore almost opposites of each other. Both are known by their respective professions, so, Pokker is called ‘Ottakkannan Pokker, the card-sharper’ while Muthappa is called ‘Mandan Muthappa, the pick pocket’. Pokker’s wife is dead whereas Muthapa’s parents too have both passed away. Zainaba, Pokker’s daughter is the village beauty- and being nineteen years of age is all set to be married off ‘to some hard- working young man.’ Pokker is working very hard to collect the money needed for marrying off his daughter. In a racy colloquial style Basheer continues to bring us up to date with the situation and we are next informed of how the one hundred and twenty rupees that Pokker had collected over the years, are already lost. The build up to the main narrative is however not over yet. It is not sufficient for Basheer to simply mention the respective professions of the arch rivals Pokker and Muthappa. He gives us an in depth look at how cardsharping or pick pocketing works. As mentioned earlier Basheer had modelled many of the characters in his Sthalam stories on the various ‘jail-birds’ he had met while incarcerated along with them. His behind-the-scenes knowledge about cardsharping and pick- pocketing, could very well spring from the same source. Like any other profession, Basheer gives due respect to these too and in a style which is typically Basheerian, he proceeds to give us an objective description of them. He is not a conscious social reformer, therefore, while he tells us about professions which run against the law, he neither condemns them nor valorises them in any way. With Pokker’s cry of ‘Hai Raja ....,’ Basheer makes the card-sharping language come alive for his readers. At this point you must remember that Basheer was writing at a time and place when the literary scene was riddled with conventions of Sanskritized Malayalam writings. In such a milieu he intrudes with not only the colloquial everyday speech of the villagers, but also the language of card sharpers and pickpockets. Basheer believed that each profession creates its own language and the same is very evident in Pokker’s speech as he entices customers to come and play his game. The cry rings in our ears and we can almost visualize him shouting at the top of his voice “Hai Raja.... Come on everybody.... Double your money folks . . .two for one, four for two, the joker makes your fortune. Never mind if you place your money on the numbered cards. It’s your alms for a poor man... Hai raja!” The translation can capture the rawness of this language only partially. It would deliver its crispy effects better in the original. As pointed out in the annotations to your text, Basheer used the Mappila dialect of the Malayalee Muslims which was interspersed with-Arabic 16 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

words. The dialect cannot be reproduced in an English translation exactly, but we have come as close as possible in capturing the briskness of the card-shaper’s language. Both Pokker and Muthappa are called artists and Basheer describes in detail how they practice their art. There is a lot of emphasis on the visual and minute observations go in to make up the descriptions of both. The humour is sardonic, tongue- in-check and can be glimpsed in the way Basheer first describes in detail how Pokker cheats his clients and then ends by saying ‘There was no fraud in it really!’ and finds nothing ‘demeaning’ in the profession of a pickpocket. In a manner similar to his description of the profession of cardsharping, Basheer describes-for us the modus operandi of a pick-pocket. Having thus generated a suitable interest in both the protagonists he next fans our curiosity further by mentioning that the tale he is now about to unfold describes how ‘Mandan Muthappa, the nitwit, vanquished his nimble witted adversary and won the hand of’ and he leaves us teetering on the edge of suspense. Till this point in the story Basheer has just managed to introduce his characters and set the stage for the action to begin. Unlike the modem short story where character and scene are revealed or implied through dialogue Basheer, like Premchand’s ‘Holy Panchayat’, has devoted a lot of time and space for giving us detailed descriptions regarding both. Can you guess the reason for this? Well, the reason lies in the fact that in telling the story Basheer is following the oral tradition He is writing this story as it would have been narrated by a story teller to his audience. That is why the sense of the teller, and the tale was created right in the beginning from the first sentence itself. The conventions of the oral tradition demand that listeners be told about the characters and the setting. They fall in line with the tradition of stories which begins ‘Once upon a time there lived a king. ’The modem element in Basheer’s story however is, that instead of kings and queens or princes and princesses or knights and ladies he talks here about the marginalized sections of society, the thieves, the pickpockets, criminals and so on. And., he talks about them, not with a sense to reform but with sympathy and acceptance. Having enlightened his readers about the characters and the situation, Basheer is now ready to unfold the main narrative which is about the debunking of the arch cardsharper by the dim- wittedMuthappa. At the same time however, the narrative is also about the romantic involvement of Zainaba and Muthappa and about their struggle to get married. The two are linked because it is Zainaba, who helps Muthappa to out-with her father Pokker and Muthappa in turn does so because he wants to marry Zainaba. Keeping true to the parodic mode of the narrative Basheer uses the love affair of Zainaba and Muthappa to make a deliberate mockery of the romantic conventions and the tragic conventions of romantic love stories. He raises their struggle to mock epic heights. With characteristic irony he presents here a love between two riffraff of society — a pick-pocket and the daughter of a swindler who is caught in the act of stealing a bunch of bananas herself by her lover. Once again, her modus operandi is described with interesting details and without any admonition or indignation on the part of the narrator. In this world of criminals and cheats, it is entirely 17 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

possible to have your ladylove too indulging in such nefarious activities. Yet quite characteristically, the event is recorded objectively rather than it being used as a moral platform. Linked to this factor of academic historiography is the use of elements from the discourse of political analysis of historical events. The same is a very common practice in academic historiography and more often than not political ideologies and political rhetoric are a part of the textual apparatus of the historicization of events. In the case of Zainaba and Muthappa, their struggle is presented as a people’s movement with the whole village becoming involved. Muthappa becomes ‘the universally acclaimed leader of the masses’ while Pokker is denounced as a hoarder, a black- marketer and above all ‘a bourgeois reactionary.’ There is a lot of slogans shouting in keeping with the politically charged atmosphere in the village. Basheer is having a dig at the Marxist leanings of the people of Kerala and in a sardonic, tongue-in-cheek manner presents burlesque at its best by applying these grand terms to insignificant and unimposing subjects. Ultimately Pokker isleft with no option and the lovers win. Yet the mystery rankles in Pokker’s flesh like a thorn. He is almost driven mad thinking how Muthappa could beat him at his own game. Eventually, Muthappa reveals the secret, and we have a perfect epiphanic moment in the story when everything falls into place. It was Zainab’sbrainwave and Pokker understands everything in a flash. Itwas Zainaba who had revealed her father’s secret to Muthappa so the latter could adopt the same strategy at cardsharping and drive her father up against the wall. Ultimately Pokker would have to relent and agree to their marriage. Thus, the battle for Zainab’s heart is won not by any knights in shining armour but by wiles and deceit. Once again there is a deliberate parody of romantic conventions, and the humble chronicler has no answer for Pokker when he asks, ‘Can you ever trust your daughter?’ The wheel has come full circle and the gets connected to the beginning where the narrator had begun by stating a generality that all daughters ought to be murdered in cold blood! Step by Step he has brought us to the point where we now understand why, such anger against daughters. Being familiar by now with the style and tone we can take the comment with a pinch of salt. 1.4 CHARACTERIZATION The Holy Panchayat The Holy Panchayat’ or ‘Panch Parmeshwar’ is set in a village and begins quite characteristically with Premchand at first introducing the reader to the physical as well as the emotional backdrops of the story. Jumman Sheikh and Algu Chaudhary show a deep bond of friendship, which goes back to their childhood days. The two belonging to different faiths shared nothing, not even food or religion. There was nothing to bind them except their mental and emotional affinity. The omniscient narrator intervenes at this point to tell us that this of course is the basic rule of friendship. Then he proceeds to describe how if Jumman had to go 18 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

to Haj he would entrust Algu with the responsibility of looking after his house. Algu did the same if he had to be away anytime. Having set the story against this backdrop of a village scene and against this background of friendship and harmony, Premchand proceeds to develop it further and introduces a new character - Jumman’s old aunt. At this point we may stop to take note of a few things. Two things are important here. Firstly, the rural background of the story, which is going to necessitate the calling of the Panchayat. The Panchayat used to bring justice to remote areas of the country especially to people who could either not afford the city courts or simply could not reach them. Equally important is the strong bond of friendship that existed between the two friends because it is this bond which will be dealt a severely damaging blow during the proceedings of the Panchayat. At the same time, it will be used for making a very important point as far as meeting out justice to the accused is concerned. Thus, in a very skilful manner Premchand is going to connect the opening of his story with the events that follows. The M.C.C Swami (or Swaminathan) Swami is the central character of the plot. He is also the protagonist of the play. As a child, he goes to school where he does not like studies and gets bored easily. He is an honest boy of seven but, on the other hand, he also does not hesitate telling lies to his father. He loves his granny's stories. He is good at cricket and is nicknamed \"Tate.\" He saw the revolution phase of Indian independence. Later in the course of the novel, he became bolder and socially prominent. Swami's Father Swaminathan’s father is a lawyer by profession. He is stern and authoritarian, but caring. He worries about his son’s studies and encourages him to study hard. Sometimes he is overly strict, but later in the novel he also shows his concern for the well-being of his son. Swami's Mother Swaminathan's mother is in charge of the house and cares for Swami both materially and emotionally. She defends Swami in his arguments with his father. However, her appearances are occasional. She is the character that Swami misses the most when he runs away from the house. Swami’s Grandmother Granny is described as a sweet and sleepy lady whom Swami will often go to and tell stories about his day. She is a religious woman. She tells Swami the stories of her past. Her relationship with Swami changes throughout the novel. Swami’s Younger Brother 19 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

He is the only sibling to Swami. He is born midway through the novel. He captures the prime attention of his family. Swami too cares for his little brother. However, this character has no major role as he remains a child throughout the novel. Mr. Ebenezar He is Swami’s scripture teacher at the Albert Mission School. He is a Christian fanatic and degrades Swami’s religion, Hinduism, and considers Christianity superior to other religions. Later, he is scolded by the headmaster of the school. Rajam Rajam is the new kid at the Albert Mission School and is Swami's rival turned best friend. Rajam is good at studies, speaks English \"like a European,\" and is the son of the police superintendent, which gives him more attention and status at school. He is witty and fearless in nature and naturally assumes authority in social settings. It is his idea to start a cricket team. Mani Another close friend of Swami, Mani is described as the \"Mighty Good-For-Nothing.\" He is a bold and strong figure in his class. He is not good at studies and purposefully slacks off, but he likes fighting and no one dares to challenges him, even the teachers. Mani likes to dominate the whole class and also bully some of his classmates. Sankar A classmate of Swami, Sankar is known as the “the most brilliant boy of the class.” Swami admires Sankar's intellect and takes his guidance. Later, he leaves Malgudi as his father is transferred to another town. Samuel (or The Pea) Also nicknamed \"The Pea,\" Samuel is Swami's classmate and friend. Both Swami and the Pea are close friends until the Pea changes his school. Both remain friends as they both play cricket together. He is the only Christian friend of Swami. The Card Sharper's Daughter Ottakkannan Poker is introduced as the ‘tragic protagonist’ and the narrator tells us that all ire of his lady readers should be directed at this figure rather than him for it is Pokker who had made the misogynist observation mentioned earlier. The other characters are Mandan Muthappa and Zainaba who is Poker’s daughter. Muthappa begins as a villain in the story but attains a heroic stature as the story progresses and ends up a chivalrous knight where he takes up arms against Poker. Zainaba proves to be his ‘comrade in arms’. Once again, the manner in which these characters have been introduced, builds up expectations for a serious story, grand in ‘theme and heroic in stature. There is talk about a ‘battle’ about ‘comrades in arms’ about ‘chivalry’ about ‘tragedy’. 20 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Other characters in this Saga are next introduced and we have the two police constables who are called ‘Stooges of the Tyrannical regime’. These are ThorapanAvaram and Driver Papini, the two master rogues. Then Anawari Raman Nair and Ponkurissu Thoma, who are referred to as ‘the bigwigs of the local criminal fraternity’ and then there is Ettukali Mammoonhu who is their protege. Apart from these there are about 2200 other villagers, and they are all ‘peace lovers’ and have nothing to do with ‘war-mongering reactionaries’. Notice that the main characters all have sobriquets prefixed to their names which in turn describe either some physical feature, a character trait or links them with a past event Thus Ottakkannan means one-eyed; Mandan means slow-witted, Thorapan is the mole, Anawari is the elephant-grabber and Ettukali is the spider. Prefixing descriptive sobriquets to a person’s name is a regional specificity as it is a common practice in Kerala. These sobriquets, however, also link these characters to other stories in the group because at times they refer to the events that have already occurred in an earlier story e.g., Anawari Raman Nair is called. Anawari, the elephant-grabber, because he had once mistaken a dung heap for an elephant and had stealthily tried to grab it. The Event as History Having introduced the main characters and laid the ground for the story to unfold, the narrator comes to the verge of beginning the narrative but not before he has made it clear that what we are about to read is the narrativization of a historical event. Thus, the narrator refers to himself as ‘the humble chronicler’ and uses the textual apparatus of historical writing. This is the reason why he draws our attention to procedure. Like a historian he has given us ‘the essential facts’ and again like a historian he is going to base his narrative on these facts as well as whatever other data he has collected from ‘interviewing major characters’. Notice that the narrator makes a very clever use of political rhetoric and leans towards Marxist terminology for describing people and situations. By doing so, while he is depicting the popularity of Marxist ideology, he is also presenting a critique of it by applying it to trivial matters like a domestic conflict. Thus, the two constables are described as representatives of the ‘tyrannical regime’ meaning the government, the village big-wigs are also named but it is pointed out that they are all peace lovers and have nothing to do with ‘war reactionaries.’ Phrases like ‘tyrannical regime’ and ‘reactionary’ are lifted straight from Marxist terminology. By applying the same to people and situations that have no grandeur or no importance to merit such treatment, Basheer succeeds in making a travesty of the politically charged atmosphere of Kerala which at the time was reeling under the influence of a lot of slogans shouting and political happenings. Laying the Ground for the Narrative to Unfold Having introduced the characters by name, Basheer moves on to now describe them and begin with Ottakkannan Pokker and then proceeds with the descriptions of Zainaba and Muthappa. It is made evident that these three are going to be the main protagonists of the 21 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

story. In these descriptions a lot of emphasis is placed on the visual, so, while Pokker’s complexion is fair Muthappa is jet black in comparison. If Pokker is ‘one-eyed’ Muthappa ‘is ‘cross-eyed’. Pokker’s teeth are stained red since he is a voracious betel chewer whereas Muthapa’s smile is always charming. Both are therefore almost opposites of each other. Both are known by their respective professions, so, Pokker is called ‘Ottakkannan Pokker, the card-sharper’ while Muthappa is called ‘Mandan Muthappa, the pick pocket’. Pokker’s wife is dead whereas Muthapa’s parents too have both passed away. Zainaba, Pokker’s daughter is the village beauty- and being nineteen years of age is all set to be married off ‘to some hard- working young man.’ Pokker is working very hard to collect the money needed for marrying off his daughter. In a racy colloquial style Basheer continues to bring us up to date with the situation and we are next informed of how the one hundred and twenty rupees that Pokker had collected over the years, are already lost. But nobody had stolen it so where had the money gone? In a chatty tone, where the narrator enters the narrative in first person, refreshing the sense of the teller and the tale, he asks the reader to be patient. Thus, suspense and curiosity, two important ingredients of a short story, are both brought into play. With Pokker’s cry of ‘Hai Raja ....,’ Basheer makes the card-sharping language come alive for his readers. At this point you must remember that Basheer was writing at a time and place when the literary scene was riddled with conventions of Sanskritized Malayalam writings. In such a milieu he intrudes with not only the colloquial everyday speech of the villagers, but also the language of card sharpers and pickpockets. Basheer believed that each profession creates its own language and the same is very evident in Pokker’s speech as he entices customers to come and play his game. The cry rings in our ears and we can almost visualize him shouting at the top of his voice “Hai Raja.... Come on everybody.... Double your money folks . . .two for one, four for two, the joker makes your fortune. Never mind if you place your money on the numbered cards. It’s your alms for a poor man... Hai raja!” The translation can capture the rawness of this language only partially. It would deliver its crispy effects better in the original. As pointed out in the annotations to your text, Basheer used the Mappila dialect of the Malayalee Muslims which was interspersed with-Arabic words. The dialect cannot be reproduced in an English translation exactly, but we have come as close as possible in capturing the briskness of the card-shaper’s language. Both Pokker and Muthappa are called artists and Basheer describes in detail how they practice their art. There is a lot of emphasis on the visual and minute observations go in to make up the descriptions of both. The humour is sardonic, tongue- in-check and can be glimpsed in the way Basheer first describes in detail how Pokker cheats his clients and then ends by saying ‘There was no fraud in it really!’ and finds nothing ‘demeaning’ in the profession of a pickpocket. Basheer treats pickpocketing as he would treat any other profession -- in his world there seems to be no disrespect attached with cheats and swindlers and the lies they indulge in. The tone of righteous indignation is entirely missing in Basheer’s narrative for the simple reason that he is not here to sit in any moral judgement on his characters. He is merely an amused observer, 22 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

a humble chronicler. While the tone is ironic in this sense, at the same time it is mischievous. He seems to take delight in the fast-paced human drama that he records for us here. Till this point in the story Basheer has just managed to introduce his characters and set the stage for the action to begin. Unlike the modem short story where character and scene are revealed or implied through dialogue Basheer, like Premchand’s ‘Holy Panchayat’, has devoted a lot of time and space for giving us detailed descriptions regarding both. Can you guess the reason for this? Well, the reason lies in the fact that in telling the story Basheer is following the oral tradition He is writing this story as it would have been narrated by a story teller to his audience. That is why the sense of the teller, and the tale was created right in the beginning from the first sentence itself. The conventions of the oral tradition demand that listeners be told about the characters and the setting. They fall in line with the tradition of stories which begins ‘Once upon a time there lived a king. ’The modem element in Basheer’s story however is, that instead of kings and queens or princes and princesses or knights and ladies he talks here about the marginalized sections of society, the thieves, the pickpockets, criminals and so on. And., he talks about them, not with a sense to reform but with sympathy and acceptance. 1.5 SUMMARY  We are given a glimpse of the beginnings of this friendship in the boyhood days of these men when both used to be students of Jumman’s father Jumrati.  In a short paragraph Premchand sketches a vivid picture of the method of imparting and receiving education in a village.  Algu is ever willing to run odd errands for his teacher and to get his hubble-bubble ready for him.  We may recall how Premchand too received a similar coaching in the Persian and Urdu letters from a Muslim teacher and was ever trying to please his teacher though at times for reasons other than the apparent ones.  Despite Algu’s numerous odd jobs for his teacher, he could never succeed in studies and consoled himself by saying that education was not in his kismet.  Premchand is here giving us a peep into the mind of an average Indian who is always ready to blame his kismet for his own failures. Jumman on the other hand did well and became known for his learning in the surrounding villages. Algu was known and respected for his wealth.  Six weeks pass, after which Rajam comes to Swami’s house to tell him that he forgives him for everything, from his political activities to his new status as a student at the Board School. 23 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 The reader learns that Swami refused to return to the Mission School and that his father sent him instead to the Board School.  Swami quickly found himself happily the center of attention at his new school, though he does not yet have close friends there.  Back at the Mission School, Somu was left behind after failing an exam, Sankar moved away after his father was transferred, and the Pea began school months late due to mysterious causes.  Swami still sees Mani every day but had not seen Rajam since leaving the Mission School.  Rajam’s casual acknowledgement of the way that political differences separate him, and Swami underscores the theme that the pressure of English colonization appears everywhere, even in close boyhood friendships.  The sudden disappearance of Sankar and Somu also shows how easily a person can go from close friend to distant memory, again challenging Swami to accept the changing identities of those around him.  The Card Sharper’s Daughter’ belongs to the group of stories known as the Sthalam stories. All the features of a Sthalam story discussed above are therefore quite evident in this story too.  The ‘humble historian’ makes an early appearance in the story and states in a mock serious tone that he is going to relate the history of how the arch card sharper Poker was done in by the slow-witted Muthappa and how the latter thus succeeded in winning the hand of Zainaba who Pokker’s daughter is.  There is the same exaggeration of a small event which lays bare its triviality when considered against the grandiose style used for narrating the same.  We witness the use of the whole rigmarole of historical writing in the narrativization of this small event and we are also consistently exposed to a parody of political discourse throughout the narrative.  The narrator remains an amused observer merely recording objectively the ‘essential facts’ concerning the debunking of Poker by Muthappa. 1.6 KEYWORDS  Consistently:In every case or on every occasion; invariably.  Exaggeration:A statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.  Rigmarole: A lengthy and complicated procedure, a long, rambling story or statement. 24 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Colonization: The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.  Consoled:Comfort (someone) at a time of grief or disappointment.  Mischievous:Causing or showing a fondness for causing trouble in a playful way.  Pompous:Affectedly grand, solemn, or self-important.  Ingeniously:Cleverly and originally devised and well suited to its purpose.  Inflation:A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.  Deflation:The action or process of deflating or being deflated.  Parodic:A literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule wrote a hilarious parody of a popular song.  Misogynist:A person who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women.  Affinity:A natural liking for and understanding of someone or something. 1.7 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Describe the theme of “The Card Sharpers Daughter”. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Comment on RK Narayan's humour in the novel Swami and Friends. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 1.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What is the main idea of the “The Holly Panchayat”? 2. What is the conclusion about Swami's character at the end of the story? 3. Where did Swami and his friends live in Swami and Friends? 4. What role did Zainaba play in the story “The Card Sharpers Daughter”? 5. What was Jumman's opinion about the Panch? Long Questions 1. Discuss the theme of “The Holly Panchayat”. 25 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

2. Discuss the symbolization in “The MCC”. 26 3. Comment on RK Narayan's humour in “The MCC”. 4. Discuss the theme of The Fluidity of Identity in “The MCC”. 5. Discuss the “The Card Sharpers Daughter” as mock epic. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. What was the relationship betweenJumman and Algu? a. Cousins b. Good friends c. Enemies d. Brothers 2. How does villagers hold Jumman and Algu? a. Responsible for the wrong. b. Imprisoned them. c. In high esteem d. Captives 3. What fruit does Granny ask Swami to get her? a. A lemon. b. An orange. c. A coconut. d. A mango . 4. Why do Swami's friends call him a tail? a. Because he doesn’t have a good head. b. Because he is worthless. c. Because he is a follower. d. Because he hangs off of Rajam. 5. What did Jumman believed about Algu? a. Would never go against him b. Is his enemy c. Was his friend d. Will leave him CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Answers 1-b, 2-c, 3-c, 4-d, 5-a 1.9 REFERENCES Reference Books  Chand, Prem(2020) Panch Parmeshwar, New Delhi, Diamond Books.  Chand, Prem(2018) Kafan, New Delhi, Rajkamal Prakashan.  Laxman, R.K (1935) Swami and Friends, London, Hamilton.  Laxman, R.K () Malgudi Days, Mysore, Indian Thought Publications. Textbooks  Premchand, Munshi (2019) Godan, New Delhi, Fingerprint! Publishing.  Narayan, R.K. (2008) Swami and Friends, Mysore, Indian Thought Publications.  Narayan, R.K. (2000) Malgudi Days, Mysore, Indian Thought Publications.  Narayan, R.K. (2007) The Bachelor of Arts, Mysore, Indian Thought Publications. Websites  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swami-and-Friends  https://www.litcharts.com/lit/swami-and-friends/summary  https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-theme-premchands-story-panch- parmeshwar-holy-196273  https://ikigaiguru.com/the-holy-panchayat-munshi-premchand.html  https://brainly.in/question/10099804  http://wwwkksir.blogspot.com/2015/07/v-m-basheer-card-sharpers-daughter.html 27 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT 2: WRITING: REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT FROM THE TEXT, ESSAY WRITING STRUCTURE 2.0 Learning Objective 2.1 Introduction 2.2 What is Context? 2.3 Types of Context Writing 2.4 Why is Context Writing Important? 2.5Types Of Essays 2.6Brainstorming 2.7Research 2.8 Writing Style 2.9 Thesis 2.10 Outline 2.11 Summary 2.12 Keywords 2.13 Learning Activity 2.14 Unit End Questions 2.15 References 2.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVE After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Comprehend the importance of context in writing.  Illustrate the kind of essays.  Comprehend the writing style.  Explain the strategies for effective essay writing. 2.1 INTRODUCTION Context refers to the occasion, or situation, that informs the reader about why a document was written and how it was written. The way writers shape their texts is dramatically 28 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

influenced by their context. Writers decide how to shape their sentences by considering their contexts. Contexts are sometimes described as formal, semi-formal, or informal. Alternatively, contexts for written documents can be described as school-based projects or work-based projects. Whenever writers use a quote or a fact from some source, it becomes necessary to provide their readers some information about the source, to give context to its use. This piece of information is called context. Context illuminates the meaning and relevance of the text, and may be something cultural, historical, social, or political. Examples of Context in Literature Example #1: A Tale of Two Cities (by Charles Dickens) Dickens begins his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, in 1770, by describing the release of Doctor Manette from Bastille, before taking the story to 1793 and early 1794. In this time span, the narrative covers a broad story. In a larger view, this novel begins in 1757, while its final scene looks forward to the situation of the post-revolutionary Paris. This story has a historical context, which Dickens has organized around various events that occurred during the French Revolution. He has drawn historical features from major events, including the fall of Bastille, the September Massacres, and the Reign of Terror. This backdrop is the story’s context. Context is all about providing a background or picture of the situation, and of who is involved. Context is an essential part of a literary text, which helps to engage the audience. If writers ignore context, they may overlook a critical aspect of the story’s intent. Without context, readers may not see the true picture of a literary work. Context helps readers understand the cultural, social, philosophical, and political ideas and movements prevalent in society at the time of the writing. A clear sense of argument is essential to all forms of academic writing, for writing is thought made visible. Insights and ideas that occur to us when we encounter the raw material of the world—natural phenomena like the behavior of genes, or cultural phenomena, like texts, photographs, and artifacts—must be ordered in some way so others can receive them and respond in turn. This give and take is at the heart of the scholarly enterprise and makes possible that vast conversation known as civilization. Like all human ventures, the conventions of the academic essay are both logical and playful. They may vary in expression from discipline to discipline, but any good essay should show us a mind developing a thesis, supporting that thesis with evidence, deftly anticipating objections or counterarguments, and maintaining the momentum of discovery. An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple \"yes\" or \"no.\" A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. \"Reasons for the fall of communism\" is a topic. \"Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe\" is a fact known by educated people. \"The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe\" is an opinion. (Superlatives like 29 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

\"the best\" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every \"thing\" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be \"the best thing\"?) A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should \"telegraph\" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay. 2.2 WHAT IS CONTEXT? Context is the background, environment, setting, framework, or surroundings of events or occurrences. Simply, context means circumstances forming a background of an event, idea or statement, in such a way as to enable readers to understand the narrative or a literary piece. It is necessary in writing to provide information, new concepts, and words to develop thoughts. Contexts are sometimes described as formal, semi-formal, or informal. Alternatively, contexts for written documents can be described as school-based projects or work-based projects. Context helps readers understand what they otherwise wouldn't be able to comprehend. It is a much-needed assistant, helping readers define unknown words and make sense of outside information. In writing, it is often necessary to provide new words, concepts and information to help develop a thought. For example, maybe you need to include a fact to support your claim or a quote to better illustrate your analysis of a literary work. Whenever you use a fact or quote from another source, it is important that you tell the reader a bit about that information first. This is what we mean by context. You need to literally surround that piece of information with text that illuminates its meaning and relevancy. That is why context, when broken down, literally means 'with text.' It helps readers understand that which otherwise, they wouldn't be able to comprehend. 2.3 TYPES OF CONTEXT WRITING 1) Authorial Context Another term for this is biographical context. To say that authors write from their own experiences is an exaggeration (imagination is important, too), but their lives always influence their work in some way. That does not mean, however, that the author identifies with the main character or even the narrator in a novel or the speaker in a poem, or that the events or experiences he or she describes actually happened and the author is just reporting what he or she has witnessed. 2) Socio-Historical Context Literary works often respond in some way to the society in which they were written, and most often (though not always) that response takes the form of criticism. 30 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

3) Philosophical Context Contemporary authors consciously or subconsciously address the same questions that have captivated humanity’s attention ever since we became prosperous enough to have the time and energy to think about them: “What is the nature of the universe?” and “What is the individual’s proper response to the universe? Included in the first category (metaphysics) are secondary questions about whether it has a purpose or meaning, if it ever didn’t exist or if it will ever stop existing, if it had a creator and, if so, whether he or she or it is still involved or interested and whether benign, malefic, or indifferent, and any other questions you can imagine by replacing the word universe with something else (humanity, life, death, thought, love, God, nature, time, and so on). 4) Literary Context To whatever else literary works respond, they also respond to other literary works. Authors respond to other authors positively, negatively, or both. Consider some of the following questions. How does a particular work fit into broader categories of literature? Can it be characterized by a particular “-ism” such as Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Existentialism, Modernism, or Postmodernism? Those essays are your best sources here. Of course, critical works that attempt to answer some of these questions are useful, too. 5) Critical Context Once any work is published, it begins to attract criticism — if it is noticed at all. That is, critics begin to write about it, expressing what they admire and what they dislike about it. Early criticism typically takes the form of book reviews, which are usually brief and concentrate mostly on explaining to prospective readers what a work’s subject matter, theme, tone, and style are, and whether it is any good. Over time, however, critics begin to reflect more deeply. They are no longer concerned with recommending that people read a work; rather, they assume a significant number of people have already read it, and they attempt to explain something about it that the average reader might not have noticed or considered. They point out hidden meanings, influences, and patterns, and they make connections between this work and others, and between this author and others. This is the realm of serious literary criticism. For any paper for this class, critical works are essential, but you need to distinguish between contemporary reviews and later, deeper reflection. 2.4 WHY IS CONTEXT WRITING IMPORTANT? Context adds richness to a work of literature and helps to truly engage readers in the text. Context is important to writers and readers alike. It is essential to accurately conveying (writers) and understanding (readers) the meaning of a work of writing. When writers include contextual information, they are providing details that make it easier for readers to process and accurately interpret the text. 31 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

When readers consider factors relevant to the context of the work, whether or not such factors are specifically stated, they are able to look at the text through the lens of a relevant perspective. Without context, a book, essay, or other text doesn’t provide the reader with a framework for interpreting the concepts or ideas presented in the work. Different Ways of Providing Context in Your Writing All writing needs context in order to cement a reader’s understanding of the text and strengthen communication. Here are a few tips when including your own context: 1. Get Creative When you include context, you want readers to understand where you (or your characters) are coming from. This information doesn’t have to be a straight summary—context can take the form of anecdotes, memories, life experiences, or relationships. Find creative ways to weave context into your writing in order to increase comprehension of your text. 2. Remember Your Audience Context is important when considering who your story is for. If your target audience is first-grade students, your contextual references should be ones that make sense and are relatable to that age group. Think about who your story is aimed towards and consider how your language can increase the relevance of your writing and strengthen your audience’s understanding. 3. Be Mindful of Overloading Exposition in the beginning part of the story is how many writers provide context, but too much can slow down the pacing, muddy the overall message, or distract from the intended meaning. Heavy exposition (both in fiction and non-fiction) can lose your readers in extraneous details, many of which will not be remembered when it comes time to the main story. Include only what is necessary to understand the setting, premise, and characters, and trust your audience to put together the rest. 2.5 TYPES OF ESSAYS An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. There are many different types of essays, but they are often defined in four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays. Argumentative and expository essays are focused on conveying information and making clear points, while narrative and descriptive essays are about exercising creativity and writing in an interesting way. At university level, argumentative essays are the most common type. There are five types of essays commonly found, 32 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

1. Argumentative essays 2. Expository essays 3. Narrative essays 4. Descriptive essays 5. Textual analysis essays 1. Argumentative Essays An argumentative essay presents an extended, evidence-based argument. It requires a strong thesis statement—a clearly defined stance on your topic. Your aim is to convince the reader of your thesis using evidence (such as quotations) and analysis. The essay is divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion.  The introduction provides your topic and thesis statement  The body presents your evidence and arguments  The conclusion summarizes your argument and emphasizes its importance 2. Expository Essays An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a topic. It doesn’t require an original argument, just a balanced and well-organized view of the topic. Expository essays test your familiarity with a topic and your ability to organize and convey information. They are commonly assigned at high school or in exam questions at college level. 3. Narrative Essays A narrative essay is one that tells a story. This is usually a story about a personal experience you had, but it may also be an imaginative exploration of something you have not experienced. Narrative essays test your ability to build up a narrative in an engaging, well-structured way. They are much more personal and creative than other kinds of academic writing. Writing a personal statement for an application requires the same skills as a narrative essay. Mouse over the example below, a short narrative essay responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” to explore its structure. 4. Descriptive Essays A descriptive essay provides a detailed sensory description of something. Like narrative essays, they allow you to be more creative than most academic writing, but they are more tightly focused than narrative essays. You might describe a specific place or object, rather than telling a whole story. 33 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Descriptive essays test your ability to use language creatively, making striking word choices to convey a memorable picture of what you’re describing. 5. Textual Analysis Essays Though every essay type tests your writing skills, some essays also test your ability to read carefully and critically. In a textual analysis essay, you don’t just present information on a topic, but closely analyse a text to explain how it achieves certain effects. 6. Rhetorical Analysis A rhetorical analysis looks at a persuasive text (e.g., a speech, an essay, a political cartoon) in terms of the rhetorical devices it uses and evaluates their effectiveness. The goal is not to state whether you agree with the author’s argument but to look at how they have constructed it. 7. Literary Analysis A literary analysis essay presents a close reading of a work of literature—e.g., a poem or novel—to explore the choices made by the author and how they help to convey the text’s theme. It is not simply a book report or a review, but an in-depth interpretation of the text. Literary analysis looks at things like setting, characters, themes, and figurative language. The goal is to closely analyse what the author conveys and how. 2.6 BRAINSTORMING Once you get going on a paper, you can often get into a groove and churn out the bulk of it fairly quickly. But choosing or brainstorming a topic for a paper—especially one with an open-ended prompt—can often be a challenge. Everyone thinks through ideas differently, but here are some tips to help you brainstorm more effectively regardless of what learning style works best for you: 1. Set an end goal for yourself Develop a goal for your brainstorm. Don’t worry—you can go into brainstorming without knowing exactly what you want to write about, but you should have an idea of what you hope to gain from your brainstorming session. 2: Write down all ideas Sure, some of your ideas will be better than others, but you should write all of them down for you to look back on later. Starting with bad or infeasible ideas might seem counterintuitive, but one idea usually leads to another one. 3: Think about what interests you most Students usually write better essays when they’re exploring subjects that they have some personal interest in. 34 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

4: Consider what you want the reader to get from your paper Do you want to write an engaging piece? A thought-provoking one? An informative one? Think about the end goal of your writing while you go through the initial brainstorming process. Although this might seem counterproductive, considering what you want readers to get out of your writing can help you come up with a focus that both satisfies your readers and satisfies you as a writer. 5: Try freewriting Write for five minutes on a topic of your choice that you think could be worth pursuing— your idea doesn’t have to be fully fleshed out. This can help you figure out whether it’s worth putting more time into an idea or if it doesn’t really have any weight to it. 6: Draw a map of your ideas While some students might prefer the more traditional list methods, for more visual learners, sketching out a word map of ideas may be a useful method for brainstorming. Write the main idea in a circle in the center of your page. 7: Enlist the help of others Sometimes it can be difficult coming up with paper topics on your own, and family and friends can prove to be valuable resources when developing ideas. Feel free to brainstorm with another person (or in a group). 8: Find the perfect brainstorming spot Believe it or not, location can make a BIG difference when you’re trying to come up with a paper topic. Working while watching TV is never a good idea, but you might want to listen to music while doing work, or you might prefer to sit in a quiet study location. 9: Play word games to help generate ideas Whether you hate playing word games or think they’re a ton of fun, you might want to try your hand at a quick round of Words with Friends or a game of Scrabble. These games can help get your brain working, and sometimes ideas can be triggered by words you see. 10: Take a break to let ideas sink in Brainstorming is a great way to get all of your initial thoughts out there, but sometimes you need a bit more time to process all of those ideas. Stand up and stretch—or even take a walk around the block—and then look back on your list of ideas to see if you have any new thoughts on them. The process of writing an essay usually begins with the close reading of a text. Of course, the writer's personal experience may occasionally come into the essay, and all essays depend on the writer's own observations and knowledge. But most essays, especially academic essays, 35 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

begin with a close reading of some kind of text—a painting, a movie, an event—and usually with that of a written text. When you close read, you observe facts and details about the text. The second step is interpreting your observations. What we're basically talking about here is inductive reasoning: moving from the observation of particular facts and details to a conclusion, or interpretation, based on those observations. And, as with inductive reasoning, close reading requires careful gathering of data (your observations) and careful thinking about what these data add up to. How to Begin: 1. Read with a pencil in hand and annotate the text. \"Annotating\" means underlining or highlighting key words and phrases—anything that strikes you as surprising or significant, or that raises questions—as well as making notes in the margins. When we respond to a text in this way, we not only force ourselves to pay close attention, but we also begin to think with the author about the evidence—the first step in moving from reader to writer. Here's a sample passage by anthropologist and naturalist Loren Eiseley. It's from his essay called \"The Hidden Teacher.\" . . . I once received an unexpected lesson from a spider. It happened far away on a rainy morning in the West. I had come up a long gulch looking for fossils, and there, just at eye level, lurked a huge yellow-and-black orb spider, whose web was moored to the tall spears of buffalo grass at the edge of the arroyo. It was her universe, and her senses did not extend beyond the lines and spokes of the great wheel she inhabited. Her extended claws could feel every vibration throughout that delicate structure. She knew the tug of wind, the fall of a raindrop, the flutter of a trapped moth's wing. Down one spoke of the web ran a stout ribbon of gossamer on which she could hurry out to investigate her prey. 2. Look for patterns in the things you've noticed about the text—repetitions, contradictions, similarities. What do we notice in the previous passage? First, Eiseley tells us that the orb spider taught him a lesson, thus inviting us to consider what that lesson might be. But we'll let that larger question go for now and focus on particulars—we're working inductively. In Eiseley's next sentence, we find that this encounter \"happened far away on a rainy morning in the West.\" This opening locates us in another time, another place, and has echoes of the traditional fairy tale opening: \"Once upon a time . . .\". What does this mean? Why would Eiseley want to remind us of tales and myth? We don't know yet, but it's curious. We make a note of it. 3. Ask questions about the patterns you've noticed—especially how and why. To answer some of our own questions, we have to look back at the text and see what else is going on. For instance, when Eiseley touches the web with his pencil point—an event \"for which no precedent existed\"—the spider, naturally, can make no sense of the pencil 36 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

phenomenon: \"Spider was circumscribed by spider ideas.\" Of course, spiders don't have ideas, but we do. And if we start seeing this passage in human terms, seeing the spider's situation in \"her universe\" as analogous to our situation in our universe (which we think of as the universe), then we may decide that Eiseley is suggesting that our universe (the universe) is also finite, that our ideas are circumscribed, and that beyond the limits of our universe there might be phenomena as fully beyond our ken as Eiseley himself—that \"vast impossible shadow\"—was beyond the understanding of the spider. 2.7 RESEARCH A clear sense of argument is essential to all forms of academic writing, for writing is thought made visible. Insights and ideas that occur to us when we encounter the raw material of the world—natural phenomena like the behaviour of genes, or cultural phenomena, like texts, photographs, and artifacts—must be ordered in some way so others can receive them and respond in turn. This give and take is at the heart of the scholarly enterprise and makes possible that vast conversation known as civilization. Like all human ventures, the conventions of the academic essay are both logical and playful. They may vary in expression from discipline to discipline, but any good essay should show us a mind developing a thesis, supporting that thesis with evidence, deftly anticipating objections or counterarguments, and maintaining the momentum of discovery. Motive and Idea An essay has to have a purpose or motive; the mere existence of an assignment or deadline is not sufficient. When you write an essay or research paper, you are never simply transferring information from one place to another or showing that you have mastered a certain amount of material. That would be incredibly boring—and besides, it would be adding to the glut of pointless utterance. Instead, you should be trying to make the best possible case for an original idea you have arrived at after a period of research. Depending upon the field, your research may involve reading and rereading a text, performing an experiment, or carefully observing an object or behaviour. Thesis and Development The essay's thesis is the main point you are trying to make, using the best evidence you can marshal. Your thesis will evolve during the course of writing drafts, but everything that happens in your essay is directed toward establishing its validity. A given assignment may not tell you that you need to come up with a thesis and defend it, but these are the unspoken requirements of any scholarly paper. A thesis can be relatively complex, but you should be able to distil its essence. This does not mean you have to give the game away right from the start. Guided by a clear understanding of the point you wish to argue, you can spark your reader's curiosity by first asking questions—the very questions that may have guided you in your research—and carefully 37 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

building a case for the validity of your idea. Or you can start with a provocative observation, inviting your audience to follow your own path of discovery. The Tension of Argument Argument implies tension but not combative fireworks. This tension comes from the fundamental asymmetry between the one who wishes to persuade and those who must be persuaded. The common ground they share is reason. Your objective is to make a case so that any reasonable person would be convinced of the reasonableness of your thesis. The first task, even before you start to write, is gathering and ordering evidence, classifying it by kind and strength. You might decide to move from the smallest piece of evidence to the most impressive. Or you might start with the most convincing, then mention other supporting details afterward. You could hold back a surprising piece of evidence until the very end. 2.8 WRITING STYLE The Structure of Argument The heart of the academic essay is persuasion, and the structure of your argument plays a vital role in this. To persuade, you must set the stage, provide a context, and decide how to reveal your evidence. Of course, if you are addressing a community of specialists, some aspects of a shared context can be taken for granted. But clarity is always a virtue. The essay's objective should be described swiftly, by posing a question that will lead to your thesis or making a thesis statement. There is considerable flexibility about when and where this happens, but within the first page or two, we should know where we are going, even if some welcome suspense is preserved. In the body of the paper, merely listing evidence without any discernible logic of presentation is a common mistake. What might suffice in conversation is too informal for an essay. If the point being made is lost in a welter of specifics, the argument falters. Answering Questions:The Parts of an Essay A typical essay contains many different kinds of information, often located in specialized parts or sections. Even short essays perform several different operations: introducing the argument, analysing data, raising counterarguments, concluding. Introductions and conclusions have fixed places, but other parts don't. Counterargument, for example, may appear within a paragraph, as a free-standing section, as part of the beginning, or before the ending. Background material (historical context or biographical information, a summary of relevant theory or criticism, the definition of a key term) often appears at the beginning of the essay, between the introduction and the first analytical section, but might also appear near the beginning of the specific section to which it's relevant. \"What?\"The first question to anticipate from a reader is \"what\": What evidence shows that the phenomenon described by your thesis is true? To answer the question, you must examine your evidence, thus demonstrating the truth of your claim. This \"what\" or \"demonstration\" 38 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

section comes early in the essay, often directly after the introduction. Since you're essentially reporting what you've observed, this is the part you might have most to say about when you first start writing. But be forewarned: it shouldn't take up much more than a third (often much less) of your finished essay. If it does, the essay will lack balance and may read as mere summary or description. \"Why?\"Your reader will also want to know what's at stake in your claim: Why does your interpretation of a phenomenon matter to anyone beside you? This question addresses the larger implications of your thesis. It allows your readers to understand your essay within a larger context. In answering \"why\", your essay explains its own significance. Although you might gesture at this question in your introduction, the fullest answer to it properly belongs at your essay's end. If you leave it out, your readers will experience your essay as unfinished— or, worse, as pointless or insular. Mapping an Essay Essay maps ask you to predict where your reader will expect background information, counterargument, close analysis of a primary source, or a turn to secondary source material. Essay maps are not concerned with paragraphs so much as with sections of an essay. They anticipate the major argumentative moves you expect your essay to make. Try making your map like this: State your thesis in a sentence or two, then write another sentence saying why it's important to make that claim. Indicate, in other words, what a reader might learn by exploring the claim with you. Here you're anticipating your answer to the \"why\" question that you'll eventually flesh out in your conclusion. Begin your next sentence like this: \"To be convinced by my claim, the first thing a reader needs to know is . . .\" Then say why that's the first thing a reader needs to know, and name one or two items of evidence you think will make the case. This will start you off on answering the \"what\" question. (Alternately, you may find that the first thing your reader needs to know is some background information.) Begin each of the following sentences like this: \"The next thing my reader needs to know is . . .\"Once again, say why, and name some evidence. Continue until you've mapped out your essay. Signs of Trouble A common structural flaw in college essays is the \"walk-through\" (also labelled \"summary\" or \"description\"). Walk-through essays follow the structure of their sources rather than establishing their own. Such essays generally have a descriptive thesis rather than an argumentative one. Be wary of paragraph openers that lead off with \"time\" words (\"first,\" \"next,\" \"after,\" \"then\") or \"listing\" words (\"also,\" \"another,\" \"in addition\"). Although they don't always signal trouble, these paragraph openers often indicate that an essay's thesis and 39 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

structure need work: they suggest that the essay simply reproduces the chronology of the source text (in the case of time words: first this happens, then that, and afterwards another thing . . .) or simply lists example after example (\"In addition, the use of colour indicates another way that the painting differentiates between good and evil\"). 2.9 THESIS Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, \"This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be.\" A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should \"telegraph\" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay. Steps in Constructing a thesis First, analyse your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation— that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.) Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb. Anticipate the counterarguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.) Michael Dukakis lost the 1988 presidential election because he failed to campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention. 40 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

While Dukakis' \"soft-on-crime\" image hurt his chances in the 1988 election, his failure to campaign vigorously after the Democratic National Convention bore a greater responsibility for his defeat. Some Caveats and Examples A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question (\"Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?\") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water. An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. \"While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline\" is an effective thesis sentence that \"telegraphs,\" so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, \"Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim.\" A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, \"Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people\" is more powerful than \"Communism collapsed due to societal discontent.\" Introduce the Essay. The beginning lets your readers know what the essay is about, the topic. The essay's topic does not exist in a vacuum, however; part of letting readers know what your essay is about means establishing the essay's context, the frame within which you will approach your topic. For instance, in an essay about the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech, the context may be a particular legal theory about the speech right; it may be historical information concerning the writing of the amendment; it may be a contemporary dispute over flag burning; or it may be a question raised by the text itself. Here's an example. When Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening was published in 1899, critics condemned the book as immoral. One typical critic, writing in the Providence Journal, feared that the novel might \"fall into the hands of youth, leading them to dwell on things that only matured persons can understand, and promoting unholy imaginations and unclean desires\" (150). A reviewer in the St. Louis Post- Dispatch wrote that \"there is much that is very improper in it, not to say positively unseemly.\" The paragraph goes on. But as you can see, Chopin's novel (the topic) is introduced in the context of the critical and moral controversy its publication engendered. Focus the Essay. Beyond introducing your topic, your beginning must also let readers know what the central issue is. What question or problem will you be thinking about? You can pose 41 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

a question that will lead to your idea (in which case, your idea will be the answer to your question), or you can make a thesis statement. Or you can do both: you can ask a question and immediately suggest the answer that your essay will argue. Here's an example from an essay about Memorial Hall. Orient Readers. Orienting readers, locating them in your discussion, means providing information and explanations wherever necessary for your readers' understanding. Orienting is important throughout your essay, but it is crucial in the beginning. Readers who don't have the information they need to follow your discussion will get lost and quit reading. (Your teachers, of course, will trudge on.) Supplying the necessary information to orient your readers may be as simple as answering the journalist's questions of who, what, where, when, how, and why. It may mean providing a brief overview of events or a summary of the text you'll be analysing. If the source text is brief, such as the First Amendment, you might just quote it. If the text is well known, your summary, for most audiences, won't need to be more than an identifying phrase or two: In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's tragedy of `star-crossed lovers destroyed by the blood feud between their two families, the minor characters . . . Often, however, you will want to summarize your source more fully so that readers can follow your analysis of it. Questions of Length and Order. How long should the beginning be? The length should be proportionate to the length and complexity of the whole essay. For instance, if you're writing a five-page essay analysing a single text, your beginning should be brief, no more than one or two paragraphs. On the other hand, it may take a couple of pages to set up a ten-page essay. Opening Strategies. There is still the further question of how to start. What makes a good opening? You can start with specific facts and information, a keynote quotation, a question, an anecdote, or an image. But whatever sort of opening you choose; it should be directly related to your focus. A snappy quotation that doesn't help establish the context for your essay or that later plays no part in your thinking will only mislead readers and blur your focus. Be as direct and specific as you can be. This means you should avoid two types of openings: The history-of-the-world (or long-distance) opening, which aims to establish a context for the essay by getting a long running start: \"Ever since the dawn of civilized life, societies have struggled to reconcile the need for change with the need for order.\" What are we talking about here, political revolution or a new brand of soft drink? Get to it. The funnel opening (a variation on the same theme), which starts with something broad and general and \"funnels\" its way down to a specific topic. If your essay is an argument about state-mandated prayer in public schools, don't start by generalizing about religion; start with the specific topic at hand. 42 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Remember. After working your way through the whole draft, testing your thinking against the evidence, perhaps changing direction or modifying the idea you started with, go back to your beginning and make sure it still provides a clear focus for the essay. Then clarify and sharpen your focus as needed. Clear, direct beginnings rarely present themselves ready-made; they must be written, and rewritten, into the sort of sharp-eyed clarity that engages readers and establishes your authority. 2.10 OUTLINING Trying to devise a structure for your essay can be one of the most difficult parts of the writing process. Making a detailed outline before you begin writing is a good way to make sure your ideas come across in a clear and logical order. A good outline will also save you time in the revision process, reducing the possibility that your ideas will need to be rearranged once you've written them. The First Steps Before you can begin outlining, you need to have a sense of what you will argue in the essay. From your analysis and close readings of primary and/or secondary sources you should have notes, ideas, and possible quotes to cite as evidence. Let's say you are writing about the 1999 Republican Primary, and you want to prove that each candidate's financial resources were the most important element in the race. At this point, your notes probably lack much coherent order. Generalizing The first step is to look over each individual piece of information that you've written and assign it to a general category. Ask yourself, \"If I were to file this in a database, what would I file it under?\" If, using the example of the Republican Primary, you wrote down an observation about John McCain's views on health care, you might list it under the general category of “Health care policy.\" As you go through your notes, try to reuse categories whenever possible. Your goal is to reduce your notes to no more than a page of category listings. Ordering With your notes grouped into generalized categories, the process of ordering them should be easier. To begin, look at your most general categories. With your thesis in mind, try to find a way that the labels might be arranged in a sentence or two that supports your argument. Let's say your thesis is that financial resources played the most important role in the 1999 Republican Primary. Your four most general categories are \"Policy Initiatives,\" \"Financial Resources,\" \"Voters' Concerns,\" and \"Voters' Loyalty.\" The final step of the outlining process is to repeat this procedure on the smallest level, with the original notes that you took for your essay. To order what probably was an unwieldy and 43 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

disorganized set of information at the beginning of this process, you need now only think of a sentence or two to support your general argument. Under the category \"Fundraising,\" for example, you might have quotes about each candidate's estimation of its importance, statistics about the amount of time each candidate spent fundraising, and an idea about how the importance of fundraising never can be overestimated. Sentences to support your general argument might read: \"No candidate has ever raised too much money [your idea]. While both McCain and Bush acknowledged the importance of fundraising [your quotes], the numbers clearly point to Bush as the superior fundraiser [your statistics].\" The arrangement of your ideas, quotes, and statistics now should come naturally. Putting It All Together With these sentences, you have essentially constructed an outline for your essay. The most general ideas, which you organized in your first sentence, constitute the essay's sections. They follow the order in which you placed them in your sentence. The order of the smaller categories within each larger category (determined by your secondary sentences) indicates the order of the paragraphs within each section. Finally, your last set of sentences about your specific notes should show the order of the sentences within each paragraph. When you write an academic essay, you make an argument: you propose a thesis and offer some reasoning, using evidence, that suggests why the thesis is true. When you counter- argue, you consider a possible argument against your thesis or some aspect of your reasoning. This is a good way to test your ideas when drafting, while you still have time to revise them. And in the finished essay, it can be a persuasive and (in both senses of the word) disarming tactic. It allows you to anticipate doubts and pre-empt objections that a sceptical reader might have; it presents you as the kind of person who weighs alternatives before arguing for one, who confronts difficulties instead of sweeping them under the rug, who is more interested in discovering the truth than winning a point. The Turn Against Counterargument in an essay has two stages: you turn against your argument to challenge it and then you turn back to re-affirm it. You first imagine a sceptical reader, or cite an actual source, who might resist your argument by pointing out a problem with your demonstration, e.g., that a different conclusion could be drawn from the same facts, a key assumption is unwarranted, a key term is used unfairly, certain evidence is ignored or played down; one or more disadvantages or practical drawbacks to what you propose; an alternative explanation or proposal that makes more sense. The Turn Back Your return to your own argument—which you announce with a but, yet, however, nevertheless, or still—must likewise involve careful reasoning, not a flippant (or nervous) dismissal. In reasoning about the proposed counterargument, you may refute it, showing why it is mistaken—an apparent but not real problem; acknowledge its validity or plausibility, but 44 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

suggest why on balance it's relatively less important or less likely than what you propose, and thus doesn't overturn it; concede its force and complicate your idea accordingly—restate your thesis in a more exact, qualified, or nuanced way that takes account of the objection, or start a new section in which you consider your topic in light of it. This will work if the counterargument concerns only an aspect of your argument; if it undermines your whole case, you need a new thesis. Where to Put a Counterargument Counterargument can appear anywhere in the essay, but it most commonly appears as part of your introduction—before you propose your thesis—where the existence of a different view is the motive for your essay, the reason it needs writing; as a section or paragraph just after your introduction, in which you lay out the expected reaction or standard position before turning away to develop your own; as a quick move within a paragraph, where you imagine a counterargument not to your main idea but to the sub-idea that the paragraph is arguing or is about to argue; as a section or paragraph just before the conclusion of your essay, in which you imagine what someone might object to what you have argued. Counterargument in Pre-Writing and Revising Good thinking constantly questions itself, as Socrates observed long ago. But at some point, in the process of composing an essay, you need to switch off the questioning in your head and make a case. Having such an inner conversation during the drafting stage, however, can help you settle on a case worth making. As you consider possible theses and begin to work on your draft, ask yourself how an intelligent person might plausibly disagree with you or see matters differently. When you can imagine an intelligent disagreement, you have an arguable idea. And, of course, the disagreeing reader doesn't need to be in your head: if, as you're starting work on an essay, you ask a few people around you what they think of topic X (or of your idea about X) and keep alert for uncongenial remarks in class discussion and in assigned readings, you'll encounter a useful disagreement somewhere. Awareness of this disagreement, however you use it in your essay, will force you to sharpen your own thinking as you compose. If you come to find the counterargument truer than your thesis, consider making it your thesis and turning your original thesis into a counterargument. If you manage to draft an essay without imagining a counterargument, make yourself imagine one before you revise and see if you can integrate it. True Summary True summary always concisely recaps the main point and key supporting points of an analytical source, the overall arc and most important turns of a narrative, or the main subject and key features of a visual source. True summary neither quotes nor judges the source, concentrating instead on giving a fair picture of it. True summary may also outline past work done in a field; it sums up the history of that work as a narrative. Consider including true 45 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

summary—often just a few sentences, rarely more than a paragraph—in your essay when you introduce a new source. That way, you inform your readers of an author's argument before you analyse it. Immediately after his introduction to an essay on Whittaker Chambers, a key player in the start of the Cold War, Bradley Nash included four sentences summarizing the foreword to his main source, Chambers's autobiography. Nash characterizes the genre and tone of the foreword in the first two sentences before swiftly describing, in the next two, the movement of its ideas: The foreword to Chambers's autobiography is written in the form of \"A Letter to My Children.\" In this introduction, Chambers establishes the spiritual tone that dominates the body of his book. He initially characterizes the Cold War in a more or less standard fashion, invoking the language of politics and describing the conflict as one between \"Communism and Freedom.\" But as the foreword progresses, Chambers introduces a religious element that serves to cast the struggle between communism and capitalism as a kind of holy war. Interpretive Summary Sometimes your essays will call for interpretive summary—summary or description that simultaneously informs your reader of the content of your source and makes a point about it.Interpretive summary differs from true summary by putting a \"spin\" on the materials, giving the reader hints about your assessment of the source. It is thus best suited to descriptions of primary sources that you plan to analyse. If you put an interpretive spin on a critical source when you initially address it, you risk distorting it in the eyes of your reader: a form of academic dishonesty. The interpretive summary below comes from an essay examining a Civil War photograph in light of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The essayist, Dara Horn, knew she needed to describe the photo but that simply \"walking through\" its details would bewilder and bore her readers. So, she revealed the point of her description in a pair of topic sentences (solid underline), summarized the details of the photo (double underline), and gave the description some interpretive \"spin\" (throughout). 2.11 SUMMARY  Read and understand the prompt: Know exactly what is being asked of you. It’s a good idea to dissect the prompt into parts.  Plan: Brainstorming and organizing your ideas will make your life much easier when you go to write your essay. It’s a good idea to make a web of your ideas and supporting details.  Use and cite sources: Do your research. Use quotes and paraphrase from your sources, but NEVER plagiarize. 46 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Write a Draft: Ernest Hemingway once said, “The first draft of anything is always crap.” While the truth behind this statement is debatable, drafts are always a good place to get any of your “crappy” ideas out of the way and are often required by professors and instructors.  Make a strong thesis: The thesis (main argument) of the essay is the most important thing you’ll write. Make it a strong point.  Respond to the prompt: Once you have worked out any kinks in your draft, you can start writing the final draft of your essay.  Proofread: Read your response carefully to make sure that there are no mistakes and that you didn’t miss anything.  The principal purpose of the introduction is to present your position (this is also known as the \"thesis\" or \"argument\") on the issue at hand, but effective introductory paragraphs are so much more than that.  Before you even get to this thesis statement, for example, the essay should begin with a \"hook\" that grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to read on.  Examples of effective hooks include relevant quotations (\"no man is an island\") or surprising statistics.  The middle paragraphs of the essay are collectively known as the body paragraphs and, as alluded to above, the main purpose of a body paragraph is to spell out in detail the examples that support your thesis.  For the first body paragraph you should use your strongest argument or most significant example unless some other more obvious beginning point (as in the case of chronological explanations) is required.  The first sentence of this paragraph should be the topic sentence of the paragraph that directly relates to the examples listed in the mini outline of introductory paragraph.  A one sentence body paragraph that simply cites the example of \"George Washington\" or \"LeBron James\" is not enough, however. No, following this an effective essay will follow up on this topic sentence by explaining to the reader, in detail, who or what an example is and, more importantly, why that example is relevant.  Although the conclusion paragraph comes at the end of your essay it should not be seen as an afterthought. As the final paragraph is represents your last chance to make your case and, as such, should follow an extremely rigid format. 47 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 One way to think of the conclusion is, paradoxically, as a second introduction because it does in fact contain many of the same features. While it does not need to be too long – four well-crafted sentences should be enough – it can make or break and essay.  Effective conclusions open with a concluding transition (\"in conclusion,\" \"in the end,\" etc.) and an allusion to the \"hook\" used in the introductory paragraph. After that you should immediately provide a restatement of your thesis statement.  Although it may seem like a waste of time – especially during exams where time is tight – it is almost always better to brainstorm a bit before beginning your essay. This should enable you to find the best supporting ideas – rather than simply the first ones that come to mind – and position them in your essay accordingly.  Sentences and vocabulary of varying complexity are one of the hallmarks of effective writing. When you are writing, try to avoid using the same words and phrases over and over again. You don’t have to be a walking thesaurus, but a little variance can make the same idea sparkle.  If you are asked about \"money,\" you could try \"wealth\" or \"riches.\" At the same time, avoid beginning sentences the dull pattern of \"subject + verb + direct object.\" Although examples of this are harder to give, consider our writing throughout this article as one big example of sentence structure variety. 2.12 KEYWORDS  Allusion- An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.  Communism- A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.  Coherence- The quality of being logical and consistent.  Cohesion- The action or fact of forming a united whole.  Lexical- Relating to the words or vocabulary of a language.  Rhetorical- Asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit information.  Critical- Expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of literature, music, or art.  Sabotage- Deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something), especially for political or military advantage.  Adherence- Attachment or commitment to a person, cause, or belief. 48 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

2.13 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Describe the importance of planning in essay writing. ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2. Illustrate the different essay structures. ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2.14 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What is coherence and cohesion? 2. What is a topic sentence and signposting? 3. Describe the planning techniques used in essay writing. 4. Illustrate the use of motive and idea in essay writing. 5. Describe the thesis and development. Long Questions 1. Describe the importance of context in writing. 2. Illustrate the types of essays. 3. Describe context in detail. 4. Illustrate the types of contexts in essay writing. 5. What is brainstorming? Describe different ways of brainstorming ideas for essay writing. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. What is an essay? a. A song with a story b. A poem that has many stanzas c. A type of writing that has organized paragraphs d. A type of writing that requires research 2. What does the introductory paragraph of an essay require? 49 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

a. The topic, thesis, and supporting details b. The topic, thesis, and supporting details c. The reason for the essay, the topic, and thesis d. None of these 3. What are essays? a. Easier to write because you can put your opinion and use narrative style. b. Harder to write because they require a lot of research c. Both a and b d. None of these 4. What should you include when writing the main idea, paragraphs? a. Include the thesis to remind the reader. b. Include supporting details with examples and specific details. c. Make sure the supporting details are clearly shown through the main idea. d. Use opinion to show why your thesis is right. 5. What should be the conclusion of an essay? a. Include last minute ideas and thoughts for the future. b. Have a restatement of the thesis and thoughts for the future. c. Be a recap of the whole essay. d. Be only two sentences. Answers 1-c, 2-a, 3-d, 4-b, 5-b 2.15 REFERENCES Reference Books  Anderson, Marilyn (2010), Critical Thinking, Academic Writing and Presentation Skills: Mg University Edition, New Delhi, Pearson Education.  O’Brien, Terry (2011), Modern Writing Skills, New Delhi, Rupa Publications.  Paul, D.S. (2016), Advanced Writing Skills: Success In 20 Minutes A Day, New Delhi, Goodwill Publishing House. 50 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)