Midnight's Children- Salman Rushdie (Part II)

 MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN (PART-2)

Writer:

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian Subcontinent.

Recently, Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York on 12 August 2022, based on a fatwa issued on Feb. 12, 1989, for his work ‘The Satanic Verses’ (1988). Read the news in detail CLICK HERE

Novel:

Midnight’s Children is the Second novel by Salman Rushdie. Midnight's Children sold over one million copies in the UK alone and won the Booker Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981. It was awarded the "Booker of Booker" Prize and the best all-time prize winner in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize's 25th and 40th anniversaries. In 2003 the novel appeared at number 100 on the BBC's The Big Read poll which determined the UK's "best-loved novels" of all time.

The novel basically is from Kashmir in 1917 to Bombay in 1977, it brings us through the ending of British rule, the birth of a nation, the Partition of India and Pakistan, later the war of independence of Bangladesh, and finally, the Emergency under the government of Indira Gandhi.

Amidst the torrents of history emerges the main character Saleem Sinai. The film begins with his grandfather Dr. Aziz (Rajat Kapoor) in Kashmir, examining his patient and future wife Naseem (Shabana Azmi) through a perforated sheet. Then comes the next generation of Saleem’s parents Amina (Shahana Goswami) and her husband Ahmed Sinai (Ronit Roy), moving to Bombay, giving birth to a baby boy at the stroke of midnight, the dawn of India’s independence on August 14, 1947. But baby Saleem is a changeling with another baby born at the same time, Shiva, by the hands of Mary (Seema Biswas) the nurse.

Themes and Symbols (if film adaptation is able to capture themes and symbols?)

Perforated sheet

The perforated sheet has symbolized the fragmented life of the characters throughout the novel. It symbolized not a whole view, a fragmented view, and also a material used to preserve the chastity and purity of female characters. Aziz falls in love with a perforated sheet and The perforated sheet makes one final appearance with Jamila Singer: in an attempt to preserve her purity.

Silver spittoon

Spittoon is a symbol of memory and memory loss. It was given to Amina as part of her dowry by the Rani of Cooch Naheen which was the only memory of the family with Saleem. But later this memory, spittoon gave him a memory loss. Spittoon was responsible for Saleem’s Amnesia. The spittoon is the symbol of a vanishing era, which, in retrospect, seemed simpler and easier.

Pickles

Pickles are a symbol of preservation and destruction. Saleem tries to preserve his stories in pickles and chutney. By telling his stories he is trying to preserve the dying man. This connection between pickles and the preservation of stories endures until the very end of the book.

Knees and nose

The knees and nose are the symbols of the power of Saleem and Shiva, the two firstborn midnight’s children who got changed in the hospital. Shiva is suspected of killing a string of prostitutes with his powerful knees, while Saleem uses his nose to discover the most decrepit prostitute in the city. Knees and nose—just like Shiva and Saleem, destruction and creation, faith and humility—are inextricably related. This symbolizes both power/ strength and weakness, creator (Saleem) and destructor (Shiva).

Saleem and Shiva

Shiva and Saleem are binary to each other. They are contemporary. Complete each other. As Yin Yang. Saleem in allegorical India and India story is incomplete without Shiva.

History and Individual

Reading Midnight’s children we can read a connection made by Rushdie of Saleem Sinai with the History of India. The section that Rushdie establishes between every personal event in Saleem's life and that of his family and the political and historical events that unfold in independent India is carefully maintained throughout the novel, even though sometimes it can sound a bit forced as in the latter part of the novel. The language riots of the 1950s, Indo- Pak war of 1971, and Indira Gandhi’s ‘Emergency” in 1975 all these India stories can be read through Saleem. Also, the story begins with Kashmir which even today is a ‘hot spot’. The parallel drawn between Aziz and Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. His parents, grandparents, and an aunt me killed on 23 September 1975, the day India's Airforce bombs Rawalpindi. The book is full of such demonstrations which connect Saleem and India.

Colonialism and neo- Colonialism in India

Midnight’s Children attacks British colonization and they were symbolized through the characters like Methwold. He is used as a symbol of evil and moral degeneration rather than a fully fleshed-out character. He is used as a symbol of colonization, exploitation, and demoralization in the novel. The seduction of Vanita in absence of her husband Winkee is a metaphor for appropriating and exploiting what rightfully belongs to another. How Britishers came to India and tried to exploit India. They controlled India and also tried to be an owner not only of land but people also.

Fragmentation, Migrancy, and Memory

This is not the main theme but the novel. The novel's narrative technique which is stories inside the stories presents us with the fragmentation in the novel. The novel is all about memory and loss of memory. The novel begins with Dal lake and ends in Pickles factory. The cracks and disintegration in the novel bring newness in the novel.

These are the themes and the symbols of the novel which are aptly described and adapted in the movie also. Cinematography has also beautifully captured all the symbols with the help of long and short shots and focus. The movie has held the essence of the novel through and in which its symbols and themes played an important role.

The texture of the novel (What is the texture of the novel? Well, it is the interconnectedness of narrative technique with the theme. Is it well captured?)

The texture is a word that is used to describe the combination of word choice, mood, and what the authorial lens focuses on in a piece. Looking at Midnight’s Children we see getting introduced to this novel is getting introduced to a new texture of the book. The book does not describe anything in chronological order. It oscillated between past and present and even sometimes the future through the dreams of Salem. The novel has a unique narratological style combining both Indian and western methods, including magic realism and first-person narration also. The novel captures India from 1915 to 1978. Adding to it, the novel has a wonderful connection between symbols and narration. The symbols indicate binary, negative, and positive aspects. E.g. symbol of a pickle- destroyer and preserver.

What is your aesthetic experience after watching the screening?

We had a wonderful movie screening of Midnight’s Children 2012 film directed by Deepa Mehta and screenplay written by the Author himself. We already had a background of the novel and the changes made in the novel and film adaptation. So we knew that it's not completely what is in the novel. But overall it was great, it brought the texture of the novel, and themes and symbols were aptly used in the film. It didn't have the complete storyline of the novel but it significantly gave the ideas and themes of the novel. The movie used the same dialogue as the movie, especially in the beginning. The ending in the movie and novel is different. But we can understand the difficulty of bringing the whole thing in motion is a difficult task.

Here is my learning outcome of S. Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children.

READ PART 1 OF THIS BLOG. CLICK HERE. 

I hope my blog is useful. Thanks for visiting. 

Movie Screening- The Great Gatsby

Hello readers, this blog is a response to the task assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. This blog deals with the various questions allotted based on the novel The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald published in 1925 and The Great Gatsby movie by Baz Luhrmann in 2013.  

THE GREAT GATSBY

The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrman is much faithful to The Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Movie has used modern narration techniques but has certain loopholes in it compared to the novel. Cinematography and editing of the Movie is extraordinary. Watching this movie gives the best scenario of 20th century America and its culture. We belong to a completely opposite culture (eastern Culture) so it becomes difficult to understand some satires of western culture for e.g. Tom’s comment on Gatsby for weaning Pink suit. Now let us discuss some questions With reference to the screening of film

How did the film capture the Jazz Age - the Roaring Twenties of America in the 1920s?

The western had the worst experiences in the first world war and after it the generation is known as the ‘lost generation’. There was great  technological, economical and cultural evolution in the 20th century in America. It was moving towards prosperity that is gaining more and more economy. Fitzgerald explores the major developments of the Roaring Twenties, including the birth of jazz, the women’s suffrage movement, economic prosperity, and the rapid growth of Manhattan as a cosmopolitan city.

This period of roaring twenties is also famous as Jazz age, this term was also coined by Fitzgerald in his collection of short stories Tales of the Jazz Age (1922). Jazz music was very popular in that period. It was very popular among Black people, it was initiated by African American. So the whites considered it to be music of black or lower status they heard and enjoyed but never socialized with the blacks. 

FitzGerald has explored jazz age greatly in the Novel. Baz Luhrman’s movie has very faithfully captured Jazz age/ music. The contemporary soundtrack in the movie features songs by Bryan Ferry, Jay-Z, and Florence and the Machine. 

From the beginning of the movie we do find the loud music which lightly indicates the madness of the jazz in that period. 

People danced and bounced on the jazz music in Gatsby's parties. They seemed to be a lost society, careless people and rich class society. 

When Tom was having an apartment party which revealed his cheating over Daisy, which is mirroring inferiority of ‘Roaring Twenties’ was also indicated by the loud jazz music. The man was playing a loud trumpet in the scene. 

Next, when Gatsby went to an underground bar from the barber’s shop, the bar had a Jazz group playing jazz music which also indicated the negative side of 20th century America.

How did the film help in understanding the characters of the novel?

Baz Luhrman’s 2013 film is immensely faithful to Fitzgerald’s novel. Thomas Doherty writes in his movie review Luhrmann “remain[s] faithful to the spine and spirit of the novel while giving himself plenty of room to move”.  Although he was faithful to the novel he has made many alterations and characters are minimized accordingly. Here are some examples of change in characters.

• Gatsby’s character is well developed throughout the movie. The mysticism around his character is greatly managed by Luhrman. 
• Nick is problematic as a narrator. In the novel we find that Nick is not talking about incidents in which he is not present which are Gatsby’s and Myrtle’s murder scene. But in the movie both these scenes are narrated by him. For eg. first we were shown the Myrtle’s murder scene later it was shown in flashback when Gatsby’s narrated truth of murder to him. 
• Nick and Jordan are a couple in the novel while in the movie we don't find any major role of Jordan in the movie. It seems she is just to deliver a message about Daisy to be invited for tea. Audiences could find Nick- Jordan Chemistry in Movie only if they have read the novel.
• Nick’s character is also flattened in the movie. Throughout the movie he shared his views of Gatsby's life but no light was thrown on his personal life.
• In the novel daisy is not only smart and lovely but “her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth” and she had “an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget” while in movie she is stupid blonde girl who doesn't understand the world. While her recklessness and carelessness is held flawlessly
• Luhrmann has managed to downsize all the characters and their personalities but the characters seem to be interesting because the movie had heavy focus on visuals, effects and ivory of 20th century America.  

How did the film help in understanding the symbolic significance of 'The Valley of Ashes', 'The Eyes of Dr. T J Eckleberg' and 'The Green Light'?

The Valley of Ashes:

The Valley of Ashes is a stretch between west egg and New York. This valley had a colour scheme of gray in Luhrmann's movie. The movie is successfully capturing the bizarreness that is described in Fitzgerald’s Novel. Valley of ashes is dumping of industries, it is as important a scene of the movie as the glamorous part. Valley of ashes also shows the failure of the American Dream. The American dream of becoming economically strong is bringing a spiritual drought. It's a failure for America because America is growing but is failing to balance, the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poor. Valley shows how the rich are disconnected from the source of their wealth.

The Eyes of Dr. T J Eckleberg 

The Valley of Ashes is watched by the gigantic blue eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg,in the middle of a strange, gray landscape. This giant billboard without a face which are the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg is an ad of optometrist. The billboard is dirty and faded which can be interpreted that the billboard is watching the moral failures, America as a moral wasteland and meaninglessness of the world for a long period of time. As the camera says more than words, the camera moves over the billboard to tell something hidden. When Daisy and friends were going for lunch to New York the billboard was shown which is interpreted as something terrible is going to happen. George Wilson also considered it to be the eyes of God’s who is watching everything.

Today This billboard with eyes which is watching everything can be said to be replaced with a CCTV camera. ‘ you are under surveillance’ 

The Green Light

Green light seems to be always shining on Daisy’s dock. Gatsby had a mansion on the opposite back of the sea. He used to watch this light everyday which symbolizes hopes and dreams of Gatsby to have Daisy in his life and the American dream. It can also be interpreted as the shine and glamour of inherited wealthy people and their intolerance and unacceptable to new rich society.

How did the film capture the theme of racism and sexism?

Racism

In the Great Gatsby the theme of racism and sexism is not prominent but we find them in dialogues and ideology of Tom Buchanan. Tom had an regressive mentality he felt white’s to be a dominant class, he could expect back or other then white turning rich because if it happened they would start ruling, according to tom. Tom Buchanan declares The Rise of the Colored Empires a prophetic book that admonishes whites to “watch out or these other races will have control of things,” Nick sees a Limousine “driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish negroes, two bucks and a girl.” And he announces that “Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge.” All these minor incidents show racism in movies.

Sexism

Sexism is discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. In the movie we find three complete opposite female characters, Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle. Daisy is the most important one,Daisy belonged to a wealthy family but was dominated by Tom. Tom had a mistress but when Daisy started loving Gatsby she was forced to choose any one. Similarly, Myrtle was an ambitious woman who wanted materials and her husband couldn't achieve her dream and so he had relations with Tom. Here we compare Gatsby and Myrtle- when Gatsby achieved material wealth through bootlegging it was the American dream and for Myrtle the question was raised directly on her. Jordan belonged to Flapper society, a new women group towards whom the society saw with discrimination, considered to be immoral and dishonorable. 

Nick Carraway as a narrator. [Click here for source video]

Luhrmen is using a framing device which is different from the book, Nick is committed to sanitarium for morbidly alcoholic, anxiety, insomnia and it is the catharsis process he writes the Great Gatsby. And this is root for him being an unreliable narrator. The major question arises that how trustworthy can a narrator who is suffering from a morbid alcoholic psyche issue.

Apartment party scenes, when Nick was drunken, were also smoothly narrated by Nick which are also questionable . Because a drunk person could rarely see or remember the acts he/ she has done or seen.

At another instance we find that when Nick is writing about his depression we find haste, cancelling of words and rewriting to what extent we can think of him narrating everything perfecting even when he is not able to write perfectly.

In the scene like myrtle murder scene and Gatsby’s Murder scene, Nick is absent still he is narrating both the scene which is also contradictory to novel. It's like a prophecy, neither being present nor knowing about the plan yet able to describe the happening.

Psychoanalytical study of Jay Gatsby. [Source video psychoanalytical study and Character study]

American dream, a dream in which a man works for nothing but to be Richer and Richer than God themselves. Gatsby from the Great Gatsby can be seen as an allegory of America. Gatsby is a fascinating insight into American people; during the second world war when it was devastated. Transition from carefree naivety to hard hitting reality. Obsessiveness in the Gatsby work as a poison and brings downfall to him is his obsessiveness was to be rich, be on his legs and have Daisy in his life. To complete his obsessive wishes he learnt to act a respectful life from the Sailor and became rich by the business of illegal alcohol. It is obsessive nature which forces him to have a house on the other edge of the river and through which he feels in closure to Daisy. This forced him to throw lavish parties that showed his excessiveness. We also see excessiveness in the American people by buying unnecessary things because they are affordable and cheap because of mass production. excessiveness is seen in Gatsby's life when he throws the unnecessarily lavish parties to show off his wealth and with the hope that Daisy will visit the party and he will get a chance to meet her. His excessiveness is compensating for lost time he would have had with Daisy. He dreamt to be richer, he lived away from the people in his Mansion in a bubble like he is the perfect man. He had a dream to have a perfect life with Daisy. When he and Daisy were together it was a dream to them. They knew that after this quality time between them they had to come to the world and face the reality of life. Valley of Ashes turns out to be a symbol of reality hitting. in the movie that no rules applied to the Gatsby because he was a richer person he could over speed his vehicle but in the valley of Ashes when his car made an accident with Myrtle. The reality hits him there was no one with him in the hard times, only everyone present around him was supporting him when he was throwing parties.

Through Analytical study of the Gatsby we find that his character was filled with the two primary emotions that word shame and guilt. No one had the power to challenge his fire. Everyone has a natural attraction towards wealth, money and glamor and that was the reason why everyone attended his lavish parties. We find shame in Gatsby, the shame of belonging to the small town, lower class, esteemed of belonging to the small farmer family which was unsuccessful. so he created a fake Persona he changed his name and gave all other fake identities of gaining medals in the war, being an Oxford man. He gave a great answer to his shame by being richer. He gained through bootlegging and showed us how ashamed he was of being poor. The feeling of guilt in, guilt is about doing something Immoral or breaking of the moral law. Since childhood he has wished to be a richer, wealthier person. He wanted Daisy because he feel felt that Daisy was an ideal person and he didn't want to have a with Daisy by doing anything wrong became wealthier by breaking the law of moral but he did want Break any moral law to have Daisy so he forced daisy to break her marriage with Tom.

I hope this blog was helpful to you. Thanks for visiting.

[Words- 2200]

Thinking activity on movie screening- Vita and Virginia

VITA AND VIRGINIA
ORLANDO

This blog is written in response to a post-viewing task of a Movie Vita and Virginia in connection to Novel Orlando by Virginia Woolf, given by Vaidehi Ma’am. In this blog I am answering the questions stated by ma’am in her blogs.

Vita and Virginia:

Vita and Virginia is a movie directed by Chanya Button, released in 2018. This movie talks about a Romance between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville. It is a biographical romantic drama adapted from the 1992 play Vita & Virginia by Atkins.

Orlando:

Orlando: A biography is a Biographical novel published in 1928. It is inspired from the life of Vita Sackville Woolf’s lover and a close friend. The book describes the adventures of a protagonist who changes sex from man to woman and lives for around 36 years only but story spans over 300 years.

How far do you feel that Orlando is influenced by Vita and Virginia’s love affair? Does it talk only about that or do you find anything else too?

When we see the relationship between Vita and Virginia we find that it was the time when the relationship between two females or male was not accepted by society. They wanted to change this relationship. It was questioning the gender identity there was no gender as the female and male. Vita and Virginia both are female, both are having their own individual neutral family, they are having their husband which is a normal family, normal relationship according to society. But they both are attracted towards each other and they get into a love affair which is not normal or accepted by the society. There comes a question about gender identity.

I interpret that this same question of gender identity is brought to light in Orlando as we see that In Orlando, protagonist Orlando's gender changes suddenly in the novel. First he is a male living the life of a male and in the other half of the novel he is changed into, he turns into the female gender and very precisely we can see that there is a lot of change by the society towards a female and a male protagonist. very clearly we can see that through the example of writing of the poem The oak tree, when Orlando was the male was writing the poem The oak tree the critics were ready to listen and were ready to write review on his that poem but once he turned into the female Gender and was writing the Oak tree she had to face the problem for its publication and acceptance.

So here looking at the concept of gender identity we can say that Orlando is influenced by Vita and Virginia as a love affair.

Who do you think is confused about their identity Vita or Virginia? Explain with illustrations.

Vita and Virginia both were celebrated female writers, Vita was more popular than Virginia. They both met at a party. Vita and Virginia both had homosexual relationship with each other in the time of 1920s where the sexual relationship of male that is a gay relationship was also a crime and in that period to female had homosexual relationship in a way. It was real daring, Vita and Virginia both were married to a male and had a happy married life.

According to me I feel in both, Vita was more confused about her identity she had various love affairs with various people. We also find in the movie that in the beginning her mother was questioning her or in a way scolding her for being eloped with a man named Violet. Vita was also mother of two children, we also found that her own as husband had other extramarital affairs, Vita already had love affair with Violet, was a wife of a man, was a mother of two children and yet she had homosexual relationship with Virginia and in the movie itself we saw that after Virginia he also her she also had sexual relationship with another lady with whom he entered into the exhibition. Through that we can read that she had various relationships with male and females. She herself was perhaps confused that to whom she was in a relationship a male or a female also she was married and was playing the role of wife in the eyes of society and also she was a mother of two children. through the behavior of Vita we can feel that she herself is confused that what she wants in her personal relationship she wants to have a a ideal family relationship also and wants to have a fantasy homosexual relationship also not only homosexual, she is also having an extramarital affair with a man which clearly suggests that Vita is confused in herself.

What is society’s thought about women and identity? Do you agree with them? If Yes then why? If not then why?

In a view of society it is generally accepted that every woman or a female should play her role genuinely and her own gender roles should be her own priority. Doing something out of the box is not appreciated by society at first. the traditional role of a female is to look after the family, look after the husband and children and to complete the household work and today women are coming out of the traditional home and stepping out of the house for earning money for having her own stability and being independent but still today society expect that it's ok if women is working outside the house but she should look after the family first. If a family is in trouble or has functions, the woman is expected to leave his work and give priority to the house. Even if she is earning, earning turns to be a second priority and it is completely opposite for the man. For men earning is still a first priority and household work or house looking after the home is secondary.

In short, according to me, in the eyes of society women are expected to play their traditional gender roles which is not correct today. The world is advancing, society should widen its view and happily accept and support females working and should help to make a free from traditional roles. Conditioning of the mind should be changed and should be explained that you are also equal to the men and she has all the Independence to do what she wants to.

What are your views on Gender Identity? Would you like to give any message to society?

Gender identity is defined as a personal conception of oneself as male or female (or rarely, both or neither). Gender identity is the major issue in our nation. society is not ready to accept their children or their relatives in any other Gender than male and female. It is necessary to understand for everyone that it is natural and it’s not in their hands. We can understand that it is not easy to accept the truth of transgender but if they are we should support them. today our nation has made a section about its permission and its allowance but still we find that they are there are people who are not ready to accept it or look at the transgender sex with surprise. Being an individual and Society we should support them, accept them and should make them feel that they are one of us, normal people not an exceptional case.

Today much of Attempts are made by literary writers, filmmakers, TV serial makers to open the eyes of the society and to normalize this thing about transgender. we had a TV serial named ‘Shakti' talking about transgenders; serial name the 'Kaisi Yeh Yaariyan' which had a character who was homosexual and was not accepted by her mother. This attempt made by the directors and producers are a good step towards a good Society for such people who are ignored in the society.

Write a note on the direction of the movie. Which symbols and space caught your attention while watching the movie?

In the movie Vita and Virginia we get to see where Virginia is very much in a disturbed and she is running out of the house and lots of black birds are flying over her. She visualizes blackbirds coming towards her and striking her. This scene was a strong scene that attracted my attention and I think it was symbolizing the mental stability of Virginia. it was symbolizing her loneliness and depression. I interpret this scene as showing the mental illness of Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf suicide is considered to be the most artistic suicide. In the movie we find a scene where she is standing near the river bank and looking at the water. I personally feel that scene symbolizes her suicidal thoughts after being tired of her own indecisiveness and mental illness which was also creating troubles for her husband.

In the movie we also have a scene where Virginia and Vita are meeting for the first time and the camera is moving towards the leaves and the plants which are growing faster. It might be symbolizing the growing feelings, attraction between the two, Vita and Virginia.

Vita and Virginia" had to be made into a Bollywood Adaptation, who do you think would be fit for the role of Vita and Virginia?

If Vita and Virginia would be a Bollywood adaptation I would select Priyanka Chopra in the role of Virginia Woolf And Alia Bhatt in the role of Vita Sackville.

Thank you for visiting. I hope this blog was useful to you. Please share your views about gender identity in the comment section.

[words- 1597]

A tale of a tub- Jonathan Swift

A TALE OF A TUB

This blog is a response to the blog task given to us by Vaidehi Haryani ma’am as a classwork. In this blog I am going to explain the symbols used in the prose/ tragedy/ satire/ parody or an allegory ‘ The Tale of a Tub.’

Writer:

'A Tale of a Tub' is written by Johnathan swift. He belonged to the 18th century and was an Anglo- Irish satirist, poet and priest. He was known as a master of satire. Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopedia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry.

Brief Intro:

A tale of a tub was published in 1704, it has too many metaphors and so it becomes one of the masterly works of Swift. A Tale of a Tub might be written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind.

It was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, arguably his most difficult satire and perhaps his most masterly. Through this tale he is trying to point out the flaws in the all three branches of the Christian religion. This Tale’s primary focus is religion. It is a prose Parody (an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect). The tale consists of 'A preface', '11 sections' and 'a Conclusion'.

Plot in brief:

The main plot of A Tale of a Tub concerns three sons who inherit coats from their father with a command never to alter them. In youth, the brothers are committed to obeying their father's dying wish, but fashions change and they begin to feel left behind by polite society. They begin scrutinizing their father's will to see if there can be any justification for altering the coats after all. By twisting his words, they manage to rationalize the addition of decorative knots, then of gold lace, and eventually of numerous other decorations. Each time, they depart further and further from the obvious intent of their father's will, until eventually they are not even pretending to consult it. 

As stated before the ale uses a lot of metaphors. Here father, coats, will, brothers all these are used as a symbol to satire the religious practices of that time. And in this blog I am going to elaborate some of the metaphors used in the tale.

Symbols/ metaphors in the prose are:

Father	God
Three brothers	Three branches of Christainity
Will of the father	Bible
Coats	The religious practices
Tub	Digression
Whale	The one who attacks

Tub and Whale:

The tub- The word tub in the title refers to that sailors used to toss out to distract whales from tipping their ship. Here the ship represents the status of the English government and their religious structure and the whale refers to new ideas and controversies. Generally, when the sailors go for a voyage, it used to happen that whales attack them in the ocean and to safeguard themselves and to distract the whale sailors used to throw tubs in the water so that the whale moves to that direction and the ship remains safe. 

We can interpret this symbol in a way that the authorities always tosses a new topic or throws something in the air or brings out useless news so that the society gets distracted from the real news, the major news which can become a solid question of the working of the authorities. Here the whale symbolism to the public, the society and the tub tossed to district them is fake news. In this situation the Whale can be interpreted as the question raised by the society to the authorities for welfare. We can take a recent example, when the covid- 19 was spreading all around and numbers of cases were emerging in India. Our media was trying to distract people with the news of Sushant Singh Rajput's death making it a controversy of murder or death. This is my interpretation. The questions by people of the nation about the steps taken by authorities to safeguard them from the Covid- 19 virus works as a whale symbol which was ignored and everyone was driven towards a tub.

In the satire the Digression talks on various topics like critics, modernity, madness, readers, soul as well as the literary intentions. The digression is used to distract readers from understanding that the tale talks and criticizes the supreme authorities. So here we clarify the simple word like tub shows us very deep meaning like distraction and symbiosis to the digression used in the prose satire.

Will of the Father:

Will of the father is a symbol of the Bible in this tale. As we saw in the summary this tale is a satire to Christian religious practices. According to the tale the father wrote a will and gave 3 coats to his 3 sons. The will stated that no one among the three brothers can make any changes in the coats; it will bring misfortunes to them.

“Sons, because I have purchased no estate, nor was born to any, I have long considered of some good legacies to bequeath you, and at last, with much care as well as expense, have provided each of you (here they are) a new coat.  Now, you are to understand that these coats have two virtues contained in them; one is, that with good wearing they will last you fresh and sound as long as you live; the other is, that they will grow in the same proportion with your bodies, lengthening and widening of themselves, so as to be always fit.  Here, let me see them on you before I die.  So, very well!  Pray, children, wear them clean and brush them often.  You will find in my will (here it is) full instructions in every particular concerning the wearing and management of your coats, wherein you must be very exact to avoid the penalties I have appointed for every transgression or neglect, upon which your future fortunes will entirely depend.  I have also commanded in my will that you should live together in one house like brethren and friends, for then you will be sure to thrive and not otherwise.”

All three brothers very faithfully followed the will but with time the fashion kept on changing they started getting corrupted from the surrounding influences and started to desire to look better and smart in the coats. Due to their desire they got driven towards making changes in the coats and slowly and steadily they started facing problems in their life. The Misfortunes attacked them. Will told them to stay together as brothers but time imbalance among them separated them.

Here simplifying the will and making changes in them brought misfortunes to brothers. Same way symbolizing the Bible, simplifying the bible and making its rules and regulations comfortable for living divided the Christian society into three divisions, which made them lose their brotherhood. They started fighting among them and this brought misfortune to whole Christian religion.

Coats & Three brother:

The coats are the main and central symbol in this tale. The coats were the only inheritance to three brothers from their father with some rules given to them. In the beginning they stuck to the rules very precisely. But with time with their understanding and facility they simplified the will made changes, alteration in the coats. Soon conflict began in their life. The eldest brother realized that he is right and has not done any harm to the coat as he was earning good in life. Younger two brothers realized their mistake and decided to change the coats by altering how they were looking before. Martin very precisely and safely removed the altering and the things which couldn't be removed without damaging the coat was left as it is. While Jack removed all the altering roughly and damaged the coat.

Here the coats symbolized three different Christian tradition. Peter, who represents Catholicism, sticks to those extravagances and even multiplies them; he deliberately avoids consulting the will to see whether he is going astray. Martin represents Anglican church so his coat represents practices of Anglican church. He did not damage the coat and left it with some changes, which signifies that he changed the rule of the Bible for comfort of the society. While Jack the youngest one symbolized protestant. He damaged his coat in removing altering that signifies that all the rules and regulations of the bible are completely destroyed in the practices of the protestant. And the hate of Jack towards Peter also symbolizes the protest of protestants against Catholic church followers. 

Here I have explained two topics together in two points as they are interlinked with each other. I hope you were able to understand the point easily in this blog. I have also hyperlinked the blog of our faculty  for your better understanding. I am also embedding a summary video from the YouTube so that you can easily catch up with symbols given.

Thank you for visiting. I have purely written my understanding in the elaboration of symbols. If any queries or changes please drop a comment.

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