Category: Academia

There ain’t nothing like easy money in this “dog-eat-dog” world. Trying to be rich via fast track has its own consequences, and that ain’t no pleasure. That’s exactly what you learn from Shirley Jackson’s masterpiece – The Lottery. Let me save you the time and effort of going through the whole text. Submit this analysis or four levels of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson in your English assignment, and I’ll bet that your professor will be more than impressed. You can thank me later!

Four levels of ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson

Literal Comprehension (Summary)

The residents of a small village gather at 10 am on June 27 in the square between the post office and the bank for the annual lottery. A bright sun is shining down on fragrant flowers and green lawns while the townspeople—more than 300 of them—await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black wooden box from which everyone is to draw a folded slip of paper. Adults chat while the children play a game in which they gather stones. Whoever draws the slip of paper with the black dot on it will receive all of the lottery “proceeds”.

Over the years, the lottery rules and trappings remained the same for minor changes: wooden chips were replaced by slips of paper, and ritual chants and salutes preceding the drawings were eliminated. Other than those modernizations, the same old rules prevailed year after year. No one in the square knows why on earth or under what circumstances the lottery began. All they know is that it is a tradition—a tradition that they are not willing to abandon.

After Mr. Summers shows up with the black box, he sets it down and prepares for the drawing. A housewife, Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, arrives late just then telling Mrs. Delacroix that she had actually forgotten it is the lottery day until she noticed that her children had left her house and remembered it was the day of the lottery. Each of the townspeople draws a folded slip of paper but doesn’t open it until everyone has drawn it. When the big moment arrives, it’s Tessie Hutchinson who has the paper with the black dot. Everyone then closes in on her, picks up rocks – the “proceeds” of the lottery – and stones her to death.

Interpretation

This text highlights the reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices. This is due to our historic construction. Human beings are fearful creatures. It makes them selfish and society wrongfully designates scapegoats to bear the sins of the community. People always want to be on the safe side. Human beings want to explore prosperity, but at the cost of others—making others suffer for one’s pleasure (Freaking @ssholes). So humans can’t be trusted. There is no such thing as love and trust. Besides, this text implies that following the crowd can have disastrous consequences. Human beings are so crazy that they worship unknown entities for an unknown power. Overall, this text depicts village life.

Critical Thinking

This text is so beautifully constructed that each and every character has a significant role. Not only this, even each word is worth reading in the text. The incident does not only takes place in only one character’s life. There is a balance of narration and dialogue. The story may be primitive, but the theme is modern and still applicable. Jackson may not have the intention of claiming that she had extraordinary writing with an odd-sounding story but she must have wished to satire human selfishness, human follies, and human cruelty.

But there are some loopholes, few though. How can the villagers go back to work after executing an innocent woman by stoning her to death as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened? The villagers should have had the conscience not to include the children in such a cruel lottery. And how can the same family members: Nancy and Bill Jr. laugh when they know that their father or mother will draw the lot with a black spot and die? Above all the lottery suggests drawing for a prize, but here, the prize is unusual— the price of life—a merciless death.

Assimilation

The first and most important thing I learned from the text: Never take part in the goddamn lottery. (Remember that “Hurley” from the “LOST” series who wins the multi-million lottery and all bad fortunes fall upon him… Beware!) The lottery is taken as a shortcut to prosperity by many people, but in fact, it is the shortcut to HELL, because getting something without one’s own effort doesn’t sustain, and it is a cause of suffering in life. Instead of being a slave to blind traditions, we should revolt against such nonsense beliefs. We should think logically so that it is justice for every people.

Really a nerve-chilling story! What do you think?

Rabindranath Tagore is a gem of Indian literature, known all over the world for his amazing works in the domains of prose, poetry, and dramas. If you have read his writings, you must have inevitably experienced an out-of-this-world triangle of philosophy, humanism, and mysticism. No wonder, he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. Digging deeper into his writings, we can see that Tagore had great regard for Lord Buddha. If you have come across his drama “Chandalika”, you will certainly find Buddha’s teachings and ideologies throughout the text. Even more, this underrated drama is included in the curriculum of English in many universities’ courses around the world. If you are one of those who landed on this page searching for analysis or the four levels of Chandalika by Rabindranath Tagore, you have come to the right place. You need not look any further. Thank me later!

Four Levels of Chandalika by Rabindranath Tagore

Literal Comprehension (Summary)

The play revolves around the complexities of the human mind and its conflicting needs and wants. Prakriti, an untouchable woman, lives at the fringes of her society with her mother. Ananda, a disciple of Lord Buddha (Ananda himself was an untouchable before) accepts a drink of water from her. Ananda teaches her not to belittle herself even if the whole society might think otherwise. This small incident sparks a new self-realization in Prakriti. But at the same time, her new self directs her to so far unknown emotions towards Ananda, her emancipator. She wants Ananda only for herself. At the behest of Prakriti, her mother grudgingly agrees to use her witchcraft and necromancy to get Ananda for Prakriti. Prakriti’s mother unleashes the dark forces of the nether world, which captures and binds Ananda and brings him to Prakriti. Prakriti couldn’t watch the humiliation of Ananda under the duress of dark forces and asked her mother to release Ananda. Ananda despite his own agonies pardons and blesses Prakriti in the end. Prakriti also realizes that if you love someone, you shouldn’t hold them in captivity, but rather set them free.

Interpretation

Rabindranath Tagore wrote “Chandalika” based on the theme of age-old caste discrimination and its tragic consequences. He brings Buddhism into the play through the character of Anand (Buddha’s disciple). Although the play shows how the marginalized group in India still has to go through humiliation in the name of caste division. In other words, Tagore wanted to strike on the dark side of Hinduism by highlighting casteism as the vice of this oldest religion.

The title of the play “Chandalika” is significant in itself because it somehow refers to the lower class status of being untouchable. Tagore has resorted to Buddhism in this play to demonstrate the consequences of Hinud’s caste suppression because Buddhist philosophy is all about treating everyone equally with love and respect, irrespective of their background.

The play digs into several aspects of human life and its dimensions. It’s important to note that obsession with something might lead to unwanted disaster. Prakriti falls in love with Anand but ends up binding him with her mother’s black magic (superstition associated with Hinduism).

Critical Thinking

This drama was ahead of its time when it was written. The reader can experience everything related to human life and psychology such as love, compassion, obsession, a feeling of inferiority, sins, purgatory, and rebirth. We can appreciate the Buddhist philosophy brought into the play through the character of Ananda. However, the drama tends to fall back on some aspects from a critical perspective.

Several parts of the drama are really questionable. It is really hard to understand what the author is trying to imply with the actions of the protagonist, Prakriti. Provided that she was born into the marginal section of Indian society, the act of trying to spell-bind Ananda gives us the wrong picture. It indirectly hints to us at the stereotype associated with that section of society.

Talking about love, it is really doubtful whether Prakriti had sincere feelings toward Anand. If she really loved him, she would not have made him go through that suffering. The use of black magic by her mother makes us think if it really exists. Therefore, the readers tend to shift their position throughout the development of the story in the drama. It gets really confusing.

Assimilation

This two (or three) act play portrays an untouchable girl’s desperation to get redeemed from the dehumanized humiliating position, which was lower than animal status. The protagonist has no special desire or need. It’s understandable that she only wished to obtain human status. Like the snake shades its skin, Prakriti got the flicker of hope to discard her lower class status through Anand, the monk’s encouragement. However, she got undeservingly selfish and victimized Anand. She got immoral and selfish for achieving the unachievable.

I think that the theory of destiny is a given concept in Hinduism. It is not a self-developed or god given concept. One’s birth is associated with destiny according to Hinduism. As destiny is a given concept, it can be thus defied. If we dare to defy any given man-made concept, it loses its value. Casteism is a given system. It is a grammar of society. These are the rules, norms and values, and parameters of society. Society is a grinding machine. So we have to accept it until some trendsetters appear.

Last but not the least, I have increased respect for Buddhist philosophy because I think that it is able to bring the best out of any person. I think the drama is about self-realization. We can sum up the drama in a sentence: Love is not about possessing someone. It is about giving them freedom.

Before we go… Let’s chant it together: om maṇi padme hūṃ

Take a quick look at your watch! Or maybe that clock on your Smartphone! If it ain’t no Eight o’Clock in there… get it to Eight! Okay… that was an intro to this post. Let’s get to the point, and do some down-to-earth analysis of “Eight O’Clock” by A.E. Housman, shall we?

The idea of the poem is simple. Time is the most powerful phenomenon in the world and we human beings have no choice. Death is inevitable and it is the ultimate truth of life. The following four-level analysis of “Eight O’Clock” will help you to better understand this masterpiece written by A.E. Housman.

He stood, and heard the steeple 
      Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town. 
One, two, three, four, to market-place and people 
     It tossed them down. 

Strapped, noosed, neighing his hour, 
      He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; 
And then the clock collected in the tower 
      Its strength, and struck.

Four-level Analysis of “Eight O’Clock” by A.E. Housman

Literal Comprehension (Summary)

Literally, this poem is about a man who is going to be hanged by the steeple in an old English town. He is counting the minutes he is left with few moments until 8 o’clock which is when he will be executed. It is really hard for him to fall asleep knowing that he is going to be executed the next morning. No matter how hard he wanted to live, he could do nothing other than wait for his death. At last, the inevitable happens. The clock strikes eight, and he faces his unfortunate fate.

Interpretation

Although the main character in the poem is shown to be a prisoner, it could be any common man from a normal walk of life. On a deeper level, this poem acknowledges the fact that time controls us and our life and death, seeing how it was the clock chime that decided the prisoner’s time of death/execution. Time is the most powerful force in the universe and everyone is helpless in front of it, irrespective of their wealth and social status.

No matter how much you run after money, fame, and prestige, death is the only ultimate truth of life and there’s no way we can avoid it. We are used to taking everything for granted, even the valuable time that we have at the moment. We don’t realize that we had something until it is gone, such as the time we wasted on something insignificant.

The title of the poem “Eight O’Clock” itself is rather symbolic. It refers to the traditional morning hour of execution in England of centuries past. The striking of the clock and the striking of the head of the prisoner is analogous. The speaker is the poet. The dramatic situation is that an unnamed male prisoner is standing, presumably on a scaffold, and waiting to be executed when the clock in the nearby church steeple tolls eight.

Critical Thinking

The poet deserves appreciation for his amazing music-like composition. The beautiful rhyming in the poem gives the reader a sense of inevitability as well as harmony. The significance of the word “struck” is really deep in the poem as it could mean both the time on a clock and the death execution. However, from a critical perspective, the poem is not able to convince its readers on certain points.

There are two sides to life. There are good times and then there are bad times. But the protagonist. Life is full of both happiness and sadness. Life always comes with death, otherwise, life would lose its significance. There is no point in cursing the almighty god for this natural process of life. Rather than staying there and doing nothing, the protagonist could have done something to change his fate or make his life meaningful before actually facing his death. But he just remained idle waiting for his execution. He seems to have a loser mentality.

Assimilation

Until now, I used to just pass my leisure time on insignificant things that made no sense at all. After reading this poem, I have become more self-aware of what I do and how do I spend my time. Time is limited and we have to make the best use of every second we have. I have come to understand the real meaning behind the age-old proverb “time and tide waits for none”.

But just because we are going to die at one point in life doesn’t mean that we die today. We have to give our best and make every day count. It’s worth citing Steve Jobs here with regard to time: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” Make a habit of asking this question to yourself every morning before you start your day.

Good Luck!