WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE TRANSGENDER
It is a soul-baring poem about what it feels like to
be a transgender in a highly gendered culture. It
powerfully addresses the gender identity issues
in the context of transphobia and the increased
suicide rates among the transgender people. In
the autobiographical poem about the history of
one’s gender expression, microbe describes how
he came out as a transgender: “I was the mystery
of an anatomy, a question asked but not
answered , \ tightroping between awkward boy
and apologetic girl& when I turned 12, the phase
wasn’t deemed cute anymore’. Being a
thoughtful description on bodies & the meaning
poured into them, the poet turns into a
pessimistic mood, having recognized one’s non-
acceptance in a world where religions preach
universal love.
REFUGEE BLUES
Written in march 1939, during the third Reich in
Germany when anti-Semitism was at its raging
peak, ‘refugee blues’ laments is the sad plight of
the Jews who were threatened to leave the
country before the Holocaust to the modern
democracies and the indifference & antagonism
they faced, while seeking asylum there. The
poem is often considered as one of the most
significant response in the context of the
violation of the human rights of the Jews of the
of Europe who were brutally cornered,
imprisoned & killed under Hitler and more
cruelly, ignored by the ‘gret’ secular democracies
of the world. Written in twelve stanzas of three
lines, with the rhyme scheme AAB, the poem is
special importance in the present global context
in which migration has emerged as a burning
problem, with thousands dying at the sea and
shown the door of exit from many countries, the
speaker of the poem is a Jewish refugee who is
addressing his lover about the abysmal plight of
the refugees of the world. The term blues of the
title stands for a song that laments an event
which is depressing, a meter that Auden used in
poems like “calypso” and one that the American
blacks used in their protest pottery . the repletion
of the phrases of the last lines of each of the
stanzas and the insertion of “my dear” in
between makes the poem really very touching.
CLAIMING AN EDUCATION
Rich’s claiming an education the convocation
speech delivered in September 1977 to the
graduating women students of Douglass college,
new jersey, USA, speak of the importance of
claiming versus receiving an education, a
dilemma faced in most schools and curriculums
across the world. As many others believe, rich
explains that being educated is right and there
for both the women & men should claim that
right. Receiving, on the other hand, is to accept,
as if education is being offered as an option
rather than a right. Further in her speech, she
goes on to tell about the importance of education
women as well as women’s rights in an
educational environment rich considers the
gendered nature and the institutionalized biases
of the academic and demands an education that
requires an element of active personal initiative.
She further her argument by stating that
education entails being responsible to oneself-
not just for women. But for all students.
THE STORY OF AN HOUR
The story of an hour originally published in vogue
on 6 December 1894 as “the dream of an hour”,
is a brilliant exploration of the concept of
marriage, from a feminist perspective, as a site of
confinement. Through the universal and timeless
theme the story also seeks an understanding of
the meaning of gender roles and proper
definition of what it means to be free and happy.
The starling anti-climax with which the story is
concluded also throws light on the meaning of
life and death. Louise’s thoughts, like Edna’s
actions in the awakening, reflect the moods
emotions felt by many women who sought
personal freedom
ZLATEH THE GOAT
It is the titular work of singer’s 1966 publication
zlateh the goat and other short stories is a
poignant story about the bond between human
beings & animals. It is set around Hanukkah time
in an unnamed Jewish settlement in Poland.
Reuven the furrier’s family consists of wife leah,
the eldest son aroan and two daughters anna and
Miriam. The family falls on bad days as the winter
has been slow and relatively mild, and there has
been little need for a furrier’s service. As a way
out, reuven decides on selling zlateh the goat to
feivel, the butcher, which will fetch him eight
gulden to celebrate the Jewish festival. The job is
entrusted to Aaron who has to obey his father
out of necessity. On the way weather turns
worse. Aaron and zaleth are caught in a hail
strom. They ose the way and are trapped in a
blizzard. Finally both find shelter inhaystack
where aaron finds sustenance from the goat’s
milk. During the three days spent inside the
haystack aaron and zlaeh devolope a special
bound, where the boy begins to view the goat
not simply as his pet animal but more like a
sister. The unconditional trust of an animal in
human beings, the seamless nature of the web of
life that includes plant and animal kingdom- it
was the hay that hept zlateh alive for thre days
which in turn enabled her to feed aaron with milk
– the changing faces of landscape and weather
are the major themes of the story
ON KILLIG A TREE
It includein the collection poem which was
launched by the famous poet nissim Ezekiel,
describes man’s cruelty to trees – symbolic of
nature- with irony and detache ment. The step by
step process in annihiliating the tree is minutely
portrayed in the poem. The tree has grown
slowly consuming the earth. It has become strong
absorbing air, water and sunshine. It has rooted
itself deep in to the soil. Hence, mere acts of
hacking and chopping can’t destroy the tree it
has remarkable powers of resilience. So man
decides to pull outr the root itself and cuts the
tree into convient pieces. His torture of the felled
tre continews by scorching and choking it in the
sun and air and by browing and hardening it
through various chemical process. Man is not
Unaware of the benefits of tree in life, but his
greed for wealth has made him utterly callous
and insensitive. Though the poem provides step
by step instruction for destroying the tree, its
implied message against killing trees. The poem
underlines the resilience of nature in spite of
human violence against it. Patel employs irony
and sarcasm to convey his anger against
environmental destruction. However, the poem is
open for multiple interpretation. It seems to
speak of persistence if we want to eradicate a
problem.
The language of on killing a tree is
simple and the diction has remarkable evocative
power. The poem is an apt commentary on a
major environmental issue- mindless
deforestation that human beings face today.
Quite characteristics of Patel, the tone of the
poem is flat, dispassionate, even offhand, wary of
any attempt to enable, prettify or sentimentalize
the subject matter
THE OUTCASTE
The outcast is about an untouchable family in
general and community struggles in particular. It
reflects the condition of the maars, an oppressed
caste, about half a century back and gives a true
and realistic picture of the darker side of the
Indian society. The best way to find out the
sufferings of the Dalit’s and the other
marginalized sections it through the words and
emotions of those who have lived through the
experience and who have the education and
talent to write so vividly about it. The present
extract, noted for its employment of pathos, is
the anger filled narration of an incidents of caste
discrimination and humiliation that the Dalit
children faced during their school life.
TOBA TEK SINGH
It is a satirical short story on the madness called
communalism which culminated itself in the
partition of india into two separate nations, India
& Pakistan, 1947. The satirical vein runs
throughout the story and madness as a metaphor
for religious fanaticism looms large as the
narrative progress. Toba is a Punjabi word
meaning pound named after the Sikh religious
leader tek sing. The legend says that tekh sing, a
kind hearted man, served water and provided
shelter to worn out travelers irrespective of their
caste and creed who passed by a small pond
called toba which eventually was called toba tek
sing. In “toba tek sing:, man to portrays a social
and psychological territory in which madness is
the reigning norm. this world neither belongs to
India nor to Pakistan but is born out of the turmil
of Partition. It is atypical catch-22 situation that
the story presents: a paradoxical situation from
which an individual cannot escape because of
contradictory rules.
Lunacy has no nationality as it places
people in a no man’s land where there are no
boundaries and barrier. Toba tek sing refusal to
move either to India or to Pakistan thus becomes
a satirical portrayal of how madness can be
pitched against the real madness called
communalism and nationalistic fervor springing
from religious bigotry. Rigmarole, bedhlam and
gibberish are the three motifts in the story the
three being metaphors of madness and chaos.
IMAGES OF CLONIALISUM AND PARTION IN
FREEDOM
according to Tagore freedom was not nearly
politican in nature but a kind of liberation of the
human spirit from all shackles of oppression and
convention. Real freedom consisting freedom
from alla kinds of op[pression , religious,
political,moral & intellectual. He wishes his
contriment to be united in their struggle to reach
the highest state of freedom over coming the
narrow domestic strife and barrios of cast and
creed freedom is an evocative document which
attendance to state what it means to be free
during the days of halionalist campaign. The
poem assumes great significance when new
powers try to control our country
In the first two lines of the poem Tagore refers
to india as the “mother land”. He states that he
wants india to be free from fear. The word
freedom is repeated throughout the poem to
express the poets deep wish for his country to be
independent
In the third line he builds on the image
of India as aging mother and he wants her to be
free from the burden of the ages which refers to
the yoke of English control of india. The aged
women who represents india bents her head,
bets her back and blinds her ice under the burden
of colonialism he separate of the way in which
india does not herself see the future or imagine a
brighter future for herself by blinding her ice
When Tagore asks for freedom from the
anarchy of destiny he means that he doesn’t
want his country to just blindly and passively
follow the fate that has been given to it and he
compares to his fate and destiny to a sail boat
that has to follow winds.
The Tagore ask for freedom from
india living in a puppets world by which he means
a world in which india is contributed by other
countries and features as a puppet is controlled
by a puppeteer the movements are orchestrated
through brainless weirs meaning that England
controls india with out thinking and by following
“mindless habits” meaning customs that are
followed without reasons
In this extended metaphor comparing india to
puppet show, figures who are clearly indains,
weight obidientity just to follow the master of
the show, meaning their English rockers their
fore the india lives a mimicry of life meaning an in
authentic life controlled by others