Deepest Condolences:

We deeply mourn the sudden demise of our beloved student E.Kumar, (III BSc Pbt) who died in a tragic mishap at the Beach on 21 February 2009. A Condolence Meeting was held in the Anderson Hall, to a packed audience of staff and students. May his soul rest in peace.

Ajith Daniel spoke on the topic "Do you think that the young have anything to learn from the elderly and vice versa?"

"We just wouldn't listen" was how a 17 year old British girl albeit a pessimist had to sum up her angst on modern youth. We've progressed to a "I can do anything" situation, having crossed the colossal wall of ignorance, with resilience, indomitable spirit and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The future seems to be one of prosperity, advancement, riches etc, while on the ethical front, morals are declining with its impact on society in the form of crimes etc. Attitudes of the younger generation have changed phenomenally - they've become arrogant, greedy, ambitious to the core etc.

Youth is associated with beauty, innocence, energy, idealism etc, while old age is associated with fatigue, conservatism, ill-health, fulfilment, contentment etc. A wide gap exists between the world of the young and that of the old - the old are pushed to the sides of society, their advice being anachronistic.

Even though there's a knowledge explosion, and we get vast information at the click of a button, yet, we lack the criteria called experience.

"Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald" When it comes to doctors, we prefer an experienced doc to an apprentice -

Guest Post (Exclusive) - by an established Feature Writer..:

Students and Stress – Tips to Overcome Problems

Tragedy can hit any one of us; troubles don’t discriminate when they choose to appear on our horizons; and depression is a worldwide phenomenon. So you know what I mean when I say that college students are also prone to personal (or other) problems and that these four years are not just fun and games as most people would have you believe. It’s hard enough to deal with trouble when you don’t have any major responsibilities; what’s harder though, is to tackle stress, depression or sadness when there are exams around the corner, assignments with deadlines looming, and papers to be completed in a short time.

You’re not really mature when you enter college as a freshman, and though you may gain some wisdom over the four years you spend on campus, it takes a really strong person to overcome personal difficulties and focus their attention on their lessons. And that is why we hear of dropouts, suicides, and other behavioral problems that seem to affect college students with alarming regularity. There’s a lot at stake if you’re unable to cope with the stress that comes with troubles and difficulties – you don’t get to complete your degree and your dreams of the career you’ve always wanted go up in smoke. If you’re beset by problems that seem insurmountable, here are a few tips to help you cope:

Talk to someone: If you’re too wound up, if you’re breaking your head over an unsolvable problem, it always helps to talk it out. Choose as your confidante someone close to you, someone who will understand, someone who will support, someone who will not judge. A solution may or may not arise out of the conversation, but even if one doesn’t, at least you know you don’t have to go it alone. Loneliness and depression are the main causes of most dropouts and suicides on campus.

Throw yourself into some activity you love: If you’re brooding over a love affair gone sour or your parents’ divorce (problems that you have no control over), you must learn to forget your sorrow. And the best way to do this is to drown yourself, not in drink, but in some worthwhile activity that soothes your troubled mind and calms your frayed nerves. Sport is an excellent mood elevator; it boosts your adrenaline and gives you that feel-good factor. Grab a racquet and hit the tennis courts, put on your jogging shoes and see the sun rise as you run through campus, or join your football team for a few work-outs. You’ll feel sweaty and tired, but you’re going to be more at peace with yourself.

Take stock of your situation: If you’re in this mess because of your own mismanagement, then you must see how you can put things right. If you’re lagging behind in your lessons and assignments, if you’ve been partying one too many nights, or if you’ve incurred debt that’s hard to repay, you must begin to make amends, immediately. In for a penny, in for a pound – is not the mantra to follow here; rather, you must cut your losses and do the best you can to remedy the situation. Concentrate on getting your grades up; stay up nights to catch up on assignments; and work another job to chisel away that debt you owe. Remedial activity by itself has a cathartic effect, and you’re bound to end up feeling good about yourself.

Stick to a schedule: Finally, no matter what happens, no matter how upset or disturbed you are, don’t turn to alcohol, drugs or any other addictive substance. You’re only making things worse. Instead, stick to a sensible routine of healthy food, regular exercise, working at lessons, and sleeping at least 6 hours each night. A routine helps you return normalcy with its sheer mundane nature. Besides, you need to make sure your health is not affected because of your mental worries.

Remember, you must focus on the reason you’re in college – to earn a degree that will open the doors of opportunity once you leave campus. So to stay on track, learn to deal with stress effectively.

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This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of the online teaching opportunities. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com

Assignment on Rhetoric - Ajit Daniel, II BA English

Introduction:

Forty-six years ago, a man had a vision, a vision of hope, a vision of freedom, a vision of victory. And now, looking back into the sands of time, that vision, that dream has become a reality.

Martin Luther King, the man, electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech, dramatically delivered from the steps of the Lincoln memorial. His soaring rhetoric demanding racial justice and an integrated society became a mantra for the black community and is as familiar to subsequent generations of Americans as the US Declaration of Independence. His words proved to be a touchstone for understanding the social and political upheaval of the time and gave the nation a vocabulary to express what was happening.

Historical Significance:

The spring and summer of 1963 proved to be one of the most important times of the Civil Rights movement. On June 12, Medgar Evers was assassinated; white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith would not be found guilty of his murder for nearly thirty years. In April, 1963, protest against discrimination in the downtown department stores of Birmingham, Alabama, culminated in protests on April 4. King's arrest during these demonstrations and the media coverage of police violence against the demonstrators catapulted both the movement and King, the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), into the national spotlight to an even greater degree than before. The boycotts and mass marches eventually provided sufficient pressure that white leaders promised to desegregate the stores' facilities, hire African Americans to work in the stores, and establish a biracial committee for ongoing talks concerning racial problems.

These gains were achieved at a price, however: King was jailed briefly; police brutality occurred against protesters; and arrested protesters filled Birmingham's jails. Nevertheless, the filled jails negatively affected the capacity of police to arrest and hold demonstrators, which was exactly what King and other civil rights leaders had hoped; news coverage of police brutality outraged many citizens; and, while jailed, King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," a document that delineated the need for and goals of the direct action campaigns of the Civil Rights movement. The acclaim that met this document foreshadowed the reaction to his speech at the March on Washington two months later.

Analysis of the speech from a rhetorical perspective:-

The Speech Objectives:

My country,' tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;

land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride,

from every mountainside let freedom ring!

The key message in the speech is that, as all people are created as equala, it is therefore indispensable to treat all men equally irrespective of caste, creed, colour, race and religion. King speaks out in support or in need of interracial cooperation and social equality, he gives a vision of a future without racial divisions and tries to motivate the listeners to join him in his fight for true freedom for the people and the nation of America. Being a civil rights leader, having dedicated his life for the cause of the people, Martin Luther King is undoubtedly the right person to deliver a speech that has become widely known as a masterpiece of rhetoric and argumentation.

The Audience and the Context:-

'Thank God Almighty, we are free at last"

This speech was delivered on 28th August, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. As such this speech was made for the whole nation of America. It is an appeal to the nation, which is racist in its thinking, to break free from the shackles of ideologies and to be united as one. This speech is a general address to all the sections of the society; and king uses the media also to echo his words so that it is heard by the entire nation.

Speech Content and Structure:-

The Speech Opening:-

The opening of the Speech sets the tone of the message. King has effectively used a hook to draw the audience into the speech. He begins;

'I am happy to join you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of the nation.'

He opens with a reminiscence of an unfulfilled promise thereby evoking the emotions and increasing the intensity of feelings of the people. The opening was really memorable, as the speech lived up to its expectations and that day was the greatest demonstration of freedom in the history of America. King makes sure that he clearly establishes the intent of the presentation and means business right from the word 'go'.

The Speech Body:-

Martin Luther's Speech is a perfect example of a work of a genius in exciting the passions. It is a work of poetry, masterfully delivered and can be called as an improvised sermon, bursting with Biblical imagery and language. Right through the speech, Luther manages to keep the audience glued to his words and in keeping them motivated in pursuit of their dream. King uses vivid imageries and metaphors to create a feeling of euphoria. King alluded to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as being a 'promissory note' which has come back marked 'insufficient funds'.

Reopening Date - Reg:

Dear Students,
College reopens on Thursday, 12 Feb 2009 for all PG Courses, and on Monday, 16 Feb 2009 for all UG Courses. For further info, kindly visit the TN Govt website HERE
Regards,
Rufus

Sudha, S, II BA English - Assignment in Modern Fiction

Discuss any two themes that you find in the Novel 'The Power and the Glory"

Submitted by: Sudha, M, II BA English

The Dangers of Excessive Idealism:

To put it simply, an idealist is one who imagines that the world can be a much better place than it is. What could be dangerous about that? The lieutenant, in many ways, illustrates the danger. Obsessed with the way things could be, he remains mired in dissatisfaction and bitterness about the way things actually are. Although the wish to help the poor is a noble sentiment, dreams of "starting over", erasing history, and wiping out all religious belief are simply not realizable. Moreover, being unable to bring about the impossible leads the lieutenant to feelings of frustration and anger, an even more keen awareness of how imperfect the world is, and hatred for those people whom he views as obstacles to the realization of his dream. Moreover, his conviction that he knows what is best for the people is itself a form of arrogance. The priest, on the other hand, comes to accept suffering and death as a part of life; that is not to say that he does not wish to help alleviate suffering, but his faith in the next world helps him to accept the trials and hardships of this one.

The Disparity Between Representation and Reality:

Greene is interested in showing the gap between life as it is remembered, recorded or retold, and life as it is lived. Acts of storytelling occur quite frequently throughout the novel. The most obvious example is the story of Juan, the young martyr. One thing that becomes apparent by the novel's close is how very different Juan's story of martyrdom is from the priest's. Juan's life is characterized from start to finish by composure, loyalty and, above all, unshakeable faith. Although the priest certainly is an admirable figure, especially by the time of the novel's close, he still faces death afraid and unable to repent. But Greene is not juxtaposing the two accounts of martyrdom merely to highlight the priest's shortcomings, but rather to show that real-life differs from idealistic stories, in most cases. This theme extends beyond storytelling to other forms of representation. For example, the priest takes note of how little the gringo looks like his picture on the wanted poster in the police office, and the lieutenant fails to recognize the priest because the priest does not have the delicate hands that a stereotypical priest would have. Stories, pictures and other kinds of representation can give a misleading, exaggerated picture of a person, and Greene is interested in writing about reality as it is truly experienced, even if he himself is attempting to create that sense of unvarnished reality through his own storytelling.

More HERE (till the sub title CHILDREN)

The Spiritual Transformation of a sinner into a martyr and a saint:

The novels of Greene show his preoccupation with the theme of evil. In the present novel the theme of evil is worked out largely through the portrayal of the whisky priest, a portrayal which not only pertains to his outward actions but also includes a probe into his inmost thoughts. There is a certain element of evil or sinfulness in the nature of this priest, which tends to thwart his nobler side but cannot overcome it.

Greene has given a new turn to the Christian novel in England. Instead of depicting the quest of a good man for virtue or for the heavenly city of God, he depicts the quest of a sinner who tumbles along the way to the heavenly city, almost forsaking God sees potential salvation, that in apparent worldly success, God sees weakness, that is satanical pride, God sees the capacity for humility, that in indecision and denial God sees the possibility of faith. According to Greene, only indifference can destroy God. Thus, in several ways, Greene has turned the traditional view upside measures its strength. He asks, among other things what God can mean in a world that seems largely made up of evil, and who will prove stronger in the battle for man's mind - God or devil. He suggests paradoxically that, in searching out for the devil, a man may well find God; and conversely, in searching out for God, one may well find God, and one may indeed find devil. While the church may demand conformity to fixed dogmas, God operates mysteriously and apart, if necessary, from the church's dogma.

The whisky-priest is the last priest in the state, his fellow priests having been outlawed, killed, or forced to marry, by a local dictator. He can try to escape or he can live a married life which will then reveal the absurdity and hollowness of his former vocation. He can thus either save his soul or save his body. He reluctantly stays on, but he constantly reminds himself that he is not worthy of the role of a martyr. If Christ is his ideal, he sadly fails to live up to this high conception because he drinks to excess, has begotten an illegitimate child, and is not even sure that he can practise his profession when fear overtakes him. But according to Greene he is a sinner ready to achieve Sainthood. Full of pride, the whisky-priest, like a hero in a Greek tragedy is partially ennobled through doubt, suffering and self-realization. At every point he is made aware of the depths to which he has fallen, aware that the devil has indeed entered his body and driven out God; denial is, indeed, the first step towards acceptance. In short this sinner not only proves to be a true martyr but seems to qualify to some extent even for the status of a saint.

At various stages in the course of the novel, Greene emphasizes the priest's awareness of his own sinfulness. On his way to Maria's village, for instance, the priest meditates upon his past life.... paradox is resolved.

John Jeba Jayasingh, J, II BA English, Assignment in Modern Fiction

Critical Analysis of The Power and the Glory

Interaction between the Political Ideologies and the Religious Beliefs.

Submitted by: John Jeba Jayasingh, J., II BA English

A priest in the state of Mexico was condemned as a traitor to the State and an ‘heretic’ and he was escaping the judgment of the State higher authorities who has given power in the hands of a lieutenant. Lieutenant was a firm believer in the principles of a secular state. In order to get rid of all the priests in the State, the Lieutenant sets out to catch them. He has caught everyone except this particular priest. So to catch him he even goes to the extent of holding someone in the village as hostage to know the whereabouts of the priests. The priest is addicted to drinks. He had had an illegitimate relationship with a woman called Maria and a daughter Brigitta through her, but still, despite his weaknesses and unworthiness he wants to practice priesthood and extend his service in all the ways possible. He was summoned to hear the confession of a dying mother who has a little boy and no one in the village betrays him. During his escaping he goes to the house of a plantation owner and the owner’s daughter Coral hides him and steals beer for him and doesn’t betray him to the lieutenant who comes to the same house in the search of the priest and stays there the whole night. Meanwhile Mestizo a notorious criminal without the priest’s knowledge was followinghim to betray him in order to get the price reward. The Priest was caught for having brandy and was jailed and Mestizo happens to be in the same jail. However he waits for the priest to be released so that he will also escape and betray the priest and get the reward. Eventually both priest and Mestizo were released. Mestizo suddenly goes to the priest one day and asks him to come and hear the confession of a dying person. Priest even though he is sought after by the State, the sense of ‘duty prevails him. And without knowing that this was a trap laid out to capture him goes and hears the confession of the dying person and when he comes out of the house he is arrested and sent to jail. At last the lieutenant shoots and kills the priest, thereby fulfilling his ambition.

In this great work of Graham Geene, many a times the political ideologies and the religious beliefs are found to be in conflict with each other. The lieutenant obsessed with is political ideologies, was determined to put an end to Catholicism and take away the priest’s life with a recalcitrant attitude. He singlemindedly pursues his goal. The lieutenant envisages a “Ideal” state of perfection, corruptionless society, and therefore he endeavours to implement his ‘ideologies’, in a stringent way. But the lieutenant was ignorant to realize, and predict the danger behind all his pursuit. Although helping the poor is a noble sentiment, the methodology that he devised to do that was by stamping over and wiping out all religious beliefs which sounds absurd. Moreover, by his incapability to establish a ‘ideal’ state of perfect that he imagined, he gets frustrated over people whom he thinks that they stand as an obstacle in his pathway of progress. His personal opinion that he knows what is people best for people move than anybody else, is in itself a form of arrogance. The priests on the other hand, comes forward to undergo suffering and death as a part and parcel of life as is taught by his faith. Lieutenant had developed a kind of aversion to the Catholic Church. He behaves as a disciplined and a principled man with a strong sense of justice. He is very much committed to political ideals that he thinks will help the poor, and create equality and tolerance. The way he executes to achieve his goal is tyrannical, arbitrary and extremely violent. He madly runs about the villages catching someone as a hostage and menace that person’s life at the cost of not disclosing the whereabouts of the priest ministering in that village. Though the lieutenant has such a zeal to attain and fulfill his expectations, he at times is flexible in his mindset. He wavers between the ideas of violence and non violence. At some time or the other in the novel he wants to show that he is not altogether an unkind person after all. After his long conversation with the priest, he softens his attitude towards him. He says that,
‘I am not a barbarian. You will be
Tried… properly.”

He wanted to show the priest that he is not altogether a cruel person to kill him without any reasonable cause. But the movement that he belonged to had taught him to look at the people within generalized terms. He had a strange prejudice against all the Catholic priest and is overwhelmed with his own self-righteousness. He thinks that all those who work under him were good. The priest proves himself to be modest, intelligent and compassionable disrupts the lieutenant’s habitual way of looking at the Catholic clergy. By the end of the novel the Lieutenant has accomplished his mission but he feels a strange sense of emptiness and despondency. Without a noble target in mind his wild pursuits leave a lingering doubt in his mind and trouble him regarding his trouble killing of the priest.

The Lieutenant indeed had some bravery and courage built up within him. But he executed and employed his so called bravery and courage in an improper way. He was not able to think freely and his conversation and his interaction with the young boy shows that he was just obsessed with the idea of authority, power and bravery. The young boy was playing on the roadside while the lieutenant passed by that way. The young boy threw a stone at him. When lieutenant asked him what he is doing, the boy replied that he thought that lieutenant was the ‘bingo,’ the sought after murderous criminal. Lt immediately appreciated his act of courage and valour. The lieutenant somehow wanted to get rid of the world of corruption and deceit. The lieutenant yearns for purity, righteousness and a flawless ideal state of being. Graham Greene wanted to show that impurity as the unavoidable element in the spiritual elemen world and pursuing obsessively to get rid of that can lead someone to horrific and self defeating means.

Graham Greene was very much interested and concerned in showing the gap between life as it is believed. Many stories are told by some of the characters in the novel, through whom Graham wanted to disclose the real spiritual condition and need of a man. We find a woman narrating a story of Juan the young martyr, to her own son. But her son was not at all interested in listening to the story. Graham wanted his readers to realize how the younger generation are becoming indifferent to what are called values, faith, etc. So dreaming of a politically idealistic state without God in it is absolutely impossible. Ideologies may sound good and nice but it can’t be enforced and retained unless we are aided by God. Godlessness is well portrayed in this novel. The lieutenant with all his strength strives to wipe out all religious beliefs but the more he does the more people realize how indispensable is that. We find that the priest whom he is searching for is summoned to be prayed for a dying person at one occasion. So even in those times of persecution we find certain people clinging to their religious beliefs however corrupt the Church and the priests were. The second thing Graham Greene wanted to show was the frailties of the priest, even though he professes sanctity, purity so on and so forth. The priest was somehow addicted to alcohols. Sometimes he madly pursues and longs after it. He had secretly and illegally married a woman and begat a child which the priests are forbidden to do. Therefore he draws parallel between Juan and the priest, just to show how real life differs from idealistic stories. Priests undergoes a severe mental struggle within himself. He strives within himself to repent for the misdeeds that he has committed but ultimately he is unable to repent, whereas if we see Juan’s life was so close to God and he was loyal to his King and Saviour until his end time. Next Graham Greene wanted to illustrate the interrelated nature of so called elements which appear to contradict each other but at some points or the other they merge together love and hate, beauty and suffering, good and evil are just a few of the many pairs of seemingly opposites that Greene insists aren’t really opposites at all. In this case, his aversion to priests actually hails from a love and concern for poor people. Both the feelings stems from the same strong emotions; The desire to safeguard the innocent from exploitation, and the outright rejection of injustice in any form. The priest often discovers the beauty of life (although being imperfect) in the moments of greatest sufferings and hardships. Moreover the priest and the lieutenant who play the opponent roles come together and agree at some points at the end of the novel.

Martin, T, II BA English - Assignment in Modern Fiction

The Power and the Glory – ‘A Discussion on Having sympathy upon the Priest.’

Submitted by Martin, T.

i. The Mexican State:

The Mexican State has almost shut all doorsteps of drinking and rioting. Here lives the priest who is almost against all laws and prohibitions. He is a person who drinks, and lives a careless life which plays the central theme of the story. The Mexican state calls and recalls all the things done by the priest. The Mexican State is strict in principle and desire to grow more in perfect ness of the Constitution. First it had persons who ruined it but now changes herself to catch all those victims and wipe them out so that the Mexican state might be entirely clean. So the police were about the priest finding and roaming here and there in suspicion but finally when nowhere to be found lost all hope. A military lieutenant who was retired got the permission from the Governor in finding the priest which would be his ultimate adventure.

ii. The Priest/ 7 years / 700 Pesos:

The Priest was about his profession seven years. He was actually a kind hearted man in nature. But at outside because of his behaviour which has been revealed opened way to punish him from all sorts. He has been wanted by the government because he was not doing his duty but rather against prohibition. But according to the priest at personal view, he is very strict at the call of duty. But it was neither rumour about the priest and neither he was unwilling to the call of duty. The coming paragraphs will further bring about views for to why the priest has been wanted by the government. For it is said for about ‘700 pesos’ would be awarded to the person finding the priest.

iii. Habit of Drinking:

The priest had the habit of drinking whisky or brandy. And he loved it. This was the secret part of his life. Though he heard many persons confession he never confessed it to the LORD. Any unconfessed sin lurking around any person even the Blood of Jesus cannot forgive such sins. This is the greatest tragedy of his life. This part of his life ruined his entire ‘priesthoodship’. So how serious one should be or we should be about unconfessed sins. Any sin which we don’t confess it to the LORD, the LORD cannot forgive it on him because only when one reveals his fault and cry out to Jesus at the Cross, having a bitterness towards sin and thereby developing hatred and wanting deliverance, then the precious blood of Jesus will cleanse that serious injury called sin and justifies the sinner.

iv. Illegal Relationship:

All men commit sin. And there is nobody else without sin except GOD. From the beggar to the President all are equally ranked by hell as victims of sin. So in that perspective, when we see the priest, though he is a priest he is wrong too. The flesh is weak and always lusteth against the Spirit. Temptations may arise to any level to every human being including children to commit sin. Without tempting, nobody could escape sin. Sin will declare whether it overcome it had been overcome. Except GOD there is nobody in the world to first put sin to shame. He was tempted and found blameless and guiltless. He overcame sin. In this perspective when we see the priest, we should have sympathy otherwise if we point out and judge him there we are doing it with self-righteousness which is again guilty in the sight of GOD. Again, even here, the priest had a woman called Maria with a six year old girl called Brigitta. Even here the priest hid this isn and repented not. Seeing this, it feels sympathy.

v. Three Faults:

Now when we consider the priest he has three major faults which a priest should not have. The three faults were drinking aspect of the priest, having an illegitimate woman and a child, and being a coward.
The first two were because of hiding the sin and covering it or polishing it. Because it is written in the Word of GOD, “He that covereth his sin shall not be saved, but he that confesseth and forsaketh it.” Also the Word of GOD admonishes if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and clease you from all unrighteousness. So the cause of the first too were because of hiding it. The last aspect was being a coward. Sin makes one to fear since there is always fear and frightening and torment in sin. So one could have sympathy toward the priest for loosing his life by not knowing what to do even the main aspects.

vi. Traitor of the State:

Since he has been declared to be the traitor of the State, at least now he has to fear the LORD and ask Him to forgive and save. But being coward, he tried to flee from the situation but fell into the fire. That is jumping out of the fire pan yet jumping into the fire. By this he loses his own soul and no care about his own soul has been taken. So this all can bring sympathy for the priest by persons who are outside the story and new to the story. Because of being wanted by the lieutenant he flees and never confesses. Again he continues to drink whisky and brandy at the restaurant. When jailed, again he buys whisky and brandy. This all speaks that he is like a goat going after a whore to the slaughter house. Seeing all this one can feel sympathy because his soul is dying inside of no GOD.

Samuel Gnanaselvan, D, II BA English, Assignment in Modern Fiction

Assignment on Passage to India

Submitted by: Samuel Gnanaselvan, D

Though A Passage to India is in many ways a highly symbolic, or even mystical, text, it also aims to be a realistic documentation of the attitudes of British colonial officials in India.

The Difficulty of English-Indian Friendship

A Passage to India begins and ends by posing the question of whether it is possible for an Englishman and an Indian to ever be friends, at least within the context of British colonialism. Forster uses this question as a framework to explore the general issue of Britain's political control of India on a more personal level, through the friendship between Aziz and Fielding. At the beginning of the novel, Aziz is scornful of the English, wishing only to consider them comically or ignore them completely. Yet the intuitive connection Aziz feels with Mrs. Moore in the mosque opens him to the possibility of friendship with Fielding. Through the first half of the novel, Fielding and Aziz represent a positive model of liberal humanism: Forster suggests that British rule in India could be successful and respectful if only English and Indians treated each other as Fielding and Aziz treat each other—as worthy individuals who connect through frankness, intelligence, and good will.

Yet in the aftermath of the novel's climax—Adela's accusation that Aziz attempted to assault her and her subsequent disavowal of this accusation at the trial—Aziz and Fielding's friendship falls apart. The strains on their relationship are external in nature, as Aziz and Fielding both suffer from the tendencies of their cultures. Aziz tends to let his imagination run away with him and to let suspicion harden into a grudge. Fielding suffers from an English literalism and rationalism that blind him to Aziz's true feelings and make Fielding too stilted to reach out to Aziz through conversations or letters. Furthermore, their respective Indian and English communities pull them apart through their mutual stereotyping. As we see at the end of the novel, even the landscape of India seems to oppress their friendship. Forster's final vision of the possibility of English-Indian friendship is a pessimistic one, yet it is qualified by the possibility of friendship on English soil, or after the liberation of India. As the landscape itself seems to imply at the end of the novel, such a friendship may be possible eventually, but “not yet.”

The Negligence of British Colonial Government:

Though A Passage to India is in many ways a highly symbolic, or even mystical, text, it also aims to be a realistic documentation of the attitudes of British colonial officials in India.

Though A Passage to India is in many ways a highly symbolic, or even mystical, text, it also aims to be a realistic documentation of the attitudes of British colonial officials in India. Forster spends large sections of the novel characterizing different typical attitudes the English hold toward the Indians whom they control. Forster's satire is most harsh toward Englishwomen, whom the author depicts as overwhelmingly racist, self-righteous, and viciously condescending to the native population. Some of the Englishmen in the novel are as nasty as the women, but Forster more often identifies Englishmen as men who, though condescending and unable to relate to Indians on an individual level, are largely well-meaning and invested in their jobs. For all Forster's criticism of the British manner of governing India, however, he does not appear to question the right of the British Empire to rule India. He suggests that the British would be well served by becoming kinder and more sympathetic to the Indians with whom they live, but he does not suggest that the British should abandon India outright. Even this lesser critique is never overtly stated in the novel, but implied through biting satire.

The Unity of All Living Things

Though the main characters of A Passage to India are generally Christian or Muslim, Hinduism also plays a large thematic role in the novel. The aspect of Hinduism with which Forster is particularly concerned is the religion's ideal of all living things, from the lowliest to the highest, united in love as one. This vision of the universe appears to offer redemption to India through mysticism, as individual differences disappear into a peaceful collectivity that does not recognize hierarchies. Individual blame and intrigue is forgone in favor of attention to higher, spiritual matters. Professor Godbole, the most visible Hindu in the novel, is Forster's mouthpiece for this idea of the unity of all living things. Godbole alone remains aloof from the drama of the plot, refraining from taking sides by recognizing that all are implicated in the evil of Marabar. Mrs. Moore, also, shows openness to this aspect of Hinduism. Though she is a Christian, her experience of India has made her dissatisfied with what she perceives as the smallness of Christianity. Mrs. Moore appears to feel a great sense of connection with all living creatures, as evidenced by her respect for the wasp in her bedroom.

Yet, through Mrs. Moore, Forster also shows that the vision of the oneness of all living things can be terrifying. As we see in Mrs. Moore's experience with the echo that negates everything into “boum” in Marabar, such oneness provides unity but also makes all elements of the universe one and the same—a realization that, it is implied, ultimately kills Mrs. Moore. Godbole is not troubled by the idea that negation is an inevitable result when all things come together as one. Mrs. Moore, however, loses interest in the world of relationships after envisioning this lack of distinctions as a horror. Moreover, though Forster generally endorses the Hindu idea of the oneness of all living things, he also suggests that there may be inherent problems with it. Even Godbole, for example, seems to recognize that something—if only a stone—must be left out of the vision of oneness if the vision is to cohere. This problem of exclusion is, in a sense, merely another manifestation of the individual difference and hierarchy that Hinduism promises to overcome.

The “Muddle” of India

Forster takes great care to strike a distinction between the ideas of “muddle” and “mystery” in A Passage to India. “Muddle” has connotations of dangerous and disorienting disorder, whereas “mystery” suggests a mystical, orderly plan by a spiritual force that is greater than man. Fielding, who acts as Forster's primary mouthpiece in the novel, admits that India is a “muddle,” while figures such as Mrs. Moore and Godbole view India as a mystery. The muddle that is India in the novel appears to work from the ground up: the very landscape and architecture of the countryside is formless, and the natural life of plants and animals defies identification. This muddled quality to the environment is mirrored in the makeup of India's native population, which is mixed into a muddle of different religious, ethnic, linguistic, and regional groups.

Hebzibah Nancy, II BA English, Assignment in Modern Fiction

Compare and contrast of Priest and Lieutenant:

Submitted by: Hebzibah Nancy, II BA English

The protagonist of the story, the priest is waging a war on two fronts: haunted by his sinful past, he struggles internally with deep qualms about himself, and pursued by the authorities, he works to evade capture by the police for as long as he can. The priest is not a conventional hero: he is at times cowardly, self-interested, suspicious, and pleasure-oriented. That is to say he is human. The extraordinary hardships he has endured on the run from the government for eight years have transformed him into a much more resilient and mentally strong individual, although he still carries around with him strong feelings of guilt and worthlessness. He is self-critical almost to a fault.

What is remarkable about Greene's depiction of this person is that he refuses to spare us the priest's less-than-noble side, and yet also convincingly shows him overcoming his weaknesses and performing acts of great heroism. The most important single act comes near the end of the novel, when he decides to accompany the mestizo back across the border, to the state in which he is being hunted, in order to hear the confession of a dying man. The priest does not recognize the real value of his actions, nor does he fully comprehend what kind of impact he has had on people's lives. He tends to hear only from those people who have been hurt or disappointed by him in some way: Maria, Brigida, the pious woman. He does not see the many people whose lives have been touched merely by coming into contact with him or hearing about his death; Mr. Tench and the boy are the two most notable examples. Because this positive influence remains hidden to him, the priest does not have a true conception of the value of his life, and therefore, remains an extremely humble man to the day of his death. He also feels that he can never be truly penitent for his sexual relationship with Maria, since it produced Brigida, his daughter, whom he loves very deeply.

The priest un-named for the entirety of the novel, the priest or “the whisky priest” as he sometimes refers to himself, is the protagonist and the character upon whom the novel’s most important moral questions center. He spends the majority of the novel on the run from the police, friendless and homeless and searching for some sense of purpose in his life. His decadent, indulgent life as a parish priest takes place before the novel begins, but it is present in his thoughts throughout the novel as a source of deep humiliation. He spends the novel pursued by the police who believe the Church exploits the poor, and tormented by his own sense of guilt. He meets his daughter, the product of a secret affair with one of his parishioners, and finds that his love for her makes it impossible for him to repent the sin of conceiving her. He often chastises himself for impulses and reactions that are very normal and very human.

At the beginning of the novel, the priest is waiting for a boat that will take him out of the capital city. He is on the run from the police because religion has been outlawed in his state and he is the last remaining clergyman. While talking to a man named Mr. Tench, he is summoned to a dying woman's house and misses his boat. He hides out in a barn on the estate of a plantation owner, befriending the owner's daughter. Forced to move on, he heads to a village in which he used to live and work as pastor. There he meets Maria, a woman with whom he has had a brief affair, and Brigida, his illegitimate daughter. He spends the night in the town and wakes before dawn to say mass for the villagers.

The lieutenant—a sworn enemy of all religion—arrives at the end of mass, leading a group of policemen in search of the priest, and the priest goes out to the town square to face his enemy. No one in the village turns him in, however, and the lieutenant does not realize that he has foun d the man he is looking for. Instead, the lieutenant takes a hostage, whom he says he will execute if he finds that the villagers have been lying to him about the whereabouts of the wanted man.

The priest heads to the town of Carmen, and on the way he meets a man known simply as the mestizo. Uninvited, the mestizo accompanies the priest on his journey, and it very soon becomes clear that he is an untrustworthy figure, and most likely interes ted in following the priest so that he can turn him in and collect the reward money. The priest finally admits that he is, indeed, a priest. But the mestizo, who has become feverish by the second day of their journey together, does not have the strength t o follow the priest when he veers off course. The priest knows that if he enters Carmen he will surely be captured, and he lets the mestizo ride on towards the town by himself. The priest, aware that he is walking into a trap, finally agrees to accompany the mestizo back across the border. There he meets the gringo, who refuses to repent for his sins and then dies. Then, as expected, the lieutenant arrives and ta kes the priest into custody. The two men have a long conversation about their beliefs and then, when the storm front clears, the lieutenant takes the priest back to the capital city for his trial.

The Lieutenant:

Driven by an obsessive hatred for the Catholic Church, the lieutenant will stop at nothing to apprehend and execute the priest, who, he believes, is the last remaining clergyman in the state. The lieutenant is a principled, disciplined man with a strong sense of justice. He is committed to political ideals that he thinks will help the poor and create equality and tolerance in the state. Unfortunately, he oftentimes allows his focus on his noble goal to obscure questions about the means he is employing to reach that goal. The most striking example of this is his decision to round up hostages and execute people if the villagers lie to him about the priest's whereabouts. As we see, the selection process is entirely arbitrary, hardly just, and extremely violent. It is easy to see why the people are as skeptical of the state as they are of the church. But even this person is capable of change. From time to time throughout the novel he shows that he is not an unkind person. After his conversation with the captured priest, he softens considerably, trying to find someone to hear the priest's confession and bringing him a bottle of brandy to quiet his fears. The political movement to which he belongs has taught him to look at people in generalized terms: that is, all priests are bad and all those working for the lieutenant's cause are good. The priest, who proves himself to be modest, intelligent and compassionate, disrupts the lieutenant's habitual way of looking at the Catholic clergy. By the end of the novel, he has accomplished his mission, but he feels a strange sense of emptiness and despondency. Without a target, his life has no meaning or sense of purpose and Greene suggests that lingering doubts fill the lieutenant's mind troubling him about whether he has done the right thing by killing the priest.

Riyukta, R, II BA English - Assignment in Modern Fiction

What is power and what is glory in the novel. Explain the significance of the title.

Submitted by: Riyukta, R,

Graham Greene (1904 - 1991)

Greene worked as a journalist and a critic and was later employed by the foreign office. Greene was an English novelist who also produced short stories, plays, screenplays and travelwriting.

His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene combined serious literary acclaim with wide popularity.

Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a Catholic novelist rather than as a novelist who happened to be Catholic, Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing especially in, Brighton Rock, The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Affair, and The Power and the Glory.

The Power and the Glory, first published fifty years ago and is generally agreed to be Graham Greene's masterpiece, the book of his held highest in popular as well as critical esteem. Based upon less than two months spent in Mexico in March and April of 1938, including five weeks of grueling, solitary travel in the southern provinces of Tabasco and Chiapas, the novel is Greene's least English, containing only a few minor English characters.

Perhaps it succeeds so resoundingly because there is something un-English about the Roman Catholicism which infuses, with its Manichaean darkness and tortured literalism, his most ambitious fiction.

These are the words written by John Updike, 1990. This novel, The Power and the Glory revolves around the 'whisky priest,' a worldly priest who is on the run for about seven years during the vicious persecution of the clergy in Mexico in 1938. The Red Shirts have taken control, God has been outlawed and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now the last priest (unnamed or whisky priest) strives to overcome physical and moral cowardice in order to find redemption.

The novel traces the priest's unsuccessful turbulent escape eventually leading to him being executed.

Like a number of Graham Greene novels, The Power and the Glory deals with the interaction of politics and religion. In this case, there is utter hostility between the two. Politics, as represented by the socialism of the lieutenant, concerns itself with improving social conditions, especially for the poor. Religion, as represented by the priest, concerns itself with the salvation of the souls.

The title of the Power and the Glory is symbolic as it attracts the reader to the main idea taht is to be expected throughout the novel. Greene is a master of writing, he sets up the reader with such a simple title as this. "The Power and the Glory."

The main question throughout the novel is, Who has the power? Who has the glory? Are these two entities tangible, can they be owned? Can two people equally hold these two entities?

The novel does not really go on to answer these questions, it is left to the readers to decide and come to conclusions.

On reading the novel we understand that the squalid lieutenant wants the power for himself as he views the power as tangible.

"Why, I could guarantee to fetch this man in, inside a month if...

If what?

If I had the power." (Chapter 2)/ Spoken by the lieutenant.

On the above said lines by the lieutenant to the Chief of Police, you see the lieutenant's eager desire to gain power. He believes he can hunt down the whisky priest in less than a month if he had the power.

Opposing to the lieutenant's want for power you see the unnamed priest who states that he does not have the power as it is reserved for God.

As we know, religion is outlawed and so the power rests in the hands of the Red Shirts and not with the Church, the priests or even God. The Red Shirts exploit this very power and use it as a tool to hunt down and kill the priests.

While power belongs to the Red Shirts, glory, in the novel is entitled to the priests. Glory has always belonged to God and similarly even in the novel glory is entitled only to God. We see that although the priests are killed religion still exists. The novel ends on such a note, where a new priest knocks at the door of a boy's house. The boy on learning that the man is a priest, welcomes him gladly signifying the immortality of religion.

Greene seems to distinguish and attribute power to the state and glory to religion. Greene tackles the cliched argument of state and religion and leaves no one in doubt about where his loyalties lay. Like most readers, I am left with no choice but to agree to Greene's view of the world. The novel suggests that both ways of approaching life (via politics and via religion) are flawed. The lieutenant cannot see that his zealous idealism may well create as much harm as it does good (a danger to which the history of political revolution in the 20th century gives ample testimony.) In trying to stamp out religion, the lieutenant's approach ignores the deep longing people have for transcendental reality. But on the other hand there are plenty of hints about the hypocrisy of the church, which is always ready to take people's money while ignoring the miserable social conditions in which they live.

The priest as a representative of the church is of course a badly flawed figure. But the fact that he constantly indulges in an orgy of self reproach about his own sins may raise questions for the reader about the value of a religion that leads its representatives into such an overwhelming, soul-destroying sense of guilt. After all, the priest does his best to help himself in extremely difficult circumstances.

In the novel we see that the priest is extremely human for heroism and too humble for martyrdom. The 'whiskey priest' is nevertheless impelled towards his squalid cavalry as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers.

A baleful vulture doom hovers over this modern crufixion story, but above the vulture soars an eagle - the inevitability of the Church's triumph."

Reopening Date - Reg:

Dear Students,

Kindly do not believe in rumour sms that spreads panic among students on the reopening dates. Also, check the veracity of the sms and its authenticity before forwarding them to your friends as they cause untold hardships to students coming from afar.

Regards,

Rufus

Dayananth, J, from II BA English - Assignment in Modern Fiction

Critical Commentary on POWER AND THE GLORY and character sketch of the Protagonist
Submitted by: J.Dayananth, II BA English

The Power and the Glory is a novel by British author Graham Greene. The title is an allusion to the doxology often added to the end of the Lord’s prayer. “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now and forever, amen.

The main character in the story is a nameless "whiskey priest", who combines a great power for self-destruction with pitiful cravenness, an almost painful penitence and a desperate quest for dignity. The other main character is a lieutenant of the police who is given the task of hunting down this priest. This Lieutenant—also nameless but thought to be based upon Tomás Garrido Canabal— is a committed socialist who despises everything that the church stands for.

The concept of the sinful priest is elaborated on by minor transgressions which occur rather casually. When he is asked his name during the village raid he replies with the name of one of the hostages who was killed for harbouring the priest, Montez (cf. Greene 75). In itself, this already opposes God's commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (The Holy Bible, 2Mo. 20.16), but it might also hint on an allusion within a larger context. The priest refrains from abandoning his alias on two further occasions, namely when being arrested (Greene 120) and when being questioned in jail (Greene 139). These three incidents of disowning himself can be interpreted as a reference to the biblical story of Jesus' last supper and the prediction he makes regarding his disciple Peter who is to deny his lord three times before the cock crow twice (cf. The Holy Bible, Mk. 14.30). The fact that the nameless priest does not reveal his real identity and rather negate his true name, while it is his own name he negates in contrast to Peter who negates his association with Christ (cf. The Holy Bible, Mk. 14.72), establishes a dualistic structure in the character of the priest. He is both at the very heart of his own faith as well as a traitor in respect of his religious sturdiness.

Other parallels between the priest and Christ can be detected in the motif of being chased, captured and finally executed by the regimes against whose ideological predominance the perseverance of either men stands. When the priest has finally decided that he's “had enough of escaping” (Greene 190), he leaves behind his former modes of action, which involved lies and disguises. He openly returns to the wounded American to aid him, knowing that this means “walk[ing] into [the] trap” (Greene 186) set up for him by the authorities and the mestizo. In conjunction with being betrayed by the half-caste it is striking that the priest “bore no grudge because he expected nothing else of anything human” (Greene 198). As Jesus does not condemn Judas, the nameless priest forgives his betrayer, although Jesus' motivation must be identified as love towards mankind (cf. The Holy Bible, Lu. 23.34) whereas the priest is simply disillusioned regarding human nature. As a result, certain aspects of the priest's personality first allude to Christ's ideals but are then unmasked as side effects of a misanthropic world view. His pessimistic approach is, nonetheless, shaken by the honest “love” (Greene 82) to his daughter and the sincere care he expresses for her mother. Their relationship remains distanced (cf. Greene 78-82) , though, and a close emotional connection to the two reminders of his failing as a Catholic priest cannot be established. A pattern that dominates the nameless priest's behaviour is a distinct tendency to fall into religious routines. He constantly urges himself to fill acquired religious concepts with feelings, which makes him confess his sins to himself relentlessly, yet mechanically (cf. Greene 207-210). Generally, his faith is often perverted by a shift to stiffened religious customs. Triggered by the respectful and uncloaked interest that the parishioners on the other side of the mountains bestow him, he suddenly is seized by an unintended vanity when “he could feel the old life hardening round him like a habit, a stony cast which held his head high and dictated the way he walked, and even formed his words” (Greene 187f). Combined with the manner in which the parishioners haggle for the prices of baptisms (cf. Greene 167, 170), this self-awareness possibly forced him to rethink his position and to finally return beyond the mountains when the half-caste again enters the scenery. However, it certainly puts his religious self-conception into perspective and makes him get closer to an inner stabilisation and to emotional settlement.

Character sketch of the Protagonist:

The protagonist of the story, the priest is waging a war on two fronts: haunted by his sinful past, he struggles internally with deep qualms about himself, and pursued by the authorities, he works to evade capture by the police for as long as he can. The priest is not a conventional hero: he is at times cowardly, self-interested, suspicious, and pleasure-oriented. That is to say he is human. The extraordinary hardships he has endured on the run from the government for eight years have transformed him into a much more resilient and mentally strong individual, although he still carries around with him strong feelings of guilt and worthlessness. He is self-critical almost to a fault.

As the main protagonist of Greene's The Power and the Glory, the priest occupies a unique position within the plot's framework. Not only does his destiny set the readers' focus of attention, but he is also the character which unveils the most detailed insight into his personal sphere of emotions and, thus, becomes most approachable. This idea finds support in the assumption that he is far from being an ideal Roman Catholic priest who is by definition obliged to honour his vows given to his church and, thus, to completely submit to his god's commandments. On the contrary, the portrayal of the nameless priest as a simple human being, who is not immune to vice and sin rather than an example of moral values, crosses the gap between audience and lead character.

The most prevailing aspect of the Priest’s psyche is his personal conflict between responsibility and carelessness. Which becomes observable in numerous situations. Not only is he an alcohol addict and thus often referred to a s a whisky priest and a self-proclaimed ‘coward’ but he also has a tendency to depressive notions and self-pity. Sudden onsets of spontaneous heroism and his general awareness of the negative implications of his actions nonetheless, shine through the image of the failing priest and re-balance his portrayal. He is neither a typical literary role model, nor is he an average anti hero. The nameless Priest falls from one extreme into the other, which can be accredited to the extraordinary circumstances of his life. As a result, the main protagonist of the novel never ceases to surprise the reader and to highlight unexpected facets of the human character.