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Module 12 - Part
2: Explorations and Exercises
Other parts of this module include:
Index | Part
1: Overview | Part
3: Texts and Contexts | Part
4: Web Resources
Insiders' Views of the Colonial Experience
To respond to these exercises, it helps to have some appreciation
of the cultural assumptions explored in them. Click on Web
Resources for further insights into the way ideas about
the human and divine in each culture colors the literary
texts that we are studying.
These questions are arranged into three color-coded categories.
Level A invites you to look closely
at some specific aspects of individual texts. Answering these
questions shows that you have read carefully and understand
the significance of important words and ideas as they appear
in context.
Level B asks you to think more
deeply about the implications of some of the details that
you have isolated.
Level C allows you to build on
the findings of the first two categories to theorize broadly
about the relationship of the text to social and historical
forces beyond the work itself.
Topics in this module's Exploration and Exercises section include:
Focus on Breast-Giver
Level A
- The translator captures many odd locutions in Mahasweta's
story. Note the sentence that begins the second paragraph: "The
responsibility was Mr. Haldar's new son-in-law's Studebaker
and the sudden desire of the youngest son of the Haldar-house
to be a driver" (p. 2826). Who-or what-is to blame for
the accident that cost Kangali his legs? What is the
tone of this statement?
- How is it possible to "enter the sixteenth century
as you enter the gates" of the Haldar house?
- How did Mr. Haldar make his fortune? Why are we given
these details (see Chapter 1, pp. 2828-29)?
- The narrative announces that "Jashoda received a portfolio" (p.
2833) when Mrs. Haldar hires her to become a professional
wet nurse to her grandchildren. How does this term reflect
India 's colonial inheritance?
Level B
- What is the impact of the narrative's use of English-language
words, italicized in the translation and present in the
original Bengali text? What kind of words are "welkin" and "bodkin" (p.
2830)? Contrast their contribution to the texture of
the story with that of words like "epidemic" (p. 2832)
and "mammary gland" (p. 2840). What different aspects
of the colonial experience do these linguistic borrowings
represent?
- How does Jashoda's presence in the Haldar household
transform the behavior of the men of the house? Discuss
the concluding paragraphs to Chapter 2 of Breast-Giver ,
analyzing the way in which European ideas influence the
behavior of the daughters and daughters-in-law who take
advantage of Jashoda's professional assistance.
- Why does the marriage of Kangali and Jashoda disintegrate?
Discuss their quarrels in Chapter 4 of Breast-Giver .
In what sense has the traditional Indian family been
undercut by Jashoda's integration into the Haldar family?
- How important is the Indian caste system to the characters
in this story? How does the narrative treat the traditional
reverence for Brahmins? Would you attribute the tone
taken toward Hindu social customs to the influence of
Western values?
Level C
- How does Breast-Giver treat the ancient
Hindu myths that center around Yashoda and Krishna and
the nurturing female? Why are modern women often conflicted
about the relation of motherhood to the struggle for
equal rights? Compare the Indian setting with Alice Munro's
Western Ontario or the American Southwest in Leslie Marmon
Silko's Yellow Woman as they provide contexts
for questioning a mother's function. Is motherhood a
meaningful "profession" for every female? Is it fair
to expect that it should be?
- How would you describe the attitude toward the body
and bodily functions in Breast-Giver ? Of what
does Mrs. Haldar die? How are the physical infirmities
suffered by Jashoda and Kangali described? Do you think
this attitude is typically Indian, or influenced by India
's colonial inheritance, or does it simply reflect the
author's sensibility? Cite specific examples from the
text as evidence for your response.
- The conclusion of Breast-Giver suggests
that modernity, brought about by contact with the West,
has torn the old social fabric that had sustained the
Hindu experience. Discuss the imagery of the disconnected
phone, the hospital morgue, and "the death of God" (p.
2845) and compare these final paragraphs to the conclusion
of Things Fall Apart (in which the District
Commissioner thinks of his forthcoming book on The
Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger ).
How would you characterize Mahasweta's view of her society's
relation to the colonial experience? In what ways does
it differ from Achebe's?
Focus on The Guest
Level A
- How does the schoolteacher recognize that at least
one of the figures he sees coming toward him "knew the
region" (p. 2574)? Why is that an important note on which
to begin a story called The Guest ?
- How does the narrative description of the geography
lesson on the schoolroom blackboard suggest that it is
of natural concern for the students who study there?
Can a chalked representation of rivers flow "toward their
estuaries" (p. 2574)?
- How did the colonial administration handle the plight
of the poor during the drought mentioned in the third
paragraph of the story? Why do you think this detail
is included?
- Daru had seen one man on horseback and one on foot.
When they approach the schoolhouse, we know which is
which and why. Discuss the significance of their different
modes of travel.
- How does Daru react to the order that the police officer
Balducci gives him? What details in the text communicate
his response?
- What puzzles the Arab about Daru's treatment of him?
What thoughts pass through Daru's mind during the night
when they share the same room?
Level B
- Explain the source of the tension between Balducci
and Daru, who obviously know each other and have been
friends.
- Balducci had apologized for having to make Daru sign
a document testifying to his acceptance of the Arab into
his custody, saying, "I know you'll tell the truth. You're
from hereabouts and you are a man" (p. 2578). What do
these short sentences tell us about the code of behavior
that each accepts?
- What do you think the Arab means when he says to Daru, "Come
with us" (p. 2580), as the two men prepare for sleep?
- Daru is troubled by his sense of honor as he contemplates
his situation, and curses both "his own people who had
sent him this Arab and the Arab too who had dared to
kill and not managed to get away" (p. 2581). Analyze
what honor seems to require of Daru, in this situation.
How do you evaluate his understanding of the term?
Level C
- Consult the Web-based material on the Algerian War
listed in Web Resources and explain the positions occupied
by the three men in The Guest . The headnote
points out that the French title, L'Hote , can
mean both host and guest (p. 2573). Why is this a purposeful
confusion? To whom might the different meanings of the
title apply? What political implications do the varying
interpretations hold for suggesting where each of the
three men belongs in relation to the contest over Algeria
?
- Why does the Arab look at Daru with "a sort of panic" when
the schoolteacher leaves him to make his own way? Why
do you think he takes the road to the prison? What had
Daru hoped the prisoner would do? Camus seems to comment
here on what the power relationships in a colonial situation
do to the different players in the conflict. Explore
the deviations from the expectations that Balducci seems
to have in the behavior of Daru and the Arab at the conclusion
of the story. Then compare the analysis of the psychological
costs of colonialism in Frantz Fanon's work as outlined
in the Web sites available in Web Resources. Judging
from what you have read by and about Camus, do you think
he would subscribe to Fanon's ideas?
- After studying the materials in the Web Resources
section, speculate on what events occur after this short
story ends. How serious is the threatening scrawl on
the schoolroom blackboard, chalked in over the drawing
of the rivers of France ? Why doesn't Camus tell us what
happens to Daru?
- Read the speech that Camus delivered when he was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 and comment on
his understanding of the writer's role in society. Analyze
the ways in which The Guest demonstrates the
human dilemmas that Camus sees as the burden of the mid-twentieth-century
artist.
Focus on Facing the Forests
Level A
- Yehoshua differentiates his characters according to
their relationships to each other, but none of them have
names. How would you describe the impact of this narrative
strategy on the reader?
- How are the operations of the Afforestation Department
described? How does the candidate for the position of
fire-watcher offend the manager?
- What subject do the student's friends suggest for
his dissertation? Why is it significant that he doesn't
come up with the topic himself? What are his father's
reactions to the way his son proposes to approach the
topic?
- What kind of relationship does the fire-watcher develop
with the youthful hikers in the forest?
- What kind of relationship does the fire-watcher develop
with the old Arab and his daughter? Are you surprised
to see the chores with which they have been entrusted?
- Why does the fire-watcher make so little progress
with his studies? How would you evaluate him as a human
being?
- What starts the fire? How does the fire-watcher fulfill
his duties when he discovers it?
Level B
- Discuss the imagery of muteness and blindness in Yehoshua's
story. What is the source of these infirmities? Whom
do they afflict? How do they complicate the tensions
that the story uncovers?
- How does the fire-watcher's fascination with the old
Arab grow? Do you think the student has strong political
convictions? What do the old man and the girl provide
for him as the weeks pass?
- How does the manager respond when the student brings
to his attention the existence of a "ruined village" (p.
3089) underneath the new forest? Why is the fire-watcher
so interested in this fact?
- The only proper names in Facing the Forests are
those on the plaques acknowledging the donors of trees.
Explain why you think Yehoshua includes these names.
What do they explain about the role of the forests in
the development of the state of Israel ? (You may find
it interesting to consult the Web sites in the Web Resources
section that elicit support for the Israeli national
forests.)
- Discuss the visit of the wife of one of the fire-watcher's
friends. Why was she sent? What happens to her? What
light does this episode cast on the mental state of the
protagonist?
- How does the relationship between the fire-watcher
and the old Arab deepen? Why does the scholar talk about
his otherwise fruitless research with such fervor (p.
3094)? In what ways does this scene intensify the approach
to the story's climax?
- How does the fire-watcher treat the little girl when
the old Arab seems to have abandoned her? How would you
compare his history with women to the way he responds
to her?
- Who is responsible for the fire? Discuss the implications
of the final paragraphs of the story, from the interrogation
to its possible consequences.
Level C
- Shelley said that poets are "mirrors of the gigantic
shadows which futurity casts upon the present . . . the
unacknowledged legislators of mankind" ( A Defence
of Poetry , p. 825). In what ways do writers like
Yehoshua and Camus seem to have anticipated the future?
How do they depict the psychological drives that complicated
and continue to plague the residue of the colonial experience
in places like Algeria and Israel ? To address this question
in more detail, you may want to review the Web sites
in the Web Resources section that offer more direct statements
about these writers' political positions.
- Discuss the possibility that Kafka's narrative insights
have had some influence on Yehoshua's work. How does
each author describe personality? How do they show the
impact of external social and familiar pressures on troubled
individuals?
- Compare the fate of the young Arab murderer in The
Guest with that of the old Arab caretaker in Facing
the Forests . To what extent are their situations
similar? To what extent do they serve the authors'
symbolic ends? Why do we not know exactly what happens
to them?
- To what does the final question, "Well, what now?" refer?
Compare and contrast Yehoshua's conclusions with the
endings of the narratives of Camus and Mahasweta. Do
these writers have explicit political agendas? How do
these fictions that explore colonial situations rooted
in earlier times affect you as a twenty-first-century
reader?
Focus on Two Poems by Rudyard Kipling
Recessional
Level A
- The title Recessional refers to a hymn sung
at the end of a religious service while the celebrants
leave the sanctuary. In what ways is the poem's structure
hymn-like?
- Which manifestation of the Judeo-Christian God does
this poem implore? Who are the "Hosts" that God commands?
Why are they organized in this form?
- Note the parallelism in the opening of the second
stanza: Explain what you think the dying "tumult" and
the "shouting" express. How do they relate to the "Captains
and the Kings"?
- How are the Gentiles characterized? Who are the "lesser
breeds without the Law"?
- What are Nineveh and Tyre ? What happened to them?
How are they relevant to a poem written in 1897?
Level B
- According to the Web site maintained by the English
royal family, Recessional was written the
morning after Queen Victoria marked her Diamond Jubilee
with a procession outside of St. Paul 's Cathedral, with "eleven
colonial prime ministers in attendance." Why is it significant
that Kipling cast his poem as a hymn sung at the ending
of a service rather than as a song of praise?
- Why does Kipling single out the British navies for
mention in stanza 3?
- In a poem that commemorates a church service, whose
is "the heathen heart that puts her trust / In reeking
tube and iron shard"? What activity is being described
here? Why is "reeking" a significant vocabulary choice?
Level C
- After reviewing the Web Resources describing the British
Empire the, consider this poem's tone. Do you think it
glorifies the British Empire of which Victoria was so
proud? Cite some examples to justify your argument.
- Review the opening of Genesis in Volume A of the Anthology .
What does Kipling mean by the "valiant dust that builds
on dust" in the final stanza of his poem? How is the
universal history recorded in the early chapters of Genesis
meaningful in the context of Recessional ?
The White Man's Burden
Level A
- Try to account for the poet's decision to repeat the
first line at the head of every stanza. What is the effect
of these reiterated exhortations?
- What responsibilities does colonial occupation place
on the occupier, according to this poem?
Level B
- What attitude does the poem express toward those who
are ruled by the white imperial power? Which words convey
this attitude? Do you find them offensive?
- In the poem's final stanza, Kipling suggests that
the decision to occupy the Philippines marks the initiation
of the United States into a new level of maturity. Do
you agree with that characterization? What is "childish" about
a country with no colonial possessions?
Level C
- Kipling sent a pre-publication copy of The White
Man's Burden to Theodore Roosevelt, whom he knew.
Shortly afterwards, United States troops began shooting
the residents of the Philippine Islands who resisted
their annexation of their homeland by yet another colonial
power (Spain yielded the islands to the U.S. as part
of the treaty agreement ending the Spanish-American
War-see the Web sites in Web Resources). Compare the
ideas that Kipling wants Roosevelt (who as U. S. Secretary
of the Navy had been deeply involved in the War) to
consider with those expressed by Ruben Dario in his
poem To Roosevelt (p. 1718-19), written to
President Roosevelt after Spain "ceded the Panama Canal
zone to the United States" (p. 1715). What difference
does the perspective of the poet make in this case?
From what vantage point is Kipling speaking? Is the
insider Dario more or less critical of American imperial
power?
- How does Dario refer to Genesis in To Roosevelt ?
Compare Kipling's allusions to Genesis in Recessional and
to Exodus in The White Man's Burden . Why do
both poets invoke biblical figures and situations in
referring to colonial power?
- Choose one of the parodies of this poem found in the
Web Resources section and write a detailed analysis of
the criticism that it brings to bear on the original.
Do you think the parodist understood Kipling's poem?
Focus on Excerpts from Okot p'Bitek, Song
of Lawino
Level A
- Who is Clementine, or Tina? How does Lawino feel about
her? What details carry this information?
- Why do you think Lawino is so preoccupied with the
preparation and consumption of food? What is the role
of the traditional Acoli housewife?
Level B
- Song of Lawino has 13 chapters. In the first
six, Lawino bemoans her personal situation, while the
latter half of the poem mounts a more general defense
of Acoli culture. The selection headed "Modern Girl" is
drawn from Chapter 2, "The Woman I Share With My Husband." The
selection called "Modern Cookery" and the second selection, "In
My Mother's House," are both from Chapter 6, "The Mother
Stone Has a Hollow Stomach." What are the customs that
Lawino defends? How does she view Western culture? How
do you react to her critique of appliances that Westerners
take for granted, like stoves, or her description of
Clementine's make-up?
- What do we learn about Ocol from Lawino's poem? Describe
the impact that colonial influence has had on each of
them. Do you think the poet takes sides for one or the
other? Explain your answer to this question with references
to the text.
Level C
- Song of Lawino was originally written in
Acoli; Okot translated it himself into English. The subsequent
companion poem, Song of Ocol , was written in
English only. Comment on the significance of these linguistic
choices and relate them to the debate about language
described in the Anthology headnote to Things
Fall Apart (p. 2857) and in the Web site article
on "Chinua Achebe and the Language of the Colonizer." Why
did Achebe choose to write in English while Ngugi Wa
Thiong'o, who began his literary career in English, abandoned
it? How would you compare Okot's solution to this problem
with Achebe's and Ngugi's stances?
- Read "The Form and Function of Repetition in Okot
p'Biket's Poetry," available in the Web Resources section.
Pay particular attention to its analysis of the repeated
phrase "Let no one uproot the Pumpkin." What is the importance
of the gourd in East African societies? How does this
proverb relate to the dilemma of modern Africans trying
to balance the old and the new?
- Although Song of Lawino is a modern, literate
poem, Okot provides a flavor of the oral tradition in
the way he renders his character's speech. Cite some
phrases that seem to you to typify an oral speaker's
use of language and compare the role of orality in other
modern African texts in the Anthology , including
the folk-influenced narratives of Bernard Dadie. To what
extent does these "insiders"' embrace of oral forms implicitly
comment on the colonial experience?
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