Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written as a response to Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss about The Mechanics of Writing, And three videos related to it.
What is Mechanics of Writing?
In composition, writing mechanics are the conventions governing the technical aspects of writing, including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviations. Getting your main points together can be a challenge, and one solution is to put together a draft of main ideas before writing. Some writing textbooks also include issues related to usage and organization under the broad heading of mechanics. Mechanics of Writing includes spelling, punctuation, Italics, Names of person, Numbers, Title of work in the research paper, Quotations, Capitalization and Personal Names in Languages Other than English.
The video is about Academic Writing by Kalyan Chattopadhyay. The writing is of two types 1) Academic Writing, 2) Non - Academic Writing. Which is also known as Formal vocab and informal vocab.
Academic writing is a formal style of writing that generally use for educational purposes. And in universities and scholarly publications. One has to analyze Journal, article and books and has to write research paper, Desertations and assignments in academic style. Mainly academic writing is structured well like the writing is divided into paragraphs and paragraphs are divided according topics and subtopics and at last concluding paragraph.
Academic writing includes various linguistic markers. It must be error free and with zero spelling error. Academic writing also includes The mechanics of writing like punctuation, spelling, Italics, Numbers, Quotations, Name of person etc. Academic writing is a little beat critical writing, while doing writing for academic purposes one has to make critical arguments, comparisons, analysis etc.
Language choice is also very important in academic writing. While doing academic writing, one has to choose appropriate formal language. And has to avoid informal language, and contraction, slang, and conversational phrases clichés.
The video begins with explanation of Formal and Informal vocab and examples. It also includes point of perspective. It means when one can do research work they are able and responsible to give a new argument.
Video - 2
In this video Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya explained Academic writing well. The outline of the talk is like this.
1) What not to do.
2) What can be done.
3) Web tools.
4) Case study.
Further Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya discussed that there are several kind of scales that will help to understand academic writing. Writing research papers, desertations, thesis etc are one kind of scale, another is publication scale for example research scholars has to publish their articles and journals etc. Here we also get example of Alan David Sokal and other scholars.
Publication scales : not so harmless. When one can upload their research works and desertation, thesis etc online, there are lots of people who come to watch. So this kind of scale is not so harmless. For this prof.Alan David Sokal gave one example of 'The emperor of all Melodies' by Siddhartha Mukherjee. In this paper Siddhartha Mukherjee gave one example of a report of breast cancer from Africa. The doctor found it can be curable and he published paper and he find that thousands of people got cure because of it. And laster people came to know that the data showed by the person was all fake. The meaning here is sometimes academic writing causes serious consequences.
A fake take away -
In this we find that academic writing has material effects. Some kinds of data, charts and rates can be material for academic writing.
Avoid a Jargon -
When one is publishing his/her research paper. It should be tke care that all the people who are reading our research paper is not familiar with the subject. So we has to form our research paper in a way that is simple and easy to understand for all. Another points are Research and publication ethics, and carefully choose the topic that was discussed in the video.
Few tips for academic writing is given in the video. Tips like,
1) Introduction last - because at the end you are aware that what your research is and how it ends, so you can write better introduction at last.
2) Creat an Index literature review - Indexes are not need to do in MLA or Chicago style but it simply a names of books which helps to understand what there is in the books exactly.
3) Be sure of the triangulated methods - it means while doing research work one has to analyze work with various perspective and various point of views for example historical views, from the point of view of biography or fiction etc.
There are three more suggestion given that are,
1) Do not repeat the same arguments.
2) Use available digital tools
3) Follow the literature
Many helpful digital tools are also suggested in video. Like websites to publish our journals. like,
1) Zotero
2) Grammarly - it helps to improve writing and to refin writing.
As per Oxford Dictionary, Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. If one is taking ideas or words from somewhere it must needed to cite that source. There are several types given in video of plagiarism are,
1- Verbatim of rephrasing without acknowledgement.
2- Inappropriate collaboration.
3- Other assistance without acknowledgement.
4- Cheating (copying others’ work).
5- Duplication (submitting same work for different courses/ programs/ degrees).
6- Research fabrication and falsification.
7- Using computer networks for false attribution.
Video - 3
The third video is also by Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya. In this video he discussed about 'The Mechanics of Writing'.
The first point in it discussed is formulating propositions. Formulation of propositions follows this particular linguistic form -
Key term + verb (be)/ is defined as/ Can be defined/ may be defined as/ is often defined as + [in] which/ that/ where/ when + Defining features.
The second part is Gener : classification. The classification technique here used is Swale's CARS Model.
Definition
|
Purpose
|
Justification
|
literature Review
|
Method
|
Argument
|
Conclusion
Organization of Idea
For organization of idea many softwares available now. There are two examples given in the video that are,
1) MindMup
2) Mindly
Paraphrasing
1- Avoid repeating yourself.
2- Avoid quoting someone eles exactly.
3- Change your vocabulary and do not repeat.
4- Develop your own voice in your writing.
Introduction
1) The Rational -
This includes several points like why we are doing such research? What is the point of doing this? How interested we are in research? What is your position in that research?
2) The thesis statement/ the topic sentence -
It is all about research topic that research is about what.and how it is supported by other evidence. It structures the entire thesis.
3) Contextualizing Material -
It is linked with 'The thesis statement'. It is all about other works happened in this area of your research paper.
4)A statement to gain the reader's interest -
One need his/her own sentence to write so that they can provide audience something that is of his own and not taken from anywhere. Researcher has to mentioned the work that has been done by others and then his/her own arguments in favor or opposed.
5) A basic Definition -
Researcher need to define his/her topic. And has to give basic introduction about the topic so it will be easy to guess what the content about.
At last Noun Phrases and nominalizations,Stance, Hedging Language, Passivization,General structures of an Argument are also discussed in the video by prof.Atanu Bhattacharya.
I hope this blog will be helpful to you. Thank you.
Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written as a response to Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss about part one of the novel 'Petals of Blood' by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Also going to discuss about characters of the novel.
About Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan author and academic. Mainly he writes in Gikuyu and formerly wrote in English. His original name is James Thiong’o Ngugi. He was born in January 5, 1938.Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o considered East Africa's leading novelist.His popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African. He received his bachelor's degree from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 1963. He served as a lecturer in English at University College, Nairobi, Kenya, and as a visiting professor of English at Northwestern University.
His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright, is translated into 100 languages from around the world. He also received numbers of awards like,1) 1963: The East Africa Novel Prize, 2) 1964: Unesco First Prize for his novel, Weep Not Child, 3) 1973: The Lotus Prize for Literature, 4) 1992 (6 April): The Paul Robeson award, 5) 1992 (October): honoured by New York University by being appointed to the Erich Maria Remarque Professorship in Languages, 6) 1993: The Zola Neale Hurston-Paul Robeson Award, for artistic and scholarly achievement, awarded by the National Council for Black Studies, in Accra, Ghana, 7)1994 (October): The Gwendolyn Brooks Center Contributors Award,8) 1996: The Fonlon-Nichols Prize, New York,9)2001: Nonino International Prize for Literature, 10) 2008: (October, 24) Grinzane for Africa Award etc.
He wrote numbers of works including novels like, 1)Weep Not, Child (1964), 2)The River Between (1965), 3) A Grain of Wheat (1967, 1992), and 4) Petals of Blood (1977) etc. His Plays includes 1) The Black Hermit (1963), 2) "The Wound in the Heart", 3) The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) etc. He also wrote Short stories,Memoirs,Children's books and other nonfictions. Let me here discuss about his famous novel, 'Petals of Blood'. Watch the video given below to learn more about Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and first published in 1977.The novel begen in 1963. Flashback technique are used by author in this novel. Petals of Blood was Ngugi's first novel written whilst not in full-time education, instead written over a five-year period. The novel 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.
Ngugi was inspired to write the novel as a way of synthesizing the notion of a postcolonial nation, and a willingness to portray the agents of social change present in Kenya's change from its colonial past. Petals of Blood was the last of Ngugi's novels to be written first in English. 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. (Wikipedia)
Major themes of the novel are,
1. corruption,
2. Capitalism,
3. Land,
4. Education
Major characters
1)Munira - School teacher.
2)Wanja - Barmaid, Prostitute.
3) Abdulla - Shopkeeper.
4) Karega - School Teacher.
5) Nyakinyua - Grandmother of Wanja.
6) Kimeria - Businessman.
7) Chui - School boy.
8)Nderi wa Riera -MP, Politician.
9) Mzigo - Education Officer
10) Joseph - Son of Abdulla
11) Inspector Godfrey - An officer in charge of the murder investigation.
12) Mwathi wa Mugo - Ilmorog's local diviner.
13)Mukami - Munira's sister.
14) Ezekieli - Munira's father.
15)Mariamu - Mother of Karega
16) Cambridge Fraudsham - A strict, Christian headmaster.
There are many other characters in the novel. Click here to read about all the characters of the novel.
Watch video about 'Petals of Blood'.
Question - Answer
Write a note on the first chapter of the novel (Interrogation of all characters)
The entire novel is divided into four parts and all the parts are divided into chapters. First chapter includes six chapters. Let take a look chapter by chapter.
Chapter 1
The novel Begin with the description of main characters like Munira, Karega, Wanja and Abdulla. The novel is in the flashback technique. There are three murder of Kenyans. Two businessman Kimeria and Mzigo and an educator Chui. And the person who accused for murder is Munira. Munira is in police station and police inquiry is happening about murders when the novel begin.
Abdulla is also blamed and he is locked in the police station. Wanja is injured and is in the hospital. While Karega is asleep when police bring him to the police station. People often think that he is arrested because of his divisions about strike, he taken at last night but police declared that it is about murder case. At last in the first chapter we find the headlines reads that Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria, African directors of the Theng’eta Breweries and Enterprises Ltd., were burnt to death last night, and murder is suspected. Chapter one ends here.
Chapter - 2
The story goes into flashbck technique. Twelve year ago. Munira came to Ilmorog to teach, but everyone was surprised that why he came here to teach when all eles are leaving the place one by one. Here the story introduced us a character of One mother, Wambui, who questioned him that why he has came here to teach when All the young men and women usually leave the village. Abdulla and his donkey is also new to the village. In between everyone eles surprise Abdulla opened a shop. His little son Joseph is also with him. Abdulla has stump leg. Later we find that The old men reported their findings on Munira to Nyakinyua, a respected old woman,concluding he was all right. It is hard for Munira to adjust himself in this village but at last he is satisfied that he is no more working in Limuru under the shadow of his father’s success.
Later Munira visited Mzigo. Who is the Education Officer there and ask for help to develop school and in between Munira's surprise he agreed. Munira spent almost his entire life in Limuru. His brother and Father both are successful in their field. Munira taught at several places before he came to Ilmorog. Here, in the novel we find reference of Munira's sister Mukami who recently committee suicide. Munira's father Ezekieli, was tall and austere and holy. A wealthy landowner. There is a women working in their farm named Mariamu who later fired by Munira's father because he came to know that the women has some connection with the Mau Mau rebellion but in reality she was unaware about it and just know that her son may have been a guerilla. Because of the guilt for what happened with that women Munira left the place and States himself in Ilmorog. For that he wrote that,
“like his first conscious act of breaking with this sense of non-being”
Ater visiting Mzigo, Munira settled back into teaching. People also started accepting him and helping him, bring things which he need in teaching. The character who help him the most is Mwathi wa Mugo, Munira now spending his most of the time at Abdulla's shop and forget about his past guilt and fear. Mostly they discuss about Colonialism and about a person Nderi wa Riera-aa who is local MP. Abdulla and Munira both are happy now.The rains came and everyone was busy. In very short time of six months Ilmorog became Munira’s “personal possession: he was a feudal; head of a big house or a big mbari lord surveying his estate”
One day a child said he saw a flower with petals of blood, and Munira told him blood was not a color. The children began asking him questions about God and laws and nature and he was uncomfortable, as he tried to avoid such thoughts. He decided he will not take them outside again.
One day Munira met a girl who is very friendly to him but Munira doubted thet might Mzigo sent her to spy on him. But later he visit to Abdulla's shop and found that women there whose name is Wanja, and she is the granddaughter of Nyakinyua. Though Munira and wanja are unknown to each other they started wandering around. Munira told Abdulla and Wanja about Siriana. And The most impressive student was Chui. Chui was smart, intelligent, stylish and star of everything. Who is Also headmaster of the school, the white Rev. There is one more character in the novel that is Hallowes Ironmongerwho like Chui.The Ironmongers left the school eventually, and a Cambridge Fraudsham came to the school. Who is strict Christian headmaster. So students now compulsory has to salute British flag every morning and sang songs to God. But Chui led strike against it and Munira joined. When Munira done with sharing his experience, Abdulla told Joseph to serve more beer. Wanja suggested that she will work here and let Joseph study as he is just seven year old.
Wanja started working in shope of Abdulla and became one of them but Wanja is still mystery for all. One day she disappeared and returned after some days with her things. Munira is also started being attracted towards Wanja. Village people also started facing problem of failure of the crops and the harvest. One day Munira go to Wanja's home and found Abdulla there. Wanja began to share his past story with both of men. She said that she was in love with a boy name Ritho, who wanted to become engineer. But when Wanja's parents came to know about it they beat her because the boy was not Christian and poorer than them.
One man came to town who later became very good friend with Wanja's father and eventually he became intimate with Wanja, Wanja got pregnant out of it. Her parents was so angry and upset with it.She also had to leave school. When she goes to the man and told him about her pregnancy, he said she could be a second wife. But she don't want this so she go to her cousin and her cousin suggest her to be barmaid because she was not educated. She conclud with the statement that, That's the reason why she always wanted childrens to be educated. Munira and Abdulla listed her carefully.
Chapter 3
The story get back into present from flashback. Munira is telling this story of wanja to police officer but police officer is frustrated and thinking that the story has nothing to do with present. Munira was imprisoned and when very next day he came out of the cell he turned into totally different man with expressionless face. There is a Inspector Godfrey, who is inquiring today with Munira and he wanted to know about the general mental state and movements of Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega on the night of the murder, and even the weeks before.
Munira began to tell about Karega that how he meet him and his some past shadowing connection with Karega.Munira had been coming home from the headquarters in Ruwa-ini and encountered Karega who help him to carry iteams in and Munira unwillingly offered him tea. While talking Karega remind Mariamu from his father’s land. And said that he was from Limuru. While talking about poor peasants, Munira's mind flickered to Wanja and his child. Karega later told about his brother and death of his brother that he himself came to know from Mukami, but Munira is confused that how Mukami and Karega are connected.Karega asked question after question of Munira about his time at Siriana—about Fraudsham, about Chui. Munira felt like the past was being resurrected but he felt that Karega saw him as a fraud. Further in the story we find reference of Ndinguri who is brother of Karega. Further we also find Munira’s stomach tightened when she mentioned Dedan Kimathi, for he had not taken part in that period of war and felt guilty. Later Munira and Wanja take a walk.
During walk Munira asked Wanja that what happened to her child but Wanja told him nothing and they returned back silently. When they returned to Abdulla's shop they saw that Karega had gone. The story again jumping to present. Munira speaking to Inspector Godfrey.
Chapter 4
In the beginning of the fourth chapter the narrator discussing about Kenya's history. As per narrator the history of Kenya does not begin with imperialism and colonialism but it's a long and wondrous past. The story moves further. Abdulla is now more cheerful because Joseph doing good at school and his business also going well.People said it was because of Wanja. Wanja was part of the village now. She enjoyed gossiping with the women who asked her about city men. That year there were poor harvest and no rain. Wanja's behavior suddenly began to change. She one day burst out of Munira that she hated Ilmorog and dirty village area and in very next moment she started laughing. She also blame Abdulla for not paying her enough. Suddenly after it she stood and began to dance faster and faster, with an expression of pain and ecstasy on her face.
Now Munira started looking towards Wanja lustfully. Abdulla offer her partnership in his business but Wanja denied. Next day Nyakinyua came to them and informed that Wanja left but may be she will return as she left her some of the things here.
Chapter - 5
A year passed after Wanja left. Problem of less rain is still there. Munira is trying to shift his focus into teaching and try to suppress his memories and love for Wanja. In many ways Ilmorog changed and the things are not same there. Abdulla was also changed. he cursing Joseph more often. Village people are worried about rain. And the center of focus is Abdulla's donkey who is eating too much grace. When one older men concerned about it with Abdulla, Abdulla got angry. Also Joseph is afraid that he would not be able to go to school and he missed Wanja. Eventually school opened and Munira decided to go to Mzigo to ask for more teachers but before he go, two special things happened. One is a tax officer came in a Land Rover with gun-carrying men. And all the men of village were vanished. Then more men came and said they were from Nderi wa Riera. Then with this things in mind Munira goest to Mzigo who told him that he himself will be the new headmaster of the school and he would like to help Munira. Mzigo gave Munira envelope, The envelope suggests that KCO inviting Munira and his staff for tea at Gatundu. Munira is happy decided to go to home Limuru as soon as possible so that he can gave this good news to his wife.
When he reached to Limuru, he saw that the land is more fertile here than Ilmorog. Now the sory moves on and Munira started thinking about his father who was at that time known as Waweru. His father and grandfather driven from land and the land encroached by the“red stranger”, Munira'sfather was so memorized by the power of that strangers accepted Christianity, he joined the Christian church and became Ezekieli. Later in life he became very rich, landlord and wealthy Churchman. After returning from Gatandu, Munira's wife Julia was disappointed. Munira started seeing his father in more positive light and decided to talk him. When Munira talk to his father his father told that he is disappointed with his brother (Munira's brother) and want him to look after the land he holds. Munira also asked him about his sister Mukami, But all he received in answer is she kept a bad company. Munira and his father also discussed about Mau Mau and KOC, but both are disagreed with each others views. When munira came back he found Wanja there.
After living Ilmorog, Wanja met Somali whom she liked, and she suggested going back to her place, which she never did. When They both got there, Wanja found someone is trying to trap them both and she was terrified and returned back to Ilmorog. Now Wanja, Munira and Karega set together and drink whole day, they also shared a common pain and hope.
Chapter 6
After returning to Ilmorog. Wanja was telling herself this would be a new beginning; she would break with her past. Karega was unsure what to expect but felt grateful that Munira had told him he could be a teacher at the school. When they returned to village, Abdulla and Joseph were there with Nyakinyua. They are discussing about donkey, elders wanted to kill the donkey so that it could not drive the plague.
April came but still there were no rain. The elders went to Mwathi wa Mugo, who said the donkey and a goat must be sacrificed. Due to lack of rain, karega suggested that they could go to their MP Nderi wa Riera and tell him they were members of the KCO and needed help. Wanja and Munira also joined this plan. They convinced villagers. This seemed like a war, a new kind of war. The journey began.
Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written as a response to Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss about some questions related to Chetan Bhagat's novel 'Revolution 2020'. The questions are assigned as a task.
About Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Baghat, a rising star in the contemporary modern Indian literature, is a multitalented personality. He is a novelist, columnist, public speaker and a screenplay writer. His notable works include Five Point Someone, The 3 Mistakes of My Life and 2 States.Most of his literary works address the issues related to Indian youth and their aspirations which earned Baghat status of the youth icon.On April 22, 1974, in Dehli, India, Baghat was born to a traditional Punjabi bourgeois family. His father served as lieutenant colonel in the Indian army while his mother worked in agricultural department of government.He received most of his education in his hometown. Later on also attended Army Public School and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
His debut novel, Five Point Someone – What not to do at IIT!, was published in 2004.Five Point Someone instantly became both literary and commercial success. Baghat reached at the zenith of his popularity with his debut that was later turned into a critically acclaimed film titled, 3 Idiots (2009). It was followed by his second equally successful novel, One Night At A Call Center.In 2008, he penned The 3 Mistakes of My Life and after he wrote his fourth novel, 2 States: The Story of My Marriage, is a autobiographical novel that focuses on the prevailing issue of interstate marriage in India. (Famousauthor. Org) click to read more.
Watch Chetan Bbagat's interview about his book 'Revolution Twenty20'.
Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition is a 2011 novel by Chetan Bhagat Its story is concerned with a love triangle, corruption and a journey of self-discovery. R2020 has addressed the issue of how private coaching institutions exploit aspiring engineering students and how parents put their lifetime's earnings on stake for these classes so that their children can crack engineering exams and change the fortune of the family. While a handful accomplish their dreams, others sink into disaster.
The author stated that the novel is based on the "rampant corruption" apparent in the Indian educational system, with the choice of Varanasi as a setting emerging through "a special connection to the city" following his visit.He further said "it is one of our oldest cities, and people there now have modern aspirations. I thought the contrast would be interesting. The city also has a lot of character." (Wikipedia) read more about book.
Social realism in the novel 'Revolution Twenty20'.
Chetan Bhagat captured 'Zeitgeist' in this novel. The novel includes themes like Love, Corruption, Ambition, and Revolution. The story is not just about love triangle among Raghav, Gopal and Arti but Also about current time and about the current social issues, political problems, corrupt education system etc. The novel 'Revolution Twenty20' very well captured present time and youth issues. But before that it is important to understand that what is social realism. According to Oxford Dictionary,
Social realism is the realistic depiction in art of contemporary life, as a means of social or political comment.
In another words, Social realism is a style of art, fiction, movies and plays. It describes the daily life of workers and poor people. Social realist artists try to show people and their lives in a realistic way. This means that they often show things which are not beautiful or attractive.
The entire novel revolves around three characters Aarti, Gopal and Raghav. Here we find love trauma in youth. Aarti is love interest of both Raghav and Gopal. Also Aarti is confused in beginning about whom she love Raghav or Gopal. At the end she marry Raghav and we find Gopal is sacrifice his love for Aarti, and started living traumatic life. This is the problem that most of the youth facing in present time like love affairs, breakups, mental breakdown, depression and all, And glims of it we find little beat in Gopal's character.
In the novel Chetan Bhagat also described about life of Kota. Kota is hub of unacademic institutes where students go for preparation of exams that are hard to crack. Gopal, Raghav and Aarti are school friends, studied at same place but after completing schooling Raghav and Gopal gave exams in which Raghav could crack the AIEEE/ JEE exam and scored a good rank, also got admission to BHU-IT while Gopal cracked the exam but couldn't got good score. So he move to Kota for the preparation of other exams.
'Kota is the capital of IIT coaching classes., lens of .thousands go there, I explained.
Every'year, the tiny' western Indian town of Kota accounted for a thousand, or a third of the total 11T -selections.
Not at this point of novel we find ugly side of education system where students are living uder constant burden of getting admission in well known institutions. The reference of a student who committed suicide is also show how stressful life people are living at kota. The same situations and incidents we find in our own society also.
Kota now had small coaching
shops to coach you to get into the top coaching classes.
Also Gopal's message id is quite sarcastic, as he use 'GopalKotaFactory', here the word factory shows mechanical life of kota people. There are many webseries available in various platforms that are bringing concept of Kota life and environment in it. Like Kota Factory and Aspirants.
Also in the novel we have character of MLA Shukla - ji. Who is perfect blend of corruption. Who taught Gopal all the ways to do corruption and other wrote things. After Raghav, a journalist, wrote an article about the Ganga Action Plan fraud he got impressioned. Ganga action plan is a reflection of true India. Ganga action plan was started in 1986 with the objective of pollution abatement from river Ganga. GAP – Ganga Action Plan is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme. Under this plan, the National River Ganga basin authority was established and declared Ganga as a national river of India.Read about plan.
Eventually this plan ended up in failure with corruption as its major cause. Read about this uncleanliness and corruption in GAP – Ganga Action Plan here.
Along with it we also find other events that are related to social realism in novel 'Revolution Twenty20'. Time line and emotions of youth very well captured by Chetan Bhagat in this novel.
Question - 2
Significance of the title 'Revolution Twenty20'
Revolution Twenty20 is a quite interestingly formed title. In the novel we find 27 time Revolution words is used. Generally, 'Revolution 2020' is a name of Journal run by Raghav to spot light on corrupt people and society. So at one point it seems like title stands against corruption.
There would be no revolution in this country by 2020
"Well we are a small newspaper called Revolution 2020, There are four of us, including me. We don't have much experience but we are passionate about our work!
When one can read the title, he/she might feel that the book is about corruption but it is more about love as it is depicted in the title in very artistic manner.
It seems like theme of love might covered under theme of revolution. But in real there is more about love than revolution so we can say theme of revolution covered under theme of love.
At last we also can compare 'Twenty20' that is in title of novel with T20 cricket match. Might the craze of cricket at that time and the title of T20 matches inspired author to bring that pattern in his book. Direct reference of it is not given in the novel but one can interprete it in that way.
Question - 3
Do you think that an opportunity for a good novel is wasted because the story is told from Gopal's perspective? Can it be better if narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective? How would it be better if it was narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective?
One can always read one story with various perspectives. And that make different sense and creat different meaning of the same story. In literature we find that one which raises the abstract question can consider as good literature like Hamlet, Waiting for Godot,Oedipus Rex etc. That are considers as a classic literature while popular literature are shallow mainly and comes with lacks high seriousness and sincerity. Chetan Bhagat's works are also considered as a popular literature by many scholars.
The novel 'Revolution Twenty20' is written from the point of view of Gopal. He himself is narrator of the story. Gopal is sharing his breakup story and life story with Chetan Bhagat, the author of the text who is present in the novel as a character. When one can read novel from Gopal's perspective it seems like topical Bollywood kind of love story. Also Gopal Belongs from poor family, his father is farmer andnby doing corruption Gopal becomes director of 'Ganga Tec' engineering college. When we read the story from the point of view of Gopal we find that the story is not getting the depth that it deserve to be classic.
Now Raghav Kadhyap is a scholar person, belonged to an upper-class family. His father was an IITian, and an engineer at BHEL. Raghav himself cracked JEE exam and graduated from BHU- IT. But to follow his pation he becomes journalist because he want to Bring Reformation in society.
‘He feels the revolution begins at home. Society changes only when an individual family norms are challenged.’
He is writing against political scams, corruption and violence in his small journal named 'Revolution 2020'. So if the story from Raghav's perspective, then it might creat more sense and grab its depth. Also instead of remaining just love story might it was been struggle story, and might audience get better understanding about social issues and political problems.
Arti is a girl who caged herself in a role of girl friend and a wife of someone and she is happy being that. While Gopal is narrow minded and corrupt person who himself is a broken in love and seems like he is living into trauma of love, future and regret of past. Most youth in thus era are living similar life of Gopal. Where else Raghav in the era of it, struggling with situation and over come his all the troubles. He also rises as a motivation and iconic figure. So it was been better if the story was written from Raghav's perspective.
My Learning Outcome
If i analyze the main three characters that are Aarti, Raghav and Gopal, then we find that it has symbolic significance.
Gopal - A one of the name of lord Krishna.
Raghav - A name of lord Raam.
Aarti - is a Gujrati or Hindi word that means worship.
So as per my point of views, Raam is considered as a ideal human being in society who is a Theoretician person.and following path of truth.Raghav here is also like this who following path of truth and thinking about people's good.
While Gopal is like Krishna who said that to do something good or achieve something you can lie sometimes also his deeds were not pure and not on the path of religion and Theoretic all the time. Sometimes he use wrong and even lie.
Aarti is similar of the word worship. Who at the end marries Raghav. Which symbolically means that those who is on the right path, are deserve worship or get worship as Raghav got Arti.
I hope this blog will be helpful to you. Thank you.
Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written as a response to Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss about The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta. Summary, about Buchi Emecheta, and related quetion about novel.
About The Joys of Motherhood
The Joys of Motherhood is a novel written by Buchi Emecheta. It was first published in London, UK, by Allison & Busby in 1979 and was first published in Heinemann's African Writers Series in 1980 and reprinted 1982, 2004, 2008. The basis of the novel is the "necessity for a woman to be fertile, and above all to give birth to sons".It tells the tragic story of Nnu-Ego, daughter of Nwokocha Agbadi and Ona, who had a bad fate with childbearing. This novel explores the life of a Nigerian woman, Nnu Ego. Nnu's life centres on her children and through them, she gains the respect of her community. Traditional tribal values and customs begin to shift with increasing colonial presence and influence, pushing Ego to challenge accepted notions of "mother", "wife", and "woman". Through Nnu Ego's journey, Emecheta forces her readers to consider the dilemmas associated with adopting new ideas and practices against the inclination to cleave to tradition. In this novel, Emecheta reveals and celebrates the pleasures derived from fulfilling responsibilities related to family matters in child bearing, mothering, and nurturing activities among women. However, the author additionally highlights how the 'joys of motherhood' also include anxiety, obligation, and pain.
Buchi Emecheta, in full Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta, (born July 21, 1944, Lagos, Nigeria—died January 25, 2017, London, England), Igbo writer whose novels deal largely with the difficult and unequal role of women in both immigrant and African societies and explore the tension between tradition and modernity.
Buchi Emecheta, in full Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta, (born July 21, 1944, Lagos, Nigeria—died January 25, 2017, London, England), Igbo writer whose novels deal largely with the difficult and unequal role of women in both immigrant and African societies and explore the tension between tradition and modernity. Her Notable Works: “Adah’s Story” “Destination Biafra” “Double Yoke” “Gwendolen” “Head Above Water” “In the Ditch” “Kehinde” “Second-Class Citizen” “The Bride Price” “The Joys of Motherhood” “The New Tribe” “The Rape of Shavi” “The Slave Girl”.
Emecheta married at age 16, and she emigrated with her husband from Nigeria to London in 1962. She began writing stories based on her life, including the problems she initially encountered in England. These works were first published in New Statesman magazine and were later collected in the novel In the Ditch (1972). That work was followed by Second-Class Citizen (1974), and both were later included in the single volume Adah’s Story (1983). Those books introduce Emecheta’s three major themes: the quests for equal treatment, self-confidence, and dignity as a woman. Somewhat different in style is Emecheta’s novel Gwendolen (1989; also published as The Family), which addresses the issues of immigrant life in Great Britain, as do Kehinde (1994) and The New Tribe (2000).Most of Emecheta’s other novels—including The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and Double Yoke (1982)—are realistic works of fiction set in Nigeria. Perhaps her strongest work, The Rape of Shavi (1983), is also the most difficult to categorize. Set in an imaginary idyllic African kingdom, it explores the dislocations that occur when a plane carrying Europeans seeking to escape an imminent nuclear disaster crashes. Tap to read more.
Question
"The most celebrated female character in African creative writing is the African mother." by Marie A. Umeh according to this, is the character of Nnu Ego celebrating motherhood or not? Explain.
As Marie A. Umeh said that,"The most celebrated female character in African creative writing is the African mother." We find that the novel tries to bring that in character of Nnu Ego. She is shown as celebrating motherhood but at another point we find that she is also loosing her woman rights while nurturing her child and being ideal women.
African women are representation of African society itself. The condition of African women are poor as a women. They are seen as reproductive machines. And that's why the same potrayal of women came in many narrations of novels, stories, poetries etc. Generally the role women has to play are protecting, comforting, nourishing and nurturing their children.
This video uploaded by WHO AFRO ( World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa) is showing women situation and women role in African culture and society.
In the novel 'The Joys of Motherhood' we find breakdown of glorifying images of African Mother. Since childhood as a girl, she is taught that her sole functions are to bear and raise children. That's what she did throughout her life. The ideas of Motherhood informs her fantasies and her dreams. But when Nnu Ego really became mother she started facing lots of difficulties and struggles to raise her growing family and childrens.initially her idealism begins to change. In the beginning Buchi Emecheta in the favor of Motherhood stated that,
"The joy of being a mother is the joy of giving all to your children."
This is showing a kind of enthusiasm of mother. Nnu Ego wants to raise her children the best way she can. Also wants to give them everything they diserve. But as time passes Nnu Ego ultimately regrets having so many children and investing so much of her life in them since they seem to have little concern for her well-being. This lines indicating her regret for having so many childrens.
"A woman with many children could face a lonely old age and maybe a miserable death all alone, just like a barren woman".
Throughout the novel we find Nnu Ego face so many struggles in her marriage life, some failed marriage, her children also died and after all this Nnu Ego remains with her husband and bears him nine children of whom seven live, among them three boys and four girls. She now diverted her all attention towards her childrens and husbands because she believes that if she gave her attention and time to husband and children then only her old age would be happy and Even when she died someone (Her Childrens) refre their mother with good intentions and good Memorie.
"She was now sure, as she bathed her baby son and cooked for her husband, that her old age would be happy, that when she died there would be somebody left behind to refer to her as 'mother' ".
Instead of praising Motherhood in the novel.Buchi Emecheta criticise Motherhood. He described that here Motherhood is a barrier of Womanhood. For that he use suffering of Nnu Ego. Here in the novel we find representation of a women who want to be mother and has high dreams and imagination for her motherly roles. But soon after having children she started realizing that a single woman can be happy even though she has no children.at last we can say that Instead of an honored and revered figure, Nnu Ego becomes a sacrificial lamb, one who gave to her family selflessly while receiving little, if not nothing, in return.
To know more about the character of Nnu Ego watch the video given below.
I hope this blog will be helpful to you. Thank you.
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