Assignment No. 01Subject Name: American LiteratureCourse code: DENG-558Submitted to: Rehan AhmadSubmitted by: Naghat NawazRoll No.: 171274Semester: 2ndProgramme: M.
A EnglishQ: 1. Define Beloved as a phenomenal character that counterfeitly opens the eyes of readers to watch the bitter reality of slavery. DebateBeloved depicts not just the physical but also psychological effects of slavery and describing how it stripes people of their freedom, their families, and their sanity. The novel is powerful and strident examination of race relation in the United States, particularly related to slavery and how whites treated to blacks. So the novel is an accurate sculpture of the black slave woman’s experience.
Morrison’s work takes the history of enslavement and the narrative social and self-hate into different psychological avenues. In many ways the character Beloved is the physical manifestation of haunting. She assumes the role of Sethe’s dead daughter acting both as a revenge spirit and as a reminder of the murder Sethe commit. Sethe attempt to kill her children is a direct result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of schoolteacher and her nephews.
The novel is important for its demonstration of the concern that slave mother had for the welfare of their children. Sethe determined to kill her children rather than allow them to be return to a life of slavery. The novel treats the theme of a mother as a nurture and protector.
Sethe sees her children as her property as lives that she has made. Sethe determines to put her children where they cannot be hurt by the system of slavery. The novel is, moreover, an attempt to understand the forces that would cause Sethe to murder her daughter. The characters are constantly in a struggle to “beat back the past,” which enter by force into their lives and causes a haunting pain that is physically represented by the appearance of Beloved.
Slavery claimed ownership of all of its property and ignored the slave mother’s right to determine the future and to physically nurture her own children. Sethe naturally sought to hold on to and love her own children thus creating the central conflict in the novel.It analyses slavery in Beloved towards Morrison’s criticism to African-American slavery history. Then, it shows how slavery was the main issue in the past especially in America. It shows that how the novel relates to slavery by showing murdering a child as a result of a wish to protect him/her from slavery.
Slavery is introduced as a very difficult situation; it is shown as it can lead some illogical actions like killing a child by her own mother. Its influences can be felt through the depth analysis of Sethe, Beloved and Toni Morrison’s speeches. The analysis seems very realistic and understandable. The book helps the readers to understand the American slave history in the past easily. Q: 2. ‘Crucible’ is an allegorical paranoia of Joseph McCarthy and the Salem witch trials, which resulted as an extreme irrational distrust of others.
DiscussThe play ”Crucible” written by Arthur Miller used the Salem witch Hunt trials as an allegory of the McCarthy hearing and the true horror behind how American dealt with attempt communism. The crucible is an allegory, an allegory is a story with an obvious meaning but if you look deeper into it, there is another meaning. In this case the obvious meaning of the Salem Witch – Hunt and the hidden meaning is the McCarthy. It was a government an accusation which has no evidence.
Actually McCarty started in early 1950s Joseph McCarthy started doing trials on those he thought were communist, but he has no evidence for it. This is the same as the witch trials in the Crucible. Arthur Miller wrote this in response to McCarthy. Actually this story belongs to 20th century. The play takes place in a small puritan village in the colony of Massachusetts in 1692. When Arthur Miller wanted to write against McCarthy he was blacklist.
Through this play Miller wants to tear the veil of conservatism, dogmatism, America nationalism and McCarthyism. Miller dramatized all this situation of communistic witch – hunt in the historical background of Salem witch hunting in 17th century by the so – called puritans – Miller picks up the famous event of witchcraft from the history in order to highlight his experience of the fear and hysteria in 20th century, caused by McCarthyism. Under McCarthyism, thousands of innocent people were accused of being a communist, a witch, and were killed without any proof against them. In the end we see that Procter is accused of being a witch because of his rebellion against the church and the court. He wants to prove the fraudulent acts of the girls but he is accused in return. He is sentenced to death if he does not confess and signs it but his innocence and soul does not let him confess, therefore, he tears out confession. He says ”Because it is my name.
‘ Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang’ how may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name.” He does not want to lose his true identity and to be called a witch. Therefore, he sacrifices his body and saves his soul. The rules of McCarthyism were no different from the rules of Salem. They put the innocent people in the crucible to prove or disprove their suspect, of being a communist.
Q: 3. Explain the following stanzas:(1)Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival, New statue,In a drafty museum, your nakednessShadows our safety, we stand round blankly as walls,Explanation:When the speaker says that “Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival,” the reader can imagine grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends making their comments about the baby. Some will point out how cute it is, how tiny those fingers and toes are, how sweet it smells. Then the speaker describes the baby as a “New statue, in a drafty museum, your nakedness and Shadows our safety.” It is actually the birth of Sylvia Plath’s child. This stanza describes how the arrival of the new born has been welcomed. The first verse talks about the echoes of the voices of the parents magnifying his arrival, these words give idea of happiness of his parents.
The child is described as a new statue in a drafty museum. His nakedness is compare to a statue. The naked body of a child is so delicate and soft and comparable with the perfection of the statue. This image of the delicate baby is the cause of the parent’s worries. Actually the parents wish to protect the child but a little helpless. So Sylvia Plath says they stand as blankly walls, just staring around the baby, expectant.(2)I believe in SasquatchJust as much as I believe in Godwhich is not logicalsince more people have seen Sasquatch than have seen God.Explanation:Sasquatch actually a giant figure, a hairy creature a human being reported exists in the Northwestern U.
S and western Canada. It is 6 and 15 feet tall called also Bigfoot. It is actually a frequent reference to Sasquatch. This may see strange to those people who think that Sasquatch is a fictional creature and many indigenous people have some belief that they do exist. Actually Sherman Alexi wants to tell his past traditions but the White European people wants to eradicate these all traditions and to vanish the whole history Native American and Sherman Alexi recognizes the traditions of oral story telling that is important for passing on knowledge.
Sherman says that why we worship a great figure Sasquatch because our grandfathers told us about it.
