NIGHT HERONS The poem 'Night Herons' is a subtle expression of the loss of the primitive life which once

was part of Australia. Judith Wright brilliantly articulates the mixed feelings of excitement and pain caused by the unexpected appearence of the night herons. The night herons metaphorically represent the primitive australianness. The poem brilliantly encapsulates a brief moment of the appearence of the night herons. Despite the brevity of their stay, the birds trigger powerful nostalgia in the people. The time referred to is a day after the rain which has brought in a sense of tranquility. The street mentioned has a bearing of the after-effects of rain. It is illuminated with the gleam of yellow light. The birds suddenly appear and march magestically down the road. The beauty of the description surfaces when the poet personifies the windows being flowered with the eyes of the excited children looking at the birds. The news of the birds reaches people at the speed of light. Despite the assemblage of the curious people, the atmosphere is quiet. The people are insistent on quietness and 'everyone says hush'. When the herons are marching ahead, the expression of the people grows wilder than the birds. The birds open up a repertoire of mixed feelings in the women. They go back to their youth life. This feeling of nostalgia subtly refers the past of the nation. Conclusively, the herons go away and the poem ends witha note of lights fading away. TWIST The poem 'twist' is a powerful expression of black consciousness, a movement that marks the battle of the blacks for upliftment of the socially downtrodden. The poet, E. R. Braithwaite uses no conventional poetic features to emphatically propangadise the black culture. The poem serves as a reminder of the vast cultural heritage of the blacks. The use of certain adjectives implies the social status of the blacks. Hence, despite its brevity, the poem is effective enough in capturing the spirit of the black consciousness movement. The poet refers to a town which is described as 'shanty', to indicate the poverty of the blacks as opposed to their cultural affluence, which is mentioned in the subsequent lines. The place appears to be an inn where there is an assemblage of young girls. There is a deliberate reference to their colour as black, brown and a mixture of black and brown. Thus the reference to skin colour is reminiscent of the apartheid movement of South Africa. The cultural significance of the poem surfaces through the description of the dance 'twist'. The poet is all appreciation for the performer who arouses a sensual thirst in her audience. The poet draws our attention to the graceful

movement of the hips of the performer to the tunes of the jukebox, which brings in a thunder of hunger in the bellies of the audience. Thus the poem serves as a celebration of black heritage. REFUGEE The poem Refugee is allusory to the historical moment of China occupying Tibet. The Tibetans became completely homeless and had to immigrate to the neighboring country India. Due to the massive immigration, many suffered problems like identity crisis and rootlessness. The speaker in the poem voices the pain of his countrymen who struggled for establishment. The narrator here is a school going boy. He painfully recounts the fact that his mother told him that he was a refugee. In addition, the road side tent in which they are living metaphorically symbolizes aimless life of the refugees. The trauma of the boy continues even in his school. His teacher teasingly remarks at him that the letter R has been engraved on his forehead. The letter R in this context refers to the painful state of being a refugee. The struggle of the boy to break out of the crisis is emphasized when he says he tried to scratch his forehead. But all his efforts go in vain with a result of red brash. The problem of the boys crisis is heightened when he recounts the languages he has known namely: his mother tongue to sing in joy, English and Hindi for survival. Even the boys language suffers crisis as it is sandwiched between two foreign languages Hindi and English. The sole consolation for the boy in the midst of all the adverse circumstances is that his name RAMZEN retains the Tibetan flavor. Excepting the name, the boys identity seems to have been completely engulfed by events over which he has no control. WHAT IS BEAUTY The essay is a contemplative perspective about the concept of beauty. The author W.J.Durant is not definitive about the meaning of the concept, instead he believes that the meaning is subjective and can be apparently understood as anything that please a man. The aura of beauty may appeal the beholds at physical, emotional and spiritual levels. Durant likens the pleasure of beauty to the sublime a couple may desire for each other. In addition, beauty may also lie in the art of love making, the color coordination, dance, music, pottery etc. The essay in the subsequent paragraphs does a survey of the development of the concept of beauty through age. In the primitive era, in the Australian continent, men had monopolized the art of adorning themselves with ornaments. The men would also point the entire body as some festive occasions. It could be to attract a women or for personal gratification. In some tribes the sailors would paint their nails and teeth too. Some tribal women even carried their dressing cases with them.

The Greeks took the art of adorning the body to a greater extent. They preferred permanence of beautification of the bodies through tattooing. They almost embroidered their skin. Earrings and nosering were considered not just as beauty maskers but cultural too. In fact, the ravage in the part has no concept of nudity. When Darwin gave some tribals a piece of cloth to cover their nudity, they tore it into pieces and used it as ornaments. Durant feels that from the beginning both sexes have preferred ornaments to clothing. The obsession for ornaments was such that, at times the weight of the ornaments would tire the Congo women. They hired attendants to far them during such time. Apart from self-love, the impulse to beauty is reflected in certain other ways like beautifying things. Pottery was the major source for the tribes of South Africa. If some painted pots some painted their huts. They often painted the pictures of animals which they wish to chase down. The Eskimos would carve ivory into figure of animals some paintings would indicate on object of worship or the dead. The author also touches upon the history of architecture. In fact architecture is nothing but beautifying the house/building. In the part the building would be sublimated in reverence of the dead or gods gradually the concept of beauty got reflected in other cultural factors like song, dance and music. Most festival was celebrated with chanting and dancing. Instrumental music seems to have been triggered by dance. The primitive man eventually developed advanced musical instruments like trumpets and flutes. This lead to the creation of drama and the opera. The dances reflected both sexual expression as well as more serious expressions like mourning. Thus D wants to say that we own our modern culture to the savages who created the base of it. All nodes of economic life have their origin in the primitive life of man. The primitive man developed language, culture, medicine and literature. Hence it has been a long journey from the stage of savagery to refinement. JUST LATHER THATS ALL The story explores the conflict between general ideology and professional ethics. The problem of choosing between the two is beautifully handled. The barbers dilemma pervades through the story and eventually he succeeds in making the right choice. The story focuses on the ethics of the barber and the ideology of a true rebel. The barber is proud of the precision and perfection he maintains while dealing with his customers. He is a skilled barber who does his job perfectly without allowing even a tiny pore to open and issue forth its pearl of blood. The captain comes to test the barber for he knows he is a conscientious barber and that he would find it hard to kill. The captain is true to his profession. He enters the shop as a customer and not as an authoritative officer. He presents himself as a defenseless customer. The barber debates with his conscience. His conscience gives him both versions of the result of the killing of the captain. Some may hail him as the true rebel and some may call him a coward for having killed an unarmed captain. He ultimately overcomes the temptation to kill the captain. The barber thinks in terms of violence and bloodshed but decides not to sacrifice his principles and ideals to fulfill the cause of the rebels. The true ideology of a rebel is to fight for a cause. He would kill an enemy in the battlefield and not in his shop. The barber ultimately understands that his job is to prepare the lather and nothing more than

that. The barber at the end has just lather in his hand and not blood or stain. The title Just Lather Thats All refers to his profession that it is just lather nothing more matters to him. AS THE NIGHT THE DAY The story centers on the relationships and attitudes of boys towards one another and towards their masters. Educational institution is called a temple of learning for it inculcates moral and ethical values but the story shows how it is doing just the opposite. The double standards are adopted according to ones nationality. Discrimination is based not just on color, creed but it is also based on nationality. Basu the Syrian is victimized because of his Syrian background. This bias is passed on from the teachers to the students. The breaking of the thermometer is crucial in the story for it unveils the teachers and the boys. Kojo and Bandeles curiosity to test the temperature results in the mishap. Kojo is subdued by Bandele not to own up the mistake. Vernier punishes the students for not admitting their mistake. The bible and key game is ironical. A sacred book is misused, but is perceived by Abu as the right method to find out the culprit. The game does not help them to find out the culprit. Kojo, the main culprit is asked to carry on the ceremony. Bandeles devious mind prompts the class to blame Basu as he was the first to arrive in the school that day. Basu welcomes the wrath of the class. Verniesrs consolation comforts him but fails to give him the support he needs, for vernier is capable of sententious speech. But in reality he fails to practice it. Basu out of the fear that he would be separated from the rest of the class confesses that he might have broken the thermometer by mistake. Basu is forced to admit the mistake in spite of his innocence and Kojo is suppressed by Abu. Thus, by upholding what is untrue, he believes that it is natural for a Syrian boy to deceive. The title is ironical because truth does not follow you as the Night follows the Day. FOR YOU For you speaks about a childs feelings with regard to the happenings at home, the whole story with a childs perspective. Vasu remembers his step sister, Leela who gifted him with a toy owl that he beheld with pride among his classmates and felt himself becoming important. The narrator (Vasu himself) tells about his parents who wanted to have a girl child after having three sons. They were disappointed on the birth of another son instead. This disappointment of the parents was vented out on Vasu in the form of negligence and resentment. This affects the child who is filled with fear about the mother and brothers since they always silenced him and beat him. He misses having a sister when his friends express experiences with their sisters fondly- wrapping their books, their beautiful handwriting, the brother-in-law to boast of, the wedding, etc. He always waits to see and longs to be with his father who is away in Ceylon, doing business. Once when he comes home, he brings a little girl with him who happens to be Leela, herself. There is a quarrel about her coming home as Vasus mother does not agree to the illicit relationship of her husband bringing forth this girl. Vasu is disturbed by this, as well as by the fact that the girl is closer to his father than himself. But at the same time, Vasu is pleased to have a sister. The toy-owl with Leela attracts him and he gently asks her for it, though he cannot directly communicate it to her as their mother tongues differ. She exhibits her affection and greatness by gifting the owl to Vasu while she leaves his house - A

small girl parts with her favorite toy, when she herself could have retained it. Vasu gets to have only a short association with Leela, and even though it is short, it leaves a treasure of memories with him to linger on although his life. The narration moves back and forth, taking the reader to what happened in the past and that of the present. All that he mentions is totally from a childs point of view EDUCATION The essay, Education:Indian and American is an extract from The Inscrutable American. It essays the journey of a small town boy Gopal to the United States in persuading of further studies. In India, Gopal had been subjected to the traditional method of education where everything had been drilled into his mind by the rote system of learning and where questioning was considered heresy by the teachers. Gopal felt that in America, he had blossomed out and had learnt the art of logical thinking, deductive reasoning and most important of all, an all-encompassing thirst for knowledge. At the same time, he appreciated the strong foundation of the basics laid down during the formative years, which helped him in his quest for knowledge. In retrospect, teachers whom he had held in high esteem now seemed old bigoted people. Through the character of Gopal, the author forays into the Indian psyche of malice and jealousy; two qualities he did not notice in his American counter parts. Thus, he finds the reasons as to why Indians felt more at home in America than in their homeland. The author reminiscences, through the character of Gopal, his first encounter with snow. It is a brand new experience for the small town boy. In an alien culture, Gopal could easily give vent to his emotions; something he would not have dared to do back home. The essay critically analyses the difference in the ethos between the two cultures and the easy adaptability to better working conditions by the expatriates.