શ્રી સરસ્વતી કૉલેજ ઓફ એજ્યુકેશન, ગીર ગઢડા

 

*ગુરૂર્બ્રહ્મા ગુરૂર્વિષ્ણુ: ગુરુર્દેવો મહેશ્વર:* 

*ગુરૂર્સાક્ષાત પરબ્રહ્મ તસ્મૈશ્રી ગુરવે નમઃ* 

*અજ્ઞાનીને જ્ઞાની કરનાર*

*અવગુણોને દુર કરનાર*

*અંધકારને પ્રકાશિત કરનાર*

*એવા મારા ગુરુને ગુરુપૂર્ણિમા નિમિતે શત શત નમન🙏🙏*

શ્રી સરસ્વતી કૉલેજ ઓફ એજ્યુકેશન, ગીર ગઢડા.

ટ્રસ્ટી શ્રી ધર્મેન્દ્રભાઈ જોશી

       ગુજરાતમાં આવેલા ગીર સોમનાથ જિલ્લાનાં ગીર ગઢડા તાલુકા મા આવેલી જોશી એજ્યુકેશન ટ્રસ્ટ દ્રારા સંચાલિત સૌથી મોટી કૉલેજ એટ્લે શ્રી સરસ્વતી કૉલેજ ઓફ એજ્યુકેશન, ગીર ગઢડા જે ભક્ત કવિ નરસિંહ મહેતા યુનિવર્સિટી સાથે સંકળાયેલ છે.

       ગુજરાતનાં અલગ અલગ જિલ્લાઓ માંથી યુવક અને યુવતીઓ પોતાની આંખોમાં ઉજ્જવળ ભવિષ્યનાં સપનાઓ સાથે કૉલેજમાં પ્રવેશ કરી રહ્યાં છે. તેમાંથી 'હું' અને મારા સાથી મિત્રો કાર્તિકભાઈ, સુનિલભાઈ, મનોજભાઈ, વિજય, નીતિન, ચિરાગ, સાગર, સાહિલ, મેઘજીભાઈ, કૃણાલ, પૂજા ભટ્ટ, ઝરણા મહેતા, વિધી જોશી, દક્ષા પટેલ, રુચિ ભટ્ટ, હેતલ રામપ્રસાદી, કૈલાશ બારૈયા, હંસા, કાજલ, આશા, મનીષા.

BATCH 2020-2022

      આ કૉલેજમાં લગભગ બધાં વિષયોનું શિક્ષણ આપવામાં આવે છે. સાથે સાથે અહિં ભવિષ્ય બનાવવા માટે ઘણાં અવસરો પણ આપવામાં આવે છે, અને સાથે સાથે ઘણી બધી પ્રવૃતિઓ પણ કરાવવામાં આવે છે જેમકે ડાન્સ, સ્પોર્ટ્સ વગેરે. 

        

પ્રિન્સિપાલ શ્રી વિક્રમભાઈ જોશી

     કૉલેજની આન-બાન ઓર શાન કહેવાતા અમારાં પ્રિન્સિપાલ શ્રી વિક્રમભાઈ જોશીની વાત કરવા માટે તો મારી પાસે તો શબ્દ-ભંડોળ પણ ટૂંકો પડતો હોય એવું જણાય છે, કે જેઓ એવું વ્યક્તિત્વ ધરાવે છે કે, તમે તેમને ગમે તેવો અઘરું કાર્ય કે અઘરો પ્રશ્ન પૂછો તો, તે વ્યક્તિ એવાં ઉદાહરણ સાથે સમજાવશે કે તમને તરત જ સાવ સરળતાથી સમજાય જાશે. અને હાં દર્શના મેમ કેમ ભૂલાય..! મેમ ની વાત જ કાંઈક અલગ જ છે, અમે પરીક્ષાના પેહલા જ દિવસે મોડા પોગ્યાં ત્યાં તરત  જ કહી દેતા પરીક્ષાના દિવસે તો વહેલા પહોંચો..! જ્યારે તમારા વાઇવા, પરીક્ષા, વાર્ષિકપાઠ આ બધી પ્રવૃતિઓ પૂરી થતા પૂછતાં કે કેવું રહ્યુ. She is workaholic person in the college. 

        વિક્રમસરનું એક ઉદાહરણ મને બહુ ગ્યું જેમાં નાનો છોકરો તેની મમ્મીને કહે છે, "Mummy love you so much, તો મમ્મી કહે છે જા ફ્રીઝમાં રાખેલી ચોકલેટ લય લે, છોકરો થોડો મોટો થાય છે ને પાછો કહે છે Mummy love you so much, તો મમ્મી કહે છે તારા પપ્પાને હું વાત કરીશ એટ્લે તારા માટે સાયકલ લય આવશે, છોકરો થોડો મોટો થયને Mummy love you so much, તો મમ્મી કહે છે, હું તારા પપ્પાને વાત કરીશ એટ્લે બાઇક અપાવશે, છોકરો થોડો મોટો થયને Mummy love you so much, તો મમ્મી કહે છે હું તારા પપ્પાને વાત કરીશ એટ્લે લગ્ન કરાવી આપશે, થોડા સમય પછી તેનાં પપ્પા ગુજરી જાય છે, થોડા સમય પછી છોકરો તેનાં મમ્મી ને કહે છે, Mummy love you so much, તો મમ્મી કહે છે, તારા પપ્પા જતા જતા કેહતા ગ્યા કે છોકરો ગમે તેટલું કહે ક્યાંય સહિ કરતી નય." 

      કહેવાનું તાત્પર્ય એ છે કે છોકરો ગમે તેટલો પ્રેમ દેખાડે પરંતું તે કમાતો નાં હોય તો તેનું જીવન વ્યર્થ છે, એટ્લે ગમે ત્યાં સહિ કરવી નહીં. એવી જ રીતે આપડા ભવિષ્યની કલમ આપડા હાથમાં છે, ક્યાં સહિ કરવી ક્યાં નાં કરવી તે આપડે નક્કી કરવાનું છે. આવા અનેક ઉદાહરણો સાથે અમે અહિં બી.ઍડ પુર્ણ કર્યું છે.

પ્રિન્સિપાલ શ્રી વિક્રમભાઈ જોશી ને સમર્પણ એક નાની રચના,

આદર્શ ની મિસાલ બનીને,

જીવન ઉજળું કરતા શિક્ષક,

સદા ફૂલ માફક ખીલી ને,

  મ્હેક્તાં અને મહેકાવતાં શિક્ષક,

નત નવા ઉ.દા લઇને,

   હર પળ ભવિષ્ય બનાવતા શિક્ષક,

    સિઁન્ચેલા જ્ઞાનનું ધન અમને આપીને,

   ખુશીઓ ખૂબ મનાવતા શિક્ષક,

   પ્રકાશ સમાન આધાર બનીને,

  કર્તવ્ય તેનું નિભાવતા શિક્ષક,

 પ્રેમ સરિતાની ધારા બનીને,

   નાવ(હોડી) કિનારે પહોંચાડતા શિક્ષક.

       

                                       -આર. જાલંધરા

                                        9904482521

Harry Potter Movie review

Movie Review:

1) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was renamed as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States. Presumably because American audiences didn’t know that something called “the Philosopher’s Stone” is actually a piece of folklore, and also because “Sorcerer”sounds significantly cooler than “Philosopher.” 

The movie does make it clear that some of their motivation stems from a sort of bitterness over the fact Harry’s mother was a wizard, but perhaps that’s not unreasonable. 

We know, for instance, that Harry’s father was just a bit of a prick, and the series does feature quite a bit of casual racism towards non-magic-folk (I don’t know about you, but I want to reclaim the world “muggle”). McGonnigle assures Dumbledore that “these people” are “the worst sort of muggles imaginary.” Not that they’re not the worst people, they’re the worst muggles, which seems to imply the lowest of the low. 

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The movie opens with the distinctive Harry Potter logo set against a relatively clear evening sky, with more than a hint of blue. Every subsequent film would erode away at the gold brand and set it against increasingly troubled horizons, but here it seems like everything is going to be all right. 

However, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is simply too long for its own good. It runs at over two-and-a-half hours, which is a genuinely long time for a family adventure film, and it isn’t nearly consistent enough to maintain interest over such a long period. That said, the movie isn’t without its charms, but the best is most definitely yet to come.

3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban isn’t the best in the series, but it’s certainly one of the stronger instalments, and perhaps the best looking and best executed. I don’t really think the underlying story is strong enough to support the entire film, but it’s a very well-made family adventure. It’s smart and a little bit witty, while hosting some absolutely wonderful production design. What’s wrong with that?

4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Goblet of Fire might not do everything perfectly – it’s production design lacks the beauty and nuance of its predecessor, for example – but it does pretty much everything well. It isn’t as painfully saccharine as the movies that came before, nor as relentlessly grim as those that followed. It is economical with its story points, but everybody gets their moments – indeed, it perhaps does the teen angst better than those that would follow. If we were to describe the movie in fairytale terms, this would be the one that’s just right.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is perhaps the best in the series. It’s not just a superb Harry Potter film, it’s a very well-made piece of cinema on its own terms as well.

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price

The movie has a variety of different plot threads going, as seems to be the norm in the later instalments. Perhaps the most successful follows Professor Horace Slughorn. It’s notable that this time the new recruit isn’tteaching “Defenses Against the Dark Arts”, or “the lowest job security in the history of the world”, as it is probably know in wizard circles.

On the other hand, there is a thread that sprouts from this which doesn’t really work as well as perhaps it should. While Dumbledore is fascinated by a mysterious incident from Slughorn’s past, he also reveals little bits and pieces about Tom Riddle to Harry. For those unaware, Riddle is the boy who would grow up to be Lord Voldemort. So we get a scene of Dumbledore collecting Tom from the orphanage where he grew up, and one or two other brief moments scattered throughout the film. 

7/8) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part-1/2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, we simply get a first act and what feels like the majority of the second. it’s quite a solid little addition to the franchise, with the sense that everything is sort of settling into place, and the films are starting to feel quite comfortable with themselves.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II is probably the strongest entry in the film series, and offers a fitting code to the saga of the famous boy wizard. 

the movie suggests, is a fact of life. As we grow up and we learn and see more, we come to realise that those key and important figures in our lives were somewhat more than the two-dimensional heroes we original saw them for. We come to realise that they were people, with their decencies and their faults, their beauty and their ugliness, their great successes and their horrible failures. 

Assignment Paper No.15

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Assignment Paper No.15

Name: Ravji Jalondhara
Roll No: 28
Enrollment No: 2069108420180024
Paper No.15
Topic: Early Mass Communication and Printing Technology.
Word: 1783
Batch: 2017-19
Email Id: ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
Submitted to: Department of English MKBU.

Introduction:

What is Mass Communication?

Mass Communication is a medium of dispersing information to a large number of people. The term is not limited to only journalism but spreads its branches to various other media fields including news gathering and reporting, film direction and production, event management, public relations, advertising, corporate communication, and the list continues.

In recent years, the field of mass media and communication has evolved into a partially interactive concept that touches almost every aspect of human life. And, with the sheer proliferation of media into our lives through newspaper, television, and internet the field of mass communication is gaining popularity like never before.

The course offers numerous career opportunities to candidates which are not only high paying but also bring in job satisfaction and expression of creativity.

 EARLY MASS COMMUNICATION AND PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

We now understand that sending message to a large number of audience as mass communication It is pertinent to see in some details the organs of this kind of communication before studying a few intriguing areas like the elements and forms of communication.

Letters/ leaflets

A very primitive form of mass communication is found in centuries old approach to write letters which were in the common interest of general public. These letters were written from the court of kings and sent to nobles and notables whose number may not be very high by today’s standards but at a time when one could not address more than a few dozen people, communication to a relatively larger audience- that too at some distance and the same text, may be considered as early attempts to approach the masses through written words.

Books

From writing letters to very many people on one subject, the next move was to write books on matters of social life, philosophies, religion, health and scientific advancements. The hand-written books continued to rule the world for centuries by taking views of writers to hundreds and thousands of people across countries. For instance, the central church in ROME had employed hundreds of clerics for the purpose of writing copies of bible for taking the message of Christianity to its followers. 

Almost the same had been the practice by other religions to convey their teachings to the masses by hand-written copies of the holy inscriptions. Many a museums in the world are proud to have some hand-written copies of religious or scientific works done centuries ago.

Printing

Major breakthrough in mass communication occurred when printing process was invented. The revolutionary invention makes an interesting study:

The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text. German goldsmith, Johann Gutenberg in the 1440s. Dutch Laurens Janszoon Coster has also been credited with this invention.

Development of the Printing Press

The original method of printing was block printing, pressing sheets of paper into individually carved wooden blocks. It is believed that block printing originated in China, and the earliest known printed text, the Diamond Sutra (a Buddhist scripture), was printed in China in 868 A.D.

The use of movable type in printing was invented in 1041 AD by Bi Sheng in China. Movable type did spur, however, additional scholarly pursuits in China and facilitated more creative modes of printing.

Nevertheless, movable type was never extensively used in China until the European style printing press was introduced. Although probably unaware of the Chinese, Gutenberg refined the technique with the first widespread use of movable type, where the characters are separate parts that are inserted to make the text. Gutenberg is also credited with the first use of an oil-based ink, and using "rag" paper introduced into Europe from China by way of Muslims, who had a paper mill in operation in Baghdad as early as 794. 

Before inventing the printing press in 1440, Gutenberg had worked as a goldsmith. Without a doubt, the skills and knowledge of metals that he learned as a craftsman were crucial to the later invention of the press.

The claim that Gutenberg introduced or invented the printing press in Europe is not accepted by all. The other candidate advanced is the Dutchman Laurens Janszoon Coster.

Impact of printing

Before we proceed to learn about other organs of mass communication, we may give little more attention to the printing as it almost revolutionized the communication in centuries to follow this invention. 

Previously, books were copied by scribes who wrote them out by hand. Books were therefore a scarce resource. While it might take someone a year to hand copy a Bible, with the Gutenberg press it was possible to create several hundred copies a year, with two or three people that could read, and a few people to support the effort. Each sheet still had to be fed manually, which limited the reproduction speed, and the type had to be set manually for each page, which limited the number of different pages created per day.

Despite some resistance, Gutenberg's printing press spread rapidly across Europe. Within thirty years of its invention in 1453, towns from Hungary to Spain and from Italy to Britain had functional printing presses. It has been theorized that this incredibly rapid expansion shows not only a higher level of industry (fueled by the high-quality European paper mills that had been opening over the past century) than expected, but also a significantly higher level of literacy than has often been estimated.

The first printing press in a Muslim territory opened in Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in the 1480s. This printing press was run by a family of Jewish merchants who printed texts with the Hebrew script.

Effects of printing on culture

The discovery and establishment of the printing of books with moveable type marks a paradigm shift in the way information was transferred in Europe. The impact of printing is comparable to the development of language, the invention of the alphabet, and the invention of the computer as far as its effects on the society are concerned.

Gutenberg's findings not only allowed a much broader audience to read Martin Luther's German translation of Bible, it also helped spread Luther's other writings, greatly accelerating the pace of Protestant Reformation. They also led to the establishment of a community of scientists (previously scientists were mostly isolated) that could easily communicate their discoveries, bringing on the scientific revolution. Also, although early texts were printed in Latin, books were soon produced in common European vernacular, leading to the decline of the Latin language.

Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful. It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of composition was. The printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents and indices became common. The process of reading was also changed, gradually changing from oral readings to silent, private reading. This gradually raised the literacy level as well, revolutionizing education.

It can also be argued that printing changed the way Europeans thought. With the older illuminated manuscripts, the emphasis was on the images and the beauty of the page. Early printed works emphasized principally the text and the line of argument. In the sciences, the introduction of the printing press marked a move from the medieval language of metaphors to the adoption of the scientific method.

In general, knowledge came closer to the hands of the people, since printed books could be sold for a fraction of the cost of illuminated manuscripts. There were also more copies of each book available, so that more people could discuss them. Within 50-60 years, the entire of "classical" knowledge had been printed on the new presses. 

The spread of works also led to the creation of copies by other parties than the original author, leading to the formulation of copyright laws. Furthermore, as the books spread into the hands of the people, Latin was gradually replaced by the national languages. This development was one of the keys to the creation of modern nations. Effects of printing press on masses have been much more and will be discussed more elaborately after few lectures.

Types of communication

Broadly speaking, whole human communication could be classified into two distinct parts.

• Intra personal communication 

• Inter personal communication

Intra personal communication The part of communication in which self of a human being is involved  only in the  confined to one human entity. This means that all the elements which come into action in a given piece of communication are located within the self of an individual. A message originating from

source part of the brain travels through the channel of nerves to reach another location, however close it

may be to the point of origin of message, where it is interpreted and understood as receiver.

All the process of meditation, thinking, monologue and even dreaming while asleep are all but examples of

intra communication.

Inter personal communication

This part of communication belongs to involving two or more individuals for exchange of

information. Since this part is experienced more due to its vastness, it is further classified in many

categories.

Inter personal

The simplest form in which more than one individual communicate to each other

Group Communication

More often people are seen exchanging views with almost all the participants enjoying an equal

status on one count or the other. Like all the players of a hockey team, class-fellows, doctors, teachers,

bureaucrats, politicians, economists etc.

Organizational communication

In this part, communication usually takes place on vertical lines. For instance, a company director is

passing on instructions to managers who would be guiding accordingly to field officers and the relevant

other field staff. An army general may not be talking to lowest rank men in khaki but would follow the

chain of organizational command to deliver his message to the last rank people. Be it a corporate sector,

NGO, a political party, an educational institution, the communication process would strictly follow the

essentials of the organizational communication.

Mass Communication

In this category we refer to the communication originating from one source and meant for all

possible audience irrespective of distance, cast, creed, religion, nationality and beyond. The mass

communication involves use of technology for it is not possible to carry message to a very high number of

receivers with out the use of certain devices or techniques. All other types of communication may take place

when the source is coming across receivers without involving technology. That is why more research and

investment has gone into handling the mass communication.

Work Cited:

https://www.shiksha.com/mass-communication-media-chp
http://www.zainbooks.com/books/mass-communication/introduction-to-mass-communication_2_early-mass-communication-and-printing-technology.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_communication

Assignment Paper No.14

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Assignment Paper No.14

Name: Ravji Jalondhara
Roll No: 28
Enrollment No: 2069108420180024
Paper No.14 (African Literature)
Topic: Analysis of the Poem “Once Upon A Time” By Gabriel Okara
Word: 1707
Batch: 2017-19
Email Id: ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
Submitted to: Department of English MKBU.

INTRODUCTION

One upon a time is a narrative poem by a Nigerian Gabriel Okara that reflects how the African’s sense of his/her identity is affected by European culture. The father in this poem regrets the compromises he has made and that have resulted to the loss of his dignity and pride. The poet looks back at a time in the past when people were honest, sincere in their dealings with one another. He regrets about the behavior of the people now. He says that he wants to see the frankness of people that existed long time ago. The poet expresses his sadness comparing his laugh to that of a snake. However as he has come back to his senses he is yet determined to unlearn all these muting things Europeans have introduced.

THEMES
LOSS OF DIGNITY AND PRIDE

The poem centres entirely on the loss of the dignity and the pride that Africans had before the coming of Europeans. Africans were sincere in what they do. They had true love, cooperation, and showed honesty. Things began to fall apart after the introduction of European culture in which case both dignity and the pride of Africans were lost altogether. The father says to his son;

Once upon a time son,

They used to laugh with their hearts

And laugh with their eyes

But now they only laugh with their teeth

While their ice-block-cold eyes

Search behind my shadow

COMPROMISE/CULTURAL ALIENATION

Furthermore through the poem, the poet shows that Africans have compromised their culture in favour of the new Western Culture. They have compromised the good values that held Africans together and gave them a sense of identity and togetherness such as kindness and sincerity in what they do or feel. Today they wear many faces depending on the context (occasion) but without feelings in the heart. The father says:

I have learn to wear many faces

Like dresses- homeface

Officeface, streetface, hostface, cocktailface,

With all their comforting smiles

Like a fixed portrait smile.

The poet shows that even their smiles are fake ones because they keep smiling even when they don’t mean it. They look like a smiling picture fixed on the wall that keeps smiling. As he has now come to his senses and discovered the compromise he has made, he wants to unlearn these things and go back to the basics.

HYPOCRISY

Hypocrisy can simply be defined as pretending to be what you are not. Moreover through the poem the poet shows the highest level of hypocrisy that Africans have inherited from Europeans. The current situation shows that there are people who show you a happy face while deep in their hearts they are filled with hatred towards you. They outwardly say goodbye (wishing you a nice departure) but deep in their hearts they mean Good-riddance (they are happy for getting rid of you). They say they are glad to meet you while in fact there is no gladness in them, and they will say it’s been nice talking to you while they mean that you have actually bored them. This is hypocrisy of the highest order. The father says to his son

I have also learned to say Goodbye

When I mean Goodriddance

To say glad to meet you

Without being glad; and to say “It’s been

Nice talking to you” after being bored.

The speaker tells us that he has learnt to deal with this fake, insincere world by changing himself to one of those people. Like others, he too hides his real feelings. He says that he has learnt “to wear many faces like dresses” Just like people keep changing dresses to suit different occasions, the poet has learnt to behave differently in different situations.

EFFECTS OF EUROPEAN CULTURE

Ever since the coming of Europeans to Africa, Africans have adopted many things from Europe. Initially, Africans were sincere in everything they do; they showed passion for each other, but now hypocrisy has become the way of life. The persona regrets and longs to go back to his natural African identity and culture. He wants to behave the way he used to behave. The persona says;

But believe me son

I want to be what I used to be

When I was like you. I want

To unlearn all these muting things.

AWARENESS AND IDENTITY

The persona is aware of his African identity and he is aware of the potential changes that have occurred to him and in fact to his fellow Africans. Africans have adopted the culture that is not in line with their core African values. As he becomes aware of the loss of his African identity he wants to sharply take a u-turn and go back to correct the mistake he has done. He is determined to regain the honesty he had in everything he used to do. He says to his son;

So show me son

How to laugh; show me how

I used to laugh and smile

Once upon a time when I was like you.

Showing his determination to regain his lost sense of African Identity, he adds;         But believe me son

I want to be what I used to be

When I was like you. I want

To unlearn all these muting things

STRUGGLE FOR CHANGE

The persona is struggling for change. He calls upon the Africans to be aware of where they came from, where they are, and where they were supposed to be. The persona shows a sense of regret due to the fact that Africans are gradually losing their good values and identity unawares. This is a wakeup call that will invite all willing Africans to go back to embrace our good values. He says;

. ..I want

To unlearn all these muting things

Most of all I want to relearn

How to laugh....

Here ‘muting’ may be like the poet has learnt to behave in such a way that it ‘mutes’ or ‘silences’ his real feelings. He tells his son that he wants to get rid of this false laugh showing only the teeth. The comparison of his laugh in the mirror to a snake’s bare fangs brings out the fact that the smile is artificial and might be dangerous. The persona regrets his fake behaviour and so expresses his desire to unlearn all those bad things and learn how to laugh sincerely.

THE INNOCENCE OF CHILDREN

The innocence of children is also a major theme in this poem as it is this state that the persona wants to go back to. It is his childhood that he remembers throughout the poem, the time when things seemed so much more real and sincere. Or maybe it is only that the persona is remembering his childhood through the eyes of a child, when he was too young to understand how people behave. Perhaps there was no such time when life was perfect, perhaps it is only a misconception induced by nostalgia but the persona does not care. He says

I want to be what I used to be

When I was like you.

The poet asks his son to show him how to laugh sincerely. Children do not fake things. They show what they feel inside. Again, the phrase ‘once upon a time’ reiterates the fact that he wants to be what he used to be once in the past.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

Ø  What is the poem about?

The poem is about the father who regrets the compromises he has made and that have resulted to the loss of his dignity and pride. However as he has come back to his senses he is yet determined to unlearn all these muting things Europeans have introduced and go back to embrace his African identity.

Ø  What kind of a poem is this?

This is a freeverse/modern poem, but it is specifically a narrative poem as it tells a story in a traditional monologue style from a father to his son.

Ø  Who is the persona and how do you know?

The persona is a father speaking to his son. This is revealed when he says

But believe me son

I want to be what I used to be

When I was like you.

Ø  What is the mood and tone of the poem?

The tone is nostalgic as the father remembers what things used to be like once when he was a child. The persona is not pleased with the changes that have taken place. This creates a sad or unhappy mood to the readers.

Ø  Comment on the structure of the poem.

ü  The poem is made up of seven (7) stanzas.

ü  Stanza 1-4 have six verses each of unequal length

ü  Stanza5 has eight verses

ü  Stanza six has seven verses

ü  Stanza seven has four verses.

Ø  Comment on the rhyming scheme

The poem has irregular rhyming scheme.

Ø  Comment on the language use.

The language used is simple and easy to understand. He has used oral traditional story-telling technique “once upon a time” to enrich his style in language. This is a monologue as the father speaks to the son but the son does not respond.

Figures of speech.

The poem contains the following figures of speech.

v  Personification

While their ice-block-cold eyes Search behind my shadow

v  Simile

ü  I have learned to wear may faces like dresses.

ü  Their comforting smiles like a fixed portrait smile

ü  My teeth like a snake’s bare fangs

v  Parallelism

Homeface, Officeface, streetface, hostface, cocktailface

v  Consonance : once twice, but that’s gone son

MESSAGES

Ø  Africans should be aware of their identity.

Ø  Africans should be proud of their culture and dignity.

Ø  Hypocrisy is not good. It should be discarded

Ø  We should not compromise our standards in favour of European culture.

RELEVANCE

The poem is relevant in a number of ways.

Ø  There are people in our societies who have been affected by loss of innocence. There are many hypocrites in our societies. People are no longer kind as they used to be in the past.

Work Cited:

http://samwiterson.blogspot.com/2018/05/analysis-of-poem-once-upon-time-gabriel.html?m=1

Assignment Paper No.13

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Assignment Paper No.13

Name: Ravji Jalondhara
Roll No: 28
Enrollment No: 2069108420180024
Paper No.13 (New Literature)
Topic: Theme of “The Da Vinci Code”
Word:1532
Batch: 2017-19
Email Id: ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
Submitted to: Department of English MKBU.

INTRODUCTION

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It follows "symbologist" Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris causes them to become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ having been a companion to Mary Magdalene.

The title of the novel refers to the finding of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and posed similar to Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a mathematical message written beside his body and a pentagram drawn on his chest in his own blood.

The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church, and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies.

THE SUBJECTIVITY OF HISTORY

The Da Vinci Code raises the question of whether history books necessarily tell the only truth. The novel is full of reinterpretations of commonly told stories, such as those of Jesus’ life, the pentacle, and the Da Vinci fresco The Last Supper. Brown provides his own explanation of how the Bible was compiled and of the missing gospels. Langdon even interprets the Disney movie The Little Mermaid, recasting it as an attempt by Disney to show the divine femininity that has been lost. All of these retellings are presented as at least partly true.

THE INTELLIGENCE OF WOMEN

Characters in The Da Vinci Code ignore the power of women at their peril. Throughout the novel, Sophie is underestimated. She is able to sneak into the Louvre and give Langdon a secret message, saving him from arrest, because Fache does not believe her to be capable of doing her job. Fache specifically calls Sophie a “female cryptologist” when he is expressing his doubts about Sophie and Langdon’s ability to evade Interpol. When interpreting one of the clues hidden in the rose box, Langdon and Teabing leave Sophie out, completely patronizing her. When she is finally allowed to see the clue, she immediately understands how to interpret it. Sophie saves Langdon from arrest countless times.

Other women are similarly underestimated. Sister Sandrine, in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, is a sentry for the Brotherhood, but Silas, indoctrinated in the hypermasculine ways of Opus Dei, does not consider her a threat. And Marie Chauvel, Sophie’s grandmother, manages to live without incident near Rosslyn Chapel for years, preserving her bloodline through Sophie’s brother.

The False Conflict between Faith and Knowledge

 Dan Brown refuses to accept the idea that faith in God is rooted in ignorance of the truth. The ignorance that the Church has sometimes advocated is embodied in the character of Bishop Aringarosa, who does not think the Church should be involved in scientific investigation. According to The Da Vinci Code, the Church has also enforced ignorance about the existence of the descendents of Jesus. Although at one point in the novel Langdon says that perhaps the secrets of the Grail should be preserved in order to allow people to keep their faith, he also thinks that people who truly believe in God will be able to accept the idea that the Bible is full of metaphors, not literal transcripts of the truth. People’s faith, in other words, can withstand the truth. 

The Power of Metaphor

Langdon hints that the secret that is uncovered about the true form and existence of the Holy Grail might be better left unmentioned by the forward thrust of progress. The mystery and aura surrounding that mystery has for millennia allowed the Grail to be whatever believers make of it. The suggestion here is that faith is stronger the farther way from facts it remains situated. Coincident with this ideological view is an valid explanation for why so many of those who put their faith in the Holy Bible do so on the condition that every word is literal. When Langdon ponders over the wisdom of introducing facts into the equation by which faith arrives at truth, he is also calling into question whether such faith remains as strong and steadfast if stories and events presented as historical fact in the Bible are viewed merely as metaphor for the purpose of enlightening a larger truth. The question boils down to whether metaphor is invested with the same power to guide and condition faith as literal fact.

Power of Roman Catholic Church:

Another  underlying  theme throughout the book is the power of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic church on the world wide stage .through their research, Robert Langdon and Sir teabing  have learned, and discuss numerous times throughout the book, how the church has suppressed the truth about the Mary Magdalene. They discuss how the church, throughout history, has suppressed the truth through edicts and even violence. 

This theme is one that underlies the Teacher’s motive for finding the grail. He believes that the church had pressured Sauniere and the leadership of the priory of Sion to continue hiding the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene so he takes it upon himself to seek to un earth the Holy Grail himself.

Sacrifice 

The Da Vinci Code opens with dramatic personal sacrifice-------Sauniere’s death to protect the secret of the Priory of Sion-------but theme of sacrifice appears repeatedly throughout the novel. It does not always require a death, however, a sacrifice can beauty type of loss, from loss of integrity or freedom to the loss of a physical item.

A Sacrifice entails the giving up of something in exchange for something else. It is a circumstance that does not allow for two competing needs to exist together. For example, Sauniere makes the ultimate sacrifice--- death--- that hundreds in the priory throughout history, according to Brown, have been willing to make. Likewise, Sister Sandrine Bieil sacrifices her life to warn the Priory when Silas attempts to unearth the keystone in the church of Saint-Sulpice.

 Art as Secret History

The protagonist of The DaVinci Code is a member of law enforcement or religion or an intelligence agency or even a traditional historian. Robert Langdon is a professor of symbology, meaning his day job is teaching the study of symbols as key to unlocking concealed knowledge. The thematic concern that drives the actual events of the narrative is the continual and consistent revelation of how art has been used throughout history by the oppressed as a means of transmitting knowledge in a way that attempts to escape detection and punishment. Langdon focuses especially on the iconoclastic art of the Renaissance which is dominated by extraordinary works that seem merely to depict figures and events form the Bible, it is eventually demonstrated that many of these works of art actually contain hidden symbols and messages, often messages that serve as ironic contradiction of the apparent intent. While Langdon is primarily guided by paintings and sculptures, the secret history of art can likewise be detected in everything from the works of Shakespeare to architectural and fashion design.

“Mystery and Wonderment That Serve Our Souls”

The major theme of this novel is expressed in a quotation by Marie Chauvel in the resolution. In this novel people believe in things, or are inspired by things, which cannot be proven true. Langdon remembers this when he looks at his Mickey Mouse watch. Similarly, people must rely on their faith in religion or faith that the Grail exists. The mystery and wonderment produced by these facets of their lives are more important than the real facts.

The Sacred Feminine

On one level, the main characters in this novel are discussing and searching for symbolic representations of the sacred feminine. However, on another, more subtle, level Brown portrays women’s power. Through Sophie Neveu, Brown illustrates an intelligent and capable woman. Moreover, Sophie frequently makes decisions based on a sixth sense not bestowed upon the male characters which Brown calls women’s intuition. Sophie’s feminine power is reinforced by the many stories told of ancient reverence for women as life-givers as well as the prominent status of Mary Magdalene.

Fanaticism

While this novel promotes faith, it also cautions against pursuing one’s beliefs to the point of fanaticism. Brown offers two examples of characters that become fanatics: Silas and Teabing. Silas is a religious fanatic. He allows his desire to please God and act on behalf of the Church to cloud his judgment. Silas is willing to murder as long as he believes he is supporting the Church.

Similarly, Lee Teabing believes so strongly in finding and revealing the Sangreal documents that he is willing to murder for his cause. While each of these men fanatically supports diametrically opposed agendas, they both come to believe that the ends justify the means. Brown seems to admonish this behavior because neither fanatical character is successful.

Work Cited:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code_(film)
http://rivapandya.blogspot.com/2017/04/themes-in-da-vi
https://www.gradesaver.com/the-da-vinci-code/wikipedia/introduction

http://devangibagohil.blogspot.com/2017/04/p-13-themes-of-da-vinci-code.html?m=1

The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri

The novel begins in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1968. Ashima Ganguli lives with her husband Ashoke. She gives birth to a boy in the hospital in Cambridge. Ashoke, nearly killed in a train accident as a young man in India, decides that the boy’s nickname, should be Gogol, after Nikolai Gogol, the Russian writer whom he was reading. Ashima and Ashoke agree to register the boy’s legal name as “Gogol.”

The Gangulis wait for an official name for Gogol to come in the mail, from Calcutta. But Ashima’s grandmother, who has the ceremonial honor of naming the boy, suffers a stroke, and her letter with Gogol’s official name is lost in the mail. The family settles into life in Cambridge, with Ashima learning to take Gogol around on her errands. As the family prepares for its first trip back to Calcutta, Ashoke and Ashima learn that Ashima’s father has died suddenly. Their trip is shrouded in mourning. Ashima, especially, misses her parents and her home in Calcutta.

The Gangulis move to a Boston suburb, a university town where Ashoke has found a job teaching electrical engineering. Gogol begins preschool, then kindergarten. Gogol begins school, and although his parents have settled on an official name, Nikhil, for him to use there, Gogol insists on being called “Gogol,” and so the name sticks. Ashima and Ashoke have another child, a girl named Sonia. Years pass, and the family settles into the modest house in the suburbs, on Pemberton Road. In high school, Gogol grows resentful of his name, which he finds strange, not really Indian. He learns about the life of Nikolai Gogol in a literature class, and is horrified by that man’s bizarre, unhappy existence. Ashoke gives Gogol a copy of Gogol’s stories for his fourteenth birthday, and almost tells him the story of his train accident, but holds back. Gogol hides the book in a closet and forgets about it.

Gogol officially changes his name to Nikhil before going to Yale. He meets a girl there named Ruth, and they fall in love, dating for over a year. After waiting hurriedly for Gogol’s delayed Amtrak train, one holiday weekend, Ashoke tells his son about the train-wreck that nearly killed him, and that gave Gogol his name. Gogol was unaware of the story until this point. Nikhil develops a love for architecture, and after graduating from Yale, he attends design school at Columbia, then lives uptown and works for a firm in Manhattan. He meets a young woman in New York named Maxine, who leads a cosmopolitan life with her parents downtown. Nikhil essentially moves into Maxine’s home, and the two date seriously. Gogol introduces Maxine to his parents one summer, then spends two weeks in New Hampshire with Maxine’s family, the Ratliffs, believing that their life, as opposed to his parents’, is paradise.

Ashoke takes a visiting professorship outside Cleveland and moves there for the academic year. He comes home every three weeks to see Ashima and take care of household chores. Ashoke calls Ashima one night and tells her he has been admitted to the hospital for a minor stomach ailment. When Ashima calls back, she finds out that Ashoke has died of a heart attack. The family is stunned. Gogol flies to Cleveland and cleans out his father’s apartment. The family observes traditional Bengali mourning practices, from which Maxine feels excluded. Soon after this period is over, Maxine and Gogol break up.

Gogol continues his life in New York, though he visits his mother and sister in Boston more frequently. Ashima sets Gogol up with Moushumi, a family friend from Pemberton Road, who now studies for a French-literature PhD in New York. Gogol and Moushumi initially resist this blind date, but find that they like and understand one another. They continue dating and soon fall in love. After about a year, they marry in a large Bengali ceremony in New Jersey, near where Moushumi’s parents now live. They rent an apartment together downtown.

Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the madding crowd is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It is about love conflict between four characters.

The story starts with introduction of Gabriel oak. He was farmer. One night one beautiful young woman named Bathsheba saves him from suffocation. Oak proposes her for marriage which she refuses. Oak loses his livelihood when one of his dogs chases all his sheep off a cliff. He had lost all the things.

After wandering the countryside looking for a job, Oak arrives in a town called Weatherbury and gets himself a job as a shepherd. He finds that Bathsheba is his master who had inherited the farm after her uncle's recent death.

Meanwhile, a wealthy old farmer in the area named Boldwood decides that he'd like to marry Bathsheba, too. And she even gives Boldwood a half-promise to say yes, even though she doesn't love him. Suddenly Sergeant Troy comes in the town and Bathsheba falls in love with him. The two of them get married quickly, which breaks the hearts of both Boldwood and Gabriel Oak. Oak suspect he is not a good man. Troy used to be engaged to one of Bathsheba's servants Fanny Robin and he has left her (and their child) to die in the streets. When Bathsheba finds this out, her heart totally breaks.

Troy goes missing believed that he drowned in sea and died. But he was alive. When life turns out to be really hard without his wife's money, though, he comes skulking back to Weatherbury to claim his fortune. During his absence, Boldwood has pestered Bathsheba into marrying him. On the night Boldwood hopes to announce the engagement, though, Troy shows up to steal Bathsheba away for a second time.

Boldwood frustrated shoots Troy. Shortly afterwards, Boldwood turns himself in at a nearby police station. He's sentenced to be executed, but gets pardoned at the last minute because everyone thinks he's insane. Meanwhile, Gabriel Oak tells Bathsheba that he'll be leaving for America soon. She begs him to stay, and he agrees to… if the two of them can get married. She agrees and they get married shortly after.