LitAide

The protagonist and the narrator of the novel, The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes is a journalist in the novel. He has fought in the war and injured himself and lost his ability to engage in sexual intercourse. He along with his friends are American expatriates residing in Paris, embracing its culture. They are heavy drunkards and throughout the novel, they are either drinking sorts of liquors or traveling. Apart from Jake, no one engages in working to make a living. It is revealed covertly that Jake is in love with Lady Ashley aka Brett who is the sole lady in their traveling band. She knows about Jake's inclination towards her but she is a promiscuous lady who had a pitiful past but at present, she likes to be free and remains in multiple relationships. Jake despite after "ignored" by Brett, cares about her and whenever she needs any help. Jake is soft-spoken and doesn't make scenes even if he is emotionally sad. He never keeps a grudge against Mike, Brett's bo...

Meursault is the chief protagonist of the Albert Camus's The Stranger. He is bit taciturn and passive about the life's events. Neither life's joyous moments like marriage proposals nor devastating events like mother's death lead to either breakdown or ecstatic for him. In other words, when he gets the news of his mother's death, he doesn't lost his nerves and just want to finish the funeral ceremonies and return to his work. He keeps thinking about his boss's opinion about him taking a leave on this serious business. Marie's proposal to him too produces no jubilant response from him. In fact, marriage is not important to him. He responds to her that he could marry if it gives her happiness. Such is his queer personality. Till he murder of the Arab, he is just a silent spectator moving on his life without any future wishes. We don't find him nurturing any dream nor he has any ambitions. In spite of the novel narrated in the first person by Meursault...

I recently read this novel by Albert Camus, a Nobel laureate for Literature. The novel tells the story of a young man named Meursault, a queer fellow whose detachment from the outside world paves the way for his undoing. The story narrated in the first person by Meursault gives the readers the complete picture of his psyche of which others are ignorant. Yet we are still unsure about his rationale behind the shooting the Arab against whom he doesn't have any personal enmity. Another bewildering fact is his shooting him four times. We don't know if this cruel act is done unintentionally due to the extreme heat of the day. These questions still remain. His indifference or we can say pragmatism, especially in dealing with the events after her mother's demise carves his destiny later. Before her death, she lived in an Old Age Home. Although Meursault had a job and enough space to keep her with him but as he is a young man, it is difficult to hold a conversation with her. It is ...

The recent verdict of the Supreme Court in India struck off Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with Adultery. It reminds me of a famed novel of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" which also narrates the story of a woman who committed Adultery. Hawthorne's novel puts the limelight on the life of Hester prynne who is convicted of adultery and given the punishment of carrying the mark of her sin. The legal system resonates with the Puritan overview of Boston in the eighteenth century, deriving the crime as grave and eager to set an example out of her sentence. They make her stand on Scaffold to show townsmen the committer of the "heinous" crime. But, in spite of her criticism from all strata of people, we find that the narrative or Hawthorne's voice takes pity on her and her crime. His story-telling takes a soft stance on her and even. He through the character of Dimmesdale who was equally a partner of Hester in adultery. The follo...

Dr. Pal is one of the crucial characters of the novel "The Financial Expert". It is very difficult to either categorise under good ones or bad ones. His character is quite complicated. He selflessly helped Margayya in reaching the heights of success. He gave the manuscript of his book "Bed life" to him in return for a minuscule sum. He wanted him to earn much from the book. He is very knowledgeable and works as a journalist. In the beginning, we witness his ambitious side where he tells Margayya about his plan to launch a "sociology clinic" for solving domestic problems of husband and wife. He told him he was a sociologist. Margayya finds his ideas vulgar. Pal has no regard for a settled life. He has no fixed aim in life. He lives like a vagabond. He holds rational thoughts and emotions play no role. Perhaps, that's why he didn't marry. Money is not his concern and if he wanted money, he could earn a lot. It is undisputed because only one boo...

The character of John in the novel "Brave New World" represents an individual of the pre-World State order. He is raised in Malpais, a place in Savage Reservation. He is an illegitimate son of Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning. Due to his upbringing, he is old-fashioned as compared to the citizens of World State. He leads his life with practices of the Tribe like flagellation, simplicity, non-materialist. He is an ardent believer in God and tries his best to persuade Mustapha Mond about the importance of God in people's life. John wants an ideal and romantic love but disgusts at the love-making prevalent in the World State. He truly loves Lenina and wants her love too but in a solemn and traditional way. He wants to marry her but Lenina was conditioned to polyamorous love. John doesn't want to involve straight into sexual love, he wants a girl like "Juliet" which wasn't possible at the time. John has lived and studied Shakespeare's works and hi...

Positive Features : None of the citizens carries/acquires any disease because of the advancement in medical science. Treatment of every disease is possible there. Moreover, no one grows old and people remain young throughout their life. War has no place in the World State and various arrangement are made to avoid a war. In fact, violence is totally prohibited. It's all about happiness. The government wants its citizen to live jubilant life with no distress or loneliness. Soma is a life-saver. Every basic amenities are provided to people and there is no dearth of nearly anything. It is wholly a productive society. Protection and adaptation against the occupational hazards. Chemical workers are immunized against toleration of lead, caustic soda, tar and chlorine. Similarly, rocket-plane engineers are enhanced with an improved sense of balance. Negative Features : An advance yet class-based (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon) society which is contrary to a highly modern w...

The novel "Things Fall Apart" depicts the life of Igbo people and particularly focuses on the life of Okonkwo, a great warrior and his downfall. It would not be wrong to say that Okonkwo was a Tragic hero whose fall was due to his own recklessness and short-temper. Even the opening lines of the novels derived from the W.B Yeats's The Second Coming give the impression of the chaos loosened upon the world of Igbo in the form of British imperialists. So the title of the novel Things fall apart tells the negative implications at the end of the novel. The novel is divided into three parts, the first part provides a description of the life of Igbo people of Africa with an understanding eye of the author, who is an African himself. The second and the third part chronicle the advent of the mighty wave of the Britishers who turned the world of Igbos upside-down. In first and second parts, we vaguely get the omen of future unfortunate happening for both our protagonist and the ...

Merits: 1. Igbo society is an epitome of meritocracy as it gives the even remotest and segregated individuals to climb to the highest ladder of the society. Our hero Okonkwo, whose father Unoka was certainly not a great man but due to his son's persistent hard work and determination, he achieved a high status in his society. 2. Igbo people respect their traditions and religiously follow it. And cultural traditions bind people together and give them a sense of identity and dignity. Even an arrogant person like Okonkwo bows before the priest, Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess when he punished him for beating his wife during the week of peace. 3. Their Justice system is efficient to deliver justice to its people. There are no arbitrary decisions made by their law. Even a high-status person gets the same punishment for an offence as a poor one does. As it happened to Okonkwo who unintentionally killed the son of an elder person. For punishment, he had to leave the villa...

Balu is the only son of Margayya, the chief protagonist of the novel 'The Financial Expert'. From his childhood, Balu has been nurtured as a pampered child by his parents because they had no children for years after their marriage, that's why Balu remain too precious to them. This later culminates in him becoming a spoiled child with no purpose in life. Unlike his father, he doesn't possess any cleverness and hard-working attitude. He never performs his only duty of studying. All his life, Margayya works day and night to ensure a comfortable life for Balu but he never stands up to his father's expectations of making a big man. Margayya took pains to help Balu pass High school, even indulges in corrupt practices but it was no use. Balu tore all his hopes and left his home. He began to work as a "sandwich boys" in Madras, he was working there diligently and honestly unlike his earlier traits. We see a change perhaps due to his excessive hate towards stud...

The life represented in the novel shows the futuristic version of our world. The world has reached the zenith in the field of technology. People are governed by World Controllers. There are Ten World Controllers who run the government at the peak level. Their governing motto is: "Community, Identity and Stability." Children are not born here, they are nurtured in a lab where they are conditioned by Hypnopaedia (learning by hearing while asleep). Certain fundamental norms of the society are transferred to their minds with the above technique. They regard Henry Ford as an equivalent of Christ. Their A.F (After Ford) refers to the number of years according to their calendar. The division of the society remains static throughout their lives. They are classified into as follows : 1) Alpha  ------------- Privileged class 2) Beta    ------------- Privileged class 3) Gamma  ---------- Lower class 4) Delta     ---------- Lower class 5) Eps...

Margayya is the protagonist of the novel "The Financial Expert" written by R.K Narayana. Margayya is quite suitable for a tragic hero. His shrewd and hardworking character leads him to the heights of wealth from being broke. Making wealth is his sole wealth throughout his life and there is no limit to his lust for money. But he has no interest in living a lavish life and doesn't spend money in extravagant things except an umbrella. In spite of all his flaws, we love his character because he lives his life with pragmatic principles which are must for survival in a brutal world. He is considered as a genius in financial matters and later in the novel  people regard him  as a 'wizard'. In the beginning, he helps villagers in getting loans from the Cooperative bank and makes a living for this work. He never admits this work as a business in front of the villagers, he tells them it is a merely a social service to help those poor souls. His genius is again exhibited w...

As Margayya was disappointed with the priest and all his methods of deep prayer, he is now in a dire need of an worthy employment for himself. His earlier banking business produces no results, his old customers were reluctant to come near him because they fear he may demand their dues from them. So it was inevitable that his old business is gone forever. Now he is idle and spends much of his time at home. His wife scolds him to do something to cover domestic expenses. After spending much of his fortune on the silly deed on the advice of the priest, he is now left with 25 rupees with rejection from Goddess Lakshmi. It was indignant for him to stay at home all day with numerous visitors coming and going. They ask his wife about her husband not going out to work. Her wife also seems to irritate by his stay and she scolds him for not doing anything. His neighbours took note of his stay and took it for his inability to pay his creditors. After a month, he is left with 10 rupees and has ...

The novel "The Financial Expert" gives the readers a realistic and detailed picture of the father-son relationship. Margayya and his son Balu share a fraught relationship throughout the novel. From his childhood, Balu was nurtured as a pampered child solely because he was their only child who was begotten to them after a long period of time. Balu was a menace to his parents but his parents adore him. In the beginning, Margayya bowed to all of Balu's demand and envisage a bright future waiting ahead of him. He wanted him to study in the US and marry a judge's daughter. But as Balu grew, Margayya was caught up in his work and couldn't spend his time with him. Balu couldn't excel in his school nor he had any liking towards studies or exams. But Margayya was keen to get him passed through high school despite Balu's reluctance to not studying. That's where their relationship got much strained, Balu has transformed into an adolescent and due to his father...

The character of 'Okonkwo" plays the role of protagonist in the novel "Things Fall Apart" written by Chinua Achebe. A powerful character who flaunts his prowess in wrestling from his childhood. Despite being a son of a lazy and idle father, Unuoka, he has no hesitation to toil under the harsh sun. He has no respect for his father because he led a wasteful life and died a painful death, probably didn't find a place of burial. All his life, Okonkwo keeps a thought of humiliation due to his unworthy father who didn't earn even a single title. His hatred against his father's life moulded him to become a hard, arrogant person from his childhood. When he became a respectful person later in his life, he also targets weak or low people who have no titles. One main characteristic of Okonkwo is his rashness and short-tempered nature. He never talked softly. For minute reasons, he beats his wife and sons but later he regrets internally but he never apologize...

The celebrated novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" of Harper Lee needs no introduction to the readers as it is one of the most established books of all time and Lee, for years, was herself surprised by its massive success. Here in this article, I will discuss some lessons from Atticus, the ideal hero of the novel who, in my view, was too unrealistic and perfect like Mahatma Gandhi. Atticus was one of the few people who sympathise with black people and respects them just as one person respects another. He treated Calpurnia, his housekeeper with impunity and taught his children to respect and take orders from her. He wants his children to come to him when they have some query or doubt of them rather than to ask other people of the Maycomb city. It was because Atticus was aware of people's stereotype and their narrow attitude towards many things. "I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough... J...