Adventures in English Vol 1

 

• A Fight Between a Lion and a Crocodile

Literal Comprehension:

It was late evening. The narrator and his friend being to sleep drowsily on the bank of the river. They could hear a different kind of roaring sound. Job told them to look to the water toward them. They sow the lion’s signing eyes as one of was 15 feet away. Leo fired at the lions and she died. A fully grown male was to step behind her. Suddenly there was a rush and disturbance of the water. The lion uttered a roar. A crocodile had cut him by the leg. The lion pulls the crocodile on to the bank and clawed its head, and one of its eyes turned. Both of them were struggling fiercely. The lion’s body up to the hive was in the crocodile’s jaws. The lion clawed the crocodile’s throat apart. The lion felt on the crocodile’s back and died. After a while, the crocodile also died.

Interpretation:
This story might be trying to tell us that there are many more wonderful things in the world of nature. All living things are closely related to their environment and are equally important in their own place. The lion is the king of the jungle, but the crocodile can defeat him in the water, which is not the kingdom of the lion.

Critical Thinking:

There are many things in the story, which seem unbelievable. How can people try to fall as sleep when they hear the rearing sound? How can people feel safe in such a place? Can is a crocodile strong enough to grip a lion? Since this story seems to be realistic, we have to accept many things without questions.

Assimilation:
After reading this story I am fully convinced that all animals are equally important in the ecosystem. Every animal has its importance in its own place. But if it goes to the place to other animals, it will be defeated. Therefore, every living thing identifies its habit act and lives accordingly.

 

 

 

Shep’s Hobby

Literal Comprehension:
James Herriot, the narrator, was going to Mr. Bailes’s place to see how his cow Rose was. She was suffering from stomach trouble of unknown nature. As the narrator was passing between the two walls, shep suddenly jumped and frightened him. He jumped up into the air and his heart was beating violently. After giving the Lawage to the cow he went to home. The next day he was passing through Mr. Bailes’s field to see the farmer in the barn. The midday sun, the sweet breeze, the greenery, and the solitude impressed James very much. All of a sudden, the sky darkens and roared. It was Shep again. James was so afraid that he almost evacuated (empty) his bowel (stomach). After giving some treacle to the cow, he came again the next day. Now he was happy to see rose all right. But it was the postman who had cured the cow by making her run. Then James was lost in deep thought and solid his hand. To wash the hand as he was going to Mr.Bailes’s kitchen, he was frightened again the dog. This time he was so angry that he punished the dog by scolding and threatening. When he comes to Mr. Bailes next time Shep did not frighten him and he was sorry because he had deprived the dog of its pleasure. But later when he found the dog frightening a tinker (pot maker), the speaker was happy.

Interpretation:
This story might be trying to tell us that any animal has the right to make fun and that there is not much difference between dogs and men so far as recreation is concerned.

Critical Thinking:
This lovely animal story has some points which might be unacceptable. How could a postman cure the cow which a vet could not? Has a dog’s sense of timing so perfect as to frighten the people? Is the story convincing enough? Perhaps we have raised such questions because we have not absence dogs as closely as a vet.

Assimilation:
This story has changed my attitudes to animals completely. Before I read this story, I would run away if a dog comes close to me. I would think that it had come to bite me. But now I think that it has come to play with me. Now I love a dog and want to make friend with it.

•  

Stickeen

Literal Comprehension:
John Muir, the narrator, in spite of his objection, had to take the dog Stickeen to the dog in an icy cold region of Alaska at the request of its master. The creature proves to be an interesting company on the journey. It always followed the narrator even leaving its own master. It never complains. It did not love anyone and did not allow anyone to do so. It did not leave the narrator when he was making the most measurable journey in his life. That day he left the camp early in the raring morning with breakfast in his pocket. The dog somehow follows him. They were walking in the snow. There were many crevasses on the way. The narrator crossed them carefully but the dog was moving like the flying cloud. It did not notice any danger. After reaching the end, they were returning to the camp. On the way, they were trapped on the island surrounded by crevasses (holes). The only way to cross it was Silver Bridge. The narrator cut notches (V shape holes) on the bridge. After he crossed the bridge, he again had to cut the holes at the other end to climb up. After he reached the other side he called the dog. But it did not come because it had wisely sensed the danger. When the writer repeatedly threatened to leave it there, it very carefully crossed the bridge. And afterwards, it was so happy that it cried and danced and dashed. From that day on, it likes to be close to the narrator. It might have thought that the narrator was its god.

Interpretation: This story might be trying to tell us that experience teaches us more than anything else. The dog Stickeen changed completely after it successfully crosses the silver bridge and saves its life. It may also be interpreted to mean that there are many things which we find in animals and human beings equally. Friendship and gratitude are equally found in animals.

Critical Thinking: This beautiful story has many points which are normally unacceptable to us. Why do people explore such remote place by putting their lives in danger? Don’t they die of cold when they are wet in the icy cold region? Otherwise, this story is really impressive. It makes us feel as if we are with the writer making the journey.

Assimilation: After reading this story I came to know so many things about Alaska. I also learned that beauty in nature and danger are interwoven that experience makes one perfect is true even in the case of animals.

• The Parrot In The Cage

Literal Comprehension: Lekhanath Poudel composed the poem “The Parrot in the Cage”. The theme of the poem is about freedom, justice, happiness, and serenity. The poem is a bitter satire on the then Rana regime that deprived Nepalese people freedom. The speaker has carefully painted the conditions that surround the parrot’s life. The speaker is disappointed by the harsh reality of man’s life. Away from its family, home, kin, friends, and the natural freedom man has forced the parrot to live a tragic life. Similar is the condition of human life in Nepal of that period. Being a worshipper of nature, Poudel expresses his deep affinity to the natural world that provides him childhood appetite, which he wants in his later life. Having compelled to live away from his family, home and friends, Poudel pains for it and expresses nostalgia towards it. Finally, through the medium of parrot, voices of political, social, religious, spiritual and habitual lifestyle and situation of human beings are exhumed in the poem. The poem clearly advocates the human instinct to live a free and struggled life away from the crowd.

Interpretation:  In this poem “The Parrot in the Cage”, the poet is trying to advocates the freedom of people in the Rana regime. The Nepalese people had been ruled by the Ranas for one hundred and four years. During this period, people were deprived of enjoying all kinds of freedom. The speaker in the poem is disappointed by the harsh reality of man’s life. Besides, man has been found to live away from his family, home, kin, friends, and the spiritual freedom that surround him in rural life. Thus, man has been forced to live a caged life like the parrot. Man’s indifference to animal’s plight and the mentality of getting entertainment from imprisoning lower animals has been criticized in the poem. Living away from the natural man has invited more tragedy and sorrow in his life.

Critical thinking:  The speaker has carefully painted the conditions that surround the parrot’s life. Through the plight of the parrot, the speaker compares the sorrowful description of human life, lack of justice and freedom, the aggression and the cruelty prevalent in the society. Being a worshipper of nature, Poudel expresses his deep affinity to the natural world that provides him childhood appetite, which he wants in his later life. Having compelled to live away from his family, home and friends, Poudel pains for it and expresses nostalgia towards it. More than that, Hindu tradition to pray and appeal to God at the time of difficulty is spread all over the poem. In the philosophical level, the poem may be faultless, but I have reservation towards the voices of the parrot. In real life, does a parrot speak like a human to express his sorrows?

Assimilation:  After reading this poem, I have realized how cruel the Rana regime was. I always stand for the freedom of human beings. As Jean jacks, Rousseau said, “Man is born free and wants to live free”. Thus, I request all the human beings not to capture any animal as well as not any citizens at the name of the ruling system or any pleasure.

 

 Why Study Literature?

Why is reading and studying literature worth the effort? This is a reasonable question to ask as you embark on the study of poetry, fiction, and drama. If it’s factual information you want, there are better places to search than within the pages of a novel or play or the lines of a poem. Writers of imaginative literature often stretch facts, play with historical events and characters, and even alter geography, but they do so in order to tell us something about ourselves and the world we live in. Studying a play by William Shakespeare (p. 720), a poem by early American poet Anne Bradstreet (p. 298), or a story by contemporary Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (p. 903) holds the promise of helping us to understand ourselves a little better. As we explore the motivations, actions, thoughts, and ideas of an author or the characters he or she created, we consider the issues at hand, weigh right and wrong, and contemplate how we would react. In the process, we learn something about ourselves. As individuals, we sometimes turn to literary texts to escape, to take a break from our current life or situation, to be entertained for a while. Such departures from daily reality help put things in perspective. Many find comfort in reading about the motivation and thoughts of others — how they respond to disappointment or confusion, come of age, deal with the joys and challenges of family life, or cope with conflict and change. In this way, we learn to empathize with people in situations similar to our own, as well as those in entirely different cultures, circumstances, and even time periods. Literature brings people together; it builds community.

 

Sometimes we look to our poets on state occasions to give us this sense of community. Several United States presidents have had poems written for their inauguration, including President Barack Obama, who invited Elizabeth Alexander to write and read a poem for his inauguration in 2009. The result was “Praise Song for the Day”:

 

 

How does Alexander ask us to think about the inaugural day? She emphasizes the common person (the woman and her son waiting for a bus, the farmer, the teacher) and alludes to the unsung heroes who built the nation, not only those who died for it but those who “laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, / picked the cotton and the lettuce” (ll. 27–28). She calls for optimism and hope in “walking forward in that light” (l. 43), but she also reminds us that we are writing history or that we have an opportunity to do so at a time when “any thing can be made, any sentence begun” (l. 41). An inaugural ceremony is what its name suggests — a beginning, an ushering in of a new era, a time of promise — and in this poem, politics and literature join to remind the nation that despite all differences of history, origin, and interest, we have a common purpose.

 

In short, literature reminds us that we’re not alone. We’re part of a community, an ongoing conversation that some call “cultural literacy.” These days, in a heterogeneous population amid a global culture, the very concept is controversial, yet there are certain authors, works, allusions, and even phrases that contribute to our collective identity. Even those who haven’t read Hamlet recognize “To be, or not to be” as a phrase suggesting indecisiveness. Even those who have not read the Bible or had a Judeo-Christian upbringing are likely to recognize references to the Garden of Eden.