SHORT STORY 2: THE SQUIRRREL by Ambai (SUMMARY)

SHORT STORY 2:    THE SQUIRRREL  byAmbai    (SUMMARY)

OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY:

·        INTRODUCTION

·        THE LIBRARY

·        NARRATOR’S VIEWS ABOUT THE BOOKS

·        WOMEN IN JOURNALS

·        CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION:  ‘The Squirrel’ is a famous short story by Ambai.  It was written in Tamil Language titled ‘Anil’ by Ambai and was translated into English by Vasanth Kannabiran and Chudamani Ragavan in 1992.  The author is known for writing about women.  This story also brings out the problems faced by women.  Through this story she makes us understand how women’s writings were not taken care of in those days.  The short story “Squirrel” voices about feminism and male domination. 

THE LIBRARY:  The story “Squirrel” is based on the narrator’s visit to a library, which is full of feminist writing.  She asked the librarian what was there on the top floor of the library. The librarian said that there was nothing but only dust.  The narrator asked about the books there.  The librarian replied that those were the books written by women.  The narrator asked him to allow her to look at those books.  There was a squirrel which has come there to eat the glue found on the covers of the books.  The character of the squirrel in the story stood for the inner world of the narrator.  The transition between dream and reality and vice versa is made through the representation of the squirrel.  The narrator found volumes of PenmadhiBodhini and Jaganmohini and many other books in the third floor of the library.  The narrator touched the spine of a mended, nineteenth-century book and felt as though a shock rose from the sole of her foot. 

NARRATOR’S VIEWS ABOUT THE BOOKS:  The narrator sarcastically says that only she and the squirrel were there to grieve for Anna Sattianandhan who was on her deathbed and asked her husband to pray. She says that the woman who first set out on horseback to spread Christianity broke through the meshed windows of the library.  A Bengali girl set fire to herself when she could not prevent her father selling their only house to meet her marriage expenses.  Thus the books she read made her feel the agony of the women writers.

The narrator says that the books on the third floor of the library were not mere books.  They talked about the whole generations agonizing with life. Our Indian women wore nine yard saris and played  badminton with the white women.   They were addressed as “my girl” trying to sound.  Women were taught the dharma to be followed by them.  Nallathangal pushed her son into a well  and jumped herself into it.  An unshaven dead widow was denied the performance of the last rites.  The devadasis dedicated to the temple underwent a lot of suffering.  Mahatma Gandhi addressed women spinning at the charka. 

WOMEN IN JOURNALS:   The narrator went through the journals.  In the journal ‘Tyagabhumi’ Uma Rani declared that she was not a slave.  “Kasini” gave new patterns for bangles.  The girl on the cover of The Ananda Vikatan walked freely while her husband carried the shopping bag.  Tamarai Kanni Ammaiyar said that we should give up our lives for Tamil.  Ramamrutham Ammaiyar angrily confronted Rajaji who wrote that Gandhi would not come unless people pay him money.  The narrator returned to senses only the squirrel tapped its tail and raised dust.  The squirrel ate the glue found on the covers of the books.

CONCLUSION:   The narrator found the Library a dark and dusty place where the library staff was trying to restore the books that were falling apart. At lunch time the staff indulged in idle conversation and exhibited no interest in the work assigned to them. The librarian used string and mended the books in the library.  He wrote letters to the higher authorities to reimburse the amount he spent for the string but was in vain.  The librarian told the narrator that the books and magazines were waste and they should be burnt one day.  This made the narrator leave the library with a heavy heart.  Thus the story reveals the sufferings of women and women writers in the past.

SHORT STORY 2 :The Night Train at Deoli - Ruskin Bond

SHORT STORY 2 :The Night Train at Deoli - Ruskin Bond

Introduction:  “The Night Train at Deoli” is a short story by Ruskin Bond.  It narrates the story of a short meeting that takes place between an eighteen year old college student travelling by train and a young girl selling baskets on a railway platform.  He meets the girl only twice during his travels.  He understands that the girl had stolen his heart.

The first meeting : An eighteen year old college student travels from the plains to his hometown of  Dehradun every summer. He prefers to travel by the overnight train. Early in the morning the train stops in the  small village of Deoli. The student does not understand why the train had to stop there as no one either got on or off the train at that station.On one such trip, the student notices a pale girl selling cane baskets on the platform. She appears to be poor, but moves with grace and dignity. Her shiny black hair and dark, troubled eyes attracts the author. The girl offers to sell baskets to him. He initially refuses to buy and later when she insists, happens to buy one with a little hesitation, daring not to touch her fingers. Both of them just look at each other for quite some time without speaking a word. It seems to form a bond between them. As the train moves away he asks  her whether she would be there on his return journey. Though she says something, he is unable to hear it because of the train's noise.

The second meeting: On his return journey he looks for her and finds her. They are happy to see each other like long lost friends. Though they do not speak a word, their silence speaks more than words. He feels like taking her with him but does not do so. He tells her that he needs to go to Delhi and she replies saying she need not go anywhere, perhaps expressing her helplessness. Both of them separate unwillingly as the train leaves the station, with the hope of meeting again. The meeting helps to break the monotony of his journey. It gives a sense of attachment and  responsibility towards the girl.  Both during his journey and for a long time later on, he keeps thinking of the girl he met at the station at Deoli.

The narrator's disappointment: The next summer, soon after his college term finishes, he hurriedly leaves for Dehra. His visit to see his grandmother is just an excuse . He is eager to meet the girl once again. This time she is not to be seen at the Deoli station though he waits for a long time. This deeply disappoints him and a sense of foreboding overcomes him. On his way back to Delhi, he again waits anxiously to see her, but it ends in vain. On enquiry, he comes to know that the girl has stopped coming to the station to sell her cane baskets  and nobody knows about her .  Once again, he has to run to catch his train. He makes up his mind that he would definitely break journey there, spend a day in the town, make enquiries and find the girl who had stolen his heart.

The narrator's subsequent visit: The following year in summer, he again walks up and down the platform hoping to see the girl, but somehow, he cannot bring himself to break the journey to look for her. He seems to be afraid of discovering the truth about her. He is afraid that he might find out something unpleasant about her which is not acceptable to him. He just wants to retain his sweet memories of her. But he suggests to his readers that he did not want to project himself like a hero of a movie where the hero would meet his beloved after undergoing all hardships and finally win  her over. He prefers to keep hoping and dreaming, waiting for the girl.
Conclusion: We know very little of the young man's family or circumstances, we can see ourselves in him. We all remember moments of fantasy-like love; feelings of strong attraction toward a person we barely know. We know what it is like to build someone up in our imagination. The narrator never moves beyond that place. He never acts, and he is filled with remorse because of it. Because Bond's narrator is a kind of "every man," it is easy for readers to empathize with him.

SHORT STORY 1 :THE UMBRELLA MAN- ROALD DAHL

SHORT STORY 1 :THE UMBRELLA MAN- ROALD DAHL

OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY:

*INTRODUCTION

*ABOUT THE STORY

*VISIT TO THE DENTIST

*THE GENTLEMAN

*SUSPICIOUS MOTHER

*THE EXCHANGE

*THE TRICKSTER

*CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION:  Roald Dahl is a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screen writer. He was a renowned short story teller for children in the 20^th century. Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are some of his best known works. Most of his stories had an unexpected ending.

ABOUT THE STORY:  The story takes place in London. A twelve year old girl is the narrator. Her mother is thirty four years old. The mother and the daughter are befooled by a stranger who is a trickster.

VISIT TO THE DENTIST:  The mother took her daughter to the dentist. The girl had a hole in her back tooth. She got her tooth filled in without being hurt. After visiting the dentist, they go to a café. The girl had a gorgeous banana split and her mother had coffee. As they leave the café, it starts raining. They waited to hire a taxi to get back home.

THE GENTLEMAN:  Many taxis sped past them with passengers. As they were waiting, an old man approached them. He seemed to be around seventy years of age. He was well dressed and appeared to be polite. He spoke to the mother and said that he had forgotten his wallet at home. He wanted to hire a taxi to get back home.

SUSPICIOUS MOTHER:  The mother was very suspicious about strangers. She questioned the man about how he could come there without any money. The man just said he had the habit of taking long walks every day. The mother asked him if he wanted only money. He immediately refused and said that he only wanted her to help him. He said that he had an umbrella for which the mother could offer a pound in exchange. He also added that he could hire a taxi with that pound.

THE EXCHANGE:  Both the mother and the daughter wished to get one such umbrella which the stranger offered for a pound. The girl did not like her mother to take the expensive silk umbrella for only a pound. So, the mother offered to give the old man the money for the taxi fare. But he refused. He gave his umbrella and took the pound in exchange.

THE TRICKSTER:  After taking the pound, the old man walked swiftly across into a building. The mother and daughter were astonished to see that he didn’t hire a taxi. They followed him and found that he entered into a pub. They could see him ordering a drink. The mother guessed that it was a treble whisky which cost a pound. After the drink, he went to the coat rack and grabbed another umbrella.

CONCLUSION:  The author shows that the old man was a person who wished to get his drink at the cost of others belongings. He was in the habit of taking others’ things from the pub and selling them to people like them on the street.  Thus he asked help to get only a pound for his costly drink. But for the mother, though she was suspicious about strangers, she has the heart to help the old man after a while.

How Much Land Does a Man Need? - Leo Tolstoy

How Much Land Does a Man Need? - Summary

Introduction

“How Much Land Does a Man Need?” is a short story by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” is a classic tale of a man’s greed and its fatal consequence.

Pakhom

Pakhom was a poor Russian peasant who wanted to own a lot of land. Even after owning some land, Pakhom was not satisfied with what he had. He remained ambitious. He learns about a wonderful deal in a distant country. So he travelled to the land of the Bashkirs.

The Wonderful Deal

The Bashkirs were a family with a huge amount of land. The elder Bashkir told that they sold land by the day. They offered an unusual deal for the sum of thousand rubles. Pakhom can walk around as much of land as he could and all that land would become his own. The only condition was that he had to reach the starting point before sunset. If he failed to return, he would lose his money. Pakhom’s greed was aroused. He believed that he had got an opportunity to gain as much land as he wanted. He felt extremely happy and spent a sleepless night.

The Easy Walk

The next day morning the village elders took him to the top of a hill and placed a hat. After giving the money, Pakhom started to walk downhill. As he kept walking, he dug holes to mark the land that he had covered. He thought it was easy to walk. He went out of his way to add more land. At noon, he realizes that he had walked too far from the starting point. When he looked at the hill, he was not able to see the people clearly. He decided to reduce walking out of his way. By afternoon, the heat was unbearable. He had walked beyond his limits. His legs ached and he wanted to take rest. He did not have time as he had to return soon. As a result, Pakhom had to run to get back to the starting point.    

The Fatal Running

When he noticed he was losing out on time, he starts pushing himself to get to the finish line He started getting weaker as he was returning. When he sees the setting sun, he realizes that he is so far from the starting point and runs back as fast as he can. He ran as hard as he could. When he arrives at the starting point, he drops down dead. He had died of dehydration and exhaustion His servant buries him in a grave only 6 feet deep. Thus ironically answering the question posed in the title. Not only did he lose his life for trying to gain land but he lost his life for being greedy. The irony of the story

The story is titled ‘how much land does a man need?” because the writer wanted to point out the consequences of greed in human beings. The question put on the title is answered ironically by writer itself. What a man really needs is land 6 feet above head to be buried in. Pakhom became a victim of his own greed.

Conclusion

The story is about satisfaction which brings happiness, and greed for more things which brings unhappiness, loss of peace of mind and even death. If we’re not careful, Greediness and lack of self-discipline may end up killing us. Money can never bring us happiness. Many people in the world today believe that we need possessions and wealth to live a happy life. They often waste their time trying to gain more for themselves. As the story said, the only thing we need in the end, is a little piece of land. We must be content with what we have.