ENGLISH NOTES

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Life of Shakespeare
o All we know is from guesswork, he was born on 23rd April 1564, died on same date in
1616. His county was Stratford on Avon
o His father was a trader in corn, wheat, leather and agricultural products. His mother
Mary Arden was from a peasant background and both his parents were illiterate.
o He went to a grammar school where he studied little Greek and Latin and whatever
education he got was from his real-life experiences. Stratford was a beautiful county,
had nature, all the buildings, characters were real.
o At the age of 14 his father became bankrupt, and he had to leave his education to
support his family, he might’ve worked as a teacher or lawyer’s clerk, clown, or
anything. We get this idea from his works.
o In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway who was 8 years his senior, his marriage
might’ve been an unhappy one, as he mocks marriages in his works. Though he had
daughters.
o In 1587-1612 he went to London, which was his greatest period. Within his first five
years he gained entrance to society of gentlemen and scholars. He established his
reputation as the gentle Shakespeare in the circles, as he didn’t drink or whore
around.
o He read a lot of literature and started writing down his own. He tempered his works
to suit the expectations of the audience. He got his recognition from his poem, Venus
and Adonis, dedicated to earl of Southampton, he was impressed and gave
Shakespeare a lot of money, hence he became a part of the globe and the blackfire,
hence he staged more shows to audience.
o It is maintained that his work had been manipulated. He earned from his poem
Venus and Adonis dedicated to the Earl of South Hamptons and used this money to
become part owner of the Globe and the Black Friars theatre. His success grew
anonymously and within a decade of his arrival in London he was one of the most
famous playwrights.
Year Event
1531 John Shakespeare settled in Stratford on Avon
April 23, 1564 William Shakespeare was born
1582 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway
1587-1612 William Shakespeare went to London
1597 He went back to Stratford and got expensive houses, land etc.
1611 Left London to settle in Stratford with his daughters.
April 23, 1616 William Shakespeare died

Works of Shakespeare
 Like any artist, his dramatic career goes up at once and then went down.
Shakespeare’s work also passed through different stages of growth.
 His work has period of experimentation, comedies and tragedies
Period of early experimentation 1588-1593: materialistic text, no depth of though the
treatment of life is callous, expression is superficial, characters and thought process lack
substance, art is immature, exuberance of imagination is very visible, flowery decorative
language, constant usage of puns.
 1. Titus Andronicus
2. Henry VI (all three parts)
3. Love’s Labours Lost
4. Comedy of Errors
5. Two Gentlemen of Verona
6. Richard III
7. Richard II
8. Romeo and Juliet
9. Venus and Adonis
10. The Rape of Lucrese
Period of Great Comedies and Chronicle Plays 1594-1600: there was a rapid growth and
development in his genius here, deeper knowledge of human life and nature, characters have
become more penetrative and lifelike, thought has become more weighty, less poetic more
prose
1. King John
2. The Merchant of Venice
3. Henry IV (Part one and two)
4. Henry V
5. The Taming of the Shrew
6. The Merry Wives of Windsor
7. As You Like It
8. Much Ado About Nothing
9. Twelfth Night or What you Will
Period of Great Tragedies/Bitter Comedies 1601-1607: a period of doom, very mature and
wise, a man who knows the world is not always just to you, full dramatic maturity, a time of
supreme masterpieces, portray the darker side of human nature, sins and weaknesses of
human nature.
1. Julius Caesar
2. Hamlet prince of Denmark
3. All’s Well That Ends Well
4. Measure for Measure
5. Troilus and Cressida
6. Othello
7. King Lear
8. Macbeth
9. Antony and Cleopatra
10. Coriolanus
11. The Timon of Athens
Period of Later Comedies and dramatic Romances 1608-1612: during this period the temper
of Shakespeare changed from bitter and gloomy to serene and peaceful. Heavy clouds have
melted away, a tender and gracious tone prevails, the groundwork is still furnished by tragic
passion, the evil is controlled and conquered by the good, decline in his dramatic powers, his
last play was the Tempest, based on an actual shipwreck, he never collected his works or
published it.
1. Periculus
2. Cymballine
3. The Winter’s Tale
4. The Tempest
 5. Henry VIII (unfinished)

Merchant of Venice-Introduction to the play

Date of composition

 falls within 1594-1600

 critics and scholars state it was composed between 1596-98
 carries features of second period
 classified as a romantic comedy; same period romcoms= much ado abt nothing, 12th
night, as you like it
Sources of the play

 stories are not original, they are borrowed, modified and altered according to his
requirements
 pound of flesh/bond story was borrowed from El Pecorone- a collection of Italian
tales which were translated into English
 story of caskets from English translation of the Latin work Gesta Romanorum
 ring story was Shakespeare's own work
 stories were modified as per requirements and are connected to each other, showing
skill and originality of Shakespeare
 whether it's a tragicomedy (Shylock) or romantic comedy (Portia-Bassanio, Lorenzo-
Jessica, Nerissa-Gratiano)
 there is a comicality to every character
Themes of the play

 The need of mercy and dispensation of justice, act 4 scene 1, law based, biased for
Christians
 Appearances vs. reality, what appears in the court of duke— the reality is something
else, it’s a biased court
 equality of religion
 need of money
 Sincerity in friendship
 Contrast between life in Venice and Belmont
 Hoarding v. Wealth
 Moral ideas of friendship and sincerity, need for religious toleration, marriage and
connects in the marriages.
Religious/Racial Issue

 the antagonism between the Christians and Jews is highlighted

 Christians of the time harbored many prejudices and thought the Jews to be missed
and merciless hoarders and moneylenders
 Another point of conflict was that the Jews did not and still do not eat pork while
pork was and is a delicacy for Christians
 The Jews were persecuted recently as well by Hitler in the holocaust
 The state of Israel which was created for the survival and independence of the Jewish
people became an eyesore to the countries of the Middle East
  The animosity/enmity between Shylock and Antonio should be understood against
the background of the conditions which existed in those days but which have now
undergone radical changes; that is the radical or religious issue
Synopsis of the Merchant of Venice

 Four stories—interwoven, isolated yet connected

o Bond/pound of flesh- Antonio, and Shylock and minorly Bassanio
o Casket story- major: Portia and Bassanio; minorly: Gratiano, Nerissa, Princes
of Aragon and Morocco
o Love story- (Lorenzo, Jessica) (Portia, Bassanio) (Gratiano, Nerissa)
o Ring story- all characters except Shylock, Launcelot Gobbo (clown) it has a
comic element,
 Hatred between Antonio and Shylock—Antonio is a moneylender by choice, low or no
rates of interest, he’s helping people as he is well off; Shylock is a Jew who is settled
in Venice, he is a moneylender by profession, he charges high rates of interest.
Antonio is spoiling the market for Shylock; he’s giving competition to Shylock. Major
reason of hatred Christian and Jew.
 Bassanio’s right choice of a casket and his marriage with Portia, she lives in Belmont,
situated across the sea from Venice, though she is not free to marry anyone, her
father laid down a condition, that who-ever opens the right casket containing Portia’s
photo among gold, silver or lead. Whoever enters this contest has to make two oaths,
1st if they open the wrong casket, they will not tell anything outside and they can
never marry. Bassanio, Morocco and Aragon are the suitors, Bassanio opens the lead
casket. Portia falls in love with him the moment she sees him. They marry and stay
happily.
 Bassanio given a lot of money by Portia to pay Shylock off, Antonio has forfeited the
bond that he had signed with Shylock, all Antonio’s ships have been reported to be
wrecked on the sea and he has been reduced to bankruptcy. Shylock demands his
pound of flesh, and his life is in serious danger. Portia tells Bassanio to take money
and save his friend, and he rushes to Venice.
 Portia to disguise herself as a man and as a lawyer. The duke of Venice invited an
expert lawyer from Padua, Dr. Bellario of law. Portia contacts Bellario through a
letter and convinces him and manages to get from him an LOR for the Duke of
Venice, and disguises as a lawyer and along with Nerissa who is disguised as a clerk
goes to the court in Venice
 Portia’s judgement in Shylocks case against Antonio. She is the lawyer/ judge who is
supposed to decide the case in an open court or law. She appeals to Shylock to show
mercy. To take any amount of money that would please him and not take a pound of
flesh. But Shylock doesn’t relent so she starts interpreting the bond as per her
intelligence, the bond specifies a pound of flesh but doesn’t say anything about blood,
she says it’s Christian blood which is precious, so pound of flesh shouldn’t include
blood, and doesn’t change by a hair’s weight, has to be an exactly a pound. Shylock
demands money, so Bassanio gives 10 times the money. But Portia refuses.
Characters:
Antonio
- His Temperamental Melancholy –
o He is wealthy merchant of Venice. He is a leading citizen. He has a great respect
in society. When he is first introduced in the play.
 o He is in a melancholic mood and he is asked by his friends why he is melancholic?
They are laughing and having fun around him, he says that there is no particular
reason, he says it is his inborn nature he keeps himself reserved. That's why it is
called temperamental as it is his nature and not due to any particular reason.
o The ironic part is that the people he gets along with are happy go lucky kinds.
o He is suffering from constitutional melancholy. He keeps thinking of giving up
and does not wish to fight for himself. When everyone is fighting for him, he
keeps giving up in Act 4 scene 1.
- Profound affection for Bassanio –
o his capacity of friendship, his affection for him. Their friendship is another
romanticized element in the play. It is glorified by Shakespeare.
o Bassanio has taken a number of loans from Antonio. Even in bond story Bassanio
approaches Antonio for loan and despite his rivalry and despise for Shylock, he
went to take a loan from Shylock for Bassanio and even put his life at stake in
order to get a loan for his friend.
o Despite his nature, he feels happy and enjoys Bassanio's company. His
commitment to Bassanio is complete in all senses. In act 4 scene 1, he even gets
ready to lay down his life for Bassanio.
- A kind hearted and accommodating man –
o He is a wealthy merchant who is shelling out loans to people at very low interest
rates, he doesn't bully people into paying back the principal amount and asks
them to pay back whenever it is possible.
o Whereas Shylock is almost opposite to him, and doesn't treat people with respect,
and gives loans on high flown interest rates.
- His negative quality –
o His religious intolerance- the way he hates Shylock, which is a serious defect, he
hates Shylock only because of his religion, i.e. he is a Jew.
o The extent of his hatred is that he spit on Shylock's face.
o In Act 4 scene 1, he knows he's about to die yet he keeps on calling him a "Jew" in
a derogatory manner. He is very insulting throughout the scene.
o He is party to the decision which says that Shylock's religion should be converted
from Jew to Christianity.
o He keeps pointing out that Shylock is a Jew and he himself is a Christian, thus
they should be treated differently.
- Deficiency:
o He lacks a sense of humor - his friends joke with him but he gets very upset
instead of taking it lightly. He takes everything personally. He keeps demeaning
himself. He wishes to be dead about everything.
Shylock
- Famous Shakespearean Character
o a villain deserving some sympathy.
o He is one of the best-known characters written by Shakespeare.
o He is a victim of circumstance. His miserly way is a trait of Jews, thus he cannot
change it.
o The conversion of his religion is very wrong, and he has been victimized.
o Legally, Shylock is not wrong. Everyone in court is against him, he is fighting
alone against everyone.
 o It is character which is a masterpiece. You can empathize with him, and the
person he is, is because of his religion. He is not a wrong-doer rather he is a
victim of wrong-doing.
- A hoarder by profession –
o he is a money-lender by profession. Exploiting people's needs.
o The profession itself is discreditable. It is on his nerves as he takes high interest
rates, to accumulate wealth for himself.
o He hates Antonio because he gives out interest with low or no interest rate, thus
reducing his customers. He was a typical Jew.
- His intolerance of Christians and miserly nature –
o he is completely intolerant of Christians, and he gets sadistic pleasure of thinking
about killing one Christian person legally.
o He is so miserly, that he wishes to save his money of meal, when he is invited to a
Christian party, thinking I'll eat something other than pork, despite his hatred for
Christians.
o He does not trust his daughter, servants with money, the servants are mistreated,
not paid well and has been starved. When his daughter runs away, he laments for
his ducats instead of his daughter.
- Deceit and craftiness
o His entire bond is crafty
o He cunningly hatches an idea that if Antonio cannot give him the money he
will take a pound of flesh
o From a critic’s overview, Shylock could prophesy Antonio’s ships would sink
- Revenge and bloodthirstiness
o He ignored the Duke’s pleas for mercy
o Bassanio also ignored
o After that Gratiano
o Lastly Portia gave her speech on mercy
o “no decree in Venice…”
- Suspicious Mind
o He is very suspicious, doesn’t trust his daughter
o Suspicions are justified: Lorenzo and Jessica
- Redeeming Qualities:
o Grit
o Strength
o Loved his wife (her turquoise ring)
o Patience
o Spontaneity in appreciation
o He’s funny
o True to his religion

Portia
- High position in Shakespeare’s gallery of heroines
- Among heroines in his works, Portia occupies a very high position
- She produces a powerful image/impression in mind
- Her role in the play is most conspicuous and memorable
- She has a sparkling scintillating wit
- At the beginning we see her in melancholy talking about the caskets
- The setting of the ring story brings laughter and happiness
 - She liked Bassanio but kept it to herself; she was genuinely devoted to her father
- Father’s lottery
- Opposite to Jessica
- Compassionate nature: Mercy Speech, telling Bassanio to go

Bassanio
- Hero of casket story
- Young prodigal often in need of money
- Expresses sincere desire to repay loans
- He says I’ll pay all loans together
- Ardent lover w romantic and poetic nature
- Describes portia as fairer than fair
- Imaginative
- Love of gaiety
- Dual nature
- Mercenary motives at times
- Immediately rushes to Antonio’s aid
- Sincerity in friendship
- Offers his life in place of Antonio’s
Gratiano
- Very talkative and witty
- Copies talk
- Would have repelled everyone if not witty
- Keen sense of humor
- Fertile wit and infinite words
- Mocks shylock
- Antonio does not like his talkativeness
- Bassanio has said he talks too much
- Had to be taught to not talk in Belmont
- Contributes to comedy
- His satirical comment to reserved and silent type of man
Nerissa
- She is a miniature Portia, though lacking her beauty and wealth, she is the maid in
the attendance to Portia, and from the very beginning since Portia is being introduces
in play, Nerissa and she are inseparable,
- Portia when suitors are coming, she gets a bit disturbed and depressed, but Nerissa
helps her out of it, she is happy go lucky.
- Her capacity to make aphoristic remarks, because people don’t have so much of
patience to listen to you, known for her wit, intelligence and humor.
- Eg., She is a copy of Portia well matched with Gratiano, (she tells Gratiano if Bassanio
wins Portia then only she will marry).
- She is always dressed modestly femininely like Portia in regal gowns. She mimics her
mistress with emphasis and depiction.
Launcelot Gobo:
- Connect between jew and Christian household,
- he is cruder in expressions, more than Gratiano,
 - he was fond of Jessica and tired of the atrocities of Shylock.
- His use was to make a connect between scenes, etc.
QUESTIONS
Q 1. Tell in your own words the bond story as it unfolds itself and develops in the Merchant
of Venice
Q 2. Sum up the Lorenzo-Jessica love story in your own words, and show its relationship in
the other stories in the play?
Q 3. Comment on the view that the Bond story and not the tale of caskets, is the backbone of
the merchant of Venice?
Q 4. How far do you agree with Portia’s interpretation with the bind and her administration
of justice?
Q 5. Do yu agree with the view that the MoV is a plea for religious tolerance?
Q 6. Supposing that you have been engaged as Shlyock’s counsel in his case against Antonio,
how would you defend him against the hostility of Christians in the Venetian court of law?
Q 7. Do you agree with the view that in the MoV we have Shakespeare’s criticism of human
life and its institutions, give reasons for your answers?
Q 8. In what light do you see Shylocks character, do you regard him as a comic or tragic
figure/ Describe an account for the mood in which Shylock appears in the trial scene, are
your sympathies with him, or against him, at the end of this scene.
Q 9. Assessment of all characters.
Q 10. Would it be right to say that love affairs dealt with in the MoV, Shakespeare has
presented strong women and weak men?
Q 11. Write a critical note on the contrast of women characters in the MoV.

TONI MORRISON
She is an American African writer. She was born as Chloe Anthony Wofford. DOB 18
February 1931. From small town of Lorain, Ohio. Daughter of George and Rama Willis.
Maternal Grandparents had left Alabama, because of the racial discrimination and lack of
education, they left in search of better educational Opportunities for their children. Tony’s
father also fled the states’ hostile racial climate and settled in Ohio. They had 4 children;
Tony was the second child.
Major Influences:
In Lorain almost everyone was poor, not much of segregation, and not much racial hostility.
Her early years created sensitivity towards struggling masses in general but towards African
people in general. Father- a shipyard welder and stickler for excellence. Rama prophesized
“Black people are the humans of the globe”. She has only written for the blacks, to inspire
them to come back to their traditional culture. Best of both, excellence and love for black,
which is seen in her work.
Ardelia, grandmom acquainted her with black folklore, basis of her fight against the whites.
Solomon, grand dad, carpenter, but expert violinist and stickler for excellence. Her sense of
self was strengthened by them, Lorain community, her neighborhood, even though very poor
 but always there in everything, like when aunt jimmy was dying, everyone was there.
Educational background and early professional life have helped Tony a good deal in molding
herself into a creative writer with social and political conciseness and her craving or zeal was
detected very early when she was only in 1st grade and was the only black child who could
read. Eventually literature became her favorite subject and reading her favorite pass time.
She studied Latin for 4 years before graduating with honors and her name of her school
Lorain High in 1949. 1955- Bachelor of arts degree in English from Cornell University. Tony
Morrison embarked after this on the teaching career as a member of the English Faculty at
the Texas southern university in Houston. She did not have any desire to write in the
starting, she had a fascination for reading books, that’s it. In late 50s and 60s, her career
started as an editor at Random House, she edited a lot of stuff by Africans, she realized that
the people were very conscious, especially of the plight that people were facing. The she
thought she should be doing something, Chinweizu, an African, his insightful work, “The
west and the rest of us” explores the nature of African suppression and exploitation and this
must’ve had a considerable impact on her. The major premises of his work was the primary
problem confronting Africans as per him was capitalism, and that the solution of life is in the
unity of the African people and this later became the major theme in Tony Morrison’s work.
In 1974, after writing the bluest eye(1970), she also edited a pictorial, known as “The Black
Book”, which was a collection of news clippings and ad’s chronicling the life of African people
in the United States from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement and from this she got a
number of ideas for her novels, and you will see this in her works.
Conclusion: Morrisons fiction emerges from within the universe of her mind which has been
shaped by African-American culture of childhood expanded by formal education in English
and the classics at Harvard and Cornell Universities, and forced by her own experiences as
an African American women, environment, familial background, community, African
American folklore, early professional life and literary works by great writers and through her
novels she tells the nonlinear African American Socio historical reality fragmented by a
historical past of disconnections and ruptures.

Year Novel Synopsis

1970 The Bluest Through flashback and temporal shifts Morrison provides readers with the
Eye context and history behind the Breedlove’s misery and Pecola’s obsessive desire
to have blue eyes. The novel serves as proof of Morrisons’s low level of gender
and class consciousness at the beginning of her writing career when she thought
racism was the reason the blacks were suffering, the main form of the oppression
of the blacks in white America.
1974 Sula Both black both smart both poor and raised in a small Ohio town, Sula and Nell
meet when they are wishbone thin and dreaming of princes. Through their
girlhood years they share everything until Sula escapes the Bottom, their hilltop
neighborhood because of fierce resentment towards failed crops, lost jobs,
thieving insurance men and bug-ridden flour. She roams for 10 years in different
cities of America and when she comes back, she finds Nell married and
accultured to the life at Bottom, while Sula is considered the oddity of the
community. Morrison’s primary emphasis is on gender, especially individualism
of the African women. She is interested in the struggle for individual rights in
general and women’s rights in particular rather than the rights of the African
people as a group. The concept of gender and its relation to the race and class is
very much a part of this novel. The concern of class of whether of the capitalist of
the masses rank third after gender and race.
1977 Song of A novel of great beauty and power, Song of Solomon creates a magical world of
Solomon four generations of black life in America with the birth of Macon Dead III, also
known as Milkman, son of the richest family in a midwestern town. Milkman
grows up in his father’s money haunted death haunted house and then strikes
 out alone towards adventure and as the unspoken truth about his family his
buried heritage comes to life towards and adventurous and crucial embrace of
life. Milkman undertakes a long journey from the city to the countryside and
from countryside to metropolis and back in quest of his identity. He goes to
Pennsylvania where his father grew up and then to Shalimar, Virginia, where his
grandfather was born. He deciphers the twin history of immigration and the
chain of economic expropriation from city to the countryside to the metropolis
and the endpoint of Milkman’s journey is the starting point of the black race’s
history in America. Confrontation with the reality of slavery coming at the end of
the novel marks the end of Milkman’s penetration into the historical process.
1981 Tar Baby The story goes as the cultivated millionaire Valerian Streets’ existence was
arranged by his fastidious butler Sydney, whose niece, Jadine, was educated at
Valerian’s expense. One night a black rugged starving American breaks into the
house. Jadine who is at first repelled by him finds herself inexorably drawn
towards him. He’ s one of those black men dreaded since childhood—
uneducated, violent and contemptuous of her privilege. Each gets fascinated with
the other and the novel deftly reveals how the conflicts and dramas brought by
social and cultural circumstances must ultimately be played in the realm of the
heart. Jadine is a picture of liberated African American woman who refuses to
choose between the apparent opposites to her. She refuses to internalize an
external image, either black or white, as a definition of itself. (I belong to myself)
is the theme when society began to impose dualistic image upon her.
Beloved Beloved draws our attention to the psychological turmoil experienced by Sethe in
the context of slavery. The entire history of America is stretched out on a giant
canvas here, i.e., the inhuman treatment of slaves, both male and female,
children and adults, as beasts of burden and the sexual exploitation of black
women by white men. Beloved herself is a spiritual manifestation of history and
is the embodiment of six million or more dead and enslaved Africans. She has
returned to reclaim her space and haunts us throughout the narrative with her
enigmatic presence in Sethe’s household and this process of self discovery and
rememory form an integral part of Morrison’s narration. This quest for identity
is true of the entire African American literature of the 20th century
1991 Jazz Jazz is Morrison’s most disturbing work. It is set in Harlem, 1928. It is the
disturbing psychological study of a childless African American women
desperately trying to come to terms with their frustrations and aspirations. Their
fragmented directionless lives propel them towards the absurd. The story is
about Joe Trace, a waiter, who moonlights as a door to door salesman for
cleopatra beauty products and happens to shoot his lover of three months, the
impetuous 18 year old Dorcas. At the funeral, his hardworking determined, but
mentally unsound, wife tries to disfigure the corpse. Rich combining history,
legend and rememory, Morrison captures as never before the ineffable mood and
complex humanity of black urban life in a moment of our century we assumed as
understood.
1998 Paradise “They shoot the white girl first.” This is the star opening of the novel which then
coils back and forth through a century of history to explain who they are and why
why on a dewy Oklahoma morning in 1976 they felt compelled to storm a
decaying mansion and wreck violence on a handful of women living in it.

1993 Nobel Prize, black writing about blacks which blacks also said was fiction
Conclusion
Morrison shows that African all over the world are one people having the same history and
sharing the same plight since they are seen as one by those outside the African nation. No
matter what their class status might be. Clearly she wants African people to see themselves
as one people undivided by their class status and Morrison’s greatness lies in her
extraordinary power of achieving harmonious fusion of her social concern and the demands
of novel as an art form. For the characters as well as the author, the scars of racial, sexual
and class oppression are more horrible on the soul than those on the body.
Blacks in America
Slavery or trade in human beings dates from prehistoric times. All ancient civilizations used
slaves in the past. Africans were sent as slaves to be traded in the red sea and beyond from
east Africa to Egypt and the Middle East. The advent of the European age of exploration in
the 15th century gave a new dimension to the slave trade. The Portuguese discovered a
plentiful source of slaves in Africa while at the end of the century, Christopher Colombus
discovered what was to become the main market for them. Through the ensuing three
centuriesgoogle translate. The European nations vied and fought for the control of lucrative
trade of supplying slaves to the labour intensive plantations of the west African islands of
soutone and principle. The Spanish and Portuguese colonies in south America, the carribean
and the southern colonies of north America following the development of the plantation
system from the second half of the seventeenth century. The Portuguese dominated the trade
in the sixteenth century, the Dutch in the early seventeenth century, while the late
seventeenth century saw a period of intense competition as the French the British the
Swedes joined in. In the second half eighteenth century the slave trade reached its peak.
African American Slaves

Characters
Pecola Breedlove
1. Introduction: she is the protagonist in the Bluest Eye, and by society’s standards she
is ugly, and Toni Morrison tries to show a little girl as a total victim of whatever was
around her. She is ignored everywhere and even a small activity of getting a candy is
of shame and anger for her. The beauty concept of human is decided by society.
2. She stands with triple indemnity:
a. She is a female black child
b. She is black
c. She is female
3. Pecola’s Isolation: many people treat Pecola differently which led to her isolation. She
used to sit in front of a mirror trying to find a reason for her ugliness, which made her
different from others in school, teachers and classmates alike. She was the only
member who sat alone on a double desk. Her teachers always treated her in a
different way and called her only when everyone was addressed. Teachers did not
care for her and children mocked her. She also knew that when one of the girls
wanted to get an immediate response from him, they would say, “Bobby loves Pecola
Breedlove!” to further isolation by harsh reality that no one loves her. Her family
doesn’t support her, teachers and friends ridicule her, and society ignores her. She
has more or less no one to turn to. Her adult role models are three uncouth,
unprincipled prostitutes that were looked down upon by all the women in town, Miss
China, Miss Poland and Miss Marie. All of them provided her with enjoyment in her
rather depressing, dull life, they did not advise her or listen to her problems. The only
kindness Pecola finds are in the three prostitutes, themselves outcastes, who do not
interfere between Pecola and what she faces. She was only reprimanded for her
negative actions. No positive actions/praise was instilled in her. Her only real friends
are the other two main characters, Frieda and Claudia; however, they are relatively
 helpless and powerless in helping her. The only difference is that her friends are
loved at their home.
4. Incest and After: all of the isolation, self-blame and negativity of Pecola’s life
escalates when she is in the kitchen washing dishes and her father, who is extremely
drunk, becomes overwhelmed with sexual desire, rapes his young daughter. This
incestual act does nothing but bring out more sympathy for the protagonist. In using
the casual argument, one sees that this terrible act is brought about by Pecola’s
ugliness and her inability to meet societal standards of beauty. Charles is full of rage
from his unhappy childhood and his unsatisfying life. He drowns consciousness of
this rage in drink, and it is this rage that poor Pecola inherits and it is this rage that
rapes her. The result is that she is raped and a child who had sought so desperately
for acceptance and escape from the frightening scene of her parents’ battle is raped
by this rage. Whatever she had is ripped from her in this overwhelming act of
paternal violence. Pecola then becomes pregnant and is asked to leave school, and it
is at this time that she begins to slip into madness. She develops an imaginary friend
to whom she speaks about her blue eyes, given to her by Soaphead Church (the
town’s Psychic and Spiritualist, and also reader and advisor). He convinces her that if
she feeds an old dog some food which has poison mixed in it and if the dog has an
erratic reaction of death, she will be granted blue eyes. A condition was that her blue
eyes and fair skin would only be seen by her.
When Pecola, in her madness, sees herself in the mirror, she feels that there’s
someone else in the mirror and she is convincing that someone else that she has blue
eyes. But, when she goes out in the society she is looked down upon, so she starts
feeling that the blue eyes given to her are not blue enough.
5. Reconciled to her ugliness: throughout the novel, readers see Pecola as others see
her. They see her as an ugly child and this label is one significant aspect of her life.
She also sees herself as ugly and this is her reality. This her overriding factor that
pushes her to fantasize of blue eyes. When she is raped, Pecola is blamed as to why
didn’t she resist her father. The only sympathy she gets is the shaking of people’s
heads. She gives birth to a stillborn, probably because of mental torture at the end of
the story. She and her mother moved out of the town’s edge. Adults looked down
upon her and children teased her.
6. Descent into Madness: it is a tragedy that things happened to her. Her life is plagued
with events after events. She becomes an object of hatred for all the members of the
town. She is raped, which enhances the problem. She then becomes pregnant and
goes mad.
Pauline Breedlove
1. Introduction:
2. Pauline finds love: he came strutting out of the Kentucky sun on the hottest day of the
year. He came big he came strong he came with yellow eyes flaring nostrils and he
came with his own music. Pauline was leaning on a fence when she heard loud
whistling. She smiled and felt someone tickling her foot. She laughed out loud and
turned around to see and found the whistler bending down, tickling her broken foot
and kissing her leg and she saw Charles Breedlove. Pauline and Charles fell in love.
He seemed to relish her company and even enjoyed her country ways and lack of
knowledge about city things. He talked about her foot and when she felt tired he
made it seem like something special and endearing and his touch was firm and
determined just as she had dreamed of minus the loneliness and gloom. She felt
secure and grateful. He was kind and lively and she had not known that there was so
much laughter in the world. They decided to marry and move to Lorraine because of
 better opportunities where Charles said steel mills were begging for workers. Both of
them were young and full of energy. Charles started working in steel mills and
Pauline started keeping house. Pauline started missing her people as she was not
used to white folks who totally ignored her, the house was too small only two rooms
and no yard, it was the loneliest time of her life. She started depending more and
more on Charles, and Charles, although he was kind and considerate, began to resist
her total dependence on him, and now they had less and less to say to each other and
he often left her alone in her own company.
3. Revival of Pauline’s dreams: Pauline wanted to dress up like other black women did
but Charles did not have enough money to indulge her. Money became the focus of all
their discussions. Hers for clothes and his for drinks, and as per Pauline, Charles
became meaner and meaner. Her mistress was mean and nasty, she could not get
along with anyone, she wanted Pauline to leave Charles and stay with her, she did not
pay Pauline her salary when she refused, even though Pauline needed it badly, and it
was then that Pauline became pregnant. Things came back to normal for them.
Charles started drinking less and Pauline left her job, and she eased back into the
relationship like their early days of marriage, but it was during this period that
Pauline became an avid movie goer. Charles kept poking fun at her for trying to dress
up and behave like film stars with her limping foot and front tooth missing, and soon
their first child Sammy was born. She was pregnant again very soon after this and
Pecola was born. When the children were young, Pauline had to get back to work. She
took on the full responsibility and recognition of breadwinner by working fir the
Fischers, who considered her to be an ideal servant. She kept their house spick and
span and arranged things in a manner as to make them say that they would never let
her go. She enjoyed her job and kept her white employers happy. She had by now
moved into the storefront apartment. She taught her children fear—the fear of being
clumsy, the fear of being like their father, the fear of not being loved by god, the fear
of madness like Charles’ mother and into her son she beat a strong desire to run away
and into her daughter she beat a fear of growing up, fear of other people, fear of life.
However, she did miss the lovemaking sessions with Charles and as it was part of her
married life, she merely submitted to his lust.
Charles Breedlove
1. Introduction: when he was 4 days old, he was wrapped in two blankets and
abandones in a junk heap by the railroad by his mother. He was saved by his great
aunt Jimmy who had seen her niece carrying a bundle out of the back door. She beat
his mother with a razor strap and would not let her near the baby after that. His
mother, who was not right in the head, ran away shortly and Charles was raised by
Aunt Jimmy herself. She could hardly recall the name of Charles’ father, Samson
Fuller, and so she named him after her dead brother Charles. Charles had six years of
schooling before he took a job at the Tyson’s feed and Grain store as an errand boy.
Here he became friends with Blue Jack, who used to tell him stories about
emancipation proclamation and ghosts and also about the women he had had.
2. Carnival spirit at Aunt Jimmy’s death: when Charles was 14 Aunt Jimmy died of a
peach cobbler, she had gone to a camp meeting that took place after a rainstorm and
the damp wood on the benches was bad for her. She was confined to bed for four to
five days and the neighbours suggested several remedies and it was finally decided to
fetch M’dear, six foot tall, stout old woman, who had a cure for all ailments. She was a
competent midwife and could make decisive diagnoses. She advised Aunt Jimmy to
drink pot liquor. Aunt Jimmy drank pot liquor and on a wet Saturday night before
she felt strong enough to get out of bed, Essie Foster brought her a peach cobbler.
 The old lady ate a piece and next morning when Charles went to empty the slop jar,
she was dead. Charles was greatly fussed over at Aunt Jimmy’s funeral. The house
was cleaned, everything was aired and everybody was notified. The ladies stitched
together what looked like a wedding dress for the spinster Aunt Jimmy to wear when
she met Jesus. They even produced a dark suit, white shirt and tie for Charles, who
was in the spotlight for three days, and the attention then turned to what Aunt Jimmy
had left behind. Her insurance came to a mere 85 dollars whereas the funeral would
cost 150 dollars. The relatives chipped in the rest of the money and this was done
because Aunt Jimmy was a kind soul.
3. The First Sexual Escapade: Charles did not realize his Aunt was dead in the midst of
the carnival spirit, but he definitely got attracted to one of his cousins, the 16 year old
Jake, who suggested that they go out for a walk with the girls. Jake chose Suky and
Charles opted for Darlene. They walked through several backyards until they came to
an open field and moved into a vineyard when the boys started pelting the girls with
grapes and Charles started chasing Darlene and later found that they had all
separated into pairs in the open fields and became intimate with each other, and as
they were in the process of making love to each other, two white men arrived and
started flashing flashlights on them and encouraging them sarcastically to continue
the act in their presence. Charles was almost paralyzed and somehow managed to get
up and run with Darlene. The shame and embarrassment was with Charles the whole
next day and he was sullen and irritable and it occurred to him that Darlene might be
pregnant and he had to get away. He also knew it was wrong to run away on a
pregnant girl and recalled with sympathy that his father had done just that. So he
thought of finding his own father and he would understand and recalled his Aunt
Jimmy telling him that his father had gone to Macon.
4. Off to Macon: Charles dug into Aunt Jimmy’s life savings in a soft bag and found 23
dollars in it. He did odd jobs for several days during summer and it was only the
following October that he reached a town. He lied about his age—he said he was 12,
so he could travel half ticket, he was insulted for this but he was beyond caring. When
he reached Macon, he found his father in a gambling den, a man in a light brown
jacket, standing in a far end of the room, gesturing in a quarrelsome agitated manner
with another man. Charles at 14 was over 6 feet tall, Samson Fuller was short and
balding. When they faced each other, he was curtly dismissed. With great effort
Charles walked away, his bowels suddenly opened up and before he could realize
liquid stools were running down his legs and he had soiled him-self like a baby and
now he realized that Aunt Jimmy was dead and missed Aunt Jimmy and with tears
running down his cheeks he ran away.
5. Dangerously Free- He was invited by three women (prostitutes) who gave hi, back his
manhood and he started living a vagrant’s life. It was in this state of affairs that
Charles met Pauline and married her. The aspects of married life later had him
dumfounded and rendered him totally dysfunctional. He had no idea how to raise
children and he had never watched any parent himself and was unable to
comprehend any such relationship.
6. Incest- On one Saturday evening, Charles staggered home drunk and saw his
daughter in the kitchen. He saw her dimly and could not tell what he felt, then he
became t=aware that he was uncomfortable and next he felt this discomfort dissolve
into pleasure. The sequence of his emotions was revulsion, guilt, pity and then love.
Guilt and impotence rose in a bilious duet and he raped his own daughter piccolo.
When Pecola regained consciousness, she was lying on the kitchen floor and was
wrapped in a heavy quilt and was trying to reconnect the pain between her legs and
the face of her mother looming over her.
The 3 Prostitutes

Tell the story of their friend Pecola Breedlove who is growing with them in the steelmaking
Cleveland suburb of Lorraine in 1941. Pecola feels that blue eyes are significance of
whiteness, pride, security and she seeks them through prayers through the intercession of a
spoiled priest who has become reader and advisor and ultimately through madness when she
believes that blue eyes have been granted to her. In carrying the reader through this short
tragic story. Morrisson carefully and powerfully builds up the character of Pecola and the
people around her driven to alcoholism, brutality and incest by a life of appalling oppression
and dislocation driven back into her bitter and heard beaten self by Cholly’s rage and the
unbearable misery of her life. Soaphead Church, the reader and advisor, who having turned
Godlike power over the lives of others, Frieda and Claudia, whose life is only marginally less
hopeless than the Breedloves. The title pinpoints the focus of a book. Pecola in her first year
of womanhood is black, ugly and poor. She lives in a storefront, sharing a bedroom with her
brother, her crippled mother and her drunken father. Pregnant by her father, she goes to
Soaphead Church, a man who believes himself possessed of holy powers. what she wants is
blue eyes. There is a young girl on the verge of madness seeking beauty and happiness in a
wish for a white girl’s eyes. The author makes the most telling statement on the tragic effect
of race prejudice on children but the scene occurs late in the novel, far too late to achieve the
impact it might have had in a different construction. For most of the way Pecola yields centre
stage to Frieda and Claudia who serve little purpose beyond distraction, the story is divided
into four seasonal divisions and each season is given its own conception, and finally the story
zeroes down on Pecola, her mental breakdown at the end as only the impact of reportage.
There are vivid scenes, like Pecola’s first menstrual cycle, a pretty milk brown lady, driving
Pecola from her home for killing her cat, which is done by the woman’s own son, the young
Charles Breedlove caught in a sex act by the white men and being forced to continue for their
amusement. The overriding motive of the book—desirability of whiteness, or as the next best
thing—the imitation of whiteness, as a corollary—blackness is perceived as ugliness, a
perception that must have surely given rise in the later years to the overcompensatory
counter statement that black is beautiful. If you look at the Bluest Eye there is a big
difference between the story and the book. The story may be told in two pages, but that
doesn’t give the total idea of the book. So, if one wants to get the gist of the book, one needs
to concentrate on the different events across the book.
Sequentially discuss the works of Toni Morrison 10
Blacks in America
Characters
Obsession with beauty
Cosmetic Culture in the Bluest Eye

JOHN GALSWORTHY
Introduction: Galsworthy wrote his works in complete knowledge and his works were edited
by his wife. He was a tragedy writer.
He was born in an aristocratic family which was very rich, located in Devonshire. He was
born on August 14, 1867, in Surrey. He received his education from Harrow Public School,
and studied law in Oxford university. In 1890 he was called to the Bar to practice law, which
he never did. However, his learning of law is reflected in his work—it gave him a. after he
finished his education in 1890, he led an aimless life. He was very fond of travelling and so
went on a voyage in the far East and Pacific, and on his way back, he met a Polish sailor,
Joseph Conrad, famous writer, and both of them became lifelong friends. He met many other
people and he started getting acquainted to the life on the commoner, especially the London
slums, from where his father used to get huge amounts of rent. He felt sympathy for them
when he collected rent and saw the drudgery and squalor.
He fell in love with Ada, very beautiful and talented, but married to his cousin. They had an
affair for 10 years, and married after the death of his father in 1905. The initial years of his
marriage was painful due to social stigma, and around this time he started writing on the
hypocrisy of the people. Ada would type his manuscripts, and both of them remained happy
throughout his life. She was a very talented pianist and adept at managing his dark moods
Versatility as a Novelist
1897

1897 A book a short stories:From the Four Winds Was a total failure
1904 The Island Pharisees His third novel
1906 The Man of Property
The Foresight saga Regarded by some as his
best work
Between 1900 and 1933 he wrote a total of 19 novels and many short stories but his fame
rests on the famous foresight novels, between 1922 he compiled the foresight saga, which
was followed by a modern comedy in 19. The End of the Chapter came out in 1935,
completed by his wife. He also wrote a number of works as a social writer, starting with the
Silver Box and ending with. He wrote around 20 plays, apart from a number of short plays.
He also wrote many volumes of essays, verses, lectures, and addresses delivered by him from
time to time. His fame and popularity grew with the passage of time, and he was welcomed
back into society. He was conferred with a title of Knighthood, which he refused, but he
accepted the Order of Merit, the highest British honor. Apart from that, he was given a
number of honorary doctorates from many universities in Britain. He received the Nobel
Prize in 1932 and donated the cash prize to Penn, an international fellowship of writers, to
which he was the first president. He led a quiet life and was very shy and timid. He was fond
of animals, especially horses and dogs, and wrote about animals in the slaughterhouse and
horses in mills. He also wrote about the plight of the workers in capitalist. He and his wife
travelled the world. He donated half his earnings to the poor. He died in the Lodge H on
January
Themes of the Play
He starts with the Silver Box and ended with the Forest
1. The silver box- disparity between the Haves and the Have-Nots, and the helplessness
of the latter before the law.
2. Joy- the growth of an adolescent girl through emotional conflicts into a lover and a
woman
3. Strife- the traditional conflict between the capitalist and the working class
4. The Eldest Son- the class conscious prejudice of an old English Baronet family
against the marriage between the eldest son of the family and the serving maid
5. Justice- a mighty criticism of the existing legal institution with special reference to
solitary confinement of the convict in English prison houses
6. The Fugitive- the widely spread and common problem of an unhappy marriage and
the tragedy of a lady neither hardy nor coarse-fibred enough for the cross wings of life
7. The pigeon- the futility of the attempts of the attempts of a social thinker and social
outcast
8. The Mob- critical study of an idealist who opposes the unjust war
9. A Bit O’ Love- the presentation of the conflict and forgiveness of a person, idealistic
and spiritual
10. The foundations- analytical study of industrial class relations
11. The Skin Game- depiction of conflict of interest between the nobles and the fast rising
manufacturing class of the English society
12. Loyalties- depiction of a protest against anti-Semitism, a closed examination of the
abstract idea of loyalty.
13. A family Man- study of the destructive and inimical effects of unimaginative narrow
minded, domestic tyranny
14. Discussion of the problem of groupism in society and need for understanding,
sympathy and tolerance
15. The Forest- spread of unconscientious financial speculation in the commercial world
of today.