Alchemy I BCA SEP 2024 Textbook - The Bench

29 Bengaluru City University 4. THE BENCH RICHARD MOORE RIVE Pre – reading:  Racial, economic and gender discrimination is a universal phenomenon. Discuss.  “Not everything that is faced can...

29 Bengaluru City University 4. THE BENCH RICHARD MOORE RIVE Pre – reading:  Racial, economic and gender discrimination is a universal phenomenon. Discuss.  “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin. About the Author: Richard Moore Rive (1931- 1989) was a South African writer, literary critic, and teacher whose short stories, which were dominated by the ironies and oppressionof apartheid and by the degradation of slum life, have been extensively anthologized and translated into more than a dozen languages. He was considered to be one of South Africa’s most important short-story writers. Rive initially published his stories in South African magazines suchas Drum and Fighting Talk. His collection African Songs was published in 1963. His short story "The Bench", for which he won a prize, is still anthologised. Emergency, Buckingham Palace District Six and Writing Black are the ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 30 Bengaluru City University three novels that were published in his lifetime. Writing Black was his autobiography. On 23 August 2013, at the Aziz Hassim Literary Awards held in Durban, Rive and two other esteemed South African authors, Ronnie Govender and Don Mattera, were honoured for their contributions to the fight against apartheid through literature. “We form an integral part of complex society, a society in which a vast proportion of the population is denied the very basic right of existence, a society that condemns a man to an inferior position because he has a misfortune to be born black, a society that can only retain its precarious social and economic position at the expense of an enormous oppressed mass!” The speaker paused for a moment and sipped some water from a glass. Karlie’s eyes shone as he listened. Those were great words, he thought, great words and true. Karlie sweated. The hot November sun beat down on the gathering. The trees on the Grand parade in Johannesburg afforded very little shelter and his handkerchief was already soaked where he has placed it between his neck and his shirt collar. Karlie started around him at the sea of faces. Every shade of colour was represented, from shiny ebony to the one or two whites in the crowd. Karlie stared at the two detectives who were busily making shorthand notes of the speeches, then turned to stare back at the speaker. “It is up to us to challenge the right of any group who wilfully and deliberately condemn a fellow group to a servile position. We must challenge the right of any people who see fit to segregate human beings solely on grounds of pigmentation. Your children are denied the rights which are theirs by birth. They are segregated educationally, socially, economically…..” Ah, thought Karlie, that man knows what he is speaking about. He says I am as good as any other man, even a white man. That needs much thinking, I wonder if he means I have right to go to any bioscope, or eat in any restaurant, or that my children can go to a white school. These are dangerous ideas and need much thinking. I wonder what Ou Klaas would say to this. Ou Klaas said that God made the white man and the black man ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 31 Bengaluru City University separately, and the one must always be “baas” and the other “jong”, But this man says different things and somehow, they ring true. Karlie’s brow was knitted as he thought. on the platform were many speakers, both white and black, and they were behaving as if there were no differences of color among them. There was a white woman in a blue dress offering Nxeli a cigarette. That never could have happened at Bietjiesvlei. Old Lategan at the store there would have fainted if his Annatjie had offered Witbooi a cigarette. And Annatjie wore no such pretty dress. These were new things and he, Karlie, had to be careful before he accepted them. But why shouldn’t he accept them? He was not a colored man any more, he was a human being. The last speaker had said so. He remembered seeing pictures in the newspapers of people who defied laws which relegated them to a particular class, and those people were smiling as they went to prison. This was queer world. The speaker continued and Karlie listened intently. He spoke slowly and his speech was obviously and carefully prepared. This is a great man, thought Karlie. The last speaker was the white lady in the blue dress, who asked them to challenge any discriminatory laws or measures in their own way. Why should she speak like that? She could go to the best bioscopes and swim at the best beaches. Why she was even more beautiful than Annatjie Lategan. They had warned him in Bietjiesvlei about coming to the city. He had seen the skollies in district six and he knew what to expect there. Hanover street held no terrors for him. but no one had told him about this. This was new, this set one’s mind thinking, yet he felt it was true. She had said one should challenge. He, Karlie, would astound old Lategan and Van Wyk at the dairy farm. They could do what they liked to him after that. He would smile like those people in the newspapers. The meeting was almost over when Karlie threaded his way through the crowd. They words of the speaker were still milling through his head. It could never happen in ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 32 Bengaluru City University Bietjiesvlei. Or could it? They sudden screech of a car pulling to a stop whirled him back to his senses. A white head was thrust angrily through the window. “Look where you’re going, you black bastard!” Karlie stared dazedly at him. Surely this white man never heard what the speakers had said, he could never have seen the white woman offering Nxeli a cigarette. He could never imagine the white lady shouting those words at him. It would be best to catch a train and think these things over. He saw the station in a new light. Here was a mass of human being, black, white and some brown like himself. Here they mixed with one another, yet each mistrusted the other with unnatural fear, each treated the other with suspicion, mood in a narrow, hunted pattern of its own. One must challenge these things the speaker had said… In one’s own way. Yet how in one’s way? How was one to challenge? Suddenly with dawned upon him. Here was his challenge! The bench. The railway bench with “Europeans only” neatly painted on it in white. For one movement it symbolized all the misery of the plural South African society. Here was his challenge to the rights of a man. Here it stood. A perfectly ordinary wooden railway bench, like thousands of others in South Africa. His challenge. That bench now had concentrated in it all the evils of a system he could not understand and he felt a victim of. It was the obstacle between him and humanity. If he sat on it, he was a man. If he was afraid, he denied himself membership as a human being in a human society. He almost had visions of righting this pernicious system, if he only sat down on that bench. Here was his chance. He, Karlie, would challenge. He seemed perfectly calm when he sat down on the bench, but inside his heart was thumping wildly. Two conflicting ideas now throbbed through him. The one said, “I have no rights to sit on this bench.” The other was the voice of a new religious and said, “why have I no right to sit on this bench?” the one voice spoke of the past, of the servile position he had occupied on the farm, of his father, and his father’s father who were ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 33 Bengaluru City University born black, lived like blacks and died like mules. The other voice spoke of new horizons and said, “Karlie, you are a man. You have dared what your father and your father’s father would not have dared. You will die like a man.” Karlie took out a cigarette and smoked. Nobody seemed to notice his sitting there. This was an anticlimax. The world still pursued its monotonous way. No voice had shouted “Karlie has conquered!” he was a normal human being sitting on a bench in a busy station, smoking a cigarette. Or was this his victory: the fact he was a normal human being? A well-dressed white woman walked down the platform. Would she sit on the bench? Karlie wondered. And then that gnawing voice, “You should stand and let the white woman sit!” Karlie narrowed his eyes and gripped tighter at his cigarette. She swept past him without the slightest twitch of an eyelid and continued walking down the platform. Was she afraid to challenge to challenge his rights to be a human being? Karlie now left tired. A third conflicting idea was now creeping in, a compensatory idea which said, “You sit on this bench because you are tired; you are tired therefore you sit.” He would not move because he was tired, or was it because he wanted to sit where he liked? People were now pouring out of a train that had pulled into a station. There were so many people pushing and jostling one another that nobody noticed him. This was his train. It would be easy to step into the train and ride off home, but that would be giving in, suffering defeat, refusing the challenge, in fact admitting that he was not a human being. He sat on. Lazily he blew the cigarette smoke into the air, thinking …. His mind was away from the meeting and the bench: he was thinking of Bietjiesvlei and Ou Klass, how he had insisted that Karlie should come to Cape Town. Ou Klass would suck on his pipe and look so quizzically at one. He was wise and knew much. He had said one must go to Cape Town and learn the ways of the world. He would spit and wink slyly when he spoke of District six and the women he knew in Hanover Street. Ou Klaas knew everything. He said God made us white or black and we must therefore keep our places. “Get off this seat!” ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 34 Bengaluru City University Karlie did not hear the gruff voice. Ou Klaas would be on the land now waiting for his tot of cheap wine. “I said get off the bench, you swine!!” Karlie suddenly whipped back to reality. For a moment he was going to jump up, then he remembered who he was and why he was sitting there. He suddenly felt very tired. He looked up slowly into a very red face that stare down at him. “Get up!” it said. “There are benches down there for you.” Karlie looked up and said nothing. He stared into a pair of sharp, gray, cold eyes. “Can’t you hear me speaking to you? You black swine!” Slowly and deliberately Karlie puffed at the cigarette. This is was his test. They both stared at each other, challenged with the eyes, like two boxers, each knowing that they must eventually trade blows yet each afraid to strike first. “Must I dirty my hands on scum like you?” Karlie said nothing. To speak would be to break the spell, the supremacy he felt slowly gaining. An uneasy silence, then: “I will call a policeman rather than soil my hands on a Hotnot like you. You can’t even open up your black jaw when a white man speaks to you.” Karlie saw the weakness. The white man was afraid to take the action himself. He, Karlie had won the first round of the bench dispute. A crowd had now collected. “Afrika!” shouted a joker. Karlie ignored the remark. People were now milling around him, staring at the unusual sight of a black man sitting on a white man’s bench. Karlie merely puffed on. “Look at the black ape. That’s the worst of giving these kaffirs enough rope.” ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 35 Bengaluru City University “I can’t understand it. They have their own benches!” “Don’t get up! You have every right to sit there!” “He’ll get up when a policeman comes!” “After all why shouldn’t they sit there?” “I’ve said before, I’ve had a native servant once and a more impertinent …” Karlie sat and heard noting. Irresolution had now turned to determination. Under no condition was he going to get up. They could do what they liked. “So, this is the fellow, eh! Get up there! Can’t you read?” The policeman was towering over him. Karlie could see the crest on his buttons and the wrinkles in his neck. “What is your name and address! Come on!” Karlie still maintained his obstinate silence. It took the policeman rather unawares. The crowd was growing every minute. “You have no right to speak to this man in such a manner!” It was the white lady in the blue dress. “Mind your own business! I’ll ask your help when I need it. It’s people like you who make these kaffirs think they’re as good as white men. Get up, you!” The latter remark was addressed to Karlie. “I insist that you treat him with proper respect.” The policeman turned red. “This… this ….” He was lost words. “Kick up the Hotnot if he won’t get up!” shouted a spectator. Rudely a white man laid hands on Karlie. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 36 Bengaluru City University “Get up, you bloody bastard!” Karlie turned to resist, to cling to the bench, his bench. There was more than one man pulling at him. He hit out wildly and then felt a dull pain as somebody rammed a fist into his face. He was bleeding now and wild-eyed. He would fight for it. The constable clapped a pair of handcuffs on him and tired to clear a way through the crowd. Karlie still struggled. A blow or two landed on him. Suddenly he relaxed and slowly struggled to his feet. It was useless to fight any longer. Now it was his turn to smile. He had challenged and won. Who cared the rest? “Come on, you swine!” said the policeman forcing Karlie through the crowd. “Certainly!” said Karlie for the first time. And he stared at the policeman with all the arrogance of one who dared sit on a “European bench”. Glossary  Hotnot: A person of colour from the Cape area in South Africa. Not white and not black. Brown skin colour.  Kaffir: Any black South African (used as an insult)  Baas: Master  Jong: Boy  Bio-scope: Moviehouse, cinema  Skollies: Thugs I. Answer in a phrase or a sentence each: 1. Where was the speech being made? 2. Who were among the crowd? 3. Why did Karlie stare at the two detectives? 4. Who was the baas according to Ou Klass? ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 37 Bengaluru City University 5. What was mentioned on the railway bench? 6. what were the two conflicting ideas that throbbed through Karlie? 7. How did the ‘milling crowd’ coming out of the train react to Karlie sitting on the bench? II. Answer in about a page each: 1. What were the speakers talking about? What were Karlie’s thoughts as he listened to the speeches? 2. What were Ou Klaas’ views on segregation? 3. How does the crowd react to Karlie’s protest? In what way it is significant? 4. Why did Karlie smile in the end? Do you think it is an effective way of registering one’s protest? III. Answer in about two pages each: 1. The bench serves as a symbol of everything that Karlie protested and won. Do you agree? 2. Comment on the turn of events at the end of the story. Do you think it is abrupt or does the writer prepare the reader for this ending? 3. Do you see a relation between the outside events and the thoughts that run inside the mind of Karlie? How does the story establish the link between the two? 4. Anti-apartheid is a struggle, not between the black and white, but against all forms of discrimination. How does the story bring this out? About The Text: ‘The Bench’ is a story by Richard Rive that focuses on the idea of apartheid in South Africa through Karlie, a coloured South African man who is influenced by a speech on ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 38 Bengaluru City University racial discrimination that he sets off to challenge the injustice of racism. The story explores the themes of racial discrimination and violence. Suggested Reading:  Writing Black by Richard Rive  I have a dream by Martin Luther King Jr.  Caged Bird by Maya Angelou References: https://www.scribd.com/document/501390010/The-Bench-Richard-Rive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rive ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 41 Bengaluru City University Among the guests was a lawyer, a young man of about twenty-five. On being asked his opinion, he said: "Capital punishment and life imprisonment are equally immoral; but if I were offered the choice between them, I would certainly choose the second. It's better to live somehow than not to live at all." There ensued a lively discussion. The banker who was then younger and more nervous suddenly lost his temper, banged his fist on the table, and turning to the young lawyer, cried out: "It's a lie. I bet you two millions you wouldn't stick in a cell even for five years." "If you mean it seriously," replied the lawyer, "then I bet I'll stay not five but fifteen." "Fifteen! Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I stake two millions." "Agreed. You stake two millions, I my freedom," said the lawyer. So this wild, ridiculous bet came to pass. The banker, who at that time had too many millions to count, spoiled and capricious, was beside himself with rapture. During supper he said to the lawyer jokingly: "Come to your senses, young roan, before it's too late. Two millions are nothing to me, but you stand to lose three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you'll never stick it out any longer. Don't forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary is much heavier than enforced imprisonment. The idea that you have the right to free yourself at any moment will poison the whole of your life in the cell. I pity you." And now the banker, pacing from corner to corner, recalled all this and asked himself: "Why did I make this bet? What's the good? The lawyer loses fifteen years of his life and I throw away two millions. Will it convince people that capital punishment is worse or better than imprisonment for life? No, no! All stuff and rubbish. On my part, it was the caprice of a well-fed man; on the lawyer's pure greed of gold." ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 42 Bengaluru City University He recollected further what happened after the evening party. It was decided that the lawyer must undergo his imprisonment under the strictest observation, in a garden wing of the banker's house. It was agreed that during the period he would be deprived of the right to cross the threshold, to see living people, to hear human voices, and to receive letters and newspapers. He was permitted to have a musical instrument, to read books, to write letters, to drink wine and smoke tobacco. By the agreement he could communicate, but only in silence, with the outside world through a little window specially constructed for this purpose. Everything necessary, books, music, wine, he could receive in any quantity by sending a note through the window. The agreement provided for all the minutest details, which made the confinement strictly solitary, and it obliged the lawyer to remain exactly fifteen years from twelve o'clock of November 14th, 1870, to twelve o'clock of November 14th, 1885. The least attempt on his part to violate the conditions, to escape if only for two minutes before the time freed the banker from the obligation to pay him the two millions. During the first year of imprisonment, the lawyer, as far as it was possible to judge from his short notes, suffered terribly from loneliness and boredom. From his wing, day and night came the sound of the piano. He rejected wine and tobacco. "Wine," he wrote, "excite desires, and desires are the chief foes of a prisoner; besides, nothing is more boring than to drink good wine alone," and tobacco spoils the air in his room. During the first year the lawyer was sent books of a light character; novels with a complicated love interest, stories of crime and fantasy, comedies, and so on. In the second year the piano was heard no longer and the lawyer asked only for classics. In the fifth year, music was heard again, and the prisoner asked for wine. Those who watched him said that during the whole of that year he was only eating, drinking, and lying on his bed. He yawned often and talked angrily to himself. Books he did not read. Sometimes at nights he would sit down to write. He would write for a long time and tear it all up in the morning. More than once he was heard to weep. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 43 Bengaluru City University In the second half of the sixth year, the prisoner began zealously to study languages, philosophy, and history. He fell on these subjects so hungrily that the banker hardly had time to get books enough for him. In the space of four years about six hundred volumes were bought at his request. It was while that passion lasted that the banker received the following letter from the prisoner: "My dear Gaoler, I am writing these lines in six languages. Show them to experts. Let them read them. If they do not find one single mistake, I beg you to give orders to have a gun fired off in the garden. By the noise I shall know that my efforts have not been in vain. The geniuses of all ages and countries speak in different languages; but in them all burns the same flame. Oh, if you knew my heavenly happiness now that I can understand them!" The prisoner's desire was fulfilled. Two shots were fired in the garden by the banker's order. Later on, after the tenth year, the lawyer sat immovable before his table and read only the New Testament. The banker found it strange that a man who in four years had mastered six hundred erudite volumes, should have spent nearly a year in reading one book, easy to understand and by no means thick. The New Testament was then replaced by the history of religions and theology. During the last two years of his confinement the prisoner read an extraordinary amount, quite haphazard. Now he would apply himself to the natural sciences, then he would read Byron or Shakespeare. Notes used to come from him in which he asked to be sent at the same time a book on chemistry, a text-book of medicine, a novel, and some treatise on philosophy or theology. He read as though he were swimming in the sea among broken pieces of wreckage, and in his desire to save his life was eagerly grasping one piece after another. II The banker recalled all this, and thought: ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 44 Bengaluru City University "To-morrow at twelve o'clock he receives his freedom. Under the agreement, I shall have to pay him two millions. If I pay, it's all over with me. I am ruined for ever …" Fifteen years before he had too many millions to count, but now he was afraid to ask himself which he had more of, money or debts. Gambling on the Stock-Exchange, risky speculation, and the recklessness of which he could not rid himself even in old age, had gradually brought his business to decay; and the fearless, self-confident, proud man of business had become an ordinary banker, trembling at every rise and fall in the market. "That cursed bet," murmured the old man clutching his head in despair… "Why didn't the man die? He's only forty years old. He will take away my last farthing, marry, enjoy life, gamble on the Exchange, and I will look on like an envious beggar and hear the same words from him every day: 'I'm obliged to you for the happiness of my life. Let me help you.' No, it's too much! The only escape from bankruptcy and disgrace—is that the man should die." The clock had just struck three. The banker was listening. In the house everyone was asleep, and one could hear only the frozen trees whining outside the windows. Trying to make no sound, he took out of his safe the key of the door which had not been opened for fifteen years, put on his overcoat, and went out of the house. The garden was dark and cold. It was raining. A damp, penetrating wind howled in the garden and gave the trees no rest. Though he strained his eyes, the banker could see neither the ground, nor the white statues, nor the garden wing, nor the trees. Approaching the garden wing, he called the watchman twice. There was no answer. Evidently the watchman had taken shelter from the bad weather and was now asleep somewhere in the kitchen or the greenhouse. "If I have the courage to fulfill my intention," thought the old man, "the suspicion will fall on the watchman first of all." ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 45 Bengaluru City University In the darkness he groped for the steps and the door and entered the hall of the garden- wing, then poked his way into a narrow passage and struck a match. Not a soul was there. Someone's bed, with no bedclothes on it, stood there, and an iron stove loomed dark in the corner. The seals on the door that led into the prisoner's room were unbroken. When the match went out, the old man, trembling from agitation, peeped into the little window. In the prisoner's room a candle was burning dimly. The prisoner himself sat by the table. Only his back, the hair on his head and his hands were visible. Open books were strewn about on the table, the two chairs, and on the carpet near the table. Five minutes passed and the prisoner never once stirred. Fifteen years' confinement had taught him to sit motionless. The banker tapped on the window with his finger, but the prisoner made no movement in reply. Then the banker cautiously tore the seals from the door and put the key into the lock. The rusty lock gave a hoarse groan and the door creaked. The banker expected instantly to hear a cry of surprise and the sound of steps. Three minutes passed and it was as quiet inside as it had been before. He made up his mind to enter. Before the table sat a man, unlike an ordinary human being. It was a skeleton, with tight- drawn skin, with long curly hair like a woman's, and a shaggy beard. The colour of his face was yellow, of an earthy shade; the cheeks were sunken, the back long and narrow, and the hand upon which he leaned his hairy head was so lean and skinny that it was painful to look upon. His hair was already silvering with grey, and no one who glanced at the senile emaciation of the face would have believed that he was only forty years old. On the table, before his bended head, lay a sheet of paper on which something was written in a tiny hand. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 46 Bengaluru City University "Poor devil," thought the banker, "he's asleep and probably seeing millions in his dreams. I have only to take and throw this half-dead thing on the bed, smother him a moment with the pillow, and the most careful examination will find no trace of unnatural death. But, first, let us read what he has written here." The banker took the sheet from the table and read: "To-morrow at twelve o'clock midnight, I shall obtain my freedom and the right to mix with people. But before I leave this room and see the sun I think it necessary to say a few words to you. On my own clear conscience and before God who sees me I declare to you that I despise freedom, life, health, and all that your books call the blessings of the world. "For fifteen years I have diligently studied earthly life. True, I saw neither the earth nor the people, but in your books I drank fragrant wine, sang songs, hunted deer and wild boar in the forests, loved women… And beautiful women, like clouds ethereal, created by the magic of your poets' genius, visited me by night and whispered to me wonderful tales, which made my head drunken. In your books I climbed the summits of Elbrus and Mont Blanc and saw from there how the sun rose in the morning, and in the evening suffused the sky, the ocean and lay mountain ridges with a purple gold. I saw from there how above me lightning glimmered cleaving the clouds; I saw green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, cities; I heard sirens singing, and the playing of the pipes of Pan; I touched the wings of beautiful devils who came flying to me to speak of God… In your books I cast myself into bottomless abysses, worked miracles, burned cities to the ground, and preached new religions, conquered whole countries… "Your books gave me wisdom. All that unwearying human thought created in the centuries is compressed to a little lump in my skull. I know that I am cleverer than you all. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 47 Bengaluru City University "And I despise your books; despise all worldly blessings and wisdom. Everything is void, frail, visionary and delusive as a mirage. Though you be proud and wise and beautiful, yet will death wipe you from the face of the earth like the mice underground; and your posterity, your history, and the immortality of your men of genius will be as frozen slag, burnt down together with the terrestrial globe. "You are mad and gone the wrong way. You take falsehood for truth and ugliness for beauty. You would marvel if suddenly apple and orange trees should bear frogs and lizards instead of fruit, and if roses should begin to breathe the odour of a sweating horse. So do I marvel at you, who have bartered heaven for earth? I do not want to understand you. "That I may show you in deed my contempt for that by which you live, I waive the two millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise, and which I now despise. That I may deprive myself of my right to them; I shall come out from here five minutes before the stipulated term, and thus shall violate the agreement." When he had read, the banker put the sheet on the table, kissed the head of the strange man, and began to weep. He went out of the wing. Never at any other time, not even after his terrible losses on the Exchange, had he felt such contempt for himself as now. Coming home, he lay down on his bed, but agitation and tears kept him a long time from sleeping… The next morning the poor watchman came running to him and told him that they had seen the man who lived in the wing climb through the window into the garden. He had gone to the gate and disappeared. The banker instantly went with his servants to the wing and established the escape of his prisoner. To avoid unnecessary rumours he took the paper with the renunciation from the table and, on his return, locked it in his safe. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 48 Bengaluru City University Glossary:  A Priori : Based on theory rather than experiment.  Caprice: A whim or fancy/ sudden change of mood.  Capital Punishment: Legally authorized execution.  Cutting wind: Cold and piercing wind especially in a cold country.  Emaciation: Abnormally thin state.  Erudite: Highly knowledgeable.  Executioner: Person who carries out a death sentence.  Mirage: Optical illusion.  Mont Blanc: The highest peak in Alps  Senile: Showing weakness of old age.  The gospel: the teaching of Jesus as found in the New Testament. About the Text: Chekhov’s "The Bet" masterfully explores themes of human nature, the value of freedom, and the pursuit of knowledge while offering a critical view of materialism and the quest for worldly pleasures. Through the transformative experiences of the lawyer and the banker, the story imparts a timeless moral lesson about the true essence of life and the pursuit of genuine fulfillment. Comprehension: I. Answer the following in one or two sentences each: 1. What was the bet that the young lawyer and the banker had? 2. What did the lawyer do during the fifth year of his imprisonment? 3. What did the lawyer do in the second half of the sixth year of imprisonment? 4. A gunshot is fired outside the prison cell because… a. the banker was trying to kill the prisoner ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 49 Bengaluru City University b. it was hunting season, and those ducks won't kill themselves, now will they c. the lawyer asked for confirmation that his multilingual note was correct d. the guards were trying to keep the prisoner from escaping 5. How did the banker's financial situation change over the fifteen years? 6. What did the banker think to escape from bankruptcy and disgrace? 7. How did the banker react after reading the lawyer's letter? II. Answer the following in about a page each: 1. How the guests at the party view capital punishment, and what did were their arguments against it? 2. Describe the terms of the bet between the banker and the lawyer regarding imprisonment. 3. What conditions were imposed on the lawyer during his fifteen-year imprisonment in the garden wing? 4. How did the lawyer's attitude towards life and imprisonment change over the years of his confinement? 5. Explain the impact of the lawyer's final decision regarding the two million- dollar bet on both himself and the banker. III. Answer the following in about two pages each: 1. Explore the evolution of the lawyer's mindset and activities during his fifteen-year imprisonment. How do his actions and choices reflect his changing perspectives on life and freedom? 2. Compare and contrast the views of the banker and the lawyer on the value of human life and freedom. How do their experiences and perspectives influence their final actions and decisions? 3. Examine the themes of regret, redemption, and self-awareness in the story “The Bet”. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 50 Bengaluru City University Suggested Reading: 1. "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 2. "The Stranger" by Albert Camus 3. "The Trial" by Franz Kafka 4. "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus Extended Activities: 1. Review of film adaptation by Aleksei Balabanov,m“The Bet" (released in 2015) inspired by “The Bet” by Anton Chekov discussing the similarities and differences between the film and the original text. 2. Organise a class room debate on Capital Punishment vs. Life Imprisonment. 3. Create a storyboard to visualize the scenes of the story “The Bet”. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 51 Bengaluru City University 6. PLAYING THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN M K GANDHI Pre-Reading :  Distinguish between an autobiography and a biography.  What do you know about M.K. Gandhi?  Is it easy to remain Indian in a foreign country?  Gandhi stood for Truth, Nonviolence and Vegetarianism. What are your views on the above concepts? About the Author: Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) was born at Porbandar in Gujarat. A staunch nationalist, did his education in England, returned to India and went to South Africa to work for a Company as a legal Advisor. A prominent freedom fighter who always led from front by following Truth and Nonviolence and thus freedom was achieved for mother India. He is a man of simplicity, conducted experiments throughout his life for what he believed in. The moment anyone thinks of Gandhi two books come to one’s mind viz., Hind Swaraj and The Story of My ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 52 Bengaluru City University Experiments with Truth, autobiography. In addition to these books, he also wrote volumes of writing in Gujarati, his mother tongue. My faith in vegetarianism grew on me from day to day. Salt's book whetted my appetite for dietetic studies. I went in for all books available on vegetarianism and read them. One of these, Howard Williams' the Ethics of Diet, was 'biographical history of the literature of humane dietetics from the earliest period to the present day'. It tried to make out, that all philosophers and prophets from Pythagoras and Jesus down to those of the present age were vegetarians. Dr. Anna Kingsford's The Perfect Way in Diet was also an attractive book. Dr. Allinson's writings on health and hygiene were likewise very helpful. He advocated a curative system based on regulation of the dietary of patients. Himself a vegetarian, he prescribed for his patients also a strictly vegetarian diet. The result of reading all this literature was that dietetic experiments came to take an important place in my life. Health was the principal consideration of these experiments to begin with. But later, religion became the supreme motive. Meanwhile my friend had not ceased to worry about me. His love for me led him to think that, if I persisted in myobjections to meat-eating, I should not only develop a weak constitution, but should remain a duffer, because I should never feel at home in English society. When he came to know that I had begun to interest myself in books on vegetarianism, he was afraid lest these studies should muddle my head; that I should fritter my life away in experiments, forgetting my own work, and become a crank. He therefore made one last effort to reform me. He one day invited me to go to the theatre. Before the play we were to dine together at the Holborn Restaurant, to me a palatial place and the first big restaurant I had been to since leaving the Victoria Hotel. The stay at that hotel had scarcely been a helpful experience, for I had not lived there with my wits about me. The friend had planned to take me to this restaurant evidently imagining that modesty would forbid any questions. And it was a very big company of diners in the midst of which my friend and I sat sharing a table between us. The first course was ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 53 Bengaluru City University soup. I wondered what it might be made of, but dared not ask the friend about it. I therefore summoned the waiter. My friend saw the movement and sternly asked across the table what was the matter. With considerable hesitation I told him that I wanted to inquire if the soup was a vegetable soup. 'You are too clumsy for decent society,' he passionately exclaimed. 'If you cannot behave yourself, you had better go. Feed in some other restaurant and await me outside.' This delighted me. Out I went. There was a vegetarian restaurant close by, but it was closed. So I went without food that night. I accompanied my friend to the theatre, but he never said a word about the scene I had created. On my part of course there was nothing to say. That was the last friendly tussle we had. It did not affect our relations in the least. I could see and appreciate the love by which all my friend's efforts were actuated, and my respect for him was all the greater on account of our differences in thought and action. But I decided that I should put him at ease, that I should assure him that I would be clumsy no more, but try to become polished and make up for my vegetarianism by cultivating other accomplishments which fitted one for polite society. And for this purpose, I undertook the all too impossible task of becoming anEnglish gentleman. The clothes after the Bombay cut that I was wearing were, I thought, unsuitable for English societyand I got new ones at the Army and Navy Stores. I also went in for a chimney-pot hat costing nineteen shillings-an excessive price in those days. Not content with this, I wasted ten pounds on an evening suit made in Bond Street, the centre of fashionable life in London; and got my good and noble-hearted brother to send me a double watch chain of gold. It was not correct to wear a ready-made tie and I learnt the art of tying one for myself. While in India, the mirror had been a luxury permitted on the days when the family barber gave me a shave. Here I wasted ten minutes every day before a huge mirror, watching myself arranging my tie and parting my hair in the correct fashion. My hair was by no means soft, and every day it meant a regular struggle with the brush to keep it in position. Each time the hat was put on and off, the hand would automatically move towards the head to adjust the hair, not to mention the other ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 54 Bengaluru City University civilized habit of the hand every now and then operating for the same purpose when sitting in polished society. As if all this were not enough to make me look the thing, I directed my attention to other details that were supposed to go towards the making of an English gentleman. I was told it was necessary for me to take lessons in dancing, French and elocution. French was not only the language of neighbouring France, but it was the lingua franca of the Continent over which I had a desire to travel. I decided to take dancing lessons at a class and paid down £3 as fees for a term. I must have taken about six lessons in three weeks. But it was beyond me to achieve anything like rhythmic motion. I could not follow the piano and hence found it impossible to keep time. What then was I to do? The recluse in the fable kept a cat to keep off the rats, and then a cow to feed the cat with milk, and a man to keep the cow and so on. My ambitions also grew like the family of the recluse. I thought I should learn to play the violin to cultivate an ear for Western music. So, I invested £3 in a violin and something more in fees. I sought a third teacher to give me lessons in elocution and paid him a preliminary fee ofa guinea. He recommended Bell's Standard Elocutionist as the text-book, which I purchased. And I began with a speech of Pitt's. But Mr. Bell rang the bell of alarm in my ear and I awoke. I had not to spend a lifetime in England, I said to myself. What then was the use of learning elocution? And how could dancing make a gentleman of me? The violin I could learn even in India. I was student and ought to go on with my studies. I should qualify myself to join the Inns of Court. If my character made a gentleman of me, so much the better. Otherwise, I should forego the ambition. These and similar thoughts possessed me, and I expressed them in a letter which I addressed to the elocution teacher, requesting him to excuse me from further lessons. I had taken only two or three. I wrote a similar letter to the dancing teacher, and went ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 55 Bengaluru City University personally to the violin teacher with a request to dispose of the violin for any price it might fetch. She was rather friendly to me, so I told her how I had discovered that I was pursuing a false idea. She encouraged me in the determination to make a complete change. This infatuation must have lasted about three months. The punctiliousness in dress persisted for years. But hence- forward I became a student. Glossary: Dietetic studies: Concerned with nutritional value of foods and preparation of such foods. Constitution: The physical nature of the body Wits: Quickness of the mind. Accomplishments: Graces, skill, knowledge expected in cultural society. Lingua franca: Any language widely used as a means of (lingua franka) communication among speakers of other languages. Continent: here, Europe. Inns of Court: The four legal societies in England which have the sole authority of calling candidates to the profession of barrister or advocate. Punctiliousness: Exactness in the observance of all formalities About the Text: The lesson, Playing the English Gentleman is an excerpt from Gandhiji’s autobiography, The Story of My experiments with Truth. The present text underlines the need of remaining an Indian despite a massive influence on us in day in and day out. The ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 56 Bengaluru City University experience of Gandhi comes in handy for readers to retain Indian way of life, culture, language and such other things. It is strongly felt that the young readers will be influenced by this typical Indian way of thinking. I. Answer the following in one or two sentences each: 1. Gandhiji's belief in vegetarianism increased after he read many books on the subject. (True/False) 2. Gandhiji's friend thought that if Gandhi did not eat meals a. he would never feel comfortable in English society. b. he would become weak c. his life would be a waste. 3. Gandhiji's friend took him to a well-known restaurant in order to change his attitude to eating meat. (True/False) 4. What did Gandhiji want to know from the waiter? 5. Gandhiji went without food that night because a. he wanted to fast b. the vegetarian restaurant nearby was closed c. he could not get vegetarian food at the Holborn Restaurant. 6. Did the restaurant incident affect Gandhiji's relationship with his friend? 7. Gandhiji decided to become an English gentleman because a. this was his aim in going to England b. he wanted to make up for his vegetarianism c. he wanted to please his friend. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 57 Bengaluru City University 8. Gandhiji bought things or did in order a. to look like an English gentleman b. to behave like an English gentleman c. to look like Indian 9. After reading Mr. Bell's book, Gandhiji increased his efforts to become an English gentleman. (True/False) 10. How did Gandhiji inform each of his teachers that he would not take any further lessons from them? 11. Gandhiji's desire to dress with great care lasted much longer than his desire to become an English gentleman. (True/False) 12. What did Gandhiji concentrate on, finally? II. Answer the following in about a page each: 1. Why did dietetic experiments have an important place in Gandhiji's life? 2. What made Gandhiji's friend remark, 'You are too clumsy for decent society?' 3. Pick out details from the lesson to show that Gandhiji had become conscious of his appearance in polite society. 4. Why does Gandhiji compare himself to the recluse of the fable? 5. How did the Violin teacher react to Gandhiji's idea? ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 58 Bengaluru City University III. Answer the following in about two pages each: 1.How did Gandhiji's belief in vegetarianism prevent him from becoming an English gentleman? Andhow did he try to make upfor it? 2. Try to explain the expression 'the civilized habit of the hand' mentioned in the passage. 3. Do you know the proverb 'When in Rome do as the Romans do?' Can you relate it to Gandhiji's attempt to become an English gentleman? 4. What can you learn as a reader from the lesson, Playing the English Gentleman? 5. If Gandhiji had succeeded in becoming an English gentleman, do you think he would have become the Father of the Nation? Give your reasons. Suggested Reading:  The Kingdom of God is within You-Leo Tolstoy.  Unto This Last- John Ruskin.  Civil Disobedience- Henry David Thoreau. Reference Books:  The Story of My Experiments with Truth- M K Gandhi  The Life of Mahatma-Louis Fischer ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024  PREFACE The new First semester General English syllabus for Bachelor of Computer Science (BCA) of Bengaluru City University, broadly aims to develop the literary sensibilities and LSRW skills of students as per the guidelines prescribed by the State Education Policy 2024. The syllabus introduces a juxtapose of genres: Poems, Short stories and Essays in the Literary component and the Grammar component comprises of comprehension skills, Giving directions and Instructions, reported speech, etc to enhance writing skills of the students. The textbook committee has extensively worked on the framing of the syllabus to facilitate learning of English literature and language comprehensively. I hope that the new English textbook for BCA students serves the objectives of sharpening the aesthetic sensibility and communication skills. I thank the chairperson, members of textbook committee and the staff of printing press for their unstinted effort in preparing and publishing the textbook meticulously well in time. Dr. T. N. Thandava Gowda Chairperson UG Board of Studies Bengaluru City University Bengaluru.  NOTE TO THE TEACHER The BCA General English textbook attempts to develop undergraduate students’ proficiency in English language and develop their literary sensibilities. The newly framed syllabus as per the requirements of SEP has two components: Literary Component - 50 marks Grammar component - 30 marks ----------------- Total 80 marks- written exam ---------------- Internal Assessment Internal Test 10marks Assignment 05 marks Classroom activity/ 05 marks Presentation/project Total 20marks The selected literary pieces for first semester BCA comprise of three genres: two poems, three short stories and two essays. The selections are interesting and would stir enthusiasm and a sense of enquiry among students. Therefore, teachers can provide additional knowledge by comparing similar contexts from other pieces of study as well. The exercises provided in grammar component are suggestive and not conclusive. Teachers can draw inferences from other sources and elaborate the practice exercises to make students enhance communication competencies. Students must be helped to choose areas of their difficulty and work on the relevant exercises. It is also important that they are active participants in the learning process. So do not yield to the temptation to do things that should be done by the students. Instead teach them how to learn by themselves. Total number of teaching hours would be 56 and four hours per week. The Committee expresses its sincere thanks to Dr.Thandava Gowda, Chairman, Board of Studies, Bengaluru City University for his consistent support and direction. The Committee also thanks Prof. Lingaraj Gandhi, the Honourable Vice Chancellor of Bengaluru City University for his support in bringing out the new textbook. Happy Teaching! Dr Padmavathy.K Chairperson Text book Committee  BCA-Semester -1 General English At the end of the semester students would hone the following skills (Expected Course Outcome)  Appreciation of the prescribed literary texts  Acquaint with critical, evaluative and analytical skills  Sensitization of the issues prevalent in the text  Acquire comprehension skills  Develop requisite skills of communication  Familiarize the skills of elaboration and coherence  General English BCA -Semester-I CONTENTS CONTENTS OF THE COURSE Hours- 56 SECTION-1 (Literary Component) Page No. 1. Abu Ben Adhem Leigh Hunt 1 POEM 2. I am not that Woman Kiswar Naheed 6 3. Sacrifice Munshi Premchand 12 SHORT STORY 4. The Bench Richard Rive 29 5. The Bet Anton Chekov 39 6. Playing the English Gentleman Mahatma Gandhi 51 ESSAY (From Gandhiji’s Autobiography) 7. On Superstitions A. G. Gardiner 59 SECTION-II (Grammar Component) 1. Reading Comprehension 70 WORKBOOK 2. Articles, Prepositions, Concord (Subject-Verb Agreement) 82 Idioms & Phrases 3. Reported Speech 119 4. Giving Directions & Instructions 139 5. Develop a Story 153  SECTION - I LITERARY COMPONENTS 1 Bengaluru City University 1. ABOU BEN ADHEM LEIGH HUNT Pre-Reading:  Ways to impress the God. Ask few of the students.  “Humans see what they want to see.” Can we think opposite. Ask the students  Humanity is the supreme value. Exemplify About the Author: Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) was an English critic, essayist, and poet. He co-founded The Examiner, a prominent intellectual journal that championed radical principles. Hunt played a central role in the Hampstead-based group, known as the “Hunt circle,” which included influential figures like William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb. His literary influence extended to introducing poets such as John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning, and Alfred Tennyson to the public. Despite a speech impediment that initially prevented him from attending university, Hunt made significant contributions to British literary and theatrical society. His early poems were published in 1801 under the title Juvenilia, and he later wrote theatre criticism and critical essays on authors. His ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 2 Bengaluru City University legacy endures as a prolific and influential writer of the Romantic movement in England. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said, "What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow men." The angel wrote and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blest, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 3 Bengaluru City University Glossary: Lily: Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. Thou: Second Personal singular pronoun used to indicate the one being addressed, especially in a literary, liturgical, or devotional context Writest: Second-person singular simple present form of write (dialect). Cheerly: Cheerfully, heartily (archaic adverb used olden days) Accord: Give or grant someone (power, status, or recognition) Thee: Dialect(archaic)form of you, as the singular object of a verb (Objective case) Blest: Dialect(archaic) or literary term for blessed. About The Poem: “Abou Ben Adhem” is a short, fable-like poem that suggests people can best express love for God by simply loving their fellow human beings. Compassion and empathy are presented as the true principles of religion, above the need to pay lip service to a jealous or attention-hungry God. In fact, the Lord in this poem is so approving of Abou Ben Adhem’s commitment to his fellow man that it is Ben Adhem who becomes the most “blest” in the end—and not those who have focussed their efforts in demonstrating their love for God. The poem ultimately argues that love of humankind is love of God— because people are God’s creation. In essence, the poem is saying that anyone who claims to love God, without putting this into practice first through a love for their fellow human beings, doesn’t really love God at all. I. Answer the following questions in a phrase or sentence each. 1. The poem refers to God’s representatives in three different ways. They are: a. The vision, An Angel and the presence, b. Moonlight, An Angel and dream ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 4 Bengaluru City University c. Lily, An Angel and a dream 2. What does Abou Ben Adhem encounter upon awakening? 3. The poem is highlighting a theme that the true worship and love towards God is to love. 4. What does Adou curiously ask the Angel? 5. What is the vision referred to here in the poem? 6. What is moonlight compared to? 7. The figure of speech used in the line “deep dream of peace” is. II. Answer the following questions in about a page each: 1. Who was Abou Ben Adhem? What is meant by “may his tribe increase”? briefly explain. 2. Explain the meaning of “deep dream of peace”. How could Abou have peace? 3. Describe the effect of moonlight in Abou’s room. Why is moonlight compared to a lily in bloom? 4. Describe the significance of the book of gold. 5. Briefly describe the second vision of Abou Ben Adhem. How does it reflect on the theme of the poem? 6. What does Abou curiously ask the angel? What makes Abou low? 7. Identify the figures of speech used in the poem. III. Answer the following questions in about 2 or 3 page each: 1. What was the angel writing? Describe what happened the after the angel vanished. 2. Briefly describe the character of Abou Ben Adhem. 3. What is the theme of the poem? Elaborate. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 5 Bengaluru City University REFERENCE:  Read Other Poems and a Biography of Hunt — Further resources provided by the Poetry Foundation.  The Funeral of Shelley Painting — A painting by Louis Fournier that depicts Leigh Hunt at his friend and fellow Romantic poet Percy Shelley's funeral. Hunt is the second from the left of the main figures by the body.  Hunt's Essays — A collection of essays published by Leigh Hunt.  The Manuscript of "Abou Ben Adhem" — An image of the poem as written by Hunt.  A Reading of "Abou Ben Adhem" — A good reading of the poem (accompanied by an unsettling animation). Suggested reading:  "The Ballad of Father Gilligan" by W.B. Yeats  "A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  "The Man Who Planted Trees" by Jean Giono (Short story)  "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves" by Karen Joy Fowler (Excerpt)  "The Legend of the Three Trees" (traditional folktale) ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 6 Bengaluru City University 2. I AM NOT THAT WOMAN KISHWAR NAHEED Approach to the Text:  Do you really know about Gender bias, Domestic abuse, Inadequate healthcare, female foeticide, lack of scope for female education and employment?  Gender equality is much needed thing of the hour. Can you Illustrate?  Can we discuss “The role of women in the society”?  Who are the women activists you know? Mention any two. About the Author: Kishwar Naheed (born June 18, 1940) is a feminist Urdu poet and writer from Pakistan. By birth she is an Indian, due to her family migration to Lahore after the partition 1949 she Pakistani girl. Kishwar was a witness to the violence (including rape and abduction of women) associated with the partition of India. Her powerful poetry has left an indelible mark on Urdu literature. She is widely acclaimed for her sharp and incisive poetic expression, for being bold in direct and for celebrating the universal human struggle for equality, justice and freedom. She has 12 volumes of poetry published in both Pakistan and India. Her Urdu poetry has also been published in foreign languages all over the world. Her famous poem 'We Sinful Women' became an anthem for ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 7 Bengaluru City University Pakistani feminists. It inspired a groundbreaking anthology of contemporary Urdu feminist poetry. She has also written eight books for children and received the prestigious UNESCO award for children's literature. She has been witness to the struggles and aspirations that Pakistan has gone through as a nation. Her written work spanning more than four decades, chronicles her experiences as a woman writer engaged in the creative and civic arenas. Her commitment to women’s issues and social problems continues to resonate with readers. I am not that woman Selling you socks and shoes! Remember me, I am the one you hid In your walls of stone, while you roamed Free as the breeze, not knowing That my voice cannot be smothered by stones, I am the one you crushed With the weight of custom and tradition Not knowing That light cannot be hidden in darkness. Remember me, I am the one in whose lap You picked flowers And planted thorns and embers Not knowing That chains cannot smother my fragrance I am the woman Whom you bought and sold ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 8 Bengaluru City University In the name of my own chastity Not knowing That I can walk on water When I am drowning. I am the one you married off To get rid of a burden Not knowing That a nation of captive minds Cannot be free. I am the commodity you traded in, My chastity, my motherhood, my loyalty. Now it is time for me to flower free. The woman on that poster, half-naked, selling socks and shoes- No, no, I am not that woman! Glossary: Breeze: (noun) a gentle wind Smother:Cover someone or something entirely with Ember: a hot lump of smouldering solid fuel(wood or coal) Chains: a series of linked metal rings used for fastening or securing something Chastity: The state of having no sexual relationships Loyalty: a strong feeling of support or allegiance Flower: (verb) reach an optimum stage of development ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 9 Bengaluru City University About the Poem: ‘I am not that Woman’ contrasts both the explicit and discreet ways in which women are oppressed in society. Through a partially feminist lens, Naheed makes the point that women deserve respect and they are not commodities. In a large part of the East, women are oppressed explicitly by being locked behind doors and being told that they cannot become anything in life. Of course, this cannot be generalized to every country and city, but many Eastern cultures do carry this mentality even today. This explicit oppression may be absent in the West but Naheed states that women are being discreetly oppressed in Western cultures, by having their worth tied to their bodies. The beauty of women is more often than naught used in advertisements to sell a variety of products, Naheed makes a very valid point that this, too, is a form of oppression. Linking a woman’s value and self-worth to her body is a form of oppression in and of itself. ‘I am not that Woman’ is an empowering poem reminding the world that women deserve respect, and more importantly, women should appreciate and confidently respect themselves. I. Answer the following questions in a phrase or sentence each. 1. Who is the poet addressing? 2. What did the man give in return for flowers in her lap? 3. The woman is crushed a. By the customs and traditions. b. By the walls of stone. c. By the thorns and embers. 4. How is the half-naked woman treated? 5. Identify any two imageries used in the poem. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 10 Bengaluru City University II. Answer the following questions in about a page each: 1. How are women portrayed in the poem? 2. According to the poet, how do the parents get rid of the ‘burden’? 3. ‘Now it is time for me to flower free’. What status is the speaker referring to in this line? 4. Comment on the tone of the speaker used in this poem. III. Answer the following questions in about 2 or 3 pages each: 1. Describe the message that the speaker conveying in the poem. 2. The poem expresses the need for women's empowerment. Justify 3. “That chains cannot smother my fragrance”. Elaborate the echo of the speaker. References: 1. Poetry Foundation (website often features poems along with critical analysis and biographical information about the poets): They might have resources related to Kishwar Naheed and her poem "I am not that Woman". 2. Academic Journals: JSTOR, Google Scholar, and other academic databases may have scholarly articles that discuss Kishwar Naheed's poetry in general or specifically analyse "I am not that Woman". These articles could provide in-depth literary analysis, cultural context, and interpretations of the poem. 3. Books on South Asian Poetry: Anthologies or books focusing on South Asian or Pakistani poetry may include discussions or interpretations of Kishwar Naheed's work. Look for titles that cover contemporary Urdu poetry or feminist poetry from the region. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024 11 Bengaluru City University 4. Social media and Online Forums: Engaging in discussions on platforms like Reddit, literary forums, or following relevant hashtags on Twitter might lead you to additional resources or discussions about the poem. Suggested reading: 1. “The Parrot in The Cage” is translated poem “Pinjarako Suga” is written by Lekhanath Paudel and Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota And translated to English. 2. “A woman” by Audre Lorde: A powerful exploration of identity self-acceptance and empowerment. 3. “Phenomenal woman” by Maya Angelou: Celebrates the strength, confidence and allure of women. 4. “I’m “wife”-I’vefinished that” by Emily Dickinson. 5. “On Being a Woman” by Dorothy Parker. ALCHEMY – ENGLISH I SEMESTER BCA – SEP 2024