Assignment

Assignment writing: Paper 210A Research Project Writing: Dissertation Writing 

Dissertation Topic: "Reading 'New India' in Fictional World of Arvind Adiga and Chetan Bhagat"

This blog is Assignment writing onPaper 210A:Research Project Writing: Dissertation Writing  assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

🌟Dissertation Conclusion 

• Name: Nidhi Dave

• Roll no: 16

• Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

• Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

• Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 4)

• Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

   Conclusion

Indian novels in English have taken an active role in the process of nation building from pre-independence India to form modern secular democratic republic India. India’s deeply rooted spiritual and religious compositions with diverse social, cultural, economic and political lives shape the narratives of the novels. Issues like caste, class division, social discrimination, freedom struggle, women's oppression and liberation were prominent in the novels of the pre-independent period. Post-independent India faces new kind of problems with the rapid socio-economic and political development and globalization. Poverty, corruption, crime, communal tension, ethnicity, nation and nationalism, women’s suppression, women’s new roles, caste based exploitation and Class differentiation has become a major aspect of writing novels in India. With dreams, hopes and aspiration, it also records failures and disappointment motives, passions, experiences, observations and vision of new India. What Charles Dickens and George Eliot, George Meredith and William Thackeray did in the 19th century England, writers like Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Aravind Adiga have done it in India. With their dynamic portrayal and the interpretations of life and the changing existing reality, they exposed harsh truth of India and her people through their writings. Indians began reading, speaking and using this language. Gradually, people started to write in English in their daily conversations. In its early stages, the narration was influenced by the Western art form of the 'novel'. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Gosh were the persons who contributed profoundly to abolish English in India.

. The first Indo- English novel was Travels of Dean Mahomet in 1793 followed by the publication of Bankimchandra Chatterjee's Rajmohan's Wife in 1864. Early Indian English writers paid more attention to contemporary issues than the past. They were prone to reveal problems in social and political spheres in everyday Indian life in their works which dealt with the exploitation of the poor and the struggle for freedom. Lead writers were K. S. Venkatramani's Murugan, the Tiller (1927) and Kandan, the Patriot A Novel of New India in the Making (1932) and A. S. P. Ayyer's Baladitya (1930) and Three Men of Destiny (1939). The abovementioned novelists and their works influenced the most prominent successive trio known as Mulk Raj Anand, R. K Narayan and Raja Rao. They took Indian English fiction to a higher position within the western novel writing tradition which was a new direction and opened world for Indian English fictional writing Fictional section sprouted an the pens of some notable novelists such as Bhabani Bhattacharya Mar Malgonkar, and Khushwant Singh J. Menon Marathy etc. It also created a new era for Indian women novelists writing in English with the new dimension of Indian English writing Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal and Anita Desai were the dominant examples Moreover, after 1960s some novelists began to turn their focus from public to private section because of the destruction and unrest during the World War Two After 1980, it was the period of new fiction with dominant figures such as Salman Rushdie, Shashi Deshpande, Shashi Tharoor, and Arundhati Roy. In recent times more and more Indian English writers have been showcasing their ingenious works like The Inheritance of Loss (2006) by Kiran Desai and The White Tiger (2008) by Aravind Adiga, who both won the Booker Prize Novelists introduce new techniques with their works. Likewise Magic Realism used in Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Orientalism used in Ruth Prawar Thabwala's Heat and Dust and the Popular Literature are in Bhagat's all the bestselling novels. These novelists take up the problems of the masses which have been in a straight way concerning Popular Culture. Now. Cultural Studies embraces popular culture, a culture shared by a large number of people. As Promod K Nayar says:

Cultural studies looks at mass or popular culture and everyday life. Popular culture is the culture of the masses. It is graffiti, comic books, mass cinema (as opposed to art cinema), popular music (as opposed to classical music), the open spaces of the city (as opposed to art galleries), sports. It is the culture of the everyday life of the larger number of people.

The word 'popular' is meant as a synonym for 'successful Certain books are carefully tailored by the contemporary Indian English writers and publishers to capture the attention of a wide range of potential readers. This type of literature highlights current trends and issues in front of a large audience. The young generation of writers including Jhumpa Lahiri, Manju Kapoor, Kiran Nagerkar. Amit Chaudhari, Chetan Bhagat, Rajkamal Jha. Aravind Adiga. Amish Tripathi and many others have used various types of literary forms to enrich the history of Indian English literature. Indian English fiction has become popular in the spotlight because of these outstanding writers, and it is acquiring a dominant position in the world similar to Western counterparts. The history of Indian English literature was influenced by the Western art form of the novel. As it is inevitable, there is no specific and established trend in Indian English novels in the 21" century. The works of Chetan Bhagat include socio-political, cultural and moral agenda concerning human life in the form of fiction. Here, the writer tried his best to project a world in which people are always caught and become the victims of their own cobweb. People realize immense difficulties to come out from that self-made cobweb. Bhagat's novels give us a clear picture of his deep towards youth. Throughout his novels he has tried to present the problems that the youth are facing . Everyone is trying to overcome these kinds of struggles. Bhagat has touched upon a variety of subjects like life call center, secularism, pressure in today's education system, inter community marriages, campus life, corruption and many more. He has a large amber of admirers all over the world. His novels have been translated into several Indian and foreign languages. 

Aravind Adiga is somewhat different from Bhagat His novels illustrate the global importance of India on the international literary stage that deals with pressing social issues and significant global developments from all over the globe Significance of Adiga's writing lies with his clear portrayals of contemporary Indian identity. His literary efforts attracted Indian as well as international readers. Adiga has painted a picture of rural India competing to stand along modern Indian identity. In view of Adiga's realistic evaluation of the issues faced by contemporary Indians. Ellen Turner explains why Adiga's work belongs in this ongoing canon:

Much of contemporary Indian fiction revolves around the lives of the educated, urban, and English speaking elite Characters are middle-class, with aspirations of social and economic mobility, from sections of society benefiting from the economic liberalization that began in India in the early 1990s.... characters are usually young and grapple with some kind of identity crisis brought about by the "clash" of tradition and contemporary life."

Adiga's characters typically come from poor to middle-class backgrounds. Adiga often introduces his own cosmopolitan background into his characters and explores the impact of class and racial differences Simultaneously he examines larger questions regarding Indian identity and the experience of Indian residents Indian traditional life revolves around marriage. family and community while an individual rejects these types of behaviors which provide the antithesis or contradiction. The individuals within Adiga's s experience crises involving identity, physical needs, economic hardship. and the direction of their personal futures while they share common heritage. The treatment of the individual in contemporary Indian literature plays an Aficant role in the genre of crime novels. Adiga mostly focuses on violence against specific individuals. Adiga's use of crime novel form places him well within the canon of contemporary Indian fiction.

The fictional worlds created by Chetan Bhagat and Arvind Adiga present different perspectives on "new India."

Chetan Bhagat's novels, such as "Five Point Someone," "One Night @ the Call Center," and "2 States," depict the lives of young, middle-class Indians who are grappling with the challenges of modernity. His characters are ambitious, aspirational, and often torn between traditional values and contemporary lifestyles. Bhagat's novels are known for their accessible language, relatable characters, and engaging plots.

On the other hand, Arvind Adiga's novels, such as "The White Tiger" and "Selection Day," present a darker view of India's economic growth and social transformation. Adiga's characters are often poor, marginalized, and struggling to survive in a rapidly changing society. His novels are known for their sharp social commentary, political critique, and complex characters.

Despite their different approaches, both authors offer insights into the complex and multifaceted nature of "new India." They highlight the tensions and contradictions that emerge as India navigates its way through economic growth, cultural change, and social upheaval. Ultimately, both Bhagat and Adiga suggest that the future of India depends on its ability to reconcile its diverse traditions, values, and aspirations.

Thank you...

Assignment

Assignment writing: Paper 209: Research Methodology 

This blog is Assignment writing on paper 209: Research Methodology assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

• Name: Nidhi Dave

• Roll no: 16

• Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

• Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

• Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 4)

• Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

✒️What is the Difference Between Academic Writing and Non-Academic Writing:

Abstract: 

Writing abilities are an essential component of communication. What distinguishes academic writing from other types of writing? Writing is a series of steps. The format, aim, and tone of academic and non-academic writing frequently differ.If you had ever considered that writing is the process? Writing is a difficult task. According to Columns, humans have been writing for thousands of years; writing has grown increasingly essential in recent years; and, despite this fact that other people are unable to write or read, the bulk of communication occurs through writing rather than speaking. (Coulmas) According to Yunus and Haris, writing is an important tool in learning since it may assist learners better understand viewpoints and concepts. (Both Yunus and Haris)

Introduction :

Here we are discussing about The primary distinction between academic and non-academic literature is that academic content is meant for society's intellectual and research communities, whilst non-academic text is designed for society's general audience.All writings may be divided into two categories: academic and non-academic. Academic texts are objective, formal, and factual, and they are written for academics. Non-academic literature, on the other hand, are casual, informal, and personal, and are intended for a broad audience.

What is Research? How is Academic Writing important in Research? 

I have most likely written numerous personal essays in school that conveyed your views, feelings, and opinions without referencing any other source of information or ideas. Some projects, on the other hand, need that we move beyond our personal understanding. We conduct research when we want to investigate a concept, investigate an issue, solve a problem, or make an argument in response to what others have written. We then search for and employ items that are not available through our personal resources. The findings of such an investigation are included in the study paper. The word research paper refers to a presentation of student study that can be written, electronic, or multimedia in nature.

Research is a process of systematic inquiry that entails collection of data; documentation of critical information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/information, in accordance with suitable methodologies set by specific professional fields and academic disciplines.

Research is conducted to...

• Evaluate the validity of a hypothesis or an interpretive framework.

• To assemble a body of substantive knowledge and findings for sharing them in appropriate manners.

• To help generate questions for further inquiries.

What is Academic Writing ? 

Academic writings are critical, impartial, and specialized literature published by professionals or subject matter experts in a certain discipline. It is written in formal language with a formal tone and style. These materials are based on facts since they are objective. The writers' emotions and sentiments are not conveyed via them. Academic texts are laser-focused, succinct, clear, precise, and well-structured. They are founded on facts and evidence, are free of repetition, hyperbole, rhetorical questions, and contractions, and are always written in the third person.

Academic books, in general, discuss or offer answers to a particular topic in a discipline. The primary goal of academic literature is to improve the reader's comprehension of a particular topic. Academic writing refers to a piece of writing which focuses on specific academic subject/topic.Its reader includes academicians.It may include some complex sentences.Its content is based on serious thought.It contains citations and references.In academic writing technical and academic language used accurately.In grammar point of view academic writing is error free. For example suppose a professor writing on a concept related to Chemistry and that published on college’s monthly magazine.

Types of Academic Writing :

• Essays
• Textbooks
• Theses
• Case studies 
• Reports
• Research articles

How to Write an Academic Writing :

• Introduction to the topic
• Place the topic in a context
• Background information
• Aim of the text
• Method to fulfill the aim
• The thesis statement or research question
• Findings
• Necessity and the importance of the topic

What is Non-Academic Writing? 

Non-academic texts are non-academic publications aimed for a general readership. They are emotive, personal, and subjective, with no study involved. As a result, anyone may create a non-academic text. Non-academic material includes newspaper articles, e-mail communications, texts and emails, journal writing, and letters.

Non Academic writings are based on any general conversation or topic.Its reader includes family and friends.Its purpose is to inform, entertain or persuade the readers.Simple and short sentences are always preferable.Its thought is based on conversational.It often do not contain citations and references.Non Academic writing is not structured in manner.It may follow formal or informal way of writing.In grammar point of view it may contain error but mostly avoided.In non academic writing use short forms, idioms and slang.For example you are an employee of an company and you are writing a business letter to your colleague related to the current project.A non-academic text's primary goal is to enlighten or convince readers. There are no citations in them. The sentences are brief, and the material is unclear and poorly constructed.

Features of Non-Academic Writing :

• Less formal (may idioms, slangs, contractions)
• Casual language
• Use any point of view
• Opinion-based
• Free of rigid structures
• On general topics

Examples of Non-academic Writing :

• Personal journal entries
• Memoirs
• Autobiographical writing
• Letters
• E-mails
• Text messages

What is the Difference Between Academic Writing and Non-Academic Writing? :

The main differentiation between academic and non-academic literature is that academic material is meant for the scholarly and research communities in society, whereas non-academic text is intended for the general public. The academic content is formal and factual, whereas the non-academic text is casual and personable. Furthermore, citations are always present in academic papers, but citations may or may not be present in non-academic literature.

The infographic below compares the differences between academic and non-academic literature in a tabular format.What Is the Distinction Between Academic and Non-Academic Writing? Academic writing, according to Hyland, is a type of medium for discussing knowledge claims. Academic writing should be the most tangible social text; it should include collective social behaviors rather than linguistic aspects as academic writing regularities. Most academic writing aims will be persuasive; convince an evaluation in a review, accept a knowledge claim in a research article, and admit a schema in a text book. Non-academic writing, on the other hand, is a type of personal prose in which writers express their thoughts, feelings, or beliefs. Literature, personal essays, articles, and writing in popular magazines and newspapers are not included. (Hyland)

So What was the Difference Between Academic and Non-Academic Writing? Writing in Academic Settings Writing for Non-Academic Purposes Academic Readers Friends and family Serious contemplation Style of Conversation Complex sentences with a wide range of constructions Mostly simple and complicated phrases connected by conjunctions like and or but Organisation Clear and well-thought-out Less likely to be as precise and well-organized Vocabulary Accurate use of technical and academic language Use of abbreviations, idioms, and slang.

How is academic writing different from non-academic writing?

Academic writing is a formal and impersonal style of writing that is intended for a scholarly or academic audience while non academic writing is an informal and often subjective style of writing that aims at the mass public. The difference between academic writing and non academic writing stems from various factors such as their audience, purpose, language, format, and tone. Academic writing aims at academia while non academic writing aims at the mass public. Moreover, the main purpose of academic writing is to inform the readers, with unbiased facts and solid evidence. However, the purpose of academic writing can be to inform, entertain, or persuade the audience. This is a major difference between academic writing and non academic writing.

Another difference between academic writing and non academic writing is their style. Academic writing is formal and impersonal while non academic writing is personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. We can consider this as the key difference between academic writing and non academic writing. Moreover, the former uses formal language while avoiding colloquialism and slang whereas the latter uses informal and casual language. Citations and sources are also a major difference between academic writing and non academic writing. Academic writing contains citations and references while non academic writing does not usually contain citations and references. Some examples of academic writing include research papers, dissertations, scholarly articles while newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs, letters, digital media, etc. are examples of non academic writing.

Non-academic texts are writings that are informal and dedicated to a lay audience. They are emotional, personal and subjective without any kind of research involving. Therefore, anyone can write a non-academic text. Newspaper articles, e-mail messages, text messages, journal writing, and letters are some examples of non- academic text.

The key difference between academic text and non academic text is that academic text is intended for the scholarly and the research community in society while the non-academic text is intended for the general public in society. While the academic text is formal and factual, the non-academic text is informal and personal. In addition, academic texts always contain citations, whereas non-academic texts may or may not contain citations.

Conclusion :

It may conclude from the discussion of this presentation that scholarly perspectives differ from those of others. Ordinary people cannot grasp this unique meaning, but academics can. The academic depiction of the subject is distinct and engaging to read. Non-academic writing consists solely of casual conversions, whereas academic writing offers serious points of view. In non-academic languages, there are no strict norms and laws for structure and grammar. As a result, it resembles daily ordinary language, which is exclusively used in everyday life. Academic writing should be well-thought-out, succinct, and direct.

Academic writings are critical, impartial, and specialised literature published by professionals or subject matter experts in a certain discipline. They are geared at academics. Academic texts are formal, fact-based, and always include citations. Non-academic literature, on the other hand, are casual compositions aimed for a general readership. They are frequently about broad issues, written in informal or colloquial style, and may include the writer's own ideas. This is an overview of the distinction between academic and non-academic material.

Work Cited :

Coulmas, Florian. Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge University Press,2003.https:/writing-systems-an-introduction-to-their-linguistic- analysis-cambridge-textbooks-in-linguistics-e156761438.html. 

Davis, Ben. “What Is the Meaning of Academic Text?” Mv Organizing.org, 1 May 2021 Hartley, James. Academic Writing and Publishing a Practical Guide. Routledge, 2008. 

Hyland, Ken. “Disciplinary Discourses, Michigan Classics Ed.” The United States: University of Michigan Press, 2004, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.6719.

Service, Ignou. “How Is Academic Writing Different from Non-Academic Writing? Give Suitable Examples of Both.” Free Solved Assignment - IGNOU SERVICE, Blogger, 5 July 2022, https://assignment.ignouservice.in/2022/07/how-is-academic-writing-different-from.html. 

Thank you.....

Assignment

Assignment writing: Paper 208: Comparative Literature & Translation Studies.

This blog is Assignment writing onPaper 208: Comparative Literature & Translation Studies  assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

• Name: Nidhi Dave

• Roll no: 16

• Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

• Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

• Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 4)

• Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

🌟Comparative Literature in India: An Overview of its History:

Subha Chakraborty Dasgupta, Jadavpur University

About author: 

Subha Chakraborty Dasgupta is Professor of Comparative Literature and Joint Director of the School of Cultural Texts and Records at Jadavpur University. She has a book entitled Reception of World Literature in Bengali Periodicals (1890-1900), a monograph focussing on orature, and several edited volumes on themes related to Comparative Literature. A recent volume that she edited is an annotated bibliography of travel narratives entitled Of Asian Lands: A View from Bengal. At present she is working on a translation project on the compilation of discourses in Bengali. She is the current editor of Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature. 

Introduction: 

It is important to go into the history of Comparative Literature in India a little before talking about its present state. Comparative Literature in India began in 1956 with the establishment of Jadavpur University in Calcutta, a university that had as its parent body the National Council of Education. The National Council had come into being in 1906 at an important moment in the history of the nationalist movement and in an effort to establish a system of education by the people that would best serve their interests. This was also the body where Rabindranath Tagore made his speech on world literature – or visva sahitya – that he called Comparative Literature in 1907.carving out a pedagogy. There were larger goals and visions. English literature had an important place in the syllabus and in the first phase Jesuit priests and Sanskrit scholars were part of the faculty. I should mention here that my citation of events related to the department at Jadavpur University stems from the fact that it was the single full-fledged department of Comparative Literature in the country for a long period.

Therefore, questions such as the one framed by R. Radhakrishnan in his thought-provoking essay in New Literary History – “When was the last time comparisons were made between ‘cosmopolitan realisms’ and ‘third-world realisms’?” (454) and his answer: “never” (454) – come as a surprise to comparatists from a place like India where the discipline itself is premised on such questions. Translation Studies in its interface with Comparative Literature provided some stimulating work in this area at Hyderabad University.

The state of the discipline is also necessarily linked with the degree of interconnections that it establishes with institutions and individuals engaging with Comparative Literature in different places in the world, and I have to state that there has been very little significant dialogue between Indian comparatists and the rest of the world. In the international forum, that is the International Comparative Literature Association, there has been a nominal representation and some members have also participated in collaborative projects, but more is required as it is eminently possible in today’s world. That Inquire has come forward to initiate such networks is proof enough that the discipline is well and thriving.

Abstract:

The essay gives an overview of the trajectory of Comparative Literature in India, focusing primarily on the department at Jadavpur University, where it began, and to some extent the department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies in the University of Delhi, where it later had a new beginning in its engagement with Indian literatures. The department at Jadavpur began with the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore’s speech on World Literature and with a modern poet-translator as its founder. While British legacies in the study of literature were evident in the early years, there were also subtle efforts towards a decolonizing process and an overall attempt to enhance and nurture creativity. Gradually Indian literature began to receive prominence along with literatures from the Southern part of the globe. Paradigms of approaches in comparative literary studies also shifted from influence and analogy studies to cross-cultural literary relations, to the focus on reception and transformation. In the last few years Comparative Literature has taken on new perspectives, engaging with different areas of culture and knowledge, particularly those related to marginalized spaces, along with the focus on recovering new areas of non-hierarchical literary relations.

Entire article was divided into seven parts:

• 1) The Beginning

• 2) Indian literature as a comparative literature.

• 3) Centers of comparative literature studies.

• 4) Reconfiguration of areas of comparison.

• 5) Research Directions

• 6) Interface with translation studies and cultural studies.

• 7) Non - Hierarchical Connectivity.

1, The beginnings:

Long before the establishment of Comparative Literature as a discipline, there were texts focusing on comparative aspects of literature in India, both from the point of view of its relation with literatures from other parts of the world—particularly Persian, Arabic and English—and from the perspective of inter-Indian literary studies, the multilingual context facilitating a seamless journey from and between literatures written in different languages. The idea of world literature gained ground towards the end of the nineteenth century when in Bengal, for instance, translation activities began to be taken up on a large scale and poets talked of establishing relations with literatures of the world to promote, as the eminent poet-translator Satyendranath Dutta in 1904 stated, “relationships of joy” (Dutta 124).

The talk by Rabindranath Tagore entitled “Visva Sahitya” (meaning “world literature”), given at the National Council of Education in 1907, served as a pretext to the establishment of the department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University in 1956, the same year in which the university started functioning. The National Council of Education was the parent body of the University and the Council was established by a group of intellectuals in order to bring about a system of education that would be indigenous, catering to the needs of the people and therefore different from the British system of education prevalent at the time. Tagore (639) used the word “visva sahitya” (world literature), and stated that the word was generally termed “comparative literature”.

The first syllabus offered by the department in 1956 was quite challenging. There was a considerable section of Sanskrit literature along with Greek and Latin literature and then Bengali, its relation with Sanskrit literature and its general trajectory, and then a large section of European literature from the ancient to the modern period. Greek and Sanskrit scholars were a part of the faculty and the ancient period did receive a lot of importance, as it still does today, for it is there that a field is offered to work out comparisons on quite a large scale, outside the domain of contact or relation. Comparisons between the Iliad and the Ramayana, and between Sanskrit and Greek drama taking both Aristotle’s Poetics and Bharata’s Natyasastra into consideration formed the core of a section of the syllabus. While similarities were highlighted, differences led to the comprehension of core areas of cultural components. The project did not “bring into existence a new object/subject of knowledge” (Radhakrishnan 458 ) as such, but by laying out the terms of comparison it did start a chain of reflections that would constitute the materiality of comparison, an ongoing series of engagements with the multi-dimensional reality of questions related to the self and the other, to arrive at networks of relationships on various levels. The Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature, which went on to become an important journal in literary studies in the country came out in 1961.

2, Indian Literature as Comparative Literature:

 Indian literature entered the syllabus in a fairly substantial manner but not from the point of view of asserting national identity. It was rather an inevitable move – if comparative literature meant studying a text within a network of relations, where else could these relations be but in contiguous spaces where one also encountered shared histories with differences? In fact the rallying point of Comparative Literature studies in the country was around this nodal component of Indian literary themes and forms, a focal point of engagement of the Modern Indian Languages department established in 1962 in Delhi University. In 1974, the department of Modern Indian Languages started a post-MA course entitled “Comparative Indian Literature.

The focus on Indian Literature within the discipline of Comparative Literature led to the opening up of many areas of engagement. Older definitions of Indian literature often with only Sanskrit at the center, with the focus on a few canonical texts to the neglect of others, particularly oral and performative traditions, had to be abandoned. One also had to take a more inclusive look at histories of literature in different languages of India which were discrete histories based on language and did not do justice to the overlap between social formations, histories and languages, and to the multilingualism that formed the very core of Indian literature. 

3, Centres of Comparative Literature Studies:

During the seventies and the eighties Comparative Literature was also practiced at a number of centers and departments in the South of India such as in Trivandrum, Madurai Kamaraj University, Bharathidasan University, Kottayam and Pondicherry. Although often Comparative Literature courses were held along with English literature, a full-fledged Comparative Literary Studies department was established in the School of Tamil Studies in Madurai Kamaraj University. A reputed poet, author and critic, K. Ayappa Paniker, from Kerala, must also be mentioned while talking about the south for his work in the area, particularly that related to comparisons of literary theory, and for his book on the narrative traditions of India. In Tamil, apart from studies related to the comparison of texts from two different cultures, Classical Tamil texts were compared with texts from the Greek, Latin and Japanese counterpart traditions. Later in the eighties and the nineties other Centres were established in different parts of the country, either as independent bodies or within a single language department as in Punjabi University, Patiala, Dibrugarh University, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Sambalpur University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. In 1986 a new full-fledged department of Comparative Literature was established at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, where focus was on Indian literatures in Western India. Also in 1999 a department of Dravidian Comparative Literature and Philosophy was established in Dravidian University, Kuppam. It must also be mentioned that comparative poetics, a core area of comparative literature studies and dissertations, particularly in the South, was taken up as a central area of research by the Visvanatha Kaviraja Institute of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics in Orissa. During this period two national associations of Comparative Literature came into being, one at Jadavpur called Indian Comparative Literature Association and the other in Delhi named Comparative Indian Literature Association. The two merged in 1992 and the Comparative Literature Association of India was formed, which today has more than a thousand members. In the early years of the Association, a large number of creative writers participated in its conferences along with academics and researchers, each enriching the horizon of vision of the other.

4, Reconfiguration of areas of comparison: 

The eighties again saw changes and reconfigurations of areas of comparison at Jadavpur University. In the last years of the seventies, along with Indian literatures, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude became a part of the syllabus with a few other texts from Latin American Literatures and then Literatures from African countries were included. Questions of solidarity and a desire to understand resistance to oppression along with larger questions of epistemological shifts and strategies to bridge gaps in history resulting from colonial interventions were often the structuring components of these areas in the syllabus. 

European and American literature had been in focus. There was again a shift during this period as the term “influence” began to be questioned by several scholars and particularly so in colonized countries where there was a tendency to look for influences even when they were non-existent. The focus therefore shifted to reception in books like the one by the present author entitled Bibliography of Reception of World Literature in Bengali Periodicals (1890 – 1990). 

5, Research directions:

The late nineties and the early twenties were a period of great expansion for Comparative Literature research in different parts of the country with the University Grants Commission opening its Special Assistance Programme for research in university departments. Many single literature departments were given grants under the programme to pursue studies in a comparative perspective. The English department of Calcutta University for instance, received assistance to pursue research on literary relations between Europe and India in the nineteenth century. Several books and translations emerged from the project. The department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at Saurashtra University, Rajkot, took up the theme of Indian Renaissance and translated several Indian authors into English, studied early travelogs from Western India to England and in general published collections of theoretical discourse from the nineteenth century. The Department of Assamese in Dibrugarh University received the grant and published a number of books related to translations, collections of rare texts and documentation of folk forms. The department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University also received assistance to pursue research in four major areas, East-West Literary Relations, Indian Literature, Translation Studies and Third World Literature. Incidentally, the department had in Manabendra Bandyopadhyay, an avid translator who translated texts from many so-called “third-world countries”. Conferences were held and research material published in all four areas. In the next phase support was given for publishing text-books in the area and for preparing an infrastructure for the study of Indian literature. 

The need to foreground the relevance of studying literature was becoming more and more urgent in the face of a society that was all in favor of technology and the sciences and with decision makers in the realm of funding for higher education turning away from the humanities in general. The task for departments of humanities and literature was to demonstrate that they were looking into and working with a knowledge system just as any other discipline, only literature’s ways of knowing were different. Literature as a knowledge system, therefore, became a thrust area for again it was felt that comparative literature with its interdisciplinary formation would be the right place to demonstrate the same. A series of workshops were conducted by communities. 

The national association held two major conferences on the subject during the period. A particular project in this area taken up by the department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur was called Vanishing Seeds of Culture based on a study in Bankura district of West Bengal. The objective of this project was to identify the folk cultural forms associated with folk varieties of rice found in Bankura District, document such forms and analyze them to show how they were related to folk varieties of rice and make policy recommendations for the preservation of such varieties and the associated cultural forms. A checklist of different folk varieties of rice still extant in Bankura was prepared, local respondents interviewed and several cultural forms documented. It must be mentioned that Dalit literature was also taken up in courses in some parts of the country, but a lot remains to be done in the area as far as pedagogical practices are concerned. A particularly important question for Comparative Literature in this area could be linked with questions of Dalit literature’s relationship with mainstream writing, subverting, questioning and at the same time also inflecting other discourses while continuing to maintain its unique identity based to a large degree on performativity to draw the reader in as an ethical witness to the extreme limits of human suffering on which it is poised.

6, Interface with Translation Studies and Cultural Studies:

Comparative Literature in the country in the 21st century engaged with two other related fields of study, one was Translation Studies and the other Cultural Studies.Comparative Literature’s relationship with Translation Studies was not a new phenomenon for one or two departments or centers, such as the one in Hyderabad University.Comparative Literature today have courses on Translation or Translation Studies.The department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University today has a Centre for the Translation of Indian Literatures.Comparative Literature also offer modules on Comparative Cultural Studies where key texts in the global field are juxtaposed with related texts from the Indian context. MPhil course on the subject at Jadavpur University highlights changing marginalities, ‘subcultures’ and movements in relation to contemporary nationalisms and globalization, and also sexualities, gender and the politics of identity. Cultural Studies may also be a key component in different kinds of interdisciplinary courses within the discipline.

Delhi University takes up the theme of city and village in Indian literature and goes into representations of human habitat systems and ecology in literature, looks for concepts and terms for such settlements, goes into archaeological evidences and the accounts of travelers from Greece, China, Persia and Portugal to demonstrate the differences that exist at levels of perception and ideological positions.

7,Non-hierarchical connectivity :

It is evident that Comparative Literature in the country today has multifaceted goals and visions in accordance with historical needs, both local and planetary. Several University departments today offer Comparative Literature separately at the M Phil level, while many others have courses in the discipline along with single literatures. As in the case of humanities and literary studies, the discipline too is engaged with issues that would lead to the enhancement of civilizational gestures, against forces that are divisive and that constantly reduce the potentials of human beings. In doing so it is engaged in discovering new links and lines of non-hierarchical connectivity, of what Kumkum Sangari in a recent article called “co-construction”, a process anchored in “subtle and complex histories of translation, circulation and extraction” (Sangari 50). And comparatists work with the knowledge that a lot remains to be done and that the task of the construction of literary histories, in terms of literary relations among neighboring regions, and of larger wholes, one of the primary tasks of Comparative Literature today has perhaps yet to begin. In all its endeavors, However, the primary aim of some of the early architects of the discipline to nurture and foster creativity continues as a subterranean force.

Work Cited:

Bassnett, Susan. “Introduction: What is Comparative Literature Today?” Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. Oxford; Cambridge: Blackwell, 1993. 1-11. Print.

Dasgupta , Subha Chakraborty. “Journal of Comparative Literature.” Inquire, http://inquire.streetmag.org/articles/63. 

Radhakrishnan, R. “Why Compare?” New Literary History 40.3 (Summer 2009): 453-71. Print. 

Subha Dasgupta, Chakraborty. “Comparative Literature in India: An Overview of Its History.” cw literature.org, Google , May 2016,http://cwliterature.org/uploadfile/2016/0711/20160711020042997.pdf. 

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Assignment

Assignment writing: Paper 207: Contemporary Literature In English.

This blog is Assignment writing on Paper 207: Contemporary Literature In English assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

• Name: Nidhi Dave

• Roll no: 16

• Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

• Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

• Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 4)

• Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

🌟Symbolic significance to Crosswords in ‘The Only Story’

About author:

Julian Barnes was born in Leicester, England on January 19, 1946. He was educated at the City of London School from 1957 to 1964 and at Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he graduated in modern languages (with honors) in 1968.

After graduation, he worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary supplement for three years. In 1977, Barnes began working as a reviewer and literary editor for the New Statesman and the New Review. From 1979 to 1986 he worked as a television critic, first for the New Statesman and then for the Observer.

Barnes has received several awards and honors for his writing, including the 2011 Man Booker Prize for The Sense of an Ending. Three additional novels were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (Flaubert's Parrot 1984, England, England 1998, and Arthur & George 2005). Barnes's other awards include the Somerset Maugham Award (Metroland 1981), Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (FP 1985); Prix Médicis (FP 1986); E. M. Forster Award (American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1986); Gutenberg Prize (1987); Grinzane Cavour Prize (Italy, 1988); and the Prix Femina (Talking It Over 1992).He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize and the 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize, the latter for his book Nothing to Be Frightened Of. Also in 2021, he was awarded the Jean Bernard Prize, so named in memory of the great specialist in hematology who was a member of the French Academy and chaired the Academy of Medicine.

Julian Barnes has written numerous novels, short stories, and essays. He has also translated a book by French author Alphonse Daudet and a collection of German cartoons by Volker Kriegel. His writing has earned him considerable respect as an author who deals with the themes of history, reality, truth and love.

Barnes lives in London.

About Novel: 

The Only Story is a novel by Julian Barnes. It is his thirteenth novel and was published on 1 February 2018. The novel is about the life story of Paul Roberts, who we first meet as a 19-year-old Sussex University undergraduate returning to his parent's house in the leafy southern suburbs of London (Sutton, in Surrey, is suggested as a model.) The time is the early sixties, and there are a few references to current events. Paul joins the tennis club, which is one of the few opportunities such places offer for socializing. In a random-draw mixed doubles, he is thrown together with Susan MacLeod, a 48-year-old married woman with two daughters older than Paul. Improbably, Paul and Susan become lovers and she eventually leaves her family to set up house with Paul in South London. Having nothing to do but a little housekeeping, Susan soon descends into alcoholism and dementia. Paul departs and embarks on foreign travels, picking up jobs and women at random.

Paul is a quintessentially alienated character. With no interest in either politics or religion, and no particular ambition, he takes life as it comes. As he narrates his life in this book, he freely admits that memory is unreliable and he may not be telling us the truth.

Crossword:

In this Novel two people are playing crosswords, one is mr. Gordon Macleaod and another is Joan.In ‘The Only Story’ Julian Barnes has captured the nuances of social life lived in 20th century England. The crosswords were something so significant an aspect of this traditional British activity that several characters of this novel are found meaningfully engaged with it. 

Symbolic significance to Crosswords in ‘The Only Story’:

A symbol is anything that hints at something else, usually something abstract, such as an idea or belief. A literary symbol is an object, a person, a situation, or an action that has a literal meaning in a story but suggests or represents other meanings.

In ‘The Only Story’ Julian Barnes has captured the nuances of social life lived in 20th century England. The crosswords were something so significant an aspect of this traditional British activity that several characters of this novel are found meaningfully engaged with it. 

It is said that Crossword puzzles have several benefits like:

• They can strengthen social bonds. Completing a crossword puzzle on your own is impressive, but you should never feel bad if you need to ask for help. 

• They improve your vocabulary. …

• They increase your knowledge base. …

• They can relieve stress. …

• They boost your mood.

However, the postmodernist novelist Julian Barnes is not interested in this traditional meaning involved in crosswords.

See, how Paul Roberts, the narrator of the story, explains the hidden aspects of this British pass-time activity:

“Everyone in the Village, every grown-up – or rather, every middle-aged person – seemed to do crosswords: my parents, their friends, Joan, Gordon Macleod. Everyone apart from Susan. They did either The Times or the Telegraph; though Joan had those books of hers to fall back on while waiting for the next newspaper.

I regarded this traditional British activity with some snootiness.

I was keen in those days to find hidden motives – preferably involving hypocrisy – behind the obvious ones.

Clearly, this supposedly harmless pastime was about more than solving cryptic clues and filling in the answers.

My analysis identified the following elements:

• 1, the desire to reduce the chaos of the universe to a small, comprehensible grid of black-and-white squares; Further addition: 1a) a successful means of taking your mind off the question of love, which is all that counts in the world.

• 2, the underlying belief that everything in life could, in the end, be solved; 2b) the further belief that once you have solved something in life, you will be able to solve it again, and the solution will be exactly the same the second time around, thus offering assurance that you have reached a pitch of maturity and wisdom.

• 3, the confirmation that existence was essentially a ludic activity; 3b) false confirmation that you are more intelligent than some give you credit for. and

• 4, the hope that this activity would keep at bay the existential pain of our brief sublunary transit from birth to death. That seemed to cover it! Correction to 4). To begin: ‘the hope that this arse-bendingly boring activity would keep …’.”

Apart from these critical interpretations of the crossword puzzle, it quite often recurs in the novel. For instance, it is referred to with Joan’s habit of ‘cheating at crossword’.

Paul Roberts has observed during visits to her home that she cheats while doing crossword puzzles. He is quite surprised at this habit of hers. Once he directly asks it to her. Here is her reply:

“‘Why do you cheat at crosswords?’ 

Joan laughed loudly. 

‘You cheeky bugger. I suppose Susan told you. Well, it’s a fair question, and one I can answer.’ She took another pull of her gin. ‘You see – I hope you never get there yourself – but some of us get to the point in life where we realize that nothing matters. Nothing fucking matters. And one of the few side-benefits of that is you know you’re not going to go to hell for filling in the wrong answers in the crossword. Because you’ve been to hell and back already and you know all too well what it’s like.’ 

‘But the answers are in the back of the book.’ 

‘Ah, but you see, to me that would be cheating.’”

It is in the character study of Joan that we realize how symbolically important is the reference to crosswords in this novel. The cynical observations made by Paul in earlier instances are useful keys to study her character. If we take Joan as counterfoil to the character of Susan then we can find that she has no urge to feel the Laconian ‘gap’ or give outlet to her ‘repressed desire’ in looking for humans to be her ‘love-objects’. While Susan, perhaps, looks towards nineteen years Paul Roberts who is 30 years younger to her to fill the gap or give an outlet to her repressed desire, Joan, found her love-object in crosswords. And hence, all these inferences drawn by Paul seems to be true for Joan:

• 1, the desire to reduce the chaos of the universe to a small, comprehensible grid of black-and-white squares;

• 2, the underlying belief that everything in life could, in the end, be solved;

• 3,the confirmation that existence was essentially a ludic activity; and

• 4,the hope that this activity would keep at bay the existential pain of our brief sublunary transit from birth to death.

Apart from Joan, it is Gordon Macleod who is found doing crosswords in the novel. On two occasions, he is found solving the crosswords with Paul Roberts. The answers to the puzzle are ‘Taunton’ – a name of a town – meaning continue mocking at – and - ‘TREFOIL, REF – arbiter – in the middle of TOIL – work.’ If we read these words in context of the relations between Paul and Gordon we may find it symbolically significant. Taunton – making mockery of something/somebody and Trefoil – a popular warning symbol signifies triangular relation among Paul – Susan – Gordon. Both these words in the crossword puzzle seem to signify a taunt on Paul’s middling in between Susan and Gondon’s not-so-happy married life.  

Conclusion:

To conclude, we can say that the reference to ‘Crossword’ is spread across the novel. It is referred to critically as a British time-pass activity. It also makes the snootiest critique of this habit. Apart from these socio-cultural references, the crossword puzzle has symbolic significance to study the character of Joan as a counterfoil to Susan. It is also useful to study the strained triangular relationship between Paul Roberts, Susan and Gordon Macleod.

Work cited:

Barnes, Julian. The Only Story. Penguin Random House UK. 2018. Book. 24 January 2022.

Julian Barnes: Official Website, http://julianbarnes.com.

 The Shores of Lake Phalen. “Benefits of Crossword Puzzles.” The Shores of Lake Phalen, 25 July 2020, https://www.theshoresoflakephalen.com/benefits-of-crossword-puzzles/

Young, Michael F., et al. “Our Princess Is in Another Castle: A Review of Trends in Serious Gaming for Education.” Review of Educational Research, vol. 82, no. 1, 1 Mar. 2012, pp. 61–89., https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654312436980.

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Assignment

Assignment writing: Paper 206: The African Literature 

This blog is Assignment writing onPaper 206: The African Literature assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

• Name: Nidhi Dave
• Roll no: 16
• Enrollment no: 4069206420210005
• Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com
• Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 4)
• Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

🌟Fanonism and Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood:

✒️Introduction:

Constructive violence is used to resist injustice and repressive social order. Ngugi' Wa Thiong'o's novel is a stinging indictment of Kenyan governing elites who exploit workers and peasants, as well as a vital and unwavering denunciation of neocolonialist institutions such as Christianity, politics, schools, commerce, banks, landowners, and even motorways. Petals of Blood also shows how important collective action is in empowering ordinary people to fight oppression. Ngugi declared that using violence to oppose this repressive social system is justifiable, echoing Franz Fanon's beliefs. Violence, according to Fanonism, is a productive force. Other than violence, colonized countries have no other option for decolonization. Kenya has a long history of struggle and violence, culminating in the 1963 'Uhuru' (independence).

✒️About author:

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, original name James Thiong’o Ngugi, (born January 5, 1938, Limuru, Kenya), Kenyan writer who was considered East Africa’s leading novelist. His popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African. As he became sensitized to the effects of colonialism in Africa, Ngugi adopted his traditional name and wrote in the Bantu language of Kenya’s Kikuyu people.

Ngugi received bachelor’s degrees from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 1963 and from Leeds University, Yorkshire, England, in 1964. After doing graduate work at Leeds, he served as a lecturer in English at University College, Nairobi, Kenya, and as a visiting professor of English at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S. From 1972 to 1977 he was senior lecturer and chairman of the department of literature at the University of Nairobi.

The prizewinning Weep Not, Child is the story of a Kikuyu family drawn into the struggle for Kenyan independence during the state of emergency and the Mau Mau rebellion. A Grain of Wheat (1967), generally held to be artistically more mature, focuses on the many social, moral, and racial issues of the struggle for independence and its aftermath. A third novel, The River Between (1965), which was actually written before the others, tells of lovers kept apart by the conflict between Christianity and traditional ways and beliefs and suggests that efforts to reunite a culturally divided community by means of Western education are doomed to failure. Petals of Blood (1977) deals with social and economic problems in East Africa after independence, particularly the continued exploitation of peasants and workers by foreign business interests and a greedy indigenous bourgeoisie.

Ngugi later published the memoirs Dreams in a Time of War (2010), about his childhood; In the House of the Interpreter (2012), which was largely set in the 1950s, during the Mau Mau rebellion against British control in Kenya; and Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Writer’s Awakening (2016), a chronicle of his years at Makerere University.

✒️Petals of blood:

Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and first published in 1977. Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.The novel largely deals with the scepticism of change after Kenya's independence from colonial rule, questioning to what extent free Kenya merely emulates, and subsequently perpetuates, the oppression found during its time as a colony. Other themes include the challenges of capitalism, politics, and the effects of westernization. Education, schools, and the Mau Mau rebellion are also used to unite the characters, who share a common history with one another. 

✒️Fanonism:

Fanon provides a view of violence as a constructive force in Wretched of the Earth. "National liberation, national renaissance, restoration of people's nationhood, commonwealth: whatever the headings or new formulas used, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon," he says, adding that "the naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives that emanate from it." (Fanon, p. 27-28, 1985). "The rise of violence among the colonized people will be proportional to the violence exercised by the threatened colonial regime" (p. 69), but native violence brings the people together. It liberates the locals from his despondency and passivity, as well as his inferiority complex. For an individual, it acts as a "cleaning force."

Ngugi and Constructive Violence:

It is not savagery to use violence to change an individual's unjust social structure; it purifies man. It is unlawful and dehumanizing to use violence to uphold and maintain an unfair repressive social order." -In a 1963 examination of Majdalany's state of emergency, Ngugi declares. It presents Ngugi's perspective on violence as a constructive force, and his attitude is quite positive, similar to Fanon's. "Imperialism, the power of dead capital, in its neo colonial garb, will not be able to eliminate the fighting culture of the African peasantry and working class for the simple fact that this culture is a product and a reflection of real life conflicts going on in Africa today," he says. (see p. xvii)

Kenyan History of Violence:

For millennia, the coast of Kenya has been open to outside influences; intruders' treasure hunting began in the early eleventh century, and conflict with the natives was the seed of more violence. During the next four centuries, Indonesians, Arabs, Portuguese, and Omani Arabs arrived to trade and halt. After the sixteenth century, the first Europeans arrived in East Africa as explorers and traders. Settlers did not begin to go inland Kenya until the late 1800s. Europeans were stealing land from the indigenous Bantu peoples, the Kikuyu, in Nairobi, Tigoni, and Limuru. The United States' war for land began, and throughout the colonial period, British settlers and bureaucrats established a system of brutality and tyranny.

Waiyaki Wa Hinga and others led the early campaign for independence in the late 1800s. The genuine struggle for freedom began in the 1950s, when Dedan, Kmathi, L'Ouverture, Ole Masai, Chaka, Mathenge, Turner, and other brilliant leaders launched the Mau Mau campaign. It was an armed conflict between the Gikuyu peasantry and British colonial soldiers (Maughan, 1985, p.20). Mau Mau had a big influence on Ngugi. It was a war that captivated the public imagination and forever altered the fate of Kenya and many other British-ruled countries. For the first time, peasants, the poor of the earth, were fighting in a highly developed country with a long military history (p, xi).

Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood:

In Ngugi's 1977 novel Petals of Blood, he is looking for a political plan to abolish "e Whole ing," or global monopoly capitalism, of which Africa is a fundamental part. (Dorn,1999). The Kenya Ngugi talks about in this novel, the Kenya that no one can take away from him, is the 'Kenya of the working class of all nationalities and their heroic struggle against control by nature and other humans throughout the centuries.'

Nobody cared about the fate of the three small preys, the Krupps, Rockfellers, and Delameres, or if Wanja, Karega, Munira, or Abdullah was the one who killed them by the time Petals of Blood finishes. Wanja, an extraordinary struggling female character who, like Kenya, must battle to stay alive and for whom destruction is never far away, is an extraordinary struggling female character. She enables herself to become cruel like the surroundings after being humiliated by society and the world's hatred. "You eat someone or you are eaten," she explained the truth of the neocolonial position. You either sit on someone or they sit on you." She questioned, has Kimeria sinned less than her, why is she the only sufferer. She stroked his head with the punga before the person. According to Fanon this is individual freedom and it will calm and clean her burning heart.

Abdullah, the shy Mau Mau fighter, was completely betrayed by the country for which he fought. The newly independent Kenya was unable to rehabilitate the one-legged fighter who had given up his family and land for the sake of the country. The unsung hero had the opportunity to redeem himself, but Kimeria, the same guy who betrayed his friend during Mau Mau, was involved with the spoils of his business, his earnings. He wanted to revenge the death of his comrade, Ndinguri, and free Wanja from his claws by killing Kimeria. By doing this act of violence, he reserved his manhood.

Karega, the traveling guy, commits himself to worker solidarity and assists the labour union. He disagreed with Wanja's ideology and continued his search for lost innocence, optimism, and faith. He believed that being a perpetrator of violence would not prevent violence. He was certain there had to be another way to the 'new world.'

Munira, the man of God,was likewise haunted by the need to escape the circumstance; as a passive "observer of life," he desired a connection that would drive him to act. To show the behavior to himself, he even took personal revenge by dismissing Karega. Finally, he was moved by a supernatural intuition to construct a secular new universe.' He wished to save Karega from Wanja's terrible hug. He made the decision to set fire to the 'Sunshine Lodge,' a prostitution den. Kimeria, Chui, and Mzigo, the neocolonial agents, frequented the area. This deed was a reenactment of his childhood, in which he threw the sin, the corruption, into the fire.

Conclusion:

Ngugi eventually exposes some optimism through constructive violence in this novel. In the violent act of purifying, all of the protagonists actively participate or lend silent support. Following the arson, Wanja's pregnancy, Joseph's school rebellion, and Karega's fate in fresh strikes and protests in Ilmorog, a future generation will be born with the spirit of purification and courage inherited from parents who fought for freedom and social revolution. Constructive violence, such as arson, will burn down the corrupted, rotting society, bringing hope and promise to the future.Kenya is reborn as a new country.

Work cited:

Amin, Tasnim. “Fanonism and Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, vol. 6, no. 4, Apr. 2017. 

“Fanonism” (1998) Key Concept in Post-Colonial Studies, Routledge.

Thiong'o, N.W. (2005) Petals of Blood. Penguin Books: New York.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Ngugi wa Thiong’o". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ngugi a-Thiongo. 

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