Assignment - 205

 Cultural Studies 

Paper - 205

Name - Nehalba Gohil

Roll no - 15

Enrollment no - 4069206420210009

Email ID - nehalbagohil26@gmail.com

Batch - 2021 - 23

M.A - Sem 3

Submitted to - S.B. Gardi Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University 

Four Goals of Cultural Studies

          ‘Culture’ is a term which has may connotations cultural is refinement or development of mind tastes, etc. by education, training and experience. It is a form of civilization. It can be called an advance development of the human power. Also culture is an evidence of intellectual development in a particular nation. The meaning and context of culture differs from country to country and person to person.

         A college class on the American novel is reading a famous book of Allice Walker called. The Colour purple (1982). In the classroom the professor identifies African American literacy and cultural sources and then he describers the book’s multilayered narrative structure. Also the professor gave a brief review of its feminist critique of American gender and racial attitudes. Films and novels of different countries show their varied culture even gestures differ from culture 

ORIGIN :

          ‘Culture’, derives from ‘Cultura’ and ‘colere’ meaning ‘to cultivate’. It also meant ‘to honour’ and ‘project’ by the 19th century in Europe it tastes of the upper class (elite).

          ‘culture’ is the mode of producing meaning and ideas. This ‘mode’ is a negotiation over which meanings are valid. Elite culture controls meanings because it controls the terms of the debate.

          Culture studies looks at marker popular culture and everyday life. Popular culture is the culture of masses. A culture study argues that culture is about the meanings a community or society generates. A cultural study believes that the ‘culture’ of a community includes various aspects: economic, spatial, ideological, erotic and political. Culture is not a natural thing it is produced, cultural studies is interested in production and consumption of culture. Emphasis on discourse and totality are at centre to cultural studies. It believes that we cannot ‘read’ cultural artifacts only within the esthetic realm.

Stuart Hall’s work has been a trendsetter in cultural studies and inaugurated the field in Britain. Hall’s essay of ‘encoding’ and Decoding ‘set the scene’ for cultural studies of the media. The essay argued about meaning within the texts – songs, painting, TV soaps takes helps of codes to organize. ‘Culture’ which makes a society “a cultured society”.

Margaret Mead: “Culture is the learned behavior of society or a subgroup.”

Clifford Geertz : “Culture is simply ensemble of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.”

The tone of this early version of cultural studies was set by students if the British New left, especially Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams.

Function :

          What cultural studies does is to interpret sings of culture such as the ones listed above as part of a power struggle to acquire, maintain or contest meanings. The ‘Critique’ component of cultural studies explores the political significance of the signs of signs as what they mask or gloss, what they refinance, cultural studies, studies the language in and through which meanings are made in a particular culture. Cultural studies questions how such meaning reflect the power struggle within that culture studies explores how certain meanings are privileged in that culture at the cost of others.

“A cultural study is the analysis of cultures systems of meaning – production and consumption.”

Steven spielber’s movies and opera Winfred show point out, examine inter-relationship among – race, gender, popular culture, the media, and literature. The director and anchor, both of them question cultural conventions. Historical and contemporary aspects are on the oprah Winfred show, in Hollywood films. The TV Programmers in our country also presents various cultures. Gujarati, Bengali and Rajasthan TV soaps on channels are famous now a days. Such movies also run well in theatres for long time.

Elaine Showalter in her essay on feminism talks about the different cultures and contexts. She talks about American culture as well as French culture. Ronald Barlher, Claude Levi-Straurs, Jacuque Derride and Michel Foucault all had to say one or the other thing about culture in their critical essay. A culture study has connection with maxims, the new historicism, multiculturalism, postmodernism, popular culture and postcolonial studies. 

Cultural Studies approaches share four goals :

•  Cultural Studies transcends the confiner of a particular discipline such as literacy criticism or history.
• Cultural studies are politically engaged.
•  Cultural studies deny the separation of ‘high’ and ‘low’ are elite and popular culture.
•  Cultural studies analyze not only the cultural work, but also the means of production.

(1) Cultural Studies transcends the confiner of a particular discipline such as literacy criticism or history.

                   A cultural study is practiced in such journals as critical Inquiry, Representation and boundary. Italian Opera, a Latino ‘telenovela’ the architectural styles of prisons, body piercing – and drawing conclusion about the changes in textual phenomena over time-such things are found in these kinds of newspapers cultural studies not simply or essentially about literature in the traditional sense or even about “Art”. Lawrence Grosberg, cary Nelson, and Paula. Trencher stress that the intellectual promise of cultural studies lies in its attempts to “cut across diverse social and political interests and address many of the struggles within the current scene.” Intellectual works are not limited by their “borders” as single text, historical problems or disciplines, and the critical own personal connections to what is analyzed and described. Henry Giroux and others write in their “Dalhousie Revise” manifesto that cultural studies practitioners are ‘resisting intellectuals’ who see what they do as “an emancipator project” as it erodes the traditional disciplinary divisions in most institutions of higher educational. For students, this sometimes means that a professor might make his or his own political view part of the instruction, which of course, can lead to problems. But this kind of criticism, like feminism, is an engaged rather than a detached activity.

(2) Cultural Studies is politically engaged:

          The cultural critics see themselves as “Oppositional” not only within their own discipliner but to many of the power structures of society at large. The cultural critics question inequalities within power structures and try to find out the models for restructuring relationships among the dominant and “minority” of “Subaltern” discourses. The meaning and individual subjectivity are culturally constructed, they can thus be reconstructed. This type of idea, taken to a Philosophical extreme, demise the autonomy of the individual whether an actual person or a character in literature, a rebuttal of the traditional humanistic “Great man” or “Great Book” theory and a relocation of esthetics and culture from the ideal realsm of taste and sensibility into the arena of a whole society’s everyday life as it is constructed. 

3) Cultural studies demise the separation of ‘high’ and ‘low’ or elite and popular culture.

                   In these days cultural critics work to transfer the term culture to include mass culture, whether popular, folk, or urban. Jean Belldrillard, Andreas Huyssen and some other critics of cultural studies argue that after World War II the distinction among high low and mass culture collapsed. They look forward on other theorists like pierre Bourdieu and Dick Hebdige on how “good taste often only reflects prevailing social, economic and political power bases.”

                   For example, the images of India that were circulated during the colonial rule of British ray by writes like Rudyard Kipling seem innocent, but reveal and entrenched imperialist argument for white superiority and worldwide domination of white superiority and world wide domination of other races, especially Asians wherever British or French or any other whoever ruled the colonist tried to show their culture superior. But race along was not the issue for the British raj: money was also another determining factor. Thus, drawing also upon the ideas of French Gistorian Michel de Certeam, cultural critics examine.

“The practice of everyday life”, studying literature as an anthropologist would, as a phenomenon of culture, including a culture’s economy. Cultural critics describe ‘what’ is produced and how various productions relate to one another. They do not determine to find out which one is the best work. Their aim is to reveal the political economic reasons ‘why’ a certain cultural product is more valued at certain times than others.

Changing of boundaries among disciplines high and low can make cultural studies just plain fun. Some of these examples are the given titles.

The birth of captain Jach Sparrow :

An Analysis

Disney’s pirates of the Caribbean: The curse o the Blach Pearl (2003)

R.L. Stevenson’s long John Silver in ‘Treasure Island’ (1881)

Keith Richard’s eye makeup.

(4) Cultural studies analyses not only the cultural work, but also the means of production.

Marxist critics have recognized the importance of such par literary questions such as –

‘Who supports a given artist?’

‘Who publishes his or her books, and how are these books distributed’?

Who buys books?

For that matter, who is literate and who is not?

A well-known analysis of literary production is Janice Radway’s study of the America romance (novel) and its readers, “Reading the Romance: women, patriarchy and popular literature, which demonstrates the textual effects of the publishing industry’s decisions effects of the publishing industry’s decisions about books that will reduce its financial risks.”

Another contribution is the collection ‘Reading in America which is edited by Cathy N. Davidson, which includes essays on literacy and gender in colonial New England, urban magazine audiences in eighteenth – century New York city, the impact upon reading of such technical immolation as cheaper eyeglasses, electric lights, and trains, the book – of the month club and how written and texts go through fluctuations of popularity and canonicity. Thus we can say that literature is not separate from our past, present and future.’

Cultural studies joins subjectivity means culture in relation to individual lives with ‘engagement’ a direct approach to attacking social malpractices. The practitioners of cultural studies deny ‘humanism’ or ‘the humanities’ as universal categories. The practioners strive for what they might call ‘social - reason’, which often resemble the goals and values of humanistic and democratic ideals. 

Now, let us see what difference does a cultural studies approach make for the student? First of all, it is increasingly clear that by the year 2050 the United States would be what demographers call a majority minority population; by this one has to understand that the present numerical majority of ‘white’, ‘Caucasian’ and Anglo will be the minority Americans, particularly with the dramatically increasing numbers of Latina residents, mostly Mexican ameucans.

Gerald Graff and James Phelan absolve, “It is a common prediction that the culture of the next century will put a premium on people’s ability to deal productively with conflict and cultural difference, learning by controversy is sound training for citizenship in that future.”

To the enquiry “why teach the controversy?” they noted that today a student can go from one class in which the values of western culture are never questioned to the next class where western culture is portrayed as hope lessee compromised by racism, sexism and homophobia; professors can acknowledge these difference and encourage students to contract a conversation for themselves as “the most exciting part of their education.”

Above discussed are the four goals of cultural studies. Also a cultural study is divided into five parts. The first part deals with British cultural materialism where British culture and the writes and theorize are discussed. The second one in New Historicism. It discusses various historical novels with a new approach. In the discusses ‘Laputa’ is given more space and with it feminism is appropriately discussed. The third one is American multiculturalism. Here, various cultures and their works on widely discussed. American condiment has mar countries and of course they were European colonies in the past. The culture of Mexicans red Indians and ‘white’ are presented with their mode of writers. This writer write about the way they were treated in past, the way they fought for the rights and the way they live theirs life or is Asian American writers. These, writers are migrates from Asian – sub – continent. The fourth one is postmodernism and popular culture. This part wildly discuss the term postmodernism, how the writers apply this terms – ‘the fifth is postcolonial studies’.

Assignment - 204

 Contemporary Western Theories and Film Studies 

Paper - 204 

Name - Nehalba Gohil

Roll no - 15 

Enrollment no - 4069206420210009

Email ID - nehalbagohil26@gmail.com 

Batch - 2021 - 23

M.A sem -  3

Submitted to - S.B Gardi Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University 

Eco - Criticism :-  

Definition :- 

Ecocriticism is the interdisciplinary study of the connections between literature and the environment. It draws on contributions from natural scientists, writers, literary critics, anthropologists and historians in examining the differences between nature and its cultural construction.  

What is Eco critical theory ? 

Ecocriticism is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view where all sciences come together to analyze the environment and brainstorm possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary environmental situation. Ecocriticism was officially heralded by the publication of two seminal works, both published in the mid-1990s: The Ecocriticism Reader, edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, and The Environmental Imagination, by Lawrence Buell.

Ecocriticism investigates the relation between humans and the natural world in literature. It deals with how environmental issues, cultural issues concerning the environment and attitudes towards nature are presented and analyzed. One of the main goals in ecocriticism is to study how individuals in society behave and react in relation to nature and ecological aspects. This form of criticism has gained a lot of attention during recent years due to higher social emphasis on environmental destruction and increased technology. It is hence a fresh way of analyzing and interpreting literary texts, which brings new dimensions to the field of literary and theoritical studies. Ecocriticism is an intentionally broad approach that is known by a number of other designations, including “green (cultural) studies”, “ecopoetics”, and “environmental literary criticism.”

Western thought has often held a more or less utilitarian attitude to nature —nature is for serving human needs. However, after the eighteenth century, there emerged many voices that demanded a revaluation of the relationship between man and environment, and man’s view of nature. Arne Naess, a Norwegian philosopher, developed the notion of “Deep Ecology” which emphasizes the basic interconnectedness of all life forms and natural features, and presents a symbiotic and holistic world-view rather than an anthropocentric one. 

Earlier theories in literary and cultural studies focussed on issue of class, race, gender, region are criteria and “subjects”of critical analysis. The late twentieth century has woken up to a new threat: ecological disaster. The most important environmental problems that humankind faces as a whole are: nuclear war, depletion of valuable natural resources, population explosion, proliferation of exploitative technologies, conquest of space preliminary to using it as a garbage dump, pollution, extinction of species (though not a human problem) among others. In such a context, literary and cultural theory has begun to address the issue as a part of academic discourse. Numerous green movements have sprung up all over the world, and some have even gained representations in the governments.  

Two types of Eco critical theory 

Ecocriticism emerged in the 1960s with the start of the environmental movement and the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, but really began to take off in the 1980s. So far, there have been two waves of ecocriticism: the first in the 1980s and the second in the 1990s. 

Two waves  

The first wave emphasized writing about nature as both a field of study and as a meaningful practice. It maintained the distinction between human and nature, but promoted the value of nature and the need to speak and stand up for nature. People believed it was the duty of the humanities and the natural sciences together to raise awareness and come up with solutions for the environmental and climate crisis. 

Second waves 

The second wave expanded upon the first, broadening the reaches of environmentalism. Ecocritics of this wave redefined the term environment to include both nature and urban areas and challenged the distinctions between human and non-human and nature and non-nature. This wave also led to the ecojustice movement by examining the way that the poorest and most oppressed members of a population fall victim to the most adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

Different types of ecocriticism include: pastoral, wilderness and ecofeminism. 

-∆ pastoral, found primarily in British and American literature, focuses on the dichotomy between urban and rural life, often idealizing nature and rural life and demonizing urban life. There are three branches of pastoral ecocriticism: classical, romantic and American. 

• ∆ Classical is characterized by nostalgia and nature as a place for human relaxation and reflection. 
• ∆ Romantic is characterized by portraying rural independence as desirable. 
• ∆ American emphasizes agrarianism and represents land as a resource to be cultivated. 

∆ Wilderness examines the ways in which the wilderness is constructed, valued and engaged with. There are two branches of wilderness ecocriticism: Old World and New World.

• Old World portrays the wilderness as a scary, threatening place beyond the borders of civilization and as a place of exile. 
• New World portrays the wilderness as a place of sanctuary where one can find relaxation and reflection, similar to classical pastoral ecocriticism. 

Ecofeminism analyzes the connection between the domination of women and the domination of nature, usually by men. It draws parallels between women and nature, which is often seen as feminine, fertile and the property of men. Ecofeminism also includes other aspects of environmental justice, such as racial environmental justice. There are two branches of ecofeminism:

• The first branch of ecofeminism embraces the idea that women are inherently closer to nature than men on a biological, spiritual and emotional level. This branch is often called radical ecofeminism because it reverses the domination of men over women and nature.
• The second branch of ecofeminism contradicts the first, arguing that neither women nor men are more likely to connect with nature.

Characteristics of Eco Criticism

Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. The first person to use the term appears to have been William Rueckert in 1978. His main purpose in doing so was to suggest that ecological terms and concepts can usefully be applied to the study of literature. This, however, is not the dominant meaning of the term. It tends to be interpreted more loosely as a general term for the study of the relationship between literature and the natural environment.

Although several critics have considered the importance of the environment in the literature (e.g. Leo Marx and Raymond Williams), it was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that it became a recognizable sub-branch of literary and cultural studies. One explanation for this may be that it was not until then that the environment itself became of broad and perhaps even urgent concern for many people.

Ecocriticism defines itself as a practice of reading literature from an earth-centered (rather than human-centered) perspective. There is also an activist dimension to ecocriticism: at least part of the reason ecocritics want to discuss the centrality of nature in literature is to raise awareness more generally about the need for concern and indeed action concerning the environment. Unsurprisingly, many ecocritics are also active in the environmental justice movement, whose interest is the uneven and generally inequitable distribution of the burden of environmental degradation e.g-poorer countries tend to be more polluted than richer countries).

Key Points:

In Ecocriticism Nature is the center, not the man

It is the study of literature and physical environment

It is an earth-centered approach to the literary study

Ecologically man is the ultimate villain

Eco criticism says that we all are equal.

The main purpose is to protect the earth 

Marxist Criticism :- 

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a 19th century German thinker most famous for developing a notion of communism in The Communist Manifesto. His notion of communism was not simply a utopia presented in a vacuum, it was a political program meant to critique the social conditions of capitalism.

What is Marxist criticism? 

The Marxist criticism definition is an approach to diagnosing political and social problems in terms of the struggles between members of different socio-economic classes. Drawing from this approach, criticism does not aim at the flaws of particular individuals, even if they have attained positions of power. Instead, such an approach focuses on how social life is structured by class oppositions that are determined by laboring relationships. Or in other words, Marxist criticism seeks to show how the economically powerful exploit and dominate the economically disadvantaged. Moreover, Marxist criticism also points to how class conflict is obscured and hidden in ideology.

Several concepts are indispensable for Marxist criticism:

Class - 

Class is a grouping of people with a similar social situation with regard to labor and exchange. The proletariat, for example, are a social class defined by their need to sell their labor power because they do not have sufficient property to generate income. In short, they are the 'have-nots.' The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, are a social class defined by owning the means of production, and they have sufficient property to generate wealth without needing to labor.

Alienation - 

The concept of alienation is meant to capture the ways in which workers are separated from the fruits of their labor and from others. When a worker creates something, but they cannot take pride in their work, their work only puts them in competition with others, and they receive no profits from the quality of their work. In this case, they are alienated laborers.

Ideology - 

Ideology is a system of values and beliefs of a society or group. Ideology tends to be explicit, or at least have a significant explicit component, and it serves to protect the material conditions of a society by distorting them. For instance, capitalist ideology includes the value of self-reliance and being 'self-made,' while also insisting on free competition. This obscures the fact that those who are born into rich families have a significant edge in competition.

Base and Superstructure - 

The base and superstructure of any society consists of material conditions and then explicit institutions, art, and ideology, respectively. In other words, the base of any society, the driving reality behind any experience or political action, is its economic conditions. This includes the methods of production as well as the relationships that constitute social production and exchange. The superstructure is every aspect of society beyond material necessity, including ideologies, art, and institutions. This include religion as well as normative political views, e.g., liberalism. Institutions include government as well as social clubs. While the ideologies and institutions of a society may appear open and impartial, Marxist criticism holds that they are a tool used by the powerful to oppress the weak and obscure the very mechanisms of that oppression. Marxist criticism examples would include Charles Beard's work on the American Revolution and the self-interest of the moneyed class in designing the constitution.

Marxist criticism has also been important for literature. That is, works of art have a relationship to the societies in which they are created. Using literature as a means to ask questions about society and culture is called literary criticism. Criticism of that art has taken it as its task to diagnose and illuminate the social oppression that informs the work. In other words, literary works may present, consciously or unconsciously, the contradictions inherent with the seemingly neutral or impartial superstructures of a society and its oppressive material base. Marxist literary theory involves criticism that makes those contradictions explicit and analyzes them.

Conclusion 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Hunger Games are both examples of literary works that lend themselves to Marxist criticism. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, for instance, presents the relationship of Huckleberry and Jim, a slave. While class opposition is presumed in that relationship, the two characters nevertheless form a bond that would otherwise be forbidden in a slave-owning society. Thus, the work presents an inherent contradiction between the laboring conditions of slavery and the ideals of friendship. Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy, by contrast, presents a view of a society ridden by poverty and scarcity for most of the population. The rich elite hold a competition pitting the poor against each other and lionize that competition. Nevertheless, bonds of humanity form between competitors from the poverty-ridden districts, hinting that the competition is a mere ideological tool used by the rich.

Assignment :- 203

 Postcolonial Studies 

Paper  - 203

Name - Nehalba Gohil

Roll no  - 15 

Enrollment no - 4069206420210009

Email ID - nehalbagohil26@gmail.com

Batch - 2021 - 23

M.A - sem 3 

Submitted to - S.B Gardi Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University 

Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea  

Introduction 

Wide Sargasso Sea" is a novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys, published in 1966. The novel tells the story of Antoinette Cosway and her descent into madness at the hands of the coldhearted and money-hungry Mr. Rochester. Adapted from Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre," Rhys wrote "Wide Sargasso Sea" in an attempt to explain Brontë's character, Bertha Mason, the violently insane wife of Edward Rochester who was isolated from the rest of the world and locked in a third-floor room. In her novel, Rhys illustrates the emotional trauma, sexual repression, and social isolation that Antoinette faces at the hands of Rochester, resulting in the loss of herself and her sanity.  

"Wide Sargasso Sea" Summary

Part One

Part one of "Wide Sargasso Sea" begins in early nineteenth-century Jamaica. A young white girl named Antoinette, the daughter of former slave owners, lives on Coulibri Estate, her family's run-down plantation with her mother, her sickly younger brother, Pierre, and a handful of servants. Moneyless due to the Emancipation Act of 1833 which freed the slaves, Antoinette's father supposedly drank himself to death, leaving behind his wife and children. Antoinette spends most of her days alone on the estate. Her mother, a beautiful young woman who has been ostracized by the community, spends her days aimlessly pacing out on their covered balcony. Antoinette's only friend is a young girl named Tia, the daughter of one of the servants, who one day turns against Antoinette unexpectedly.

One day, a group of well-dressed visitors comes to Coulibri. Among them is a wealthy Englishman named Mr. Mason. After a brief courtship, Annette and Mr. Mason are married. For the first time in years, Annette seems happy. Mr. Mason restores Coulibri to its former glory and brings in new servants, but discontent rises among the freed black servants and one night, during a protest, the house is set on fire. Antoinette's mother saves Pierre and the family flees from their home.

Six weeks later Antoinette wakes up and learns that she has been ill since the incident. Cora tells her that Pierre died and her mother had gone mad following the trauma of that night, so Mr. Mason sent her to the country to recover. Christophine takes Antoinette to visit her mother, but the once beautiful woman is unrecognizable and she becomes upset when she realizes that Pierre has died. Antoinette goes to her, but her mother violently flings her away.

For the next several years, Antoinette lives at the convent school. Cora moves back to England for a year and Mr. Mason travels for months at a time, visiting Antoinette occasionally but always bringing her gifts. During this time, Antoinette's mother dies. When Antoinette is seventeen, Mr. Mason tells her that he will have friends visiting from England and indicates that he hopes to present her as a young woman fit for marriage. At the end of part one, Antoinette wakes up from a nightmare and reflects on the death of her mother and the nightmare.

Part Two

Part two is narrated by Antoinette's new husband. It begins with their arrival at Granbois, a small estate on one of the Windward Islands owned by Antoinette's mother where they intend to spend a few weeks for their honeymoon. He admits to knowing very little about his wife, having agreed to marry her out of desperation when her stepbrother, Richard Mason, offered him 30,000 pounds to propose. He feels increasingly uncomfortable at the estate and begins to feel as though he was taken advantage of.

Soon after their arrival, the man receives a letter from Daniel Cosway, one of Antoinette's father's illegitimate children. Daniel warns the man of the insanity that runs in his wife's blood. Antoinette begins to sense that her husband hates her, so she begs Christophine for her help. Christophine tells Antoinette to leave the man, but she refuses. That night, Antoinette returns home and tells her husband about her past. They talk late into the night and when he wakes, he believes he was poisoned. Afraid Antoinette will wake up, he runs out of the house and into the woods. He sleeps in the woods for several hours and when he wakes again, he returns to Granbois where Amélie, one of the servants, brings him wine and food. He sleeps with Amélie while Antoinette sits in the next room, able to hear everything.

The next morning, Antoinette goes to Christophine's home. When she returns, she is drunk and goes straight to her bedroom. When Antoinette calls for more to drink, her husband keeps the servants from taking her more, forcing her to come out of her bedroom. Antoinette is drunk and mad and when her husband refuses to give her the bottle, she bites him. Christophine comforts her and takes her back to her room, then returns to yell at the man for his cruelty. It is that night that he decides to return to England and to take Antoinette with him.

Part Three

In the third and final part of the story, Antoinette is the narrator. Her husband has brought her back to England where she lives locked in the attic under the care of a servant named Grace Poole. Now violent and deranged, Antoinette has lost all sense of time and believes that they never made it to England. When her stepbrother, Richard, comes to see her, she attacks him with a knife, though she has no recollection of this incident when Grace tells her about it later. Antoinette has a recurring dream about stealing Grace's keys and exploring the house, but she never makes it to the end. The third time she has the dream it ends with her setting the house on fire. Believing that she has to fulfill her dream, she grabs a candle and exits the attic. 

Characters :- 

Antoinette Cosway - 

The daughter of former slave owners in Jamaica. She is a lonely young girl who grows up with no friends and a mother who gives her very little love or affection. After being forced into marriage by her stepbrother, her husband moves her to England and locks her in the attic until she becomes delusional. She is based on the character Bertha Mason from Charlotte Brontë's novel "Jane Eyre."

Annette Cosway Mason - 

Antoinette's beautiful young mother. She is the second wife of both Alexander Cosway and Mr. Mason. She is often melancholy and shows signs of madness even in Antoinette's earliest memories. She is the subject of the town's gossip and feels abandoned and persecuted by everyone except those close to her. After the fire, Mr. Mason sends her away to the country to recover where she later dies.

Pierre Cosway - 

Antoinette's physically and mentally disabled little brother. After Coulibri is set on fire, he is trapped in his bedroom until Annette goes in after him. He dies shortly after.

Aunt Cora - 

The widow of a slaveowner. She once lived in England with her husband but now lives alone in Spanish Town. Cora nurtures and cares for Antoinette, showing her affection and taking her in after Coulibri is burned to the ground. She is distrusting of the English man and when Antoinette goes to visit her before leaving on her honeymoon, Cora gives her a small silk bag with her rings and tells her to keep them hidden from her husband.

Christophine Dubois - 

A Martinique woman who was given to Annette as a wedding gift by her first husband. She was loyal to Annette and later Antoinette after her mother's death. She is a firm woman and holds an unspoken authority over the rest of the help.

Daniel Boyd/Cosway - 

A spiteful, angry man, Daniel Boyd is one of Alexander Cosway's illegitimate children by one of his slaves. Daniel writes a letter to Rochester after his marriage to Antoinette warning him of the madness that runs in her family. In a second, more threatening letter, Daniel convinces Rochester to visit him and at the end of the visit, Daniel asks for money to keep him quiet.

Sandi Cosway - 

Another one of Alexander Cosway's bastard children. He defends Antoinette when she is harassed on her way to school. He is described as being "more handsome than any white man" by Daniel Boyd and is well-received by the white society. Antoinette used to refer to him as her cousin, but Mr. Mason scolded her for acknowledging her black relatives. Daniel also suggests that Antoinette and Sandi were sexually involved when they were younger.

Mr. Mason - 

A wealthy English man who takes Annette as his second wife. After the fire, he abandons his wife, leaving her in the care of a black couple. He is fond of Antoinette and frequently visits her in the convent, bringing gifts. He tells her that he wants her to be happy and secure and implies that he is working towards arranging a marriage for her.

Richard Mason - 

The son of Mr. Mason from his first marriage. After his father's death, Richard takes it upon himself to sell Antoinette into marriage, offering the English man 30,000 pounds and the rights to her inheritance. He later visits them in England and hardly recognizes the girl locked in the attic as Antoinette.

The English Gentleman (Rochester) - 

Antoinette's English husband who narrates part two of the story. He is the youngest son of a wealthy Englishman. Immediately upon his arrival to Spanish Town, he comes down with a fever. He is pressured into marrying Antoinette by Richard, her stepbrother, though he knows nothing of her or her family. He soon regrets agreeing to marry Antoinette and becomes cold and detached, referring to her as Bertha instead of her real name. He has an affair with one of the servants and eventually takes her to England and locks her in the attic where she goes mad.

Grace Poole - 

A character from "Jane Eyre," Grace Poole appears at the end of "Wide Sargasso Sea" when Antoinette is locked in the attic. Grace is the primary servant of Antoinette and is tasked with watching over her. 

Themes :- 

Otherness and Alienation

The problem of otherness in the world of Wide Sargasso Sea is all-pervading and labyrinthine. The racial hierarchy in 1830’s Jamaica is shown to be complex and strained, with tension between whites born in England, creoles or people of European descent born in the Caribbean, black ex-slaves, and people of mixed race. The resentment between these groups leads to hatred and violence. Antoinette Cosway and her family are repeatedly referred to as “white cockroaches.

Slavery and Freedom

Freedom in the novel is double-edged and troubled. Its ideal is presented in stark contrast, again and again, to its reality. At the start of the novel, we see that the Emancipation Act of 1833 leaves discontent and violence in its wake. Mr. Luttrell, a white former slaveowner and neighbor to the Cosways, commits suicide after Emancipation, unable to adjust to the new social and economic landscape. At Coulibri, the local population of black.

 Women and Power

The female characters in Wide Sargasso Sea must confront societal forces that prevent them from acting for and sustaining themselves, regardless of race or class. The two socially accepted ways for a woman to attain security in this world are marriage and entering the convent. Marriage ends disastrously in most cases, especially for the Cosway women. Husbands have affairs, die, ignore their wives’ wishes with tragic results, imprison them, take their money,

Truth

Wide Sargasso Sea is a revisionist novel, written to complicate and push up against the accepted truth of Antoinette or “Bertha” Cosway’s character as it is put forth in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre—the archetypal “madwoman in the attic.” The novel questions the very nature of truth in its premise, form, and content. Within the novel, truth is shown to be slippery at best, difficult if not impossible to recognize and trust.

Assignment - 201

Indian English Literature - Pre Independence 

Paper - 201 

Name - Nehalba Gohil

Roll no - 15 

Enrollment no - 4069206420210009

Email ID - nehalbagohil26@gmail.com

Batch - 2021 - 23 

MA - sem 3 

Submitted to - S.B. Gardi  Department of English M.K Bhavnagar University.  

The Home and the  world by Rabindranath Tagore  

Rabindranath Tagore's novel The Home and the World (1916) is set in India during the early twentieth century, a time when England still held power over the country. Tagore writes each chapter from the perspective of either Nikhil, Bimala, or Sandip to reflect the political turmoil and lack of unity in India at the time the novel is set.

The Home and the World is set during the height of the Swadeshi movement, a boycott of British goods that was initiated in 1905 as a protest against Great Britain’s arbitrary division of Bengal into two parts. At first, Tagore was one of the leaders of Swadeshi, but when protests evolved into violent conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, Tagore left the movement. In The Home and the World, he explained why he did not approve of what Swadeshi had become.

Summary :- 

The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore is an interesting allegory of Indian politics in the early twentieth century. As a means of encouraging his wife, Bimala, to emerge into the outer world, Nikhil introduces her to Sandip, an active leader in the Swadeshi movement. Bimala soon becomes immersed in the revolutionary fervour of Swadeshi and finds herself torn between the duties of home and the world. The Home and the World is a tragic example of the conflict between realism and idealism.

Though Nikhil and Bimala enjoy a peaceful marriage, Nikhil wants her to enter the outer world, believing their love is true only if they recognize one another in the outer world. When Bimala attends a Swadeshi rally led by Sandip Babu, she insists he visit Nikhil's estate. Bimala and Sandip are attracted to one another, so Sandip decides to make his headquarters at the estate.

Bimala becomes intimately involved with the Swadeshi movement because of her desire to work with Sandip. Sandip is obviously interested in Bimala, and Bimala begins to question her marriage to Nikhil because Sandip represents everything she wants in a man. At Sandip's request, Bimala steals 6000 rupees from Nikhil's safe for the Cause, but Sandip's subsequent behavior makes her feel torn as though she is two people, one who is appalled by Sandip and one who is attracted to him.

Though Nikhil is distraught at losing Bimala, he grants her the freedom to choose her own life. Guilt-ridden about her theft, Bimala sends Amulya, a young disciple of Sandip's, to sell her jewels so she can replace the 6000 rupees, but instead, Amulya steals the money from Nikhil's treasury. Nikhil forgives Bimala's deceit, causing her to realize her husband is the one who truly loves her. When there is a Swadeshi riot in Bengal, Sandip flees the city while Nikhil goes into town to try to calm matters. Nikhil is shot in the head, and Amulya is killed by a bullet through his heart. 

Characters :- 

Bimala

Bimala is the protagonist of the novel. She arguably undergoes the most transformation in the story, beginning as a devoted worshiper of her husband until Sandip appears. She realizes she is bored of her husband and is easily seduced by the passionate Sandip, though she consistently feels shame for this and occasionally longs to feel the way she once did about her husband. She discovers Sandip’s treachery and manipulation when he convinces her to steal money from her husband and ultimately grows to feel personally empowered when she rejects Sandip and admits to stealing Nikhil’s money. As the story progresses, she takes on different ideological stances, experimenting with Sandip’s ways of thinking, but ultimately develops a moderate way of thinking somewhere in between her husband’s moral humanist and Sandip’s Machiavellian approaches to life.  

Nikhil :- 

Nikhil is Bimala’s well-to-do husband, a merchant who owns an estate and two marketplaces in Bengal. He is educated and described as “modern” and progressive in his outlook. He sees his wife as his equal, and he would go to great pains to see her happy, even if that means her leaving him. As the story progresses, he begins to feel as though he is not enough for his wife. As a result, he grows more and more melancholy, distancing himself from her and focusing on improving himself as he anticipates her leaving. Nikhil is a humanist, and he sees dignity in all people, even his enemies. Such a view allows him to be taken advantage of, such as by his sister and Sandip. Nikhil’s humanist stance also prevents him from siding with one particular faction; he sees value in both traditionally Indian and English ways of thinking. This becomes problematic for him as the story progresses, because his inability to explicitly denounce European colonialism leads some to think he sides with European colonialism. Similarly, his humanist stance is problematic in that it leads to low self-worth. Nikhil rarely asserts himself when people take advantage of him because he often feels he has no power or right to his own possessions or thoughts. 

Sandip :- 

Sandip is an Indian revolutionary driven by his passions. Early in the story, he comes to live with Bimala and Nikhil, despite the fact that he disagrees a great deal with Nikhil’s notion of an Indian revolution. If Nikhil represents temperance and logic, Sandip represents extreme thought and passion. He is a Machiavellian or even Nietzschean figure, believing that certain individuals stand outside the purview of normal justice or righteousness; truly great figures, he believes, do not show justice or sympathy but take what they are owed by the world. He sees some of his own passion and beliefs about reclaiming India in Bimala, and he intends to seduce her both as his political counterpart and lover, but his compunctions prevent him from acting on the latter. Although he is skilled in maintaining composure during philosophical arguments, he does not like to feel powerless or foolish, and this is shown when he grows angry as Bimala begins to pull away from him after his initial seduction of her. 

Bara Rani :- 

Rani is the widowed sister of Nikhil. She resents Bimala for marrying her brother and is manipulative and vindictive toward her. Throughout the story, she finds ways to insult or provide backhanded compliments to Bimala on a regular basis. She also orchestrates events designed to frustrate or anger Bimala. She further seems to take advantage of her brother’s kindness, taking money and gifts from him while knowing that he will not retaliate for her treatment of Bimala. In the final chapter, Nikhil realizes that this resentment is because she has no relationships or friendships with anyone other than Nikhil. Still, by the end of the story, it seems that Bimala and Raini have developed a fragile understanding of one another. Once Bimala acts subserviently to Rani, the backhanded compliments become fewer, and Rani even wants to help celebrate Bimala’s birthday. Even after this, there is still tension in the relationship, and Rani ultimately blames Bimala for sending Nikhil to the Muslim uprising at the end of the story. 

Chandranath Babu :- 

Chandranath is Nikhil’s schoolmaster. Both Chandranath and Nikhil believe in giving people individual freedoms over dogmatic doctrines, such as swadeshi. He regularly gives Nikhil advice. Like Nikhil, his principled way of thinking alienates him from those he is trying to help. For instance, while he provides Panchu with a loan and a home, Panchu ultimately loses respect for Chandranath, because Chandranath does not ultimately help him to reach a better place in life. 

Panchu :- 

Panchu is a destitute older man who lives in Bengal selling found trinkets for food. Nikhil sometimes tries to help him monetarily and provide him advice, but there is little that Nikhil can do to fix Panchu’s situation. As the story progresses, Panchu experiences greater and greater degrees of abuse at the hands of both landowners and people tied to the swadeshi movement. Panchu may be seen as a metaphor for India itself, which loses when polarized factions are fighting for its loyalty. 

Amulya :- 

Amulya is a disciple of Sandip. He plays an important role in the second half of the story, as he both adopts and exhibits the implications of Sandip’s thinking. He has no qualms, for instance, in suggesting that he and Bimala kill a cashier for six thousand rupees. As Bimala takes a more maternal or sisterly role toward him, she is able to convince him of Sandip’s villainy, and he attempts to reform himself and renounce Sandip’s extreme views.  

Themes:- 

Moderation versus Extremism

Throughout the novel, characters like Chandranath and Nikhil almost religiously ascribe to moderation in all facets of life, whereas characters like Bimala and Sandip take more extreme approaches. For instance, early in the story, Bimala wants to burn her foreign dresses in solidarity with the Swadeshi movement. Nikhil suggests that she should simply store them away and focus on building up something rather than destruction, but Bimala responds that the excitement of destruction will help them build. This exchange seems to sum up the main conflict in the story: Nikhil attempts to make change through slow progress and moderation, whereas Sandip’s philosophy is to take through bloodshed what he believes to be rightfully his. This is also seen when Sandip talks about poetry versus prose. He says that Nikhil is interested in poetry, which deals in the world of abstractions and ideals. Poetry can also be interpreted in various ways. On the other hand, Sandip talks about prose as weapons that will help them attain their goal. There is no room for relativity or other opinions in Sandip’s approach. 

Tradition versus Progressivism :- 

The Home and the World also explores the theme of tradition versus progressivism. This story takes place in the early 1900s during the height of British colonialism, when India was just beginning to reclaim its independence from the British. In the story, Nikhil’s approach to resistance anticipates Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement, which was a form of civil disobedience while building up Indian infrastructure. This is seen in Nikhil’s own investment of money into Indian banks or when Bimala offers to burn her British clothes early in the story, when she is still aligned with her husband’s ways of thinking. Burning clothes was also a form of emerging nonviolent protest at the time. We might say that this less passionate approach, driven by symbols, politics and economy, aligns with a postcolonial way of thinking. 

The Roles of Women in Society :- 

Throughout the novel, there are various statements about women and the roles they occupy, many of them conflicting and potentially troubling. Early in the text, Bimala becomes a kind of “everywoman” as Sandip calls her the Shakti of the country—that is, someone who represents femininity in India altogether. Bimala’s feelings toward Sandip become complicated, and even as she grows to detest him, his charismatic nature often forces her to doubt herself. Women’s roles are frequently framed in terms of the idea of subservience: while Bimala’s husband wants her to be his equal, she feels she must worship him regardless of his “modern” views. It is additionally through subservience that she eventually reconciles with her sister-in-law, and she regularly bows to her husband and other men, taking the dust from their feet. It is unclear to what extent the novel—and Tagore—condone such a view of women’s roles. 

Important to note is that many of the statements made in the text are from men’s point of view. In fact, it is Sandip, whose own opinions about women are notably misogynistic, who names Bimala the Shakti. He makes numerous troubling statements about women related to their impulsiveness and the idea that for a woman to truly be fulfilled, she must be giving to the men around her: “for men to accept is truly to give: for women to give is truly to gain.” In light of Sandip’s bigoted words, it seems Bimala represents his ideal of what a woman should be rather than an attempt to represent womanhood in general. 

Assignment :- 202

 Indian English Literature - Post Independence  

Paper - 202 

Name :- Gohil Nehalba Gohil

Roll no :- 15

Enrollment no :- 4069206420210009

Email ID :- nehalbagohil26@gmail.com

Batch - 2021 - 23

M.A - sem 3 

Submitted to :- S.B. Gardi Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University 

The Final Solution by Mahesh Dattani  

Mahesh Dattani 

Mahesh Dattani was born in Bangalore in 1958. He is an Indian English playwright, filmmaker, director, writer and actor. As a writer, he wrote several plays like Final Solutions, Tara, Dance like a Man, Thirty Days in September, Bravely Fought the Queen, The Big Fat City and others. He has known to be a modern playwright because he has contributed in making a substantial standing of the current time by attacking the burning problems that take over the view of publicity. In 1998, he has considered as the first English playwright to be the one who won the Sahitya Academy award. He gives a name for theatre, which is “A craft of communicating through the language of action”. He writes the plays by keeping in mind the stage directions.

Summary :- 

Act - 1 

The play Final Solutions opens with Daksha (or Hardika), a newly married girl, writing her diary (on March 31, 1948). In the diary, she writes about her experience in her new house.She is not of good opinions regarding her in-laws. Though India had gained independence, yet she is imprisoned within the four walls of the houseShe has a good taste for the songs of Shamshad Begum, Noor Jahan etc. She even wanted to become a singer like them but due to the family restrictions, her desires remain unfulfilledShe got a chance to visit a Muslim girl Zarine, who also had a great taste for the songs of Noor Jahan and Shamshad Begum. In a course of time, they became best friends.

The scene now shifts to the present (in a town of Gujarat) and she is an old woman now. An idol of Hindu God is broken down. There are rumours that it is broken down purposely by Muslims and thus due to the tension between Hindus and Muslims, Slogans by mobs of both the communities are heard alternatively.Smita (granddaughter of Hardika) is talking on the phone to the family of her friend Tasneem as Tasneem has just called and told her (Smita) and probably her own family as well that some bomb has blasted in her hostel.

Smita’s father Ramanik (son of Hardika) takes the phone from her daughter and assures the safety of Tasneem to her family and ends the call.As there is quite a tension outside, Hardika advises her daughter-in-law, Aruna (Smita’s mother) to properly check doors and windows as the dogs have been let loose.  Meanwhile, Javed and Bobby, two Muslim boys are in some argument on the side of the road in a nearby area. Suddenly some Hindu men come and start asking them questions and also search them  Finding a scull-cap in the pocket of Bobby, they at once recognise them as Muslims. As they try to kill them, Javed and Bobby run away and the mob chases them. 

They reach the door of Ramanik’s house and start knocking at it. Ramanik, at last, opens the door. They at once rush in and lock the door. They plead Ramanik to save their life. Mob arrives at the door of Ramanik. They warn Ramanik to either handover Javed and Bobby to them or they will break the door and come in. However, Ramanik refuses to do so.

The mob starts throwing stones and sticks on the house and also abuses Ramanik. Aruna does not like Muslims in her house and forces her husband to throw them out of it. Ramanik bitterly refuses. Ramanik starts talking to Bobby and Javed. Bobby is polite while Javed is quite harsh in the conversation. Ramanik asks them about their studies and upon learning that Javed is a school drop-out start talking bad about him. Smita comes and recognises both of them. 

Act - 2

Aruna asks Smita how she knows both of them. Smita tells that Javed is the brother of Tasneem and Bobby is her fiancée. When Ramanik and Aruna start insulting Smita for knowing them Smita defends herself boldly by saying, there’s no harm in that. It is also revealed that Javed does not live with his parents. Ramanik then asks how he can meet his sister. Javed says that unlike them (the Hindus) he loves the people of his community. Aruna gets outraged and Javed apologises.

Mob throws stones at the house of Ramanik. Javed scolds Ramanik saying, “Those are your people.” Ramanik tries to defend himself. He also tells how his grandfather was killed by Muslim mob soon after the partition.Ramanik offers them milk. Javed being in thoughts exclaims, “It must feel good being majority, they have full liberty to do whatever they like with them (Javed and Bobby).Ramanik still sympathetic explains how the conflict started. There were rumours that during the Rath Yatra of Hindus, some Muslims threw stones on the chariots that made the idols of God to fall and break into pieces and even Pujari was stabbed to death.

The event led to the imposition of curfew in their town. Smita comes with pillows for Bobby and Javed. When she asks them to sleep on the floor (as they have no extra space for them) Javed answers, “I’m used to it.” At this Smita starts asking him his real motive behind his coming to Amargaon. Bobby says that he came in search of a job.Ramanik offers him a job at his cloth-shop but Smita warns her father from doing so. When Ramanik inquires about the matter, she reveals that Javed was hired by a terrorist organisation and was thus expelled from his house.She also tells that she came to know about this from Tasneem. Javed condemns her for betraying her friend (as she promised Tasneem that she will not expose the reality of Javed). Smita acknowledges her mistake and being speechless runs away. 

Act 3

Ramanik starts asking Javed about his involvement in terrorism in a teasing manner. Javed becomes furious and yells hot words. Ramanik angrily slaps Javed and Bobby rushes to calm them down Bobby then tells when they were young, Javed happened to touch a letter of his Hindu neighbour who abused the former badly.Javed got angry and after some days threw pieces of beef meat in his house. That person came to Javed’s house and abused him harshly.

Telling the story, Bobby adds that Ramanik’s community is partially responsible for makes him so because prior to that incident, Javed was the hero of his locality. Bobby and Javed decide to leave.Ramanik desiring to make Javed accept his job at any cost threatens them by saying that he will call the police. Javed first burst into the laugh and then tells that he was ordered to kill the Pujari in the name of Jihad. He reached the chariot and tried to stab Pujari but the latter begged for mercy and thus he became still.

All his passions died and he threw away the knife but someone else took it and stabbed the Pujari to death. Ramanik is moved and calls Javed brave.Smita comes and apologises for exposing him. After a while, Aruna also comes and after ensuring that it is safe to go outside thinks of bringing water. Smita suggests taking the help of Bobby.Aruna being strict in her religious matters condemns Smita for such a suggestion and thus both mother and daughter fall into an argument. Smita exposes Aruna’s blind-faiths and challenges them.

Aruna being astonished for the queer behaviour of her daughter is quite shocked. While in chaos, she goes to take bath. Smita, Bobby and Javed go out to bring water.Through their discussion, it is revealed that Smita and Bobby loved each other but due to the communal problems they had to separate.

Later Bobby became the fiancée of Javed’s sister Tasneem. All the three friends become frank and start cracking jokes and even throw water on each other.Meanwhile, Hardika (Daksha) who was memorising how she was beaten by her husband for visiting Zarine’s house (as there arose some conflict between the two families), scolds Javed and wishes that like her father (who was killed by Muslims) his sister should also suffer. Ramanik requests her mother not to blame them.When Aruna comes out after taking bath, Bobby unexpectedly goes in the small temple and in spite of denial by Aruna he respectfully takes the idol in his hands and talks about communal harmony and keeps back in its place.

Both of them then go away. A little later Ramanik tells Hardika how he, his father and his grandfather burnt the shop of Zarine’s father to buy it at a reduced price (in the name of communal hatred) and now he repents over his past deeds.He desires not to visit his shop again. Thus the play Final Solutions ends without any solutions to these communal issues that have remained in the society since ages. 

Characters :-  

Ramnik 

In Final Solutions by Mahesh Dattani, Ramanik is a secular minded person who believes in communal harmony among different communities. In past his father and grandfather had burnt the shop of a muslim family and began their own business on that place.

Ramanik tries to reparate for the blunders done by his forefather. When Babban and Javed enter his house, he tries to protect them from Hindu Mob. He is abused by the people of his community for giving shelter to Muslims. Even stones are thrown at his house. However he does not let them do any harm to Babban and Javed. Javed remains quite harsh to Ramanik and even scolds him for what his community is doing. However, Ramanik remains calm and quiet and even offers him job in his shop. The sense of guilt does not vanish away from his mind and ultimately in the end he hates his shop and drops the idea of visiting it again. 

Aruna :- 

Aruna is wife of Ramanik Gandhi and mother of Smita Gandhi. As Suman Sigroha said, Aruna makes a Hindu counterpart to Javed. Like him she has confidence in her faith. She is a strong believer, takes pride in her religion and inheritance and finds protection therein. She is neither confused nor wavers till her daughter Smita attacks her faith. Daksha/ Hardika had once questioned the blind faith held by her mother in an idol God because that God had failed to protect her father. Smita and Aruna reflect Daksha/Hardika’s own situation, though in two separate characters. The former resents the blind idol worship being practiced by the latter, and shatters her own perfect world when she gets the opportunity to vocalize what she has always wanted to in front of her mother Aruna. At Smita’s telling her the falsity and hollowness of her faith, Aruna does take a stand before crumbling in the face of opposition, 

Communal disharmony between the Hindus and Muslims : - 

Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions focuses on the problem of communal disharmony between the Hindus and Muslims in India, especially during the period of the post- partition riots. The play starts with Daksha reading lines from her diary. The setting suggests that the period is late 1940’s. Daksha is the mother of the central character of the play Ramnik Gandhi. She shuttles between her two identities, namely that of a girl of fifteen and that of a matured lady who has witnessed forty years of freedom. The chorus chanting at the back sometimes assumes Hindu masks and sometimes Muslim ones. The words rendered by the chorus are clear indicators of the communal disharmony and its painful consequences that are soon to be experienced by the characters in the play. The masks have leaving effects on minds of the characters who wear them.

Problems of cultural hegemony :

       Final Solutions talks of the problems of cultural hegemony, how Hindus has to suffer at the hands of Muslim majority like the characters of Hardika and Daksha in Hussain’s hand, and how Muslim like Javed suffers in the set up of the major Hindu community. This all resulted in communal riots and culminated in disruption of the normal social life, and thus hampered the progress of nation. The locale of the play is Ramnik’s house and the central characters are his daughter Smita, wife Aruna and mother Hardika, besides himself and the two Muslim boys Bobby and Javed who entered into his house during communal tension occasioned by the attack on the Rath Yatra procession. In the beginning, Daksha recollects from her diary about the past when she was married at the age of fourteen. And now after forty years Daksha has become Hardika but her prejudice against the other community continues to be with her. Javed, as Bobby tells Ramnik, became a fanatic because he was ill-treated by persons of another faith and hired by the hooligans to spread communal violence. This creates the problem of communal divide in our country.

In Final Solutions, communal riot breaks due to disturbance of procession. In most of the cases the matter of dispute is very simple. But due to involvement of some unsocial elements, it takes the shape of communalism and later on it is distorted and ultimate result is communal violence. During communal riots, mankind undergoes tremendous spiritual losses, during and after riot. Respect for life, dignity of humanity, love for truth and justice, fellow feeling and brotherhood are mercilessly butchered in riot. The propaganda, based on falsehood, has its hayday during riot. People lose not only their bodies but also their souls. It is a great catastrophe to humanity. As Bobby says

A minor incident changed all that… We were playing cricket on our street… The postman… was in a hurry and asked Javed to hand the letter over to the owner. Javed took the letter… and opened the gate… a voice boomed, ‘What do you want?’ Javed holding out the letter… his usual firmness vanishing in a second. ‘Leave it on the wall’, the voice ordered. Javed backed away, really frightened… the man came out with a cloth… wiped the letter before picking it up, he then wiped the spot on the wall the letter was lying on and he wiped the gate! We all heard a prayer bell, ringing continuously.  

Conclusion :

In the context of the play, the fears and anxieties of the two communities are largely an aftermath of the partition, but in conservative Hindu homes there has always been a tacit dislike for and disapproval of everything associated with Muslims to the extent that everything touched by the latter is considered to be contaminated. Muslims too, are conscious of the antipodal position they assume in a Hindu community and are equally averse to the Hindu. This mutual aversion of the two communities for each other in India is not overplayed but is depicted with a rare fidelity which spells absolute conviction. Dattani’s great contribution to Indian English drama can be depicted in the play, Final Solutions. It is a very significant play by Dattani especially in the present scenario of India and critics have suggested that this play should be translated into every Indian language and performed throughout the country.

Youth Festival MKBU - 2022

 Amrut Rang  - Yuva Urja  Mahotsav 

Kalayatra 

Department of English 

Sanskrit Department 

K.R. Doshi group of colleges 

Winner of this  Events 

Mimicry:-

1. 1) Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar (Herma Raviraj)
2. 2) Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar (Rayjada Mahiraj)
3. 3) K.R. Doshi group of colleges, Bhavnagar (Kaba Ravi)  

Mime:-

1.  MJ college of Commerce, Bhavnagar 
2.  Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar
3. Maruti Vidhya mandir group of colleges, Bhavnagar  

Samuh Geet (Western):-

1. V.M. Sakriya Mahila College, Botad
2. Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar

Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar 

Ekanki:- 

1. Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar
2. MJ college of Commerce, Bhavnagar
3. Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar 

Western Song (Solo):-

1.  Department of English, Bhavnagar (Emisha Ravani)
2.  Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar (Kahi Afaraj)
3. Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar (Shah Keval) 

Short film :- 

1. Department of English, Bhavnagar
2. Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar
3. Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar 

Vaktrutv :- 

1. Department of Life Science, Bhavnagar (Trivedi Para)
2. Sir PP Institute of Science, Bhavnagar (Gohil Nehaba)
3.  Department of English, Bhavnagar (Dhvni Rajyguru) 

Rangoli :- 

1. Department of English, Bhavnagar (Jeel Barad) and Shamaldas Arts College, Bhavnagar (Solanki Keyur)
2. Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar (Rajpura Riya)
3. Takshashila Science and commerce College, Bhavnagar (Kantariya Ajay) 

Nibandh:-

1.  Department of English, Bhavnagar (Parmar Divya)
2.  Shree Swaminarayan College of Commerce and Management, Bhavnagar (Rathod Hetal)
3. Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar (Parmar Dhatri) 

Cartooning:-

1. Shamaldas Arts College, Bhavnagar (Baraiya Jay)
2. Maharaanishree Nandkuvarba Arts and Commerce College, Bhavnagar (Solanki Avni)
3. Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar (Chavda Viraj) 

Mehndi:-

1. Department of Economics, Bhavnagar Shree Umiya Mahila arts and commerce college, Lathidad
2. Department of Commerce, Bhavnagar 

Mono Acting:-

1. Shri Swami sahjanand college of commerce and management, Bhavnagar ( Deep Trivedi)
2. Department of English, Bhavnagar (Dhvani Rajyguru)
3. Maharaanishree Nandkuvarba Arts and Commerce College, Bhavnagar (Gohil Rinkuba) 

Debate  :- 

1. Department of Life Science, Bhavnagar 
2. Department of English, Bhavnagar
3.  Sardar Patel group of colleges, Bhavnagar 

Rangoli :- 

Mime:- 

Quiz  :- ( English department ) three students was participated 

1. Nirav 
2. Hirva 
3. Hinaba 

Parshan manch final ( Department of English)

 

Western solo song ( department of English ) Emisha Ravani

Winner of our English Department