Novels , Plays and Short Stories.pdf

Notes prepared and organized by josuemfy@gmail.
com 0789597762
NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
NOVELS
ANG
SHORT STORIES
FOR LANGUAGES CLASS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
PART ONE: NOVELS 6
NOVEL ONE: A MAN OF THE PEOPLE by CHINUA Achebe 6
1.AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY 6
2.SETTING 7
3.SUMMARY 7
4.CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATIONS 8
5.THEMES 9
6. STYLES 11
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Notes prepared and organized by josuemfy@gmail.com 0789597762
NOVEL 2: MINE BOY by Peter Abrahams 12

2. Summary chapter by chapter 13
3. CHARACTERS 19
4. PURPOSE OF THE NOVEL 19
5. THEMES 19
NOVEL3: ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell 20
1. AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY 20
2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT 21
3. SETTING 21
4.SUMMARY (PLOT OVERVIEW)
4.CHARACTERS 29
5.THEMES 31
NOVEL4: THE PEARL by John Steinbeck 33
1. The Pearl – Background Information 33
2.Setting 33
3.Historical Background and Social Culture: 33
4.Style 33
5.Point of View 34
5.SUMMARY (PLOT OVERVIEW) 34
6.SUMMARY (CHAPTER BY CHAPTER) 35
7.CHARACTERS 41
8.THEMES 42
PLAY ONE: THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE Bertolt Brecht 43
2.SETTING America 44
3.SUMMARY 44
4.CHARACTERS 45
5.THEMES 46
PLAY TWO: THE CRUCIBLE by ARTHUR MILLER 88
2.CONTEXT OF THE STORY 88
4.SETTING 88
5.SUMMARY (Plot overview) 88
6.CHARACTERS 89
7.THEMES 91
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PLAY3: JULIUS CAESAR 93

1.AUTHOR 93
2.SETTING: 94
3.SUMMARY: 94
4.CHARACTERS 96
5.THEMES 98
PLAY FOUR: AN ENEMYOF THE PEOPLE by Henrik Ibsen 101
1.AUTHOR 101
2. SETTING 101
3.SUMMARY 101
4.CHARACTERS 102
PART THREE: SHORT STORIES 103
WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN AND OTHER STORIES. 103
The Guilt, Rayda Jacobs (South Africa) 103
1. Plot 103
Setting 103
Conflict. 104
4. Characters 104
Point Of View 105
Theme 105
When the Sun Goes Down by Goro wa Kamau 105
1.The Plot 105
2. The Title 106
3. Setting 106
4. Conflict 106
5. Themes 108
6 Characterisation 108
Leaving by Moyez G. Vassanji 108
Setting 108
Plot 108
3. Conflict 109
Characters and Characterisation. 110
Themes 110
Point Of View 110
The War of the Ears by Moses Isegawa 111
3
Setting 111
Plot 111
Conflict 112
Characters and Characterisation. 113
Themes 114
The Mirror by Haruki Murakami 115
Setting 115
Plot 115
Conflict 116
Character and characterisation. 116
Themes 117
Point Of View 117
The title 117
Diamond Dust by Anita Desai 118
Setting 118
Plot 118
Conflict 118
Characters and Characterization 120
Themes 120
Point Of View 120
The title 121
Arrested Development by Sandisile Tshuma 121
Setting 121
Plot 121
Conflict 122
Characters and Characetrisation 122
Themes. 123
Point Of View 123
The title 124
Sandra Street by Michael Anthony 124
Setting 124
Plot 124
Conflict 125
TWILIGHT TREK by SEFFI ATTA 126
Setting 126
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Plot 126
Conflict 126
Character and characterisation 128
Themes 128
Style 129
Point Of View: 131
TITLE 131
I STAND HERE IRONING BY TILLIE OLSEN 132
Setting 132
The plot 132
Conflict 132
Themes 135
Point Of View 136
The title 136
THE RETRACTION BY STANLEY O. KENANI 137
Setting 137
The plot 137
Conflict 137
Themes 139
Style 140
Point Of View: 140
Title 140
The Bamboo Hut by Grace Ogot 141
Setting 141
The Plot 141
Conflict 141
Themes 142
Point Of View 143
TUESDAY SIESTA by GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ (COLOMBIA) 143
Setting 143
The plot 143
Conflict 144
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Themes 145
Style: 146
Point Of View 147
Title 147
Two Stories of a House by Leila Abouzeid (Morocco) 148
Setting 148
The plot 148
Conflict 148
Themes 149
Point Of View 149
Title 150
THE LAW OF THE GRAZING FIELDS BY CYPRIAN EKWENSI 150
Setting 150
The plot 150
Conflict 150
Themes 151
Style 152
Point Of View 152
Title 152
WHITE HANDS BY JAME KATJAVIVI 153
Setting 153
The plot 153
Conflict 153
Characters and characterisation 154
Themes 155
Title 156
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PART ONE: NOVELS

NOVEL ONE: A MAN OF THE PEOPLE by CHINUA Achebe
1. AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Chinua Achebe Albert was born on 16th November 1931 in Ogidi eastern Nigeria from the Igbo tribe,
one of the largest ethnic group in Nigeria. He has studied at Saint Philip’s central school ran by
church missionary society in Ogidi and later joined the prestigious government college Umuahia,
one of the best schools in West Africa. He was admitted to the University of Ibadan on a
scholarship to study medicine and later switched to English, History and Theology. This lead to his
scholarship cancellation and he had to pay for himself.
He worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting company, supported for the Biafran war for independence
and worked as a Biafran government ambassador. He taught one year in high school before
working in Nigerian Broadcasting Services(NBS) in Lagos. He taught also at University of Nsukka
before joining the University of Massachusset in the USA and other several Universities such as
University of Nigeria, The Bard College in………and soon the university of New York and Brown
university. His career as a university academic began in 1967 with his appointment as Senior
Research Fellow at the university of Nigeria and he was made Emeritus Professor in 1985.He has a
number of literary awards including: New Statesman Jack Campbell Prize(1964), The Common
Wealth Poetry Prize (1970), and The Man Booker International Prize (2007).In 1987,he was
awarded the Nigerian National Merit Award, the highest award in the country.
His literary works: Novels:
1. Things Fall Apart 1958
2. No Longer at Ease 1960
3. Arrow of God1964
4. A Man of the people 1966
5. Antihills of the Savannah
Short stories and children’s books: Beware Soul Brother 1972 and a collection of Essays and
literary criticism, Hopes and Impediments1987.
NOVEL OVERVIEW
A Man of the People was written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in 1966. The book is narrated
by Odili, a young teacher in an unnamed African country run by greedy and corrupt politicians. His
own former teacher, referred to as both “Mr. Nanga” and “Chief Nanga,” is now an elected official
and the Minister of Culture of the country. When Chief Nanga comes to visit his home village, he
and Odili meet again, and Chief Nanga invites Odili to stay at his home in the capital city while the
Chief makes arrangements to help Odili study abroad. Despite his dislike for Chief Nanga’s politics
and his way of doing business, Odili is somewhat charmed by the man. He is also attracted to a
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young woman, Edna, who travels with Chief Nanga and is supposed to become the Chief’s second
wife.
Odili accepts Chief Nanga’s invitation, and spends time with him in the capital city. Odili learns that
Chief Nanga lives in luxury as a result of his corrupt practices and knows very little about culture,
despite his position. Odili has had an affair with a young woman, Elsie, whom he brings to Chief
Nanga’s home with the intention of spending the night with her. However, she sleeps with Chief
Nanga instead. Chief Nanga doesn’t understand why this makes Odili angry. Odili decides he will
take revenge on Chief Nanga by seducing Edna, the young woman the official plans to marry.
Odili becomes involved in a new political party that seeks to replace the current ruling party. As he
becomes more and more opposed to Chief Nanga, Odili decides to run for office in an attempt to
take Chief Nanga’s position. The members of the new party believe they will provide more effective,
more honest government. However, Odili learns the people of his country are quite cynical. They
expect politicians will take bribes and make themselves rich. In fact, many of the people Odili
meets are primarily interested in getting a share of the money gathered by corrupt officials.
Odili struggles with a number of moral decisions as he wages his campaign, for example having to
decide whether to take money as a payment for withdrawing from the election. He tries to show
the people the present government is lying and stealing, but no one seems to care. In fact, Odili is
threatened and bullied as he tries to run his campaign, and his father and his village are punished
for his actions. Odili realizes he is genuinely in love with Edna, and his desire for her is no longer
just a result of his wish to get revenge on Chief Nanga. Edna, however, feels obligated to marry the
Chief because he has given her family money and her father is pressuring her. Odili decides to
attend the event that launches Chief Nanga’s campaign, where Odili is recognized and beaten
nearly to death. During the weeks of his recovery in the hospital, things change in Odili’s personal
life and for the entire country. Although Chief Nanga’s party wins the election, the aftermath is
unrest and chaos, and ultimately the military overthrows the government.
Then the people of the country come forward and talk about how terrible the former government
was, despite their sup ort for the same elected officials when they were in power. Edna stands by
Odili through his recovery, and eventually his family makes arrangements for Odili to marry her.
Odili is sad to learn of the death of his friend Max, who was killed by a former government official,
but reflects an honourable death is about the best one can hope for in so corrupt country.
Note on Language: This book is written in British-style English, so the reader may notice some of
the spelling and punctuation is different from American English. There are also a few unfamiliar
words, such as “lorry” instead of “truck.” In the dialogue, the characters occasionally speak in
pidgin, which is not a true language, but a local variation on English that may be a bit difficult for
the reader to understand. However, even without understanding every word, the reader can usually
get the basic meaning of the dialogue.
A Man of the People is a 1966 satirical novel by Chinua Achebe. It is Achebe's fourth novel. The novel tells the
story of the young and educated Odili, the narrator, and his conflict with Chief Nanga, his former teacher who enters
a career in politics in an unnamed modern African country. Odili represents the changing younger generation;
Nanga represents thetraditional customs of Nigeria. The book ends with a military coup, similar to the
real-life coups of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi ,Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu andYakubu Gowon.
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2. SETTING
The story took place in Nigeria, 1964.It also revolves around different places such as: Anata, the
chief Honorable M.A Nanga’s birth place, Anata Grammar School where Chief Nanga used to teach
and Odili studied. It is owned by Jonathan Mwege. Bori: the City and Urua, Odili’s home village and
so forth.
3. SUMMARY
Chapter: Chief Nanga (Minister of Culture) comes to his hometown(village) of Anata. He is a “man
of the people.’’ Background on his rise to power. He recognizes and remembers Odili, who is a
teacher in the village. He invites him to come stay with him in the city. The corruption and the
politics are introduced. -would a sensible man spit out a juicy morsel that good fortune placed in
his mouth showing tip of tongue to sky to swear oath?
Chapter2: Background on Odili and Elsie, his friend with benefits. Also meet his friend Andrew. Odili
is firm in his aspirations and his work to keep his actions ‘clean’. He will not stop to get the
scholarship to London that he desires. There is a universal disdain among politicians for education
abroad, however Nanga still looks forward to his upcoming honorary law degree from a small
college in U.S.
Chapter 3: Odili goes to Nanga and is welcomed warmly. Background on Odili’s father, a district
interpreter a powerful and hated man with five wives and 35 children. Odili’s mother died giving
birth to him, there is a shame associated with this. Odili and Nanga visit chief Koko who handles
education abroad but they don’t get a chance to discuss the scholarship.
Chapter 4: Mrs.Nanga gets ready to leave with the children to visit her village, which they do at
least once a year. Americans John and Jean stop by. Jean flirts shamelessly with Nanga while her
husband highbrows it with Odili. Jean and John work in public relations for Nigeria in their efforts
with the U.S
Chapter 5: Odili goes to Jean’s party and ends up sleeping with her. He finds that he doesn’t really
like her but ask to see her again. For American, Africans are a novelty, one that they hold apart and
distinct from the blacks back hoe. At the dinner party, Odili has a good time. Nanga never ends up
going because Mrs. Kilo arrives at his home we see that later that he sleeps with her.
Chapter 6: Odili visits Elsie and sets up a date. He takes Nanga’s Cadillac which impresses her.
They all go together to a book exhibition to hear Nanga speak.
Chapter 7: Nanga makes a good speech and they return home. He comments that he likes Jalio
after he sees various ambassadors fawning over the author. They eat dinner and Nanga has sex
with Elsie. Odili loses it when he hears them (she is screaming Odili’s name in a perverse twist) and
leaves the house at 4P.M. He comes back in the morning and curses out Nanga and heads to
Maxwell’s.
Chapter 8: Odili plots revenge against Nanga. Maxwell hold a meeting of the Common People
Convention (CPC). While his party has communist undertones. Maxwell is quick to reject that label.
He reveals that the CPC has an inside man in the current government. like a rap video today.
Chapter 9: Odili goes back to Anata and we hear the story of Josiah, the bar owner who took too
much. Odili visits Mrs.Nanga and gets Edna’s location and then visits her saying that Nanga sent
him to inquire after her mother (who is in the hospital). He gives Edna a lift to the hospital on his
bike but also crashes it, humorously.
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Chapter 10: At Christmas details of major corruption break out in the media concerning current
government. The CPC has Odili run against Nanga.Odili implore Edna not to marry Nnaga.Odili
meets a lot of opposition in his campaign. It is important that he rejects Josiah’s offer of support.
Chapter 11: Odili gets bodyguards as the campaign gets vicious. Throughout it all he pines for
Edna (probably more than he cares about the CPC). Nanga approaches Odili’s father and tries to
buy off Odili with 250 pounds and a two-year scholarship. Odili firmly rejects this.
Chapter 12: Maxwell arrives from the city with his CPC staff to drum up support for Odili. Maxwell
admits he took a bribe similar to the one offered to Odili, however he insists that the bribe carries
no weight and he just did it to take the money. When Odili approaches Edna, she angrily dismisses
him. When the POP finds out that Odili’s father indirectly supported his son’s campaigning,they
nearly jail him and levy convenient overdue taxes against him. Odili’s home village looses their
pipes for supporting him. Odili writes off Edna.
Chapter 13: In disguise, Odili goes to Nanga’s campaign meeting. Josiah sees him though and
calls him out. Odili is beaten severly, with only Edna vainly trying to help.
He wakes up in the hospital and ends up winning Edna. A military coup occurs in the country
overthrowing the government and suddenly Max is marry and a hero.
4. CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATIONS
1.Micah Nanga: Cunning, crafty, sly, tricky, amiable, sociable, likeable, industrious, hardworking,
Opportunistic, Vengeful/revengeful, Hypocrite, Generous, Proud, Corrupt, Daring, Unfaithful,
Uncompromising.
2. Jonathan Mwege: Opportunistic, Heartless, Hypocrite.
3. Samalu Odili: Very bright, Revengeful, Daring, Hardworking, somewhat immoral, Disrespectful,
Naïve, Disillusioned, Hi-fortuned, Loving, Focused.
4.Jean John’s wife
5.Edna: Nanga’s girlfriend: Gullible, Naïve, Loving and caring.
6.Hezekiah Samalu: Former district interpreter and Odili’s father. He is the local chairman of P.O. P.
He is later on fired.
7.Andrew Kadibe: Odili’s best friend at Anita Grammar School.
8.Peter: Odili’s house boy.
9.Dogo: The one eyed bodyguard of Nanga. He is later on supposed to Guard Edna from Odili.
10.Maxwell Kulamo: a classmate and lawyer friend of Oili. He is patriotic, daring, opportunistic,
loving and caring, social and friendly, disillusioned, cunning, amiable.
11.Eunice: Maxwell’s fiancé. Brave and courageous. She shoots dead Koko upon the death of
Maxwell. Patriotic, Loving and caring.
12.Josiah: The corrupt shopkeeper who steals a walking stick from a blind man (Azoge), Heartless,
Corrupt, Opportunistic.
13.Azoge: The beggar whose stick is taken away by Josiah.
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14.Mrs Nanga. Disillusioned and Obedient.

15.Odo: Edna’s dad. He is Mean/selfish, Greedy: “He will bring and bring, and I will eat until I am
tired.”,Opportunistic,Exploitive,Loveless.
16.Boniface: Odili’s chief bodyguard,Brave and courageous,Wicked. He wants to bribe someone to
torch Nanga’s car and house.
5. THEMES
Suffering: There is a lot of inflation. In four years, the price of everything has more than doubled,
including gun powder since independence. All teachers and students should line up to mount a
guard of honor for Nanga.Teachers are very poorly paid. Peter is paid one pound a month by Odili.
Hezekiah’s numerous wives are left to tend for themselves. Odili goes through pains to accept the
fact that he has lost Elsie to Nanga.In the city, beggars sleep under the caves of luxurious
department stores.Mrs. Nanga was forced out of secondary school to marry Nanga. Odili is almost
beaten to death by Nanga’s mob. Painfully, Edna accepts to put up with Nanga. Her father has after
all swindled so much money from the minister.
Neo-colonialism: Nanga’s children go to very expensive European schools. Koko’s bodyguards
dress like cowboy.CPC is sponsored by some undisclosed foreign countries. The British
Amalgamated as well as The American fund POP campaign.
Betrayal: The government betrays the people by not dealing with the issues at hand. The western
educated ministers are fired. They are regarded as The Miscreant Gang. Hezekiah would get
different gifts ranging from goats, sheep, chicken and wine to earn his favor. Nanga snatches Elsie
from Odili. Mrs.Nanga is betrayed by her sex maniac husband. He really treats her with respect and
loves keeping her in the village so that he can get space to sleep with other women. Other than
saving Odili is beaten up by the mob, the policeman simply turns around and walk away. Chief Koko
runs over Maxwell using his Jeep.
Corruption; Andrew Kadibe can’t support Odili in opposition of Mwege’s arrangement of making
teachers line up to receive Nanga because they both come from the same village.Journalists are
bribed by the likes of Nanga to write in papers their own versions of information.
Chief Nanga has a habit of bribing the editor of the daily Matchet to censor information. If I don’t
give him something tomorrow, he will go and write rubbish about me. Nanga wants to connect Odili
to a strategic position. He believes they shouldn’t leave everything to the highland tribes.He also
wants to aid him get the scholarship to study abroad through a cabinet minister who is friend of
him.In this state, it doesn’t matter what you know but who you know. Hon.T.C Kobino can’t approve
the road from Giligili to Anata because it isn’t in his constituency.POP bribed PAP with money and
ministerial posts to get a majority representation in parliament.Nanga has ordered for ten buses to
tar the same road above, each at a cost of 6000 pounds.Maxwell has waited for so long to have his
telephone line fixed because he has not bribed anyone.The European construction firm of Antonio
and sons gave Nanga a kick back of a four storied building upon being awarded a tender to
construct The National Academy of Sciences and Arts. Odo advices Odili to use the campaign
money for his personal benefit. Nanga wants to bribe Odili with 250 pounds so that he goes
through to parliament unopposed. Odili’s das asks the son for more money in bribe so that he can
stand down. Hezekiah Samalu got a lot of fortune from the bribes he received while he worked as
the D.S interpreter. He however squandered all this in drink and wives. Odili is placed under house
arrest basically to fail him from signing his nomination form. Nanga bribes the postmaster to pass
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him all letters intended for Edna.

Immorality: Odili meets Elsie and sleeps with her within an hour. Ralph, a university student
nicknamed could conquer any female sexually. Hezekiah has an endless desire for women in spite
of the fact that he is 60, his youngest wife is just a mere girl.Jean, the wife of John looks at Nanga
in a manner that suggests that she would easily lead him to bed. Jean and John invite Nanga and
Odili for a dinner unfortunately, Jon flies to Abaka on a short notice to open up a cement factory:
his wife takes this advantage to have sex with Odili.
Nanga has ever had an intercourse with a woman who never removed her bra on account of
witchcraft. Nanga has so many women ready to make themselves available for him. Maxwell
accepts to take a bribe of 1000pounds from chief Koko but he doesn’t vacate. It is no wonder he
gets killed latter.
Culture: Polygamy is acceptable. Odili’s father has many wives. Nanga can marry the second
woman. It is believed that charms can protect someone from harm. Hezekiah had them planted at
different crucial points. Gils are largely considered valuable for marriage alone. Women don’t
command much respect. They are expected to be docile at all times.
Exploitation: All minister’s official residences have seven bedrooms and bathrooms, one for every
day of the week. The minister of construction has a row of ten houses in Bori. They are rented to
different embassies.
Politics: Politic is used as means to end politicians use it to achieve their personal needs rather
than serving the people. There is a lot of grass root political activism. These parties have several
representatives. Violence is part and partial of the politics.
Democracy is nonexistent. There is a lot of vote rigging. Chief Koko’s wife is a renowned active
member of the POP ‘s women league.
Disillusionment: The situation after independence is worse than before. When Odili gets active in
politics, he is fired by Mwege.
Poverty: Odo is very poor. He can hardly make ends meet. It is for this reason he wants to exploit
Regina. The food exposed after the bicycle accident is a symbol of poverty.
Some abbreviations used
POP: People Organization Party. (ruling party).
PAP: Progressive Alliance Party (opposition party).
CPC: Common People Convention.
O.H.M.S: Our Home Made Stuff.
6. STYLES
Flashbacks
 Sixteen years ago, Odili had been Nanga’s favorite student. He was the popular and very
handsome student. He was then popular and very handsome.
 The slump in the international coffee market which trained cost POP its power.
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Consequently, all foreign trained ministers including the one of finance (Dr. Makinde0has
been fired.
 Odili’s mother had died giving birth to him. He is therefore considered as an evil/unlucky
child.
 Odili once got chased from the home of one of his great friends during a half holiday
because his dad was very much hated.
Symbolism
 Simon Koko the minister of overseas training is very fat man. This symbolizes exploitation.
 Ministers have huge official residences. Each with seven bedrooms and bathrooms. This
mirrors a lot of exploitation and pure lack of regard for the poor.
 The national newspaper is called The daily Matchet it indeed is a terrible killer. After all
people pay to have information or bribe to avoid being victimized.
Irony
 People are dancing themselves to receive Nanga, a representative of the government that
has a source of so many problems like corruption, tribalism, inflation….
 Mwege is a rich man but apparently he is still hungry for material things especially money.
 Nanga says that teaching is very noble profession when all over the country are in an ugly
rebellion mood because of poor condition of work.
 Nanga is about to get a doctorate degree in Law from abroad, yet the government he
represents is up in arms against foreign trained personnel.
 Chief Nanga’s secretary holds an A.B.A from Oxford yet the government is doing away with
all foreign trained personnel.
 Nanga considers being a minister as a very big burden, yet he can hardly think of giving up
his position.
 Much as Nanga the minister of culture, his children can hardly communicate in their mother
tongue.
 Mwege invests a lot of resources in preparing for the minister’s visit expecting dividends but
he is completely ignored by Chief Nanga. What a pity!
 Odili believes that the girl who accompanies Nanga to Anata is none of his business, yet
very soon he will die to have her as a lover.
 Odili intends to exploit the minister’s office to meet with Elsie. Littre does he know that this
will ironically cost him of her.
 They have killed me, Cries Koko when the house boy changes the coffee brand. This shows
insecurity and distrust.
 Odili believes that on her visit, Elsie would bring along her friend for Nanga.
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 Odili doesn’t take Nanga’s question about Elsie seriously. “How serious are you about this
girl?’’
 Nanga doesn’t consider the book exhibition speech important yet he is the minister of
culture.
 While at the bank exhibition. Odili looks forward to having a wonderful night with Elsie. Littre
does he know that Nanga will scoop her from him.
 The minister of culture has never ironically heard of his country’s most famous novel.
 While Odili is giving Edna a ride to hospital, he is very tired but he doesn’t want to show it.
 Odili thinks that because his father is a local branch leader of POP he can’t be allowed to
transact opposition party activities from this homestead.
 Nanga calls Odili a thief. “Stop that thief trying to run away. Yet he is the real thief.’’
 In killing Maxwell, chief Koko doesn’t know that he is leading to his own death.
 Nanga ironically tries to get rid of a gang which helped him to power. This gang eventually
inspires others to take down the government.
EXERCISES.
NOVEL 2: MINE BOY by Peter Abrahams

Peter Abrahams was born in 1919 in Johannesburg. He is the son of James Henry Abraham who
was an immigrant descended from the Ethiopian imperial dynasty and Angelina Plessis a cape
colored widow. They could not afford to send their son to school until he was 11.
Abraham worked his way through school taking jobs as a porter, a Clark and a dishwasher. In his
adolescence he studied at two elite secondary schools for blacks, the Diocesan Training College at
Grace a Dieu and Saint Peter’s Rosetten ville in Johanesbourg. While at Diocesan he published
poetry in Bantu world, a white owned newspaper catering to black readers, later during his time at
St Peter’s, he became involved in left-wing politics. He left South Africa to become a crew member
on a freighter during World War II. After two years at Sea. Abraham settled in England joining the
staff of the Communist newspaper. The Daily Worker and continuing his career as a writer.
Abraham first literary work was a collection of short stories. Dark Testament (1942) followed by
the Novels Song of the City (1945) and Mine Boy (1946)
Mine Boy distinguished itself as a work that depicted for the first time in South African literature,
the black perspective on urban life and challenged white stereotypes of African workers. What
happened in South Africa when Abrahams wrote this novel?
Although diamond mining was a thriving industry in the nineteenth century, gold mining soon
outstripped it in importance. After the 1886 discovery of huge deposits of Gold in Witwatersrand, a
feverish rush for gold descended on the region. The rush gave rise to a settlement of crude shacks
and canvas tents called Johannesburg in honor of the president of the Transvaal and the director
14
of mines, both named Johanes.The settlement seemed to spring op overnight around these early
mining operations. Ten years later, Johannesburg had grown into a bustling city, complete with
gardens, parks, clubs and even a stock exchange. At the time of the novel, Johannesburg is a
sprawling metropolis characterized by extreme of great affluence and grinding poverty. Shanty-
towns and slums like the novel’s Malay Camp existed on the outskirts of the city.
During the 1930 and 1940’s gold-mining industry was the backbone of the South Africa economy.
In 1939 the mines employed 364000workers:43000whites and 321000blacks the proportion of
white to black workers in the mines was approximately 1 to 7.5 skilled labor positions and the
higher salaries such position merited had been legally reserved for white men since the mines and
works act (1911) which formalized what had long been customary practice. Around 1920 white
miners were earning at least 11 times more than blacks. By 1939 they were also receiving pad
leave and pensions privileges denied to black miners. The miners themselves were organized
along military lines: women were not permitted in the mines or in the housing compounds where
the laborers lived. The offices the shift bosses and compound managers were white; the non-
commissioner officers, the undergoing boss-boys and compound indunas mine policeman as well
as the mass of laborers were black. Even the living arrangements recalled a military barracks
blackest miners were housed in compounds that averaged between 3000 and 6000 inhabitants.
Beds were not provided. African workers had to sleep on short concrete bunks or make or buy
wooden beds of their own. Only one per cent of black mine workers were deemed legally for family
housing. In the novel, Johannes and Xuma are considered fortunate because they land positions as
boss-boys and do not have to live in the compounds.
Working conditions in the mines were dangerous and exhausting, workers labored in extreme heat
and spent most of their time crouching. In the novel, Xuma the protagonist is overwhelmed by the
apparent lack of progress that he and his fellow miners have made on his first day at the job. And
for all their swearing and hard breathing for their redness of their eyes and the emptiness of their
stare there would be nothing to show.
In the morning the pile had been so big. Now it was the same. And the mine dump did not seem to
grow either. Accidents and illness also took their tool on lack miners. From 1933 to 1966, 19000
gold most of them Africans died in mining accidents. Others died from tuberculosis or lung disease
caused by mining. Both tragedies are chillingly depicted in Mine Boy: One of the miners on Xuma’s
crew contacts a lung disease and is sent home to die and towards the end of the novel, Xuma’s
friend Johannes is killed when a mine tunnel collapses.
Mine Boy by Peter Abrahams
Mine Boy was one of the first books to look at what a black person meant in South African society
during the days of Apartheid.The book’s main character Xuma is a man in transition. He leaves at
the gold mines. He ends up in Malay camp, a suburb for blacks. There, he meets Leah, a tough but
kind woman who gives him a place to stay. Though everyone in Leah’s house doesn’t like the idea
of Xuma working in the mines, he is determined to work there despite the harsh conditions that
blacks are forced to work under.
Xuma is naïve about the city and its ways. On his first walk around the city he is shocked to see his
fellow whites when they have not done any harm. Rather than run, he stands his ground. When a
policeman attacks him, he strikes back. This gives him reason enough to flee. His friends call him
a fool because of his naivety. Leah is a tough and strong willed woman, unapologetic about her
15
way of life. She brews alcohol, something illegal for blacks but not for whites.
When other women bootleggers in her camp are arrested. Xuma feel bad because Leah did not
warn them. To which Leah says: Life is so in the city.’’ Among the other people that live in Leah’s
household are Johannes and Daddy both of whom find their solace in taking liquor.Xuma falls in
love with Leah’s niece Eliza who is a teacher and dresses like the white folks. She loves Xuma but
because she has passion for the white man’s things wants someone who speaks like them she
runs away leaving him bitter. Abandoned, Xuma turns to Maisy whose love he had earlier turned
down.
At the mines, Xuma’s strength makes him a successful mine boy- a boss boy for one of the mine
supervisors Paddy Oshea or the red one as Xuma calls him. Paddy is considerate and
understanding and despite his not being black, he becomes friends with Xuma.To Paddy, a man is
a man first and then color comes second. But as Xuma soon realizes as a black man he remains a
second class citizen under the apartheid regime.After an accident I the mines that takes the lives
of Johannes and other miner, Paddy and Xuma lead the strike together with the mine boys when
they are forced to go back to work before the place is repaired. It is this incident that makes Xuma
understand the real meaning of being a man first and color next as all workers join hands and put
their differences aside.This is a melancholic story that paints a picture of resilience in the face of
numerous setbacks and unfair laws.
2. Summary chapter by chapter
Chapter 1: Xuma who comes from the farmlands of the north to look for a job in Johannesburg is
completely lost. He wonders in Malay camp looking for somewhere to stay. He suddenly notices a
woman standing in the dark. He asks her if she knows where he can rent and find drink. He
however admits that he hasn’t any money. The woman late fetches light so that she can inspect
him well. The inspection reveals that he is tall very strong and dressed in tattered clothes. She
invites him in. Her name is Leah. Xuma is introduced to Mr. Plank, Daddy and Dladla and
he(Xuma)is only saved from having a fight with Dladla by Leah. Dladla is one of the men who sleep
with Leah. Joseph who is the brother of Leah’s man suspects that Xuma might be a policeman but
Leah is quite confident that he isn’t. Leah’s man is in prison for three years for having killed a man
who attempted to kiss her. She warns Xuma of the terrible dangers of working in the mines and
she instead offers him a job as a headman in her beer business. He refuses this offer. It is clear
from the onset that Leah is a very pragmatic and decisive character who rules her household with
an iron hand.
Chapter 2: Xuma wakes up very late the following day and gets his attention captured by a fight
outside the house. In the middle of the ring, he spots Daddy dancing excitedly up and down, “yelling
ancient battle cries’’ On the ground two colored women, Lena and Drunk Liz fight furiously. Lena
smashes one of her high-heeled shoes down on the other girl’s head. Daddy meanwhile is rolling in
the gutters cackling with enjoyment. Leah intervenes and stops the fight. She challenges anyone
who wants a fight to dare her. Lean who gets an attack of horrors from too much drinking is
carried by Leah like a kid and placed under a tree. She cleans the blood from Lena’s face and goes
to prepare breakfast for Xuma.Watching her, Xuma is unable to comprehend her changing moods.
Leah sees him shaking his head in bewilderment and realizes his confusion. ‘You think, She is
strange this woman, she is hard and people fear her and for me she cooks, heh? (Pg10) She warns
him not to think that she wants to become her lover. She knows he is ‘’a baby with people “She
likes him,’’ because you are here and not here. “She means that although he is physically with her,
16
in the city all his beliefs and memories come from his home in the north. She on the other hand has
been in the city for so long that she is no longer of her people.
This is why she likes him. She asks Daddy to tell him the story of the custom and the city. This
story portrays the meeting the traditional ways as well as those of white men. The traditionalist
who courteously welcome the whites are betrayed. It is a Saturday and Joseph takes Xuma out for
a walk. People are smartly dressed and have money to spend. Suddenly a pick-up van appears.
Everyone except the colored people scatter for their lives including Joseph.Xuma naively refuses to
run because he knows he has done nothing. A policeman runs towards him with a club and a stick.
Xuma punches him down and decides to run. One colored man tries to stop him and another helps
him to escape.
Chapter3: Fresh from the run, Xuma has lost his way to Leah’s. He meets Daddy who can only
direct him after promising to buy him beer. The house and compound are all full. People are
drinking beer. Xuma receives a hero’s welcome. Leah who wishes to talk to Xuma leads him out in
the street because of too much noise. She encounters a policeman who warns her of an impending
raid in the morning. She gives him 5 dollars for the information. Xuma inquires is she will tell the
other beer sellers but her answer is negative.Meanwhile, Xuma meets Eliza the school teacher and
he is immediately struck by her beauty. She attends to his sore shoulder and he describes his
home to her. They take walk out of Malay camp to a grassy hill from which they can see the city, ’a
mass of shadow buildings and twinkling lights.
Turning away from the city, he sees huge towering shadowy shapes of the mine dumps the great
hills of sandy soil dug out by the miners in search of gold. Xuma suddenly feels a strong stir of
desire as he looks at Elsah pools her to him but as he tries to kiss her, she pushes him away. She
likes Xuma but she wants one who can read books and dress like white men and speaks the
language. Back at Leah’s there are still so many people. Xuma helps Ma Plank to carry a pile of
money to Leah when suddenly Dladla appears with two other men and dilates his knife across
Xuma’s face. Xuma punches down one man and the other is almost chocked to death by a tall man
who introduces himself as My name is J. P Williamson and I am going to kill your sonofabitch. He
is Lena’s man. Meanwhile Leah beats up Dladla and she breaks him hand in the process. Eliza
tends to Xuma’s face and she takes him to a doctor for stitching. When they return, Johannes and
J.P Williamson promises to get Xuma a job at the mines.
Chapter 4: Early the following morning, Johannes and Xuma walk to the mines. The sober
Johannes is very quiet and withdrawn. They meet a stream of men guarded by the Indunas armed
with spears and clubs marching to the mines. They all are legally supposed to live in a compound.
This is the morning shift. The night shift goes towards the opposite direction. Chris who is
Johannes white man gets Xuma a mine pass. Xuma didn’t like the white one in charge. His eyes
told you he was one of those white men who likes to kick you and to push you and curse you.
The white men ask Xuma to push a truck loaded with sand up asleep incline. This was a job for two
men but seeing the strange light in the white men’s eyes Xuma decides to push it so as not to be
beaten. Chris and The Red One watch this strange looks on their faces but not the same as the
other white man. Chris calls the white man in charge of the gang who had asked Xuma to push the
truck and says “This is my boy, and if I were you I shouldn’t try that again.’’ Xuma is bewildered by a
strange look in the eyes of other miners. The eyes of these men were like the eyes of the sheep
that did not know where to run when the dog barked. All day he shifted the sand but the pile never
17
grew. This too scared him. At the end of the day, Xuma is given a medical examination and
pronounced fit. His white man makes him a boss boy.
Chapter 5: Leah immediately recognizes that Johannes is drunk. He confesses that Chris shared
with him some whisky down the mines. Meanwhile a group of women is at Leah to collect money
to bail out their fellows who have been arrested. Xuma is unhappy that Leah didn’t warn them. She
explains in the city it is like this: All the time you are awake. And you look only after yourself. If you
do not, you are finished. Xuma realizes that the sober Lena is very different. He also longs for Eliza
whom he has fallen in love with much as he knows he is not the kind of person that she wants. He
is persuaded by Maisy to go and watch people who are dancing at the corner of a street. The duo
too joins in the dancing where a couple enters the ring and dance and mime a human courtship.
When they get back home, they learn that Eliza has returned with her latest boyfriend, a well-
dressed thin, unhealthy looking young man whom Xuma later describes as, A sickly monkey
dressed in clothes of a white man. Sitting on his bed, Xuma remembers the pleasures of the
evening. Compared with Eliza, Maissy is easy to understand. Her desires are simple and she does
not want anything she cannot have. Meanwhile Eliza comes in. When he asks her what she wants
she honestly responds that she doesn’t know. They passionately kiss but when Xuma touches her
intimately, she pulls away in panic yelling ‘’no’ ’She leaves only to return later to ask Xuma to
understand her.
Chapter 6: It is winter Xuma now lives in his own room. He has taken long without visiting the
Leah’s because he fears meeting Eliza. Out of loneliness, he strolls out in Johannesburg.
He is asked for a pass by a policeman. The only place he feels free ad safe is underground in the
mines. The men and his white man respect him there. The Red One even tires to make friends with
him there but Xuma believed that, a white man and a black man cannot be friends. He bumps into
his white man who is out with his wife. They insist that he joins them for a meal at Paddy’s flat.
He looks around the room and realizes what it is that Eliza wants. Paddies were friends. He is
white Xuma replies. They eat and chat happily. For a moment, Xuma forgets that they are white.
When Paddy takes away the dishes, Xuma explains to Di about Elsah can’t understand it when Di
says. “We are the same inside.’’
On his way back to Malay camp, Xuma spots a crowd staring at the roof of a building. The police
are chasing a man who has been playing dice. He falls from the roof and breaks his arm. A
doctor(mini)has been watching. He decided to take the man for surgery. One of the policemen
laughs and strikes the doctor in the face. The doctor produces his card and threats to lodge a
charge against his assailant. Xuma carries the man into the doctor’s car and they drive to his
home.The doctor’s house is even more beautiful than Paddy’s and his wife behaves like a white
woman. The treated man later escapes through the window and Xuma leaves. The parting
handshake from the doctor’s wife reminds of Di.
Chapter 7: Unable to go home, Xuma wander through Malay camp and on a spur of a moment
decides to visit Leah. Only Ma Plank and Daddy are home. Daddy is lying in a drunken sleep on the
floor. He rolls over the floor and urinates in his trousers. Xuma watches him with disgust written all
over his face. In a flashback, Ma Plank tells Xuma how strong, feared and respected this Daddy
was. How he spoke for men during strikes and how he could read and write better than Elza.
She also tells him that he is the one who rescued Leah from the streets. When the others return,
they treat Xuma like he has been around all along. Leah carries daddy to bed as Eliza sits at the fire
18
warning her hands. Desire wells up in Xuma at the sight of Eliza near him. Ma Plank and Maissy
notice the unleashed passion in the room. Upon the return of Leah, Xuma asks if she must leave
and Leah says “Yes’’ but a moment later it is Leah who hurries after him. She calls him and he
stops. She pleads with him gently and when he turns, he sees tears in her eyes. They come back
together almost like son and mother, their unhappiness shared. She asks him to stay around that
night. Elza later joins him in bed, fearful at first and then with great passion. They consummate
their desires and Xuma declares his love for her. She confides in him that she has known this for
too long but she knows that she is good for him. There is a devil in me that wants things cannot
get. She nevertheless admits that she loves him too. We sure pity Maisy who loves Xuma and yet
goes on to witness all this.
Chapter 8: Upon walking up, Xuma realizes that Elza has gone. He washes up and joins Maissy and
Ma Plank on a mug of tea. Leah is out to discover the snitch. When Xuma goes to see Eliza in her
room she pushes him away and she lies sobbing widely on her bed. Maissy consoles him. He finds
her presence very comforting. Leah fails to discover the snitch and she knows that the police are
closing in on her. Maissy persuades him to join her for a trip upcountry. They travel on a crowded
bus. Xuma’s unhappiness leaves him. Maissy’s friends upcountry make Xuma welcome and their
beer and friendliness soon drive away the last of his drink thoughts. They dance eat and chat until
late night. They board the last taxi and Xuma is very drunk. The taxi leaves them near Maissy’s
house and she shelters him for the night. He knows that he is in safe hands.
Chapter 9: Maissy awaken Xuma the following morning and reminds him to prepare for work.At
the time, he is greeted by the half sober Johannes who bemoans the fact Lena is in jail being drunk
and noisy.He also tells Xuma that he thinks Dladla is the snitch.
The Red One tells Xuma that they will spend a month on the night shift.Johaness can thus get
some rest. Xuma sends him to his room to rest and sober up. Xuma meanwhile leads his gang
underground to begin work. During lunch break, one of the workers coughs up some blood. Xuma
learns that the old man decided to sacrifice his life in order to pay off a debt to a white man so that
his wife and children may have somewhere to stay. Xuma reports to Paddy and the latter organizes
for his compensation even if it too small.
With Paddy’s help, the man gets his money some pay and a railway ticket. Xuma tells Paddy that he
was a good thing you did. Paddy is ferociously bitter that a man’s life is worth 10dollars. Xuma
goes back to his room which Johanes has tided, changes his clothes and goes off in hunt for
Maissy.He meets Maissy’s white woman. She with Maissy seem to have a pleasant relationship.
He relates the story of the old man at the mines to her and his sadness eventually leave him.
Maissy unhappily leaves herlove to him and she is aware of the devil Eliza has created in him and
only hopes that Xuma will come to love her as she loves him. Meanwhile he tells her about Dladla
and they decide to go and warn Leah.
Chapter 10: As they approach Leah’s house, Xuma eagerly thinks of Eliza, even if she is unlike the
happy laughing Maissy. He asks Maissy to explain how this problem could have occupied. She has
no answer than that she loves him and that it hurts her bitterly to see him hopelessly chasing Eliza.
She walks off angrily. Leah is a littre drunk and she is dressed up un her expensive attire. Her
neighbors come to watch her one-woman fashion show. Daddy appears and joins her in a hilarious
parody of the affected manners of the whites. She invites all of them for a party.They all go and put
on good clothes. Eliza happily welcomes Xuma.She has changed so much.She tries desperately to
make up her mind and she now believes that she is ready for him.She warns him that if her
19
madness returns he must leave her for a while to recover her senses.When Leah realizes this, she
comments,’’So!’’They have come together at last-the dog and the bitch.’’
Hiding her unhappiness, Maissy leads the arty into a dance.Watching her,Ma Plank calls Xuma a
fool to have selected a wrong woman.Meanwhile Leah asks the lover birs if they love each other.
When they both say yes, she blesses their relationship like a mother much as she knows that
Maissy would be a better lady for Xuma.They dance together the lover’s dance of rejection and
acceptance shortly before he goes to prepare for work.
Chapter 11: To his joy, upon waking up the following afternoon, Xuma realizes that Maissy has
been around. In fact,she is preparing a meal.When they are done eating, he asks him if it is ok that
she comes to live with him.His answer is completely affirmative.Their happiness is cut shortly by
Ma Plank who comes in to report that Dladla has been found dead with a knifewound in his
back.As Leah asks, each of them denies having killed him.The police arrived led by The Fox one of
the policemen who is liked and even respected by the people.He asks Leah to come with him.
The house seems empty after her departure.Daddy sits weeping to himself and none of the others
can find anything to say.There was no life in the place without Leah.She returns after four
hours.Everyone in the neighbourhood is overjoyed by her return.
Chapter 12: Xuma and Elza have been together for five days.Each evening she accompanies him to
the place they had been together the first time they went out and she watches him vanish into the
darkness.Once or twice,Elza had been quiet and far away.On these occasions,Xuma had left her
alone.When he returned she was all right again.They return from a walk only to find Ma Plank who
wants them urgently.Daddy has been knocked down by a car.
Leah nurses him like a kid.Dr Mini meanwhile tells them that he is dying. Daddy coughs gently
blood appears on his lips.When he opens his eyes,Xuma sees that something strange has
happened.Xuma was startled by the bright clearness of his eyes.
It was different. It was as though he was looking at another man..even the face was different.It was
the face of a man.A good kind man,Not the face of a drunk old thing, daddy dies with a look of
happiness in his eyes.
A little across bearing Daddy’s name (FRANCIS NDABULA) is put on his grave. In the evening, Leah
gets drunk and she laughed all the time.Eliza is so angry that she refuses to speak to her.Leah
invites everyone. Beer is free except those ones who want to talk about Daddy.Leah calls Xuma to
dance with her and Elza leaves in disgust.She doesn’t realize that Leah is telling her, what is
finished is finished.Maissy and Xumalook after Leah when she collapses and then Xuma returns
home.On the way he meets Ma Plank who reveals that Leah loved Daddy so much.Very angry with
Eliza he walks past his room to the corner of the street.He hears Eliza’s voice call his name.She
pleads with him not to be angry.For some reason, she especially wants to be happy now.They walk
up to the hill away from the city.Eliza’s strange mood turns to passion and they make love there
and then on the top of the hill.
Chapter 13:The following day,Eliza has gone .Xuma awakens to find Ma Plank cooking for
him.Eliza has gone,on a long train journey she will not return.He hardly eats the food and requests
Ma Plank to leave him alone.In the evening,Maissy comes in smiling happily although there were
great pains in her eyes.She asks him to go dancing with her but he politely dismisses her.Finally
Leah comes.Her attitudes is the same as that towards Daddy’s death.She has gone Xuma.That you
20
cannot undo.She tells him that he is still a fool with people.They are not all simple and
straightforward like he and Maissy.She sends him out to walk until he is exhausted.When he is out
of the house,she learns against the door, great fear glistering in her eyes.She takes Eliza’s photo
from the wall and holds it like a mother missing her child.Her pain is as much as Xuma’s.She raised
the Eliza and watched her grow away from Daddy and the rest of the family.
Chapter 14: As he walks through Malay camp Xuma suddenly gets aware of the presence of other
people. He unconsciously walks to the top of the hill where he made to with Elza the previous
evening. He hurries back to his room to sleep but realizes the absence of peace without Elza.
Therefore,h e visits Leah and sits quietly with her as she serves beer to her customers. Completely
inebriated,Johaness bargers into a man who is drinking his beer quietly.When the man complains,
Johaness almost chokes him to death.
Leah calls hi to stop and then smacks his face,Johaness collapses and begins to weep Lena,his
woman starts to weep too Leah and Xuma laugh hilariously at the pair of them.
Later Leah goes to meet her police informer who tells her that all is well that night.Maissy meets
them at the door and suggests that she goes out with Xuma for a walk.She adits that she has loved
him for months, to love a man who loves another is painful.Added to her unhappiness is the fact
that she knew Eliza would leave him. She begins to cry bitterly.
Wild unrestrained sobs shook her body. Xuma can only lie and watch her helplessly.She recovers
her composure and they walk back to Leah’s.
As Leah prepares to keep away her beer stuff.The fox urns up.So I have got you at last.Leah
prepares to leave and warns Ma Plank that she will be away for six months and she reminds her
not to waste money on lawyers.She leaves them with her usual easy confident strength.This family
is finally torn to pieces.Daddy has gone,Elza has gone and now Leah was no there.
Chapter 15: Many days pass in meaningless succession,Xuma who has been searching for
answers for many questions feels beaten down.It was as though the real Xuma was dead and only
a shell remained.Maissy and Ma Plank visit him but he wishes they would stay away.Finally Maissy
tells him that if he wants to see her he must come to her.Paddy finally decides to talk to him.He
suggests that the answer is tofight.Not the guns of the white man but the oppressive brutal
methods of apartheid.What he ought to do is to find a way Xuma can’t understand why a white
man should talk to him this way.Because first Xuma I am a man like you and afterwards I am a
white man.Xuma wanders how a white man can understand the indignity of carrying a pass of not
going places because they are whites only the pain of losing Eliza and Leah .How can I be your
friend when your people do this to me and my people? Paddy responds I want you to be a man first
and then a black man.That upon understanding this he will be a man of freedom.Xuma tells him
that he doesn’t want his kindness.Paddy suddenly gets angry, with an anger that reminds Xuma of
Leah.It was strange that a white man should do so too.Paddy went away in anger and distress.May
be I was wrong….maybe you are just a fool who is afraid to think.Suddenly Xuma gets carried away
by Paddy’s vision.May be people were people after all.
Chapter 16: Xuma wakes up with Paddy’s idea still all over his mind. He dresses up and goes to get
something to eat. He is served by a dirty ragged old man who dumps a greasy plate of meat in
front of Xuma. As he eats he compares this eating place to the place where the white people went.
He feels a terrible desire to find someone he can talk to and he desides to visit Maissy but he is
nervous to enter her house.
21
Later on when he arrives at the mines, there is noise and confusion everywhere. There has been an
accident and Johannes shift is down Xuma and Paddy go down to see what they can do to return
later carrying the bodies of Johannes and Chris.One of the mines boys confesses that They kept
the place up with their bodies so that we could get out The engineers claim that all is well and
therefore Xuma’s shift can start working.Xuma refuses to take his men down.The engineers had
already been warned of the water leak.He wants the place fixed properly first.All at once, Xuma felt
good….strong and free.A man Paddy joins up Xuma and the other workers.For the first Xuma
understands that one can be a man first and the blackman and white later.When the police van
arrives Paddy pleads with Xuma not to run.He(Paddy) gives himself up to the police.Xuma runs all
the way to Maissy’s house and explains what has happened.That he is going to give himself up to
the police.
If I do not go I will not want to live for the disgust I will have against myself I must go.The Red One
is there.He is not a black man but he is going to jail for our people.How can I go?He tells Maissy
that he loves her and he asks her to wait for him.The thing with Eliza is finished.Maissy promises
to wait for him no matter how long that may be.Maissy offers to accompany him to the police
station and Ma Plank persuades him that he should go.Make it good then Daddy will be proud of
you.
It is true that in this chapter two strong men achieve a measure their inner peace at one of the
most critical moments in their lives.Xuma has finally matured and Paddy findsa cause to vindicate
his abhorrence of the society in which he lives.
3. CHARACTERS
1. XUMA: He is a man in transition. A symbol not only of the great move away from rural areas but
also of the swelling movement of men and women demanding social and political justice as well
as acceptance.
He is Innocent/naïve,Strong,Hard working,Loving and caring,Trustworthy,Kind hearted,
Sentimental/emotional,Disillusioned,Brave and courageous,Respectful,Patriotic, Poor.
2. DADDY (Francis Ndabula). He is crown like character with a consistent lingering sense of
sadness. He is typical example of a character who has been a victim of circumstance.He is
Frustrated,Intelligent,Kind heated,Ill-fated,Loving and caring,Patriotic once upon a time.
3. PADDY O’SHEA: He is an Irishman. The Irish of all races have suffered longest under the
oppressive weight of a colonial power. He of all characters understands well the predicaments of
black.He is Kind hearted, Understanding,Loving and caring,Daring,Brave and courageous,Principled,
Empathetic.
4. LEAH: She is great dominant figure who strides majestically through the novel.She is completely
in tune with her environment. From the moment we first meet her to the time of her exit
(imprisonment)we know we are in the presence of a sensuous powerful figure. She was rescued by
Daddy from the streets and she becomes a very successful Skokiaa Queen dodging. The Fox
bribing police men, fighting and fighting. She is her family’s bread winner from the moment her
man is imprisoned.She is Very intelligent, Crafty, Kind hearted, Selfish, Understanding, Optimistic,
Brave and courageous, Very strong, Daring.
5. ELIZA: She is one of the most complex characters in the novel. Through her, Abrahams
examines the dilemma of people deliberately kept poor and the inner conflicts they experience as
22
they long for things they can’t access. She is a school teacher who is raised by her Aunt-Leah.She
isTemperamental, Unprincipled, Loving, Undependable, Selfish, Emotional, Over ambitious.
Disillusioned.
6. MAISSY: She is Very intelligent although uneducated, very understanding, Loving and caring,
Very social and friendly, Brave and courageous.
7.MA PLANK: Old now, living with her memories of Daddy when he was young, Ma Plank helps
Leah run her business.She is Helpful, Kind, Generous, Intelligent, Trustworthy, Loving and caring,
Very understanding.
4. PURPOSE OF THE NOVEL
1. To draw attention to the plight of Africans in a racist country.
2. It is a protest against the inhuman belief of the white minority that social acceptability on race
rather than humanity.
3. A cry for freedom.
4. A call for action against the oppressors.
5. The fact that a multi-racist society is possibility.
5. THEMES
1. OPPRESSION: The novel reveals the great divisions created by white men out of their arrogant
sense of superiority, hence attempting to exclude blacks from their rightful places.The police are
very brutal. It strikes first and asks questions later. Dr. Mini is a victim of this. The peaceful strikers
are forced back to work even without rectifying the problem. Blacks are not allowed to sell or drink
beer.
They have to carry passes all through. It is illegal for blacks to gamble. That is why a black man is
almost killed for playing dice.The language used to describe blacks is discriminatory. Example:
Mine Boy, Kaffir and native. The whites are not harassed by the police. The workers are kept in
guarded compounds. The mines symbolize oppression.
2. POVERTY: All Xuma has in form of possession is a bundle.He doesn’t have any money but he
needs a place to stay.
3. LOVE: Xuma vs Eliza,Xuma vs Leah,Maissy vs Xuma,Xuma vs Maissy, Leah vs Daddy.Paddy vs
humanity.
4. BETRAY 5. EXPLOITATION 6. APARTHEID
NOVEL3: ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell

i. Introduction
The Animal Farm, an ironic parable-novel of the Soviets communism system, is the most
remarkable satire by George Orwell. The book was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100
best English-language novels, and won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996. The author adopted a
form of parable to dig at human’s politics. The story, which is based on a series of revolutions by
the animals, criticizes the totalitarianism during the Stalin administration before World War II. It
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also intents to disclose the facts of the Soviets communism’s scathing autarchy. In the meanwhile,
it satirizes England, France and other countries, which have diplomatic relations with Soviets. After
reading the Animal Farm, readers might think it is a general and funny story. However, having
further analyzed the author’s writing motive, we realize how ingeniously the author put the
Communism into this fairytale-like novel. With the author’s deliberate arrangement, this novel not
only presents a complete society under the Communism, but also directs readers to explore the
implied meanings while they enjoy the fun of the interesting plots?
ii. . Text A. The Author
George Orwell was a well-known novelist, essayist and critic. He was born in
Motihari, Bihar, India on 25 June 1903. After his family moved back to England
in 1907, he began studies at Eton in 1917. In 1922, he served in the Indian
Imperial Police in Burma and because he was disgusted with imperialism, the
mounting dislike eventually led to his resignation in 1927. He, then, resolved to
be a writer to show the ugly aspects of the Autarchy. George Orwell, a gentle,
sympathetic man, was also a person full of individualism and idealism. So
much did he detest tyranny that he was called “the wintry conscience of a
generation”. In 1950, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 46
iii. Outline:
This book depicts that the animals living in Manor farm are oppressed by humans and can’t fight
back. However, among the animals, there is a pig named Old Major who particularly longs for
liberty and encourages the other animals to launch a violent political revolution against the farmer
owner who owns everything, works animal population hard, sends their young to slaughter and
feeds them little. After his death, two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon are in power. Since their
former owner left, they have implemented democracy on the farm and proclaim that all the animals
are equal. Because these two pigs are the most influential and powerful on the farm, they dominate
everything. They draw up the “Farm Constitution” - Seven Commandments, but Napoleon ends up
violating the rules. He even raises vicious dogs as his “secret police” and schemes to exile
Snowball as a dissident.
What’s more, he drinks alcohol, uses two legs to walk, and associates with people. All the animals
are in the dark but still work hard for him even after their pig leaders have betrayed them. They
believe under his leadership, they still can expect the well-being they have been longing for.
Unfortunately, it proves to be a pie in the sky, and their life turns sourer than before.
2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Russian society in the early twentieth century was bipolar: a tiny minority controlled most of the
country’s wealth, while the vast majority of the country’s inhabitants were impoverished and
oppressed peasants.Communism arose in RUSSIA when the nation’s workers and peasants,
assisted by a class of concerned intellectuals known as the intelligentsia, rebelled against and
overwhelmed the wealthy and powerful class of capitalists and aristocrats.They hoped to establish
a socialist utopia based on the principles of the German economic and political philosopher Karl
Marx. In Das Kapital (Capital),Marx advanced an economically deterministic interpretation of
human history, arguing that society would naturally evolve from a monarchy and aristocracy to
capitalism and then on to communism., a system under which all property would be held in
common.The dignity of the poor workers oppressed by capitalism would be restored and all people
24
would live as equals.Marx followed this sober and scholarly work with The Communist Manifesto
an impassionaned call to action that urged,Workers of the world unite!
In the Russia of 1917 it appeared that Marx’s dreams were to become reality.After a politically
complicated civil war,Tsar Nicolas II, the monarchy of Russia was forced to abdicate the throne
that his family had held for three centuries, Vladmir Llych Lenin , a Russina intellectual revolutionaly
seized power in the name of the Communist Party.The new regime took land and industry from
private control and put them under government supervision.This centralization of economic
systems constituted the first steps in restoring Russia to the prosperity it had known before World
War I and in modernizing the nation’s primitive infrastructure, including bringing electricity to the
countryside.After Lenin died in 1924, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trosky jockeyed for control of the
newly formed Soviet Union.Stalin a crafty and manipulative politician soon banished Trosky, an
idealistic proponent of international communism.Stalin then began to consolidate his power with
brutal intensity, killing or imprisoning his perceived political enemies and overseeing the purge of
approximately twenty million Soviet citizens.
3. SETTING
Time: As is the case with most fables; Animal Farm is set in an unspecified time period and is
largely free from historical references that would allow the reader to date the action precisely18. It
is fair to assume, however, that Orwell means the fable to be contemporaneous with the object of
its satire, the Russian Revolution (1917–1945). It is important to remember that this period
represented the recent past and present at the time of writing and that Orwell understands the
significance of the story’s action to be immediate and ongoing rather than historical (Ibid).
Place: The events take place in an imaginary farm in England, London
4. SUMMARY (PLOT OVERVIEW)
Old Major, a prize-winning boar, gathers the animals of the manor farm for a meeting in the big
barn. He tells them of a dream he has had in which all animals live together with no human beings
to oppress them. He tells the animals that they must work toward such a paradise and teaches
them a song called Beasts of England, in which his dream vision is lyrically described. The animals
greet major’s vision with great enthusiasm.
When he dies only three nights after the meeting, three younger pigs Snowball, Napoleon and
Squealer formulate his main principles into a philosophy called Animalism.
Late one night, the animals manage to defeat the farmer in a battle, running him off the land. They
rename the property Animal Farm and dedicate themselves to achieving Major’s dream. The cart-
horse Boxer devotes himself to the cause with particular zeal, committing his great strength to the
prosperity of the farm and adopting personal maxim the affirmation I will harder.
At first, Animal Farm prospers, Snowball works at teaching the animals to read and Napoleon takes
a group of young puppies to educate them in the principles of Animalism. When Mr Johns
reappears to take back his farm the animals defeat him again, in what comes to be known as
Battle of the Cowshed and take the farmer’s abandoned gun as a token of their victory. As time
passes, however Napoleon and Snowball increasingly quibble over the future of the farm and they
begin to struggle with each other for the power and influence among the other animals. Snowball
concocts a scheme of building an electricity-generating windmill but Napoleon solidly opposes the
plan. At the meeting to vote on whether to take up the project Snowball gives a passionate speech.
Although Napoleon gives only a brief retort, he then makes a strange noise and nine attack dogs-
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the puppies that Napoleon had confiscated in order to educate burst into the barn and chase
Snowball from the farm. Napoleon assumes leadership of Animal Farm and declares that there will
be no more meetings. From that point on, he asserts the pigs alone will make all of the decisions
for the good of every animal.
Napoleon now quickly changes his mind about the windmill and the animals especially Boxer
devote their efforts to completing atone day, after a storm, the animals find the windmill toppled,
the human farmers in the area declare smugly that the animals made the walls too thin but
Napoleon claims that Snowball returned to the farm to sabotage the windmill. He stages a great
purge during which various animals who have allegedly participated in Snowball’s great conspiracy
meaning any animal who opposes Napoleon’s uncontested leadership meet instant death at the
teeth of the attack dogs. With this leadership unquestioned (Boxer has taken up a second maxim
“Napoleon is always right’’) Napoleon begins expanding his power rewriting history to make
Snowball a villain. Napoleon also begins to act more like a human being-sleeping in a bed, drinking
whisky and engaging in trade with neighboring farmers.The original Animalist principles strictly
forbade such activities but Squealer, Napoleon’s propagandist justifies every action to the other
animals, convincing them that Napoleon is a great leader and is making things better for everyone
despite the fact that the common animals are cold hungry and overworked.
Mr.Frederick a neighboring farmer, cheats Napoleon in the purchase of some timber and then
attacks the farm and dynamites the windmill which had been rebuilt at great expense. After the
demolition of the windmill a pitched battle ensues during which Boxer receives major wounds. The
animals rout the farmers but Boxer’s injuries weaken him. When he later falls while working on the
windmill he senses that his time has nearly come. One day, Boxer is nowhere to be found.
According to Squealer Boxer has died in peace after having been taken to the hospital, praising the
Rebellion with his last breath .In actuality, Napoleon has sold his most loyal and long suffering
worker to a glue maker in order to get money for whisky. Years pass on Animal Farm and the pigs
become more and more like human beings walking upright carrying whips and wearing
clothes.Eventually the seven principles of Animalism (seven commandments) inscribed on the side
of the barn become reduced to a single principle reading ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS
ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
Napoleon entertains a human farmer named Mr Pilkington at a dinner and declares his intent to ally
himself with the human farmers against the laboring classes of both the human and animal
communities. He also changes the name of Animal Farm back to Manor Farm claiming that this
title is the correct one. Looking in at the party of elites through the farmhouse window the common
animals can no longer tell which are the pigs and which are the human beings.
Chapter 1: As the opens Mr Johns the proprietor and overseer of the Manor Farm has just
stumbled drunkenly to bed after forgetting to secure his farm buildings properly. As soon as his
bed room light foes out all of the farm animals except Moses, Mr Jones tame raven convene in the
big barn to hear a speech by Old Major, a prize boar and pillar of the animal community. Sensing
that his long life is about to come to an end, Major wishes to impart to the rest of the farm animals
a distillation of the wisdom that he has acquired during his lifetime.
As the animals listen raptly, Old Major delivers up the fruits of his years of quiet contemplation in
his stall. The plain truth, he says is that the lives of his fellow animals are miserable, laborious and
short. Animals are born into as slaves, worked incessantly from the time they can walk, fed only
26
enough to keep breath in their bodies and then slaughtered mercilessly when they are no longer
useful.He notes that the land upon which the animals live possesses enough resources to support
many times the present population in luxury there is no natural reason for the animals’ poverty and
misery. Major blames the animals suffering solely on their human oppressors Jones and ilk have
been exploiting animals for ages, Major says taking all of the products of their labor-eggs, milk,
dung-foals for themselves and producing nothing of value to offer the animals in return.
Old Major relates a dream that he had the previous night of a world in which animals live without
the tyranny of men. They are free, happy, well fed and treated with dignity. He urges the animals to
do everything they can to make this dream a reality and exhorts them to overthrow the humans
who purport to own them. The animals can succeed in their rebellion only if they first achieve a
complete solidarity or perfect comradeship of all of the animals against the humans and if they
resist the false notion spread by humans that animals and humans share common interests. A
brief conversation arises in which the animals debate the status of rats as comrades. Major then
provides a precept that will allow the animals to determine who their comrades are: Creatures that
walk on two legs are enemies those who walk with four legs or with wings are allies(friends).
He reminds them his audience that the ways of man are completely corrupt once the humans have
been defeated the animals must never adopt any of their habits: They must not live in a house,
sleep in a bed, wear clothes, drink alcohol smoke tobacco, touch money, engage in trade or
tyrannize another animal. He teaches them a song called Beasts of England which paints a
dramatic picture of the utopian or ideal animal community of Major’s dream. The animals sing
several inspired choruses of Beasts of England with one voice-until Mr Jones thinking that the
commotion bespeaks of the barn. The animals go to sleep and the Manor Farm again sinks into
quietude.
Chapter 2: Three nights later Mr Jones died, Old Major dies in his sleep and for three months the
animals make secret preparations to carry out the old pigs dying wish of wrestling control of the
farm from Mr Jones. The work of teaching and organizing falls to the pigs, the cleverest of the
animals and especially to two pigs named Napoleon and Snowball. Together with a silver-tongued
pig named Squealer they formulate the principles of a philosophy called Animalism, the
fundamentals of which they spread among the other animals. The animals call one another
“Comrade’’ and take their quandaries to the pigs who answer their questions about the impending
Rebellion. At first many of the animals find the principles of Animalism difficult to understand they
have grown up believing that Mr. Jones is their proper master, Mollie a vain carriage horse
expresses particular concern over whether she will be able to continue to enjoy the littre luxuries
like eating sugar and wearing ribbons in the new utopia. Snowball sternly reminds her that ribbons
symbolize slavery and that in the animal’s utopia they would have to be abolished. Mollie
halfheartedly agrees.
The pig’s most troublesome opponent proves to be Moses m the raven who flies about spreading
tales of a place called Sugar Candy Mountain where animals go when they die a place of great
pleasure and plenty where sugar grows on the hedges. Even though many of the animals despise
the talkative and idle Moses they nevertheless find great appeal in the idea of sugar candy
Mountain. The pigs work very hard to convince the other animals of the falsehood of Moses’s
teachings. Thanks to the help of the slow-witted but loyal cart-horses Boxer and Clover, the pigs
eventually manage to prime the animals for revolution.
The Rebellion occurs much earlier than anyone expected and comes off with shocking case.Mr.
27
Johns has been driven to drink after losing, one in a lawsuit and he let his men become lazy.
Dishonest and grateful. One day, Mr Johns goes on a drinking binge and forgets to feed the
animals. Unable to bear their hunger , the cows break into the store a shed and the animals begun
to eat.
Mr Johns and his men discover the transgression and begin to whip the cows.Spurred to anger, the
animals turn on the men attack them and easily chase them from the farm.Astonished by their
success the animals hurry to destroy the last remaining evidence of their subservience: chains, bits,
halters, , whips, and other implements stored in the farm buildings.After obliterating all signs of Mr
Johns the animals enjoy a double ration of corn and sing’’Beasts of England’’seven times through ,
until time to sleep.In the morning, they admire the farm from a high knoll before exploring the
farmhouse, where they stare in stunned silence at theunbelevable luxuries within.Mollie tries to
stay inside, where she can help to ribbons and gaze at herself in the mirror, but the rest of the
animals reprimand her sharply for her foolishness.The group agrees to preserve the farmhouse as
a museum with the stipulation that no animal may live in it.The pigs reveal to the other animals that
they have taught themselves how to read and Snowball replaces the inscription ‘Manor Farm’ on
the front gate with the words Animal Farm.
Snowball and Napoleon having reduced the principles of Animalism to seven key commandments
paint these commandements on the side of the big barn.The animals go to gather the harvest but
the cows who haven’t been milked in some time, begin lowing loudly.The pigs milk them, and the
animals eye the five pails of milk desirously.Napoleon tells them not to worry about the milk;he
says that it will be attended to.Snowball leads the animals to the fields to begin
harvesting.Napoleon lags behind and when the animals return that evening , the milk has
disappeared.
Chapter 3: The animals spend a laborious summer harvesting in the fields. The clever pigs think of
the ways for the animals to use the human’s tools and every animal participates in the work each
according to his capacity. The resulting harvest exceeds any that the farm has ever known. Only
Mollie and the cat shirk their duties. The powerful and hard-working Boxer does most of the heavy
labor, adopting I will work harder, as a personal motto. The entire animal community reveres his
dedication and strength. Of all of the animals only Benjamin, the obstinate donkey, seems to
recognize no change under the new leadership.
Every Sunday, the animals hold a flag-raising ceremony. The flag’s green background represents
the fields of England and its white hoof and horn symbolize the animals. The morning rituals also
include a democratic meeting at which the animals debate and establish new policies for the
collective god. At the meetings, Snowball and Napoleon always voice the loudest opinions though
their views always clash. Snowball establishes a number of committees with various goals, such
as cleaning the cow’s tails and re-educating the rats and rabbits. Most of these committees fail to
accomplish their aims, but the classes designed to teach all of the farm animals how to read and
write meet with some success. By the end of the summer all of the animals achieve some degree
of literacy. The pigs become fluent in reading and writing while some of the dogs are able to learn
to read the seven commandments. Muriel the goat can read scraps of newspaper while clover
knows the alphabet but cannot string the letters together. Poor Boxer never gets beyond the letter
D. When it becomes apparent that many of the animals are unable to memorize the Seven
Commandments, Snowball reduces the principles to one essential maxim, which he says contains
the heart of animalism. “Four legs good, two legs bad’’. The birds take offense until Snowball
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hastily explains that wings count as legs. The other animals accept the maxim without argument
and the sheep begin to chant it at random times, mindlessly as if it were a song.
Napoleon takes no interest in Snowball’s committee. When the dogs Jessie and Bluebell each give
birth to puppies, he takes the puppies into his own care, saying that the training of the young
should take priority over adult education. He raises the puppies in a roof above the harness room
out of sight of the rest of Animal Farm. Around this time, the animals discover to their outrage that
the pigs have been taking all of the milk and apples in order to think well and since the pigs work is
brain work it is in everyone’s best interest for the pigs to eat the apples and drink the milk. Should
the pigs’ brains fail because of lack of apples and milk? Squealer hints Mr Johns might come back
to take over the farm. This prospect frightens the other animals and they agree to forgo milk and
apples in the interest of the collective good.
Chapter 4: By late summer, news of Animal Farm has spread across half the country. Mr Johns live
ignominiously in Willingdon, drinking and complaining about his misfortune. Mr. Pilkington and Mr.
Frederick who owns the adjoining farms, fear that disenchantment will spread among their own
animals. Their rivalry with each other, however, prevents them from working together against
Animal Farm. They merely spread rumors about the farm’s inefficiency and moral reprehensibility.
Meanwhile, animals everywhere begin singing ‘’Beasts of England” which they have learned from
flocks of pigeons sent by Snowball and many begin to behave rebelliously.At last, in early October,
a flight of pigeons alerts Animal Farm that Mr.Johns has begun marching on the farm with some of
Pilkington’ and Frederick’s men, who has studied books about the battle campaigns of the
renowned Roman general Julius Caesar , prepares a defense and leads the animals in an ambush
on the men. Boxer fights courageously, as does Snowball and the humans suffer a quick defeat.
The animals’ losses amount only to a single sheep whom they give a hero’s burial. Boxer who
believes that he has unintentionally killed a stable boy in the chaos expresses his regret at taking
life even though it is a human one. Snowball tells him not to feel guilty, asserting that the only good
human being a dead one. Mollie as is her custom has avoided any risk to herself by hiding during
the battle. Snowball and Boxer each receive medals with the inscription. Animal Hero, First Class.
The animals discover Mr.Johns’ gun where he dropped it in the mud. They place it at the
anniversary of the Battle of the Cowshed as they have dubbed their victory and on Midsummer’s
Day, the anniversary of the Rebellion.
Chapter 5: Mollie becomes an increasing burden on Animal Farm: she arrives late for work accepts
treats from men associated with nearby farms and generally behaves contrary to the tenets of
Animalism. Eventually she disappears lured away by a fat red-faced man who stroked her coat and
fed her sugar now she pulls his carriage. None of the other animals ever mentions her name
again.During the cold winter months, the animals hold their meetings in the big barn and Snowball
and Napoleon’s constant disagreements continue to dominate the proceedings. Snowball proves a
better speaker and debater but Napoleon can better canvass for support in between meetings.
Snowball brims with ideas for improving the farm.: He studies Mr Johns’s book and eventually
concocts a scheme to build a windmill with which the animals could generate electricity and
automate many farming tasks, bringing new comforts to the animals lives. But building the
windmill would entail much hard work and difficulty and Napoleon contends that the animals
should attend to their current needs rather than plan for a distant future. The question deeply
divides the animals. Napoleon surveys Snowball’s plan and expresses his contempt by urinating on
them.
29
When Snowball has finally completed his plans all assemble for a great meeting to decide whether
to undertake the windmill project. Snowball gives a passionate speech to which Napoleon
responds with a pathetically affecting and brief retort. Snowball speaks further inspiring the
animals with his descriptions of the wonders of electricity. Just as the animals prepare to vote
however Napoleon gives a strange whimper and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded
collars charge into the barn, attack Snowball and chasse him off the farm. They return to
Napoleon’s side and with the dogs growling menacingly, Napoleon announces that from now on
meetings will be held only for ceremonial purposes. He states that all important decisions will fail
to the pigs alone. Afterward, many of the animals feel confused and disturbed. Squealer explains to
them that Napoleon is making a great sacrifice in taking the leadership responsibilities upon
himself and that as the cleverest animal, he serves the best interest of all by making the decisions.
These statements placate the animals, though they still question the expulsion of Snowball.
Squealer explains that Snowball was a traitor and a criminal. Eventually the animals come to
accept this version of events and Boxer adds greatly to Napoleon’s prestige by adopting the
maxims. I will work hard’’ and ‘’Napoleon is always right. “These two maxims soon reinforce each
other when three weeks after the banishment of Snowball the animals learn that Napoleon
supports the windmill project. Squealer explains that their leader never really opposed the proposal;
he simply used his apparent opposition as a maneuver to oust the wicked Snowball.These tactics
he claims, served to advance the collective best interest.Squealer’s words proves so appealing and
the growls of his three-dogs entourage so threatening that the animals accept his explanation
without question.
Chapter 6: For the rest of year, the animals work at a backbreaking pace to farm enough food for
themselves and to build the windmill.The leadership cuts the Rations-Squealer explains that they
have simply readjusted them-and the animals receive no food at all unless they work on Sunday
afternoons. But because they be leave what the leadership tells them that they are working for their
own good now,not for Mr.Johns they are eager to take on extra labor. Boxer, in particular, commits
himself to Animal Farm doing the work of three horses but never complaining. Even though the
farm possesses all of the necessary materials to build the windmill, the project presents a number
of difficulties.The animals struggle over how to break the available stones into manageable sizes
for building without picks and crowbars which they are unable to use.They finally solve the problem
by learning to raise and then drop big stones into the quarry, smashing them into usable chunks.By
late summer, the animals have enough broken stone to begin construction.Although their works is
strenuous, the animals suffer no more than they had under Mr Johns .They have enough to eat and
can maintain the farm grounds easily now that humans no longer come to cart off and sell the
fruits of their labor.
But the farm still needs a number of items that it cannot produce on its own, such as iron, nails,and
paraffin oil.As existing suppliers of these items to run low, Napoleon announces that he has hired
a human solicitor, Mr Whimper to assist him in conducting trade on behalf of Animal Farm.The
other animals are taken aback by the idea of engaging in trade with humans but Squealer explains
that the founding principles of Animal Farm has never included any prohibition against trade and
the use of money.He adds that if the animals think that they recall any such law, they have simply
fallen victim to lies fabricated by the traitor Snowball.
Mr.Whimper begins paying a visit to the farm every Monday and Napoleon places orders with him
for various supplies.The pigs begin living in the farmhouse and rumor has it that they even sleep in
30
beds. A violation of one of the seven commandments. But when Clover asks Muriel to read her the
appropriate commandment the two find that it now reads “No animal shall sleep in bed with
sheets.’’ Squealer explains that Clover must have simply forgotten the last two words. All animals
sleep in beds; he says a pile of straw is a bed after all. Sheets, however as a human invention
constitute the true source of evil. He then shames the other animals into agreeing that the pigs
need comfortable repose in order to think clearly and serve the greater good of the farm.Around
this time, a fearsome storm descends on Animal Farm, knocking down roof tiles, an elm tree and
even the flagstaff. When the animals go into the fields they find to their horror that the windmill on
which they have worked so hard has been toppled. Napoleon announces in appalled tones that the
windmill has been sabotaged by Snowball who h says will do anything to destroy Animal Farm.
Napoleon passes a death sentence on Snowball, offering a bushel of apples to the traitor’s killer.
He then gives a passionate speech in which he convinces the animals that they must rebuild the
windmill despite the backbreaking toil involved. Long life the windmill he cries’’ Long live Animal
Farm.’’
Chapter 7: In the bitter cold of winter, the animals struggle to rebuild the windmill. In January , they
fall short of food, a fact that they work to conceal from the human farmers around them, lest
Animal Farm be perceived to be falling. The humans refuse to believe that Snowball caused the
destruction of the windmill, saying that the windmill’s wall simply weren’t thick enough. The
animals deem this explanation false, but they nevertheless decide to build the walls as thick this
time. Squealer gives ennobling speeches on the glory of sacrifice, but the other animals acquire
their real inspiration from the example of Boxer who works harder than ever. In order to feed the
animals. Napoleon contacts to sell hundred eggs a week. The other animals react with shock-one
of Old Major’s original complaints about humans focused on the cruelty of egg selling or so they
remember. The hens rebel and Napoleon responds by cutting their rations entirely. Nine hens die
before the others give in to Napoleon’s demands. Soon afterward, the animals hear to their
extreme dismay that Snowball has been visiting the farm at night in secret and sabotaging the
animal’s efforts. Napoleon says that he can detect Snowball’s presence everywhere and whenever
something appears to go wrong by chance, Snowball receives the blame. One day, Squealer
announces that Snowball has sold himself to Mr.Frederick’s farm,Pinchfield and that the
treacherous pig has been in league with Mr.Johns from the start. He recalls Snowball’s attempt at
the Battle of the Cowshed to have the animals defeated.The animals hear these words in stupefied
astonishment.They remember Snowball’s heroism and recall that he received a medal.Boxer,
in particular is completely baffled.But Napoleon and Squealer convince the others that Snowball’s
apparent bravery simply constituted part of his treacherous plot.They also work to convince the
animals of Napoleon’s superior bravery during the battle.So vividly does Squealer describe
Napoleon’s alleged heroic actions that the animals are almost able to remember them.
Four days later, Napoleon convenes all of the animals in the yard.With this nine huge dogs ringed
about him and growling, he stages an inquisition and a purge:he forces certain animals to confess
to their participation in conspiracy with Snowball and then he has the dogs tear out these
supposed traitors throatsThe dogs apparently without orders even attack Boxer who effortlessly
knocks them away with huge hoves.But four pigs and numerous other animals meet their
deaths,including the hens who rebelled at the proposal to sell their eggs.The terrible blooddhed
leaves the animals deeply shaken and confused.After Napoleo leaves, Boxer says that he would
never have believed that such a thing could happen to Animal Farm.He adds that the tragedy must
owe to some fault in the animals themselves ;thus he commits to working even harder.Clover looks
31
out over the farm, wondering how such a glorious rebellion have come to its current state.Some of
the animals begin to sing ‘’Beasts of England” but Squealer appears and explains that Beasts of
England may no longer be sung.It applied only to the Rebellion he says and now there is no more
need for rebellion Squealer gives the animals a replacement song written by Minimus the poet
pig.The new song expresses profound patriotism and glorifies Animal Farm but it does not inspire
the animals as Beasts of England’’ did.
Chapter 8: A few days after the bloody executions , the animals discover that the commandment
reading:’’No animal shall kill any other animal’’now reads’’No animal shall kill any other animal
without cause’’As with the previous revisions of commandements, the animals blame the apparent
change on their faulty memories-they must have forgotten the final two words.The animal work
even harder throughout the year to rebuild the windmill.Though they often suffer from hunger and
the cold. Squealer reads continuously from a list of statitics proving that conditions remain far
superior to anything the animals knew under Mr.Johns and they only continue to improve.
Napoleon has now taken the title of Leader and has dozens of other complimentary titles as
well.Minimus has written a poem in praise of the Napoleon and inscribed it on the barn wall.A pile
of timber lies unused on the farm left over from the days of Mr.Johns and Napoleon engages in
complicated negotiations for the sale of it to either Mr.Frederick or Mr.Pilkington.When
negotiations favor Mr.Pilkington then appears ready to buy the timber, the pigs tech the animals to
hate Mr.Frederick with equal ferocity.Whchever farm is currently out of favor is said to be the
hiding place of Snowball.Following a slew of propaganda against Mr.Frederick(during which
Napoleon adopts the maxim Death to Frederick)the animals are shocked to learn that Mr.Frederick
eventually comes through as the buyer of the timber.The pigs talk endlessly about Napoleon’s
cleverness for rather than accept a check for the timber, he insists on receiving cash.
The five pound notes are now in his possession. Soon the animals complete the construction of
the windmill. But before they put it to use, Napoleon discovers to his great outrage that the money
Mr.Frederick gave him for the timber is simply a stack of forgeries. He warns the animals to
prepare for the worst and indeed, Mr Frederick soon attacks Animal Farm with a large group of
armed men.The animals cower as Mr.Frederick’s men plant dynamite at the base of the windmill
and blow the whole structure up. Enraged the animals attack the men driving them away but a
heavy cost: several of the animals are killed, and Boxer sustains a serious injury. The animals are
disheartened but a patriotic flag-raising ceremony cheers them up and restores their faith
somewhat. Not long afterward the pigs discover a crate of whisky in the farmhouse basement.
That night the animals hear singing and revelry from within followed by the sound of a terrible
quarrel. The next morning the pigs look bleary-eyed and sick and the animals hear whisperings that
comrade Napoleon may be dying. By evening, however he has recovered. The next night some of
the animals find Squealer near the barn holding a paintbrush he has fallen from a ladder leaned up
against the spot where the seven commandments are painted on the barn.
The animals fail to put two and two together however and when they discover that the
commandment that they recall as stating: No animal shall drink alcohol actually reads “No animal
shall drink alcohol to excess, they once again blame their memories for being faulty.
Chapter 9: Wearily and weakly the animals set about rebuilding the windmill. Though Boxer
remains seriously injured he shows no sign of being in pain and refuses to leave his work for even
a day. Clover makes him a poultice for his hoof and he eventually does seem to improve but his
coat doesn’t seem as shiny as before and his great strength seems slightly diminished. He says
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that his only goal is to see the windmill off to a good start before he retires. Though no animal has
yet retired on Animal Farm it had previously been agreed that all horses could do so at the age of
twelve. Boxer now nears his age, and he looks forward to a comfortable life in the pasture as a
reward for his immense labors.
Food grows ever more scarce and all animals receive reduced rations except for the pigs and dogs.
Squealer continues to produce statistics proving that even with this readjustment, the rations
exceed those that they received under Mr. Johns. After all, Squealer says: when the pigs and dogs
receive good nourishment the whole community stands to benefit. When four sows give birth to
Napoleon’s piglets, thirty –one in all, Napoleon command that a schoolhouse be built for their
education, despite the farm’s dwindling funds. Napoleon begins ordering events called
spontaneous Demonstrations at which the animals march around the farm, listen to speeches and
exult in the glory of Animal Farm. When other animals complain, the sheep who love these
Spontaneous Demonstrations drown them out with chants of Four legs good, two legs bad.In April,
the government declares Animal Farm a republic and Napoleon becomes president in an
unanimous vote having been the only candidate. The same day, the leadership reveals new
discoveries about Snowball’s complicity with Johns at the Battle of the Cowshed. It now appears
that Snowball actually fought openly on Johns side and cried Long live Humanity! At the outset of
the fight. The battle took place so long ago and seems so distant that the animals placidly accept
this new story. Around the same time, Moses the raven returns to the farm and once again begins
spreading his stories about sugar candy mountain. Though the pigs officially denounce these
stories as they did at the outset of their administration they nonetheless allow Moses to live on the
farm without requiring him work.
One day, Boxer’s strength fails: he collapses while pulling stone for the windmill. The other animals
rush to tell Squealer, while Benjamin and Clover stay near their friend. The pigs announce that they
will arrange to bring Boxer to a human hospital to recuperate, but when the car arrives, Bnejamin
reads the writing on the car’s sideboards and announces that Boxer is being sent to ague maker to
be slaughtered. The animals panic and begin crying out to Boxer that he must escape. They hear
him kicking feebly inside the car but he is unable to get outSoon Squealer announces that the
doctors could not cure Boxer: He has died at the hospital. He claims to have been at the great’s
horse’s side and he died and calls it the most moving sight he has ever seen he says that Boxer
died praising the glories of Animal Farm.Squealer denounces the false rumors that Boxer was
taken to a glue factory saying that the hospital bought the car from a glue maker and had failed to
paint over the lettering. The animals have a sight of relief at this news and when Napoleon gives a
great speech in praise of Boxer they feel completely soothed.
Not long after the speech, the farmhouse receives a delivery from the grocer and sounds of erupt
from within. The animals murmur among themselves that the pigs have found the money to buy
another crate of whisky-though no one knows where they found the money.
Chapter 10: Years pass. Many animals age and die and few recall the days before the Rebellion.
The animals complete a new windmill which is used not for generating electricity but for milling
corn, a far more profitable endeavor. The farm seems to have grown richer, but only the many pigs
and dogs live comfortable lives. Squealer explains that the pigs and dogs do very important work-
filling out forms and such. The other animals largely accept this explanation and their lives go on
very much as before. They never lose their sense of pride in Animal Farm or their feeling in the
goals of the Rebellion-a world free from humans with equality for all animals. One day, Squealer
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takes the sheep off to a remote spot to teach them a new chant.
Not long afterward, the animals have just finished their day’s work when they hear the neighing of a
horse. It is Clover and she summons the others hastily to the yard.
There, the animals gaze in amazement at Squealer walking toward them on his hind legs. Napoleon
soon appears as well, walking upright, worse, he carries a whip. Before the other animals have a
chance to react to the change the sheep begin to chant as if on cue: Four legs good, two legs
better! Clover whose eyes are failing in her old age, asks Benjamin to read the writing on the barn
wall where the seven commandments were originally inscribed. Only the last commandment
remains ‘All animals are equal’ ’However, it now carries an addition “but some animals are more
equal than others’’In the days that follow, Napoleon openly begins smoking a pipe and the other
pigs subscribe to human magazines, listen to the radio and begin to install a telephone also
wearing human clothes that they have salvaged from Mr. Johns wardrobe.
One day, the pigs invite neighboring human farmers over to inspect Animal Farm. The farmers
praise the pigs and express in diplomatic language their regret for past ‘misunderstanding’ ’The
other animals led by Clover watch through a window as Mr. Pilkington and Napoleon toast each
other and Mr. Pilkington declares that the farmers share a problem with the pigs. ’If you have your
lower animals to contend with ‘’he says’’ we have our lower classes! Mr. Pilkington notes with
appreciation that the pigs have found ways to make Animal Farm animals work harder and on less
food than any other group of farm animals in the country. He adds that he looks forward to
introducing these advances on his own farm. Napoleon replies by reassuring his human guests
that the pigs never wanted any tithing other than to conduct business peacefully with their human
neighbors and that they have taken steps to further that goal. Animals on Animal Farm will no
longer address one another as “Comrade’’ he says or pay homage to Old Major nor will they salute
a flag with a horn and hoof upon it’ll of these have been changed recently by decree, he assures the
men, Napoleon never announces that Animal Farm will be known as the Manor Farm which is he
believes as his original name.The pigs and farmers return to their amiable card game and the other
animals creep away from the window.Soon the sounds of a quarrel draw them back to
listen.Napoelon and Pilkington have played the ace of spades simultaneously and each accuses
another of cheating.The animals watching through the window realize with a start that as they look
around the room of the farmhouse they can no longer distinguish which of the card game players
are pigs and which are human beings.
4.CHARACTERS
NAPOLEON: From the very beginning of the novella, Napoleon emerges as an utterly corrupt
opportunist. Though always present at the early meetings of the new state, Napoleon never makes
a single contribution to the revolution not to the formulation of its ideology, not to the bloody
struggle that it necessitates not to the new society’s initial attempts to establish itself. He never
shows interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself only in the strength of his power over it. Thus,
the only project he undertakes with enthusiasm is the training of a litter of puppies. He doesn’t
educate them for their own good or for the good of all, however, but rather for his own good. They
become his own private army or secret police, a violent means by which he imposes his will on
others.Although, he is most directly modeled on the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin Napoleon
represents, in a more general sense, the political tyrants that have emerged throughout human
history and with particular frequency during the twentieth century. His namesake is not any
communist leader but the early-eighteenth-century French general Napoleon who betrayed the
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democratic principles on which he rode to power, arguably becoming as great a despot as the
aristocrats whom he supplanted. It is a testament to Orwell’s acute political intelligence and to the
great dictators and political schemes in world history even those who arose after Animal Farm was
written. In the behavior of Napoleon and henchmen, one can detect the lying and bullying tactics of
totalitarian leaders such a s Josip Tito, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Augusto Pinochet and Slobodan
Milosevic treated in sharply critical terms.
Snowball: Orwell’s stint in a Troskyist battalion in the Spanish Civil War-during which he first began
plans for a critique of totalitarian communism-influenced his relatively positive portrayal of
Snowball. As a parallel for Leon Trosky, Snowball emerges as a fervent ideologue who throws
himself heart and soul into the attempt to spread Animalism worldwide and to improve Animal
Farm’s infrastructure.
His idealism, however leads to his downfall. Relying only on the force of his own logic and rhetoric
skills to gain his influence, he proves no match for Napoleon’s show of brute force. Although
Orwell depicts Snowball in a relatively appealing light, he refrains from idealizing his character,
making sure to endow him with certain moral flaws. For example, Snowball basically accepts the
superiority of the pigs over the rest of the other animals Moreover, his fervent, single-minded
enthusiasm for grand project such as the windmill might have erupted into Farm. Indeed, Orwell
suggests that we cannot eliminate government corruption by electing principled individuals to roles
of power, he reminds us throughout the novel that it is power itself that corrupts.
Boxer: The most sympathetically drawn character in the novel. Boxer symbolizes all of the best
qualities of the exploited classes: dedication, loyalty and a huge capacity for labor. He also,
however suffers from what Orwell saw as the working’s class major weakness, a naïve trust in the
good intentions of the intelligentsia and an inability to recognize even the most blatant forms of
political corruption. Exploited by the pigs as much or more than he had been by Mr.Johns, Boxer
represents all of the invisible labor that undergirds the political drama being carried out by the
elites. Boxer’s pitiful death at a glue factory dramatically illustrates the extent of the pigs betrayal.
It may also however, speak to the specific significance of Boxer himself before being carted off, he
serves as the force that holds Animal Farm together.
Squealer: Throughout his career, Orwell exploited how politicians manipulate language in an age of
mass media. In Animal Farm, the silver-tongued pig Squealer abuses language to justify
Napoleon’s actions and policies to the proletariat by whatever means seem necessary .b)y radically
simplifying language as when he teaches the sheep to bleat “Four legs good, two legs better’’-he
limits the terms of debate. By complicating language unnecessarily, he confuses and intimidates
the uneducated as when he explains that pigs who are the brainworkers of the farm consume milk
and apples not for pleasure but for the good of their comrades.
In this latter strategy he also employs jargon (tactics, tactics) as well as a baffling vocabulary of
false and impenetrable statistics, engendering in the other animals both self-doubt and a sense of
hopelessness about ever accessing the truth without the pigs’ mediation. Squealer’s lack of
conscience and unwavering loyalty to his leader, alongside his rhetorical skills make him the
perfect propagandist for any tyranny. Squealer’s name also fits him well squealing of course refers
to a pig’s typical form of vocalization and Squealer’s speech defines him. At the same time, to
Squealer also means to betray, aptly evoking Squealer’s behavior with regard to his fellow animals.
Old Major: As a democratic socialist,Orwell had a great deal of respect for Karl Marx, the German
35
political economist and even by Vladmir Llch Lenin,the Russian revolutionary leader.His critique of
Animal Farm has littre to do with the Marxist ideology by later leaders.Major who represents both
Marx and Lenin serves as the source of the ideals that the animals continue to upholdeven after
their pig leaders have betrayed him.Though his portrayal of Old Major is largely positive,Orwell
does include a few small ironies that allow the reader to question the venerable pig’s motives.For
instance, in the midst of his long tyranny of complaints about how the animals have been treated
by human beings,Old Major is forced to concede that his own life has been long,full and free from
the terros he has vividly sketched for his rapt audience.He seems to have claimed a false
brotherhood with the other animals in order to garner their support for his vision.Old Major serves
as the inspiration for the Rebellion.Three days after describing the vision and teaching the animals
the song called Beasts of England, Major dies leaving Snowball and Napoleon to struggle for
control of his legacy.Orwell based Major on both the German political economist Karl Marx and the
Russian revolutionary leader Vladmir Llyich Lenin.
CLOVER: A good-hearted female cart-horse and Boxer’s close friend. Clover oftern suspects the
pigs of violating one or another of the seven commandements,but she repeatedly blames herself
for misremembering the commandements.
MOSES: The tame raven who spreads stories of sugar candy Mountain, the paradise to which
Animals supposedly go when they die. Moses plays only a small role in Animal Farm but Orwell
uses him to explore how communism exploits religion as something with which to pacify the
oppressed.
MOLLIE: The vain,flighty mare who pulls Mr.Johns carriage.Mollie craves the attention of human
and loves being groomd and pampered.She has a difficulty time with her new life on Animal Farm,
as she misses wearing ribbons in her mane and eating sugar cubes.She represents the petit
bourgeoisie that fled from Russia a few years after the Russian revolution.
BENJAMIN: The long-lived donkey who refuses to feel inspired by the Rebellion .Benjamin firmly
believes that life will remain unpleasant no matter how is in charge.Of all of the animals on the
farm, he alone comprehends the changes that take place , but he seems either unwilling or unable
to oppose the pigs.
MURIEL: The white goat who reads the seven commandements to Clover whenever Clover
suspects the pigs of violating their prohibitons.
MR. JONES: The often farmer who runs the Manor Farm before the animals stage their Rebellion
and establish Animal Farm.Mr.Jones is an unkind master who indulges himself while his animals
lack of food. He thus represents Tsar Nicolas II,whom the Russian Reevolution ousted.
MR. FREDERICK: The tough, shrewd operator of Pinch field a neighboring farm. Based on Adolf
Hitler, the ruler of Nazi Germany in the 1930 s and 1940s.Mr Frederick proves an untrustworthy
neighbor.
MR. PILKINGTON: The easygoing gentleman farmer who runs Foxwod , a neighboring
farm.Mr.Frederick’s bitter enemy, Mr Pilkington represents the capitalist governments of England
and the United States.
MR. WHIMPER: The human solicitor whom Napoleon hires to represent Animal Farm in human
society. Mr Whimper entry into the Animal Farm community initiates contact between Animal Farm
and human society, alarming common animals.
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JESSIE AND BLUEBELL:Two dogs ,each of them gives birth early in the novel. Napoleon takes the
puppies in order to educate them.
MINIMUS: The poet pig, who writes verse about Napoleon and pens the banal patriotic song
Animal Farm to replace the earlier idealistic hymn Beasts of England which Old Major passes on to
the others.
5. THEMES
The corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union
Animal Farm is most famous in the West as stinging critique of the history and rhetoric of the
Russian Revolution. Retelling the story of the emergence and development of Soviet Communism
in the form of an animal fable. Animal Farm allegorizes the rise of the power of the dictator Joseph
Stalin.
The novel,the overthrow of the human oppressor Mr.Johns by a democratic coalition of animals
quickly gives way to the consolidation of power among the pigs.Much like the Soviet intelligentsia
the pigs establish themselves as the ruling class in the new society.
The struggle for preeminence between Leon Trosky and Stalin emerges in the rivalry between the
pigs Snowball and Napoleon. In both, the historical and fictional cases, the idealistic but politically
less powerful figure (Trosky and Snowball) is expelled from the revolutionary state by the
malicious and violent usurper of power(Stalin and Napoleon)The purges and show trials with which
Stalin eliminated his enemies and solidified his political base find expression in Animal Farm as the
false confessions and executions of animals whom Napoleon distrusts following the collapse of
the windmill. Stalin’s tyrannical rule and eventual abandonment of the founding principles of the
Russian Revolution are represented by the pigs turn to violent government and the adoption of
human traits and behaviors, the trappings of their original oppressors. Although Orwell believed
strongly in socialist ideals, he felt that the Soviet Union realized these ideals in a terribly perverse
form. His novel creates it most powerful ironies in the moments in which Orwell depicts the
corruption of Animalist ideals by those in power.For Animal Farm serves not so much to condemn
tyranny or despotism as to indict the horrifying hypocrisy of tyrannies that base themselves on and
owe their initial power to, ideologies of liberation and equality. The gradual disintegration and
perversion of the Seven Commandments illustrates this hypocrisy with vivid force, as do Squealer’s
elaborate philosophical justifications for the pigs blatantly unprincipled actions. Thus, the novel
criticizes the violence of the Stalinist regime against the human beings it ruled and also points to
Soviet Communism’s violence against human logic language and ideals.
The societal tendency toward class stratification
Animal Farm offers commentary on the development of class tyranny and the human tendency to
maintain and reestablish class structures even in societies that allegedly stand for total equality.
The novel illustrates how classes that are initially unified in the face of a common enemy, as the
animals are against the humans, may become internally divided when that enemy is eliminated.
The expulsion of Mr.Johns creates a power vacuum and it is only so long before the next
oppressor assumes totalitarian control .The natural division between intellectual and physical labor
quickly comes to express itself as a new set of class divisions with the brainworkers(as the pigs
claim to be) using their superior intelligence to manipulate society to their own benefit. Orwell
never clarifies in Animal Farm whether this negative state of affairs constitutes an inherent aspect
37
of society or merely an outcome contingent on the integrity of a society’s intelligentsia. In either

case, the novel points to the force of this tendency towards class stratification in many
communities and the threat that it poses to democracy and freedom.
The danger of a naïve working class
One of the novel’s most impressive accomplishments is its portrayal not just of the figures in
power but also of the oppressed people themselves. Animal Farm is not from the perspective of
any particular character, though occasionally it does slip into Clover’s consciousness. Rather, the
story is told from the perspective of the common animals as a whole. Gullible, royal and
hardworking, these animals give Orwell chance to sketch how situations of oppression arise not
only from the motives and tactics of the oppressor but also from the naïveté of the oppressed, who
are not necessarily in a position to be better educated or informed. When presented with a
dilemma, Boxer prefers not to puzzle out the implications of various actions but instead to repeat
to himself, Napoleon is always right. Animal Farm demonstrates how the inability or unwillingness
to question authority condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the rulling class’s
oppression.
The abuse of language as instrumental to the abuse of power
One of Orwell’s central concerns, both in Animal Farm and in 1984 is the way in which language
can be manipulated as an instrument of control.
In Animal Farm the pigs gradually twist and distort a rhetoric of socialist revolution to justify their
behavior and to keep the other animals in the dark.The animals heartly embrace Major’s visionary
ideal of socialism, but after Major dies the pigs gradually twist the meaning of this words.As a
result, the other animals seem unable to oppose the pigs without also opposing the ideals of the
Rebellion.By the end of the novel after Squealer’s repeated configurations of the seven
commandements in order to decriminalize the pigs treacheries, the main principle of the farm can
be openly stated as ‘’All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’’.This
outrageous abuse of the word equal and of the ideal of equality in general typifies the pigs method
which becomes increasingly audacious as the novel progresses.
Orwell’s sophiscated exposure of this abuse of language remains one of the most compelling and
enduring features of Animal Farm, worthy of close study even after we have decoded its allegorical
characters and events.
NOVEL4: THE PEARL by John Steinbeck

1. The Pearl – Background Information
Author: John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California the
son of poor parents. Although he was educated at Stanford University
and became a celebrated writer, he never forgot his origins. Growing up
in working class towns, he became an excellent observer of human
nature and later wrote about the people he lived around–– workers
including Mexican-American and migrant workers. He discovered the
harsh reality that these people were often treated poorly and without
respect and had little means of defending themselves. As a result, many
of the characters he wrote about were down and out, isolated and
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oppressed. They represent the “struggle” theme of his novels––principally the struggle between
the poor and the wealthy, the weak and the strong, good and evil, and between cultures or
civilizations. These themes are all evident in The Pearl.
Origins: In 1940, Steinbeck set out on a sailing expedition to study marine life in the Gulf of
California, hoping to find universal patterns in marine species that would help him understand life
in general. During this trip, Steinbeck heard about the legend of a Mexican fisher boy who had
found an enormous pearl that had brought him much misery. Steinbeck developed this legend into
the novel The Pearl. As you read The Pearl, watch for details about the plant and
animal life in the Gulf and the many metaphors (comparisons),
images and themes Steinbeck uses which are connected to these
details.
2. Setting
The events of The Pearl take place sometime around the 1900
on an estuary (mouth of the river) somewhere on the coast of
Mexico in the town of La Paz. On a map the long peninsula
which descends from California is called BAJA CALIFORNIA. It
is part of Mexico and is separated from the rest of Mexico by the
Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.
3. Historical Background and Social
Culture:
At the time the story takes place, the Indians of Mexico had already been under the domination of
people of Spanish descent for 300 years. The governing class was primarily made up of those of
Spanish descent and the Roman Catholic Church who, together, kept the Mexican Indians at the
bottom of the social hierarchy or social ladder. In most cases, the Indians were not allowed to
attend school or own land. (Keeping people uneducated and dependent keeps them oppressed).
Although Spanish culture and Catholic rituals were forced upon the Indians, they fiercely held onto
many of their spiritual beliefs, cultures, and customs of their various tribes. WATCH FOR
EVIDENCE OF THIS IN THE NOVEL!
4. Style
The Pearl is a short novel or novella which is told in the
form of an allegory or PARABLE––a short, simple work
with little dialogue illustrating a lesson or a larger truth
often on the subject of good and evil. In a PARABLE, good
and evil are clearly defined––everything is black and white,
there are no shades of gray. For instance, the good
characters have names, and the bad characters have no
names. The characters and action symbolize certain
universal ideas or concepts and the readers attach their
own meaning to these symbols.
5. Point of View: The Pearl is

told by an all knowing
OMNISCIENT third-person
narrator who is observing the
characters and their actions
from outside the story.
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Comment: The reader is told in the preface, “In the town they tell the story of the great pearl––how
it was found and how it was lost again…If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own
meaning from it and reads his own life into it.” Thus begins Steinbeck’s novel of good and evil, The
Pearl. It is the timeless tale of the Mexican-Indian fisherman Kino, his wife Juana, and their infant
son, Coyotito. It tells of how Kino finds the Pearl of the World and dreams of breaking out of the
trap of poverty and ignorance that oppresses him and his family.
The violence that follows shatters his dreams, but brings him a greater understanding of himself
and the realities of the world in which he lives. As you read, consider what meaning you take from
Kino’s story.
Other Well-Known Novels By Steinbeck:

Tortilla Flat (1935) Cannery Row (1945)
The Red Pony (1937) East of Eden (1952)
Of Mice and Men (1937) The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
Travels With Charley (1962)
6. SUMMARY (PLOT OVERVIEW)
Kino Juana and their infant son,Coyotito, live in a modest brush house by the sea. One morning,
calamity strikes when a scorpion stings Coyotito. Hoping to protect their son,Kino and Juana rush
him to the doctor in town .When they arrive at the doctor’s gate, they are turned away because they
are poor natives who cannot pay enough. Later that same morning, Kino and Juana take their
family canoe , an heirloom, out to the estuary to go diving for pearls. Juana makes a poultice for
Coyotito’s wound, while Kino searches the sea bottom. Juana’s prayers for a large pearl are
answered when Kino surfaces with the largest pearl either of them has ever seen. Kino lets out a
triumphant yell at his good fortune,prompting the surrounding boats to circle in and examine the
treasure. In the afternoon, the whole neighborhood gathers at Kino’s brush house to celebrate his
find. Kino names a list of things that he will secure for his family with his newfound wealthy,
including a church wedding and an education for his son.The neighbors marvel at Kino’s boldness
and wonder if he is foolish or wise to harbor such ambitions. Toward evening, the local priest visits
Kino to bless him in his good fortune and to remind him on his place within the church.
Shortly thereafter, the doctor arrives, explaining that he was out in the morning but has come now
to cure Coyotito. He administers a powerdered capsule and promises to return in an hour.In the
intervening period,Coyotito grows violently ill, and Kino decides to bury the pearly under the floor in
a corner of the brush house.The doctor returns and feeds Coyotito a potion to quiet his spasms.
When the doctor inquires about payment,Kino explains that soon he will sell his large pearl and
inadvently glances toward the corner where he has hidden the pearl.This mention of the pearl
greatly intrigues the doctor and Kino is left with an uneasy feeling.
Before going to bed,Kino reburies the pearl under his sleeping mat.That night, he is roused by an
intruder digging around in the corner.A violent struggle ensures and Kino ‘s effort to chase away
the criminal leave him bloodied.Terribly upset by this turn of events,Juana proposes that they
abandon the pearl, which she considers an agent of evil.The next morning,Kino and Juana make
their way to town to sell the pearl Juan Tomas,Kino’s brother , advises Kino to be wary of
cheats.Indeed , all of the dealers conspire to bid low on the pearl.Kino indignantly refuses to accept
their offers, resolving instead to take his pearl to the capital.That evening, as Kino and Juana
prepare to leave,Juan Tomas cautions Kino against being overly proud and Juana repeats her wish
40
to be rid of the pearl.Kino silences her, explaining that he has is a man and will take care of things.
In the middle of the night, Juana steals away with the pearl.Kino wakes as she leaves and pursues
her, apprehending her just as she is poised to throw the pearl into the sea.
He tackles her, takes the pearl back, and beats her violentry, leaving her in a crumpled heap on the
beach.As he returns to the brush house, a group of hostile men confronts him and tries to take the
pearl from him.He fights the men off, killing one and causing the rest to flee, but drops the pearl in
the process. As Juana ascends from the shore to the brush house, she finds the pearl lying in the
path.Just beyond, she sees Kino on the ground, next to the dead man.He bemoans the loss of the
pearl, which she presents to him.Though Lino explains that he had no intention to kill,Juana insists
that he will be labeled a murederer.They resolve to flee at once.Kino rushes to the shore to prepare
the canoe, while Juana returns home to gather Coyotito and their belongings.
Kino arrives at the shore and finds his canoe destroyed by vandals.When he climbs the hill, he sees
a fire blazing and realizes that his house has burned down.Desperate to find refuge,Kino ,Juana
and Coyotito duck into Juan Tomas’s house, where they hide out for the day.Relieved that the three
did not perish in the blaze as the rest of the neighborhood believes,Juan Tomas and his
wife,Apolonia, reluctantly agree to keep Kino and Juana’s secret and provide shelter for them while
pretending to be igonarant of their whereabouts.All nightfall,Kino,Juana and Coyotito set out for the
capital.Skirting the town, they travel north until sunrise and then take convert shelter by the
roadside.They sleep for most of the day and are preparing to set out again when Kino discovers
that three trackers are following them.After hesitating biefly,Kino decides that they must hurry up
the mountain, in hopes of eluding the trackers.A breathless ascent brings them to a water source,
where they rest and take shelter in a nearby cave.Kino attempts to mislead the trackers by
creating a false trail up the mountain.Kino,Juana and Coyotito then hide in the cave and wait for an
opportunity to escape back down the mountain.The trackers are slow in their pursuit and finally
arrive at the watering hole at dusk.They make camp nearby and two of the trackers sleep while the
third stands watch.Kino decides that he must attempt to attack them before the late moon
rises.He strips naked to avoid being seen and sneaks up to striking distance.Just as Kino prepares
to attack,Coyotito let out a cry,waking the sleepers.When one of them fires at his rifle in the
direction of the cry, Kino makes his move, killing the trackers in a violent fury.In the aftermath,Kino
slowly realizes the the rifle shot struck and killed his son in the cave.
The next day, Kino and Juana make their way back through town and the outlying brush houses.
Juana carries her dead son slung over her shoulder.They walk all the way to the sea, as onlookers
watch in silent fascination. At the shore,Kino pulls the pearl out of his clothing and takes one
last,hard look at it.Then ,with all his might, under a setting sun he flings the pearl back into the sea.
7. SUMMARY (CHAPTER BY CHAPTER)
Chapter 1 : Kino watched the detachment of God while a dusty and frantically tried to escape the
sand trap an ant lion had dug for him. Just before sunrise sometimes around 1900, a Mexican-
Indian pearl diver named Kino awakens to the sound of crowing roosters. He lives near the village
of La Paz, on the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula. He watches the day dawning through the
crack of the door to his house, which is made of brush-bundles of straw fastened together to form
walls and a roof. He then looks to a makeshift cradle, a kind of box hanging from the roof of the
huff, where his infant son,Coyotito, sleeps.
Finally, still resting on the mat, Kino turns his gaze to the open eyes of his wife, Juana. She looks
back at Kino as she always does in the early morning. Hearing the waves rolling up on the nearby
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beach. Kino closes his eyes again to listen to the sound of an old song in his head. Juana rises to
check on Coyotito and starts a fire.Kino also rises, wrapping himself in a blanket and sliding into
his sandals.Outside, he regards the climbing sun and the hovering clouds as Juana prepares
breakfast. In the company of a goat and dog. Kino stares with the detachment of God at a group of
industrious ants underfoot. Behind him, Kino hears Juana singing and nursing Coyotito. Her song is
simple and it moves Kino to contemplation. As the rest of the neighborhood stirs, Kino goes back
inside the house and finds Juana fixing her hair.As they eat their simple breakfast, there is no
speech between them beyond a contented sigh from Kino. A ray of light shines on Coyotito’s
hanging box, revealing a scorpion crawling down the rope toward the child.Terrified ,Juana recites
a charm and a prayer to protect Coyotito, while Kino move forward to capture the scorpion.Coyotito
spots the scorpion on the rope, laughs and reaches up to grab it.Just then, positioned in front of
the hanging box,Kino freezes , slowly stretching out his hand toward the scorpion.When Coyotito
shakes the rope of the hanging box, the scorpion falls, lands on his shoulder and stings him.Kino
immediately seizes the creature and crushes it in his grasp, beating it to death on the floor for good
measure.Kino’s retribution does no good,though and Coyotito screams with pain. Juana grabs
Coyotito at once and attempts to suck the venom out of his festering wound.The child’s wailing
summons several neighbors to Kino’s doorstep, including Kin’s brother,Juan Tomas and Juan
Tomas’s wife,Apolonia.As Coyotito’s cries diminish into moans,Juana asks Kino to summon the
doctor.Such a request surprises the neighbors since the doctor has never visited the poor cluster
of brush houses.(The doctor belongs to the social class of the Spanish colonists of the region.,a
class far above that of poor natives such as Kino and Juana).When Kino expresses doubt that the
doctor will come to the doctor will come to Coyotito,Juana resolves to take Coyotito to the
doctor.Kino and Juana set out for the center of town their neighbors trailing behind them.Near the
center of the town,more people follow, curious to see the outcome of a poor man’s plea to a rich
doctor.Arriving at the doctor’s house,Kino knocks at the gate.He both fears and resents the doctor,
a powerful man not of his own people.Presently, the gate opens to reveal one of Kino’s own people
employed in the doctors’ office.Kino explains the details of Coyotito’s injury in his native tongue;the
man ignores Kino’s use of the native language and responds in Spanish.He tells Kino to wait while
he goes to speak with the doctor. Indoors, the doctor sits up in bed,surrounded by luxuries.He
feasts on biscuits and hot chocolate and thinks nostalgically of Paris.
When the servant interrupts the doctor’s reverie to announce Kino’s visit, the doctor bitterly
demands to know if Kino has money to pay for the treatment. Kino gives the servant eight small
pearls, but soon the servant returns to Kino with them, explaining that the doctor has been called
out to attend to a serious case.With this dismissal, the procession breaks up, leaving Kino furious
and ashamed.Standing in shock in front of the closed gate,Kino strikes out in anger, smashing his
fist into the barrier and bloodying his knuckles.
Chapter 2 : But the pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck, a little pat on the back
by God or the gods or both
On the shores of the estuary, a set of blue and white canoes sits in the sand. Crabs and lobsters
poke out from their holes, and algae and sea horses drift aimlessly in the nearby currents.Dogs and
pigs scavenge the shoreline for sea drift in the hazy morning.Amid this scene,Kino and Juana walk
down the beach to Kino’s canoe.They are going to search for pearls of sufficient value to persuade
the doctor to treat the poiseoned Coyotito. The canoe, an heirloom passed down to Kino from his
paternal grandfather, is Kino’s sole asset in the world. Kino lays his blanket in its bow.Juana rests
Coyotito upon the blanket and places her shawl over him to protect him from the sun.She then
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wades into the water and collects some seaweed, which she applies gently to Coyotito;s wound.
Kino and Juana slide the canoe into the water,Juana climbs in, and Kino pushes the boat away
from shore.Once Kino boards, the two begin paddling out to sea in search of pearls.In a short time,
they come upon other canoes, which have clustered around the nearest oyster bed.Kino makes a
dive to collect oysters, while Juana stays in the canoe, praying for luck.He stays under water for
over two minute, gathering the largest shells, ncluding one especially enormous oyster that has a
ghostly gleam.
Climbing back into the canoe,Kino is reluctant to examine the largest oyster first.After
halfheartedly pawing at a smaller one, eagerness overcomes himand Juana softly urges him to
open the prize catch.Kino cuts the shell open to reveal the biggest pearl that either of them has
ever seen.Nearly breathless,Juana shriks in astonishment to find that Coyotito’s wound has
improved in the presence of the great pearl.Kino overcome with emotion, tenses his entire body
and lets out a resounding yell.Startled by this unexpected display, the other canoes quickly race
toward Kino and Juana to uncover the source of the commotion.
Chapter 3 : My son will read and open the books…he will know and though him we will know…This
is what the pearl will do.Word of Kino’s discovery travels quickly.Even before Kino returns to his
brush house, everyone in town knows that he has found’’The Pearl of the World.Throughout town,
people of every class-from the beggar to the businessman to the priest-dream of how Kino’s pearl
can help them.
Like everyone else, the doctor who turned Kino away desires the pearl. Ignorant of other’s jealousy,
Kino and Juana delight in their good fortune, inviting family and friends to share their joy in their
newfound treasure. When Juan Tomas asks Kino what he will do with his wealth,Kino details his
plans: a proper marriage in the church,new clothing for the family, a harpoon, and a rifle, among
other things.Kino’s new boldness amazes Juana, especially when he expresses his desire for
Coyotito to be sent to school and educated .Kino himself is surprised somewhat by his own
resolute statement and all of the neighbors stare at the mighty pearl with a mixture of hope and
fear at the enormous changes that lie ahead.As duck approaches,Juana revives the fire and the
neighbors overstay their welcome.Near dark, the priest comes to deliver a benediction.Once he has
blessed the household, he asks to see the pearl.Dazzled, the priest implores Kino to remember the
church in his new prosperty.Juana announces their intention to be married in the church and the
preiset leaves them with a kind of word.
A sense of evil overcomes Kino in the wke of the priest’s visit.The nighbors disperse to their own
suppers and Juana begins to prepare a meal of baked beans. Kino huddles beneath a blanket in
the cold night, keeping the pearl close to his body.Plagued with continued ill feeling,Kino meditates
on the former security of his family, and on the menacing uncertainity into which their newfound
fortune has cast them.From the door of his brush house,Kino watches two men approach.The
figures proves to be the doctor and his servant, who have come to examine Coyotito’s wound.Kino
brusquely dismisses the doctor’s attentions, but when the doctor makes a sinister insinuation
about the lingeling potential for infection,Kino relents and allows him to enter.Juana is extremely
suspicious of the doctor,but Kino reaasures her.When the doctor examines Coyotito, he contends
that he has found evidence of complications and produces a capsule of medication that he
proceeds to administer.Claiming that the poison will strike within an hour and that the medicine
may prove lifesaving, the doctor declares that he will return in a n hour to check Coyotito’s
progress.
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As Juana stares at Coyotito with concern, Kino realizes that he has been careless in not guarding
the pearl.Without delay, he wraps the pearl in a rag, digs a hole and buries the pearl in a corner of
the brush house, concealing the hiding place from view. As Kino eats his supper, a small black
puppy lingers in the doorway and shakes its tail nervously. Afterwar, Juan alerts Kino that
Coyotito’s condition is growing worse and she sings soothingly in an effort to comfort the
baby.When Coyotito becomes visibly ill, an evil feeling fills Kino once again.The neighbors learn
quickly of the doctor’s visit and Coyotito’s subsequent decline and they reconvene at Kino’s house
to provide support.The doctor reappears and swifty administered potion sets Coyotito to rest.The
doctor innocuously asks when Kino might be able to pay him.Kino explains that once he has sold
his most valuable pearl he will be able to pay.
Feigning ignorance about the pearl, the doctor offers to keep it in his safe,but Kino declines the
offer, explaining that he intends to sell the pearl in the morning.The doctor expresses concern that
the pearl might be stolen and Kino inadvertently glances with fear at the corner where the pearl is
buried.Later, when the doctor and neighbors depart and it is time to sleep,Kino paces about the
house anixiously listening vigilantly for threatening noises .In a fit of precaution, he digs up the
pearl and reburies it beneath his sleeping mat.Finally,Kino ,Juana and Coyotito curl up together on
the mat and attempt to sleep peacefully.At first,Kino dreams of Coyotito’ future success, but the
evil feeling returns and quickly overtakes him.
He stirs restlessly ,waking Juana.He wakes and hears an intruder in the house, cowering and
scratching in the corner ,clearly in search of the pearl.Grabbing his knife,Kino leaps into the corner
and struggles with the intruder,stabbing at him wildly.After a violent scuffle, the intruder flees,
leaving Kino bloodied as Juana calls out to him in terror.Regaining her sense, she swiftly prepares
a salve for Kino’s bruised forehead.As she tends Kino’s wounds ,Juana rails against the pearl,
calling it an evil plague upon them.Kino remains adamant about the pearl’s virtue,insisting that it
will be their road to salvation,Juana disagrees, declaring that it will destroy their entire family.As
Kino hushes her,he notices a spot of blood on his knife, which he removes.With dawn approaching,
he settles down to look at his pearl.In its luminescence,Kino sees his family’s chance for the future
and smiles.Juana smiles with him and they meet the day with hope.
Chapter 4: Word spreads throughout the town of La Paz that Kino will be selling his great pearl.
The pearl buyers are especially excited and the pearl fishers abandon their work for the day to
witness the transaction. Over breakfast that morning, the brush-house neighborhood teems with
speculation and opinion. Kino, Juana and Coyotito wear their best clothes for the occasion and
Kino dons his hat with care, anxious to appear a serious, vigorous man of the world. As Kino and
Juana set out for their brush house, the neighbors fall in line behind them. Juan Tomas walks at
the front with Kino and expresses his concern that Kino may be cheated, as Kino has no standard
of true compassion to know what his pearl is worth. Kino acknowledges this problem but adds that
they have no way of solving it. Juan Tomas tells Kino that another system of pearl-selling used to
exist before Kino was born.Pearlers would give their pearls to agents for sale in the capital, but as a
result of the rampant corruption of pearl agents who stole the pearls meant for sale, the old
system is no longer in place. Kino points out that according to the church such a system must fail,
as it represents a vain effort on the part of the pearlers to exceed their station in life.Kino and
Tomas walk on in silence into the city, drawing stares from assembled onlookers. As Kino,Juan
and the attending crowd approach, the pearl dealers scramble to put their offices in order,hiding
their littre pearls and preparing to make offers. The first dealer is a short slick man who nervously
rolls a coin back and forth in his hand. He explains after a careful examination that the pearl is
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worthless because of its abnormally large size. Declaring it more a museum curiosity than a
market commodity, the dealer makes an offhand bid of one thousand pesos.
Kino reacts angrily to this lowball offer and insists that the pearl is worth fifty times that much.The
dealer firmly asserts that his is an accurate appraisal and invites Kino to seek out a second opinion.
Kino’s neighbors stir uneasily, wondering how Kino can reject such a large sum of money and
wondering whether he is being foolish and headstrong by demanding more.Presently, three new
dealers arrive to examine the pearl and the initial dealer invites them to make idependent
appraisals. The first two dealers reject the pearl as a mere oddity and the third dealer makes a
feeble offer of five hundred pesos. Upon hearing ths news,Kino quickly removes the pearl from
consideration. She does so, the initial dealer,unfazed still stands.Protesting that he has been
cheated,Kio announces a plan to sell his pearl in the capital city.His outburst raises the bid to
fifteen hundered pesos ,but Kino will have none of it.He fiecerly pushes his way out of the crowd
and starts the long walk home as Juana trails after him.At supper,Kino’s neighbors debate the
day’s events.Some suggest that the dealers appraisals were fair, while others think that Kino is the
victim of a scarm.Some think he should have settled for the final offer of fifteen hindered
pesos:others praise Kino’s bravery for insisting on his own terms.
Meanwhile, in his brush house,Kino has buried the pearl under his sleeping mat.He sits brooding,
nervous about his upcoming journey to the faraway capital.Juana watches him while she nurses
Coyotito and prepares supper.Juan then enters to try to warn Kino of the dangers involved in going
to the capital,but Kino is adamant about selling his pearl to secure a better future for his
son.Unable to convince Kino to heed his warning.Juan Tomas returns home.That night Kino goes
without supper.He sits awake to protect the pearl and continues to pore over the details of his
problem.Juana keeps her own silent vigil,intending to support Kino with her company.Suddenly
,Kino senses an evil presence.He rises, feeling for the knife under his shirt and moves toward the
doorway as Juana stifles a desire to restrain him.From the darkness, a man assaults Kino and a
struggle ensues.By the time Juana reaches the fray, the attacker has fled.Bloodied and cut and
with his clothes torn,Kino relies sprawled on the ground only half conscious. Without delay, Juana
helps Kino inside to care for his wounds. Kino admits that in the dark he was unable to tell who
attacked him. After Juana washes out his last cut, she begs him in desperation to discard the evil
part. But, more fiercely than ever, Kino insists that they must capitalize on their good fortune. He
expelains that in the morning they will set out in the canoe for the capital. Juana dutifully submits
to her husband’s plan and they both go to sleep.
Chapter 5: As a late moon rises outside, nearby motion rouses Kino from his sleep.In the pale
light,he is barely able to discern Juana, who moves toward the fireplace, quietly gathers the pearl
and sneaks out into the night.Kino stealthily follows her as she heads toward the shore.When she
hears him in pursuit,Juan breaks into a run,but Kino apprehends her just as she is preparing to
hurl in the face and kicks her in the side when she falls down.As Kino hovers over Juana, the
waves break upon her crupled body.He hisses menacingly above her, then turns in disgust and
leaves her without a word. As Kino makes his way to the beach , a group of men assaults him.Kino
struugles violently as they paw and prod at him.As Kino drives his knife into one of his attackers,
the men knock the pearl from his grasp. Meanwhile, some distance away from the fight,Juan gets
up on her knee and begins to make her way home.Climbing through the brush, she sees the perl
lying in the path.She picks it up and considers returning to the sea to discard the pearl once and for
all.At this moment, Juana spies two dark figure lying in the road and recognizes one of them as
Kino.In the next instant,Juana realizes that Kino has killed the man slumped by his side.Juan drags
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the dead body into the brush and then helps Kino, who moans about losing his pearl.Juana
silences him by showing him the pearl and explains that they must flee immediately because Kino
has committed a horrible crime.Kino protests that he acted in self-defense,but Juana argues that
his alibi won’t matter at all to the authorities.Kino realizes that Juana is right and they resolve to
flee.While Juana runs back to the brush house to grab Coyotito,Kino returns to the beach to ready
his canoe for the escape.He finds that someone has punchd a large hole in the boat’s bottom.Filed
with sorrow and rage, he quickly scrambles back to his brush house,moments before dawn.As he
arrives in the vicinity of the neighborhood, he notices flames and realizes that his house is
burning.As he runs toward the fire, Juana meets him with Coyotito in her arms.She comfirms that
their house has been burned down completely.As the neighbors rush to control the fire and to save
their own houses,Kino. Juana and Coyotito duck between the shadows and into Juan Tomas’s
house.In the darkness inside, Juan Tomas’s house,Kino and Juan listen as the neighbors attempt
to subdue the fire and speculate that Kino and Juana have killed in the blaze.The couple can only
listen as Juan Tomas’s wife Apolonia wails in the mourning for the loss of her relatives.When
Apolonia returns to her house to change head shawls,Kino whispers to her, explaining that they are
taking refuge.Kino instructs Apolonia to bring Juan Tomas to them and to keep their whereabouts
a secret.She compiles and Juan Tomas arrives moments later, posting Apolonia at the door to
keep watch while he talks Kino.Kino explains that he anadvertently killed a man after being
attacked in the darkness.Juan Tomas blames this misfoturne on the pearl and advises Kino to sell
it without delay.Kino,however, s more focused on his losses, detailing the destruction of his canoe
and his house.He implores Juan Tomas to hide them in his house for a night,unitl they can gather
themselves and make a second attempt to flee.Juan Tomas hesitates to bring danger upon
himself but ultimately agrees to shelter them and keep silent about their plans.That afternoon, Kino
and Juan croutch together in silence, listening to the neighbors discuss them among the ashes
outside.Most of the neighbors assume that Kino and Juana are dead, but Juan Tomas suggests
that perhaps the family has fled to the south to escape persecution.
As he moves back and forth among the neighbors, he returns to his house from time to time,
bringing bits and pieces of provisions that will help Kino and Juana on their journey.That
evening,Kino tells Juan Tomas his plan to travel to the cities of the north.Juan Tomas advises him
to avoid the coast, as a search party will be on lookout for him.When Juan Tomas aks if Kino still
has the pearl,Kino responds that he does and that he intends to hold on to it.At dark, before the
moon rises,Kino and Juana and Coyotito exchange parting words with Juan Tomas and Apolonia
and head out into the night.
Chapter 6: And once some large animal lumbered away,crackling the undergrowth as it went. And
Kino gripped the handle of the big working knife and took a sense of protection form it. On a clear,
windy night, Kino,J uana and Coyotito begin their long march north, avoiding the sleeping town.
Outside of town, they follow a road, carefully walking in a wheel run to conceal their tracks.They
walk all night and make camp in a roadside shelter at sunrise. After eating a small breakfast,Juana
rests until midday. Kino spots a cluster of ants and lays down his foot as an obstacle.The ants
climb over it, and he keeps his foot in place and watches them scale it.When Juana rises, she asks
Kino if they be pursued. Juana then begins to doubt Kino’s conviction that the pearl is worth far
mre than the dealers offered,but Kino points out that his attackers would not have tried to steal the
pearl were it worth nothing.Kino stares at the pearl to read his future.He lies to Juana,telling her
that he sees a rifle, a marriage in a church and an education for Coyotito.
In truth Kino sees a body bleeding on the ground,Juana making her way home through the ngiht
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after being beaten and Coyotito’s face swollen as though he were sick.
The family retreats farther into the shade for another rest.While Kino sleeps soundly,Juana is
restless.As she plays with Coyotito,Kino wakes from a dream and demands that they keep
quiet.Creeping forward, he spots a trio of trackers pursuing their trail.Kino stiffens and attempts to
be still and silent until the trackers have passed.He watches them grow nearer and prepares to
spring on them with his knife if necessary.Juana also hears the approaching trackers and does her
best to quit Coyotito. The trackers’s horse grows excited as the trackers approach the shelter.For a
moment, it appears that they are poised to apprehend Coyotito and Juana, but eventually they lose
their lead on the trail and move on.Kino realizes that it is only a matter of time before they return,
and he runs quickly to Juana,telling her to gather up her things so that they can leave at
once.Suddenly,Kino feels their cause to be hopeless and loses his will to flee,but Juana castigates
him for giving up on his family.Finally,Kino suggests that they might be able to lose the trackers up
in the mountains. Kino and Juana collect their belongings and flee with Coyotito through the
undergrowth, making no effort to conceal their tracks.As they climb the first rises,Kino realizes that
the distance he is putting between his family and the trackers offers only a temporary fix to their
problem.When Juana takes a rest with Coyotito,Kino proposes that she hide while he moves on
ahead.Until the trackers have been diverted, she can take refuge in a nearby town.But, despite
Kino’s insistence ,Juana refuses to split up, so the family moves on together.As their ascent grows
sleeper,Kino attempts to vary and double back on their route to mislead the trackers.As the sun
begins to set, Kino and Juana reach a nearby cleft and replenish their water supply at a pool and
stream,where they drink to contentment and Juana rinses Coyotito.From, the lookout,Kino spies
the trackers at a distance below, hurrying up the slope,Juana also realizes that they are still being
pursued.Kino deceives the trackers by creating a false trail up the cliff and descending again to
take refuge with Juana and Coyotito in a nearby cave.Kino hopes that the trackers will climb past
them,providing a chance for them to climb down the hill and out of range.
Kino instructs Juana to keep Coyotito quiet and they lie silently in the cave as twilight settles over
the land.By evening,the trackers arrive at the poo, where they make camp and eat in the
cave,Coyotito grows restless and Juana quiet him.Kino notices that two of the men have settled in
to sleep, while the third keeps watch.Kino realizes that if he can manage to stifle the lookout, he
,Juana and Coyotito will have a chance to escape.Juana fears for Kino’s life, but Kino explains that
they have no other choice.He instructs her to run to the nearest town should he be killed and they
part reluctantly.Kino strips naked to avoid being seen by the watchman and after crouching at the
cave entrance for a moment to survey his route , he springs forward.
As Juana prays for him, Kino slowly moves down the slope toward the pool.Twenty feet from the
trackers, he crouches behind a palm tree to ponder his next move.His muscles cramp and tremble ,
but he knows he must act quickly before the moon rises.He unsheathes his knife and prepares to
attack.Just as he is poised to spring, the moon appears and he realizes that his opportunity has
been lost.Waiting for a moment when the watchman’s head is turned,Kino gets ready to take a
much riskier approach.
Suddenly,Coyotito leet out a cry that wakes one of the sleeping trackers.At first, they wonder if it
could possibly be the cry of a human, or whether it is simply the cry of a coyote.The watchman
decides to silence the wailer by shooting in the direction of the cry.Unbeknowst to Kino,the bullet
hits and kills Coyotito.As the watchman shoots, Kino springs upon the trackers, stabbing the
watchman and seizing the rifle.Knocking one of the other men out with a fierce blow, he watches
47
as the last man attempts to flee up the cliff.The man makes little progress before Kino stops him
with a first shot, and then murders him execution-style with another shot between the eyes.In the
terrible moment that ensues,Kino notices the silence of the surrounding animals and finally hears
the blood-curdling cry issuing from his wife, mourning the death of Coyotito.Later the next
day,toward sunset,Kino and Juana walk side by side into La Paz with Juana carrying Coyotito’s
corpse in sack slung over her shoulder.They walk dazedly through the city, with unmoving eyes,
speaking to no one.Onllokers stare worldlessly and even Juan Tomas can only raise a hand in
greeting.Kino and Juana march through the town,past the brush houses all the way to the sea.
At the edge of the water ,Kino stops and pulls the pearl from his pocket.Holding it up to the light, he
stares into it carefully and a flood of evil moments washes over him.Kino holds the pearl out in
front of him, and then flings it out into the ocean.Kino and Juana watch the pearl as it splashes the
surface and stare at the spot quietly as the sun sets.
6. HARACTERS
KINO :The protagonist of the novel.Kino is a dignified, hardworking,impoverished native who works
as a pearl diver.He is a simple man who lives in a brush house with his wife,Juana and their infant
son,Coyotito, both of whom he loves very much.After Kino finds a great pearl, he becomes
increasingly ambitious and desperate in his mission to break free of the oppression of his colonial
society.Ultimately,Kino’s material ambition drives him to a state of animalistic violence, and his life
is reduced to a basic fight for survival.Kino is an extremely simple man, character, motivated by
basic drives: his love for his family,loyalty to the traditions of his village and his people and
frustration at is people’s oppression at the hands of their European colonizers Kino also possesses
a quick mind and a strong work ethic and he feels a close, pure kinship with the natural world , the
source of his liver hood.At the beginning of the novel,Kino is essentially content with his
life.However, two seemingly chance occurences-Coyotito’s scorpion sting and Kino’s discovery of
the pearl open Kino’s eyes to a larger world.As Kino begins to covet material wealth and education
for his son,his simple existence becomes increasingly complicated by greed, conflict and violence.
The basic trajectory of Kino’s character is a gradual decline from a state of innocence to a state of
corruption and disillusionment. The forces propelling this decline are ambition and greed.At the
end of the novel, Kino tranquil relationship with nature has been perverted and reversed, a change
signified by the fact that Kino finds the sounds of the animals at right threatening rather than
reassuring. Because the pearl is parable,Kinos character can be interpreted in many ways.It can be
seen as a critique of colonial politics, an exploration of how good motives can bring a person to a
bad end or even an attack on the idea of the Americn dream.
But on the most basic level,Kino represents the dangers of ambition and greed. Kino’s ruin,caused
by his lust of the pearl, illustrates the extent to which ambition and greed poison and jeopardize
every aspect of a human’s familiar, cultural and personal well-being.
In few words Kino is:
 Very impoverished, Loving and caring, Daring, Strong, Hardworking, Greedy, Ambitious,
Violent, Disillusioned,Enduring,Revengeful,Temperamental,Naïve,Selfless,Optimistic,
Religious.
JUANA :Kino’s wife.Juana is more reflective and more practical than Kino.She prays for divine and
aid when Coyotito’ wound leaves Kino impotent with rage, and she has the presence of mind to
48
salve the wound with a seaweed poultice.Juana is loyal and submissive,obeying her husband as
her culture dictates but she does not always agree with his actions.Like Kino,Juana is at first
seduced by the greed the pearl awakens but she is much quicker than Kino to recognize the pearl
as a potential threat.In fact,Juana comes to view the pearl as a symbol of evil. As the novel
progresses, Juana becomes certain that the limitations, rules and customs of her society must be
upheld. Whereas Kino seeks to transform his existence, Juana believes that their lives will be better
if they keep things as they are. Kino can see only what they have to gain from the pearl,but Juana
can see also what they stand to lose, and she wisely prefers to protect what she has rather than
sacrifice it all for a dream.Juana thus serves an important function in the novel – she
counterbalances Kino’s enthusiasm and reminds the reader that Kino’s desire to make money is
dangerous.Juana also symbolizes the family’s domestic happiness; the scene in which Kin beats
her for trying to cast off the pearl thus represents Kino’s tragic break from the family he longs to
support. She is: Loving and caring,Hard
working,Trustworthy,Honest,Resolute/determined,Secretive, Motherly,Patient,Loyal,Respected and
respectful,Pragmatic,Submissive.
THE DOCTOR: Though he does not figure largely in the novel’s plot, the doctor is an important
character in The Pearl because he represents the colonial attitudes that oppress Kino’s people.
The doctor symbolizes and embodies the colonialists arrogance, greed and condescension toward
the natives, whom the colonialists do not even try to understand. Like the other colonists, the
doctor has no interest in Kino’s people. He has come only to make money and his greed distorts in
human values.As a physician, the doctor is duty-bound to act to save human life, but when
confronted with someone whom he considers beneath him, the doctor feels no such duty. His
caillous refusal to tret Coyotito for the scorpion sting because Kino lacks the money to pay him
thus demonstrates the human cost of political conquest rooted in the desire for financial profit. As
his interior monologuein chapter one shows the doctor is obsessed with European society and
Europen cultural values grip his mind so deeply that he doesn’t even realize how ignorant he is of
Kino and Kino’s people.
He is: Exploitive,Oppressive, Traitor,Heartless/cailllous,Opportunistic,Materialistic,Overtly
ambitious, Cunning and wicked, Greedy, Arrogant, Irresponsible, Egocentric/selfish.
COYOTITO: Kino and Juana ‘s only son, who is stung by a scorpion while resting in a hammock one
morning. Because Coyotito is an infant, he is helpless to improve his situation and thus at the
mercy of those who provide for him and Juana’s efforts to save him by finding a big pearl with
which they can pay a doctor prove to do more harm than good.
JUAN TOMAS: Kino’s older brother. Deeply royal to his family, Juan Tomas supports Kino in all of
his endeavors but warns him of the dangers involved in possessing such a valuable pearl. He is
sympathetic to Kino and Juana, however putting them up when they need to hide and telling no one
of their whereabouts. He is: Secretive, Humane, Cooperative, Loving and caring, Brave and
courageous, Hardworking, Kind and generous, Loyal, Religious, Fearless.
APOLONIA: Juan Tomas’s wife and a mother of 4 children. Like her husband, Apolonia is
sympathetic to Kino and Juana’s plight and she agrees to give them shelter in their time of need.
THE PRIEST: The local village priest ostensibly represents moral virtues and goodness, but he is
just as interested in exploiting Kino’s wealth as everyone else, hoping that he can find a way to
persuade Kino to give him some of the money he will make from the pearl. He is : Selfish,
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Materialistic, Hypocritical, Intelligent, Greedy.

THE DEALERS: The extremely well-organized and corrupt pearl dealers in La Paz systematically
cheat and exploit the Indian pearl drivers who sell them their goods. They desperately long to cheat
Kino out of his pearl.They are: Cunning, Schemers, Exploitive, Heartless.
THE TRACKERS: The group of violent and corrupt men that follows Kino and Juana when they
leave the village, hoping to waylay Kino and steal his pearl.They are: Intelligent, Deadly,
Hardworking, Confident, Heartless.
8. THEMES
Greedy as destructive force
As Kino seeks to gain wealth and status through the pearl, he transforms from a happy, contented
father to a savage criminal demonstrating the way ambition and greedy destroy innocence. Kino’s
desire to acquire wealth perverts the pearl natural beauty and good luck, transforming it from a
symbol of hope to a symbol of human destruction. Furthermore, Kino’s greed leads to behave
violently toward his wife. It also leads to his son’s death and ultimately to Kino’s detachment from
his cultural tradition and his society.Kino’s people seem poised for a similar destruction, as the
materialism inherent in colonial capitalism implants a love of profit into the simple piety of the
native people.
The roles of fate and agency in shaping human life
The pearl portrays two contrasting forces that shape human life and determine individual destiny.
The novel depicts a world in which for the most part humans shape their own destinies.
They provide for themselves, follow their own desires and make their own plans.At the same time,
forces beyond human control such as chance, accident, and the gods can sweep in at any moment
and for good or ill, completely change the course of an individual’s life. If fate is best represented in
the novel by the open sea where pearl divers plunge beneath the waves hoping for divine blessings,
human agency is best represented by the village La Paz, where myriad human desires, plans and
motives come together to form civilization.
Kino and Juana’s lives change irreparably the moment the scorpion, a symbol of malignant fate,
bites their child. Their lives then change irreparably again the moment Kino finds the pearl, a
symbol of beneficent fate. Nevertheless, it is fate but human agency, in the form of greed, ambition
and violence that facilitates the novella’s disastrous final outcome as Kino’s greed and the greed of
others lead to a series of conflicts over the pearl. Kino finds himself caught between the forces of
fate and the forces of human society, between the destiny handed him by fate and the destiny he
seeks to create himself.
Colonial society’s oppression of native cultures
The doctor who refuses to save Coyotito’s life at the beginning of the novel because Kino lacks the
money to pay him represents colonial arrogance and oppression. Snide and condescending, the
doctor displays an appallingly limited and self-centered mind-set that is made frightening by his
unshakable belief in his own cultural superiority over Kino, and by the power that he holds to save
or destroy lives. Steinbeck implicitly accuses the doctor’s entire colonial society of such
destructive arrogance, greed and ambition. The European colonizers that govern Kino and the
native society’s innocence, piety and purity.
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PART TWO: DRAMA

PLAY ONE: THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE Bertolt Brecht
1.AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Bertolt Brecht
(1898-1956)
Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg. His father, a Catholic, was the director of
a paper company and his mother, a Protestant, was the daughter of a civil
servant. Brecht began to write poetry as a boy, and had his first poems
published in 1914. After finishing elementary school, he was sent to the
Königliches Real gymnasium, where he gained fame as an enfant terrible.
In 1917 Brecht enrolled as a medical student at the Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich, where he sometimes attended also the theatre seminar
conducted by Professor Artur Kutscher. Between 1919 and 1921, he wrote
theatre criticisms for the left-wing Socialist paper Die Augsburger. After military service as a
medical orderly, he returned to his studies, but abandoned them in 1921. During the Bavarian
revolutionary turmoil of 1918, Brech wrote his first play, Baal, which was produced in 1923. The
play celebrated life and sexuality and was huge success.
Brecht's association with Communism began in 1919, when he joined the Independent Social
Democratic Party. Friendship with the writer Lion Feuchtwanger was an important literary
contact for the young writer. Feuchtwanger advised him on the discipline of playwriting. In 1920,
Brecht was named chief adviser on play selection at the Munich Kammerspiele. As a result of a
brief affair with Fräulein Bie Banholzer, Brecht's son Frank was born. In 1922, he married the
opera singer Marianne Zoff; they divorced in 1927.
In the 1930s, Brecht´s books and plays were banned in Germany, and theatrical performances
were interrupted by the police or summarily forbidden. He went into exile, first to Denmark, and
then, in April 1940, to Finland. In May 1941, Brecht continued with his wife, children and secretary
through Russia to the United States, eventually ending in Santa Monica. After 15 years of exile
Brecht returned to Germany in 1948 and spent a year in Zürich working on Sophocles’ Antigone
(trans. by Friedrich Hölderin) and on his major theoretical work A Little Organum for the Theatre.
In the West as well as in East Germany Brecht became the most popular contemporary poet,
outdistanced only by such classics as Shakespeare, Schiller, and Goethe. In 1955, Brecht received the
Stalin Peace Prize. The following year, he contracted a lung inflammation and died of a coronary
thrombosis on August 14, 1956, in East Berlin.
Brecht was concerned with encouraging audiences to think rather than becoming too involved in
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the story line and to identify with the characters. In this process, he used alienation effects. Brecht
developed a form of drama called epic theatre in which ideas or didactic lessons are important
2.SETTING America
3.SUMMARY
The Caucasian Chalk Circle begins with a prologue that deals with a dispute over a valley.Two
groups of peasants want to claim a valley that was abandoned during World War II when the
Germans invaded.One group used to live in the valley and herded goats there.The other group is
from a neighboring valley and hopes to plant fruit trees there.A Delegate has been sent to arbitrate
the dispute.The fruit growers explain that they have elaborate plans to irrigate the valley and
produce a tremendous amount of food.The goat-herders claim the land based on the fact that they
have lived there.In the end, the fruit farmers get the valley because they will use the land better.The
peasants then hold a small party and a singer agrees to tell them the story of the Chalk Circle.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is actually two stories that come together at the end.The first story is
that of Grusha and the second story is that of Azdak.Both stories begin in a Caucasian City ruled
by a Governor, who serves a Grand Duke.The Governor has just had a child,Michael and his wife
Natella is incredibly jealous of the attention that he gives to his son. The Governor’s brother, the fat
Prince, stages an insurrection on Easter Sunday.He kills the Governor and forces the Governor’s
wife to flee.In her haste,she leaves behind her childThe Grand Duke and many of the soldiers flee
as well.
Grusha, akitchen maid becomes engaged to a soldier named Simon.Soon, thereafter during the
coup, she has Michael handed to her.She hides the chld from the Fat Prince and his
soldiers,thereby saving the child’s life.She then takes Michael with her and flees the city, heading
north.After, spending most of her money and risking her life for the chld, she arrives at her
brother’s house.He allows her to live there over the winter. When spring arrives, Grusha’s brother
forces her to marry a dying man from across the mountain. They hold a wedding, but during the
reception the guests learn that the war is over and that the Grand Duke has raised an army and
returned. The dying man,Jussup, realizes that he can no longer be drafted into the war.He
miraculously recovers and throws all the guests out of the house.Grusha, now stuck with a
husband she did not want, is forced to become a wife to him.
One day, Simon returns and learns that she is married.He is even more upset when he sees
Michael, whom he thinks is Grusha’s child.Some soldiers soon arrive and take Michael away from
her, claiming that Michael belongs to the Governor’s wife.Grusha follows them back to the city.The
next story that is told is that of Azdak.The plot returns to the night of the Fat Prince’s
insurrection.Azdak finds a fugitive and saves the man’s life.That man turns out to be the Grand
Duke.Realizing that he could be branded a traitor.Azdak walks into town and reveals that he saved
the Grand Duke’s life.
The soldiers refuse to believe him and he is released.The Fat Prince soon shows up with his
nephew, whom he wants to make the new judge.However, he agrees to let the soldiers decide who
the next judge should be.After staging a mock trial, they choose Azdak.
He then judges four very strange case,ruling in each case in favor of the poor person.Azak soon
gains a reputation for supporting the poor.However after two years as a judge,the Grand Duke
returns.Azdak is arrested as a traitor by the soldiers and is about to be killed by them.However, the
Grand Duke remembering that Azdak saved his life, reappoints Azdak to be the judge,thereby
52
saving his life.Azdak now takes over the case of Grusha and the child.The Governor’s wife wants
Michael back because without Michael she cannot take over the former Governor’s estates.Even
Simon goes to the trial and promises Grusha that he will support her.
After hearning all the arguments and learning about what Grusha has done to take care of the
child,Azdak orders a Chalk Circle to be drawn.He places the child in the middle and orders women
to pull, saying that whichever woman can pull the child out of the circle will get him.The Governor’s
wife pulls whereas Grusha lets go.Azdak orders them to do it again, and again Grusha lets
go.Azdak then gives Michael to Grusha and orders the Governor’s wife to leave.He confiscates
Michael’s estates and makes them into public gardens.His last act is to divorce Grusha thereby
allowing her to marry Simon. During the dancing that follows,Azdak disappears forever.
4. CHARACTERS
PEASANTS ON THE RIGHT: Goats herders to whom the disputed valley in the Prologue used to
belong.
PEASANTS ON THE LEFT: Fruit farmers who wish to irrigate the disputed valley in the Prologue.
DELEGATE: A man sent by the state to mediate the dispute between the peasants over who owns
the valley. He gives the valley to the fruit farmers in the end.
SINGER: The man who sings the parable of the Caucasian Chalk Circle to the peasants after the
Delegate has decided to give the valley to the fruit farmers.
GEORGI ABASHWILI: The Governor, he is beheaded after his brother the Fat Prince successfully
stages a coup.
NATELLA: The Governor’s wife, she leaves her baby Michael behind when she flees the Fat Prince.
She later tries to get Michael back in order to reclaim the Governor’s estates. The judge Azdak
rules against her, however and chooses to instead give child to Grusha.
MICHAEL: The Governor’s son and heir to the Governor’s estates. He is raised by Grusha who
rescues him after his mother Natella abandons him.Grusha later claims him as her own child and
Azdak allows her to keep him.
SHALVA
AN ADJUDANT
ARSEN KAZBEKI, THE FAT PRINCE: A brother of the Governor, he stages a coup and kills his
brother. After ruling for two years he is deposed and beheaded by the return of the Grand Duke.
MESSENGER: A man sent by the Grand Duke to reinstate Azdak as judge even after the Fat Prince
has been deposed. The arrival of the Messenger saves Azdak’s life since the people were about to
kill him.
SIMON SHAKAVA: A soldier who remains loyal to the Grand Duke: he and Grusha fall in love and
promised to marry him with when he returns from the war.
Instead, she is forced to marry another man before he returns. However, Azdak mistakenly annuls
the marriage, thereby allowing Grusha and Simon to get another at the end.
GRUSHA VASHANDZE: A kitchen maid in the palace, she rescues the Governor’s son Michael and
53
takes the baby with her. She cares for the child for two years until Natella reclaims Michael. Both
women are forced to appear before Azdak who chooses to give the boy to Grusha.
OLD PEASANT WITH MILK: While fleeing with Michael, Grusha tries to get rid of the boy by leaving
with him an old peasant woman. She is forced to reclaim the child in order to save him from some
soldiers who want to kill him.
LAVRENTI VASHANDZE: Grusha’s brother, with whom she stays for an entire winter. He finally
gets rid of his sister by making her marry a dying man.
ANIKO: Grusha’s sister-in-law described as a religious woman. She tries everything to get Grusha
out of her house.
JUSSUP: A dying man that Grusha marries in order to protect Michael.As soon as the war ends,
Jussup miraculously recovers and demands that Grusha perform her wifely duties.
MONK: A drunk monk, is paid to perform the marriage ceremony for Grusha and Jussup.
AZDAK: Originally a village recorder, he accidentally saves the Grand Duke’s life. He then goes into
town and confesses his crime but the soldiers refuse to believe him.When the Fat Prince arrives
and offers the soldiers the chance to choose the new judge they pick Azdak.He becomes known
for arbitrary judgements.He presides over the case where Grusha claims Michael and has them
drawn the chalk Circle.After awarding Grusha the child and annulling her marriage , he disappears.
SHAUWA: A policeman who becomes Azdak’s assistant after Azdak is made judge.
GRAND DUKE: A man who rules his the entire province and under whom many me, including the
Governor, served. He is forced into exile for two years when the Fat Prince takes over but returns
with an army and kills the Fat Prince.He then saves Azadak’s life by allowing Azdak to remain a
judge.
LUDOVIKA: A good looking peasant woman who has had sex with the stable boy.She is brought
before Azdak by her father who accuses the Stable boy pf raping her.Azdak rules in the Stable
boy’s favor and then tries to get Ludovika to sleep with him as well.
POOR OLD PEASANT WOMAN: She is part of another case tried by Azdak in which miracles keep
happening to her.Some farmers claim that these miracles are all being done by a bandit her brother
-in law at their expense. Azdak rules in her favor.
OLD MARRIED COUPLE: They have been married forty years and want a divorce.Azdak hears their
case along with the chalk Circle case. He agrees to annul their marriage but accidently annuls
Grusha’s marriage instead.
5.THEMES
Abuse of power/misuse of power
Abuse of power occurs when people in authority misuse the power bestowed upon them by virtue
of their position or office.One may misuse his or her power to enrich him/herself or to mistreat
others.In the next, power is abused by the Governor,Natella and the soldiers/ironshirts and the Fat
Prince.The Governor abuses power by enriching himself whereas his people remain poor.He is said
to be as rich as Croesus,with very many horses and a vast estate yet many of his people are
beggars.When he goes to church, he is confronted by many beggars,petitioners and mothers with
54
hungry children.They cry for him to reduce the high taxes.

He has two doctors and he is said to be preparing to tear down slums to start the building of the
east wing of his garden.He does not care about where the poor, slum people will go.
Natella is also seen to abuse her powers through her treatment of servants.She orders them
around, insults them and even uses physical violence on them.For example, she beats up a young
woman whom she accuses of almost tearing up her dress.She tells her,I will kill you,you bitch.The
ironshirts/soldiers also abuse their powers on many occasions.They lash the people with thick
whips when they move near to see Michael.The caporal also abuses his power when harassing
Grusha by making sexual advance at her.The soldiers also use violence on Azdak when they beat
him on realizing that the Grand Duke is back.
The Fat Prince and the other princes also abuse their powers by overthrowing the Grand Duke and
his Governor.The Fat Prince goes ahead and raids his brother’s palace and arrests the Governor.He
then kills him and orders the Ironshirts to hang his head on the door.He also orders them to look
for Michael and to kill him.He also tries to have his nephew,Bizergan Kazbeki, appointed as the
new judge.
Azdak also abuses power by favoring poor in his judgements.Though his actions are motivated by
the injustices that the poor have endured he misuses his powers as judge in seeking revenge.He
for example, rules in favor of the bandit who is clearly a criminal.Finally, it is the misuse of power
that leads to other social ills such as injustice,violence and political instability.When those who are
entrusted with poer in society misuse it, it begets social and political turmoil.The citizens will find it
difficult to obey authority if those in power do not obey the rules they expect others to follow.
Greed and materialism
Greed is whereby a person who wants to have everything to him/herself.A materialistic person, on
the other hand is one who believes that money is more important tha anything else in life.In the text,
greed and materialism are evident in the Governor,the Fat Prince,Natella, the mother-in-law ,the
caporal and others.George Abashwili is not satisfied with his riches.He is as rich as Croesus and
yet he still wants to acquire more land by demolishing the houses of slum dwellers.While, many of
the Governor’s people and their children are sleeping hungry, the Governor is preparing to have
geese for dinner.Natella is materistic in the way she values her clothes and jewelry.She is not
satisfied with what she has and still complains about her husaband only by building for his
son.After her husband is arrested, she forgets about him and her baby and instead concentrates
one ensuring that she carries all her clothes.
In the end, she only bothers to look for Michael after she realizes that she needs him in order to
inherit her husband’s estates.The Fat Prince and the other princes organize to overthrow the Grand
Duke and the Governor.This is purely out of greed for power. The Fat Prince is greedy over his
brother’s wealth and power that he wants to take it by force. Because of greed for power, he plans
to have one of his relatives as Judge too.
The mother –in-law is also seen to be greedy and materialistic.When Lavrenti goes to seek for a
husband for his sister, the Mother-in-law demands for an hour-hundred piasters.When she
discovers that Grusha has a child, she demands another two-hundred.Instead of hiring a priest to
conduct the weeding , the cheaper.She also complains about spending money to take care of the
mourners.
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Greed and materialism is also evident in the Old Man who demands three piasters from Grusha for
milk.The Old Man does not care that the milk is for the baby and Grusha is forced to use her two
weeks wages to buy it.When Grusha leaves Michael on the doorsteps of the Peasant Couple,the
husband tells his wife not to feed the baby but insteak of taking it to the village priest.Even the
Caporal is materialistic when he decides to sell their horses and walk instead when pursuing
Grusha and Michael.A society that is greedy and materiastic becomes morally bankrupt.Greedy
and materialism leads to other vices such as corruption, exploitation and selfishness.When people
value money or property too much, they lose important human value such as generosity,kindness
and love for one another.
Selflesness
Selflesness is whereby puts the welfare of others ahead of its or her own.A selfless person will
sacrifice what he or she has to the benefit of others who may be less privileged of vulnerable.In the
text,Grusha shows a lot of selflessness especially towards Michael who is not her real
child.First,when the Governor is beheaded and Natella takes off,Grusha decides to remain behind
and take care of Michael the whole night.She is almost caught when the Fat Prince and the
Ironshirts come back to hang the governor’s head on the door-way.When Grusha tries to leave
Michael,she hears as if it is telling her.’’Woman help me’’
The following day,Grusha picks the baby and heads for the north with it.On the way, she has to buy
the baby milk.Even though the Old Man sells the milk exorbitantly, she sacrifices her two week
salary to buy it for the sake of the baby.She realizes she can no longer feed the baby,she decides to
leave it on the door-step of the Fat Peasant Woman, who has plenty of milk, a husband and a roof
over her head.
Secondly, when the Ironshirts led by the Caporal, discover where Michael is hidden,Grusha risks
her life by hitting the Caporal, taking the baby and running away.Grusha, again risks her lifw and
that of Michael by daring to cross the rotten bridge even after she is warned by the merchants.
Thridly, during winter,Grusha has to bear the discomfort of staying in the house of her sister-in-law
who is very religious and pious.She is hidden in a small dark room away from the neighbors to
avoid being an embarrassment to his brother’s family.Fourthly,Grusha accepts to get married to a
dying man Jussup for Michael’s sake.She sacrifices her promise to Simon because she needs to
provide food and a home for Michael.When Simon comes back and finds Grusha married he
becomes upset but Grusha decides to stay with Michael rather than follow him.When the soldiers
come for Michael, she follows them forgetting the danger she is putting herself into.
Finally, she risks getting arrested by going back to the capital where Natella and the caporal are
waiting for her.Natella accuses her of stealing a child while the caporal wants to arrest her for
injuring him. Grusha is however prepared to face Natella in a court of law where Judge Azdak
decides the case in her favor.The decision to give Grusha the child is purely based on the kind of
sacrifices she makes for him. When the judge orders that the two women pull the baby,Grusha is
unable to use force because of fear of destroying what she has sacrificed so much for.
Social class Inequality
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Social class inequality is a situation whereby a society is divided into groups according to their
economic, political and social status. In the text, the difference between the rich and the poor is
very pronounced. While the Grand Duke the Governor, the princes and their families are affluent,
other members of society are poor and dying of hunger. George Abashwili, the governor is a s rich
as Coesus, while he has many beggars in his doorsteps and petitioners in his courtyard. He has a
healthy…many horses…family goes to church the baby is brought in an expensive carried
accompanied by two doctors.The poor people on the other hand, display their thin, emaciated
babies while others hold up crutches and petitions.
The children of the poor are sent to war but when they get injured, they are not compensated.The
children of the rich on the other hand, are not sent to war. Some of the petitioners beg for mercy
for their relatives who have been arrested infairly,My brother is innocent ,Your Grace
misunderstanding. While one of the Governors servants collects the petitions another distributes
coins from a purse with the Governor paying little attention.
The poor people in the text are not supposed to intermingle with the rich.When the people move
forward to air their grievances to the Governor, the soldiers lash them with whips.Even whe they
want to see young Michael, they are forced back by the soldiers violentry.
Despite all the poverty around,the Governor has employed two doctors to look after Michael even
though he is not sick.Poor people such as Grusha cannot get even time to go to church on Easter
Sunday as she is forced to go and look for a family dinner.Despite her hard work, she will not even
eat the feathers.
The poor people in society have to put their lives at risks in order to protect the rich.Simon
Shashava and the adjutant, for example has to escort Natella to the Capital.Even though he wants
to remain behind and marry Grusha, he has no choice but to follow orders.Natella risks the lives of
her servants by delaying their exit from the palace that is under attack.She wants a lot of time
sorting out her dresses and jewelry until the adjutant has to force her to leave.
The people in higher positions mistreat below them.For example, the caporal harasses and
intimidates one of the young soldiers because the soldier was unable to beat up the husband of a
fat girl they had met.He even tells him that he won’t get promoted.The caporal sels the soldiers
horses and forces them to walk without limping even though they are tired.To add salt to injury, he
forces them to sng louder and louder.In the courtroom,Natella says:At least there are no common
people here,thanj God,I can’t stand their smell.It always gives me migraines.One of Natella’s
lawyers also describes Azdak as the lowest fellow ever seen in judge’s gown.Natella also refers to
Grusha as a creature and when she sees Michael dressed in rags she says that he must have been
in a pigsty.Even though,, Azdak makes an attempt to address inquality in this society, the return of
the Grand Duke shows that class inequality in society cannot be fully eradicated.Poor people in
society will always suffer injustices and prejudices in the hands of the rich.
Betrayal
Betrayal means to hurt an individual,group or country by going abroad its/her/his trust in you.One
can betray another by harming her/her by helping his /her enemy.In the text, betrayal can be seen
in the Fat Prince,the Ironshirts , the servants , the doctors , the Peasant woman,Natella,Jussup and
Grusha. The Fat Prince betrays his brother, the Governor, by plotting to have him arrested,
assassinated and removed from power. When the Governor goes to church, he meets the Fat
Prince who wishes him a happy Easter and pretends to be happy to see the Governor’s baby-
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Michael.After the Fat Prince gets the Governor killed, he takes over the power and sends the
Ironshirts to look for Michael and kill him.
The Governor’s servants and doctors also betray him.As soon as the Governor is arrested and the
war breaks out, they all run away.One of the servants tells Grusha to leave immediately and not to
save Michael.One of the doctors also says that he cannot stay a minute longer in that accursed
house on that littre brat’s account.Betrayal is also evident among the Ironshirts.After the
Governor’s palace is attacked, the guards whose work is to defend him refuse to do so.They refuse
to obey and instead stare coldly and indifferently at the adjutant who tries to give them orders.Only
the adjutant who tries to remain loyal by protecting the Governor’s wife and escorting her to the
capital.
The peasant woman betrays Grusha by revealing to the Corporal that Michael is not hers.This is in
contrast to what she had promised Grusha about keeping the identity of the child a secret.This
betrayal forces Grusha to go back and take the child,hitting the corporal in the process and hence
endangering her life and that of Michael even more.]Lavrenti,Grusha’s brother also betrays her by
arranging to have marriage off instead of accommodating her.Grusha expects to be welcomed
warmly and given a place to stay until Simon returns but instead she is hidden because her
brothers wife does not want embarassement.She is even forced to lie to her sister-in-law that she
is on her way to meet her husband in order to be allowed to stay with a child.
Jussup betrays his country by refusing to join other young men in going to war.He instead lies in
bed pretending to be seriously sick.Immediately he learns that the war is over,he wakes up,much to
the surprise of everyone in the room. Natella betrays her husband and child when the war breaks
out.She escapes from the palace and leaves Michael behind.She tells one of the servants to put the
chld down and instead go to look for her littre saffron coloured boat to match with her green dress.
She does not even show remorse for her husband’s death and does not bother to look for Michael
until she told that she cannot inherit her husbnd;s estates without him.
Grusha also betrays Simon by agreeing to marry Jusup.Simon and Grusha had made a promise to
each other to get married as soon as he returned from escorting Natella to the Capital but when he
comes back, he finds Grusha married and with a child.Even though Grusha gets married because
of unfortunate circumstances and the child is not her.Simon is angry and disappointed because he
cannot marry her.After realizing the truth about Grusha’s marriage,Simon decides to support
Grusha even in court.
JUSTICE
There is a lot of injustice in the text mostly perpetuated by the rich, the powerful and those in
authority. The people seek justice through the courts,through petitioning the Governor and
sometimes through seeking revenge on their own.Justice is dispensed primarly through the court
system.However, this is not as portrayed in the text.
In the prologue, the Delegate from Tiffis comes to hear and determine the case between the Goat
Herders and the Fruit Growers. Justice is seen to be served when, first each group is given a
chance to explain why they deserve the farm. After their presentations,the Delagate dcides in favor
of the Fruit Farmers because they have more elaborate plans for the farm.Even though the Goat
Herders are the original owner of the land , they don’t have any meaningful plans for it.The verdict
in this case is arrived at on the basis of reasonable consensus rather than strict law.The two
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parties are satisfied with the decision and they decide to partake in drinking together.
The people also seek justice through petitioning the Governor.However, this is not a good option
because he does not heed to their cries and instead they are whipped and pushed back by the
Ironshirts.The beggars and petitioners have various grievances including too much taxe,corrupt
officials, arrested family members etc.When the Governor is overthrown by the Fat Prince, the
people feel a sense of justice which is , however short-lived.The court is specifically established to
dispense justice to all. However, in the tax, the people have littre faith in the court which is seen to
always rule in favor of the rich.After the Governor is killed, even the city judge is hung because he is
also seen to be part of the injustice suffered by the people.
Judge Azdak represents justice, especially to the poor.When he discovers that he has been
harbouring the Grand Duke,he tells Shauwa to take him to the City(Nuka)for the
judgement.Untifortunately,at Nuka the city judge has been hung and Azadak cannot get the justice
he wants.Ironically,Azadak is appointed judge after he impresses the Ironshirts with his knowledge
of the legal system and the injustices that the people have suffered.
Judge Azadak practices a brand of justice that , in some cases sets the guilty free and punishes
the victims.He , largely rules in favor of the poor as a way of addressing the injustice that they have
long suffered. For example, he rules in favor of the Doctor, who is accused of neglecting his patient,
he rules against Ludovica who is a victim of rape, he acquirts the Old Woman accused of theft, he
rules in favor of Grusha and even erroneously signs off the divorce of Grusha and Jussup instead
of the Old Couple.Some people, like the farmers, feel aggrieved by his unfair rulings and seek their
own justice through revenge.
They beat him up when they realize that the Grand Duke is back and the war is over. Surprisingly
,the Grand Duke reappoints Azdak as City Judge which saves his life.Azadak enjoys some justice
from the Grand Duke for the help he had offered him when he was on the run.There cannot be
peace without justice in society. Those who are treated unfairly and unjustly will always look for
ways to get some justice. Even though the courts are the main avenues for seeking justice, they
can only be useful if people have faith in them. The courts should also view people as being equal
and hence dispense justice without fear or favor.
Political and social instability

Political and social instability in society is a result of poor leadership. Poor leadership on the other
hand ,leads to other social problems such as hunger, insecurity, injustice and poverty. When the
people get fed up, they may choose to forcefully remove those in office through a coup or an
uprising. This, in turn, brings bout political and social instability through war.In the prologue, the
setting is in the ruins of what once a thriving Caucasian village before the war. Everything in the
village has been ruined: tobacco is rationed and wine. The villagers have also lost many people as
a result of political warfare.The Goat Herders have been forced to leave their land and go
elsewhere on orders from the Government.
The effects of warfare are also evident in Nuka where the Governor is confronted with many
beggars, cripples and petitioners. A lot of resources have gone to finance the war which has
resulted to hunger and poverty among the people. Many soldiers have died with others suffering
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injuries-this has resulted to many cripples in clutches. To make matters worse, the Governor is
contemplating bringing down their houses(slums).
Political instability often affects the poor more than the rich. The singer comments: When the
house of a great one collapses, many littre ones are slain. Political instability leads to displacement
of people as evidenced by the Grand Duke who has to run and seek refuge in the house of
Azdak.Natella also has to run to the capital for her own safety while Grusha heads for the North.
Political instability also creates food shortages as seen when Grusha is unable to get milk for
Michael.She is forced to pay two piasters for a littre drop.The Old Man says:We have no milk.The
soldiers from the city have our goats.Go to the soldiers if you want milk.
Warfare instills fear in the people as evident in Jussup.He feigns sickness to avoid drafted into the
army.The Peasant Woman is fearful of the soldiers that hse denounces Michaela and betrays
Grusha to the Corporal. The Grand Duke, Natella and Grusha run away from the city due to fear
after the war breaks. Political and social instability give rise to many other social evils such as
corruption, violence, irresponsibility, negligence of duty etc.Warfare has many adverse effects to
people in society. These include: displacement of people, fear, food shortages, insecurity and
injustice.
Deceipt, religiosity and hypocrisy
Deceit is dishonest whereas hypocrisy is when a person’s actions are different from what he or she
says.Religiosity on the other hand is whereby one pretends to be religious but his or her actions are
contrary to the religion that she follows.Many characters in the story are either deceitful,pious or
hypocritical.Georg Abashwili , the Governor is deceitful and hypocritical when he and his family
attend the church on Easter Sunday.On the doorway, they are met by beggars and petitioners, who
want help from them.He,however,does not bother to listen to their cries and instead allows his
bodyguards to whip them and push them back.This is contrary to what a devoted Christian should
do.While the family goes to church, they don’t care to allow the servants ,like Grusha, time to go to
church as well.
The Fat Prince is deceitful and hypocritical when he also attends church and even wishes his
brother a happy Easter Sunday and bows before Michael.The Fat Prince does all this while he
knows that he will be head the Governor after the church service.Religiosity, hypocrisy and
excessive piety is displayed by Aniko.When Grusha arrives at her brother’s, she is hungry and worn
out by instead of Aniko welcoming her warmly ans sympathizing with her, she questions her
especially about the child.When Grusha collapses due to fatigue,Aniko quickly accuses her of
carrying scarlet fever- a dangerous infectious disease.Grusha is forced to lie to Aniko that she is
married and that she is going to meet her husband in the mountains.This is after Lavrenti warns
her that Aniko is very religious and will not allow her to stay if she has a child with no father.Aniko’s
hypocrisy is seen by the way she shouts at her servants and how she wears two pairs of socks to
church with a hole in her stocking.
Laurent is hypocritical as well when he pretends to help Grusha by marrying her off to a dying man
instead of giving her a place to stay in his own home.He even uses his own money to pay off the
Mother-in-Law to accept the marriage to take place.
The Monk is hypocritical when he accepts to be paid to keep quiet about the existence of a
child.He is also dishonest because he is drunk instead of being a role model for others in
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society.The mourners are also hypocritical by the way they seem to be concerned with the food
being served instead of the impending death of Jussup.Jussup is deceiptive when he pretends to
be a person who is sick and whose death in inminent.He fools everybody including his own mother,
to the point that a funeral is arranged.When he learns through what the guests are saying that the
war is over, he makes a sudden recovery much to the shock of the guests.Grusha suffers as a
result of the deception, hypocrisy and religiosity around her.She suffers under the roof of the
Governor, she is mistreated in her brother’s house and because of Jussup’s deception, she gets a
husband she does not want.
Conflict/antagonism
A conflict is a disagreement between two or more individuals or groups.The text addresses
conflicts such as the conflict between the two land owning groups;the rich and the poor;the
Governor and the Princes;Grusha and Natella and Grusha and Jussup.
Firstly, the play begins with a conflict between the Goat Herders Collective Farm and the Fruit
Farmers Commune.These two groups quarrel over the ownership of the valet that has been left by
the Soviet army after the end of the war.The fruit growers want to develop the land for farming
while the goat herders want it because it originally belonged to them. A Delegate from State
Reconstruction Commission is sent from Tiflis-the capital, to hear their case. A decision is made to
award the fruit growers because of their plans for the valley. Secondly, the poor and the rich are in
conflict over resources. The Governor, George Abashwili is extremely rich yet he ignores the plight
of those under him. His courtyard is filled with beggars and petitioners who want his assistance
but he gives them the deaf ear. He ignores the pleas from the beggars and parents holding
emaciated children in their hands.
Instead the Ironshirts whip and push back the poor to give way for the Governor and his family .In
contrast, the Governor spends a lot of money on his son’s clothes, carriage and even intends to
build him a palace.He also has plans to demolish slums belonging to the poor for his garden.The
poor welcome the death of the Governor and support the coup that also overthrows the Grand
Duke. Thirdly, the prince has a conflict with the Governor and the Grand Duke.The country is at war
which is being fought by the Princes.The Princes, however fee that they are not receiving enough
support from the Grand Duke and the Governor.They devise a plot to overthrow the two leaders by
killing them.While the Grand Duke manage to escape, the Governor is caught ad beheaded in his
palace.Eventually, the Grand Duke secures support from other countries and he manages to take
back his seat and kills the Fat Prince and the other conspirators.Fourthly, there is the main conflict
which is between Natella and Grusha over who should keep the baby Michael.Their case is taken
before the judge Azdak who orders that a chalk circlebe drawn on the floorof the court and the two
women ordered to pull Michael from the centre.After Natellawins twice, the judge rules that the
child be given to Grusha since she shows motherly love by not pulling too hard.Finally, there is a
conflict between Grusha and Jussup.This happens after she gets married to hm while thinking that
he is about to die.After it is announced that the war is over,Jussup wakes up and starts to mistreat
Grusha by ordering her to treat him like a husband.Get the brush!To hell with you!Are the wife here?
Or are you a visitor?You are my wife and you are not my wife.God has given you sex—and what do
you do.I don’t have ten piastels to buy myself a woman in the city.Grusha finally, manages to
divorce him.
Love: Love is presented in the following ways:parental love the love that parents have for their
children, filial love the love that exists between siblings, and romantic love which is theintimate
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love between two people of the opposite sex who are not related by blood.Parental love is the love
that a father or mother has for the child.
However, the text shows that one does not need to be the real parent in order to have parental love
for a child.Natella, who is Michael’s rel mother does not show much love for him.She is more
concerned with her material possessions than her child.She for instance, wastes time packing her
clothes and jewelry that she does not know that Michael has been left behind when war breaks out
in the city.The Governor, on the other hand, shows an extreme form of parental love by showering
Michael with a lot of care and wealth.He wants to construct a palace for him and she has even
hired two doctors to take care of him.
Grusha displays parental love when she takes Michael as her own son and protects him from the
Fat Prince and the Ironshirts who want to kill him.She spends all her money on him and even risks
her own life when she hits the corporal on the head and dares to cross the rotten bridge for his
sake.Eve though she had promised Simon that she would wait for him, she goes ahead and agrees
to marry Jussup so that Michael could have a home.Grusha’s love for Micahel shows itself before
the court when she is unable to pull him too hard out of the chalk circle and that is why judge
Azdak rules in her favour. Filial love is evident between Grusha and her brother Lavrenti.This is
when Grusha walks on foot to the North in hope that her brother will shelter her and the
child.Lavrenti tries his best to protect Grusha from his wife,Aniko who is a pious Christian.He lies
to his wife that Grusha’s xhild has a father who lives in the North and that they are on their way
there.He even arranges a bogus marriage between Grusha and Jussup to enable his sister get a
place to live and a home for her child.Even though,Lavrenti appears cowardly and his actions seem
immoral, his attention is to see that his sister is safe and gets a comfortable place to stay.
Romantic love is evident in Simon and Grusha.Before Simon leaves for the capital, he leaves
Grusha a necklace as a symbol of their engagement.They promise not to get into other relationship
but to wait for each other.However, when the war is over and Simon returns, he finds Grusha
married and with a child.He is angry and demands his necklace back.On realizing the truth about
Grusha’s marriage and the child’s identity,Simon decided to support Grusha during her case with
Natella and even volunteers to tell the court that the child is his.In the end, the judge gives Grusha
the child and grants her a divorce from Jussup which allows Simon to have a wife and a child.
Irresponsibility
This is refusal to attend to one’s duty or failure to do what one is expected.In the text, the
leadership is portrayed as very irresponsible.Georgi is very rich and yet his people are extremely
poor.He does not want to listen to their pleas even though it is his responsibility, as a governor, to
ensure that they have all the necessities of life.Instead of improving the poor people’s houses, he
wants to demolish them to give way to own garden.When the Governor attends church , he finds
many beggars waiting for him on the doorway. He shows no interest in them and instead they are
whipped back by his Iron shirts.
On the contrary, when it comes to his own son, he spends a lot of money on his clothes and even
plans to put up a palace for him. He has hired two doctors to ensure he does not fall sick and he is
even driven in a golden carriage.The Governor shows no interest in the ongoing war and when the
injured Rider comes with a message, he does not want to listen to him. He says that he does not
wish to receive military news before dinner. Surprisingly, he finds time to speak with the architects.
Perhaps his refusal to receive the confidential papers from the Rider may have resulted to his
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death. The Rider may have been carrying a warning for him to run just as the Grand Duke does.
Natella is an irresponsible mother who not only neglects her duties as a mother but also
concentrates more on clothing and jewelry instead. After the Governor is killed, Natella runs away
with the Adjutant but she forgets to check whether she has the baby with her.She spends time
quarreling with her servants and picking her clothes and shoes not comfirm where the baby is.The
Governor’s servants are also irresponsible by abandoning the palace and even leaving Michael
behind when they run away.The two doctors charged with the responsibility of taking care of
Michael are also irresponsible when they keep blaming each other whenever the baby cries.When
the palace is under attack, they also take off leaving it behind.
Caucasian Chalk Circle by Beltolt Brecht

The Caucasian Chalk Circle Summary
The Caucasian Chalk Circle begins with a Prologue that deals with a dispute over a valley. Two
groups of peasants want to claim a valley that was abandoned during WW II when the Germans
invaded. One group used to live in the valley and herded goats there. The other group is from a
neighboring valley and hopes to plant fruit trees. A Delegate has been sent to arbitrate the dispute.
The fruit growers explain that they have elaborate plans to irrigate the valley and produce a
tremendous amount of food. The goat-herders claim the land based on the fact that they have
always lived there. In the end, the fruit farmers get the valley because they will use the land better.
The peasants then hold a small party and a Singer agrees to tell them the story of the Chalk Circle.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is actually two stories that come together at the end. The first story is
that of Grusha and the second story is that of Azdak. Both stories begin in a Caucasian City ruled
by a Governor, who serves a Grand Duke. The Governor has just had a child, Michael, and his wife
Natella is incredibly jealous of the attention that he gives to his son. The Governor's brother, the Fat
Prince, stages an insurrection on Easter Sunday. He kills the Governor and forces the Governor's
wife to flee. In her haste, she leaves behind her child. The Grand Duke and many of the soldiers flee
as well. Grusha, a kitchen maid, becomes engaged to a soldier named Simon. Soon thereafter,
during the coup, she has Michael handed to her. She hides the child from the Fat Prince and his
soldiers, thereby saving the child's life. She then takes Michael with her and flees the city, heading
north. After spending most of her money and risking her life for the child, she arrives at her
brother's house. He allows her to live there over the winter. When spring arrives, Grusha's brother
forces her to marry a "dying" man from across the mountain. They hold a wedding, but during the
reception the guests learn that the war is over and that the Grand Duke has raised an army and
returned. The "dying" man, Jussup, realizes that he can no longer be drafted into the war. He
miraculously recovers and throws all the guests out of the house. Grusha, now stuck with a
husband she did not want, is forced to become a good wife to him. One day Simon returns and
learns that she is married. He is even more upset when he sees Michael, whom he thinks is
Grusha's child. Some soldiers soon arrive and take Michael away from her, claiming that Michael
belongs to the Governor's wife. Grusha follows them back to the city.
The next story that is told is that of Azdak. The plot returns to the night of the Fat Prince's
insurrection. Azdak finds a fugitive and saves the man's life. The man turns out to be the Grand
Duke. Realizing that he could be branded a traitor, Azdak walks into town and reveals that he saved
the Grand Duke's life. The soldiers refuse to believe him and he is released.
The Fat Prince soon shows up with his nephew, whom he wants to make the new judge. However,
he agrees to let the soldiers decide who the next judge should be. After staging a mock trial, they
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choose Azdak. He then judges four very strange cases, ruling in each case in favor of the poor
person. Azdak soon gains a reputation for supporting the poor. However, after two years as a judge,
the Grand Duke returns. Azdak is arrested as a "traitor" by the soldiers and is about to be killed by
them. However, the Grand Duke, remembering that Azdak saved his life, reappoints Azdak to be the
judge, thereby saving his life. Azdak now takes over the case of Grusha and the child.
The Governor's wife wants Michael back because without Michael she cannot take over the former
Governor's estates. Grusha wants to keep the child, whom she has raised for the past two years.
Even Simon goes to the trial and promises Grusha that he will support her.
After hearing all the arguments and learning about what Grusha has done to take care of the child,
Azdak orders a Chalk Circle to be drawn. He places the child in the middle and orders the two
women to pull, saying that whichever woman can pull the child out of the circle will get him. The
Governor's wife pulls whereas Grusha lets go. Azdak orders them to do it again, and again Grusha
lets go. Azdak then gives Michael to Grusha and orders the Governor's wife to leave. He
confiscates Michael's estates and makes them into public gardens. His last act is to divorce
Grusha, thereby allowing her to marry Simon. During the dancing that follows, Azdak disappears
forever.
About The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Written in 1944 while Brecht was living in America, The Caucasian Chalk Circle was initially
intended for Broadway. It never quite made it there, but was instead premiered by students at
Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1948. Brecht's source for the play is most likely
Klabund's Circle of Chalk, which was based on an ancient Chinese play written in 1300 A.D. with
the same name. Brecht adapted this story into parable form and changed the setting to Soviet
Georgia near the end of World War II.
Brecht wrote the play for the Viennese actress Luise Rainer, who already had experience playing a
figure like Grusha in Klabund's play. Unfortunately, she and Brecht quarreled and parted company
forever before the play was produced.
The play was initially translated by Eric Bentley. The first edition of The Caucasian Chalk Circle was
mostly true to the German text with the only serious omission being that of the Prologue. The
reason for this omission is related to the fact that Brecht was forced to appear before the House
Un-American Activities Committee in Washington in October, 1947. Since the play was about to be
published at this time, the publication of the Prologue was postponed at his request. This caused
two false rumors to start: one, that the prologue was written after the original text, and two, that
Bentley himself had initiated the omission. Neither of these rumors was true.
The play itself is unusual for Brecht because it has a relatively happy ending; everything works out
for Grusha. At the same time, The Caucasian Chalk Circle is clearly a Communist play: whoever can
make the best use of resources in order to provide for others deserves to get those resources.
Implicit in this Communist moral is also a secularized version of the Biblical Christ story. With
typical anti-religious fervor, Brecht parallels Christ's story through the life of the drunken judge
Azdak. Furthermore, The Chalk Circle is itself a version of Solomonic Law, based on the Biblical
story of Solomon and the baby. When two women came to Solomon, both of them claiming the
same child, he ordered the child cut in half. The true mother chose to instead give the entire baby
to the other woman, thereby revealing to Solomon that she was in fact the mother.
The play did not gain popularity in the United States until the 1950s. The first professional
production took place at Hedgerow Theater in Philadelphia in 1948 and was directed by Eric
Bentley. Soon thereafter The Caucasian Chalk Circle became Brecht's most popular parable in the
United States.
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Biography of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898, in the medieval city of Augsburg, part of the Bavarian
section of the German Empire. Married in 1897, his father was a Catholic and his mother a
Protestant. Brecht was their first child, baptized as Eugen Bertolt Friedrich Brecht. His father,
Bertolt Friedrich Brecht, worked in a paper factory. His mother, Wilhelmine Friederike Sophie
Brezing, was ill with breast cancer most of his young life. He had one brother, Walter, who was born
in 1900.
Brecht was a sickly child, having a congenital heart condition and a facial tic. As a result, he was
sent to a sanitarium to relax. At age six he attended a Protestant elementary school (Volksschule)
and at age ten a private school, The Royal Bavarian Realgymnasium (KoeniglichBayerisches
Realgymnasium). Like most students, he was educated in Latin and the humanities, later being
exposed to Nietzsche and other thinkers. He suffered a heart attack at the age of twelve but soon
recovered and continued his education.
Significantly, Brecht was exposed at a young age to Luther's German translation of the Bible, a text
considered instrumental in the development of the modern German language. Quotes from and
references to the Bible abound throughout Brecht's work and can be found most particularly in
Mother Courage and Her Children in the mouth of the chaplain. While in school he began writing,
and he ended up co-founding and co-editing a school magazine called The Harvest. By age sixteen,
he was writing for a local newspaper and had written his first play, The Bible, about a girl who must
choose between living and dying but saving many others. He was later almost expelled at age
eighteen for dissenting about it being necessary to defend his country in time of war. By nineteen,
he had left school and started doing clerical work for the war, prevented from more active duty due
to health problems.
In 1917, he resumed his education, this time attending Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich,
where he matriculated as a medical student. By this time, his mother was heavily drugged with
morphine because of her progressing cancer. He started to write Baal at this time, a play
concerned with suffering caused by excessive sexual pleasures. It sensationally depicted what
were considered immoral attitudes at the time. Brecht's own sex life is fascinating in many ways.
He is thought to have had no fewer than three mistresses at any time throughout his adult life.
When he was a child, the family's second servant, Marie Miller, would hide objects in her
undergarments for Brecht and his brother to find. Through Brecht's poetry, we understand that his
mother used to smell his clothes to determine the extent of his sexual activities. By the age of
sixteen, he began to frequent a brothel as part of a conscientious effort to broaden his experiences.
Between sixteen and twenty, he apparently pursued eight girls simultaneously, including Paula
Banholzer, the woman who gave birth to his illegitimate child in 1919. He is known to have
experimented with homosexuality, often inviting literary and musically inclined male friends to his
room on weekends in order for them to read erotic compositions. His diaries, although vague,
mention his need for both males and females to fulfill his sexual desires. Brecht's desire for
experience was, throughout his life, all-consuming.
In 1921, he took his second trip to Berlin and attended the rehearsals of Max Reinhardt and other
major directors. In 1922, his play Drums in the Night opened in Munich at the Kammerspiele and
later at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. He received the prestigious Kleist prize for young
dramatists as a result.
Brecht also entered into his first committed relationship, his marriage with the opera singer
Marianne Zoff, at the age of twenty-four. Their daughter Hanne was born the following year.
Despite being married, Brecht had extramarital affairs and spent very little time with his wife or
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daughter. In 1923, his two plays Jungle of Cities and Baal were performed. After moving to Berlin in
1924, he met a communist Viennese actress, Helene Weigel. His wife Marianne moved in with her
parents after the birth of Hanne, and soon she stopped responding to Brecht's letters. At age
twenty-six Brecht fathered his second illegitimate child, with Weigel.
Their son was named Stefan. Brecht divorced Marianne Zoff and in 1929 married Helene Weigel. At
this point, he was just thirty-one. Helene Weigel gave birth to their second child, Barbara, in 1930.
During this time, Brecht was by no means monogamous. He was obsessed with the idea of
abandonment, and as a result, he abhorred ending relationships. The women in his life were
important for his writing career, and modern feminist detractors often try to claim that his
mistresses in fact wrote much of what was accredited to him. The allegation is largely untrue, but
women such as Elisabeth Hauptmann did write significant parts of The Threepenny Opera.
In addition, other mistresses included Margarete Steffin, who helped him write The Good Woman
of Setzuan and Mother Courage and Her Children; Hella Wuolijoki, who allowed him to transform
her comedy The Sawdust Princess into Herr Puntila and His Man Matti; and Ruth Berlau, who bore
him a shortlived, third illegitimate child in 1944. Weigel was tolerant of his affairs, and she even
warned other men to stay away from his mistresses because it upset him when they made their
moves. Brecht's writings show the profound influence of many varied sources during this time and
the remaining years of his life. He studied Chinese, Japanese, and Indian theatre, focused heavily
on Shakespeare (adapting, among other plays, Shakespeare's Coriolanus) and other Elizabethans,
and was fascinated by Greek tragedy. He found inspiration in other German playwrights, notably
Buchner and Wedekind, and he enjoyed the Bavarian folk play. Mother Courage and Her Children
arguably owes much to Schiller's Wallenstein trilogy. Brecht had a phenomenal ability to take
elements from these seemingly incompatible sources, combine them, and convert them into his
own works.
In 1933, Brecht took his family and fled to Zurich after the burning of the Reichstag, later moving
around the world to escape Nazi rule. In October 1947, during the McCarthy years, Brecht was
called to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Although not an official
member of America's Communist party, Brecht left the United States for Switzerland the next day.
He soon reunited with Helene Weigel, and they traveled to East Berlin in 1948 and set up the
Berliner Ensemble with full support from the Communist regime. Mother Courage and Her Children
was the Berliner Ensemble's inaugural production. In 1950, Brecht and Weigel were granted
Austrian citizenship. Brecht's four great plays were written between 1938 and 1945. These
included, for one, The Life of Galileo, which followed history slavishly.
It dealt with the protagonist's self-hatred for giving up his convictions in the face of the Inquisition.
The others were Mother Courage and Her Children; The Good Woman of Setzuan, which in some
ways follows from Mother Courage in examining the compatibility of virtue and a capitalist world;
and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which introduces questions about power and who is entitled to
own things. After this period, Brecht worked on his famous adaptation of Antigone and spent much
of his energy recording his theoretical ideas.
Brecht experimented with Dadaism and expressionism in his early plays, but he soon developed a
unique style that suited his own vision. He detested "Aristotelian" drama and the manner in which it
(at least from his point of view) made the audience identify with the hero without enough analysis
of the hero's flaws. To him, when such drama produced feelings of terror and pity and led to an
emotional catharsis, the process prevented audience members from thinking. (It is the ancient
quarrel between philosophers and poets once again, with another thinker trying to reform poetry.)
Determined to destroy what he considered theatrical illusions, Brecht made his dreams into
realities when he took over the Berliner Ensemble. In one of his early productions, he famously put
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up signs which said, "Glotzt nicht so romantisch!" (“Don't stare so romantically!”). For further
information, see About Epic Theatre in the ClassicNote on Mother Courage and Her Children.
Brecht received the National Prize, first class, in 1951. In 1954, he won the international Lenin
Peace Prize. Brecht died of a heart attack on August 14, 1956, while working on a response to
Samuel Beckett's absurdist play Waiting for Godot, written the year before. Even at the end, Brecht
was very much interested in the modern drama of the day. He provided instructions that a stiletto
be placed in his heart and that he be buried in a steel coffin so that his corpse would not be riddled
with worms. He also left a will giving the proceeds of his various works to particular mistresses,
including Elisabeth Hauptmann and Ruth Berlau. Unfortunately, the will lacked the necessary
witness signatures and was therefore considered void. His widow, Helene Weigel, generously gave
small amounts of money to the specified women. Brecht is buried in the Dorotheenfriedhof in
Berlin.
Summary of “Prologue” or Scene One

Two groups of peasants sit in the ruins of a village in Soviet Georgia in the Caucasus Mountains
after World War II. An Expert from the State Reconstruction Commission is there to help them
mediate a dispute over which worker’s commune should have the land in the valley. Both groups
have fought Hitler during the war and congratulate each other on the victory. The peasant group on
the right originally owned the valley and herded goats there, and now they want to come back,
feeling the valley belongs to them since they had been there a long time. The peasant group on the
left is a group of fruit farmers from another valley. They want to plant fruit trees in this valley and
make it agriculturally productive. The government Expert says he will listen neutrally to both
groups' arguments and asks them to come to some amicable agreement among themselves.
The peasants on the right from the Galinsk Goat Commune unpack some cheese and invite
everyone to taste it. They are complimented on the taste, but they claim that the cheese is inferior
since they left the valley. The grass is better here for the goats. They invoke the law of prior
possession. They have always been in this valley
The group on the left is the Rosa Luxemburg Fruit Growers Commune. Kato, an agriculturist, shows
the irrigation plans that would allow them to produce ten times as much fruit as before the war.
They could convert 700 acres of infertile land into fertile land. Everyone agrees the plans look good.
The Expert asks the workers on the right if they will give up the valley, and they agree.
The Rosa Luxemburg Commune has brought in the Singer Arkadi Cheidze to sing and perform a
play in which they will all take part. This will be a celebration and also comment on their right to
have the valley. Arkadi says he will sing a tale called “The Chalk Circle” which comes from the
Chinese, but adapted to this situation. The peasants retire into the Club House to eat and hear the
play.
Commentary on the “Prologue” or Scene One

Brecht uses the device of a “play within a play.” The frame story is set in the Soviet Union in the
country of Georgia in the Caucasus Mountains, hence the name “Caucasian Chalk Circle.” An
earlier version of the play was called “Augsburg Chalk Circle” when it was set in Germany. The
main play itself, put on by The Singer, musicians, and the workers from the Rosa Luxemburg
Commune, will look back to medieval Georgia with its princes and governors, showing the workers
their own history. It will be a parable or teaching story that will make several important points. The
Singer, Arkadi Cheidze, takes the part of a narrator, providing the links to the dramatized action
scenes. He and the musicians and actors also comment on the action with their songs. In his role
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as narrator, the Singer often tells the thoughts of characters and explains the time and scene
changes. Many composers have made music to go with the lyrics, but often performers make up
their own music.
The play elaborates on the dispute between the two communes who want the valley. The
goatherders use the argument that they were there first and have used the valley for the longest
time. This is a key ownership question—who has the right to something? Someone who has held it
traditionally, as the Goat Commune has held the valley, and by analogy, the medieval governors and
princes who held the land in their families for generations, or should the land go to the one who
makes the best use of it for the most people, such as the fruit growers? The decision to let the
newcomers, the fruit growers, have the land because they are more productive and have the most
to give will have a parallel in the chalk circle story of Grusha and the child Michael.
The political message of the prologue is clearly Communist, for capitalist law would rule for the
original owner. Because of the Communist ideas, the prologue was originally not played in the
United States.
Summary of Scene Two: The Noble Child

The Singer from the Prologue begins the story of the Chalk Circle: “Once upon a time.” The city of
Nukha in Grusinia (Georgia) is ruled by the Governor Georgi Abashvili, married to Natella with a
baby son named Michael. On Easter Sunday, the Governor and his family are on their way to church,
and the soldiers are holding back the crowds who want to see the baby. The beggars and
petitioners also line up to ask the Governor’s help but are pushed away so the royal family can
enter the church.
At the entrance Prince Kazbeki, nicknamed the Fat Prince, greets his brother the Governor and says
that baby Michael already looks like a future Governor.
The baby Michael has two doctors hovering over him, fussing and arguing about how to care for
the precious child. The family goes into the church, but a messenger arrives with important news
for the Governor from the capital city. The Governor tells his Adjutant Shalva he doesn’t want to
hear the messenger now.
A palace maid, Grusha Vashnadze, enters carrying a stuffed goose for the Easter dinner. Simon
Chachava, a soldier posted at the church begins to flirt with her. He admits he often hides behind a
bush and watches Grusha washing linen. He has seen her dip her bare legs in the river. Grusha
scolds him and runs off, angry.
While the Governor is in church, the Fat Prince enters and signs to the Ironshirts (a fierce unit of
soldiers or special forces). They go into the palace and soon have taken over the palace and the
town. The Governor and his family return to the palace from church. The Governor does not realize
there is a trap set for him. He wants to speak with the architects who are building a new section of
the palace. The architects come, but standing outside the palace gate, they see that the Fat Prince
has taken over. They discuss between themselves how the Princes met last night in the capital city.
The Princes are against the Grand Duke and his Governors. Realizing they are in the midst of civil
war, the architects run away.
The Ironshirts lead the Governor out of the palace in chains. The Singer, who breaks in with
commentary, sings, “Oh, blindness of the great!” (p. 15). People begin pouring out of the palace. All
the servants and even the doctors run away.
Simon enters, searching for Grusha. He tells her that he is helping the Governor's wife escape. He
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will be loyal to the old family. Grusha tells him he is being stubborn to obey orders instead of
turning coat with the other soldiers. Simon begins asking Grusha a series of courtship questions.
She understands his intent and says yes, she will marry him before he finishes because she is
being called into the palace. He ignores what she says and continues his formal courtship
explaining that he will deliver the Governor’s wife to safety and then will go off to the war,
remaining loyal to the old Duke. He asks her to wait for him. She says she will and sings a song
promising that when he returns, “no boots will lie before the door” (p. 19).
Simon gives Grusha a silver cross that was his mother’s to wear as an engagement present. He
then leaves to protect the Governor's wife. The Governor's wife, Natella, enters with boxes of her
clothes and the baby Michael. She cannot decide which dresses she needs and makes the nurse
hold Michael while she runs around in confusion. She feels she needs more help to pack and tells
the nurse to put the baby on the ground. Shalva, the Adjutant, makes Natella leave immediately. He
announces that the Judge of the Supreme Court has been hanged. In order to see to the dresses,
Natella forgets her child Michael. The nurse hands Michael to Grusha. They see the city on fire. The
Cook tells Grusha to get rid of the child; it is dangerous. The Ironshirts want the child, not the
mother. Grusha covers the child on the ground so it is hidden and runs into the palace to get her
things.
The Fat Prince enters with his drunken soldiers, who carry the Governor's head and nail it over the
door. He does not see the hidden child but remarks that he wants it hunted down through the
whole country. When the soldiers leave, Grusha goes to the baby and sits with it all night until dawn,
trying to think what to do with it. By morning, their bond is thus forged. She takes
Michael away with her. The Singer comments, “Terrible is the temptation to do good!” (p. 25).
Commentary on Scene Two: The Noble Child

The setting is roughly medieval Georgia, called Grusinia then. The city of Nukha is now in present
day Muslim Azerbaijan and its name is Shaki. Georgia once controlled Nukha, and at that time it
was Christian, as in the play. Georgia is a crossroads between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, of
both Christian and Muslim influence. It was annexed by Russia in the nineteenth century, then
became part of the Soviet Union. Georgia gained its independence in 1991 and is now a
democracy. Brecht is not trying to be historically accurate in the details, but rather, in principle,
showing the forces of history in motion.
It is significant that it is Easter Sunday, the celebration of the Resurrection. Instead, it ironically
means the Governor’s death. The Singer comments to him: “You will not move into a new palace,
but into a little hole in the ground” (p. 16). There is little sympathy for the Governor. He shoves
away the beggars as he goes to church, an act of hypocrisy. He builds an addition to the palace, an
act of insensitive hubris, or pride that goes before a fall. Natella, his wife, says that they will clear
the slum houses to make way for the improvements. The Governor is stupidly arrogant by not
wanting to hear the messenger who has just come from the capital city with news of the
impending coup.
Natella is more heartless than her husband, for she does not care for him or the child. She is
jealous of the child (the Governor changes the palace for the son, not for her) and is obsessed with
her clothes, unable to comprehend the danger, as she has lived a life of privilege. She treats the
servants badly. The quality of family life among the nobility is reflected in the fact that Natella
abandons her child, and the Governor is killed by his own brother, the Fat Prince. Michael, the noble
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child, is first fussed over by two doctors who seem concerned with every sneeze, yet when he is
suddenly, through no fault of his own, politically dangerous, he is considered worthless, even by the
servants. They leave him to die. He is no child but a pawn in a game of power.
Grusha is the main character in the first half of the play. She is a servant but has more human
feeling and courage than anyone else and is thus a heroine. She is unable to abandon a child, even
if it isn’t hers and means danger to herself.
She represents the good, but Brecht explains elsewhere that in a bad world good people are
abused. The Cook scolds her to leave the child: “You’re just the kind of fool who always gets put
upon” (p. 23). Grusha is thus in for a hard time, and hence the Singer’s comment that it is a terrible
temptation to do good. A cruel world does not reward good. To refuse, however, makes one less
than human, and thus, her dilemma.
The Singer comments, “When the houses of the great collapse/ Many little people are slain” (p. 16).
Knowing this, the people of Grusinia that Grusha meets during her escape, will mostly be
unsympathetic or too cowardly to help her because they will be afraid. Grusha will have to use her
wits, because everything is against her if she takes the child. She appears to sit by the baby all
night to consider the situation, but it works against her, for a baby is seductive, and by morning
they are bonded. Instead of making us identify with Grusha and her tribulation, Brecht plants a seed
of doubt about her at the end of the scene, comparing her to a thief in the way she sneaks the child
away. This is one possible explanation for her behavior, for Michael is the heir and could be taken
for ransom or some other criminal reason. She does turn out to be the good character, but Brecht
does not sentimentalize goodness; instead, he makes it a heroic and difficult act.
In this scene we see the Singer and musicians taking a part similar to the Chorus in an ancient
Greek play, commenting directly to or about what the characters are doing. Brecht admired Greek
tragedy and rewrote some of the famous plays, such as Sophocles’ deAntigone. Brecht gives the
scenes an ancient feel by having the characters speak poetically, using folk proverbs or folk songs
to make their points. The courting scenes between Grusha and Simon are charming because
indirect and understated. They speak through proverbs, as do many of the common folk. Simon
tries to convince Grusha he will not be in danger: “In Tiflis they say: how can stabbing harm the
knife?” (p. 17).
Summary of Scene Three: The Flight into the Northern Mountains

Grusha has a brother in the mountains and escapes with Michael to find her brother’s farm. The
musicians comment: “How will the merciful escape the merciless/ The bloodhounds, the trappers?”
(p. 25). Grusha carries the child in a sack on her back, singing “The Song of the Four Generals,” in
which she evokes the folk hero, Sosso Robadkidse. She sees a peasant's cottage and goes to buy
some milk for the child. The peasant overcharges her two piasters, the equivalent of half a week’s
pay. She does not know how they will get enough food on the way. She had wrapped Michael in a
brocade coat worth 1,000 piastras, and seeing a carriage of elegant ladies on the highway puts on
the coat and pretends to be a fleeing aristocrat like they are. She joins them as they try to stay at
an inn. The innkeeper is charging outrageous prices, and the ladies want Grusha to share the
expense. Grusha pretends to be a lady but gives herself away by knowing how to make beds and
sweep. They look at her hands and know she is a servant. Thinking she could be a thief, they have
her thrown out.
As Grusha goes north on the highway, she is followed by Ironshirts who are tracking the child to kill
it. The Corporal and his companion speak crudely and sing a marching song. At the River Sirra,
Grusha sees a farmhouse. The peasant woman has milk, so Grusha decides to leave Michael on
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her doorstep. The woman will be able to hide and feed the child. To make sure he will be taken in,
she hides behind a tree to see what happens.
The peasant woman finds the child and takes it into the house. Her husband wants her to give it to
the local priest, but she wants to care for it. Grusha thinks Michael is safe and goes in the opposite
direction from the house. She runs into the Ironshirts who are chasing her and Michael. The
Corporal makes rude sexual comments to her before demanding to know where Michael is. In
terror, Grusha rushes back to the cottage where she left the baby.
She runs inside and tells the peasant woman to hide Michael, to claim it is her own child. The
woman says she will, but the soldiers scare her. The Corporal intimidates the peasant woman at
the door, and she reveals that Grusha left a child on her doorstep. As she is taken outside by one
soldier, the Corporal goes in to find the baby. Grusha grabs a log and hits him over the head,
knocking him out. She takes Michael and rushes out of the house. After twenty-two days, she
reaches the Janga-Tau glacier and decides the child is now hers.
She takes off the expensive linen and wraps Michael in rags to look like a peasant. At a deep
ravine there is only a broken rope bridge where one rope has snapped and is hanging down the
abyss. Merchants at the edge are trying to grab the broken rope to repair the bridge. Grusha tells
them Ironshirts are following her, and she must get across. They tell her she can’t make it; the
ravine is two thousand feet deep, and with a baby, it is too dangerous. Singing the “song of the
rotten bridge” (p. 39) Grusha crosses, risking their lives. Just as she makes it to the other side, the
Ironshirts stand on the opposite shore, and she laughs at them.
Commentary on Scene Three: The Flight into the Northern Mountains

In this scene of Grusha’s flight she meets a cross-section of the people of Grusinia (Georgia), many
of whom are fleeing the civil war as she is. The peasant who overcharges for milk blames the war
for the high prices. He only looks out for himself and makes money on the crisis. The aristocratic
women accept Grusha only when they think she is one of them. The innkeeper is making money on
the well-born people who need to stay at his inn at any price.The ladies only have sacks to sleep on,
but they still keep up their pretense of being important people. They claim they are not fleeing, only
going to their summer residence in the mountains, but they drop hints of their husbands being
tortured and killed like the Governor was. Grusha begs their help for the child who is also an
aristocrat, but they have no mercy.
The peasant woman who would have kept Michael was not courageous like Grusha and broke
down out of fear when the Ironshirts came. Grusha’s knocking out the Corporal means she is now
a criminal. She can never go back to her own life. The Ironshirts think it is their duty to be cruel at
someone else’s orders and would kill a child because they are told to do it. The merchants at the
edge of the ravine have sympathy for Grusha but cannot help her. The merchants’ only reason to
get across the bridge is that they have to get somewhere to buy and sell. They don’t understand
her desperation until Grusha says, “Ironshirts.” Then, they hide their goods. The most important
moment in the scene is just before Grusha and Michael get to the ravine. She decides the child is
now hers, and performs a symbolic baptism with glacial water. When they cross the ravine she
sings to him, “The way that I know/ Is the one for your feet/ The bread that I find/ Is all you will eat”
(p. 41). She behaves towards him as a real mother would and has taken him on for better or worse,
risking not only her life but her appointment with Simon when he comes back from the war, for she
can’t go back now. The scene comments on the injustice of the upper classes.
The servant at the inn tells the ladies they should be glad to sleep on sacks instead of in a grave
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like others of their kind. The scene also reveals Grusha’s courage and pluck, her wit and talent. She
mimics the upper class women by making up a story about her rich husband and servants. She
does not hesitate to attack the Ironshirt who threatens Michael. She risks her life at the gorge,
though she is given a way out when the merchant woman offers to take the child so she can cross
the bridge alone.
She decides she and the child belong to each other and makes a ceremony of motherhood. Each
sacrifice she is asked to make for the child is more extreme than the last, but she does not turn
back, and indeed, cannot turn back. She understands her sacrifice as making the two of them
belong to each other, and calls Michael, “son.” She tells him that they must bear everything
together: “It’s not for us, son/ To choose our ways” (p. 41). This proves a prophecy as Grusha is
pushed towards choices she does not want to make, because of Michael.
Summary of Scene 4: In the Northern Mountains

For seven days Grusha walks across the glacier until she reaches her brother’s house. She has
imagined his warm welcoming of her to his home. Her brother Lavrenti and his wife have just sat
down to a meal when their stableman brings Grusha and the child into the house. Lavrenti
introduces his wife Aniko. Grusha explains she had to leave Nukha when the Governor was killed.
Aniko goes out to see to a cake in the oven. Lavrenti quickly asks Grusha if the child has a father.
She shakes her head, and Lavrenti says they must make up something, because his wife is very
religious. Aniko returns and asks Grusha about the child. Grusha says it is hers and then collapses.
Aniko starts accusing Grusha of being ill and does not want her to sit down in the house. Lavrenti
tells his wife that Grusha is on the way to her husband.
They go on eating in front of the starving girl who is not allowed to sit by the fire. Lavrenti goes on
inventing a story about how Grusha’s husband is on the other side of the mountain.Grusha says
he’s a soldier and then asks to lie down.Lavrenti tells Aniko that Grusha is on the way to her
husband’s farm, and he tells Grusha she cannot stay with them long.
Grusha remains through the winter months. She tells Michael that they must be “small, like
cockroaches” so that Aniko will let them stay (p. 46). Lavrenti comes into her cold room where
Grusha and Michael are wrapped in blankets and says they have been there for six months. He tells
her that she has to marry a dying man from the other side of the mountain. That way she will have
a home and Michael will be legitimate.
Grusha objects saying she must wait for Simon, but Lavrenti makes her feel she is a burden, unable
to work, with her child. He tells her it won’t be a real marriage because the man is dying. She will be
a respectable widow. She goes with Lavrenti to meet the dying man’s mother. Lavrenti will the pay
the woman 400 piasters dowry for the marriage. When the woman sees the child, she wants more
money. Lavrenti pays 200 more piasters so Grusha can stay on their farm for two years after her
future husband dies.
The local drunken monk comes to perform the ceremony. The dying man does not look alive in the
bed, but his mother answers “yes” for him in the ceremony. The monk then offers to perform
Extreme Unction, the ceremony for the dying. The mother says she had to pay too much for the
wedding. The neighboring peasants arrive for the wedding feast commenting that they thought
Yussup, the farmer, was only faking his illness to avoid going to war, but he appears to actually be
dying. As they gossip, it comes out that the Grand Duke has a new army and will return to fight the
rebellious Princes. Grusha gives Michael a piece of cake, telling him they are respectable now.
One of the guests mentions that the Persian war is over and that the Shah is now supporting the
Duke, his former enemy to get rid of the Fat Prince. The soldiers are coming home, and things will
go back to the way they were. Grusha begins to faint when she realizes the soldiers have returned.
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Yussup sits up in bed when he hears the news that the war is over. He gets up and throws the
guests out. The Singer comments on this unfortunate turn for Grusha: “By day there’s the child, by
night there’s the man” (p. 54).
Grusha holds out as long as she can, but after a while Yussup demands she perform her wifely
duty in bed, and she is sad to have to give in. As time passes, Simon’s image grows fainter in
Grusha’s mind. As she is washing linen by a stream one day, Michael plays with the other children.
They play they are beheading the Governor (Michael’s real father), and Michael says, “Me too chop
head off” (p. 17). He refuses to play the Governor, but pretends to chop off the head of the fat boy
(representing the Fat Prince).
Grusha laughs at the children, then sees Simon Chachava staring at her on the opposite bank. He
greets her. Grusha is glad and says thank God he has returned safely. They begin speaking of
unimportant things, such as the weather, and they tease one another as they used to. He tells her
he is now a paymaster in the army. Finally she tells him she can never go back to Nukha because
something has happened. She tells him she knocked out an Ironshirt and that she had to change
her name. He asks if he has come too late. They stand with the stream between them, staring in
silence, and the Singer tells us their thoughts. Simon thinks of the horrors of war he has been
through. He sees the child’s cap and asks if she has a child. She says yes, but it is not hers and
that nothing has changed between them. Then the Singer tells her thoughts about why she broke
her oath for the sake of the child. Neither of them has explained to the other, however, and Simon
tells her to throw the cross in the stream as he turns to go. Just then the soldiers come and take
Michael away. The Ironshirts take Michael back to Nukha, and she follows. The Governor’s wife
wants her child back. The Judge Azdak will try Grusha’s case.
Commentary on Scene 4: In the Northern Mountains

Religion is a target in the play. The comical drunken monk and the hypocritical Aniko, the
combination wedding-funeral, and the draft-dodging farmer who marries a woman with a seeming
illegitimate child are good satire, but tragic from Grusha’s point of view, for now she has had to
break her vow to Simon in order to keep Michael
The children’s game of playing beheading the Governor is a satirical comment on the past politics
of Grusinia, which has now become nothing but a memory among children. It also foreshadows the
death of the Fat Prince, which would have already happened during Grusha’s wedding, months
before Simon comes to her. At the wedding we learned the foreign war was over, and the former
enemy, the Shah of Persia, was going to back the Grand Duke against the Fat Prince, thus restoring
the country to its former rule. This sudden reversal has sealed Grusha’s fate. She realizes then that
Simon might come back, but she since she could no longer be his, she eventually gives in to being
the wife of Yussup. Yussup’s brutal lecture to Grusha on a peasant wife’s duty reflects the injustice
of both the political and religious structure of society. A woman is nothing but chattel, he
essentially tells her and treats her that way.
When Simon shows up, having been promoted and ready to marry, Grusha is too overcome to
explain herself to him. She insists nothing has come between them, but he can see she is married
with a child. This is the only time she insists the child is not hers. To everyone else, she has had to
say she was the mother to save Michael’s life. Both Grusha and Simon have been through the hell
of war but are unable to verbalize it to one another. The Singer’s summary of their unspoken
thoughts is poetic and concise.
Simon thinks: “My neck was burnt by fire, my hands froze in my gloves . . . “ (p. 59). Grusha thinks:
“I had to bend down on the floor for breadcrumbs” (p. 60). The upper classes have wars of power,
and the common people have to pay the price.Yet, Grusha might have run after Simon to explain
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when the Ironshirts took the child away.

Once again, she chooses Michael by following the Ironshirts to Nukha when they take Michael back
to his birth mother. Grusha puts herself in danger and now will be tried for kidnapping, but she is
unable to leave her adopted child. Though her choices are made from love, each choice creates a
worse life for her because she puts her own needs last, as any true mother does. This is a paradox
that Brecht highlights, creating suspense as to how Grusha could come out of this dilemma. The
play seems headed for tragedy, but it is not an individual’s tragedy as in traditional drama. Brecht’s
storytelling is “epic” in that he wants to portray the forces of history. Grusha is all the women
stranded by war; Michael is all the abandoned children; Simon is all the soldiers.
Summary of Scene 5: The Story of the Judge

The action goes back two years to the time of the coup when Governor Abashvili was beheaded by
the Fat Prince. On that Easter Sunday the village clerk named Azdak finds a refugee in the woods
and hides him in his hut, thinking he is a poor man. The man is hungry and eats some cheese
offered to him. Azdak demands to see his hands and realizes the man is a landowner. He begins to
insult him. The man is wealthy and promises to pay 100,000 piasters for spending the night. The
policeman Shauva knocks on Azdak’s door and tells him to hand over the “rabbit” (p.62). Azdak
begins arguing with Shauva, then slams the door and makes him leave. Azdak sees the refugee is
surprised that he didn’t turn him in and explains, “I couldn’t hand over even a bedbug to that beast
of a policeman” (p. 63). The refugee stays the night and leaves in the morning.
When Azdak realizes that he has hidden the Grand Duke himself in his hut, he finds Shauva and
asks to be arrested. He goes into the city with Shauva and tells everyone that he has helped the
Grand Duke escape and should be executed for treason. He asks to see the Judge, and they show
the Judge’s body hanging. The carpet weavers in Nukha rebelled when the Governor was killed and
decided that the Fat Prince’s rule was no better than the Governor’s. They hanged the Judge in
protest, but the rebellion was quickly quelled. Azdak tells about a similar revolution in Persia where
he comes from where all the officials were hanged, and then he sings a song about the cruelty of
war. He makes Shauva the policeman sing it with him, who is holding Azdak with a rope. The
Ironshirts think Azdak is one of the carpet weaver rebels, but he denies it. The Ironshirts believe he
is crazy. They drag him to the gallows as a joke and then let him go while laughing.
Just then the Fat Prince enters with his nephew, whom he would like to appoint as the new
Judge to replace the one who is hanging (usually represented by a dummy hanging onstage).
He decides to create good will for his new regime by letting the Ironshirts choose the new Judge,
certain they will pick his nephew. Azdak suggests that the nephew be tested with a mock trial. He,
Azdak, will pretend to be the Grand Duke. Shauva speaks up for Azdak, saying he is harmless.
When they do a mock trial in which the nephew pretends to be the Judge and Azdak pretends to be
the Grand Duke, Azdak says it wasn’t his fault the war went badly, it was the Princes who are to
blame. The Fat Prince is listening to this criticism, and the Ironshirts are enjoying Azdak’s fearless
and comic performance in which he speaks the truth.
The Fat Prince is angry and demands Azdak be hanged, but the Ironshirts make Azdak the new
Judge, saying, “The Judge was always a rascal. Now the rascal shall be the Judge” (p. 72). The
Singer says that Azdak remained the Judge for the next two years. Four cases are brought before
Azdak. Shauva is now the Public Prosecutor, and he sweeps the floor and runs errands for Azdak.
Azdak begins the proceedings in which he will judge two cases at the same time, saying, “I accept,”
stretching out his hand for bribe money. Only the accused blackmailer in one of the cases pays him
cash.
The first case is between an invalid and a doctor. The invalid says the doctor caused his stroke
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because he paid for the doctor’s education and then had a stroke when he heard that the doctor
was practicing for free. He wants his investment back. The other case is that of a blackmailer who
demanded money from a landowner who had raped his own niece. However, the blackmailer will
not tell the name of the landowner. Azdak rules that the invalid has to pay 1000 piasters as a fine,
and that the doctor must treat him for no charge if he suffers another stroke. The blackmailer has
to pay the court half of his blackmailing fees to keep the landowner's name quiet.
The next case is brought by an innkeeper who charges that his stableman raped his daughterin-law,
Ludovica. He caught the stableman in the act, he says. Azdak hints he would like a bribe from the
innkeeper; he asks for the innkeeper’s little roan horse. The innkeeper refuses. Azdak tells Shauwa
to drop a knife, and then asks Ludovica to pick it up. Ludovica’s hips sway suggestively, and then
Azdak rules that the rape is proven. Ludovica obviously committed the crime with her fat bottom.
Azdak fines the innkeeper the roan horse and takes Ludovica to the stables to investigate the
scene of the crime for himself.
Granny, an old peasant woman next tells Azdak that several miracles have occurred at her house.
She was given a cow, a ham flew into her house through the window, and the landlord waived her
rent. Three farmers claim, on the other hand, that Granny's brother-in-law Irakli stole the cow, the
ham, and threatened the landlord until he waived the rent money. Azdak fines the farmers for not
believing in miracles and drinks a bottle of wine with Granny and her brother-in-law, Irakli. When the
Grand Duke returns to power, after two years, Azdak is afraid justice will catch up with him.
He tells Shauwa he has been ruling for the poor, and the rich want to kill him. Natella, the former
Governor's wife, comes to court to demand her son Michael back, and Azdak bows to her.
Commentary on Scene 5: The Story of the Judge

There is method in Azdak’s seeming madness and nonsensical judgments. He takes from the rich
landowners and rules in favor of the poor. The Singer and the musicians sing, “No more did the
Lower Orders/ Tremble in their shoes” (p. 77). Azdak fines the rich invalid, the blackmailer, the
innkeeper, and the farmers who have money.
Azdak is the archetype of the wise fool. He gets away with telling the truth because of his brilliant
wit. Yet he is also humble and quite human, a man of ordinary appetites, not pretending to be high
and mighty or especially moral. He is so upset he accidentally committed treason by letting the
Grand Duke escape. He confesses his guilt, but he is so funny when he does it, and so outrageous
when he accuses the Princes in front of the Fat Prince, that he is rewarded by the Ironshirts, who
like the joke. Azdak is temporarily immune from being punished by those in power, as traditionally
a King’s jester could speak the truth without consequences. Azdak uses this opportunity to help
others.
He makes fun of the whole corruption of the court by taking bribes openly from the rich. His
flagrant mockery of the court system by traveling around like a circus, with the Ironshirts and
Shauva dragging the gallows behind, as he hears cases, is celebrated in the legend sung by the
musicians: “He took from Wealthy Peter/ To pay to Penniless Paul/ Sealed his illegal judgments/
With a waxen tear” (p.77). In the case of Granny, the peasant woman who only has enough to eat
because the bandit Irakli sends her “miracles,” Azdak treats her and the bandit with great courtesy,
and even calls Granny “Mother Grusinia, the woebegone” (p. 79), seeing her as the symbol of the
country’s distress.
Azdak is the outsider, originally from Persia. He is the town clerk, so he is more learned than the
peasants, and he knows the law enough to turn it on its head, symbolized by his using the Book of
Statutes to sit upon. How has this miraculous event of true justice happened in a country torn by
civil war? “The thug and the blasphemer/ Lounge by the altar-stone:/ Now, now, now Azdak/ Sits
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on the Judgment throne” (p. 73). Though short-lived, the time foretells the revolutions of the future
when the people will come into their own, and the masters will be thrown down, according to
Brecht’s Marxist myth-making in this tale.
This scene has shown what happened in the country during the civil war that lasted two years with
the Fat Prince ruling. The next scene brings us up to the present with the Grand Duke returned to
power and Grusha and Natella both claiming Michael as their son. Azdak seems to be intimidated
by Natella Abashvili, so there is suspense about what he will decide. He understands he is no
longer protected with the old regime returned to power, and his judging game seems to be up.
Summary of Scene Six: The Chalk Circle
The Singer announces this is the famous test of the chalk circle to establish the true mother of the
child. In Nukha, the Ironshirts lead Michael into court, and Grusha follows. The old cook comes
with her and tells Grusha she is lucky because Azdak is not a real Judge: “He’s drunk and doesn’t
understand anything . . . he mixes everything up” (p. 83). The cook says she doesn’t know why
Grusha hangs on to the child. Grusha replies: “It’s mine. I brought it up” (p. 83). The cook promises
to swear anything to support Grusha, and Simon Chashava, Grusha’s former fiancé, comes to tell
her he will swear to being the boy’s father.
Azdak has temporarily disappeared, and only the boy and two old people are waiting in the court.
Two Ironshirts go to look for the missing Judge. A third Ironshirt turns around, and Grusha
screams. It is the Ironshirt she hit, and he has a scar across his face. He denies knowing Grusha
because he would incriminate himself as having tried to kill the child. Natella Abashvili has two
lawyers with her, who tell her things will be taken care of. She says, “At least the common people
aren’t here” (p. 85). The lawyer warns her to be careful of what she says around this Judge.
Azdak is led in by Ironshirts in chains, and is followed by Shauwa in chains. The farmer landowners
are yelling for him to be hanged. He is beaten bloody by Ironshirts and dragged to the noose. Just
then a rider comes with a proclamation from the Grand Duke thanking Azdak for saving his life and
re-appointing him as the Judge. Azdak faints but is cleaned up, his robes restored, and with a
bottle of wine, he begins the trial. Natella’s lawyers are worried with Azdak in charge and backed
by the Duke. Azdak asks for something for his backside, and Shauwa brings him the Statute Book
to sit on. He announces, “I receive!” Natella’s lawyers are relieved and begin to hand him a lot of
money.
Then he says he is going to “demand the absolute truth” (p. 88) from everyone, especially Grusha.
The lawyers say that Grusha stole the child and won’t give it back. They talk about the sacred bond
of mother and child between Natella and Michael. Azdak interrupts them and asks Grusha her reply.
Grusha explains what she has done for the child, has brought him up and taught him what she
knows. The lawyer points out that Grusha is not claiming any blood tie with the child. Natella then
starts to proclaim her agony at losing her child. She is interrupted by the outraged second lawyer
who points out that Natella is not even able to enter the old palace because all the property is tied
up with the heir. She herself has no rights. The cook testifies that Natella was only thinking of what
dresses to take for the escape and forgot about the child.Grusha tells how she had to take Michael
on foot to the mountains, how she married to give him a roof and food while her fiancé was in the
war. Azdak asks Grusha what kind of a child it is, a street child or a noble child? She says it is “an
ordinary child . . . He had a nose in his face” (pp. 90-91).
Azdak is impressed with this answer, but says he will cut the case short because he doesn’t want
to listen to any more lies. He knows the lawyers are swindling him too. Grusha gets angry and says
no wonder he wants to cut it short considering how much he was bribed. Azdak asks whether he
received anything from her? She says no because she has nothing.Simon then defends Grusha by
arguing with Azdak in proverbs. Azdak fines Simon for speaking grossly in court. Grusha says that
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Natella is too refined to know how to change Michael’s nappies. She accuses Azdak of not
knowing about justice. He fines her for contempt of court. Grusha then scolds him for being the
servant of rich people while she is poor and frightened of him.
Azdak suddenly asks the old couple to come forward. The old couple says they have lived together
for forty years but they don’t like each other and want a divorce. Azdak says he will rule on their
case when he’s finished with the first case. He calls forth the child and asks Grusha wouldn’t she
want Michael to be rich and have nice things? Grusha does not answer, but the Singer tells her
thoughts: “He who wears the shoes of gold/ Tramples on the weak and old” (p.93).
When Michael comes in Natella exclaims, “It’s in rags!” She calls Grusha a criminal and wants her
flogged. Azdak calls for the chalk circle test. He explains, “The true mother is she who has the
strength to pull the child out of the circle, towards herself” (p. 94). Natella pulls the child out of the
circle. Azdak accuses Grusha of not pulling. He orders the test again, and again, Grusha lets go.
She explains, “I’ve brought him up! Am I to tear him to pieces?” (p. 95).
Azdak makes his ruling: Grusha is the true mother, but he tells her to take the child and get out of
town. He tells Natella that the court takes her estates and that a playground for children will be
made there, called the Garden of Azdak. Natella faints and is carried out. He then signs the divorce
papers. Shauwa points out to him he has made a mistake. He has divorced Grusha from her
husband instead of the old couple. Azdak apologizes but says he never retracts a judgment.
Everyone retires to a dance on the meadow, Azdak’s farewell party. Simon takes the child on his
back, becoming Michael’s father, and free to marry Grusha. Everyone dances, and Azdak
disappears among them and is never seen again. The Singer concludes that the people of Grusinia
never forgot Azdak and his brief Golden Age.
Commentary on Scene Six: The Chalk Circle

Azdak is the lucky folk hero who is plucky and wins against the rich and powerful. No one can
predict what he will do next. It seems hopeless for both Azdak and Grusha at the beginning of the
scene. Azdak is on the point of being hanged but redeemed by his good act of saving the life of the
Grand Duke. He cleans himself up from the beating and becomes the Judge again, an event in
Grusha’s favor, but it appears that it could go against her. First, Natella gives a very large bribe, and
secondly, Grusha and Simon insult Azdak instead of trying to win his support. Grusha is the only
one that has called Azdak to account, and he seems to admire her courage and her fearless telling
of the truth.
In the play only Azdak and Grusha speak the truth about social conditions. Grusha’s long scolding
of Azdak is a radical and revolutionary statement summarizing everything that is wrong with a
system of justice that allows the rich to stay in their houses while the common men are dragged
into their wars.Officials are just bribe-taking servants of the rich. Grusha calls Azdak the “cracked
Isaiah on the church window” (p. 92). Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet who warned the people
of destruction unless they turned back to God. She accuses Azdak of talking like a prophet but of
taking bribes. Azdak is impressive in this scene, because he does not respond either to the money
and power of the rich,nor to personal insults. With his usual sleight of hand, he finds the just and
impartial answer. By sitting on the Statute Book, he demonstrates that justice is not in the book. It
is in the human heart. He sees that Grusha and the child deserve one another, and the birth mother
only wants Michael to get the estate. Her class prejudice comes out when she speaks of the
common people as smelling bad. Instead of running to her lost child, she can only see he is
dressed poorly.
Azdak gives the Governor’s property back to the people, a response that looks forward to the
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Communist country of Georgia in the future. The Singer concludes with the moral that brings the
action full circle to the decision made in Scene One: “what there is shall belong to those that are
good for it . . . children to the maternal . . . the valley to the waterers, that it shall bear fruit” (p. 97),
Characters and characterization

AZDAK
-He is a village scribe (recorder) and occasionally steals chicken and rabbits. He is turned into a
judge by circumstances.
a) He is intelligent and cunning
-He manipulates the court scene to his advantage and hits back at the rich and mighty on behalf of
the poor.
-He cleverly allows Natella Abashwilis lawyer to reveal their true motive for claiming Michael back
from Grusha.
-He deliberately signs a divorce decree releasing Grusha from Jussup.
b) He is generous and welcoming
-He takes in the old man (Grand Duke) and hides him in his cottage. He gives him a hunk of cheese
seeing that he starved and exhausted from hunger. The singer comments that he gave the
forsaken (poor) what he had taken from the rich.
c) He is abusive and insolen
-He talks insolently to the old man. He hurls abuses at the soldiers and farmers after he is arrested
when fleeing from the town.
d) He is corrupt
-He openly and deliberately takes bribes from the court clients and lawyers before presiding over
cases. He steals rabbits from the state farms. As a judge, he always opens his proceedings by
demanding for a bribe, ”I accept” He fines people ,for example Simon and Grusha. He demands for
forty piasters after divorcing Grusha
e) He is immoral
-The way he handles Ludovica, the inn keeper’s daughter-in-law, shows Azdak’s low moral
standing.
-He even invites her along to visit the scene of her alleged rape by the stable so that the court
“can inspect the scene of the crime” (pg. 79)
f) He is contradictory and controversial-Azdak makes controversial judgments. In his ruling on the
case of invalid against the doctor who not only operated on a patient for free but also treated the
wrong leg, he charges the doctor for professional negligence but acquits him as a punishment!
He also acquits the stableman who confesses raping Ludovica, the inn keepers sister in law .He
convicts Ludovica for assaulting the unfortunate man with a “dangerous weapon.”
g) He is unpredictable
-Everybody believes that the case between Grusha and Natella is in favour of Natella.The lawyers
too believe that they have already won the case. They also imagine that the one who pulls the child
to her side is the real mother. No wonder the first lawyer congratulates her when she twice pulls
the child to her side. Least do they know what is in Azdak’s mind. He unpredictably rules in favour
of Grusha.
Grusha Vashnadze
She is the Governor’s kitchen maid. She is the heroine of the play who rescues the Governe’s son,
Michael during the civil war.
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a) She is loving and motherly

-She seats by the abandoned boy, Michael, the whole night and finally degides to take him into
Northern Mountains.
-She sacrifices her week’s wages to buy milk for the boy.
-She finally decides to adopt the boy and risks her own life for the sake of the boy’ safety.
-She even endures a marriage to a dying and cruel man for the sake of Michael.
b) She is determined and decisive
-She is determined to protect the boy as much as possible .She is equally determined to keep
Michael no matter what happens. She fights it out in court with the boy’s natural mother and wins.
-She has resolved to adopt the boy and does not intend to go back on her word. She’s resolved to
get the boy a shelter and that’s why she opts to marry the ‘dying’ man f or the sake of the child.
C) She is courageous/brave/daring
-She faces Azdak, the judge and dares him to pass a negative verdict against her after she notices
that he’s received money from Natella’s lawyer. She does not fear the consequences of her direct
confrontation with the judge.
-She hits the corporal who wants to take Michael away on the head.
-She risks and crosses the rotten bridge with a baby.
d) She is abusive/insolent/insulting
-When she perceives the case might not be decided in her favour, she goes on offensive and hurls
abuses at Azdak. She suggest that Natella is a pig for abandoning her child.
Grand Duke
He is the ruler of Grusinia who gets over thrown by the princes.
a) He is corrupt and greedy
-Azdak reveals the Grand Duke’s greed and his corrupt nature. He says that for the king to have a
new province the peasants must give up their savings, for the roof of the world to be conquered,
the roof of the cottage should be torn down and that the soldiers are carried to the ends of the
earth so that the great ones can eat at home.
-Most of his officials are corrupt. For example, they take bribes and increase taxe. Azdak calls him
a fraud and a swindler.
b) He is wasteful/extravagant
-He has five hundred lawyers to defend him.
-He wants enough seats to be given to lawyers.
c) He is incompetent/inefficient
-He allows the war to be run by Princes who embezzled the funds, sent sick horses and instead
of fighting, they were drinking in whore houses.
-Officers oppressed their juniors at his command.
- He commands the rich to sleep with peasants’ wives.
d) He is frank/open/honest
-He reveals that the princes gained from his war while the republic of Grusiana lost.
-They deliberately fail to deliver horses and food supplies to the war thus occasioning the army
to lose.
-When accused of talking like a carpet weaver, he says that he has said nothing but the truth.
e) He is fearful/cowardly
-Heflees from the police who are in hot pursuits.
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-When Shauwa (policeman) calls from outside Azdak’s door, he gets scared and stands still.
Azdak says this about him “Now don’t tremble because of a cop! so old and still scared?” (pg65).
f) He is secretive
-He disguises himself and does not divulge information about his true identity to Azdak even
when negotiating for his safety. Azdak learns it later with regrets.
-He makes a deal with the Shah of Persia to lend him a great army to restore order in Grusinia.
Georgi Abashwili a) He is incompetent/careless

-He chooses to ignore an official messenger from the capital city thus endangering his life and
that of the family. He intends to build against the back drop of war in Persia and will discuss the
building plans with the architects after dinner. He ignores military news for a more social event.
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b) He is unfeeling/callous
-He has no feeling for the many petitioners who crowd the entrance to the church. The
people are driven away forcefully by soldiers using whips. The servants merely
distribute coins.
c) He is myopic/shortsighted
-He does not see through the tell-tale signs that all is not well. The coup/revolt catches
him by surprise. He postpones receiving the military messenger. He wants the
investigations to be done the following day.
Natella Abashwili a) she is materialistic/selfish/greedy

-She wants Michael back because of the vast inheritance the boy has received from his
late father, Governor George Abashwili.
She is interested in her fine linen and shoes on the day of the revolt and would rather
have these than bother about her only child.
b) She is unfeeling/inhuman/cruel
-She easily and readily insults other people. She calls her maids” bitches”despite her
efforts to help her. She refers to Azdak who is dressed in a judge’s gown as ‘a creature’.
She uses the same term to refer to Grusha.
-She says she cannot stand the smell of common people. Because they her give
migraine. -At the sight of her son, Michael, she contemptuously concludes that he must
have been living in a pigsty.
c) She is conceited
-She poses a very important and special person. She says she has endured staying in
slum and it is about time her husband constructed a decent wing to their residence
(palace). She completely ignores the petitions of the citizens and only thinks of her son.
She says the smell of the common people gives her migraine.
Lavrenti Vashnadze a) He is cowardly
-He trembles with fear when Grusha, his sister comes to their house with a child.
-He hides Grusha’s real status from his wife and answers with lies on behalf of his
sister when his wife, Aniko, interrogates her . He arranges for a marriage to a
b) He is untrustworthy
-He plans to steal Aniko’s milk money which he uses for Grusha’s
wedding.
c) He is clever/calculating
-He covers up his wife’s shortcoming by claiming she is sensitive and religious.
-He covers up for the sister by claiming she has a husband in the army.
Prince Arsen Kazbeki

He is a Prince of Grusinia and a cousin to the
Governor.
a) He is sly/tricky/cunning
-He pretends to be affectionate with the Governor’s family but he can clearly see he is
up to no good. He has a secret communication with the soldiers who surrounds the
Governors place.
b) He is cruel/inhuman/unfeeling
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-He has arranged for the murder of the Governor whose head he proceeds to pin above
the door with the help of the soldiers. He hunts for Michael in order to kill him.
c) He is presumptuous/ambitious
-He wants his nephew, Bizergan Kazbeki, to be installed as judge. He is confident the
soldiers will accept without question.
-Together with other Princes, they overthrow the Grand Duke and take over the reign of
power and proceed to make various government appointments.
d) He is corrupt/materialistic
-Azdak says the war has been lost because of the greed of the Princes. They have
gained materially from the ongoing war. He wants his nephew Bizergan, fraudenly
appointed judge.
Jussup a) He is a cowardly/fearful
He feigns illness and lies in bed for a long time because he is scared of being drafted
into the army.
He only emerges from bed upon learning that the war is over.
-He even causes his mother to have him hurriedly married to Grusha so that he dies
leaving behind a widow.
b) He is chauvinistic
-He bullies Grusha and mother into doing menial jobs for him including pouring bath
water on him. He orders the two women about.
c) He is pretentious/insincere
-He lies in bed for a long time fooling everyone that he is extremely ill, when he is all
along feigning this. He lies still like one unable to breathe until his mother concludes
that he has succumbed to illness. The mother is compelled to answer the monk on his
behalf when asked to take the marriage vow.
Simon Shashava
-He is a paymaster.
He is a soldier who remains loyal to the Grand Duke. He falls in love with Grusha and
she promises to marry him when he returns from war.
a) He is loyal
b) -He remains loyal to the old family as others participate in the
coup. -He helps the Governor’s wife to escape.
-He obeys the adjutant who speaks to him harshly, abusing him (pg
23).
b) He is faithful
-After engaging Grusha and going to the war, he remains faithful to her up to his return.
-He also asks her to remain faithful to him.
-He gives Grusha a silver cross that was his mother’s, to wear as an engagement
present.
c) He is loving
-He loves Grusha. This is seen when he admits that he goes to the river to watch over
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her as she washes linen.
-He declares his love for Grusha and remains faithful when he goes to war.
-He engages her before she leaves.
-He supports her during the court hearing.
d) He is witty and humorous
-Heteases Grusha by suggesting that she sometimes goes to meet a lover and reveals
how he had once stalked her to the river bank where she washed linen and took a bath.
He also enquires of Grusha,s virginity in a witty way: ‘So the door is still in its hinges as
they say?’ (pg 60) -In a witty manner, he exchanges proverbs with Azdak in the court
scene, for example When the horse was shod, the horse fly held out its leg, as the
saying goes (Pg 6
Aniko
She is Grushs’s sister- in- law and Lavrentis wife.
a) She is unwelcoming/unsociable
-When Grusha comes, she does not welcome her. She reacts indifferently towards her
and seems not at all interested. She does not want Grusha to seat in the home.
She pretends to be very busy with her servant, Sosso.
-She is worried about Grusha’s illness because she thinks she will transmit it to them.
-Grusha tells Michael that they must be “small like cockroaches” so that Aniko can let
them stay.
b) She is inquisitive
Immediately she is introduced to Grusha, she starts questioning her. This, she does,
regardless of the situation Grusha is in. She is unwell and very tired from the journey. -
These questions show that she is not ready to accommodate her in the house.
c) She is overbearing/domineering
-The husband leaves in fear of her. He cannot do anything without referring to her or
seeking her consent.
-He is forced to marry off her sister out of fear of his wife.
Mother-in-law (Peasant woman)

She is Jussup’s mother who organizes for his marriage to Grusha before he just “dies”
a)She is greedy/materialistic
-This is shown by her urgency to wed Jussup to Grusha in order to get 400 piasters
Lavrent has promised to pay.
-She bargains with him for more piasters when she learns that Grusha has a child. She
is thus paid an extra of 200 piasters.
-She hires a cheap monk to make a saving instead of a priest who could have been paid
more. -She pretends she had forgotten the amount they had agreed and asks if they
had agreed on seven hundred, when in the real sense they had agreed on 600.
-She does not want to have the extreme unction, that is, the last rites for the dying
man.
b) She is hypocritical
-She demands that the monk should be silent about Grusha,s child and pretend that he
has not seen him.
-She owns up that she had hired a cheap monk to save some money.
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The Monk a) He is untrustworthy

-He sneaks away after receiving part payment before he weds Grusha and Jussup and
has to be looked for.
-He gossips with the other guests about Grusha’s child until the mother-in-law regrets
hiring him.
-He calls the musicians without informing the host.
b) He is hypocritical
-He goes ahead to declare Jussup and Grusha husband and wife yet he knows very well
that Jussup has not consented to the marriage. Grusha does not, consent too.
-He is aware of the presence of a child yet he goes ahead with the wedding ceremony
Shauwa a) He is compromising
He allows Azdak to go scot-free for stealing chicken and rabbits.
-He allows a common thief to bully him.
-Azdak forces Shauwa to arrest him for accommodating and allowing Grand Duke to
escape.
c) He is cruel
-While hiding the Grand Duke in his cottage, Azdak says he would not hand over a
human being leave alone a bedbug to Shauwa.
-He refers to Shauwa as a man-eater.
-Azdak accuses Shauwa of planting his fat heel on the faces of men.
Shalva a) He is responsible
-He requests the Governor to attend to the messenger from the capital who has the
confidential papers.
-He insists that investigations should be done immediately about Kazbeki’s wishes.
-He receives and gives directions to the official visitors to the Governor’s palace.
-He tries to make the visitors comfortable.
-He is over-protective of the Governor and his wife. He escorts her to the safety of loyal
troop up North.
b) Ignorant/naïve
-He does not understand what goes on the war front.
-He displays his ignorant when he fails to read the mood of the soldiers and imagine
that Persia is far off as to bother them.
b) He is loyal
-He remains loyal to the family.
-He accompanies Natella to the court to claim Michael back.
The Corporal a) He is abusive

-He calls his junior colleague a “blockhead” and a fool.
-He refers to his juniors as “hollow reed” and a “ tinkling
cymbal”.
b) He is sadistic
-He accuses his juniors for not “ enjoying kicking” the husband of the fat girl in the belly
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at his request.
-He orders him to stop limping after he has sold the horses.
-Even though the Private is tired, he orders him to sing with a
loudly.
c) He is inhuman
-He is after the boy to kill him.
-Grusha says, “They’ll run through if you hand him over”.
d) He is determined/resilient
-Even after receiving a blow on the head from Grusha which makes him collapse, he still
pursues her and the child up the Mountains. He is only stopped by the rotten Bridge.
Old Man with Milk

a) He is inhuman
-When Grusha asks for milk, he dismisses her and tells her to go to the soldiers since
they have his goats. He is not ready to give her milk for the child.
-He even shuts the door in her face.
b) He is indifferent
Although he is paid two piasters for the ” little drop of the milk” he still grumbles, picks
up the pitches and look for her unmoved.
c) He is oppurtunistic
-He takes advantage of civil war to make the money.
-He overprices his milk thus making the poor unable to afford it.
Irakli (The Bandit) a) He is sadistic

-When the old peasant woman says that the farmer’s servant who had come to claim
their cow were forced to turn away by the doorway after bumps as big as fists sprouted
on their heads, Irakil bursts to laughter because he is responsible for this.
-He maliciously kills the farmer Shutoff’s cow in his
field.
b) He is empathetic :-He provides a cow and a ham
for a helpless old peasant woman who had lost her
son in war.
Poor Old Peasant Woman a) She is naïve

-She narrates how she received a stolen cow, ham and was spared paying rent through
the criminal efforts of Irakli, the bandit thus making her an accomplice. She foolishly
narrates this in open court.
b) She is grateful
-She praises the bandits for changing the hearts of the cruel farmers towards her.
-She says she has never received such rare ham before.
Illo Shuboladze (first Lawyer) a) He is cautious/prudent

-He cautions Natella Abashwili to mind her language until they get another
judge He is careful to make utterances that may not injure Netella’s case.
b) He is articulate/eloquent
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-He presents Natella’s case before Azdak in a convincing’ articulate and organized
manner in an attempt to prove why it’s important for Natella to reclaim the child.
c) He is respectful
-Throughout his presentation to the court, he maintains his respect to the court and the
judge.
Sandro Oboladze (Second Lawyer) a) He is foolhardily/reckless

-He makes unwarranted outbursts during Natella’s case when it required keenness and
discipline
b) He is indiscreet/insensitive
-He reveals more details than he should in the court thus complicating Natella’s
case. -He makes it difficult for the first lawyer to argue the case before the judge
coherently by interfering at the most critical moments.
-He makes it clear at the court that it is out of Michael Abashwili’s estate which
Natella is after that the lawyer will be paid their fees.
The Three Wealthy Farmers
a) They are hardhearted/unfeeling
-The old peasant woman says that the farmers were most cruel until saint Banditus
turned them into good men.
b) They are vengeful/vindictive
-The three farmers maliciously and falsely accuse Azdak of being the Grand Dukes’s
enemy. This is purely revenge for his earlier judgment favouring the old peasant and the
bandit against them.
The old farmer orders the judge’s gown forcefully removed from Azdak before their
attempt to hang him.
The peasant’s wife.

a) She is motherly and accommodating.
-When she discovers the child on the door step, she immediately warms up to it and
requests her husband to allow her keep it, after all, they have a roof over their heads
b) she is inquisitive.
She subjects Grusha to a series of questions in an attempt to understand whom she
is and her involvement with the child found on her doorstep.
c.) She is cowardly fearful.
She panics when the soldiers come into her house and reveals the existence of it.She
instead goes on her knees and begs them to spare her.
Theme Analysis
Class Warfare
The Grand Duke of Grusinia (Georgia) is involved in a foreign war in Persia when the
play opens, yet the action focuses on the civil war at home caused by the coup of the
Princes. While the aristocratic regimes come and go during the action of the play, the
common people are always regarded as less than human. They suffer no matter who is
in charge.
The Singer uses Governor Abashvili who is executed by his brother, the Fat Prince, as a
warning to other aristocrats: “Oh blindness of the great! They walk like gods/ Great over
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bent backs, sure/ Of hired fists, trusting/ In their power which has already lasted so
long” (Scene One, p.15). The soldiers or “hired fists,” like the Ironshirts, change loyalties
with regimes and let themselves be used by the rich to persecute the poor. Simon
Chachava is an exception to this, remaining loyal to the Duke. One of the most
passionate denunciations of the upper classes is by the maid Grusha in Scene Six when
she denounces Azdak the Judge and the justice system itself as a servant of the rich.
She complains that the wealthy “drag our men into their wars” (p. 92). Simon’s
memories of the war in Scene Four reinforce her complaint as he witnessed his
brothers slain around him for the sake of the Duke’s cause.
Grusha tries to disguise herself as an upper class lady when she escapes, but she is
found out when she knows how to make beds. The women look at her hands and know
she works for a living. The servant at the inn sympathizes with her, saying, it is hard to
pretend to be “a lazy useless person . . . once they suspect you can wipe your own
arse... the game’s up”
(Scene Three, p. 32). Natella Abashvili becomes the stereotyped and heartless noble
lady who can only run around picking out the right dresses to pack and berating the
servants while her husband is being executed and her son is abandoned.
In court, Natella’s notion of motherhood has to do with station. She wants her son back so
they can be restored to their estate. She only notices what the child is wearing and is
shocked to see him in rags. When Azdak asks Grusha if she wouldn’t like the child to be
rich, she thinks to herself it is better for him to be poor than to mistreat the poor: “Hunger
he will dread/ Not those who go unfed” (Scene 6, p. 94). He will not always have to be
afraid of who is going to chop off
his head, as was done to his father, because of a power struggle or because he was
unjust to others.
Human Sympathy
What is it that can heal class divisions? The play answers that human sympathy makes
everyone equally valuable. Grusha does not hate Michael because he is the son of the
Governor, who oppresses everyone. She is won over because he is a baby, like any
other: “He looks at you like a human being” (Scene 2, p. 23). When Grusha sits with the
baby all night trying to consider what to do with it, she hears it call to her as if saying:
“Don’t you know woman, that she who does not listen to a cry for help/ But passes by
shutting her ears, will never hear/ The gentle call of a lover” (Scene 2, p. 24).
When she risks her life for the child’s, the Singer asks, “How will the merciful escape the
merciless/ The bloodhounds, the trappers?” (Scene 3, p. 25). Grusha does get some
sympathy along the highway. A peasant woman was willing to take the child until the
Ironshirts came. The servant at the inn tried to give her food. The merchants wanted to
help her cross the ravine or take the child so that she could go on. Her brother gives her
a roof for as long as he dares and arranges a marriage for her. Jussup takes in both her
and the child without asking questions. She is given partial help but she is the one who
has to sacrifice her whole life for Michael. The child would not have survived but for her.
She wants to tell Simon this when he comes for her but only thinks it: “I had to tear
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myself to pieces for what was not mine/ But alien/ Someone must be the helper”
(Scene 4, p. 60).
Grusha deserves to be Michael’s mother because of what she passes on to him. From
her, his inheritance will not be money or rank, but wisdom: “I’ve brought him up
according to my best knowledge and conscience . . . I brought up the child to be friendly
with everyone. And from the beginning, I taught him to work as well as he could” (Scene
6, pp. 88, 89). She wants him to treat others humanely, and that is a priceless gift for
him and the future. Azdak recognizes this humanity in Grusha, demonstrated by her
unselfish letting go of the child’s arm so she won’t hurt it. Azdak himself is the other
great example of human sympathy as he risks his own
life for two years to help the poor. It is a great and comic juggling act he performs with
great humility. In the case of Granny, for instance, who claims the stolen cow, ham, and
waiving of the rent were “miracles,” Azdak fines the farmers for not believing in miracles.
He sits on the floor with Granny and the bandit, treating them as equals. He calls Granny
“Little Mother” or “Mother Grusinia,” seeing her as the suffering poor. The Singer says, “So,
so, so, so Azdak / Makes miracles come true” (Scene 5, p. 77). Miracles are not
supernatural events for Brecht, but human acts.
Justice
The play uses the dilemma of the child, and the debate of the communes over the
valley, to ask, what is Justice? Who should get the child? Who should get the land?
Azdak the fool, who is made into a Judge, works his way through to an answer. It is not
an expected or a ready-made answer, for, as the Singer comments, “Truth is a black
cat/ In a windowless room at midnight/ and Justice a blind bat” (Scene 5, p. 75).
Justice will never come from “willing Judges” like Prince Kazbeki’s nephew ( Scene 5, p.
75). Azdak’s antics, such as demanding bribes in the court from the rich, comments on
the accepted corruption. He says, “It’s good for Justice to do it in the open” as he
moves around in a caravan among the people (Scene 5, p. 75). Everything he does or
says satirizes the court system. He asks Grusha, “You want justice, but do you want to
pay for it? When you go to the butcher, you know you have to pay (Scene 6, p. 91). The
rich are used to equating money and rank with truth, but it is their truth, not impartial
Justice. Out of Azdak’s comic theater in the courtroom, he creates a crazy logic so that
the people who need help get it, despite the law. “His balances were crooked,” says the
Singer (Scene 6, p. 77).
Grusha, not understanding Azdak’s intent, scolds him for being corrupt. She claims that
what would be true justice is to choose “only bloodsuckers and men who rape children”
for judges as a punishment to make them “sit in judgment over their fellow men, which
is worse than swinging from the gallows” (Scene 6, p. 92). Judging is a punishment to
an unjust man who will only blacken himself with hypocrisy. This is the justice the poor
are used to. Azdak’s reply to her is, “I’ve noticed that you have a weak spot for justice”
(Scene 6, p. 93).
After Azdak rules in Grusha’s favor, the Singer states the principle of Justice that Azdak
uses: “what there is shall belong to those who are good for it, thus/ The children to the
maternal . . . the valley to the waterers” (Scene 6, p. 97). The play opens and closes with
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true justice served.
Devastating effects of war.

Any time there is an outbreak of war, the aftermath is devastating. Different sectors of
the society are affected, people are killed and displaced, the environment is degraded
and livelihood interrupted. There is also a traumatic impact on the health of the
population. In addition, physical and emotional occurrences are experienced. The play
opens with a prologue and a description of a Caucasian village that has been ravaged
by war. This follows an invasion by Hitler’s army during the world war II….“The apple
orchard was already destroyed.” and … ‘The beautiful dairy farm a ruin…” pg 7. In the
prologue, we see people’s lives destroyed as the goat herders complain of the low
quality of cheese they now produce from new settlement. The old man whom Grusha
requests to sell her some milk retorts; ‘Go to the soldiers if you want milk”As the play
opens in act one, we see George Abashiwili, the Governor going to the church for Easter
Mass and along the way, hordes of beggars and petitioners are complaining about the
hike in taxes and cost of living. They are heard saying… “mercy, mercy, Your grace! The
taxes are too high…” pg 14.A guest in attendance at Grusha’s wedding has the same
feelings “ Now everything will be the way it was. Only the taxes will go up because of
the war.” Pg 55. During the war in Persia, there are some causalities. People are killed
and maimed. We hear some of the beggars and petitioners lament, “I lost my leg in the
Persian war…where can I get…(pg14).
A rider for the war who wished to speak to the governor appears with his hand in in a sling
…a good example of the aftermath of the war. Many deaths occur as a result of war. After
the prince’s regime is overthrown, a series of killings occur, for instance, the killing of
George Abashiwili, the governer of Nuka (pg 27), a judge whom Azdak replaces later is
killed by hanging and the son of the old woman is also killed in the war.
Apart from dying, people also suffer. The singer summarizes the experiences of Simon
during the war, thus: “the battle began, gray at dawn, and grew bloody at noon/ the first
man fell in front of me /the second behind me/the third at my side/I trod on the
first/left the second behind/one of my brothers died by steel, the other by smoke/my
neck caught fire, my hands froze in my gloves, my toes in my socks/I fed on stone, in
water” (pp60-61). War results to the displacement of people. The grand duke is forced
to flee, Grusha flees to the northern mountains with the baby Michael, Natella flees also
leaving behind her child. The song of Justice in Persian sand by Azdak and Shauwa
also shows the many effects of war including displacements…. “our men are carried to
the end of the world, so that Great ones can eat at home. (pp68.)
Exploitation is also evident due to war. The old man takes advantage and raises the
prices of milk. He says that the soldiers had taken their goats. He demands three
piasters for a pitcher of milk.
Corruption Greed and materialism.
Corruption mainly refers to lack of integrity or honesty and is mostly manifested
through susceptibility to accepting bribes. Corrupt individuals use their privileged
positions they have been entrusted to to make illegitimate gains , thus undermining
their moral integrity . They are usually driven by greed. Forms of corruption vary and can
include bribery, extortion, cronyism , patronage ,and general embezzlement of mainly
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public funds. In the play, cases of corruption are rampant. When George Abashwili the
governor is making a procession to enter the church, for the Easter service, one of the
petitioners says that the water inspector is taking bribes “please, Your grace, the water
inspector takes bribes” pp14.
The ironshirts are equally corrupt. They use their privileged positions to execute others
and in the process make illegitimate gains. One ironshirt says… “ this morning, they
strung up the city judge . As for us, we beat them to pulp. We are paid one hundred
piasters per man. You understand? (Pp69).The killing of the judge points at lack of
value for human life.
No wonder they relentlessly follow Michael , as they hope to make a fortune. Indeed,
the ironshirt tells the corporal that if he reveals any information about the baby, he will
get some money. (pp 88.) Azdak, the judge is overly corrupt and his greed unstoppable.
He openly takes bribes in the court before listening to a case. He begins his cases by
saying, “ I accept,” Meaning that he is willing to be bribed . In fact, he declares himself
corrupt on pg 91 when he solicits for a bribe from Natella’s lawyer.He says… “Did you
hear? the question is unusual. I ask it because I listen in a different way when I know
you are good " This is after he asks for a bribe by rubbing his thumb and index finger .
On pp 77, the stranger tells us that Azdak is crooked. “those who’ve only got a penny /
they have one single sole recourse: Azdak”
In another occasion, he takes bribes from the innkeepers so as to listen to his case
against Ludovica, his daughter in-law, “ I accept…Good. Now the formalities are
disposed of. This is a case of rape. (pp 78).
When the grand Duke makes a grand return to Nuka, Azdak is scared stiff because he
knows that his end has drawn nigh. He comes across a corrupt : “ I peeped into the rich
man’s pocket, which is bad test. I can’t hide anywhere –everybody knows me because I
have helped everybody” Pp84.
As Azdak executes his duties, his deeds do not measure up to the expected standards.
He makes controversial judgments that put his integrity into questions. He sits on the
statute book when delivering justice , perhaps, a pointer to his contempt for what is just.
He also takes wine in public as he executes his duties.
Through the song on page 82, the singer says that though Azdak defends the poor and
the lowly, he still has to take a bribe from them. This is affirmed by the cook during the
Chalk Circle case. She tells Grusha that Azdak never gets enough bribe from the rich.
‘ you are lucky, It’s not a real judge. It’s Azdak, a drunk who doesn’t know what he is
doing . The biggest thieves have gotten through by him. Because he gets everything
mixed up and the rich never offer him enough bribes, the likes of us sometimes do
pretty well. (pp86). The cook goes further to tempt him with a bribe so that he can
change his mind on Grusha’s case. “ I used to look after it for them, your honour . Five
piasters. (pp93).
Hypocrisy.
The singer describes the Governor Georgi Abaswili’s lifestyle amidst a society of
beggars petitioners and invalids. Although he is on his way to church in the company of
his welldressed family, he displays no compassion for his suffering subjects. He even
has two doctors attending to his one child. He has numerous servants and many
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soldiers attending to his needs in the palace.
The fat prince is hypercritical and pretentious. When he meets the Governor’s family, at
the church entrance, he wishes them a happy Easter yet he is among those who are
planning the revolt that will result in the Governors death on the same day. He even
sarcastically remarks that the young boy is a governor from head to foot and later
pursues him in order to kill him.
The princes of Gruisina are also hypocritical. Azdak reveals their greed because they go
to the war not to fight for their country but for their gain. They embezzle funds meant
for buying horses and supplies thus causing the country to lose the war. Azdak says
that the country lost but the princes gained. The monk is hypocritical. Even after
receiving part payment to wed Grusha and Jussup, he disappears and he has to be
fetched to perform the ceremony. He pretends not to notice the presence of the child.
He is said to engage in gossip with the guests about the bride having a child. He invites
musicians without his host’s consent . The fact that he accepts to preside over a sham
wedding makes him hypercritical. His host calls him a cheap priest.
Misuse of power.
The governor abuses power. At the beginning, the singer describes him as a leader who
would like to surround himself with many soldiers as his subjects suffer the burden of
high taxation, injustices and starvation. As they petition him for tax relief and reduction
of corruption, he has two doctors attending to his child, Michael.
In the play within a play in which Azdak plays the role of the Grand Duke, his abuse is
demonstrated by his hiring five hundred lawyers to defend him. He reveals that the
Duke had always commanded his soldiers to steal , his senior officers to flog the
soldiers and the rich to rape the peasants’s wives.” The Grand Duke” also reports abuse
of office by the princes whom he had sent to the war. They ‘Messed it up’ by
embezzling funds that would have enabled the call up of more soldiers and buying
healthier horses.
As Grusha travels Northwards, the ironshirts whom the singer refers to as
‘Bloodhounds’, Trap-setters’ and ‘Butchers’ are on the highway after her. The corporals
speech reveals a force that is not only cruel, abusive and sadistic but also immoral.
He criticizes his junior colleagues for not ‘enjoying’ the treatment they gave a couple
they met the other day. He also reveals that they had sold the horses and that’s why
they are travelling on foot. When they meet Grusha, they harass her with a barrage of
questions, an indication of their vindictiveness and sexual orientation.
Azdak as a judge exemplifies gross misuse of power and position. He exploits court
clients by first demanding bribes before presiding over cases. He commonly uses the
phrase “ I accept” which has become synonymous with his court proceedings. He
suggests that he accompanies Ludovica, the innkeeper’s daughter-in-law to the scene
of rape in order for the court “to inspect it”. He fines Grusha and Simon for contempt of
court and pockets the proceedings saying he will need the money later. He demands
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for 40 Piasters from Grusha and Simon after signing Grusha’s divorce papers. His other
ruling in other cases involving the invalid doctor and the limping man, and the farmer
and the old woman are all made with no due regard to the law.
Azdek rarely uses the status book and sits on it most of the time instead. He even asks
the old granny to sit on the judges seat and requests her to judge them. This is a very
unusual way of running a court of law.
Prince Kazbeki comes along with his nephew, Bizergan Kazbeki and demands that he
should be installed as judge after the previous one has been hanged. There is no
reference to his training as a judge and he handles the mock training of the “Grand
Duke” incompetently. Azdak, a mere civilian is able to expose his incompetence.
Love and motherhood

When the Governor’s wife abandons her child, she flees the palace, it portrays her lack
of love and motherhood. She busies herself with packing her special clothes and shoes
she wishes to take with her and even orders a servant carrying the child to place him on
the floor to get her boots from the bedroom. When she is finally pulled away by the
Adjutant, Shalva, she completely forgets about her son. Grusha, of all the servants
endures a lonely night by keeping vigil over the child proving her love and motherhood.
The writer says that by morning, the seduction is complete between Grusha (mother)
and Michael (son). When she rises to head northwards, there is no doubt that her path
and Michael’s are intertwined.
Azdak is presented with a unique case to prove love and motherhood. Natella Abashwill,
the natural mother wants her son back after two years for the sake of reclaiming her
husband’s estates that are tied to the heir. For the two years she has been away, she
has no single thought for the child, making us doubt her love and motherhood. For all
this time, Grusha has struggled to bring Michael up and teach him the simple lessons
of life. To decide who really loves the child as a mother, Azdek uses the test of the
chalk circle in which Grusha declines to pull the child violently to herself which Natella
does. The obvious choice of the one who truly loves the child as a mother is presented
to Azdak. He rules that Grusha is the true mother.
As Grusha heads to the northern mountains, she is presented with enormous

challenges. Obtaining milk for the child is difficult for the “new mother”. However, she
uses her one week wages to obtain milk expensively from the old man. To her, Michael
must survive. she even gives the child her dry breasts to suck. As the Iron shirts
relentlessly pursue Grusha Northwards, she gets extremely exhausted having carried
the child along until she finds him a home with and old pleasant couple. She watches
from behind a tree as the old woman takes him inside and then walks away satisfied
that he has at last found a home. When the ironshirts threaten to take him away, she
hits the corporal on the head and flees with the child. She now vows to adapt him as
her own.
The merchant woman is portrayed as motherly. She demands that Grusha gives her the
baby as she crosses the rotten bridge alone. She admonishes her to think about the
baby and risk her own life rather than the baby’s. She would prefer to hide the baby
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herself rather than have his life risked. She even says that Grusha is tempting God,
screams when it looks like the bridge is about to collapse and concludes that it was
sinful to have taken the risk after Grusha crosses to the far side.
Grusha endures a cold reception at her brother’s house because of the presence of the
child, Michael. Her sister in law, Aniko persistently questions her about the child and
makes it obvious that she is an unwelcome visitor. She even tells Michael that they
have to make themselves as small as possible and endure the cold in the workroom by
Aniko. She does not waiver in her resolve to be Michael’s mother. Grusha’s forced
marriage to Jussup is as a result of gaining shelter, a name for the child and
acceptability in the society. There have been many questions raised about the
legitimacy of the child. Deep within her, she loves Simon and wishes that this ‘marriage’
will last for a short while to enable her reunite with her fiancé whom she is sure will
take care of Michael. Indeed, Simon promises to testify that he is Michael’s father.
Difference in social classes

The poor have been mistreated by the ruling class. For instance, the Governor ignores
all the beggars and petitioners. Instead of listening to their individual grievances, as a
servant distributes coins as if this will solve their problems. Natella mistreats her
servants. She refers to them as “bitches” and “creatures”. She abuses them and even
beats some of them.
She says the common people smell and this gives her a migraine.
The Governor and his family are living a lavish lifestyle while the common man
languishes in poverty. The royal family intends to build the East Wing which will create
room for a garden amidst all this suffering and anguish by the poor. The rich take
advantage of the poor whom they constantly exploit. The poor do not own land but rent
it from the rich. For example, the three rich farmers. The old woman is supposed to pay
rent from one of the three rich farmers and is
accidentally let off the hook by the bandit. Azdak rules on her favour because she
belongs to the poor and vulnerable class.
Amongst the lower class, there are several incidences of struggle for survival. For
instance, the old man with milk exploits Grusha by overcharging the little pitcher he
sells her for the child. There is vicious survival amongst the lower cadres in the army.
For example, the corporal sells the horses and insists the price could not be found
anywhere else. He commands the private not to limp because he is portraying that he is
unhappy with what his superior has done. The peasants are seen to be struggling to
make ends meet. Grusha’s mother in-law hurriedly agrees to an arranged marriage
between her son, Jussup and Grusha for six hundred piasters. She even hires a cheap
monk in order to make saving and Lavrenti complains.
Style and language
Play within a play
The entire story of the chalk circle is a play within a play. The main story is found in the
prologue which is solving the dispute about the ownership of the valley between the
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fruits and the vine growers, on one hand and the goat herders, on the other hand.
The Germans had displaced the goat herders who ended up on the land which they felt
was unsuitable for cheese production. Unfortunately for them, the agricultural group
that is laying claim to the valley has elaborate irrigation plans aimed at increasing the
production.
At the end of the discussion presided over by the delegate from the state
reconstruction commission from Tiflis, the capital, they mutually agree to hand over the
valley to the agricultural group.
In honour of the guests who have travelled for three days and three nights, the singer,
Arkadi is invited to stage a performance. The story of the chalk circle and the preceding
scenes is a product of this song hence the play within a play. Grusha’s story is a test of
true motherhood that is awarded custody of Micheal instead of the biological mother
Natella. Azdak’s story stands for truth and justice especially for the poor and
downtrodden. The mock trial, being a play within a play illustrates the fact that the
Grand Duke’s regime and the princess’s regime are to blame for the loss of the war and
the ills in the society.
The children’s play where they act out the execution of the Governor during the princes’
revolt is a mockery of the adults’ world.
Songs
The many songs in the play interpret the various episodes in the story.
- They summarize the preceding scene, comment on the action, or predict the
next scene
- The songs are the end of the chapter and a breathing space between the
scenes.
They are the essence of a feeling or an attitude, for example, optimism in the song of
the four generals, which Grusha sings as she sturdily stamps on her way – against the
movement of the revolving stage.
There is fear and tension, at the same moment in the song of the rotten bridge:
Deep is the abyss, son
I see the weak bridge away
It but it’s not for us, son, to choose the way.
There are also important moments in the song of the commitment such as Grusha’s
vow to Simon as he leaves the burning city and her decision to be the child’s mother in
the ‘baptism song’. The singer acts as the commentator. He comments on the event in
the play in a summative form. He informs the audience of what is to follow soon. He
delivers the internal monologue that characters are engaged in. For instance, Simon’s
thoughts about the war are revealed by the singer (pg. 60).
Grusha’s thoughts on pages 44, 61, and 96 are also brought out. She thinks about her
anticipated treatment in her brother’s house, the broken oaths between her and Simon
and the views about Michael’s inheritance of his father’s estates. The singer is a stage
manager: he makes introductory remarks at the beginning of all scenes and introduces
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to us new characters.
For example, Georgi, Abashwili, Grusha and Simon. He sometimes directs the action of
the characters. For instance, on page 20 he says:
Look about ones more, blind man!
(The arrested man looks around)
The songs reveal the emotional ties between characters, for example, Grusha and child
Michael (pg39) and between Grusha and Simon (pg23).Brecht uses songs as an
aspiration, for example, ‘the song of the rotten bridge’.
Satire
Bertolt Brecht used the play to criticize the society. The author is critical of the
inequalities created by the capitalistic attitudes of the people. This attitude cannot
change even when the accumulation is exposed to the poor, for instance, the case of
Azdak who takes bribes. Wealth may change hands but moral justice for all is yet to be
achieved or at least improved. Capitalism demands individualism. The peasant, who
exploits Grusha a servant from his own class, does so on the grounds that the war
engenders economic hardships hence the justification of profiteering and exploiting
irrespective of who is being exploited. The rules of commerce shape the exploiter’s
world view in times of peace, but they work more effectively in times of war for his
benefit.
The author believes that capitalism cannot develop genuine human relationship. In the
question of the governor’s wife who abandons her child because she is more
concerned of her material possessions, this shows lack of feelings for fellow human
beings. Brecht therefore criticizes the traditional beliefs that the physical mother will of
necessity love and protect her child.
Brecht also criticizes corruption in the society, especially in the court of justice.
Although Azdak’s reign is described as ‘almost a regime of justice’ we see a judge
whose verdicts highly depends on his unpredictable tendencies. The author sees a
leaderships whose reasons for going to war is not based on patriotism and victory but
an opportunity for capital gain because the
corrupt thrive more in the war situation than in peace time. The princes are said to have
thrived materially during the war. That is why the monk at Sura prefers chaos over
stability.
“The war is over beware of the peace!”
The author is critical of religion. He paints a picture of a society whose Christian faith is
only superficial. Christianity is embraced only as a vehicle for social acceptance. It has
nothing to do with humanity and piety religion professes.
Irony
The play is full of instances of irony. These are as follows;
Grusha, not understanding Azdak’s intent, scolds him for being corrupt. She claims that
what would be true justice is to choose “only blood suckers and men who rape children”
for judges as punishment to make them “sit in judgment over their fellow men which is
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worse than swinging from the gallows”(pg95). Judging is punishment to an unjust man
who will only blacken himself with hypocrisy. This is the justice the poor are used to.
Azdak’s reply to her is, “I’ve noticed that you have a weak spot for justice.
Grusha also imagines of a very warm welcome from her brother, Lavrenti. She however
gets a cold welcome from her brother because she is carrying an “illegitimate” child.
The wife Aniko is not welcoming at all. She wants her not to sit in the house.
Lavrenti’s constant reference to Aniko as religious and sensitive is ironical. He says

that she has has a good heart and that she would never forgive herself for letting
Grusha and the child stay in the cold. In reality, Aniko is unwelcoming and not
concerned about Grusha’s health. She wants her out of her house because she has no
husband, carries a fatherless child and looks ill. She fears Grusha might transmit the
“disease” she is carrying. Grusha’s mother in-law’s assertion that “we’re honest people”
(pg50) is ironical. Her son has been pretending all through that he is unwell to avoid
being drafted into the army. She, on the other hand has organized for a wedding just
before his death and she is making money out of it. She is even happy that Lavrenti is
ready to add another two hundred piasters and have it in record that the farm will go to
her (mother in-law); like a Grand Duke; and Grusha will be live On the farm for two years.
Azdak warns the Grand Duke not to lick his chops (mouth and cheeks) like a Grand
Duke. He does not know that he is in fact, talking to the Grand Duke himself.
Azdak, as the judge acts like he is a fool; does not know what he is doing; gets
everything mixed up (pg95). In real sence, Azdak is well aware of what he is doing; for
example; he denounces himself publicly in a brilliant way. He proposes the mock trial
and he’s hence made judge. He judges most of the cases in favour of the poor. He even
gives the child to the “mother” who deserves him most.
Azdak does not refer to the statue book when he sits on but rather, he is driven by
human sympathy. “justice is not in the book. It is in human heart.”
Azdak’s cases are full of ironic reversals. The doctor who operates a patient on the
wrong leg is acquitted for “unpardonable error” in his profession! Ludovica, who is a
victim of rape is convicted of raping the suspect using a dangerous weapon. The
farmer who had accused the old woman of receiving his stolen animal is fined whereas
the suspect is made to sit on the judge’s chair. To make it worse, the bandit, Irakli, is
treated to a glass of vodka and referred to as a “pious man” by the judge even after he
confesses to his crimes.
Humour
As everyone is running around trying to save their lives, Natella is only interested in her
dresses and shoes. She wants her best outfits not to be left behind and thus harasses
her servants. She even forgets her own child!
The wedding ceremony is presented humorously. A monk comes to perform the
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ceremony the ‘dying’ man does not look alive in bed.It is his mother who answers “yes”
on his behalf in the ceremony. When he hears that the soldiers are back and the war is
over, he springs up from the bed. He has been faking illness to avoid going to war.
When Azdak is made judge he begins his case with “I accept”. This, he says everytime
he wants to handle a case which means that he wants to be bribed.
It is thus humorous. Moreover, the manner in which Azdak handles the cases is
laughable. He says that since there are many cases, he will handle two at a time. His
verdict is almost always questionable, for example in this cases of the doctor and
invalid, blackmailer, innkeeper, old Granny and the miracles and Grusha’s case. His aim
is to favour the poor to help them and punish the rich land owners.
The case of the miracle working bandit, St. Banditus (Irakli) is humorous. The old
woman’s ignorance is presented humorously. She does not know that Irakli has stolen
a cow. Ham and threatened her landlord. Irakli has also beaten the servants who had
come to take the cow.
The manner in which he begins cases with an open demand for bribery is entertaining
He always says, “I accept” A judge is not expected to take bribes leave alone asking it
openly. One can laugh at this expression and act because it appears unique.
Another instance of humour is seen when he handles two cases at a time. He says
that there are many cases, so decides to handle two cases at a time. In fact he stops
one on the way and starts another. For instance, when he is dealing with the case
between Grusha and Natella, he leaves it on the way and shifts to divorce the old couple.
Before he even concludes it, he returns to the case of Grusha and Natella. The
audience laughs at the unprofessionalism in handling the cases and even the mistakes
he makes at the end of this case.
The sentences he gives at the end of his cases (ruling) are controversial and humorous.
e.g. the doctor is found guilty but he is acquitted and the invalid complainant is fined
one thousand piasters. We are left laughing at this kind of ruling and what kind of judge
is Azdak..
In the case of innkeeper and stableman over Ludovica , it is also humorous that he says
in public that he would be happy to see the private parts of Ludovica. He says that he
would like to handle the case in the open so that if the wind blows her skirts up and see
what she is got, he will be happy. He even asks public prosecutor to drop a knife so that
Ludovica can pick it up. This means he has an intention of to see her private parts.
In the case of rich farmer and the old woman , Azdak leaves the judge’s chair and asks
the old woman to sit on it. It is not expected of a serious judge to leave his chair and
allow any other person to sit on it and pass judgments on his behalf – this makes us
laugh at this incident.
Symbolism
The chalk circle is a symbol of the truth. Azdak uses the chalk circle to make decisions
to whom the true mother of the child should be. He places the child in the circle,
presenting a level playing ground removing the advantage of money and rank in history.
It is thus very clear to Azdak and everybody else in the court that Grusha should have
custody of the child. The circle can also symbolize justice. The members of the
collective farms sit in a circle. They are able to come to an amicable solution on who
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should have the valley. Change of the regime can also be symbolized by a circle (circle
of change). For instance, the Grand Duke loses his governor to the princes who in turn
lose to him when he regains his authority in the counter coup. The poor benefit from
this circle of change especially during the reign of Azdak as a judge.
The characters that are used in this play are symbolic. The Grand Duke symbolizes the
misrule by leaders, Azdak represents the era of justice at the time when he served as
the judge, but at least would pass for ‘almost an age of justice’. Grusha symbolizes the
rare humanity that still prevails in society. Michael symbolizes the helpless and
vulnerable members of the society who are victims of the social turbulence.
Proverbs and sayings

To show Grusha’s developing emotional attachment to Michael, the says about her;
Fearful is the seductive power of goodness! (pg29)
Brecht demonstrates a rich accumulation of folk wisdom through proverbs and saying.
For instance, he describes the unfortunate effects of war and misrule thus; the plunging
wagon drags the sweating horses down with it into the abyss. (pg20). In the effect, the
innocent have to share in the mistakes of the rulers who, ironically, never allow them to
be share in their good fortunes.
When Grusha suggests that it would be more worthwhile for Simon to join the rebel
than remain loyal to the Duke, he replies:
In Tiflis they say, isin’t the stabbing dangerous for the knife: (pg21)
This not only brings out Simon’s selfless loyalty to the rulers but also the perpetration
of violence and oppression of the people using the army. The civilian population is a
soft target that would pose less risk to the soldiers.
When Michael refuses to play the role of the executed Governor, Grusha happily
remarks:
Even the little duck is a swimmer, they say (pg58).
This illustrates her satisfaction that the boy is learning her clever tactics of survival. It
also builds on one of the author’s argument that circumstance shapes one’s behavior.
Grusha is encouraged to hold on to Michael by a cook who accompanies her to court.

What she says actually summarizes the moral of the two parts of the play; the dispute
over the valley and Grusha’s story.
And even a borrowed coat keeps a man warm. (pg87)
This goes along with the singer’s conclusion at the end of the play:
That what there is should go to those who are good for it (pg99)
In the exchange of proverbs and sayings between Simon and Azdak in the court scene,
the author gives an insight into their characters as witty and humorous.
Use of Imagery
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Similes
The singer says;
“O blindness of the great!
They go their ways like gods ………………. (pg20)
This simile highlights the self- righteousness and prejudice in the leaders of this society.
They never stop to think of the consequences of their actions or the possibility of an
ending to their leadership.
When Grusha discovers that her brother cannot defend her against his hypocritical wife,
she tells Michael:
“If we make ourselves as small as cockroaches, the sister -in -law will forget
that we are in the house” (pg47).
This illustrates her clever survival tactics as opposed to the sister- in – law’s
inhumanity.
The author gives us an insight in the injustice and the level of corruption in the judiciary
with the simile used by the cook to warn Grusha.
“With any judge you’d have as much chance as a chicken has teeth” (pg87)
Idiomatic Expressions
The greed of the iron shirts who pursue and catch up with Grusha is illustrated by the
corporal’s statement:
“……I smell a thousand piasters” (pg38).
The exploitative nature of the ‘mourners’ is revealed by Grusha’s mother in law who
says ;
“…..we’ll have the whole village on our necks when they hear Jussup’s
end is come!” (pg38)
Azdak realizes that when change comes about, the usual circle of events will follow. He
is sure to be among the casualties of the new order.
“…..A new age is upon us. It’ll go thundering over you……. Everything will be
gone into ……(pg67)
Metaphors
During the coup, the panic stricken adjutant refers to Simon as ‘louse’ (pg18). This
reveals his abusive character and Simon’s dignified loyalty.
The ‘carpet weavers’ disease’ that the first and second ironshirts refers to illustrates
the imminent change in the author’s society. The carpet weaver symbolizes the revolt
against the establishment for democratic space and justice.
Personification
Grusha personifies the wind. She tells Michael;
“You mustn’t be afraid of the wind. He’s a poor thing. He has to push the
clouds along……. (pg42).
The use of this imagery serves as a consolation that sometimes it is reasonable to let
nature take its course.
When Azdak realizes that his end is nigh, he confesses his guilt in the statement; “I
helped poverty on its skinny legs…….” (pg84).
The author’s use of this image makes us view Azdak in a more positive light, that
although he has been unjust to the rich, he has at least been generous to the poor.
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This would make us agree with the singer’s last speech;
“…..The period of his judging as a brief golden age, almost an age of justice”. (pg99)
Paradox
The singer addresses the arrested Governor: look about you once more blind man!
(pg20). He is being told to reawake to the reality of the moment. He is about to be
executed, yet the world around him lives on. The singer described Azdak’s personality
as having two sides; good and bad: ……and our good and evil man, he smiled upon
Grusinia’s Granny. (pg79)
In the incident after Grusha has just left Michael on the old peasant’s doorstep, she is
said to be cheerful and sad at the same time. She says she is now single and free, yet
sad like someone who has been newly robbed.
Contrast
The author uses contrast to illustrate the level of egocentrism and capitalistic attitudes
of human beings. For instance, the expensively dressed Governor’s family on its way to
the church is contrasted with the squalid condition of the petitioners and the beggars at
his door.
The next instance is that of Grusha as opposed to Natella Abashwili. The

circumstances that prevail throughout the play provide an opportunity to identify their
humanity. While Grusha is loving and truly motherly, Natella is opportunistic and cruel.
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PLAY TWO: THE CRUCIBLE by ARTHUR MILLER
ARTHUR MILLER was born in New York City in 1915 and studied at the University of
Michigan. His plays include All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The
Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays (1955), After
the Fall (1964), Incident at Vichy (1965), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and
Other Business (1972), and The American
Clock (1980). He has also written two novels, Focus (1945) and The Misfits, which was
filmed in 1960, and the text for In Russia (1969), In the Country (1977), and Chinese
Encounters (1979), three books of photographs by Inge Morath. His most recent works
include a memoir, Timebends (1987), the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The
Last Yankee (1993), Broken Glass (1994), and Mr. Peters’ Connections (1999), Echoes
Down the Corridor: Collected Essays, 1944-2000, and On Politics and the Art of Acting
(2001). He has twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and in 1949 he was
awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
2. CONTEXT OF THE STORY

Early in the year 1692, in the small village of Massachusetts village of Salem, a
collection of girls fell ill, victim of hallucinations and seizures.In extremely religious
Puritan New England, frightening or surprising occurrences were often attributed to the
devil or his cohorts. The unfathomable sickness spurred fears of witchcraft and it was
not long before the girls, and then many other residents of Salem, began to accuse
other villagers of Salem of consolting with devils and casting spells. Old grudges and
jealousies spelled out into the open, fueling the atmosphere of hysteria.The
Massachusetts government and judicial system, heavily influenced by religion rolled
into action. Within few weeks, dozens of people were in jail on charges of witchcraft. By
the time the fewer had run its course, in late 1692, nineteen people and two dogs) had
been convinced and hanged for witchcraft.
4. SETTING: Massachusets village of Salem in 1692.

5. SUMMARY (Plot overview)
In the Puritain New England town of Salem,Massachusets, a group of girls goes dancing
in the forest with a black slave named Titub.While dancing, they are caught by the local
minister.Reverend Paris.One of the girls Pari’s s daughter Betty falls into a come into a
coma like state state.A crowd gathers in the Paris home while rumors of witchcraft will
the town.Having sent for Reverend Hale, an expert on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigal
Williams, the girls ringleader about the events that took place in the forest.Abigalli who
is Paris’s niece and ward, admits to doing nothing beyond dancing.While Paris tries to
calm the crowd that has gathered in his home,Abigali talks to some of the other girls,
telling them not to admit to anything.John Proctor, a local farmer then enters and talks
to Abigali. Unbreaknowist to anyone else in the town while working in Protoctor’s home
the previous year she engaged in an affair with him, which led to her being fired by his
wife.’Elizabeth Abigali still desires Protoctor, but he finds her off and tells her to end her
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foolishness with the girls. Betty wakes up and begins screaming.
Much of the crowd rushes upstairs and gathers in her bedroom, arguing over whether
she bewitched. A separate argument between Protoctor soon ensues.This dispute
centers on money and land deeds and it suggests that deep fault lines run through the
Salem community.
As the men argue,Reverend Hale arrives and examines Betty while Protoctor
departs.Hale quizzes Abigaili about the girl’s activities in the forest, grows suspicious of
her behavior and demands to speak to Tituba.After Paris and Hale interrogate her for a
brief time,Tituba confesses to communing with the devil and she hysterically accuses
various townsfolk of consolting with the devil .Suddenly,Abigail joins her, confessing to
having seen the devil conspiring and cavorting with other townspeople.Betty joins them
in naming witches and the crowd is thrown into an uproar.A week later, alone in their
farmhouse outside the town,John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and
the escalating number of townfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth
urges her to denounce Abigail as a fraud, he refuses and she becomes jealous,
accusing him of still harboring feelings for her.
Mary Warren, their servant and one of Abigaili’d circle, returns from Salem with news
that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the
accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument,
only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale.While they discuss matters, Giles
Coley and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have
been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth.After they have
taken her,Proctor browbeats Mary,insisting that she must go to Salem and expose
Abigail and the other girls as frauds.
The next day, Proctor brings Mary to court and tells the judge that she will testify that
the girls are lying.Danforth is suspicious of Proctor’s motives and tells Proctor truthfully,
that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be spared for a time .Proctor persists in his charge,
convincing Danforth to allow Marry ti testify.Mary tells the curt that the girls are lying.
When the girls are brought in, they turn the tables by accusing Mary of bewitching
them.Furious,Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses her of being
motivated by jealousy of his wife. To test Proctor’s claim Danforth summons Elizabeth
and asks her if Proctor has been unfaithful to her.Despite her natural honesty, she lies
to protect Proctor’s honor and Danforth denounces Proctor as a liar.Meanwhile,Abigail
and the girls again pretend that Mary is bewitching them and Mary breaks down and
accuses Proctor of being a witch.Proctor rages against her and against the court.He is
aarrested and Hale quits the proceedings.
The summer passes and autumn arrives.The witch trials have caused unrest in
neighboring towns and Danforth grows nervous.Abigail has run away, taking all of
Paris’s money with her.Hale, who has lost faith in the court, begs the accused witches
to confess falsely in order to save their lives, but they refuse.Danforth however, has an
idea:he asks Elizabeth to talk John into confessing and she agrees.Conflicted , but
desiring to live,John agrees to confess and the officers of the court rejoice.But he
refuses to incriminate anyone else and when the court insists that the confession must
be mae public,Proctor grows angry and tears it up and retracts his admission of
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guilt.Despite Hale’s desperate pleas,Proctor goes to the gallows with the others and the
witch trias reach their awful conclusion
6.CHARACTERS
JOHN PROCTOR: A local farmer who lives just outside town:Elizabeth Proctor’s
husband.A stem, harsh-tongued man,John hates hypocrisy.
Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin-his affair with Abigail Williams-that proves his
downfall.When the hysteria begins he hesitates to expose Abigail as a fraud because he
worries that his secret will be revealed and his good name ruined.
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: Reverend Parris ‘s niece. Abigail was once the servant for the
Proctor household, but Elizabeth Proctor fires her after she discovered that Abigail was
having an affair with her husband,John Proctor.Abigail is smart, wily , a good liar and
vindictive when crossed.
REVEREND JOHN HALE: A young minister reputed to be an expert on
witchcraft.Reverend Hale is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty.Hale
is a committed Christian and hated witchcraft.His critical mind and intelligence save
him from falling into blind fervor.His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later
regrets his actions and attempts to save the lives of those accused.
ELIZABETH PROCTOR: John Proctor’s wife.Elizabeth fired Abigail when she discovered
that her husband was having an affair with Abigail.Elizabeth is supremely virtuous but
often cold.
REVEREND PARRIS: The Minister of Salem’s church.Reverend Parris is a paranoid
power-hungry,yet oddly self-pitying figure.Many of the townfolk, especially John
Proctor,dislike him and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the
community.
REBECCA NURSE: Francis Nurse’s wife, Rebecca is a wise, sensible and upright
woman,held victim to the hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she
refuses to confess.
FRANCIS NURSE: A wealthy, influential man in Salem .Nurse is well respected by most
people in Salem but is an enemy of Thomas Putnam and his wife.
JUDGE DANFORTH: The deputy governor of Massachussets and the presiding judge at
the witch trials.Honest and scrupulous at least in his own mind,Danforth is convinced
that he is going right in rooting out witchcraft.
GILLES COREY: An elderly but feisty in Salem,famous for his tendency to file
lawsuits.Giles wife,Martha is accused of witchcraft and he himself is eventually held in
contempt of court and pressed to death with large stones.
THOMAS PUTNAM: A wealthy,influential citizen of Salem,Putnam holds a grudge
against Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in law from being elected to the
office of Minister.He uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth by accusing
people of witchcraft and then buying up their land.
ANN PUTNAM: Thomas Putnam’s wife.Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children but
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only Ruth Putnam survived .The other seven died before they were a day old and Ann is
convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means.
RUTH PUTNAM: The Putnams’ lone surviving child of eight.Like Betty Parris,Ruht falls
into a strange stupor after Reverend Parris catches her and the other gitrls dancing in
the woods at night.
TITUBA: Reverend Parris ‘s black slave from Barbados.Tituba agrees to perform voodoo
at Abigail’s request.
MARY WARREN: The servant in Proctor Household and a member of Abigail’s group of
girls.She is a timid girl, easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully
to expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession.
BETTY PARRIS: Reverend Parris’s ten years old daughter.Betty falls into a strange
stupor after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba.Her
illness and that of Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft.
MARTHA COREY:Gilles Corey’sthird wife.Martha’s reading habits lead to her arrest and
convinction for witchcraft.
EZECHIEL CHEEVER: A man from Salem who acts as clerk of the court during the witch
tirals.He is upright and determines to do his duty for justice.
JUDGE HATHORNE: A judge who presides,along with Danforth, over the witch trials.
HERRICK: The Marshall of Salem.
MERCY LEWIS: One of the girls in Abigail’s group.
7. THEMES
INTOLERANCE: The Crucible is set in a theocratic society,in which the church and the
state are one and the religion is a strict, austere form of Protestantism known as
Puritanism.Because of the theocratic nature of the society,moral laws and state laws
are one and the same:sin and the status of an individual’s soul are matters of public
concern.There is no room for deviaton form social norms since any individual whose
private life doesn’t conform to the established moral laws represents a threat not only
to the public good but also to the rule of God and true religion.In Salem, everything and
everyone belongs to either God or the devil:dissent is not merely unlawful, it is
associated with satanic activity.This dichtonomy functions as the underlying logic
behind the witch trials.As Danforth says in the Act III , a person is either with this court
or he must be counted against it.The witch trials are the ultimate expression of
intorelance(and hanging witches is the ultimate means of restoring the community’s
purity)the trials brand all social deviants with the taint of devil-worship and thus
necessitate their elimination from the community.
HYSTERIA: Another critical theme in the Crucible is the role that hysteria can play in
tearing apart a community. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that
their neighbors, whom they have always considered upstanding people are committing
absurd and unbelievable crimes-communing with the devil, killing babies and so on. In
The Crucible, the townfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only
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out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express
repressed sentiments and to act on long-held grudges. The most obvious case is
Abigail, who uses the situation to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft and have her
sent to jail. But others thrive on the hysteria as well”
Reverend Parris strengthens his position within the village , albert temporaly by making
scapegoats of people like Proctor who questions his authority.The wealthy, ambitious
Thomas Putnam gains revenge on Francis Nurse by getting Rebecca.Francis’s virtuous
wife,convicnted of the supernatural murders of Ann Putnam’s babies .In the end,
hysteria can thrive only because people benefit from it.It suspends the rules of daily life
and allows the acting out of every dark desire and hateful urge under the cover of
righteousness.
REPUTATION: Reputation is tremendously important in theocratic Salem, where public
and private moralities are one and the same.In an environment where reputation plays
such an important public role, the fear of guilt by association becomes particularly
pernicious.Focused on maintaining public reputation, the townsfolk of Salem must fear
that the sins of their friends and associate will taint their names.Various characters
base their actions on the desire to protect their respective reputations.As the play
begins,Parris fears that Abigail’s increasingly questionable actions and the hints of
witchcraft surrounding his daughters coma,will threaten his reputation and force him
from the pulpit.Meanwhile, the protagonist,John Proctor also seeks to keep his good
name from being tarnished.
Early in the play, he has a chance to put a stop to the girls accusations,but his desire to
preserve his reputation keeps him from testifying against Abigail.At the end of the play,
however,Proctor’s desire to keep his good name leads to make a false confession and
to go to his death without signing his name to an untrue statement.’’I have given you my
soul , leave me my name!’’He cries to Danforth in Act IV.By refusing to relinquish his
name, he reddems himself for his earlier failure and dies with integrity.
EMPOWERMENT: The witch trials empower several characters in the play who are
previously marginalized in Salem society .In general, women occupy the lowest rung of
male-dominated Salem and have few options in life.They work as servants for
townsmen until they are old enough to be married off and have children of their own.In
addition to being thus retricted ,Abigail is also slave to John Proctor’s sexual whims-he
strips away her innocence when he commits adultery with her and he arouses her
spiteful jealousy when he terminates their affair .Because the Puritains ‘s greatest fear
is the defiance of God,Abigail’s accusations of witchcraft and devil-worship immediately
command the attention of the court.By aligning herself in the eyes of others with God’s
will, she gains power over society as do the other girls in her pack and her word
becomes virtually unassailable as do theirs.Tituba whose status is lower than that of
anyone else in the play by virtue of the fact that she is black, manages similarly to
deflect blame from herself by accusing others.
ACCUSATIONS, CONFESSIONS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS: The witch trials are central
to the action of The Crucible and dramatic accusations and confessions fill the play
even beyond the confines of the courtroom. In the first act, even before the hysteria
begins, we see Parris accuse Abigail of dishonoring him and he then makes a serie of
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accusations against his parishioners. Giles Corey and Proctor respond in kind and
Putnam soon joins in, creating a chorus of indictments even before Hale arrives.
The entire witch trial system thrives on accusations the only way that witches can be
identified and confessions which provide the proof of the justice of the court
proceedings. Proctor attempts to break this cycle with a confession of his own when he
admits to the affair with Abigail but this confession is trumped by the accusation of
witchcraft against him which in turn demands a confesion. Proctor’s courageous
decision at the close of the play, to die rather than confess to a sin that he did not
commit, finally breaks the cycle. The court collapses shortly afterward, undone by the
refusal of its victim to propagate lies.
PLAY3: JULIUS CAESAR
1.AUTHOR
"To be or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"
(Hamlet III)
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Biography: William Shakespeare, a British poet and playwright, is often considered the
greatest writer in world literature. William Shakespeare was baptized April 26, 1564, in
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He received at most a grammar-school education,
and at age 18 he married a local woman, Anne Hathaway. By 1594 he was apparently a
rising playwright in London and an actor in a leading theatre company, the "Lord
Chamberlain's Men" (later "King's Men"); the company performed at the Globe Theatre
from 1599. Shakespeare retired to Stratford before 1610 and lived as a country
gentleman until his death.
His earliest plays seem to date from the late 1580s to the mid-1590s and include
history plays based on the lives of the English kings, comedies, and the tragedy Romeo
and Juliet. The plays apparently written between 1596 and 1600 are mostly comedies.
Approximately between 1600 and 1607 he wrote the great tragedies Hamlet, Othello,
Macbeth, and King Lear, which mark the summit of his art. Among his later works are
the fantastical romances The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Shakespeare's plays, all
of them written largely in iambic pentameter verse, are marked by extraordinary poetry;
vivid, subtle, and complex characterizations; and a highly inventive use of English. His
154 sonnets, apparently written mostly in the 1590s, often express strong feeling within
an exquisitely controlled form. As with most writers of the time, little is known about his
life and work, and other writers, particularly the 17th earl of Oxford, have frequently been
proposed as the actual authors of his plays and poems. The first collected edition of his
plays, or "First Folio", was published in 1623.
Other Books by the Author: All's Well That Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, As you Like it ,
The Comedy of Errors,Hamlet; Othello,Julius Caesar,King Edward III,The First Part of King Henry
IV . The Second Part of King Henry IV, King Henry V, King Henry VIII, King John, King Lear (Le roi
Lear: Texte français), Love’s Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure,Much Ado about Nothing.
3. SETTING:
Ancient Rome in 44 BC when Rome was the center of an empire stretching from Britain
to North Africa and from Persia to Spain.The play begins in 45BC (Before Christ) during
a civil war between two leders,Julius Caesar and Pompey.Julius Caesar defeats the two
sons of Pompey and returns to Rome.Most of the events of the play occur in various
parts of Rome.Part of the play’s later action takes place in Phillippi in Northern Greece
and Sardis in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) At that time,Roman Empire included not
only modern-day Italy but also most of the land around the Mediterrannean
Sea.(including parts of North Africa) and parts of present day Europe.
4. SUMMARY:
This story takes place in ancient Rome in 44BC when Rome was the center of an empire
stretching from Britain to North Africa and from Persia to Spain.Two tribunes, Flavius
and Murelius, find scores of Roman citizens wandering the streets, neglecting their
work in order to watch Julius Caesar’s triumphal parade. Caesar has defeated the sons
of the deceased Roman general Pompey, his archival in battle. The tribune scolds the
citizens for abandoning their duties and remove decorations from Caesar’s statues.
Caesar enters with his entourage including the military and political figures Brutus,
Cassius and Anthony. A Soothsayer calls out to Caesar to beware the Ides of March but
Caesar ignores him and proceeds with his victory celebration. Cassius, Brutus both
longtime intimates of Julius Caesar and each other converse Cassius tells Brutus that
he has seemed distant lately. Brutus replies that he has been at war with himself,
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Caesar states that he wishes Brutus could see himself as others see him, for then
Brutus would realize how honored and respected he is. Brutus says that he fears that
the people want Caesar to become king which would overturn the republic. Caesar
concurs that Caesar is treated like a god though he is merely a man, no better than
Brutus or Cassius.Cassius recalls incidents of Caesar’s physical weakness a nd
marvels that this fallible man has become so powerful. He blames his and Brutus ‘s lack
of will for allowing Caesar’s rise to power surely the rise of such a man cannot be the
work of fate. Brutus considers Cassius’s words as Caesar returns.Upon seeing
Cassius,Caesar tells Anthony that he deeply distrusts Cassius. Caesar departs and
another politician, Casca tells Brutus and Cassius that during the celebration, Anthony
offered the crowd to Caesar three times and the people cheered but Caesar refused it
each time. He reports that Caesar then fell to the ground and had some kind of seizure
before the crowd, his demonstration of weakness, however did not alter the plebeians’
devotion to him. Brutus goes home to consider Caesar’s words regarding Caesar’s poor
qualifications to rule while Cassius hatches a plot to draw Brutus into a conspiracy
against Caesar. That night Rome is plagued with violent weather and a variety of bad
omens and portents. Brutus finds letters in his house apparently written by Roman
citizens worried that Caesar has become too powerful. The letters have in fact been
forged and planted by Cassius, who knows that if Brutus believes it is the people’s will,
he will support a plot to remove Caesar from power. A committed supporter of the
republic, Brutus fears the possibility of a dictator-led empire, worrying that the populace
would lose its voice. Cassius arrives at Brutus’s home with his conspirators and Brutus
who has already been won over by the letters, takes control of the meeting. The men
agree to lure Caesar from his house and kill him. Cassius wants to kill Anthony too, for
Anthony will surely try to hinder their plans, but Brutus disagrees, believing that too
many deaths will render their plot too bloody and dishonor them. Having agreed to
spare Anthony, the conspirators depart. Portia, Brutus’s wife, observes that Brutus
appears preoccupied. She pleads with him to confide in her, but he rebuffs her. Caesar
prepares to go to the Senate. His wife, Calpurnia begs him not to go, describing recent
nightmares she has had in which a statue of Caesar streamed with blood and smiling
men bathed their hands in the blood. Caesar refuses to yield to fear and insists on going
about his daily business. Finally, Calpurnia convinces him to stay home-if not out of
caution, then as a favor to her. But, Decius one of the conspirators, then arrives and
convinces Caesar that Calpurnia has misinterpreted her dreams and the recent omens.
Caesar departs for the Senate in the company of the conspirators. As Caesar proceeds
through the streets towards the Senate, the Soothsayer again tries but fails to get his
attention. The citizen Artemindous hands him a letter warning him about the
conspirators but Caesar refuses to read it, saying that his closest personal concerns are
his last priority. At the Senate, the conspirators speak to Caesar bowing at his feet and
encircling him. One by one they stab him to death. When Caesar sees his dear friend
Brutus among his murderers, he gives up his struggles and dies. The murderers bathe
their hands and swords in Caesar’s blood, thus bringing Calpurnia’s premonition to
fruition. Anthony having been led away on a false pretext returns and pledges allegiance
to Brutus but weeps over Caesar’s blood. He shakes hands with the conspirators, thus
making them all as guilty while appearing to make a gesture of conciliation. When
Anthony asks why they killed Caesar, Brutus replies that he will explain their purpose in
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a funeral oration. Anthony asks to be allowed to speak over the body as well. Brutus
grants his permission, though Cassius remains suspicious of Anthony. The
conspirators depart and Anthony alone now, swears that Caesar’s death shall be
avenged. Brutus and Cassius go to the Forum to speak to the public. Cassius exits to
address another part of the crowd. Brutus declares to the masses that though he loved
Caesar, he loves Rome more, and Caesar’s ambition posed a danger to Roman liberty.
The speech placates the crowd. Anthony appears with Caesar’s body and Brutus
departs after turning the pulpit over to Anthony. Repeteadly referring to Brutus as an
Honorable Man.Anthony’s speech becomes increasingly sarcastic questioning the
claims that Brutus made in his speech that Caesar acted only out of ambition, Anthony
points out that Caesar brought much wealth and glory to Rome. And three times turned
down offers of the crown. Anthony then produces Caesar’s will but announces that he
will not read it for it would upset the people inordinately. The crowd nevertheless begs
him to read the will, so he descends from the pulpit to stand next to Caesar’s body. He
describes Caesar’s horrible death and shows Caesar’s wounded body to the crowd. He
then reads Caesar’s will, which bequeaths a sum of money to every citizen and orders
that his private gardens be made public. The crowd becomes enraged that his generous
man lies dead; calling Brutus and Cassius traitors, the masses set off to drive them
from the city. Meanwhile, Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor, Octavius
arrives in Rome and forms a three-person coalition with Anthony and Lepidus. They
prepare to fight Cassius and Brutus who have been driven into exile and are raising
armies outside the city. At the conspirator’s camp, Brutus and Cassius have a heated
argument regarding matters of money and honor but they ultimately reconcile. Ruts
reveals that he is sick with grief for in his absence Portia has killed herself. The two
continue to prepare for battle with Anthony and Octavius. That night, the Ghost of
Caesar appears to Brutus, announcing that Brutus will meet him again on the
Battlefield.Octavius and Anthony march their army toward Brutus and Cassius.Anthony
tells Octavius where to attack but Octavius says that he will make his own orders; he is
already asserting his authority as heir of Caesar and the next ruler of Rome. The
opposing generals meet on the battlefield and exchange insults before beginning
combat.Cassius witnesses his own men fleeing and hears that Brutus’s men are not
performing effectively. Cassius sends one of his men, Pindarus to see how matters are
progressing. From afar, Pindarus sees one of their leaders, Cassius’s best friend, Titinus
being surrounded by cheering troops and concludes that he has been captured. Cassius
despairs and orders Pindarus to kill him with his own sword. He dies proclaiming that
Caesar is avenged. Titinus himself then arrives-the men encircling him were actually his
comrades, cheering a victory he had earned. Titinus sees Cassius’s corpse and,
mourning the death of his friend, kills himself. Brutus learns of the deaths of Cassius
and Titinus with a heavy heart and prepares to take on the Romans again. When his
army loses, doom appears imminent. Brutus asks one of his men to hold his sword
while he impales himself on it. Finally, Caesar can rest satisfied, he says as he dies,
Octavius and Anthony arrive. Anthony speaks over Brutus’s body, calling him the
noblest Roman of all. While the other conspirators acted out of envy and ambition, he
observes, Brutus genuinely believed that he acted for the benefit of Rome, Octavius
orders that Brutus be buried in the most honorable way. The men then depart to
celebrate their victory.
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5. CHARACTERS
BRUTUS: Brutus emerges as the most complex character in Julius Caesar and is also
play’s tragic hero. In his soliloquies, the audience gains insight into the complexities of
his motives. He is a powerful public figure, but he appears also as a husband, a master
to his servants, a dignified military leader and a loving friend.
The conflicting value systems that battle with each other in the play as a whole are
enacted on a microcosmic level in Brutus’s mind. Even after Brutus has committed the
assassination with the other members of the conspiracy, questions remain as to
whether, in light of his friendship with Caesar, the murder was a noble decidedly selfless
act or proof of a truly evil callousness, a gross indifference to the ties of friendship and
a failure to be moved by the power of a truly great man. Brutus’s rigid idealism is both
his greatest virtue and his most deadly flaw. In the world of the play, where self-serving
ambition seems to dominate all other motivations. Brutus lives up to Anthony’s elegiac
description of him as the noblest of miscalculations wanting to curtail violence, he
ignores Caesar’s suggestion that the conspirators kill Anthony as well as Caesar. In
another moment of naïve idealism, he again ignores Cassius’s advice and allows
Anthony to speak a funeral oration over Caesar’s body. As a result, Brutus forfeits the
authority of having the last word on the murder and thus allows Anthony to incite the
plebeians to riot against him and the other conspirators. Brutus later endangers his
good relationship with Cassius by self- righteously condemning what he sees as
dishonorable fund-raising tactics on Cassius’s part.
In all of these episodes, Brutus acts out of a desire to limit the self-serving aspects of
his actions; ironically, however in each incident he dooms the very cause that he seeks
to promote, thus serving no one at all.
JULIUS CAESAR: The conspirators charge Caesar with ambition and his behavior
substantiates this judgement; he does vie for absolute power over Rome, reveling in the
homage he receives from others and in his conception of himself as a figure who will
live on forever in men’s minds.
However, his faith in his own permanence-in the sense of both his loyalty to principles
and his fixture as a public institution eventually proves his undoing. At first, he
stubbornly refuses to heed the nightmares of his wife, Calpurnia and the supernatural
omens pervading the atmosphere. Though he is eventually persuaded not to go to the
Senate, Caesar ultimately lets his ambition get the better of him, as the prospect of
being crowned king proves too glorious to resist.
Caesars ’conflation of his public image with his private self helps bring about his death,
since he mistakenly believes that the immortal status granted to his public self
somehow protects his immortal body. Still, in many ways, Caesar’s death that he is
eternal proves valid by the end of the play by Act V, scene III, Brutus is attributing his
and Caesar’s misfortunes to Caesar’s power reaching from beyond the grave Caesar’s
aura seems to affect the general outcome of events in a mystic manner, while also
inspiring Octavius and Anthony and strengthening their determination. As Octavius
ultimately assumes that the title Caesar, Caesar’s permanence is indeed established in
some respect.
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ANTHONY: Anthony proves strong in all of the ways that Brutus proves weak. His
impulsive, improvisatory nature serves him perfectly, first to persuade the conspirators
that he is on their side, thus gaining their leniency, and then to persuade the plebeians of
the conspirator’s injustice, thus gaining the masses’ political support. Not too
scrupulous to stop to deceit and duplicity, as Brutus claims to be, Anthony proves
himself a consummate politician, using gestures and skilled rhetoric to his advantage.
He responds to subtle cues among both his nemeses and his allies to know exactly how
he must conduct himself at each particular moment in order to gain the most advantage.
In both his eulogy for Caesar and the play as a whole, Anthony is adept at tailoring his
words and actions to his audience’s desires.
Unlike Brutus, who prides himself on acting solely with respect to virtue and blinding
himself to his personal concerns, Anthony never separates his private affairs from his
public actions.
CASSIUS: A talented general and longtime acquaintance of Caesar. Cassius dislikes the
fact that Caesar has become godlike in the eyes of the Romans. He slyly leads Brutus to
believe that Caesar has become too powerful and must die, finally converting Brutus to
his cause by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the
death of Caesar. Impulsive and unscrupulous, Cassius harbors no illusions about the
way the political world works. A shrewd opportunist, he proves successful but lacks
integrity.
OCTAVIUS: Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor, Octavius, who had been
traveling abroad, returns after Caesar’s death, he then joins with Anthony and sets off to
fight Cassius and Brutus. Anthony tries to control Octavius’s movements but Octavius
follows his adopted father’s example and emerges as the authoritative figure, paving
the way for his eventual seizure of the reins of Roman government.
CASCA: A public figure opposed to Caesar’s rise to power. Casca relates to Cassius and
Brutus how Anthony offered the crown to Caesar three times and how each time Caesar
declined it. He believes, however that Caesar is the consummate actor, lulling the
populace into believing that he has no personal ambition.
CALPULNIA: Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia invests great authority in omens and portents.
She warns Caesar against going to the Senate on the Ides of March, since she has had
terrible nightmares and heard reports of many bad omens. Nevertheless, Caesar’s
ambition ultimately causes him to disregard her advice.
PORTIA:Brutus’s wife the daughter of a noble Roman who took sides against Caesar.
Portia, accustomed to being Brutus’s confidante is upset to find him so reluctant to
speak his mind when she finds him troubled. Brutus later hears that Portia has killed
herself out of grief that Anthony and Octavius have become so powerful.
FLAVIUS: A tribune (an official elected by the people to protect their right). Flavius
condemns the plebeians for their feckless in cheering Caesar, when once they cheered
for Caesar’s enemy Pompey. Flavius is punished along with Murellus for removing the
decorations from Caesar’s statues during Caesar’s triumphal parade.
CICERO: A roman senator renowned for rhetorical skill. Cicero speaks at Caesar’s
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triumphal parade. He later dies at the order of Anthony, Octavius and Lepidus.
MURELLUS: Like Flavius, a tribune who condemns the plebeians for their fickleness in
cheering Caesar when once they cheered for Caesar’s enemy Pompey. Murellus and
Flavius are punished for removing the decorations from Caesar’s statues during
Caesar’s triumph parade.
DECIUS: A member of the conspiracy. Decius convinces Caesar that Calpurnia
misinterpreted her dire nightmares and that in fact, no danger awaits him at the Senate.
Decius leads Caesar right into the hands of the conspirators.
6. THEMES
Fate versus free will
Julius Caesar raises many questions about the force of fate versus the capacity for free
will. Cassius refuses to accept Caesar’s rising to power and deems a belief in fate to be
nothing more than a form of passivity or cowardice. He says to Brutus: “Men at
sometimes were masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in
ourselves, that we underlings.’’(i.ii 140-142).Cassius urges a return to a more noble, self-
possessed attitude toward life, blaming his and Brutus’s submissive stance or on a
predestined plan but on their failure to assert themselves.
Ultimately, the play seems to support a philosophy in which fate and freedom maintain
a delicate coexistence. Thus Caesar declares: ‘It seems to me most strange that men
should fear. In other words, Caesar recognizes that certain events lie beyond human
control, to crouch in fear of them is to enter a paralysis equal to, if not worse than, death.
It is to surrender any capacity for freedom and agency that one might actually possess.
Indeed, perhaps to face death head-on, to die bravely and honorably, is Caesar’s best
course: in the end, Brutus interprets his and Cassius’s defeat as work of Caesar’s ghost-
not just his apparition, but also the force of the people’s devotion to him, the strong
legacy of a man who refused any fear of fate and, in his disregard of fate, seems to
have transcended it.
Public self-versus private self
Much of the play’s tragedy stems from the characters’ neglect of private feelings and
loyalties in favor of what they believe to be the public good. Similarly, characters
confuse their private selves with their public selves, hardening and dehumanizing
themselves or transforming themselves into ruthless political machines. Brutus rebuffs
his wife, Portia when she pleads with him to confide in her, believing himself to be
acting on the people’s will, he forges ahead with the murder of Caesar, despite their
close friendship. Brutus puts aside his personal loyalties and shuns thoughts of Caesar
the man, his friend, instead he acts on what he believes to be the public’s wishes and
kills Caesar the leader, the imminent dictator. Cassius can be seen as man who has
gone to the extreme in cultivating the public persona. Caesar, describing his distrust of
Cassius, tells Anthony that the problem with Cassius is his lack of private life-his
seeming refusal to acknowledge his own sensibilities or to nurture his own spirit. Such a
man, Caesar fears all sense of personal honor and shows himself to be a ruthless
schemer.
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Ultimately, neglecting private sentiments to follow public concerns brings Caesar to his
death. Although Caesar does briefly agree to stay home from the Senate in order to
please Calpurnia, who has dreamed of his murder, he gives way to ambition when
Decius tells him that the senators plan to offer him the crown. Caesar’s public self again
takes precedence. Tragically, he no longer sees the difference between his omnipotent
immortal public image and his vulnerable human body. Just preceding his death, Caesar
refuses Artemidorus’s pleas to speak with him, saying that he gives last priority to his
most personal concerns. He, thus endangers himself by believing that the strength of
his public self will protect his private self.
Misinterpretations and misreading
Much of the play deals with the characters’ failures to interpret correctly the omens that
they encounter. As Cicero says, ’Men may construe things after their fashion. Clean
from the purpose of the things themselves’’.
Thus the night preceding Caesar’s appearance at the Senate is full of portents, but no
one reads them accurately takes them to signify the danger that Caesar’s impending
coronation would bring to the state, when, if anything, they warn of the destination that
Cassius himself threatens. There are calculated misreading’s as well. Cassius
manipulates Brutus into joining the conspiracy by means of forged letters, knowing that
Brutus’s trusting nature will curse him to accept the letters as authentic pleas from the
Roman people.
The circumstances of Cassius ‘s death represent another instance of misinterpretation.
Pindaric’s erroneous conclusion that Titinus has been captured by the enemy, when in
fact Titinius has reunited with friendly forces, is the piece of misinformation that
prompts Cassius to seek death. Thus, in the world of politics portrayed in Julius Caesar,
the inability to read people and events leads to downfall, conversely, the ability to do so
is the key to survival. With so much ambition and rivalry, the ability to gauge the public’s
opinion as well as the resentment or loyalty of one’s follow politicians can guide one to
success. Anthony proves masterful at recognizing his situation and his accurate reading
of the crowd’s emotions during his funeral oration for Caesar allows him to win the
masses over to his side.
Inflexibility versus compromise: Both Brutus and Caesar are stubborn, rather inflexible
people who ultimately suffer fatally for it. In the play’s aggressive political landscape,
individuals succeed through adaptability, bargaining and compromise.
Brutus’s rigid though honorable ideals leave him open for manipulation by Cassius. He
believes so thoroughly in the purpose of the assassination that he does not perceive the
need for excessive political maneuvering to justify the murder. Equally resolute, Caesar
prides himself on his steadfastness, yet this constancy helps bring about his death, as
he refuses to heed ill omens and goes willingly to the Senate into the hands of his
murders.
Anthony proves perhaps the most adaptable of all of the politicians while his speech to
the Roman citizens centers on Caesar’s generosity toward each citizen, he later
searches for ways to turn these funds into cash in order to raise an army against Brutus
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and Cassius.Although he gains power by offering to honor Caesar’s will and provide the
citizens their rightful money, it becomes clear that ethical concerns will not prevent him
from using the funds in a more politically expedient manner. Anthony is a successful
politician –yet the question of morality remains. These seems to be no way to reconcile
firm moral principles with success in politics in Shakespeare’s rendition of Ancient
Rome, thus each character struggles toward a different solution.
Rhetoric and power
Julius Caesar gives detailed consideration to the relationship between rhetoric and
power. The ability to make things happen by words alone is the most powerful type of
authority. Early in the play, it is established that Caesar has this type of absolute
authority. When Caesar says ‘Do this, it is performed, ’says Anthony who attaches a
similar weight to Octavius’s words toward the end of the play. Words also serve to move
hearts and minds, as Act III evidences. Anthony actually marks the constipations for
vengeance. In the Forum, Brutus speaks to the crowd and appeals to its love of liberty in
order to justify the killing of Caesar. He also makes ample reference to the honor in
which he is generally esteemed so as to validate persuasive rhetoric to whip the
masses into a frenzy so great that they don’t even realize the fickleness of their favor.
OMENS AND PORTENTS
Throughout the play, omens and portents manifest themselves, each serving to
crystalize the larger themes of fate and misinterpretation of signs. Until Caesar’s death,
each time an omen or nightmares is reported, the audience is reminded of Caesar’s
impending demise. The audience wonders whether these portents simply announce
what is fated to occur or whether they serve as warnings for what might occur if the
characters do not active steps to change their behavior. Whether or not individuals can
affect their destinies, characters repeatedly fail to interpret the omens correctly. In a
larger sense, the omens in Julius Caesar, thus imply the dangers of failing to perceive
and analyze the details of one’s world.
LETTERS
The motifs of letters represent an interesting counterpart to the force of oral rhetoric in
the play. Oral rhetoric depends upon a direct, dialogic interaction between speaker and
audience: depending on how the listeners respond to a certain statement, the orator can
alter his or her speech and intonations accordingly.
In contrast, the power of a written letters depends more fully on the addressee; whereas
an orator must read the emotions of the crowd, the act of reading is undertaken solely
by the recipient of the letter. Thus, when Brutus receives the forged letter form Cassius
in Act III, scene I, as he is heading to the Senate. Predisposed to ignore personal affairs,
Caesar denies the letter any reading at all and thus negates the potential power of the
words written inside.
WOMEN AND WIVES

While one could try to analyze Calpurnia and Portia as full characters in their own right,
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they function primarily not as sympathetic personalities or sources of insight or poetry
but rather as symbols for the private, domestic realm. Both women plead with their
husbands to be more aware of their private needs and feelings.
Caesar and Brutus rebuff the pleas of their respective wives, however they not only
prioritize public matters but also actively disregard their private emotions and intuitions.
As such, Calpurnia and Portia are powerless figures, willing though unable to help and
comfort Caesar and Brutus.
PLAY FOUR: AN ENEMYOF THE PEOPLE by Henrik Ibsen

1. AUTHOR
Henrik Ibsen was one of the world’s greatest dramatists. He was the leading figure of
an artistic renaissance that took place in Norway at the end of the nineteenth century, a
renaissance that also included the painter Edward Munch. Ibsen lived from 1828 to
1906.He grew up in poverty, studied medicine for a while, then abandoned that to write
play. In 1858, he published his first play, The Vikings at Helgeland.That same year, he
married Susannah Thorsten, the daughter of a pastor.Ibsen obtained a scholarship to
travel to Italy, where he wrote the plays that would establish his reputation. Brand and
Peer Gynt.These were long, historical verse plays. He lived most of the rest of his life in
Italy and Germany. Starting in 1869, he began to write prose plays. Some critics would
say that at this point in his life. Ibsen abandoned poetry and took realism. In 1877, he
began what became a series of five plays in which he examines the moral faults of
modern society. In order of appearance, the plays were The Pillars of Society, A Doll’s
House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People and The Wild Duck.
An Enemy of the People attacks the institution of the liberal newspaper. Like all of the
plays in this series, An Enemy of the People deals with the extent to which individual
desires and beliefs are compromised by society. In particular, the play focuses on the
ways in which an individual can be ostracized by the society he is lying to help. The
problems of the play’s hero, Dr. Stockman, are not far removed from the problems Ibsen
experienced after the publication of Ghosts. In a letter got on excellently together, we
agree on so many subjects.’’
Like all of Ibsen’s plays, An Enemy of the People was originally written in Norwegian
exists only in Norwegian and is full of untranslatable wordplay. Specifically, a number of
the character’s titles exists only in Norwegian bureaucracy. For the sake of clarity, in this
Spark Note, Peter Stockman is referred to as th]e mayor, Morten Kill is Mrs.Stockmann’s
adoptive father, and Hosted is editor of the People’s Herald.
2. SETTING: Norwegian
3. SUMMARY
The town in which the play is set has built a huge bathing complex that is crucial to the
town’s economy. Dr. Stockman has just discovered that the bath’s drainage system is
seriously contaminated. He alerts several members of the community, including
Hovstad and Alaskan and receives generous support and thanks for making his
discovery in time to save the town. The next morning, however, his brother who is also
the town’s mayor, tells him that he must retract his statements for the necessary
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repairs would be too expensive, additionally the mayor is not convinced by Dr.
Stockman’s findings. The brother has a fierce argument, but Dr. Stockman hopes that at
least Husted’s newspaper will support him.
However, the mayor convinces Hosted and Aslaksen to oppose Dr. Stockman.The
doctor holds a town meeting to give a lecture on the baths, but Aslaksen and the mayor
try to keep him from speaking. Dr. Stockman then begins a long trade in which he
condemns the foundations of the town and the tyranny of the majority. The audience
finds his speech incredibly offensive and the next morning the doctor’s home is
vandalized. He and his daughter are fired.
The mayor insinuates that the doctor’s actions were merely a scheme to inherit more of
Morten Kill’s money and kill himself soon arrives just such a plan to Dr. Stockman.
However, the doctor refuses all such suggestions and decides to defy authority and
remain in town. His family is supportive and he says that the strongest man is the man
who stands alone.
4. CHARACTERS
DOCTOR THOMAS STOCKMANN: A practicing medical doctor, the medical officer of
the town baths, and the brother of the mayor who got him the job at the baths.
Stockman is idealistic and excitable. For much of his life he was destitute and lived in
the countryside, now he is happy to be fairly prosperous and living in a bursting town.
MRS. KATHELINE STOCKMANN: Dr. Stockman’s wife. She is loyal and loyal and
practical and often encourages her husband to think his family when he is being rash.
Morten, Kiil is her adoptive father, or grandfather, depending on translation.
PETRA STOCKMANN: The daughter of Thomas and Katheline. Petra is as idealistic as
her father. She is hard-working teacher and she is frustrated that the low requires her to
teach things she doesn’t believe in.
PETER STOCKMANN: Peter is Dr. Stockman’s brother. He is also chairman of the baths
committee. He is a cautious but sometimes Furth less politician.
HOVSTAD: Hovstad is editor of The People’s Herald, the town’s leftist newspaper.
Although slightly corrupt, he is a political radical.
ASLAKSEN: Aslaksen is the newspaper’s printer. Because he lets the paper print on
credit, he has a degree of editorial control. He is also the chairman of the homeowner’s
association, which represents the towns small class, the majority of voters. He also has
great influence with the Temperance Society and he is a lower of moderation.
BILLING: An assistant at the newspaper, he is a radical, like Hovstad, but he is also
ambitious and plans to run for office. He is in some way courting Petra.
CAPTAIN HORSTER: A ship captain who has little interest in local politics, Horster
provides the hall for Doctor Stockman’s speech, but he is fired from his ship as a result.
MORTEN KIIL: A rich old man, Kiil owns several of the tanneries that Dr. Stockman
implicates in his water pollution report. He is the adoptive father or grandfather
(depending on the translation) of Mrs.Stockmann, and his will assign a good deal of
wealth to her and her children).
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PART THREE: SHORT STORIES
WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN AND OTHER STORIES.
The Guilt, Rayda Jacobs (South Africa)

1. Plot
a. Introduction
We meet Mrs. Lilian Thurgood at the side of her house picking guavas. Her
two dogs: Tembi and Tor alert her of somebody‟s presence at her gate.
She is not a very strong woman; she walks with the aid of a cane. Flowers
are everywhere sprouting in her compound and this gives her pleasure.
b. Narrative Hook: She engages the man at the gate in a conversation
c. Rising Action
William Sidlay has a letter to prove that he is collecting money for some
organization. He is looking for handouts(donations) if he can’t find work.
Lilian doubts the authenticity of the letter.
Even as she rummages for change in her purse, she knew she was making
a mistake to empathize with William. People like William took advantage
of people like Lilian or murdered them. Lilian, like the rest of the whites,
was filled with guilt of having gained her privileged position because of her
race. She gives him the five rand, even though she could ill afford it.
d. Climax
William offers to work for the money. He says it‟s too much. She opens
the gate for him to clean her garden, despite doubts. He however refuses
to stop working when she (Lilian) makes the request. She had to go into
the house for the phone was ringing. William followed her there.
e. Falling Action
Lilian bids him to leave but he declines. He demands 10 rand for his effort.
When she threatens to call her husband, William tells her that she lives
alone. He insists on ten rand besides the 5 he‟d been given.
f. Dénouement
Feeling threatened she sets the dogs on him. She gets a gun from her
bedroom. She gets back her five rand before seeing him off. Although she
comes out of the episode unscathed, she does not boast about it to her
friends, may be still consumes with guilt. Where there was guilt there was
opportunity. Write an essay to confirm this using Rayda Jacob’s The Guilt
for your illustrations.
Setting
The story is set in s white suburb in South Africa. Mrs. Lilian (a pensioner)
Thurgood’s home is a fortress, 10-foot-high wall fence, and has a large
compound in which she has fruit trees: guavas and lemons. She also has
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flowers in her garden: geraniums, basil and oregano. She lives alone. The
incident with William takes place in the morning.
Conflict.
“The Guilt” has both external and internal conflict.
i) Internal conflicts
- First Mrs. Lilian Thurgood experiences internal conflict. She did not
have to answer the call at the gate. She says she had ignored many
such calls.
- She also suffers from internal conflict when confronted with the
forged letter William Sidlay presents. She takes it anyway.
- She is faced with another instance of internal conflict when she
discovers that she has 5 rand 23 cents. The five rand she thinks is
too much and the 23 cents too little. She gives him the five rand in
spite of herself.
- Another instance of internal conflict is on the night it was raining
and she had to get the door. She wonders whether it is racist to it one
was afraid to open doors to strangers. She does it anyway to make
for the guilt of benefitting from the old regime.
ii) External Conflict
- William Sidlay threatens Lilian physically. She gives Tembi &Tor the
first command which allowed them to terrorize but not draw blood.
She wonders what they might do if she gave the second signal she
doesn’t use it.
- Next, she goes for the gun which she uses to drive William out of
her compound and survives a potentially murderous situation.
4. Characters
Although several characters are mentioned in this story, the action
focuses on Lilian and William.
a. Lilian : Physical attributes
- She is a white woman over sixty-six years old and walks with a limp
owing to a painful leg for which she takes medicine.
- Assign character traits to Mrs. Lilian Thurgood based on the
following situations.
i) “Can I help you?” Lilian asked. Respectful courteous
ii) She handed the letter back to him and said,” wait here,” kind
iii) Based on the incidents with the African woman who’d knocked her door
at night, the woman who’d seen her sitting in the “stoep”, the man who
rung persistently at her gate, you would say that Lilian is generous?
iv) Her sudden anger when confronted with five rand 23 cents and she
longs for her husband’s presence – he would have ordered the man off the
grounds. Insecure
v) She would not lock the door behind her, she told herself. She trusted
him. Naive/trusting
vi) He came forward. “Sa!” Lilian commanded the dogs. Decisive
vii) The fact that she did not give the last command to the Alsatians nor
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pull the trigger of the gun. humane
viii) The fact that she did not tell the truth to Margaret, Ruth and Ethel
May. modest
 Assign character traits to William Sidlay based on the following
situations.
 The fact that he did not panic when confronted by Tembi & Tor.
Calm courageous brave
 The fact that he forged a letter to gain entry into white homes
dishonest
 The fact that he wanted the five rand besides demanding for 10
rand. greedy
 The fact that he knew Lilian lived alone and that no one was
going to come to her aid. scheming
 The fact that he moved towards Lilian when she threatened to
call the police. menacing
 Sidlay producing a letter allowing him to beg after being told by
Lilian that she had no work. persistent
Point Of View
The story is told from the omniscient narrator perspective.
Theme
i) Guilt
All the generous actions of Mrs. Thurgood are driven by guilt-she says that
it was making good on the guilt, the guilt they were accused of having.
ii) Deception
a) William Sidlay forges a letter that he purports allows him to
collect funds for an organization. It is a plan to gain entry into
white people’s homes and either take advantage of their guilt or
murder them.
b) The woman who’d seen Lilian sitting on the stoep deceives her
that she will sell her eight plants for four rand and plant them.
She asks for water to wet the ground when Lilian returns with the hose she
finds 30 plants planted and a bill of 12 rand which she had to pay.
iii) Race relations
 The blacks do anything in their power to take advantage of
the whites.
 On their part, the whites feel inclined to help the blacks
because of the guilt they have that their privileged position was
a benefit of the previous white regime.
Question: Show that people pay dearly for showing their weaknesses.
Using Rayda Jacob’s The Guilt show that this is true.
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When the Sun Goes Down by Goro wa Kamau
1.The Plot
We meet Steve, a successful businessman, walking down the streets of
his home town. He receives questioning stares from the people standing
along the streets who pretend to be going on with their businesses while
in truth they are discussing Steve. He runs into his boyhood friends, Kanja.
He invites Kanja to his home for a chat. He asks Kanja to tell him of the
rumours about him doing rounds in the town. Kanja informs him that it is
rumoured that he is marrying Maureen. We learn that people suspect that
Maureen is infected with the HIV virus. Steve confirms it is true. Steve then
relates the sad circumstances of Maureen’s marriage to an abusive and
promiscuous soldier.
When Kanja meets Maureen, she unashamedly opens up and tells him
how she learned that she was infected with HIV. It was long after she had
struck friendship with Steve and was carrying his child. It is at this point
that Steve also took an HIV test and it turned out that he too was positive.
Maureen serves Kanja with juice he declines to take and finally Steve
shares it with his son. This stigmatisation (discrimination) hurts Maureen
and sends her into a depression. Despite Steve’s appeal to her that they
fight the disease together, she is unable to overcome her depressive mood.
One evening while asleep, Maureen becomes delirious and starts
mumbling bible verses. Tom, a sympathetic neighbor, helps Steve to take
her to hospital. When Maureen realizes where she is, she stages a protest
demanding to be taken home to die. She does not recover from her
depression. She is buried a week later. She leaves Steve and Kanja and
Kimotho to continue the struggle.
2. The Title
The title, “When the Sun Goes Down”, is made in reference to Maureen’s
feelings of depression, hopelessness and guilt to the point of giving up on
life. It creates the impression that for her, all is lost.
3. Setting
The story is set in a rural town in Central Kenya. The villagers know each
other by age, name and family. This explains the concerns of each other’s
welfare. It also explains how this familiarity results into interference in the
private lives of one another. The story is set in the modern times. HIV is a
reality and so are ARV‟s.
4. Conflict
We shall approach conflict from two perspectives: conflict developed by
Maureen.
a) Conflict developed by Steve. Steve largely develops
external conflict
i) In the introductory part of the plot Steve is confronted with
external conflict: between him and the villagers. He has made a
decision that has not gone down well with the villagers. They
believe that he deserves better than marrying Maureen. This is
because Maureen is HIV positive. However, no one is ready to seek
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his opinion on the matter but they all talk behind his back about his
affair with Maureen. His decision to marry Maureen therefore
alienates him from the people who looked up to him. His mind is
however made up and he doesn’t care what they think or say about
him He; has no friends but Kanja
ii) The second external conflict he develops is between him and
Kanja, his boyhood friend.
Kanja has heard rumours about Steve’s intentions to marry Maureen;
however he is afraid for Steve because rumour also has it that she is HIV
positive. Steve feels that Kanja, his only remaining friend, should not be
part of the rumour mill. He has no control over this and it turns out that his
friend indeed has come fishing for information based on the rumours he’s
heard. What is more, his friend had also made advances to Maureen but
was unsuccessful. Further, his friend brings the HIV stigma right into their
house when he refuses to drink the juice Maureen serves him. It is this
conflict with Kanja that is central to the story and is responsible for the
ultimate death of Maureen.
The other external conflict Steve develops is between him and Maureen.
Pp19 Maureen explains to Kanja how Steve came to learn that he had HIV.
iii) This was her way of taking responsibility for pass the virus to him; this
was her way of making him a victim and Steve resented it.
iv) He forbids her to reason like that but will not stop. Pp22 Maureen is
hurt by Kanji’s refusal to take the juice she
serves him. She says it’s worthless to live if people cruelly discriminate
against you. Steve would have none of this and implores her not to think
like that to no avail. Pp25-26 Steve not only buys the most nutritious
foods for her but also cooks them but Maureen wouldn’t eat. She suffers
from nausea after a few bites, what is more she yearns for death. Despite
his remonstrations with her that she banishes such thoughts of death
from her head she wouldn’t stop. Pp26-27 Maureen’s sense of guilt finally
gets the better of Steve. Her deep seated sense of guilt reinforced by the
careless talk of the neighbors finally gets Steve to contemplate the terrible
possibility of her death.
v) a) Steve also develops external conflict between him and HIV/AIDS.
- He tries to have good mental health by making Maureen avoid
negative talk, this is a battle he loses for her but does not succumb to.
He continues to live positively He talks of counting their blessings.
- He stops smoking at the urging of his doctor. This too is a battle
that he is winning.
- He buys nutritious foods and takes his drugs. He tells Maureen that
she has to eat and take her drugs daily. Although Maureen loses this
battle Steve does not he is in it for the long haul. He is determined to
stay alive.
Even Maureen acknowledges this pp20 she says that she has no doubt he
will live.
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b) Maureen develops external conflict as well as internal.
Internal conflict: Maureen blames herself for passing the virus on to
Steve. Pp19 She protests that she was faithful both to her husband and to
Steve. She tells the story of how Steve found out he was positive to
assuage herself/lessen her guilt. Pp26 As she gets delirious she mumbles
that she was faithful both to her husband and to Steve.
External Conflict i) She develops a conflict between her and HIV. This is
another conflict central to the story. From the time we meet Maureen
there is no doubt she is losing the battle against HIV. When we first meet
her we are told that she looked somewhat weary. When Kanja refuses to
take the juice she serves him, she is devastated. (pp21) she asks Steve
why people must be so cruel. She refuses to forgive herself for bringing
this cruelty on Steve. Subsequently she refuses to eat and it is hinted that
she may have stopped taking her drugs(pp26) Steve reminds her that she
has to eat and take her drugs daily. When forced to eat (pp26) she
develops nausea and says that she longs to rest – euphemism for die.
At the hospital, she tells the nurse that she is dying. (pp28) (pp21) tears
flow down her face as she thinks of Kanja’s action and wishes people
were more compassionate. (pp26) she declares that she is a living dead.In
short, Maureen’s sun went down the day she discovered she’d passed on
HIV to Steve.
ii) She also develops a conflict between her and the

Kanja‟s of this world. When Kanja refuses to take her juice, she is
devastated and asks Steve why people are so cruel. She feels that her
family is discriminated against because she brought AIDS into it. She
hardly goes out for fear of what people will say. Pp 26 Steve laments that
her sense of guilt was the product of listening to lose speaking tongues.
5. Themes
Two of the best developed themes in this story are fear and guilt. They are
both developed by Maureen.
-Kanja develops the theme of hypocrisy – friendship cracks at mention of
AIDS.
-HIV/AIDS is developed by both Steve and Maureen. The author uses Steve
to show how people can live positively with AIDS. Maureen on the other
hand serves to illustrate how hopelessness and not AIDS kills people
infected with HIV.
-Ignorance is developed by:
 Kanja – not taking the juice Maureen serves
 The town‟s folk in general – not knowing that their
negative talk kills worse than AIDS.
 Mr. Kabia- fears contracting AIDS if an AIDS sufferer
is carried in his car.
-Loneliness is developed by both Steve and Maureen.
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6 Characterisation
1. Steve: determined, loving, realistic, open, sociable, hardworking
2. Kanja: hypocritical, ignorant, lustful
3. Maureen: hopeless, faithful, loving, religious, hospitable, stoic
Essay Question : Life is worth living even if one is suffering from HIV. Using Goro wa
Kamau‟s When the Sun Goes Down for your illustrations show that this is true.
Leaving by Moyez G. Vassanji

Setting
The story is set in Dar Es salaam, Tanzania. We first meet the family
leaving on Uhuru Street where the Narrator’s mother runs a shop. Later
they move to the residential area of Upanga, upon her selling her shop.
Plot
The story opens with the concept of leaving. The girls are getting married.
Mehroon marries a former school mate who leaves in Dar. Razia marries a
wealthy man who leaves in Tanga. Then there is Firoz who drops out of
school and gets employed. The narrator’s mother then sells her shop and
moves from Uhuru Street to Upanga residential area. The narrator informs
us their mother laid hopes on he & Aloo. This is because they both excel at
school.
The narrator joins the local University. Meanwhile, in his last year at school,
he proves to be exceptionally bright in his studies. Mr. Datoo, a farmer
student and teacher at the boys‟ school, visits the town from U.S.A. the
similarity of Datoo‟s and Aloo‟s background makes Aloo feels that he too
could study in the USA. He starts writing applications to various
universities in America. His ambition is to study medicine. When the
results are out, he has straight A‟s.
However, the local varsity gives him a place to study Agriculture. This is
what makes the offer from CIT more appealing. They not only offer him a
place at the university but also give him a scholarship. His determination
to study in America intensifies; however, the money required for transport
and upkeep as well as his mother’s fear of losing her son stands in his
way. After seeking Mr. Velji’s opinion, and some reflection, his mother is
ready to let go. She bids Aloo not to smoke nor drink and not to marry a
white woman. Her fears allayed, she sends Aloo to America for further
studies
3. Conflict
This story is about Aloo’s determination to study medicine
i) The first conflict he faces is bureaucracy and corruption. On
(pp 35) the narrator hints at this: But some bureaucratic hand,
probably corrupt, dealt out a future prospect for him that came as
a shock. This explains why the family does not want to question
the university about Aloo’s placement. Clearly, with his straight
A‟s deserved a place in the medicine class. However, the family
does not even think about arguing his case with the varsity would
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be an exercise in futility. Nothing would come out of it.
ii) The second conflict is developed by Velji and Aloo’s mother
on pp 3 he tells Aloo’s mother,” But if you send him, you will lose
your son. It’s a far place, America,” It is his mother, however, who
fully develops this conflict on page 35, after Aloo has overcome
his shock of getting CIT placement and scholarship, we are told:
But first he had to contend with mother. She does not believe it and thinks
that he is teasing her.
Next she raises issue with the money required. 3000 shillings is required
for pocket money. She further questions where they’d raise his air fare
from- it was not a little money that needed. She concludes that no one in
Dar would help him.Pp 36 she gets angry at him and asks him why he
wants to go away, so far from them and wonders whether they mean so
little to him. Further, she is worried that something might happen to him.
Her final resistance to his leaving is on page 39- she asks him to promise
that he will not marry a white woman, nor will smoke nor drink. At this
point we now understand her fear at telling him go: she would lose him to
a different culture that all the values she’d taught him would be in vain.
Characters and Characterisation.

1. Aloo a) intelligent – scores straight A‟s in his final exam
b) respectful -pp 36 He had raised his voice to her, the first time
I saw him that. -pp 37, they stood up when Velji came in.
c) determined: - studied hard in order to study medicine
wrote many applications with the aim of getting a varsity in
America.
2. Mother
-hardworking – raised the children as a single parent upon the death of her
husband
-Cautious – sought Mr. Velji‟s opinion on Aloo‟s case. -loving - feared
to lose her son.
Themes
i) Family/family values: The narrator’s mom has raised her
children well. Marriage therefore is an important institution for
them.
It is not important that they marry into riches although Razia does.
What is important is that they get married. The family is also
supportive. Firoz was not good at school but they encouraged him
to go far as he would.
What is more, he has been taught the importance of work ethic. So after
dropping out of school he is gainfully employed as an assistant
bookkeeper.
The narrator and Aloo are morally upright young men. They respect their
mother and the people who come into their lives. First, they do not raise
their voice at their mother. Second, the boys stand up when Mr. Velji
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comes into the room. Finally, although they disagree with Mr. Velji, they do
not raise any objections when he says it‟s a bad thing to send Aloo to a
foreign country: they respect his opinion. Finally her children neither drink
nor smoke.
ii) Education.
- The two sisters are taken to school.
- Firoz is encouraged to go as far as he possibly would at school
(subsequently he got employed)
- The narrator and Aloo go to university. It is instructive to know that
their mom laid her hopes on them. This shows that she understands
that through education her children would improve their lot.
iii) Fear
The main conflict in this story is Aloo’s mother’s reluctance to let him go
study in a foreign country. This conflict is borne of fear
a) That her son doesn’t care much for the family
b) That something could happen to him
c) That he could start smoking and drinking
d) That he could marry a white woman
Point Of View
This story is told from the 1st person p.o.v. The narrator is the 2nd last born
child in a family of 3 boys and 2 girls. It is an inspirational story of how
upbringing influences the destinies of he and his siblings in general but
Aloo in particular. He reports objectively the factors that influence Aloo‟s
destiny.
We trust his judgment because he is not only an adult but he is at the
university. He wished his brother well from the start and in the end it
comes to pass.
In the end we do not just read a story for entertainment value. Stories also
have information value. For us to exploit this fully we need to answer 3
questions.
i) Is the title appropriate? Yes, all the 5 siblings and their mother are
involved in leavings of sorts.
ii) What is the significant event Mr. Datoo’s visit is?
He inspires Aloo to be all that he can be. This is so important because
schools are yet to find a place for alumni. Without a doubt they influence
the destinies of students and they should therefore be incorporated in
career guidance activities.
iii) What is the author’s intention?
a) First of all the author’s main audience are parents.
Parents should learn that the way they bring up their
children determines how positively they live life and how
successful that life is.
b) The author’s second audience is the youth: although
the environment in which you are brought up matters;
ultimately, there is no success without input. The contrast
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between Firoz and Aloo exemplifies this.
The War of the Ears by Moses Isegawa

Setting
The story is set in a rural Uganda during a period of civil strife. A rebel
group, God’s Victorious Brigades, is fighting to stamp corruption out of the
country in the light of their interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The
ultimate sufferers are civilians. The story’s main setting is Nandere
Primary School with episodes in Ma Beeda’s home and the forest. Most of
the activities take place in the night. Darkness symbolizes the evil that has
befallen the country at large and is about to befall Ma Beeda’s village in
particular.
Plot
The story opens at the close of day at Nandere Primary School. Beeda is
confronted with a problem: the world outside school is full of questions he
couldn’t answer and things he couldn’t control. This drives him into a panic
that it is possible that these events beyond his control could stop the
children from coming back to school. Indeed, his fears are fanned by the
letter that arrives in the school that day. The rebel group, God’s Victorious
Brigades, says it is the last letter they send to warn Ma Beeda of dire
consequences should she fail to close the school. She however swears to
defy them and believes that they have government protection. Beeda,
however, is clearly terrified and feels helpless because he does not believe
the government’s promise would come too much. We learn that his father
had died when he was four, and now as a secondary school student, he
doubles up as a teacher at his Mother’s school. To prove their point, the
rebel group has dispatched four “child” soldiers to Nandere Primary
School, the only surviving school in the region. They are led by Major
Azizima who is 14. The other 3 boys are his juniors. His immediate
superior, Colonel Kalo, is 17. Upon reaching the school, Azizima awaits
instructions from Kalo to burn it down.
We learn that the supreme leader of the rebels is General Issimo who is
revered because he spoke with God. All the rules and guidelines come
from him. This involves indoctrinating the child soldiers with his
interpretation of the Ten Commandments and heavy doses of barbaric
punishment for offences against his rules. Similarly, the soldiers mete out
barbaric punishment like chopping off the ears of those who do not
support the course of the rebels. The arrival of these rebels in Beeda‟s
village brings to his door step those things he’d feared he has no control
over. At school first they are confronted with the pane Azizima had broken
the previous night, Next, Miss Bengi informs them that a man’s ear had
been cut off the previous night and because of this insecurity, she intends
to leave the village for the city. The gunfire later that night is the last piece
of evidence that the war of the ears had finally come to their village.
Conflict
(a) External
i) The first conflict we meet is between Ma Beeda and the
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rebels.
They have been sending her letters telling her that she is a government
agent and that she should close her school. The final letter is signed by
Colonel Kalo.
It tells her that her punishment for defying them will be both heavy and
harsh. She continues to defy them in the hope that the government’s
security apparatus will protect her and her investment.
ii) Secondly, we learn that the teachers too are in direct conflict
with the rebels.
We are told that Beeda‟s is filling in for a teacher who had fled weeks ago.
Further, Ma Beeda‟s says that she spoke to the teachers and 2 or 3 want
to run away (pp 46). Then there is Miss Bengi who announces her desire
to leave for the city after a man’s ear was cut off (pp 59)
iii) The major conflict is between the government and the rebels
(pp 46)
A war was going on in the forest and hills where government forces
occasionally clashed with the rebels. This is also confirmed in the letter
sent to Ma Beeda in which she is called a government agent.Their
professed goal is to stamp corruption of out of the country.
iv) The conflict between the rebels and the government has also
brought on conflict between the civilians and government on
one hand and civilians and rebels on the other.
Major Azizima’s father died in the hands of the government security
apparatus. They had alleged that he was collaborating with the rebels (pp
51) We are also told that in between engagements with rebels,
government forces looked for rebel collaborators (pp 46).
Then there is the conflict between rebels and civilians in general. We are
told that in the period between engagements with government forces the
rebels attacked civilians (pp46)
Major Azizima tells us that his mother was killed by the rebels. What is
more, he’d been asked to cut off her ears (pp 51).
Major Azizima also cuts off the ear of a villager who was looking for
medicine for his sick wife. (pp53).
Further, after this act, they trained their rifles on the shops in case people
confronted them. No one did. In the letter to Ma Beeda the rebels state
that the war of ears had begun. This is in reference to cutting off the ears
of civilians who defied them (pp 45). Finally the village is awakened deep
in the night by gunfire. (pp61)
(b) The other conflict developed in the story is internal
i) Beeda
In front of the class he knew everything and there was nothing he could
not do. However, the world outside was full of questions he could not
answer and things he could not control (pp43) (it is a flash-forward in the
problems the villagers face from the government and rebels)
ii) Azizima
He thinks of escaping from the rebel base but if caught by the government
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soldiers he would be tortured or killed or both. If caught by the comrades
he would be killed. Either way he would die but he wanted to live to avenge
his parents. Besides he wanted to find out what had happened to his
siblings who had disappeared.
Further, at school (Nandere) he felt a yearning to return to school, to study
and get a certificate but he hated having to take orders from teachers.
Moreover, it would mean surrendering his power something he knew he
would not do freely.
Characters and Characterisation.

a) Ma Beeda
A widow, entrepreneur and a single parent, she has a son, Beeda
i) Hardworking – started her school under a mango tree but is
now a full-fledged learning centre.
ii) Determined/Resolute
Hers is the last operational school. All the other schools have shut down
at the behest of the rebels. Despite the numerous letters by the rebels that
she shuts down her school, she defies them.
iii) Optimistic
Despite the war going on around her, she is hopeful that it will not touch
her school. She says that the rebels have no chance of victory and that
they don’t have the people’s support. She also tells us that the government
would hunt down all the criminals and punish them (pp57)
iv) Secretive
She had a journal in which she entered the
Nightcrawler‟s reports. Beeda was not allowed to look in the book. (pp 59)
v) Curiuos
Has set the Nightcrawler to find out details of what several people had
heard and seen the night before.
vi) Perceptive
(pp 47) She had the ability to guess what her son was thinking and at
times he disliked it intensely.
b) Beeda
i) Hardworking – stays at school teaching until late
-plans his lessons in good time
ii) Concerned – (pp 46) asks his mom whether she
spoke to the teachers i.e. ask them to stay. -Wants to know
the response of the regional commander in relation to their
insecurity.
c) Azizima -ambitious/violent/reflective/determined
Themes
a) Human rights abuse/crimes against humanity.
i) Children are denied the right to education. Ma Beeda tells us
that hers is the only school opening in the area, and even this is
threatened to be short
lived by the rebels who have served her with a final notice to close the
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school.
ii) People are killed both by the rebels and the government.
iii) Azizima tells us that government forces killed his father for
allegedly collaborating with the rebels. The rebels too killed his
mother for an unspecified reason.
iv) People suffer mutilation in the hands of the rebels.
v) The letter sent to Ma Beeda warns her that ears that don’t
listen to their master get chopped off and hers would be next.
Azizima tells us that Blue Beast forced him to chop off his
mother’s ears. Azizima chops of the ear of a villager and keeps
it as a trophy and proof to his superiors that he is loyal. Miss
Bengi threatens to leave for the city saying she does not want
her ear chopped off.
vi) Displacement
People are fleeing the village on account of insecurity arising from the war
of the ears. Ma Beeda tells us that two or 3 teachers have expressed their
intention to leave for the city. Beeda is filling in for a teacher who had fled
several weeks before. Miss Bengi is thinking of going to the city to avoid
the atrocities of the rebels.
v) Enlisting of Child Soldiers.
Major Azizima is only14 years old and is a soldier trained and armed by
the rebels. The three soldiers he is sent to Nandere Primary school with
are younger than he is. His superior, colonel Kalo is only 17 years. These
children are first abducted and then forced into fighting.
vi) Barbaric treatment of the soldiers at the base. Sex was
forbidden at the base except for the four people in high
command. Anyone who broke this rule got one hundred strokes
of the hippo-hide whip. Rape was punished with amputation of
the left hand. Dissention and theft were punished with death.
There is no appeal against the words of the spies. They were
made to chant Generalissimos hatred for the Uganda
government for hours on end.
b) Family relations
i) MaBeeda trains her son on the work ethic; he not only knows his house
hold chores but loves his teaching job.
ii) Beeda is very respectful of his mother and she too of him. When his
mother summons him, he drops what he is doing and goes to her for
example when he was talking to
Miss Bengi and his mother summons him he goes to her despite the fact
he would have liked to continue talking to her. She too is respectful of him
when he burns their supper; she resists the urge to raise her voice at him.
Further, although she’d lost her appetite, she respectfully eats some of the
food he serves her.
c) Violence
War going on between government and rebels.Government torturing and
killing rebel collaborators: death of Azizima’s father.Rebels mutilating or
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killing government sympathisers.Death of another chopping of the ears of
a man,breaking of a window pane at the school and its imminent burning
down.Killing and mutilation of soldiers who break rules at the camp.
d) Fear.
Pp46 Beeda is afraid that teachers will desert the school; further, he is
afraid that the promise of their safety by the regional commander may not
hold water. He is afraid that something might have happened to uncle
Modo Pp 54 Most people went
home early and were barricaded inside their house by nightfall. Pp 51
Azizimo is afraid that if he runs away from the base he’ll be executed by
the rebels upon capture.Further if he does escape he’ll be tortured or killed
by government agents upon capture. Pp 53 After Azizimo had chopped off
the ear of a villager, the train their rifles on the shops
Nobody came out to confront them for fear of being killed or mutilated by
the rebels. Pp 54-6 MaBeeda wakes up feeling that a messenger was at
the door, waiting to break the news that her school was no more. It was a
daily ordeal which reached its peak every morning.
The Mirror by Haruki Murakami

Setting
The story is set in the narrator’s house in the night. He is seated with
some friends and they are relating scary stories or those of premonitions.
There is however, another setting in which the narrator rebels a frightful
moment in his life. This is at a school junior high school in which he was
employed as a lone night watchman at the age of 18 or 19.
The night was windy and hot. Mosquitoes buzzed all over amidst the noise
of the wind. The broken gate of the swimming pool made banging
rhythmic banging noises in the dark night. This description creates a scary
mood which is consistent with his frightening experience.
Plot
The narrator is hosting a number of friends and they pass time relating
scary experiences or those of premonitions. The narrator says that there is
a force linking the world of the living with that of the dead giving rise to the
narrator of stories being related.
These forces he says restrict people to either group those people who see
ghosts are unable to have premonition and vice versa. The forces don’t
give people the ability to do both (that is, they are mutually exclusive). The
narrator then distances himself from these experiences.
He says that in his 30yrs he has neither seen a ghost nor had a
premonition. However, he admits that he has had a scary experience
which he narrates for the first time. He had kept it secret for fear that if he
spoke of it then it might happen all over again.
He relates how in his 2 am round on a scary night, he thinks he notices
something in the hallway. Upon closer inspection it turns out that a mirror,
which had previously not been there, gave his reflection. The mirror has
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him spell bound until he forcefully tears himself from it and shatters it
rashes back to the janitor’s room to sleep.
In the morning, he goes back to inspect the scene of the incident. He finds
the cigarette butt and his kendo that he dropped. However, that shattered
mirror is not there.
Conflict
(i) The first conflict is about the nature of these supernormal
experiences.
The narrator tells his friends that all their experiences fall into two broad
categories.
The repetition of the phrase “all your stories”, suggests that his friends
were not in agreement with him.
(ii) The second conflict is that the narrator is immune to verse
experiences.
He describes an incident in an elevator with two friends who swear they
could see a woman standing next to the narrator. He insists it was only the
three of them in the lift.
(iii) The third conflict is between the narrator and his
parents.
At seventeen they expected him to proceed to college after high school.
He declines, and instead wonders all over Japan working at various
manual jobs.
(iv) The last conflict is internal.
He believes that he is immune to the supernormal experiences. Yet he has
this encounter with a non-existent mirror that holds him captive and
seems to control him. He keeps this event secret for over 12 years, but
finally he relates it. What is more, he keeps away from mirrors. He is afraid
the scary incident would happen
again yet he swears he does not believe in supernormal forces.
Character and characterisation.

Narrator
a) Proud: Thinks that people that have encountered ghosts or have had
premonition are not normal and that he is unique because he’s never had
those experiences.
b) Fearful: Feels apprehensive about mirrors and does not keep them
around him. He was too scared to fix the broken gate because of the dark
night. Terrified by the mirror incident he runs back to the janitor‟s room.
c) Rebellious: Refuses to go to college and chooses to do manual work.
d) Hospitable: Hosts his friends and having been entertained by their
stories he too narrates one that he has kept secret in order to further
entertain them.
Analytical: Upon listening to his friend’s stories he separates them into
two categories: those of ghosts and premonitions; further, he says a force
links people to these things.
He goes a step further and says the impression he gets is that these
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experiences are mutually exclusive.
Themes
i)Identity Crisis : At 17 when the narrator should be proceeding to college, he
chooses to wander all over Japan doing manual work.
This is a typical teenage problem as they try to identify who they really are,
different from what their parents want them to be. What is disturbing though is
that at 30, more experienced with life, he says he’d do it all over again. This
rebellious streak is stuck with him. He also believes that he is different from
other people. Other people see ghosts; he doesn’t. Other people have
premonitions; he doesn’t. Yet he is very much like them because of the encounter
he had with an imaginary mirror that still controls his life.
ii) Appearances vs reality : It appears to him that the supernormal operates at two
levels: ghosts and premonitions. He believes he does not belong to either. The reality is
different; a third level exists which is even more ruinous than the other two as
demonstrated by his fear of mirrors based on an encounter with an imaginary mirror. i.e.
things are not what they seem.
Point Of View
Story is told from the first person p.o.v. This is apt because the personal
story of the narrator becomes credible coming from his own mouth. That
traumatic experience helps us understand his phobia for mirrors.
The title
a) Is the title appropriate? :Yes it is. It discusses the profound effect an
imaginary mirror has on the narrator.
In real life mirrors do not show real objects; they are merely a reflection of
what those objects are. The narrator’s experience is an illustration of the
power of the mind to create illusions. Ironically, this is the reality for
human beings; their minds are constantly creating illusions: of ghosts and
what the future holds. This is what is normal.
Running away from this reality creates a disturbed mind like the narrator’s
who is now avoiding mirrors. (It exemplifies the saying: things are not
what they seem.
b) What is the significant event? :The narrator’s rebellion. His not going to
college has him serving as a night watchman. It Is in this job that he has
his experience with an imaginary mirror.
c) What is the author’s aim? : He draws out attention to the fact that
things are not what they seem. The narrator has built this façade that he is
immune to
the experiences of ordinary people: sighting ghosts and having
premonitions. It turns out that he had had a traumatizing experience that
has him running away from mirrors. And the important thing is that this
experience was created by his imagination. Discuss the saying that things
are not they seem.
Use The Mirror by Haruki Murakami for your illustrations.
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Diamond Dust by Anita Desai
Setting
The story is set in Bharti Nagar, an urban civil servants residential area in
India. The events take us from Mr. Das‟ house, to the streets of Bharti
Nagar, into the Lodi Gardens and down the alleys of the town.
Plot
We are introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Das and Diamond, Mr. Das‟
problematic dog. It is not only a nuisance to Mrs. Das but to service
providers and children as well. To Mr. Das, he is a lovable pet hence the
name Diamond. As a result of Diamond’s nature C.P. Biswas asks Das why
he named the dog Diamond and not the more probable coal after its black
colour.
Das wouldn’t hear of this neither does he have an explanation for Mr.
Biswas. What is more, Das outs his dog before family;
on return from work he greets Diamond then the family members. Mrs.
Das has a premonition that all this is not going to end well. But Das is
unstoppable. He even frolics with Diamond in public something that
displeases his colleagues. His friends Biswas and Base see Das ‟ behavior
as bringing shame to them before their superiors:- the undersecretary and
the retired Joined Secretary.
Mrs. Das too disapproves of this attachment to Diamond. Over the years
she has had to clean after Diamond: its urine, smell and fur from floor rugs
and seats.
She has even sacrificed a cooking pot has to move out of the house for
one hour as Diamond’s meat cooks. Her protests do not yield any change.
Ironically, Das complains that an animal’s nature can’t be changed by
domestication. Children, though they approved of Diamond, teased him
when Das wasn’t around. He cautions them against using sticks or stones
against Diamond or running away from him. They protest that they’d be
bitten the way Ranu was if they don’t run. However, the real problems
begin when Diamond matures into a full grown god. He moves from a
nuisance to a menace. First, there is his phobia for uniform. He bellows at
the postman, chases him and tears his trousers.
The result is Mrs. Das doesn’t get her mail regularly for it is thrown at the
hedge. Then there are the other service providers: electricity meter readers
telephone repair men, and garbage collectors who do not render their
services to the Das family because Diamond attacks them when they do.
Finally, there are the school children who cannot get to the bus stop
without adult protection. Neighbours however do not report him to the
police out of both propriety and pity. In the end, Diamond becomes a pain
to Das during mating seasons. He disappears for long stretches and
during this period Das spends days and nights in search of him. What is
more, his behavior when he catches Diamond mating alarms parents. Mrs.
Das too wouldn’t have Diamond back in the house until he’s been cleaned.
Further, Diamond is a threat to his job. He spends time looking for him
instead of going to work or when he does go to work he is distracted.
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Diamond’s final escapade ends badly for both of them. Diamond is
caught by the dog catchers and he faces certain death. Das sees him in
the moving van jumps onto it and plunges to death.
Conflict
A conflict arising from Diamond’s actions
i) Diamond & Mrs. Das Diamond: generally upsets Mrs.
Diamond. He upsets the table, when she sets Das’food. He knocks her
down. He gets more attention than her children do. She had to mop after
him when he was a puppy and constantly urinated on the floor. She had to
put up with the smell of the dog in her next house. Diamonds further had
to be constantly removed from rugs, sofas and armchairs. Her letters got
lost or never reached her because Diamond attacked the postman when
he made deliveries. She had to nurse Mr. Das when he caught flu in the
cold nights in search of Diamond. Finally, her husband dies when he tries
to save Diamond from the moving fog catcher’s van.
ii) Diamond and the neighbors
a) The children would throw stones or sticks at Diamond,
then he’d break loose and run after them nipping at their
heels or stopping when they fell in the dust.
b) When his phobia for uniform grew he would chase
children on their way to or from school. The result was that
they could neither go to the bus-stop nor come from it,
without adult protection.
c) During the “badmashi” days, Diamond would howl so
loudly keeping the neighbours awake. This would go on
until he snapped his collar.
B) Conflicts arising from Mr. Das‟ actions: -
i) Das and Mrs. Das
a) Mrs. Das complained that he gave more attention to
Diamond than he did to his children or grandchildren pp 3 Not
even about our children – not even your first-born son – or
your grandchildren, have you made so much of us that dog.
She also complains that on his return from work Das greeted
the dog “Diamond, my friend” before greeting Mrs. Das, his
grandchildren or anyone at all.
b) She refuses to go to the butcher for buffalo meat for
Diamond nor would she cook the meat when Das brought it he
had to do it himself. Further, she asks him to substitute milk
and bread for Diamond’s meat but Das would hear none of
this.
c) She complains that her letters don’t reach her
because Diamond attacks the postman when he makes
deliveries. Das instead accuses the postman of being
cowardly.
d) When Diamond goes out on his last escapade in Nov.
the night chill made Das sick and she had to nurse him every
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time he came back empty handed. Further, she pleaded with
him to give up Diamond before the search kills him to no avail.
iii) Das and his colleagues/neighbors
a) C.P.Biswas is convinced the name Diamond is too
good for the dog and wonders when it was given such a
name. He’d rather it be named coal after its black coat. Das
says he’d never do such a thing to Diamond.
b) His colleagues had caught him frolicking with
Diamond in public like a child. They feel he’s taken leave of
his senses and this worries them. Further, they feel that his
behavior embarrasses them before their superiors, the
under-Secretary and the retired Joint Secretary.
c) When Diamond starts running after school children,
many parents went to complain to Das but he remained
deaf to their pleas. Parents also took offence too when he
led the children in search of Diamond upon his first
disappearance. What annoyed them was Das separating
Diamond from his partner before the children.
iv) Das and Diamond
Diamond, following his animal instinct would go out in search of mating
partners. Das feared the dog catchers would catch up with him and kill
him. So, he would go out in search of Diamond every time he disappeared.
Ultimately, it is the arrest of Diamond that leads to Das death.
v) Diamond and Service providers
The postman suffers the worst attack of the service providers. Diamond
bellows at him, chases him and tears a strip off his trousers‟ leg. After this
he delivers the Das letters at the hedge. The other service providers who
decline to serve the Das‟ indene officials of the BOE, telephone lines
repairman and garbage collectors.
Characters and Characterization
i) Mrs. Das
Tolerant – tireless cleans after Diamond
- Does not give up living with Das on account of Diamond Neat –
cleaned the puddles and fur Diamond left behind her own pet, a cat,
fed neatly off its bowl.
ii) Mr. Das
- Inconsiderate: Although his pet makes many people suffer, he’d not
give it up.
- Unrealistic: He expects animals to remain true to their nature but
not his Diamond.
Themes
i) Obsession: Das‟ obsessive nature towards his dog disrupts
the lives of his family, neighbours /colleagues and service
providers
ii) Animals’ nature
We should not expect animals to change their nature just because we
135
have domesticated them. This is illustrated by Diamonds disruptive
behaviour in Das‟ life as well as that of his family and neighbours.
Point Of View
Third person point of view. Appropriate because the first person would
have been very biased.
We are therefore able to experience Diamond’s disruptive behavior in all
spheres of Bharti Nagar.
The title
a) Is the title appropriate?
Dictionary .com defines diamond dust as pulverized diamonds uses as an
abrasive. Diamonds abrasive nature rubs everyone the wrong way
including its owner.
b) What is the significant event? Mr. Das’obsessive behavior towards
Diamond.
c) What is the aim of the author?
i) The author cautions against obsessive behavior. Mr. Das does because
of the excessive love he has for his dog. Besides, he is oblivious to the
pain it causes other people.
ii) The author also cautions against the danger pets pose to both their
owners and society in general. An animal nature can’t be changed simply
because it is domesticated. Diamond stays true to this statement which
ironically is made by Mr.Das. The other irony in relation to this statement
is that Mr. Das’ personality does not change despite the many pleas from
friends and family.
Task: One person’s pleasure can be a terrible displeasure to someone else. Write an
essay that is in support of this statement with illustrations from Anita Desai’s story
“Diamond Dust”
Arrested Development by Sandisile Tshuma
Setting
The story is set on a road trip from Zimbabwe’s capital Bulawayo, to Beit
bridge, a town bordering South Africa.
The setting moves from Mix’s garage, to a contraband ferrying vehicle and
ultimately to Beit bridge. This is at a time when Zimbabwe is experiencing
hyperinflation.
Plot
The narrator and tens of travelers are writing at Max’s garage for vehicles
to take them to their various destinations.
The narrator is an academic researcher in search of data on order jumping.
There is no public transport and so the travelers are at the mercy of
private vehicle owners. As a result of the collapse of public service
provision, the people of Zimbabwe have developed infinite patience in
order to get anything they want.
After three days of waiting, the narrator struggles with other passengers to
get onto the back of a pick-up that has stopped next to her. They are
charged an exorbitant fare. Though they pay up, the driver takes them
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back to Max’s alleging that his costs will not be covered. Presently she is
directed by a tout to a vehicle ready to leave for Beit bridge. She finds
herself travelling in the company of two contraband dealers, the driver and
the woman in mid thirties. She learns that the police take bribes to ignore
the contraband. She learns that the lot of the cross-border traders is way
better than that of highly educated Zimbabweans. For example, she and
her friend Lihile who has despaired of her lot ever improving.
From the passenger who joins them at Gwanda, she learns that ignorance
is preyed upon in a very cruel way. This cruelty on one another wises up
victims. Survival for con-artists therefore is a daily struggle. Zimbabweans
are filled with loneliness and despair. Even for the cross-border traders,
the risks are many.
The best everyone can do is resign themselves to their fate like Lihile who
now fetches water and easily contends with blackouts.The narrator’s
research however offers a ray of hope that might salvage the youth from
their endless troubles in search of a livelihood.
Conflict
i) Poor public service provision: The public looks to the
government for the provision of public service. These have either
broken down completely, like transport, or are not efficiently
provided like electricity, water etc. the public is powerless to bring
on any improvement and have resigned themselves to waiting.
ii) Private transport: With the collapse of public transport,
private vehicle owners have moved in to fill the gap. They charge
fares that the public can bear. They even use unscrupulous means,
like taking them back to the pickup stations, to Max on fares.
iii) The Public: The public is its own worst enemy. They have
perfected vigoroni: the art of getting ahead of the crowd and on top
of the pile. A tiny old woman painfully elbows the narrator to earn
her place on the vehicle to Beit bridge. The narrator in return scales
the sides of the pick-up without regards to the less athletic woman.
The passenger who joins them at Gwanda is conned of 780 rand.
Payment defaulters in the cross-border trade are sold off to Nigerians in
Johannesburg. The traders are mugged by bandits who strip search them.
They pay off every government officer they come in contact with for their
businesses to continue. They pay off border officials, highway police,
magistrates even farmers. For example, Gloria pays a border official in
order to cross the border without a pass. The driver “buys” a ticket from
the police to avoid paying more bribes on the way.
Characters and Characetrisation

i)Narrator
a) Observant: -vividly describes the boarding of the twin-cab
pickup -places the Gwanda passenger as a Tshuma
b) Intelligent: -an academician carrying out a research project
c) Focused: The wealth made by the cross-bordertraders does not make her give
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up the quest of improving the lot of the youth in return for quick riches in
business.
ii) Cross-border traders: -opportunists’cunning,daring,crossing of the
Limpopo
iii) General populace:
-impotent – powerless to bring about change (not every via ballot)
-Greedy – change exorbitant fees for services transport and products (fuel)
- Police & government officials take bribes: Government officials swindle
cash meant for Development projects like the Matabeleland
Zambezi Water Pipeline. -con one another e.g. the Tshuma boys conned
by the money changers.
-Resigned-Lihile now fetches water and contends with the blackouts
despite her education and exposure at the U.K.
-Generous – there who have found work in S.A send cash and groceries to
their relatives in Zimbabwe.
Themes.
The best developed theme in this story is suffering.
There are many other themes but not well developed.
i) Suffering
a) No public service or they are inefficient. -the narrator waits
for 3 hours before she gets transport. The Tshuma man had
waited 18 hours for the mini-bus to Bulawayo to fill.
b) The narrator had waited for 2 hours at the bank to withdraw
money.
c) black -outs are common place and house taps are dry
d) payment defaulters are sold off to Nigerians inJohannesburg
e) traders sometimes have to cross the crocodile infested river
Limpopo. At times they are attacked by bandits
f) The practice of Vigoroni has robbed them of etiquette.
The narrator is elbowed painfully by a tiny old woman as they scramble for
space on a pick-up
ii) Impotence
-In the first two paragraphs, the word wait has been used five times and
waiting once. This apparent patience is actually the collective weakness
not strength of Zimbabweans”. But it is not in the nature of a Zimbabwean
to question or complain.” pp 88
-The educated like Lihile have despaired and put her life expectancy at 40
(or just below). What is more, she has adapted to the dry taps and
blackouts.
iii) Corruption
-pp 93 – There is no palm that cannot be greased, apparently border
officials, highway police, magistrates all take bribes -pp 87 people in high
office swindle project funds Matebele land Zambezi Water Pipeline has
never taken off.
iv) Human rights violations
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pp 93 payment defaulters are sold off to Nigerians in Johannesburg,
traders are subjected to strip searchers by bandits
v) Insecurity: traders are mugged by bandits in the farmlands of
Limpopo Province.
vi) Loneliness pp 93 – I am struck by a loneliness that I have noticed in
everyone lately. On page 93 Gloria tells us that:
“Trust no one, not even relatives.” This lack of trust seems to be the
source of the loneliness.
Point Of View
st
1 person narrator makes the story more credible because of her high
academic status and the fact that she is the only person doing something
to bring about change.
The title
a) Is the title appropriate? Yes. Arrested development, though a
contradiction, points to the fact that the impotence of 12million people
has ensured their quality of life does not improve.
b) What is the significant event?
The discovery of the patience of Zimbabweans c) What is the aim
of the author? Unless people do something about their
circumstances, their lot will never change.
Sandra Street by Michael Anthony
Setting
The story is set in a suburb street called Sandra.
It is no ordinary street. It houses a residential area, a school and it leads
into a forested hill. Sandra Street maintains a somewhat natural
environment: there are no fences or gates, a few houses, a small
population and its people live in harmony. Neighbouring residential areas
are a little way off.
Plot
We are introduced to Steve, the narrator; Mr. Blades, his new teacher who
is a nature lover and Sandra Street. We learn about the natural
environment of Sandra Street through a composition by Kenneth, a boy
from the other side of town. His story leads t a conflict between boys from
the other side of the town and those
from Sandra Street. The Sandra Street boys feel that their town has been
described negatively.
Mr. Blades reads a few more stories, some of which say very nice things
about Sandra Street. His delight at these did not appease most of the boys
from Sandra Street. In a desperate attempt to calm them, he asks the
class to write a composition on the other side of town. This only fuels the
conflict between the boys.
However, the narrator does an objective assessment of Kenneth’s
composition and finds that it was a truthful description of Sandra Street.
He even begins to appreciate its beauty. He is so caught up in his
reflections he does not realise the break bell has gone. It takes Mr. Blades
to bring him back to the present. The following Tuesday the boys fight
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again as a result of what they wrote about the other side of town.
More compositions are written on other subjects yet Sandra Street did not
go away. Mr. Blades, who is new to Sandra Street, is waiting for the mango
season to find out whether the boys had given an accurate description of
Sandra Street during that season. What is more, Mr. Blades takes an
interest in Steven’s writing. The two of them appear at the window several
times looking out at Sandra Street.
With every discussion they have at the window, Steven’s observation
ability grows so does this love of nature.
His interest in nature takes him to the hills where he explores the river,
mango and banana groves and even gets to put away green bananas in
the “immortelle” roots to ripen. In his last encounter with Mr. Blades at the
window, Steven invites him to the hills to inspect his bananas. At the hills,
Mr. Blades, who had thought the trip was a nature trail walk, is
disappointed that Steven only focuses on the ripening bananas and not
the view of Sandra Street the hill affords them.
Conflict
a) The main conflict revolves around Mr. Blades and Steven. Mr. Blades is
a nature lover. He sees in Steven a similar spirit which is however latent.
There is an uneasy relationship in which the master trains the pupil to
appreciate his environment. The challenge is in showing Steve the beauty
of his environment without telling him what stands out as beautiful. So it
is a journey in which Steven awakens to the beauty that is his environment
with Mr. Blades as his hands-off guide.
NB: This journey is made up of a series of conflicts between Blades and
Steven. Identify all of them.
b) Kenneth’s work and Steven
This is one in the series of conflicts mentioned in (a) above. However, it
stands out because it runs through the entire story. Mr. Blades contrasts
Kenneth’s writing with that of Steve. Kenneth seems to have well
developed observation powers‟ Steve does not. It is Kenneth’s
composition on Sandra Street that Mr. Blades uses to arouse Steven’s
passion for nature. Although it is unprofessional, Mr. Blades uses
Kenneth’s work to criticize Steven’s (pp 103,106).
c) Further, conflict develops between the boys from Sandra
Street and those from the other side of town. Each writes
disparagingly about the other’s residential area resulting in two
bruising battles. What is the import of these fights? Steven gives us
the answer. “He had written in anger what I thought of now in joy”
pp 99. Each of these pupils has a latent love of the environment in
them. It however is not well directed. Mr. Blades tries to direct
Steven’s love of nature and remove the juvenile jealousy and hatred
he possesses.
d) Steven experiences internal conflict.
i) First, although he likes to hear the steel band (they do not have one
in Sandra Street) he puts it in his composition to disparage the other
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side of town he describes its sound as horrible (pp98).
ii) As Steven begins to appreciate the beauty of Sandra Street, it also
fills him with a sense of sadness. He says that certain sadness came
over him as he looked over the houses across to the hills (pp 100).
iii) Steven writes in his compositions about his experiences at the hills
but hopes that Mr. Blades will not see the reality in it. He wonders how
Mr. Blades had found out about the bananas; he put out to ripen in the
roots of the „immortelle‟ (pp104-105).
e) Mr. Blades suffers internal conflict
His dilemma is how to make the pupils appreciate Sandra
Streets‟ beauty without telling them what is beautiful. Thus, when/he
reads Kenneth’s work class and appreciates it, he is misunderstood by the
boys from Sandra Street. His attempts to placate them by reading stories
that said nice things about Sandra Street fall through. Instead of telling
them what to look out for, he gives them an assignment to write about the
other side of town. His teaching style is allowing learners to discover.
He makes a compromise by guiding one.
TWILIGHT TREK by SEFFI ATTA

Setting
The story is set in Gao, Mali. It then moves through Mali and Algeria up to
Tangier, a Moroccan coastal town. This is desert country ant the travelers
suffer the heat of the scorching sun and constant sand storms. The trek
itself must take place in the night- it covers two nights. The travelers stop
at a camp on a mountain just outside Tangier. It is a stinking mess.
Plot
The story opens with the narrator receiving a fake passport in the name of
Jean Luc from an agent in Gao, Mali. He narrates how he sold marijuana
to raise his fare. Impatient that the money was not coming in quickly
enough, he steals from his employer. He threatens to send a gang to
sodomise him then slit his throat. The narrator scales up his immigration
time-table and starts his illegal immigration journey. At the start of the
journey he meets Patience, a girl he travels with to the Tangier camp.
During the journey they face a lot of suffering. It is a bumpy ride and the
sandstorms drive sand everywhere. In the day, they have to hide under the
truck from the scorching sun.
What is more, their guide increases the fare by $100 or he abandons them
in the desert. They pay up and the second leg of their journey starts. Even
this leg is disappointing. Their guide drops them at the foot of the
mountain and they complete their journey on foot. When they reach the
camp the narrator is shocked by the insalubrious conditions. Men, women
and children all live under plastic sheets and there are no sanitation
facilities in sight.
Further, they are warned to be wary of thieves, Moroccan security forces,
conmen and plagues. Their final destination, Cueta, presents a challenge
to get to. Obazee says that he‟s been trying for six years but keeps
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getting caught by the police who beat him up. The narrator finds out from
Obazee how to cross the sea and what dangers each mode of transport
presents and the cost. This information excites him and he shares it with
Patience who has resorted to reading the bible for solace.
He is ready to meet her crossing fee. She wonders where he would get
the money from. He shows her where his money is hidden.
They wake up in the morning to find that Obazee is moving the camp
further away from the security forces. The narrator wouldn’t move
because he is still waiting for Patience who had gone to Tangier to find a
“samsara”. He also discovers that she has taken his money. He waits to
no avail. He has to start all over again.
Conflict
The story raises conflict at different levels. External conflict develops at two
levels. First there is conflict between people. Second, there is conflict
between man and nature.
The other level of conflict is internal. The narrator through his dreams
understands that his mother’s advice was worth taking yet he can’t or
wouldn’t take it. We will now examine conflict in the chronological order
that they are developed.
i. Illegal immigrant and foreign embassies (pp109) The foreign
embassies will not grant visas to illegal African immigrants effectively
denying them an opportunity to move to Europe. The Africans believe they
can still get to Europe. They will cross the Sahara and get to Morocco
then cross the Mediterranean Sea into Spain.
ii. The narrator and drug seller (pp 109)
The narrator disagrees with his mother and runs away from home. To
survive he sells marijuana. Dissatisfied with how much he was making; he
steals from his employer. His employer in return promises to send a gang
to sodomise him then slit his throat. To avoid this treatment, he starts his
journey to Europe.
iii. The narrator and his mother
When the narrator was little his mother would dress him up like a girl. He
would struggle during such treatment (pp109). When he got older, she
tried to pimp him to a Lebanese man who liked light skinned boys. He
runs away from home to avoid such treatment (pp110). Further, we learn
that his dreams enhance this mother and child conflict. His mother tries
to dissuade him from making the trip by narrating to him horror stories of
illegal immigration attempts.
He is still in Gao and would have turned back but he doesn’t (pp110).
In the second dream, she alludes to the Promised Land, a story from the
bible. However, the people who seek the Promised Land end up us taxi
drivers, night guards, cleaners of plates and toilets and some become
homeless sleeping in the cold of ghettos and streets. Yet others go on to
become sex slaves or cultural slaves (pp113/4). In his penultimate dream,
his mother uses strong images of death to hint at Jeans imminent failure.
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He still does not take her advice.
In the final dream she dismisses Patience as a common prostitute and
that her reading of the bible was of no value. She gives him more stories
of frustrated immigrants. He does not heed his mother’s advice that he
stays away from Patience and the trip.
iv. Illegal immigrants and nature
When the trek gets underway, the travelers find out that they can only
travel in the night and the winds are very cold then. The sand too presents
a problem.
It hurts their eyes, stings their nostrils and mats their chests. It is also in
their food and water. Their tongues swell so badly they cannot converse.
Their legs are cramped. Others suffer from piles and wheezing chests.
The conflict with nature continues when they stop in the day. They suffer
the scorching sun and hide underneath the truck to avoid the heat. There
is however no escaping the sand which is all over them including in their
underpants (pp112/113).
v. Travellers and Tuareg guide
At the start of the second leg of their journey, the travellers get
blackmailed by their Tuareg guide. They are deep in the Sahara desert and
the guide tells them to pay an extra$100 each or he abandons them. They
pay up (pp114/5)
vi. Illegal immigrants and environment
a. The camp is insalubrious: The narrator describes it as
an open sewer (pp115). There is lack of privacy. Men,
women and children all sleep under plastic sheets. The
environment is a health hazard.
b. They suffer constant bites from fleas.
Many are coughing. They are warned that even the air that they breathe
may carry plagues (pp115/6).
c. At the camp they are told to beware of thieves,
Moroccan security forces and con men.
vii. The narrator and Patience
She steals his money and heads for Tangier and the world beyond.
Character and characterisation
a. The narrator: Independent minded
 When he was little his mother dressed him up as a girl
and he’d resist this.
 When she tried to pimp him out to a homosexual, he
ran away from home.
b. Gifted: He plays football very well.
This is the main reason why he wants to travel to Europe where he hopes
to develop his talent further.
c. Friendly: Befriends Patience and helps her through the
difficult times. He is willing to pay part of her fare.
d. Naïve: Trusts Patience and tells her where his money is
hidden. She steals it and abandons him at the camp.
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e. Braggart: He brags to Patience about his football skills
and how he was going to make a career out of playing football in Europe.
f. Irreligious
 His mother has not taught him religion. She says that
Africans too can compile their stories in a holy book.
 When he reads about God promising the Israelites
food, he says that he was tired and that the fairy wasn’t
going to help them.
Themes
g. Suffering
This is the best developed theme in the story. Identify all the instances of
suffering that the travelers go through.
h. Poverty: This is the real cause of the trek.
 The narrator’s mother earns a living as a prostitute.
The money she earns barely covers expenses. She sells
ground nuts to supplement. What is more, she is ready
to pimp her son to homosexuals to augment her
earnings.
 The Muslim women in Gao cannot afford to share
their meal with strangers. There just isn’t enough to go
round.
 The highways are full of potholes and the taxis are in
a state of disrepair.

i. Opportunism
 The narrator takes advantage of the trust his boss has
in him and steals his money.
 His mother is happy to have a child of mixed race.
His light skin is particularly favored by homosexuals and
she had been grooming him to earn money from the
trade.
 The Tuareg guide blackmails the travelers in the
desert. He raises the fare by $100 at a time he knows
they can’t default.
 Patience takes advantage of Jean. He trusts her
enough to tell her where his money is hidden. She steals
it and does not care about his plight.
Style
Satire: Satire is made up of three literary devices: irony, wit and humour. It
objective is to expose the vices and follies of individuals or societies in
such a way that they appear ridiculous. It is the heavy presence of irony in
this story that directs our attention to satire. Let us now consider some of
the outstanding instances of irony.
Irony
- The most important instance of irony comes at the start of the
story and it’s concluded at the end. The narrator dupes his master
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and steals his cash. During the trek he befriends Patience. He builds
a tent at the camp which he shares with her; he promises to meet the
cost of her crossing the sea and to prove that he can he shows her
the where the money is. She steals it and abandons him at the camp.
It is the same money that he had stolen from his employer.
- Another instance of irony that runs through the story plays out
between the narrator and his mother. She raised him with only one
purpose in mind: to pimp him out to homosexuals.
- He flees from home because of this. However, throughout the trek
she remains the only voice of reason through his dreams.
She constantly impresses upon him the folly of his action.
- Obazee is also an ironic figure. He holds a degree. His knowledge
and skills ought to be used in the service of the people of his country.
He is however portrayed as lacking in imagination. For six years he is
stuck in the camp described as an open sewer. All his attempts to
get to Cueta have been thwarted by the Guardia Civil.
- He fancies himself as the leader of the camp. This is a complete
waste of university education. NB: Find more instances of irony.
Notice that each of these ironic situations points to a human
weakness. That is satire. Now let us examine the things that have
been satirized in this story:
a) Opportunism (callousness of human nature and greed)
The writer satirizes the callousness of human nature in taking advantage
of those around them for personal gain.
The opportunists satirized in this story include:
 The narrator
At the time Patience steals from him he has $1000. This means that he
stole a lot of money from his employer. The money has not brought him
any benefit.
First, the journey through the desert has been a very difficult one. Now far
away from home he is not only destitute but he has no way of salvaging
himself. Further, his inexperience has made him prey to the older Patience.
 The narrator’s employer
He deals in marijuana. This drug corrupts the youth. What is more is that
he uses the young Jean to peddle his drugs and pays him peanuts. The
result is that Jean steals from him.
 The narrator’s mother
She raises Jean with the intention of pimping him out to homosexuals.
This is child abuse. She lamely tells him about the Lebanese: “He’ll only
touch you”. Her son runs away from home because he does not wish to
be a homosexual.
 The Tuareg guide
His greed is satirized. Deep in the desert he takes advantage of the
travelers and asks them for more money or he abandons them. The poor
souls would die in the desert. They pay up.
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 Patience
Her greed too is satirised. Jean was ready to share his loot with her so
that they cross the sea into Spain together. She however steals his money
and leaves him destitute.
b) Brutality/ violence
i. The polic :The last time Obazee tries to get into Cueta illegally, the Guardia Civil
catch him and beat him up severely. It is the Medecins Sans Frontieres that saves his
life. (pp119)
ii. Bandits: There is talk that travellers are sometimes attacked by bearded moslems
and bandits when their trucks break down in the desert. There is no
guarantee that the police would arrive in time to rescue them. Such
stories make some women turn back at the last moment (pp111).
iii. Samsara: In his fourth dream, his mother narrates the story of the
Senegalese girl who couldn’t swim. The Samsara who carries her in his
dhingy refuses to get close to the shore.
He orders her to jump out of the dhingy into the sea and find her way
somehow. (pp 121)
c) Collective folly of illegal of illegal immigration
 At the end of the first dream, the narrator’s mother
tells him that the lesson to be learned from the deportation
story is that the world is round and that means if one ran too
fast, one might end up chasing the very homeland one is
running from.
 In his second dream she tells him the story of
disillusionment.
 Those who finally reached The Promised Land wonder
what they were chasing. They end up driving taxis,, washing
plates and toilets, guarding buildings at night, sleeping in the
streets, serving as sex slaves and enslaving themselves to the
West through marriage (pp113-4)
 The illegal immigrants have neither clear plans nor the
money to get them to Spain from the camp. The narrator says
of the people in the camp: These people here are not like any
villagers; they are like refugees on television, squatting under
plastic sheets: men, women and children. The implication is
that they choose to lead a squalid life yet nobody sent them
away from their villages which are more comfortable than the
camps.
 Obazee gives a very poor show for an educated man.
He lives a squalid life and fancies himself the camp leader
demanding to be addressed with respect. How can a man
who doesn’t respect himself be respected by others? He
should be using his university education to improve the lot of
his people back at home.
 Six years have gone by with nothing achieved and
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many more will go by because he can neither go forward nor
turn back.
Point Of View:
The story is told from the first person point of view. It makes the story
credible. We would not believe that people can be so wicked or so stupid
unless we hear it
from the horse’s mouth.
TITLE
a) Appropriateness of the title: Harrap’s Essential English Dictionary
defines a trek as a long journey usually on foot.
Twilight, on the other hand is the period immediately after sunset. Indeed
the trek for the two days begins after sunset.
In the day they rest to avoid the patrolling police. The journey is
undoubtedly long although very little of it is done on foot.
Figuratively too, the sun is not yet up for this would be immigrants. They
are not realistic in their ambition to immigrate.
b) Significant event
The notice of revenge on Jean by the drug baron is the significant event in
this story. He says that he could not afford to be sodomised against his
will so he flees (pp109).
c) Aim of the author
i. Show the ridiculous lengths to which people will go to try and
improve their lot.
ii. Show human suffering occasioned by poor decision making.
Q. 1 What are some of the elements that Sefi Atta exposes as ridiculous in
Twilight Trek?
Q. 2 Discuss the suffering the illegal immigrants undergo in Twilight Trek
by Sefi Atta.
I STAND HERE IRONING BY TILLIE OLSEN

Setting
The story is set in USA after the depression and WWII but before the
economy had fully recovered. The narrator is ironing the family‟s clothes
on an ironing board in her house.
The plot
The narrator, a mother of five in her late 30’s, stands ironing her family’s
clothes. She reflects on a question asked her by somebody handling her
daughter, probably a teacher at school. The unnamed person wants her
to visit and give information that could be used to help her withdrawn
daughter, Emily. She doesn’t think she should go because she believes she
doesn’t have an answer. She believes her 19-year-old daughter has lived
through experiences that have altered her life in ways a mother cannot
understand.
Through her reflections, we however get the picture. Emily, very beautiful
at birth, is her first born. Her husband abandons them when she is only
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eight months. The narrator, a working class mother, could not afford to
employ a nanny. At first she left the baby with an inconsiderate neighbour.
Later she took her to her grandparents. A year goes by before Emily
reunites with her mother. Two reasons are given for this long period of
separation. First, the narrator could not raise the fare. Second, Emily
suffered an attack of chicken pox. When she returns, their lot has not
improved. She is shipped to school where she suffers in the hands of
nasty children because of the
scars left by chicken pox. She also suffers in the hands of inconsiderate
teachers who sent her back to the bullies. What is more, the economic
hardship makes her mother send her back to her grandparents. When she
returns, she finds that she has a new father. Things get worse for Emily
when her siblings start coming: four in total. Her mother barely has time
to smile at her, let alone comfort her in the nights when she has
nightmares.
She therefore feels rejected and unwanted. The only saving grace is that
her condition, we are not told what it is, impairs her growth. She therefore
looks much younger than her age. Inconsiderate children tease her
because she does not fit the picture of the stereotype beauty. Her
younger sister does not help much. She too bullies Emily. In the end, the
narrator is less harassed by the task of parenting. The children have
grown older and don’t require much attention. She begins to pay more
attention to Emily. At first these moments are rejected. Gradually,
communication does begin to take place but only on Emily’s terms. The
narrator is therefore hopeful that ho intervention is requires and that her
daughter will end up well.
Conflict
i. All the conflicts in this story centre on Emily and the challenges she goes
through from infancy to young adulthood. She is born to young parents
who have no means of raising her. Her mother is only 19 and America is
going through its worst economic crisis: the great depression. Clearly not
ready for the sacrifices of parenthood, her father abandons them when
she is only eight months old. She lacks a father’s love throughout her life.
Her new daddy does not fare any better.
In the night when her mother is tired and cannot comfort her when she
has nightmares, he does not step in. ii. Her mother’s love is not
forthcoming either.
At eight months she has to be with a neighbour during the day as her
mother earns her keep.
When the financial crisis deepens, she has to go and live with her
grandparents for one year. During this period there is absolutely no
contact between mother and daughter. This movement to her
grandparents happens twice. When she reunites with her mother at the
age of 2, she has to go to school.
This is the only way her mother could go to work. School exposes her to
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more loneliness. She is tormented by both pupils and teachers (pp129-30).
Emily’s conflict with her mother worsens when the clinic persuades her to
send Emily away to the convalescent home in the country. For the first six
weeks the narrator was not allowed to see her daughter. When she was
finally allowed, she could only speak to her daughter from a distance. The
situation was made wors e because Emily was not allowed to hold or
keep the many letters her parents wrote her. They were only read to her
once.
Emily’s mother also remembers a time when an old man living in the back
told her that she should smile at Emily a little more when she looked at her.
This was a t a time when Emily was an only child. The narrator remembers
this when the other children had come and they were receiving the smiles
but it was too late for Emily (pp130)
iii. The other conflict develops between Emily and her siblings.
When Susan was born, her mother was away in hospital for one week.
Upon her return, Emily was not allowed near her mother or the baby for
another week. She had to endure two weeks of loneliness. As a result,
she became delirious with fever (pp131). What is more is that she didn’t
get better, and suffered nightmares. When she called out to her mother,
she’d ask her to go back to sleep because it was just a dream. She was
too exhausted looking after Susan there was no energy left to look after
Emily.
There are more problems with Susan. The narrator refers to the
relationship between them as poisonous. Their mother acknowledges that
she solved the conflicts between the two very badly. She blamed Emily for
them. She says that Emily had a corroding resentment towards Susan.
Then there is the social contest between the siblings. Susan had the good
looks that Emily lacked. Further, she was more confident and articulate
than Emily. She stole Emily’s jokes and riddles and the audience lived her.
The cruellest thing was losing or breaking Emily’s precious things without
apology and getting away with it (pp133-4)
iv. The instance between Emily and a boy she loved Emily loved
a boy painfully through two semesters. Months later she
reported to her mother how she’d stolen money from her purse
to buy the boy his favourite candy.
v. He however showed her no affection but liked another girl,
Jennifer, better. She pleaded with her mother to tell her why
this happened but she had no answer (pp133).
School too presents a challenge; she was neither glib nor quick. To her
teachers, she was a slow learner who kept trying to catch up.
What is more, she was chronically absent. This was in part because of her
illness and because her mother just wanted to have her children together,
so she made her stay at home with her siblings who not of school going
age yet (pp133).
Susan too did contribute to her problems with school. She sometimes
mislaid Emily’s homework. Subsequently, Emily would go to school her
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homework not done. Her mother says she’d suffer over the
unpreparedness, stammering and unsure in her classes (pp135).
As a result, Emily develops this attitude that there is more to life than
school. On the eve of her mid- term exams, she tells her mother not to
wake her early with the rest in the morning. She reasons cynically that
there might be another atomic bomb in a couple of years that would kill all
of them and that it would not matter that somebody had excelled at
school (pp136).
vi. Emily and poverty
All though all of Emily’s problems stem from poverty, there is one event
that stands out: her ability to imitate. Her mother had suggested that she
one day try it out in the school amateur show. She did and she won. She
got invites to perform to thrilled audiences. However, because there was
no money to develop her talent, it eddied, clogged and clotted in her
(pp135).
The main character in this story is well developed. She is brought out as a
very ordinary woman who has both weaknesses and strengths. a)
Strengths
i. Determined
She looks after her family despite the economic strain. She says that
she‟d go out to work or go out to look for work (pp128).
ii. Responsible
Looked after Emily as best as she could. When she couldn‟t be there, she
left her with a neighbour or took her to her grandparents. iii. Reflective
At the beginning of the story, someone has asked her to visit and give
insights that might help improve Emily‟s lot. The rest of the story is her
reflection on what her achievements and failures have been in bringing up
Emily. iv. Honest
She admits her mistakes in the upbringing of Emily. She was distracted
both by poverty and the sheer amount of work involved in raising five
children almost single handedly. She says that the first six years of
Emily‟s life, she was either away working or Emily was away with her
grandparents (pp136). When Susan was born she was too exhausted in
the nights to comfort Emily when she had nightmares (pp 131).
b) Weaknesses
i. Fearful
 She is afraid that she may not raise her child right.
Emily is brought up by the book. She is fed when the book
says she should and not a minute too soon (pp127).
 She fears to raise the child alone and often sends her
back to her paternal grandparents‟ home although her
husband had deserted her (pp128).
 She is afraid of going to talk to the person who wants
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insights into Emily’s life. In fact, she will not go. She says,
“Let her daughter be; the only thing that Emily needs to
know is that she is not helpless” (pp136).
 She sends her child to the convalescence home for
fear she would be taken away from her.
The child only returns when the social worker says so even
though it was clear to her long ago that the home was not
improving Emily.
ii. Biased: She was more lenient with Susan than she was with
Emily.
 She says that when it came to balancing the hurts and
the needs between Emily and
Susan, she did badly in the earlier years. This was because she felt that
Emily had a corroding resentment towards Susan.
 She did not smile as readily with Emily as she did with
the other children. She remembers the old neighbor’s
admonition that she smiles more readily with Emily. This
face of joy she admits she started wearing too late for Emily.
She therefore does not smile as easily as the others
(pp130).
 She readily made Emily miss school but is very strict
with her siblings‟ school attendance (pp133).
iii. Resigned: She is resigned to the fact that Emily
is different from the other children. When she went to school to watch
Emily’s performance, she only recognized Emily that nearly drowned into
the curtains.
She however cannot come to terms with the Emily that is spell binding
and exuding control, command and confidence. Little wonder that she
does nothing to nurture Emily‟s talent (pp135). That is to say that
according to her Emily is a misfit and that is how things should stay.
Themes
i. Poverty
 The narrator is a working class mother. She says that she
worked or was out looking for work (pp128).
 The long hours she spent ironing are indicative that she
could not afford to employ somebody to do it. Her daughter
asks her: “Aren’t you ever going to finish the ironing, mother?”
(pp135).
 Of Emily’s condition, she says: “We were poor and could not
afford for her the soil of easy growth (pp136).
 The goodbye note that Emily’s father writes is another
indication that they are poor. He writes:
“He could no longer endure sharing want with them” (pp128). Want as a
noun means a state of extreme poverty.
ii. Suffering
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Emily’s life is one of suffering right form birth.
 Being a first born, her mother brought her up by the
book. This meant that she had to endure hours of hunger
because her mother only fed her when the book said that
she should.
 At eight months her father walks out on them. She
has to be left with a neighbour, who didn‟t like her very
much, when her mother went out to work or look for work.
Later she is sent to her father‟s relatives because her
mother could not afford to raise her.
 At her grandparents‟ she comes down with small pox
which scars her face for life.
 Then there was her stay at the convalescent home.
For the first six weeks she is not allowed to see he mother.
 When she is finally allowed to visit, they can only see
on another from a distance lest the children are
contaminated. Further, the only friend that Emily makes, a
little girl, is taken away from her. Emily laments that: “They
don’t want like you to love anybody here” (pp132).
 There is someone else Emily loved. This is the boy at
school. She even stole money from her mother’s purse to
buy him his favourite candy. He however liked Jennifer
better.
NB: There are many more instances of Emily’s suffering. Identify and
illustrate all of them. Do you think the narrator too undergoes suffering?
Explain your answer.
iii. Family relationships
 Try to find answers to the following issues raised
about Emily’s family.
 Trace the development of the relationship between
Emily and her mother.
 Give illustrations to show that the relationship
between Emily and Susan is a sour one.
 Supply evidence to show that Emily’s four siblings got
preferential treatment.
Point Of View
This story is told by the first person. The events are made more credible
through the use of stream of consciousness. The narrator’s reflections
and the memories jump from one thought to another as she gives us
insights on why Emily turned out the way she did.
The title
a) Appropriateness of title : The title is symbolic
 It is a symbol of the poverty of the narrator and the general
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harsh economic period in which Emily was born and raised.
Besides putting in long hours for the people who employ her, the
narrator had to put up even longer hours to take care of her own
household chores.
 It is also a symbol of the tortured thoughts and memories
that go through the narrator’s mind as she tries to understand why
Emily turned out the way she did.
 Finally, it is a symbol of hope. At the end of the story the
narrator says that Emily should know that she is not as helpless as
the dress on the ironing board before the iron.
b) Significant event: The significant event in this story is
Emily’s father deserting his wife and daughter (when Emily is only
eight months old).
c) Aim of the author: The writer depicts the suffering endured
by the working class families in America during the great
depression.
Question: Write an essay to show the suffering that Emily has endured in
her 19 years.
THE RETRACTION BY STANLEY O. KENANI
Setting
The story is set in three countries. First, there is the narrator’s home
country, Zambia. Part of it is set in his village and part of it in the capital,
Lusaka. Secondly, it is set in Lilongwe, Malawi. The final setting is
Johannesburg, South Africa. The movement between Botolo and Lusaka
dominates the story. Another important aspect of the setting is the
contrived setting. The contrast in the two contrived settings brings out the
futility of the complaint letter against Tatha.
The plot
The narrator receives an email from Tatha, a former airline hostess, with
Malawi Air. She complains that she loses her job on account of a
complaint letter that the narrator writes.
Through a series of flashbacks, we learn exactly how he came to write the
complaint. The airline served alcoholic drinks on the plane. However, the
hostesses were under strict instructions to give additional drinks to
passengers only after they had finished what they had been served. This
was the only limitation. The narrator however comes from a culture in
which pride at a drinking place depends on the number of bottles that one
places on the table.
Every time he rings for a hostess, it is Tatha that appears and politely
declines to serve him an extra drink unless he has finished what he’s been
served. Towards the end of the journey,
another hostess asks the passengers to write down their comments on
slips of paper that she provides. The narrator confesses he was drunk
having been drinking for two hours but still gives his comments. He
alleges that Tatha had been rude to him throughout the flight. Tatha’s
email touches him so much that he sells most of the things that he’d
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bought with the prize money and travels by road to Malawi, a 1000km
journey, to retract his complaints and to personally apologise to Tatha. He
does not get the responses he had expected and travels back home
crestfallen but happy with what he had done. Years later, he sees Tatha in
a magazine crowned the hostess of the yea at Kenya Airways.
Conflict
i. Tatha and Zgambo
This is the main conflict in the story. Tatha‟s dream from childhood has
been to work for Air Malawi. This she has achieved and wishes to develop
her career. What brings her and Zgambo together is fate. Fate would have
it that Zgambo would win an air ticket at a raffle draw courtesy of the
Lundazi District council. Fate would have it that he boards the plane on
which Tatha was on duty. Fate would have it that at drinks time, the less
sophisticated Zgambo, would wish to invoke his tribal pride of beer
drinking.
Fate would have it that airline drink policy allowed for only one drink at a
time and Tatha would politely advise him so. However, there was no
upper limit. Fate would have it that Zgambo would take advantage of the
upper limit policy and get drank. Finally, fate would have it that the airline,
in a bid to offer world class services, had resorted to seeking passengers‟
views on the flight and that the drunken Zgambo would make his
comments that Tatha had been rude to him throughout the flight. That’s it.
A man’s ego took advantage of
company policy and ruined ta fledgling career. This conflict is further
developed when Zgambo visits Blantyre to retract his comments. He goes
to Tatha‟s home and she bluntly refuses to welcome him despite the rain.
She claims that the apology would do her no good, nor will the retraction
amount to anything. Finally, he turns to leave and she runs up to him to
ask him in until the rains die down. She adds that she was confused by
the whole event. He declines to go in with her.
ii. Zgambo and the airline’s CEO
Zgambo gets to Blantyre and visits the Malawi Air office. His intention is
to meet the CEO and retract his comments.
He does meet the CEO but finds out that the retraction is not a one man
affair. The CEO has to present the matter to the disciplinary committee.
There was nothing more for Zgambo to o but leave.
iii. Zgambo and other service providers.
a) Zgambo and the café receptionist
She was downright rude to him. He says there was a trace of irritation,
sarcasm or both in her voice. Further, she does not wait for his full name
but fills the entire space with his surname in block letters and in very poor
handwriting. She then tears off the receipt before he finishes spelling his
name and hands it to him. This is because she was in a hurry to close.
b) Zgambo and bus service to Blantyre
The buses were small and jam packed with sweating humanity. The bus
industry sacrificed human comfort for the sole purpose of maximizing
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revenue. What is more, they did not entertain comments on the services
they provided.
c) Zgambo and Malawi Air receptionist
The receptionist spoke endlessly on the phone as she served Zgambo.
She dismisses his pleas the he sees the CEO sooner just so that she can
get back to her telephone conversation. Hardly a world class service. The
call was not a business one.
i. Zgambo
a) Careless/irresponsible: He made disparaging comments
about Tatha’s work to take revenge on an employee who had
declined to soothe his ego because what he demanded was
against company policy. As a result, she lost her job.
b) Reflective: Upon receiving Tatha‟s email about the
consequences of his actions, he reviews the events on the plane
and says that he had not acted judiciously.
c) He seeks to correct his actions by retracting the comments
he’d written.
d) Determined: He seeks the most effective way to make the
retraction. It turns out emails are not taken seriously and the
Zambian postal system is ineffective. He is left with only one
option: travelling to Malawi.
To achieve this, he has to sell most of the things that he’d bought using
the gift shopping voucher from the raffle. He sold most of the things at a
fraction of their cost. Further, he endured the discomfort of the buses and
inns to make the retraction in person. Finally, he patiently waits for several
hours to meet the CEO and makes his retraction.
e) Concerned:
He is bothered that his comments resulted in Tatha losing her job. After
meeting the CEO he walks out feeling assured that Tatha would be
reinstated. He is relieved when he finds out a couple of years later that
Tatha got a new job and was excelling at it.
Themes
ii. Integrity
This is the main theme of the story. Many characters display a lot of
dishonesty in this story. For example, the narrator only learns that his
actions on the plane lacked integrity after they had caused Tatha her job.
Most of the service providers he meets lack integrity and are merely
concerned about themselves.
Therefore the services they offer are poor at best. Malawi Air too is a
prisoner of its own policies. They were quick to dismiss Tatha on account
of a comment from a solitary passenger who was drunk. The claims were
not verifiable. What is more, they were at pains to rescind an unfair
decision that they had made even after a personal retraction by the
complainant. They also have double standards: passengers on their
planes are asked to make comments on the quality of service but visitors
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to their offices are given such an opportunity.
As a result, the receptionist uses company resources, time and phone, for
personal benefit without fear of retribution. Finally and most importantly,
Tatha acted with integrity but lost her job on account of bureaucracy.
However, because of her integrity she lands a similar job in a different
company and is soon crowned Employee of the Year.
Integrity pays. Suffering
Another theme worth examining is suffering. Find out all the characters
that undergo suffering in this story. Name them and illustrate the
suffering they go through.
Style
i. Irony: The chief device that the author uses in this story is
irony. The narrator had complained about Tatha‟s alleged
rudeness on the flight to South Africa. Her behaviour is contrasted with
the other service providers who are downright rude to him. This makes
Tatha’s integrity stands out.
ii. Symbolism:The rain is a symbol of suffering. We encounter
rain in the evening the evening that Zgambo went to visit Tatha.
We are told that it was raining when the taxi they were in pulled over in
front of Tatha‟s house.
The narrator steps out of the cab and into the rain. In the seconds that it
takes him to reach the door, he was heavily soaked. His entire
conversation with Tatha is held with the rain hitting him hard. He pleads
with Tatha to let him in because it was freezing cold in the rain. After
Tatha dismissed him and shut the door in his face, he stands facing the
door for a long time oblivious of the rain. When he chooses to walk away,
Tatha calls him back but he walks on. She joins him in the rain and tries to
convince him to stay in the house until the rain stops.
She says that her actions were as a result of the pain she was filled with.
The rain therefore symbolises the suffering that the two undergo.
Point Of View:
The story is told from the first person point of view. The narrator makes a
mistake for which he wishes to make amends. The story is about the
challenges he faces in his attempt to retract his comment on Tatha‟s
conduct on the flight to South Africa. Coming from the horses‟ mouth, the
story is credible. The honest remorse of the narrator is evident.
Title
a) Appropriateness of title
The retraction is an appropriate title because the narrator made a
comment on Tatha‟s conduct that he should not have made. He tells the
Malawi Air CEO exactly that. But the real story is in the lessons he learns
as he tries to make the retraction. He learns that most people discharge
their duties completely devoid of integrity and that he had judged the one
person who served him with integrity wrong.
Above all, he learns that his efforts to make the retraction did not go to
waste. Tatha did get a job at a new company and continued to excel.
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The significant event in this story is Tatha writing an email to complain to
Zgambo that he has hurt her career. Without this email he would never
have known that he had wronged Tatha. It is responsible for his making
the retraction.
c) Aim of the author
This is a morality story. The writer cautions us against doing things just
because we can. There is a need to reflect upon the possible outcomes of
our actions on the people we deal with. People should behave with
integrity whether or not they are being watched. The message in short is
that integrity pays.
TASK: We like to cause suffering to ourselves and those around us. Write an
essay to show the validity of this statement using The Retraction by Stanley O.
Kenani for your illustrations
The Bamboo Hut by Grace Ogot
Setting
The story is set among the people who live on the shores of Lake Victoria.
It is a rural setting in the era of the African chieftaincy. The story is
completely devoid of Western influence and examines the shortcomings
of the inherited chieftaincy and how this affects the chief’s family. Further,
it examines the morality of the decisions these people make owing to the
pressure of the inherited chieftaincy.
The Plot
Chief Mboga goes to the foot of the Ramogi Hills to pray for a son. He is a
man both stressed and depressed because none of his many wives have
borne him a son to inherit his throne. This is the final plea he is making on
this sacred spot. His wife, Achieng is pregnant and due to give birth soon.
Unknown to anybody, she is carrying twins. Two months after Mboga’s
visit to the sacred hill she gives birth alone at the river bank where she had
gone to fetch water. She is disappointed when she gives birth to a baby
girl.
Her disappointment is not long lived though because she goes into labour
again and this time the twin is a boy. Overjoyed and desiring to please her
husband, she abandons the girl child by the bank and takes the boy back
home to the happy chief. Her secret tears at her heart but when she goes
back to the river bank after staying indoors for the mandatory 4 days, the
baby is not there.
Many years later the chief encounters a girl that impresses him with her
bravery and he wishes that his son marries her. His son, Owiny, too is
impressed by the girl and vows to marry none other. However, the
protocol of marriage in a chief’s home has to be followed. It turns out that
nobody knows the girl’s father because her foster mother had found her
abandoned by the river bank soon after birth. The right decision is
reached at the chief’s home: his son cannot marry a woman of unknown
parentage.
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Owiny would have none of this. He had set his eyes on Awiti and no
substitute would appease him. Achieng is a tortured mother. Awiti’s story
fits that of the child she had abandoned by the river bank. She has no
choice but to tell the truth. The chief has a moral obligation to punish her
for the wrong that she had done. (it was taboo to throw away a new born
child and she was therefore not worthy of being the chief’s wife) He
chooses not to and instead organizes a celebration and keeps his family
together.
Conflict
i. Mboga and the gods: Chief Mboga feels that the gods have
denied him happiness. For many years he had beseeched
Ramogi, the ancestor of the Luo people, to intercede on his
behalf for a son.
He is not happy because he hasn’t a son to inherit his chieftaincy.
ii. Achieng
She badly wanted to please her husband by being the first wife to bear him
a son. So focused is she that when she gives birth to twins se abandons
the girl child by the river bank for she argues that she will spoil the fun.
She soon finds out that this decision comes back to haunt her. She can
neither find the child she had abandoned nor the peace of mind that
should have come naturally to her for bearing the heir to the chief’s throne.
iii. Owiny and Mboga
Owiny is very disappointed when he finds out that he cannot marry
Awiti. He tells his father that he has chosen Awiti over the beaded stool.
iv. Achieng‟ and Mboga
Achieng realises that she is the only one who can resolve the conflict
between her husband and son. However, this comes with a risk to her
personal safety.
If she reveals that she had abandoned a new born baby, then the rules
demanded that she be sent away. She chooses to tell the truth despite the
consequences.
The chief too has a problem because he risks breaking his family. He
makes up his mind to keep Achieng‟ despite the mistake that she had
committed because losing her would break his heart. Further, he argues
that she had borne a lot of pain when she lost the opportunity of seeing
her child.
Mboga: traditional, merciful, strict, authoritarian
Owiny: resolute/stubborn,
Achieng‟: decisive
Themes
i. Tradition
A number of Luo traditional practices are brought out in this story:
Marriage, child naming, chieftaincy, religion
ii. Clemency/forgiveness
Achieng‟ had gone against the rules of the community. As a result, she
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was supposed to be sent away.
The chief gives two extenuating circumstances against
effecting this decision. The first is the heartache it was going to cause
him to lose the woman he loved; secondly, he pitied her for the pain she
had lived with upon losing her daughter. The third reason is a very
interesting revelation: people have secrets and he does not know the
extent of these secrets. But it makes him learn that though he was a
powerful chief, he was still human and his own family kept secrets from
him.
iii. Power/authority
Chief Mboga although considered a mighty leader understands his
limitations. If the chieftaincy is to remain in his lineage he has to sire a
son. There is nothing he can do about this. Besides, he needs a son to
look after him because he has no authority to keep his daughters from
going away upon attaining marriage age. Further, he follows all the laid
down procedures to prepare for the marriage of his son. When it turns out
that his son cannot marry Awiti, he does not use his office unjustly to
influence the marriage although he risks losing his son for he is
determined to marry Awiti. The import of this is that leadership is a
challenge and that the use of power/authority for the common good is its
sole object. This the mighty chief achieves.
The only time he uses his office to suit his purposes is the time he refuses
to send Awiti away but chooses to celebrate the return of his daughter.
Point Of View
This story is told from a third person point of view. This is appropriate
because it is a controlled admiration of a leader by his subjects. Any other
point of view would have been subjective. The audience is able to find
reason to admire the leadership of Mboga as he deals with a difficult
period in his tenure involving personal matters. He comes out us a leader
who makes judicious decisions. Certainly leadership is not a bed of roses.
4. a) Appropriateness of title: The title is symbolic. The bamboo hut in
Mboga‟s home was beautifully built and well kept, however it was
reserved for the woman who would bear the chief a son. Achieng‟
does and she is treated with the respect that the hut was. When the
chief learns of the mistake she had committed in order to please him,
she is forgiven her sins.
That decision too is symbolic because it brings out the gentler side of the
chief or the human face of leadership. The bamboo plant is a delicate one
just like the decision the chief had to take on this issue.
The significant event is the arrival of the twins; in particular, their being
born by the river bank away from prying eyes. This allows Achieng‟ to
make a personal decision that allows the story to develop.
c) The aim of the author
The author is concerned with the pressures that people in position of
authority have to deal with as they conduct their business. Mboga is
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called a great chief; some also call him a mighty chief. This is because he
applies the rules even when his family is affected and all this to the
common good. This therefore should be the goal of any leader.
Task: Leadership is not a bed of roses. Discuss this assertion in light of
the events in this story.
TUESDAY SIESTA by GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ (COLOMBIA)

Setting
The story is set in Colombia. Part of the setting is the train and the other
is the banana growing plantations of Colombia. The train affords us an
opportunity to get a closer look at the mother and her daughter. One thing
that is very clear is their poverty. But we also get a great insight into their
self-esteem. The banana plantations they pass on their way to their
destination depict the monotony of life which is made worse by the hot
weather that brings life to a standstill for a couple of hours every day. This
stifling heat is a very important component of the setting. It helps to
develop the oppressive nature of relationships among these people.
The plot
We meet a bereaved family, mother and daughter, on a train. They are on
their way to mourn her only son who had been shot allegedly in the act of
stealing. The town they are going to is far away necessitating the train
ride which the deceased‟s sister is taking for the first time. Upon
disembarking from the train, they walk straight to the church and demand
to see the deceased’s grave. It turns out that the deceased was not known
even by the priest. He hears his name for the first time from the mother of
the deceased. He begs her to wait until the sun goes
down before she goes to the cemetery but she insists she has a train to
catch at three. He gives her the key to the cemetery and follows it up with
a question on poor upbringing.
The deceased’s mother protests that she raised her son as a morally
upright person but he was only a victim of their poverty.
By this time word has done the rounds about their presence and a sizeable crowd of
curious onlookers has already gathered outside the church to catch a glimpse of mother
and daughter. The priests‟ best efforts to dissuade her from walking into the crowd fail.
Conflict
a) The most noticeable conflict is between the people and the weather.
The heat is extreme. On the train the oppressive nature of the weather is
described in a number of ways.
 The air became humid and they could not feel the sea breeze
any more. (pp165)
 By twelve the heat had begun. (pp166)
 The band was playing a lively tune under the oppressive sun.
(pp166)
 A dry burning wind came in the window… (pp168) When they
get off the train we get more descriptions of the heat:
 The town was floating in the heat. (pp168)
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 The woman and the girl walked over to the shady side of the
street. (pp168)
 It was two. At that time, weighed down by the drowsiness,
the town was taking a siesta. (pp168)
 In some houses, it was so hot that the residents ate lunch in
the patio. (pp168)
 At the parish house we are told, “An electric fan was
humming inside”. (pp168)
 The priest asks the mother why she has to go to the
cemetery in the heat and pleads with her to wait until the sun goes
down. (pp170)
 The priests‟ sister tells her that she will melt in the hot
streets. (pp173)
b) The mourners and time
When the story opens we are told that it was 11:00am. On that train trip
we are continually reminded of the passage of time.
 By twelve, the heat had begun. (pp166)
 It was almost two. (pp168) This is the time they disembark
from the train.
 At the priests‟ house she is told to go back after three and
she replies that the train leaves at three-thirty.
 Hers therefore is a race against time. Ironically, in her hosts‟
town, time is of no importance, it comes to a standstill at eleven
and wakes a little before four. (pp168)
c) The mourners and poverty
 The narrator tells us that the woman and her child were both
in severe and poor mourning clothes. (pp165)
 Further, we are told that they were the only passengers in the
lone third-class car. (pp165)
 The woman we are told bore the conscientious serenity of
someone accustomed to poverty. (pp166)
a) Bereaved mother
i. Dignified (Having or showing self-esteem)
 She does not allow her poverty to result in low self-
esteem. On the train she sits upright and we are told that
she bore the conscientious serenity of someone
accustomed to poverty.
 She is concerned about their looks. As they are about
to disembark from the train she gives her a comb and asks
her to comb her hair. She too dries the sweat from her neck
and wiped the oil from her face.
 At the priests‟ house she shows calm determination
as she insists that she has an emergency and needs to be
served.
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 When the priest does not understand who Carlos is,
she tells him that he was the thief that was killed a week
ago and that she was his mother.
 Asked why she did raise a morally upright son, she
says that she did and that he was a very good man. He
however had no work and may have moved to the
plantations in search of better pasture, having lost all his
teeth to boxing.
 The crowds that gather to stare at her make the priest
and his sister very uncomfortable but not her. She tells
them that she is all right and walks right into the crowd.
Themes
a) Human relations: This is the major theme of this story.
 The young man died an unnecessary death. There is no hint
of insecurity in the area. For 28 years she had lived alone and had
never had to fire the gun. His death was not looked at as tragic
because no one knew him.
 When the priest asks her to identify herself, she does so
confidently and in precise details. This makes the priest
uncomfortable (he blushes). We can only infer that owing to her
circumstances he had not expected her to be so dignified.
 The members of this community break from their languid
siesta routine and move out into the streets to catch a glimpse of
the mother of a thief.
 The priest and his sister are so scared by the scene they try
to dissuade her from going out but in vain. She does not lose her
self-esteem and walks out into the streets filling up with crowds
of people.
 The bereaved mother is therefore a symbol of people who life has
treated badly but do not succumb to the labels that society ascribes them.
They are strong willed and dignified.
b) Suffering: This is the other theme developed in the story.
i. The bereaved mother shows a lot of stoicism as she mourns
the death of her son. We are told that the priest looks at them
in amazement when he realises that they were not going to cry.
(pp171)
ii. Further, she is faced with a difficult situation in which no one
knows her family and against her son’s alleged crime she is
judged. The priest asks her whether she ever tried to get him
on the right track. The priest is evidently find fault with her
parenting ability. (pp171)
iii. This family cannot afford good clothing. We are told that
mother and daughter were dressed in severe mourning clothes.
Further, the deceased we are told used a rope for a belt and
was barefoot.
iv. This family also faces discrimination. The crowds break
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from their routine siesta just to catch a glimpse of the
deceased man’s family. The priests‟ sister is so scared she
tells them that they were going to melt. The mother stoically
endures the questioning stares of the people who want to see
what the mother of a thief looks like. The members of this
community too have their own problems.
v. The heat is evidently one of the things that cause them
untold suffering. They have to close down public schools,
offices, and stores every day at 11:00am and open just before
4:00pm on account of the heat. vi. The priest too has his
moment of suffering. When he asks the woman to identify
herself, she does so with so much confidence that the he
blushes and breaks into a sweat. His suffering stems from the
fact that he had judged the woman badly and her sense of self-
esteem is what puts him under undue pressure.
Style:
The chief style in this story is symbolism.
i. The heat: In its tedium, that is monotony, the heat represents the deceased’s
mother’s life. It is very oppressive and has few choices if any.
 She has raised her children well telling them what is
wrong and what is right. This does not however save her
son from the harsh realities of life. He has to eat. He
takes to boxing which to say the least only hurts her son.
When he abandons this, he moves further afield only to die
in search of food.
 She has to face the curious crowd outside the church.
If she stays until the sun goes down, then she will miss the
3:30pm train and she does not have the means to lodge in
the town for the night.
NB: What do you think the heat symbolises in the lives of the banana
plantation farmers? It symbolises the loss of control of their lives. The
heat controls how their day is run. They routinely break at eleven and
resume work at four.
Nothing exciting happens nor do they create avenues for entertainment.
This is why the diversion presented from their routine by the arrival of the
mourners stirs them from their routine.
ii. The death of her son symbolises fate.
The nature of his death is such that nobody could save him. He had just
arrived in the town, no one knew him but he was hungry and was ignorant
of the risk of knocking on people’s doors in the night as a stranger. His
mother accepts this reality stoically. She tells the priest that she is the
mother of the thief that was killed there the previous week. She also does
not question the reason for her poverty. She takes it for a fact and lives in
it with dignity. She pays for third class car because that is what they can
afford; it is instructive that they are the only ones in the car- it means most
people can afford to pay for better transportation. It does not bother her
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that they are the only passengers on it. However, before they disembark
she makes sure that she and her daughter are as presentable as they can
be.
Point Of View
The story is told from a third person point of view. It is however
omniscient objective. There is no comment on the characters or their
thoughts. No interpretations are offered. We have to interpret the events
on our own. This is good for the story because the author wants us to see
things as they are. He does not wish to unduly influence our thinking.
However, the details offered are sufficient to convince us that human
beings are very quick to judge one another and often with very wrong
conclusions being jumped to.
Title
a) Appropriateness of title
The title of this story is appropriate. It is the Tuesday of August. It is a
typical hot day in the calendar of the banana plantation people. They have
all taken a break from the heat at 11:00am as usual and are having their
siesta. This unfortunately will not be an ordinary siesta because an event
happens that wakes them from their mid-day sleep: the mother of the slain
thief is in town and everyone wants to catch a glimpse of her. So it is for
them a story about a Tuesday that their siesta was interfered with.
The significant event in this story is the decision of the mother of the slain
thief to visit her slain sons‟ grave. Her trip necessitates that we learn
about her economic background and why the slaying of her son was fated.
c) Aim of the author.
The author picks a sad event in the life of a poor mother to show us how
strong we can be both in adversity and grinding poverty. No one can
therefore take your self-esteem from you but yourself. First we must view
ourselves with pride then those around us will see our dignity.
Two Stories of a House by Leila Abouzeid (Morocco)

Setting
This is story is set in a Moroccan town. It is told in two parts. The first
part is set in a courthouse while the second part is set in the roof house
of an old woman. The first setting is a very formal one with a
government officer presiding and passing judgment. The second one is
very informal and the two old women pass their own judgment.
The plot
Khadija Bent Ahmed has lost the house she has lived in for over thirty
years and has therefore taken the matter to court. The defendant is
Meeluda Bent Albacheer, her land lady. Khadija feels that she has paid
rent all those years and been of help socially to the defendant and this
ought to give her ownership of the house. Meeluda on the other hand
thinks that the rent was insignificant and it does not make Khadija an
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owner. She therefore convinced Khadija to vacate the house for
renovation upon which she would return. This was not to be. Khadija‟s
house was the first floor and to get there she had to use the stairs.
Meeluda gets the repair man to destroy the stairs and the landing.
Subsequently she says they cannot be repaired and that the whole house
is coming down. The judge‟s verdict: Khadija should go and take her
belongings and cease to lay any claim on the property.
In her devastated mood, Khadija learns of an old woman with a story
similar to hers. She goes there to share her story. The woman tells her
about her own tribulations which she feels are even more devastating than
Khadija’s. Her husband of over forty years had divorced her and married a
girl below twenty years old. What annoys her is that she was the girl’s
benefactor. The girl was pregnant out of wedlock and was hiding from her
brothers. Since the old woman was barren she gets into a deal with the
girl that she will hide her shame and in return she would leave the child
she was carrying to her. Her husband takes to the girl and marries her and
then divorces the old woman. Although she keeps the two children (twins)
their mother secretly meets them every day when the old woman is out of
the house.
Conflict
The first conflict is between Khadija and Meeluda Kahdija feels that she
should own the property she has lived in for over thirty years. Her claim
does not make sense. She has been a tenant and therefore she was
paying for a service. This is Meeluda‟s argument which the judge upholds.
This conflict however reveals some very important facts. Khadija also had
a conflict with her husband. She feels that her husband squandered the
family wealth through his generosity. He was hospitable at the expense of
his family. This also brings us to another very important fact: women have
no right to own property. It appears that it is the men who handle family
finances. So even though Khadija knew how best to spend the family’s
resources in order to secure her future, she was not allowed to make
financial decisions. This can be confirmed through the second case in
which the old woman is thrown out of the house she says her sweat is in
and now has nowhere to go.
The second conflict is developed by the divorcee She is in conflict both
with her husband and his new wife. She feels that the new wife has ruined
her marriage. They had made a deal and the girl swore on the saint’s
tomb that she would only give birth in the old woman’s house and then
leave for her the child.
Instead she made herself comfortable as a wife. The other conflict she
develops is with her husband. She acknowledges that she has not been
able to bear any children for him.
However, during the period she was married to him she worked hard and
they got to own a house. Now he has thrown her out of it and she is
destitute. What is more is that she is in her sunshine years and does not
have the strength to start all over again. Therefore, she feels that her
165
husband has treated her very unfairly. Both women develop conflict with
religion. Khadija says that Meeluda swore to Mecca, and the divorcee
says that the young girl swore on the saint’s tomb. None of these people
honoured their pledges. In Khadija’s case, she tells the judge that the
reason she has taken long before bringing the case to his court is that she
had still left the case with the saints. It therefore means that her
disillusionment with her religion is what finally makes her bring the case
before the judge. She feels that her faith was misplaced. This is the same
reaction that we get from the divorcee. She had hoped for God’s reward
for helping the girl but suffers a divorce instead. This makes her a very
cynical woman: she says that there is no good neighbour in this world, no
grateful people, and no faithful husbands.

Khadija - unrealistic, religious
Meeluda –cruel
Divorcee-hard working, religious Please supply illustrations that confirm
these traits.
Themes
Place of the woman in society : This is the major theme in this story. This is brought to
us through the experiences of two women. Khadija has a husband who is pleasure
loving. She dutifully serves him as a wife but when he dies her future is not secure and
there is no law to protect her from the harsh reality of life. This is why the urban setting
is extremely important. Men cannot hope to carry on as if they are in the village and
forget their obligation to their families. The divorcee too develops this theme. She
swears that she worked hard as a wife and attributes the house she and her husband
lived in and all the good things in it to her efforts, at least partly. Now in her sunshine
years she is thrown out and becomes destitute.
She seems to understand that justice will not be served anywhere so
unlike Khadija, she does not report the matter for arbitration to any
authority but simply becomes cynical of human nature. So for both women
society has failed to protect them from the ill wind of the world despite
their devotion to their religion and men.
Point Of View
The story is told from a third person point of view. This is appropriate
because it gives us an objective view of the goings on in women’s lives in
this society.
Title
a) Appropriateness of title: Two Stories of a House is an interesting
title. It leads us to believe that we are going to look at one house and hear
two stories about it. This however is not what obtains. There are actually
two houses and two stories. So why is the house in the title singular? The
pains and the resulting misery to the women is the same. The author
implies that take any two women in this society and you will find that they
identify with each other’s suffering. The title is therefore appropriate in
166
the cry for equity.
b) Significant event: Khadija’s going to court and the divorcee
becoming the village girls‟ benefactor.
C) Aim of the author: The author is appealing for gender parity.
This is a patriarchic community in which women have little or no say about
their own affairs. The author thinks that this state of affairs should
change.
THE LAW OF THE GRAZING FIELDS BY CYPRIAN EKWENSI

Setting
This story is set among the nomadic people of West Africa. It is most
likely Nigeria. What is more important though is the time.
The story is set in pristine Africa before the influence of the west. It is a
typical short story with the events taking place in a very short time. The
first part is set in Amina’s compound. We then move to the open veld and
ultimately Yalla’s house.
The plot
This is a complex plot. The story is not in the order in which the events
occur. Flashback has been used. The story opens with Modio struggling to
return Amina into her hut. She was making an attempt to elope with her
boyfriend but her brother had suspected this and lay in wait. When she
had tried to make her dash to freedom, he stopped her. Amina then tells
us why she was fleeing now.
The first arrangement had failed because Yalla had not honoured the time
they had set. As Modio locked her in the hut her world collapsed. She
wondered how Yalla was going to save her without even knowing where
she was. Unknown to her he was already around and had a plan. He set a
hut on fire and used the resulting confusion to get Amina out of her hut.
They took a horse that had been set aside for the groom and their
adventure began.
Poisoned arrows were hurled at them and towards the end of the journey
one got him. He was prepared for them. In his hut was an antidote. If
only Amina could get him into the house they would be successful. She
uses both her strength and determination to get him into the hut. He had
won because the law of the grazing fields existed.
Conflict
Amina and her father: She laments that she was not consulted over the marriage issue.
Her father had accepted the cattle first and told her about it later (pp183).
When Modio asks her about Jama, she tells him that that is their affair.
Her father is excited about the bride price but not she. She says that her
father might hand her over to Jama but he won’t be there when she is
being taunted by other women about his cowardice. (pp183)
Amina and her brothers: Modio was suspicious of her behaviour and
therefore set a trap for her. Jama had not paid the full bride price and
therefore could not yet take her. This intervening period presented Yalla
with an opportunity to steal Amina. That evening Modio lays in wait with a
167
pack of wild cattle dogs which he sets on Yalla and then grabs Amina. He
takes her back to the hut swearing that she was going nowhere but
Jama‟s. Her elder brother disturbed by this incident begins to plan how
they were to escort her when the time finally came. He says he would ride
behind her because she could not be trusted after what she had been
through with Modio.
Amina and Jama: She is averse to marrying him because he does not fit the
stereotype male of the community. This is supposed to be the masculine type
that would protect their families from attack by wild animals. According to her
he is weak-kneed and effeminate. He had failed the flogging test. She says that
he had wept and begged as they flogged him at the sharo. She would be an
embarrassment to her if she married him.
Her brothers and Yalla: They knew he was planning to elope with Amina. This is why
Modio kept vigil. When he finally gets the girl they run after them and the brothers are
not afraid to use poisoned arrows if only to get their sister back and take her to Jama.
When he finally beats them to his hut, they tell him that their father will know no rest
until Yalla will have compensated for his cattle. (pp189) Finally they acknowledge defeat.
One of the brothers says that Yalla is a man. He set fire to their camp, stole their sister
and then called them thieves for taking back their horse that they had saddled for
another bridegroom.

Amina-strong willed, determined, proud
Yalla-courageous, determined, humorous, loving Get your
illustrations to prove the above traits.
Themes
a) Tradition: This is the most important theme in this story. We
learn about the culture of these pastoralists in relation to marriage.
i. First there is the law of the grazing fields. A man may elope
with a woman of his choice as long as he is not caught.
ii. A man must complete the payment of dowry before he could
take his wife. They were waiting for Jama to deliver the last
instalment of his dowry before they could hand Amina over to him.
iii. Men had to be tested to determine their suitability for
marriage. The stage for doing this was a ceremony called sharo in
which the man would be flogged in public to determine how well
he bore pain. Those who wept and begged during the flogging lost
favour in the eyes of potential brides.
iv. Parents arranged marriage for their daughters. Amina‟s father had first
accepted the bride price then told her about it. She was not expected to
have a say and that is why her brothers were trying to enforce the will of
their father.
b) Love
Another theme developed in this story is love. This is a story of passion.
Nothing would stop Yalla from marrying the woman he loved.
She says that he was strong enough to break stubborn bulls but when he
168
smiled and held her in his hands his face was so gentle and sweet. When
they are in Yalla‟s settlement and he points his hut out to her, she says:
“Our hut you mean”. She tells Modio when he stops her from eloping: “This
night I will be with Yalla. He‟s the husband I’ve chosen.” Yalla on his part
has suffered to get this woman to be his wife. He endured the pack of
wild cattle dogs and later a poisoned arrow. Despite the poison he takes
time to acknowledge Amina when he gets them to his house: “My wife!” he
moaned. “Mine at last.”
Style
a) Flashback
 It is through flashback that we learn why Amina is opposed
to marrying Jama. He had wept and begged when flogged.
 We also learn of how they had set to elope through a
flashback. Yalla was to make scratching sounds to indicate his
presence.
 It is also thorough flashback that we learn of the huge dowry
that Jama is paying.
b) Image
The image of a hawk has been used twice in this story.
 The first time it is used with reference to Modio. He
crouches before her with hands curved like the claws of a hawk
about to strike. In this instance the hawk is playing a protective
role. Modio has just saved his family from embarrassment that
would have come to them had Yalla been successful.
 The second instance is with reference to Yalla: He was to
scratch in the manner peculiar to the grey hawk that steals
chickens…” Indeed, Yalla is out to steal a “chicken”. Often times the
hawk swoops in in broad sight of owners of the chickens and
steals them. This is exactly what Yalla does. It develops his
courageous, even adventurous nature.
Point Of View
The story is told from a third person point of view. It makes the story
credible. Because of the emotive nature of this story, the first person may
not have afforded us the balanced reporting that is availed here.
Title
a) Appropriateness of title:The story is based on the simple law that
gives the story its tiltle. It is therefore appropriate because it helps us
understand the actions of Amina and Yalla. Theirs was a desperate move
but the rewards were worth it.
b) Significant event : The significant event in this story is the payment of
the dowry by Jama. Yalla and Amina are running out of time because
Jama is expected to bring in the last instalment and take his bride. It
therefore gives the story a sense of urgency.
c) Aim of the author:This story is about making choices. Everything we do
has serious implications for us and those around us. This ought to be the
169
guiding factor before we make decisions. We need to ask ourselves
whether we can live with the outcomes of our decisions.
WHITE HANDS BY JAME KATJAVIVI
Setting
The story is set in two different countries. It is set both in Namibia and
Birmingham, UK. Namibia is going through the difficult times of
colonisation with most of its citizens feeling oppressed and tormented by
the white people. The protagonist, Angelika, carries the scars of the
atrocities of that regime. Her visit to England confirms that her country is
not an island. England too has its fair share of strife resulting from worker
dissatisfaction. The resulting strikes bring about violence and
unemployment. Another important factor worth mentioning is the
contrast in the weather. The Namibia she leaves is hot and dry which
agrees with the political heat created by the oppressive regime. The
England she visits is in the middle of winter and is therefore equally
oppressive.
The plot
The story opens with Angelika’s visit to Birmingham. We are told that it
was the town of her liberation. We learn that she is in the UK courtesy of
her church. She has been sent there to learn English. So bad is the
situation at home that it is only churches that are setting up projects to
improve the lot of the people. It is in one such project the Angelica and
her husband work. It is a day care centre for children whose mothers have
to go to work but have nobody to leave them with. Besides studying
English, she hopes to take a course in Community Studies that would help
her run the day care centre. Her friend Tembi, a Namibian nurse studying
in UK, encourages her to avail herself of the medical expertise in the UK to
find out why she can’t have children and perhaps even have the problem
remedied. Her visit to the hospital reveals that she had been stirilised. She
says this was done without her knowledge by the military doctors who had
removed her appendix. The sympathetic doctors in Birmingham tell her
that although the operation is considered permanent they had carried out
a few reversals successfully. They are cautious though and tell her that
there are no guarantees that her case too would be a success. She
consents to the operation nonetheless. Again the church bears the cost of
the operation. Naturally she has to travel back home to meet with her
husband to determine the success of the operation. Here too the church
meets the cost. She returns to Birmingham and anxiously waits for her to
find out whether she is lucky. Her periods do not come and this is a good
sign. She shares this news only with Tembi for fear of raising people’s
expectations too high. Her luck holds out and finally it was evident to all
that she was pregnant. It is only then that she informs her husband. She
continued with her studies as she carried the pregnancy to term.
Six months after her baby was born she bids farewell to her benefactors
and heads back home.
170
Conflict
a) The conflict with weather is very important. It develops the theme of
suffering in the story. First Angelika tells us that the Namibia she left was
hot and dry. We are then told that the country is highly militarised.
Political leaders are detained, tortured or forced into exile.
Further, survival came through mutual support, through solidarity within
communities and within families.
b) On the other hand, England is cold and wet. It was the middle of winter.
Angelika however had gone there with few clothes and no coat. The cold
she says did not disappear with the day but instead settled damply in her
bones. Further, we learn that England too was militarised. A miner’s strike
was on pitting the government against the trade unions. The new political
leader declared war on the unions and police on horseback charged at
protesters. However, solidarity could not hold out because of distance.
Most of the unemployed gave up and moved on.
c) Another instance of conflict is developed between Angelika and the
white medical personnel. She had had frequent stomach pain but one
night it became intolerable. Her brother took her to hospital. There she
agonized in pain for long as she waited to be attended to. Eventually the
operation was carried out.
However, the doctors took advantage of the opportunity to maliciously
sterilise her. Contrary to medical practice, her consent was not sought.
She says that she did not sign a consent form.
d) This sterilisation brings conflict into her marriage. As a newly married
couple they talked about the children they hoped to have. Eventually this
talk stopped and they adopted three girls from her husband‟s family.
e) Finally her people suffered privation in the hands of the colonial
government. Angelika tells us that most people had houses whose walls
were made of iron sheets. As a result there was no privacy in those
homes. Besides, the houses were tiny and lacked amenities like toilets,
showers and kitchens. Further, she says that her people still struggle to
cope with life. The number of children at the centre continues to rise and
the water in the reserves is inadequate.
Characters and characterisation

Angelika is the best developed character in this story
a. Religious: She firmly believes in God. She tells that it is God who helped
her as always. This is in reference to the surgery that she undergoes to
correct her sterilisation.
171
b. Hardworking: Every day she looked after 80 preschoolers at the children’s
centre that she ran. Their mothers dropped them in the early hours and
collected them when it began to turn dark.
c. Realistic: When it became obvious that she was not going to have children of
her own, she adopted three girls from her husband’s family.
d. Forgiving: When it became clear that she had been sterilised by white doctors
without her consent, her friends wished to write letters to the newspapers and
contact the UN to object to the malicious behaviour of the white doctors. She
objected to this approach. Clearly she felt no bitterness towards the people who
had wronged her.
e. Secretive: Upon missing her periods, she did not readily tell the people around
her. Further, she only went to the doctor’s after 7 weeks. What is more, she did
not dare tell her husband for fear that something might go wrong. The only
person she told was Tembi whom she asked not to tell anyone.
Themes
a. Human rights abuses
i. Forced sterilisation: A number of women are sterilised by white doctors
without their consent. Angelika is one such woman. Further, she says that she
thought of the other women it must have happened to who neither knew nor had
the chance to reverse their enforced childlessness.
ii. Oppression: Political leaders were detained, tortured or forced into exile.
iii. Forced resettlement: The natives had been resettled into remote reserves.
The narrator says that the village had been pushed into the rocky hills by
colonial settlement.
b.Friendship
i.Church: The church is responsible for a number of humanitarian
assistance. The narrator says that as the South African rule oppressed the
people of Namibia, it is only the
churches that could set up projects to help the people. Further, the church
met the cost of Angelika’s education, treatment and travel expenses. We
are told that they offered assistance from an emergency fund so she
could give birth in Birmingham and continue her studies afterwards.
ii. The people of Namibia: The narrator tells us that the people survived the
traumatising experiences because of their solidarity. She says that survival came
through mutual support, through solidarity within the communities and within the
families: helping people who did not have enough food, caring for those who were sick,
looking out for each other’s children.
iii. Tembi: We are told that it was Tembi who began to show Angelika around to ensure
that she did not spend too much time alone in her room. Further, she is the one who
suggested that Angelika seeks proper treatment. As a result, Angelika found out that
she had been sterilised without her consent, but what is
more the doctors were able to reverse her condition which was thought to
be permanent.
172
iv. The people of England: Angelika visits England at a time they were facing labour
unrest. The administration was harsh and the police charged on protestors. She says
that the people sent parcels of food across the country to the places that the strike held
out the longest.
Title
a. Appropriateness of title The title is appropriate. The white hands that are
talked about were responsible for both the suffering and joy of the protagonist.
It is the malicious white doctors in South Africa who sterilised her without her
consent. This was a supremacist statement. If they could stop the blacks from
reproducing, then the superior white race would have the country to themselves.
Ironically, it is the white doctors in England who identify the reason why she
cannot conceive and correct the problem through surgery.
b. Significant event: The significant event in this story is the sterilisation of
Angelika by the white doctors in Windhoek.
c. Aim of the author: This is a sad story that uses contrast to show that both evil
and well-meaning people exist. A group of people should therefore not be
condemned because one of them has acted out of line, rather we should judge
individuals by their strengths and weaknesses. The strong message is therefore
one of tolerance and building friendships.
Task Q 1 Friendship helps overcome adversity. Using Angelica’s
experiences both in Namibia and England show that this is true. Give
illustrations from James Katjavivi’s White Hands.
173

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Notes prepared and organized by josuemfy@gmail.

NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES

NOVEL 2: MINE BOY by Peter Abrahams 12

PLAY3: JULIUS CAESAR 93

Character and characterisation 145

PART ONE: NOVELS

14.Mrs Nanga. Disillusioned and Obedient.

him all letters intended for Edna.

NOVEL 2: MINE BOY by Peter Abrahams

NOVEL3: ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell

ii. . Text A. The Author

of society or merely an outcome contingent on the integrity of a society’s intelligentsia. In either

NOVEL4: THE PEARL by John Steinbeck

5. Point of View: The Pearl is

Other Well-Known Novels By Steinbeck:

Materialistic, Hypocritical, Intelligent, Greedy.

PART TWO: DRAMA

hungry children.They cry for him to reduce the high taxes.

Political and social instability

Caucasian Chalk Circle by Beltolt Brecht

Biography of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Summary of “Prologue” or Scene One

Commentary on the “Prologue” or Scene One

Summary of Scene Two: The Noble Child

Commentary on Scene Two: The Noble Child

Summary of Scene Three: The Flight into the Northern Mountains

Commentary on Scene Three: The Flight into the Northern Mountains

Summary of Scene 4: In the Northern Mountains

Commentary on Scene 4: In the Northern Mountains

when the Ironshirts took the child away.

Summary of Scene 5: The Story of the Judge

Commentary on Scene 5: The Story of the Judge

Commentary on Scene Six: The Chalk Circle

Characters and characterization

a) She is loving and motherly

Georgi Abashwili a) He is incompetent/careless

Natella Abashwili a) she is materialistic/selfish/greedy

Prince Arsen Kazbeki

Mother-in-law (Peasant woman)

The Monk a) He is untrustworthy

The Corporal a) He is abusive

Old Man with Milk

Irakli (The Bandit) a) He is sadistic

Poor Old Peasant Woman a) She is naïve

Illo Shuboladze (first Lawyer) a) He is cautious/prudent

Sandro Oboladze (Second Lawyer) a) He is foolhardily/reckless

The peasant’s wife.

Devastating effects of war.

Love and motherhood

As Grusha heads to the northern mountains, she is presented with enormous

Difference in social classes

Lavrenti’s constant reference to Aniko as religious and sensitive is ironical. He says

The wedding ceremony is presented humorously. A monk comes to perform the

Proverbs and sayings

Grusha is encouraged to hold on to Michael by a cook who accompanies her to court.

The next instance is that of Grusha as opposed to Natella Abashwili. The

2. CONTEXT OF THE STORY

4. SETTING: Massachusets village of Salem in 1692.

PLAY3: JULIUS CAESAR

"To be or not to be, that is the question:

WOMEN AND WIVES

PLAY FOUR: AN ENEMYOF THE PEOPLE by Henrik Ibsen

The Guilt, Rayda Jacobs (South Africa)

ii) She also develops a conflict between her and the