DOUBLE HORROR

Nissim Ezekiel (1924 –2004)

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Nissim Ezekiel (1924 –2004)

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

NISSIM EZEKIEL (1924 –2004)

 Considered the father of post-

independent Indian Verse in
English
 Indian-Jewish
 Marathi-speaking Bene Israel
Jewish community in Bombay

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 An educational atmosphere at
home: father Botany Prof &
mother – School Principal
A secular milieu at home
Dramatist, critic, broadcaster
ABOUT: and social commentator
Professor of English and
reader in American literature at
Mumbai University

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 language and its powers and limitations

religious skepticism
THEMES: memory, love, loneliness
EXPANDED IT
BEYOND THE Lust/ sexuality
SPIRITUAL THEMES human foibles

urban dissonance

what it means to be Indian

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  AS THE OUTSIDER HE HAD THE
OBJECTIVITY TO REPRESENT THE
VOICE OF THE URBANISED,
WESTERN EDUCATED INDIANS
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO INDIAN  MOVED INDIAN POETRY AWAY
FROM THE SELF-CONSCIOUS
ENGLISH POETRY INDIANNESS

 MYTHOLOGY, PEASANTS AND

NATIONALISM ALONE MAKE NOT
INDIANISM
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AWARDS:
1988 – Padmashri
1983 – Sahitya academy
cultural award

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  THE WORLD IS CONSTANTLY
CORRUPTING US
 EVEN THE PEOPLE AROUND US ARE
CORRUPT, EVEN THEY CANNOT SET
OUR PATH STRAIGHT
 WHEN WE COME TOGETHER, WE NO
LONGER POSSESS THE HUMANITY
THAT WE OUGHT TO
 WE DEMAND PEACE THROUGH ALL
THE MEDIUMS THAT WE HAVE
DOUBLE HORROR 
DEVELOPED
WHILE WITHIN OURSELVES WE NO
LINES 1 - 4 LONGER POSSESS THE LIGHT TO
ENSURE THAT PEACE
 THE FACE BETRAYS THE DARKNESS
WITHIN
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  ADVERTISEMENTS THAT MAKE FALSE
PROMISES
 ADVERTISEMENTS A POWERFUL VISUAL
MEDIUM, A PART OF OUR ADVANCING
LINES 5 – 8 
TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALISM
FALSE HOPE – BASED ON CUTTING
CORNERS
 GAMBLING TO MAKE MONEY
 EVERYONE IS LOOKING TO MAKE QUICK
& EASY MONEY; TO CUT CORNERS
 OVERCOMPENSATION FOR SILLY TASKS
 A TOOTHPASTE LINE FOR A TRIP
ABROAD
 GETTING USED TO LUXURIES WITHOUT
WORKING HARD
 MAKES ONE ENTITLED AND ARROGANT
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  THE JUNGLE GROWTH = UNCHECKED
GROWTH; A GROWTH THAT
STRANGLES AND KILLS; A GROWTH
THAT HURTS AND DESTROYS
EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH
 THE GROWTH THAT ACTS AS A
PARASITE THAT SUCKS THE LIFE OUT
LINES 9 - 10 OF ITS HOST
 THE INSENSITIVITY THAT IS GROWING
IN HUMANS SUCKS THE SPIRIT OUT
OF LIFE – KINDNESS,
COMPASSION, LOVE, EMPATHY
 THUS, LEAVING IS CORRUPT,
DISHONEST, AMORAL, UNSCRUPULOU
S
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 Comdrade – communist nonmenclature
for friends in arms
They are slaves to ideology
If you aren't my brother (religious, blood)
then you are not welcome at all
Narrow minded; provincial, conservative,
intolerant

LINES 11 - 14 If you belong to party or ideology that

differs from mine, then you
are incompetent and untrustworthy
You will be backed into a corner

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 With no understanding of politics, we still
jump into politics for selfish gains
We rape and loot the sacred art of
politics
We pretend to be working for the
betterment of people and country
LINES 15 - 20 But deep inside bad news is spreading
gladness rather than horror
When people die (your enemies!)
instead of feeling remorse guilt, grief –
you feel gladness
How experiences of the world has
corrupted up, hardened us
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 The world has corrupted us with its
'development'
And in turn we corrupt the world
We destroy it with our apathy, selfishness
THIS IS THE DOUBLE HORROR
A cycle of conscienceless actions and
aggression
This scared the speaker and shames him

LINES 21 - 24 But there is no one to stop him/ us but

ourselves

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 Only I am aware of the corruption inside of
me
How unprincipled and devoid of ethics I am
For the rest of the world, I am sage, a wise
man, a cultured man, a man of great taste
LINES 25 - 28 No one realises that just being me I am
hurting the world around me
Because the world is corrupt, and the
corrupt world has corrupted me and now I
have no inhibitions in corrupting the world
further

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  It is frightening to think that the status
quo is maintained
 And that is the irony of it all – we believe
all this advancement is making us better;
leaving a better world behind
 The world makes me unprincipled and I
LINES 29 - 30 in turn unleash my darkness on the world
 I spread hatred, anger, unscrupulousness
 He world thus left behind despite the
advancement in science and politics is a
world that is morally, ethically eroded

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 THAT IS THE HORROR OF IT ALL. THE
DOUBLE HORROR. SMOOTH CRIMINALS
ARE CORRUPTING THE WORLD AND US
AND WE ARE NONE THE WISER.

CONCLUSION: EVE WHEN WE BECOME AWARE OF THE

WICKEDNESS WE ARE INCAPABLE OF
CHANGE, BECAUSE THE WORLD AROUND
MAKES A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT
FOR CORRUPTION.

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