Poem Analysis of Mohandas Karamchand.

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to analyse one poem written against the greatness of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Poem :-

Who? Who? Who?

Mahatma. Sorry no.

Truth. Non-violence.

Stop it. Enough taboo.

That trash is long overdue.

You need a thorough review.

Your tax-free salt stimulated our wounds

We gonna sue you, the Congress shoe.

Gone half-cuckoo, you called us names,

You dubbed us pariahs—“Harijans”

goody-goody guys of a bigot god

Ram Ram Hey Ram—boo.

Don’t ever act like a holy saint.

we can see through you, impure you.

Remember, how you dealt with your poor wife.

But, they wrote your books, they made your life.

They stuffed you up, the imposter true.

And sew you up—filled you with virtue

and gave you all that glossy deeds

enough reason we still lick you.

You knew, you bloody well knew,

Caste won’t go, they wouldn’t let it go.

It haunts us now, the way you do

with a spooky stick, a eerie laugh or two.

But they killed you, the naked you,

your blood with mud was gooey goo.

Sadist fool, you killed your body

many times before this too.

Bapu, bapu, you big fraud, we hate you.

The poem written after reading Sylvia Plath’s, "Daddy". Here is the poem from which the poem Karamchand Gandhi inspired. :- 

You do not do, you do not do   

Any more, black shoe

In which I have lived like a foot   

For thirty years, poor and white,   

Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.   

You died before I had time——

Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,   

Ghastly statue with one gray toe   

Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic   

Where it pours bean green over blue   

In the waters off beautiful Nauset.   

I used to pray to recover you.

Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town   

Scraped flat by the roller

Of wars, wars, wars.

But the name of the town is common.   

My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.   

So I never could tell where you   

Put your foot, your root,

I never could talk to you.

The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.   

Ich, ich, ich, ich,

I could hardly speak.

I thought every German was you.   

And the language obscene

An engine, an engine

Chuffing me off like a Jew.

A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.   

I began to talk like a Jew.

I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna   

Are not very pure or true.

With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck   

And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack

I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been scared of you,

With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.   

And your neat mustache

And your Aryan eye, bright blue.

Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You——

Not God but a swastika

So black no sky could squeak through.   

Every woman adores a Fascist,   

The boot in the face, the brute   

Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,   

In the picture I have of you,

A cleft in your chin instead of your foot   

But no less a devil for that, no not   

Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.

I was ten when they buried you.   

At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.

I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,   

And they stuck me together with glue.   

And then I knew what to do.

I made a model of you,

A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.   

And I said I do, I do.

So daddy, I’m finally through.

The black telephone’s off at the root,   

The voices just can’t worm through.

If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two——

The vampire who said he was you   

And drank my blood for a year,

Seven years, if you want to know.

Daddy, you can lie back now.

There’s a stake in your fat black heart   

And the villagers never liked you.

They are dancing and stamping on you.   

They always knew it was you.

Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.

Movie : The Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin.

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. In this blog i am going to discuss some of the important frames which i noted while watching movie. And also here i put a video of entire movie.

About Charlie Chaplin :-

Full name of Charlie Chaplin is Sir Charlie Spencer Chaplin Jr. kBE. He was born on 16 April 1889, at London, United Kingdom. And died on 25 December 1977, at Monoir De Ban, Switzerland. He is concider as a genius. He has lot many skills like he was Comic actor, filmmaker, and composer. Who rose to fame in the era of silent film. And became known as a most important figure in the history of the film industry, and became Worldwide icon.

In 1919, he started making films, his first film was, The Kid (1921), then he wrote films like A Woman of Paris(1923), The Gold Rush (1925),The Circus (1928), and The Great dictator (1940), which is a satire on Adolf Hitler. He also received many awards like, Honorary academic award, also his film 'The great dictator' ranked on lists of the greatest films of all time. Now let me discuss here about his another well known film titled, The Modern Times. Which is also satire on upper class, and industrial institutions. And which shows some problems like, rich - poor, disadvantages of industrialization, power and position, political issues etc.

About the movie : The modern Times :-

The Modern Times is American silent film. Which was starred by Charlie Chaplin and released in 1936. The film is regarded as a last great silent film. Here i want to discuss it in a context of, 1) 'The setting of 20th century, 2) Impact of industrialization, 3) Rich - Poor division, 5) Mechanical Life, 6) Concept of Welfare State, 7) Political problems etc. With the reference of important Frames from movie.

When the movie begins, we find that there is a setting of factory, the movie centered around luckless factory worker. Which role was played by Charlie Chaplin himself. In the factory we find huge kind of machines in a amount of hundreds. And similar poor labours who are working so hard. Here we find the impact of industrialization. Let me explain my points with the help of some important Frames.

1) Clock as a Frame :-

When we see this frame, there is a clock which symbolises 20th century or we can say modern time. The quote, "A story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness." Is also  proved this thing. The frame is also symbolise workers condition, they all are like clock, their schedule work according their master's order.

2) Ship and People :-

Ship + people = Sheeple

The first frame is of sheep and second is of crowded people. If we  see this, we easily find that both the frames looks similar. Ship is a animal who mainly walk with crowd. They don't have their own personal choice or senses. Here, People of modern time also reflected similar. They are also walk in crowd, which means it is easy to mislead them towards wrong path. Because they also not have sense, and choices. For this people, the word SHEEPLE is used. SHEEP + PEOPLE = SHEEPLE. This frame is not only reflecting modern time but also reflect Universal truth. That people always with mass. And those who get succeed to make their way different, can only achieve the great and success. And make their space in history.

3) Monitor and Boss :-

The frame symbolize that mind and money is more important than physical ability. There is a monitor who has strong muscles, like body guard, but still working under the boss who is not such capable. Also we see that money is everything, those who have more money, will rule over more.

The poster, which is of Capitalist system. This poster is also related with this point. It shows Capitalism in society. This poster is by "Industrial workers of the world" in 1912. Which shows that how money and those who has money, only can handle or we can say rule over other all.

4) frame of Puzzle :-

In this frame, the owner of the company,playing puzzle game. Which symbolize the effect of industrialisation. That how owners play game with their workers and puzzling them. For example, not giving them enough salary, less salary - High labor. Also the frame symbolise difference of rich and poor. That how rich are puzzle and fixing the poors according to their ease.

5) Chaplin is in Machine :-

This frame symbolize mechanical life during modern time. People are living in between the machines and working also like machines.

6) No Privacy :-

In this frame, the tramp is in the washroom and through C. C. T. V, his boos scold him to go back for work. Which shows that even in private places, workers are not free. And they have no place to whom they can concider their private place. Everything is controlling by superior.

6) Automatic Food Machine :-

Automatic food machine is use to eat without any efforts. In the movie, the factory owner thinking to purchase it because of to save the time of workers which they are spending in eating food. And that in time he expecte more work from them. This shows cruelty of owners who thinks thats workers are not more than machine. May be that's why they concider as a hands. There is one more scene in which we found, they experiment the machine on Charlie, this shows that there is no value of workers life. And easily they experiment on them anything, without thinking about their pain or suffering.

7) Frame of Flag :-

We find that there is a scene where co accidentally Charlie became a communist leader of Marxist group, and mass of people started following him. He has one flag in his hand. The movie is black and white, so we can not able to recognize colour of flag. But if we see flag of Marxist, it is always coloured in dark red and it has a Symbols of sickle and hammer. Which is a Union workers. And the raily we see is symbolize their strike and problems. And protest against that. We also found such marxist theme or symbol in Bollywood movies. For example, film Coolie.

8) After the death of Female Protagonist's father :-

After Ellen's Father's death, we found that two of his young daughter sent to the orphan home by police men. Which shows some sheds of welfare state.

9) news paper Headlines :-

By this headlines we are able to assume that, at that time when the film was created, may political conditions were not so good and strikes and riots are commonly happened. Which influence Chaplin and come out into the film also.

10) Recommendation letter :-

By this letter, we are able to compare society of that time and of present time. Just by the recommendation letter by police officer, Charlie get job in various places. People are easily trust the letter. But when it comes to present, we found that people are not easily trust anyone. Even in present time if have that letter, he find difficulty in getting job. Which reflects distrustfulness.

11) Chaplin's dream :-

In this scene, Ellen and Chaplin sit out of someone's house, and one couple come out of that house, soon after that, Chaplin dreamed of having house and all the pleasure which upper and middle class people enjoy. Which shows the dream of poor of being rich and a dream of having necessaries. Here again we found class differences. The main dream of Chaplin is having enough food. Which means, the main dream of poor people is to get enough food.

12)Department Mall :-

Today's mall is described as that time's Department Malls. Which again symbolize that middle class also satisfied their desire of living luxury life by visiting such kind of department mall. In movie also we find female protagonist living her desire.

13)House of Charlie :-

House of Ellen and Charlie symbolize poverty in society. Even in a time of Industrialisation. Where lots of industries, factories are emerged and poor and middle class people started becoming rich because of Industrialisation. There is one class, who still living in poverty just like Ellen and Charlie.

14) Dance :-

  Ellen and Charlie used to dance in cafe or club, in movie. Dance is something to Which we connecte with pleasure. But Ellen and Charlie Dance to earn, to survive. Which symbolize that even a pleasure is not free. But now its turns into the occupation.

15) Police Arrested The Girl :-

At last when police try to arrest a female protagonist, it reflecte the tone of "Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain". Means happiness is always temporary.

16) Last Frame :-

Last frame is a symbol of hope. When both the protagonist walking onto the endless road and there is a mountains front of them. May be here director wants to say that, hope should not end. It is eternal, and might there is a heven behind the mountain. Means happiness is few steps ahead. We have to walk. The message which Charlie wants to convey.

Conclusion :- 

Here i discussed some of the important frames, about the director, about the film, And also put a video of a movie.if you find any other frame in movie, write about that in comment section.

Here is the link of another movie by Charlie Chaplin, "The Great Dictator". Analysis and Framd study of that. click here to read