Moby Dick,Herman Melville

 Introduction :-

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for vengeance against Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg on the ship's previous voyage. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a Great American Novel was established only in the 20th century, after the 1919 centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written".Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.

Melville began writing Moby-Dick in February 1850 and finished 18 months later, a year after he had anticipated. Melville drew on his experience as a common sailor from 1841 to 1844, including on whalers, and on wide reading in whaling literature. The white whale is modelled on a notoriously hard-to-catch albino whale, Mocha Dick, and the book's ending is based on the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God.

The book was first published (in three volumes) as The Whale in London in October 1851, and under its definitive title, Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, in a single-volume edition in New York in November. 

About the Novelist :-

Herman Melville ( August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticised account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival, and Moby-Dick grew to be considered one of the great American novels.Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he travelled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.

Summary of the Novel :-

Moby Dick begins with Ishmael following his impulse to go to sea. He meets Queequeg, and they join the crew of the Pequod together. Once the ship is out to sea, Ahab introduces himself to the crew and declares his mission to kill Moby Dick. He offers a gold doubloon to the first crew member to spot Moby Dick. The voyage begins with several unsuccessful hunts, but they eventually manage to catch and process several whales. Two crew members, Tashteego and Pip, nearly lose their lives. Tashteego falls into a whale's head during processing. He is saved by a quick-thinking Queequeg. Pip, a child, is briefly lost at sea. Both survive, but Pip is traumatized and subsequently takes on a prophetic role. Queequeg falls ill shortly thereafter and asks that a coffin be built for him. He recovers and uses the coffin as storage.

By this point, they have entered the Indian Ocean. A crew member named Fedallah prophesies Ahab's death. The specifics of the prophecy lead Ahab to believe that he will not die at sea. Soon after, the Pequod encounters an electric storm. An electrical charge struck the ship's mast and created a rare phenomenon known as St. Elmo's Fire. The ship was briefly engulfed in an otherworldly glow. Ahab interprets this as a sign that his mission is fated to succeed. Starbuck considers it an ominous sign from God. The Pequod loses its first crew member as the storm subsides, foreshadowing the crew's fate.

Ahab pursues Moby Dick toward the equator. They encounter two ships that have lost crew members in recent battles with the whale. Finally, the crew of the Pequod spots Moby Dick. For three days Ahab and his crew pursue the white whale from their whaleboats. On the first day, Moby Dick attacks and sinks Ahab's whaleboat. On the second day, Fedullah is trapped in the harpoon line attached to Moby Dick. He is pulled overboard and dies. On the final day of the pursuit, Moby Dick rams the Pequod itself, sinking it. Ahab and all his crew, save one, go down with the ship. Ishmael alone survives, using Queequeg's coffin as a lifeboat.

Characters in Moby Dick :-

Moby Dick is an epic novel with an extensive list of characters. The following characters are those most central to the plot.

• Ishmael

Ishmael is the first-person narrator of Moby Dick. The novel famously begins with his statement, ''Call me Ishmael.'' He joins the crew of the Pequod because he is seeking both adventure and emotional relief.

''Ishmael explains, 'Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily passing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet. . .then, I find it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball.' ''

Ishmael shares Ahab's fascination with Moby Dick, but does not share the captain's disdain for the white whale. Ishmael's character serves as a foil to Captain Ahab. Ishmael is a philosopher at heart. His worldview is always adapting as he takes in new information and experiences.

Ishmael is one of several characters in Moby Dick whose name has biblical significance. The biblical Ishmael was rejected by his father in favor of his younger brother. Similarly, Melville's Ishmael considers himself an outcast. The biblical Ishmael is banished to the desert. Melville's Ishmael voluntarily turns to the sea as a balm.

• Queegueg

Queequeg is a harpooner aboard the Pequod. He is a prince from a fictional island in the South Pacific. His tribe practices cannibalism. Queequeg joins the crew at the same time as Ishmael, and they become friends. He is loyal, generous, and brave.

Queequeg embodies many racist stereotypes. His culture is an amalgam of cultural generalities and stereotypes. Some interpretations posit that this collection of cultures personified demonstrates a theme of humanity's universality. Perhaps this was Melville's intention. Either way, Queequeg is presented as a noble savage, and Ishmael is depicted as enlightened for learning to see Queequeg's humanity.

After a serious illness at sea, Queequeg builds himself a coffin in the shape of a canoe. He is motivated to do so because he feels he is near death, even after he fully recovers. Queequeg believes that a person decides when they will die. In this way, he exemplifies the theme of free will in Moby Dick. He imagines the coffin as a fusion of a Christian coffin, and the canoes his tribe builds to send their dead out to sea. In the end, Queequeg's empty coffin serves as a life raft for Ishmael.

• Captain Ahab

It is in Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick that Melville's theme of man vs. nature is depicted. Melville writes Ahab with a fatal flaw, which is his obsession with killing Moby Dick. Ahab is neither a terrible person nor a terrible captain aside from this flaw, which drives him to pursue Moby Dick to spite intensifying risk. His arrogance infuses him with the belief that he can conquer nature in the form of the white whale.

''What I've dared, I've willed; and what I've willed, I'll do! They think me mad-Starbuck does; but I'm demoniac! I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calmed to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and-Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer.''

Captain Ahab's hatred of Moby Dick originated with a prior failed pursuit in which Moby Dick escaped after taking Ahab's leg. Since that time, Ahab has single-mindedly hunted it to the far reaches of the sea. Although the symbolic interpretation of the whale is thematically subjective, Captain Ahab definitively sees the whale as the embodiment of evil.

• Moby Dick

Moby Dick's behavior within the novel is consistent with a wild animal's. He acts out of an instinct to survive; however, Captain Ahab infuses those actions with nefarious intent. He creates a mythology around the whale that colors the way the crew views Moby Dick as well.

In the white whale, Melville manifests an idea that allows for multiple interpretations. For Ahab, Moby Dick is evil embodied, but Melville's story allows for the whale to simultaneously symbolize God, fate, the natural world, the unknown, America, and the universe in its entirety. Moby Dick exists as a symbol around which Melville's themes develop.

• Starbuck

Starbuck is the first mate on the Pequod. He is stoic and religious. He turns to his Christian faith for guidance. He puts his faith in God and believes that his fate is God's will. He shares Queequeg's and Ishmael's concern about Captain Ahab's maniacal obsession. Starbuck even considers killing Ahab to stop his relentless quest, although he does not.

Themes of the Novel :-

• The Limits of Knowledge

As Ishmael tries, in the opening pages of Moby-Dick, to offer a simple collection of literary excerpts mentioning whales, he discovers that, throughout history, the whale has taken on an incredible multiplicity of meanings. Over the course of the novel, he makes use of nearly every discipline known to man in his attempts to understand the essential nature of the whale. Each of these systems of knowledge, however, including art, taxonomy, and phrenology, fails to give an adequate account. The multiplicity of approaches that Ishmael takes, coupled with his compulsive need to assert his authority as a narrator and the frequent references to the limits of observation (men cannot see the depths of the ocean, for example), suggest that human knowledge is always limited and insufficient. When it comes to Moby Dick himself, this limitation takes on allegorical significance. The ways of Moby Dick, like those of the Christian God, are unknowable to man, and thus trying to interpret them, as Ahab does, is inevitably futile and often fatal.

• The Deceptiveness of Fate

In addition to highlighting many portentous or foreshadowing events, Ishmael’s narrative contains many references to fate, creating the impression that the Pequod’s doom is inevitable. Many of the sailors believe in prophecies, and some even claim the ability to foretell the future. A number of things suggest, however, that characters are actually deluding themselves when they think that they see the work of fate and that fate either doesn’t exist or is one of the many forces about which human beings can have no distinct knowledge. Ahab, for example, clearly exploits the sailors’ belief in fate to manipulate them into thinking that the quest for Moby Dick is their common destiny. Moreover, the prophesies of Fedallah and others seem to be undercut in Chapter 99, when various individuals interpret the doubloon in different ways, demonstrating that humans project what they want to see when they try to interpret signs and portents.

R.L. Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

 Introduction :-

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old friend Dr. Henry Jekyll and a murderous criminal named Edward Hyde.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the most famous pieces of English literature, and is considered to be a defining book of the gothic horror genre. The novella has also had a sizable impact on popular culture, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" being used in vernacular to refer to people with an outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil nature.

About the Writer :- 

Robert Louis Stevenson (born 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child's Garden of Verses.Stevenson's critical reputation has fluctuated since his death, though today his works are held in general acclaim. In 2018, he was ranked, just behind Charles Dickens, as the 26th-most-translated author in the world.

Summary of the Novel :-

Every Sunday, Mr. Utterson, a prominent London lawyer, and his distant kinsman, Mr. Richard Enfield, take a stroll through the city of London. Even though to a stranger's eyes, these two gentlemen seem to be complete opposites, both look forward to, and enjoy, their weekly stroll with one another.

One Sunday, they pass a certain house with a door unlike those in the rest of the neighborhood. The door reminds Mr. Enfield of a previous incident in which he witnessed an extremely unpleasant man trampling upon a small, screaming girl while the strange man was in flight from something, or to somewhere. The screams from the small girl brought a large crowd, and various bystanders became incensed with the indifference of the stranger, whose name they discovered to be Mr. Edward Hyde. Enfield can recall the man only with extreme distaste and utter revulsion. The crowd forced the man to make retribution in the form of money, and they were all surprised when he returned from inside the "strange door" with ten pounds in gold and a check for ninety pounds. They held him until the banks opened to make certain that the check was valid because it was signed by the well-known Dr. Henry Jekyll, and they suspected that it was a forgery. To their amazement, the check was valid.

That evening, in his apartment, Mr. Utterson has further reason to be interested in Mr. Hyde because Dr. Jekyll's will has an unusual clause that stipulates that Edward Hyde is to be the sole beneficiary of all of Jekyll's wealth and property. Utterson goes, therefore, to visit an old friend, Dr. Lanyon, who tells him that some ten years ago, he and Dr. Jekyll became estranged because of a professional matter. Utterson decides to seek out Hyde, and he posts himself as a sentinel outside the mysterious door previously mentioned by Enfield. After some time, Utterson encounters the man Hyde entering the door, and he initiates a conversation with him. Hyde suddenly becomes highly suspicious of Utterson's interest in him and quickly retreats inside the door. Utterson walks around the block and knocks at the front door of Dr. Jekyll's house. Upon questioning the butler, Poole, Utterson discovers that Edward Hyde has complete access to Jekyll's house.

About a fortnight later, Utterson is invited to one of Jekyll's dinner parties and remains after the other guests have left so that he can question Jekyll about his will and about his beneficiary, Edward Hyde. Jekyll is unhappy discussing Edward Hyde and insists that his wishes — that Mr. Hyde be the recipient of his property — be honored.

About a year later, an upstairs maid witnesses the vicious murder of a kindly and distinguished old gentleman, the prominent Sir Danvers Carew, M.P. (Member of Parliament). But the assailant escapes before he can be apprehended. The maid, however, is able to positively identify the murderer as Edward Hyde. Mr. Utterson and the police go to Hyde's apartment, but the housekeeper informs them that he is gone. When Utterson confronts Jekyll about the whereabouts of Hyde, Jekyll shows the lawyer a letter which Hyde wrote saying that he was disappearing forever. Jekyll maintains that he himself is completely through with him.

After the disappearance of Hyde, Jekyll comes out of his seclusion and begins a new life, for a time. But at about the same time, Utterson is dining with his friend, Dr. Lanyon, and he notes that Dr. Lanyon seems to be on the verge of a complete physical collapse; Lanyon dies three weeks later. Among his papers is an envelope addressed to Utterson, and inside is an inner envelope, sealed with instructions that this envelope should not be opened until after Jekyll's death or disappearance. Utterson strongly feels that the contents of the envelope contain information about Edward Hyde.

On another Sunday walk, Utterson and Enfield pass along the street where Enfield saw Hyde trampling on the young girl. They step around the corner into the courtyard and see Dr. Jekyll in an upstairs window. Utterson invites Jekyll to accompany them on a walk, but suddenly Jekyll's face is covered with abject terror and, after a grimace of horrible pain, he suddenly closes the window and disappears. Utterson and Enfield are horrified by what they have seen.

Some time later, Utterson receives a visit from Poole, Dr. Jekyll's man servant. Poole suspects that foul play is associated with his employer; Dr. Jekyll, he says, has confined himself to his laboratory for over a week, has ordered all of his meals to be sent in, and has sent Poole on frantic searches to various chemists for a mysterious drug. Poole is now convinced that his employer has been murdered and that the murderer is still hiding in Jekyll's laboratory.

Utterson is sufficiently convinced that he returns to Jekyll's house, where he and Poole break into the laboratory. There, they discover that the mysterious figure in the laboratory has just committed suicide by drinking a vial of poison. The body is that of Edward Hyde. They search the entire building for signs of Jekyll and can find nothing, except a note addressed to Utterson.

The note informs Utterson that he should go home and read, first, the letter from Dr. Lanyon and then the enclosed document, which is the "confession" of Dr. Henry Jekyll.

Dr. Lanyon's narrative reveals that Dr. Jekyll had written to him, in the name of their old friendship, and had requested him to follow precise instructions: go to Jekyll's laboratory, secure certain items, bring them back to his house, and at twelve o'clock that night, a person whom Lanyon would not recognize would call for these things. Lanyon writes that he followed the instructions precisely and at exactly twelve o'clock, a horribly disagreeable, misbegotten "creature" appeared at the laboratory to claim the items for Dr. Jekyll. Before leaving, he asked for a "graduated glass," proceeded to mix the powders and liquids, and then drank the potion. To Dr. Lanyon's horror, the figure transformed before his eyes into that of Dr. Henry Jekyll. Lanyon closes his letter by pointing out that the man who stepped into the house that night to claim Jekyll's items was the man known as Edward Hyde.

The final Chapter gives a fully detailed narration of Dr. Jekyll's double life. Jekyll had been born wealthy and had grown up handsome, honorable, and distinguished, and yet, he committed secret acts of which he was thoroughly ashamed; intellectually, he evaluated the differences between his private life and his public life and, ultimately, he became obsessed with the idea that at least two different entities, or perhaps even more, occupy a person's body. His reflections and his scientific knowledge led him to contemplate the possibility of scientifically isolating these two separate components. With this in mind, he began to experiment with various chemical combinations. Having ultimately compounded a certain mixture, he then drank it, and his body, under great pain, was transformed into an ugly, repugnant, repulsive "being," representing the "pure evil" that existed within him. Afterward, by drinking the same potion, he could then be transformed back into his original self.

His evil self became Edward Hyde, and in this disguise, he was able to practice whatever shameful depravities he wished, without feeling the shame that Dr. Jekyll would feel. Recognizing his two "selves," Jekyll felt the need of providing for, and protecting, Edward Hyde. Therefore, he furnished a house in Soho, hired a discreet and unscrupulous housekeeper, and announced to his servants that Mr. Hyde was to have full access and liberty of Jekyll's residence and, finally, he drew up a will leaving all of his inheritance to Edward Hyde. Thus, this double life continued until the murder of Sir Danvers Carew by Edward Hyde.

This horrible revelation caused Jekyll to make a serious attempt to cast off his evil side — that is, Edward Hyde — and for some time, he sought out the companionship of his old friends. However, the Edward Hyde side of his nature kept struggling to be recognized, and one sunny day while sitting in Regent's Park, he was suddenly transformed into Edward Hyde. It was at this time that he sought the help of his friend Dr. Lanyon. He hid in a hotel and wrote a letter asking Dr. Lanyon to go to the laboratory in his house and fetch certain drugs to Lanyon's house. There, Hyde drank the potion described in Lanyon's letter. The drug caused him to change to Dr. Jekyll, while Dr. Lanyon watched the transformation in utter horror.

After awhile, Edward Hyde almost totally occupied Jekyll's nature, and the original drug was no longer effective to return Hyde to Jekyll. After having Poole search throughout London for the necessary "powder," Jekyll realized that his original compound must have possessed some impurity which cannot now be duplicated. In despair at being forced to live the rest of his life as Hyde, he commits suicide at the moment that Utterson and Poole are breaking down the laboratory door.

 Themes of the Novel :-

• The Duality of Human Nature

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centres upon a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde relationship is revealed. Therefore, we confront the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll. The text not only posits the duality of human nature as its central theme but forces us to ponder the properties of this duality and to consider each of the novel’s episodes as we weigh various theories.

Jekyll asserts that “man is not truly one, but truly two,” and he imagines the human soul as the battleground for an “angel” and a “fiend,” each struggling for mastery. But his potion, which he hoped would separate and purify each element, succeeds only in bringing the dark side into being—Hyde emerges, but he has no angelic counterpart. Once unleashed, Hyde slowly takes over, until Jekyll ceases to exist. If man is half angel and half fiend, one wonders what happens to the “angel” at the end of the novel.

Perhaps the angel gives way permanently to Jekyll’s devil. Or perhaps Jekyll is simply mistaken: man is not “truly two” but is first and foremost the primitive creature embodied in Hyde, brought under tentative control by civilization, law, and conscience. According to this theory, the potion simply strips away the civilised veneer, exposing man’s essential nature. Certainly, the novel goes out of its way to paint Hyde as animalistic—he is hairy and ugly; he conducts himself according to instinct rather than reason; Utterson describes him as a “troglodyte,” or primitive creature.

Yet if Hyde were just an animal, we would not expect him to take such delight in crime. Indeed, he seems to commit violent acts against innocents for no reason except the joy of it—something that no animal would do. He appears deliberately and happily immoral rather than amoral; he knows the moral law and basks in his breach of it. For an animalistic creature, furthermore, Hyde seems oddly at home in the urban landscape. All of these observations imply that perhaps civilization, too, has its dark side.

Ultimately, while Stevenson clearly asserts human nature as possessing two aspects, he leaves open the question of what these aspects constitute. Perhaps they consist of evil and virtue; perhaps they represent one’s inner animal and the veneer that civilization has imposed. Stevenson enhances the richness of the novel by leaving us to look within ourselves to find the answers.

• The Temptation of Curiosity

Throughout the course of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, many characters face the choice to either adhere to the socially-approved constructs of dignity and reason or succumb to the temptation of curiosity. The “curiosities” featured in the novella range from an interest in mysticism and the supernatural to unexplored behaviours, both of which present a direct challenge to the Victorian ethics that serve as the narrative’s backdrop. This rigid moral code, which emphasises the importance of a respectable public identity, personal repression, and preserving order, heightens the degree of temptation that an exploration of the unknown can invite. The notion of temptation itself even goes against Victorian sensibilities as it involves giving in to some form of internal desire. As a result, the temptation of curiosity poses a significant threat to the stability of the novella’s world.

The most obvious example of this theme is Jekyll’s desire and ability to create Hyde. In this scenario, Jekyll succumbs to two different temptations, one being a longing to act on his suppressed, morally-questionable thoughts and the other being his scientific curiosity. Both of these interests lead to his creation of Hyde, and although this development satisfies him for a time, Hyde ultimately becomes Jekyll’s fatal flaw. This outcome seems to suggest that while there are possibilities beyond the limited world-view that Victorian London embraces, pursuing those possibilities can be dangerous and destructive. The horrific outcome of Jekyll’s experiments reflects the era’s anxieties about the emergence of new forms of science and new ways of thinking. 

Although their close adherence to Victorian values influences their behaviour, Mr. Utterson and Dr. Lanyon also face the temptations of curiosity, and Stevenson’s primary focus on their perspectives creates a similar experience for the reader as well. Mr. Utterson continually attempts to offer to others logical explanations for the strange circumstances surrounding Jekyll, but privately, he allows his imagination to take over. He has nightmares, for example, about what Hyde might do after Mr. Enfield tells him the story of Hyde and the little girl. Similarly, Dr. Lanyon strictly adheres to known, material sciences but lets his curiosity get the best of him when he stays to watch Hyde transform back into Jekyll, a choice which leads to his death. These private submissions to the temptation of curiosity reveal that even those who appear to uphold Victorian ethics cannot fully resist the draw of the unknown. This concept is one that Stevenson ultimately creates for the reader as they make their way through the text. Telling the story from a third person limited point of view works to build suspense and intrigue, the reader’s curiosity finally satisfied when they reach the novella’s end. Stevenson ultimately seems to invite questions regarding the value of curiosity.

• The Importance of Reputation

For the characters in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, preserving one’s reputation emerges as all important. The prevalence of this value system is evident in the way that upright men such as Utterson and Enfield avoid gossip at all costs; they see gossip as a great destroyer of reputation. Similarly, when Utterson suspects Jekyll first of being blackmailed and then of sheltering Hyde from the police, he does not make his suspicions known; part of being Jekyll’s good friend is a willingness to keep his secrets and not ruin his respectability. The importance of reputation in the novel also reflects the importance of appearances, facades, and surfaces, which often hide a sordid underside. In many instances in the novel, Utterson, true to his Victorian society, adamantly wishes not only to preserve Jekyll’s reputation but also to preserve the appearance of order and decorum, even as he senses a vile truth lurking underneath.

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

 Introduction :-

Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river on which most of the narrative takes place, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and economically important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is given a text by Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition.

Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between "civilised people" and "savages." Heart of Darkness implicitly comments on imperialism and racism. The novella's setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his fascination for the prolific ivory trader Kurtz. Conrad draws parallels between London ("the greatest town on earth") and Africa as places of darkness.

Originally issued as a three-part serial story in Blackwood's Magazine to celebrate the 1000th edition of the magazine, Heart of Darkness has been widely republished and translated in many languages. It provided the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness 67th on their list of the 100 best novels in English of the 20th century.

About the Novelist :-

Joseph Conrad ( 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he came to be regarded a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. He wrote novels and stories, many in nautical settings, that depict crises of human individuality in the midst of what he saw as an indifferent, inscrutable and amoral world.

Conrad is considered a literary impressionist by some and an early modernist by others, though his works also contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters, as in Lord Jim, for example, have influenced numerous authors. Many dramatic films have been adapted from and inspired by his works. Numerous writers and critics have commented that his fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.

Notable works :-

• The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897)

• Heart of Darkness (1899)

• Lord Jim (1900)

• Typhoon (1902)

• Nostromo (1904)

• The Secret Agent (1907)

• Under Western Eyes (1911)

Summary of the Novel :-

The Narrator describes a night spent on a ship in the mouth of the Thames River in England. Marlow, one of the men on board, tells of his time spent as a riverboat pilot in the Belgian Congo.

With the help of his well-connected aunt, Marlow gets a job as pilot on a steamship on the Congo River in Africa for a European business outfit called the Company. First he travels to the European city he describes as a "whited sepulcher" to visit the Company headquarters, and then to Africa and up the Congo to assume command of his ship. The Company headquarters is strangely ominous, and on his voyage to Africa he witnesses waste, incompetence, negligence, and brutality so extreme that it would be absurd if it weren't so awful. In particular, he sees a French warship firing into a forest for no discernible reason and comes upon a grove where exploited black laborers wander off to die. While at the Company's Outer Station, Marlow meets the Company's Chief Accountant. He mentions a remarkable man named Kurtz, who runs the Company's Inner Station deep in the jungle.

Marlow hikes from the Outer Station to the Central Station, where he discovers that the steamship he's supposed to pilot recently sank in an accident. In the three months it takes Marlow to repair the ship, he learns that Kurtz is a man of impressive abilities and enlightened morals, and is marked for rapid advancement in the Company. He learns also that the General Manager who runs Central Station and his crony the Brickmaker fear Kurtz as a threat to their positions. Marlow finds himself almost obsessed with meeting Kurtz, who is also rumored to be sick.

Marlow finally gets the ship fixed and sets off upriver with the General Manager and a number of company agents Marlow calls Pilgrims because the staffs they carry resemble the staffs of religious pilgrims. The trip is long and difficult: native drums beat through the night and snags in the river and blinding fogs delay them. Just before they reach Inner Station the steamship is attacked by natives. Marlow's helmsman, a native trained to steer the ship, is killed by a spear.

At Inner Station, a Russian trader meets them on the shore. He tells them that Kurtz is alive but ill. As the General Manager goes to get Kurtz, Marlow talks to the Russian trader and realizes that Kurtz has made himself into a brutal and vicious god to the natives. When the General Manager and his men bring Kurtz out from the station house on a stretcher, the natives, including a woman who seems to be Kurtz's mistress, appear ready to riot. But Kurtz calms them and they melt back into the forest.

The Russian sees that the General Manager has it in for him, and slips off into the jungle, but not before telling Marlow that Kurtz ordered the attack on the steamship. That night, Marlow discovers Kurtz crawling toward the native camp. Marlow persuades Kurtz to return to the ship by telling him he will be “utterly lost" if he causes the natives to attack. The steamer sets off the next day. But Kurtz is too ill to survive the journey, and gives his papers to Marlow for safekeeping. His dying words are: "The horror! The horror!" Marlow believes Kurtz is judging himself and the world.

Marlow also falls ill, but survives. He returns to the sepulchral city in Europe and gives Kurtz's papers to the relevant people. The last person he visits is Kurtz's Intended (his fiancé). She believes Kurtz is a great man, both talented and moral, and asks Marlow to tell her Kurtz's last words. Marlow can't find it in himself to destroy her beautiful delusions: he says Kurtz's last words were her name.

On the ship in the Thames, Marlow falls silent, and as the Narrator stares out from the ship it seems to him that the Thames leads “into the heart of an immense darkness."

Themes of the Novel :-

IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM

Imperialism and colonialism are recurrent themes throughout the entire text. Marlow and Kurtz are both parts of an imperial machine, helping to extract the wealth of a distant African country in the name of profit. The novel’s approach to these themes can be complicated. From their positions within the imperial context, both men struggle to find the points at which their involvement begins and ends. Marlow seems to veer between offering acute criticisms of the imperial structure and being entirely complicit in its actions. His journey along the river presents him with scenes of violence, torture, and slavery. This is entirely unilateral; Europeans beat, imprison, and force Africans into labor. 

On one hand, by presenting these scenes in their full horror, the novel provides necessary examples ready for critique and rarely flinches from the violence endured by the enslaved. On the other hand, Marlow seems to agree with the majority of the Company’s ideologies; he simply disagrees with the praxis and the extremity. He works for the Company, he takes their money, and he achieved his position not through skill and hard work but through nepotism.

Conclusion :-

At the conclusion of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow lies about the dying words of the grieving fiancée's villainous lover, Kurtz. He relates what her tearful questioning shows him she longs to hear, acting from fear of destroying her faith in Kurtz's love for her.

Animal Farm George Orwell

 INTRODUCTION :-

Animal Farm is a beast fable,in the form of a satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before.

ABOUT THE Novelist :-

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic.[1] His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.[2]

Orwell produced literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He is known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

Summary of the Novel :-

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals — inspired by his philosophy of Animalism — plot a rebellion against Jones. Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall.

Initially, the rebellion is a success: The animals complete the harvest and meet every Sunday to debate farm policy. The pigs, because of their intelligence, become the supervisors of the farm. Napoleon, however, proves to be a power-hungry leader who steals the cows' milk and a number of apples to feed himself and the other pigs. He also enlists the services of Squealer, a pig with the ability to persuade the other animals that the pigs are always moral and correct in their decisions.

Later that fall, Jones and his men return to Animal Farm and attempt to retake it. Thanks to the tactics of Snowball, the animals defeat Jones in what thereafter becomes known as The Battle of the Cowshed. Winter arrives, and Mollie, a vain horse concerned only with ribbons and sugar, is lured off the farm by another human. Snowball begins drawing plans for a windmill, which will provide electricity and thereby give the animals more leisure time, but Napoleon vehemently opposes such a plan on the grounds that building the windmill will allow them less time for producing food. On the Sunday that the pigs offer the windmill to the animals for a vote, Napoleon summons a pack of ferocious dogs, who chase Snowball off the farm forever. Napoleon announces that there will be no further debates; he also tells them that the windmill will be built after all and lies that it was his own idea, stolen by Snowball. For the rest of the novel, Napoleon uses Snowball as a scapegoat on whom he blames all of the animals' hardships.

Much of the next year is spent building the windmill. Boxer, an incredibly strong horse, proves himself to be the most valuable animal in this endeavor. Jones, meanwhile, forsakes the farm and moves to another part of the county. Contrary to the principles of Animalism, Napoleon hires a solicitor and begins trading with neighboring farms. When a storm topples the half-finished windmill, Napoleon predictably blames Snowball and orders the animals to begin rebuilding it.

Napoleon's lust for power increases to the point where he becomes a totalitarian dictator, forcing "confessions" from innocent animals and having the dogs kill them in front of the entire farm. He and the pigs move into Jones' house and begin sleeping in beds (which Squealer excuses with his brand of twisted logic). The animals receive less and less food, while the pigs grow fatter. After the windmill is completed in August, Napoleon sells a pile of timber to Jones; Frederick, a neighboring farmer who pays for it with forged banknotes. Frederick and his men attack the farm and explode the windmill but are eventually defeated. As more of the Seven Commandments of Animalism are broken by the pigs, the language of the Commandments is revised: For example, after the pigs become drunk one night, the Commandment, "No animals shall drink alcohol" is changed to, "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess."

Boxer again offers his strength to help build a new windmill, but when he collapses, exhausted, Napoleon sells the devoted horse to a knacker (a glue-boiler). Squealer tells the indignant animals that Boxer was actually taken to a veterinarian and died a peaceful death in a hospital — a tale the animals believe.

Years pass and Animal Farm expands its boundaries after Napoleon purchases two fields from another neighboring farmer, Pilkington. Life for all the animals (except the pigs) is harsh. Eventually, the pigs begin walking on their hind legs and take on many other qualities of their former human oppressors. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single law: "All Animals Are Equal / But Some Are More Equal Than Others." The novel ends with Pilkington sharing drinks with the pigs in Jones' house. Napoleon changes the name of the farm back to Manor Farm and quarrels with Pilkington during a card game in which both of them try to play the ace of spades. As other animals watch the scene from outside the window, they cannot tell the pigs from the humans.

Characters of the Novel :-

• Napoleon

The pig who emerges as the leader of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. Based on Joseph Stalin, Napoleon uses military force (his nine loyal attack dogs) to intimidate the other animals and consolidate his power. In his supreme craftiness, Napoleon proves more treacherous than his counterpart, Snowball.

• Snowball

The pig who challenges Napoleon for control of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. Based on Leon Trotsky, Snowball is intelligent, passionate, eloquent, and less subtle and devious than his counterpart, Napoleon. Snowball seems to win the loyalty of the other animals and cement his power.

• Boxer

The cart-horse whose incredible strength, dedication, and loyalty play a key role in the early prosperity of Animal Farm and the later completion of the windmill. Quick to help but rather slow-witted, Boxer shows much devotion to Animal Farm’s ideals but little ability to think about them independently. He naïvely trusts the pigs to make all his decisions for him. His two mottoes are “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right.”

• Squealer

The pig who spreads Napoleon’s propaganda among the other animals. Squealer justifies the pigs’ monopolisation of resources and spreads false statistics pointing to the farm’s success. Orwell uses Squealer to explore the ways in which those in power often use rhetoric and language to twist the truth and gain and maintain social and political control.

• Old Major

The prize-winning boar whose vision of a socialist utopia serves as the inspiration for the Rebellion. Three days after describing the vision and teaching the animals the song “Beasts of England,” Major dies, leaving Snowball and Napoleon to struggle for control of his legacy. Orwell based Major on both the German political economist Karl Marx and the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilych Lenin.

• Clover

A good-hearted female cart-horse and Boxer’s close friend. Clover often suspects the pigs of violating one or another of the Seven Commandments, but she repeatedly blames herself for misremembering the commandments.

• Moses

The tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the paradise to which animals supposedly go when they die. Moses plays only a small role in Animal Farm, but Orwell uses him to explore how communism exploits religion as something with which to pacify the oppressed.

• Mollie

The vain, flighty mare who pulls Mr. Jones’s carriage. Mollie craves the attention of human beings and loves being groomed and pampered. She has a difficult time with her new life on Animal Farm, as she misses wearing ribbons in her mane and eating sugar cubes. She represents the petit bourgeoisie that fled from Russia a few years after the Russian Revolution.

Massage of the Novel :-

Malicious groups of people, like the pigs, will continue to use propaganda to usurp power, to exploit the vulnerable, and to control the masses, unless courageous individuals spread the truth and stand up for those who cannot fight for themselves.

Conclusion :-

At the end of Animal Farm, Pilkington and other human farmers come to eat dinner with the pigs at the farmhouse. As the other animals watch through the window, they find they are unable to tell pigs and humans apart. The pigs have started to dress and behave exactly like humans.

The Namesake,Jhumpa Lahiri

 Introduction :-

The Namesake (2003) is the debut novel by American author Jhumpa Lahiri. It was originally published in The New Yorker and was later expanded to a full-length novel. It explores many of the same emotional and cultural themes as Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. The novel moves between events in Calcutta, Boston, and New York City, and examines the nuances involved with being caught between two conflicting cultures with distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.

About the Writer :-

Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri (born July 11, 1967) is an American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays in English; and more recently, in Italian.

Her debut collection of short-stories Interpreter of Maladies (1999) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and her first novel, The Namesake (2003), was adapted into the popular film of the same name.

The Namesake was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and was made into a major motion picture.

In 2014, Lahiri was awarded the National Humanities Medal. She was a professor of creative writing at Princeton University from 2015 to 2022.In 2022, she became the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at her alma mater, Barnard College of Columbia University.

Summary of the Novel :-

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake tells the story of the Gangulis, a Bengali American family grappling with love, loss, and identity in the final thirty years of the 20th Century.

When Ashoke Ganguli survives a catastrophic train accident in India thanks to a book of short stories written by Nikolai Gogol, he decides to move to America. Shortly after the move, he enters an arranged marriage with Ashima, and they give birth to a son. A twist of fate keeps them from naming the boy according to Bengali traditions, so they give him the name “Gogol” instead. As he grows, Gogol comes to hate his name and decides to change it, hoping to leave both his former name and his Bengali heritage behind. Now as “Nikhil,” he begins dating a woman named Maxine, living with her family and adopting their culture while ignoring his own. However, Gogol is pulled back to his Bengali heritage after his father dies of a heart attack. Gogol then marries a fellow Bengali American named Moushumi. Their marriage lasts only a few years before Moushumi, also rebelling against her Bengali heritage, has an affair with a white man. This final loss forces Gogol to come to grips not only with his multiple names but also with his multiple identities.

Characters of the Novel :-

1. Gogol (Nikhil) Ganguli

The novel’s primary protagonist. Gogol is an obedient, inquisitive, and sensitive child, close to his parents and sister. The novel tracks Gogol’s growth from child into young man. This growth includes changing his name, to Nikhil, and the gradual discovery of architecture as a career. Gogol navigates, over time, his relationship to his parents’ identity, as Bengalis in America. He also tries to forge his own identity, as a Bengali-American child born in the US. At the close of the novel, Gogol begins reading Nikolai Gogol, his namesake, as a way of getting closer to his deceased father, who adored the writer.

2. Ashima Ganguli

Another of the novel’s protagonists. Ashima, at the beginning of the novel, does not make choices so much as she accepts the choices of others. Her parents arrange her marriage to Ashoke, and out of duty she follows him to cold, desolate-seeming Boston. She grows to love her husband, and, later, her son Gogol and daughter Sonia. But for years, Ashima misses her family in Calcutta and yearns desperately for her old life there. Only after many years, and following her husband’s death while away in Ohio, does Ashima realise that the Boston area is her home, and that she is surrounded by friends and a surrogate family there.

3. Ashoke Ganguli

The third of the novel’s protagonists. Ashoke is a quiet, sensitive man, and although the narrator does not have access to many of his thoughts, he is nevertheless devoted to his wife and children. Ashoke is also deeply affected by the train accident that nearly killed him in his youth. He gives his son the name Gogol as an acknowledgment of what that writer means to him. Nikolai Gogol and the other Russian writers are also emblems of “foreignness,” of a life lived in exile. This is the life Ashoke has chosen for himself, as a PhD student and then professor in the US, far from his family in Calcutta. Ashoke chose to set out for himself, in a place of his choosing, after the train accident solidified his resolve to see the world.

4. Sonia Ganguli

The fourth member of the Ganguli family in Boston. Although the reader very rarely has access to Sonia’s thoughts, she is a constant, calming presence for the family. She goes to school and lives for a time in California, but after Ashoke’s death, Sonia returns to the Boston area, where she practices law and becomes engaged to a man named Ben. Sonia is a steadying presence for Ashima after Ashoke’s passing.

5. Moushumi

Gogol’s wife. Moushumi knew Gogol when he was a young boy, and the two are set up on a blind date, in New York, by their parents. Moushumi is a graduate student in French literature and adores Paris. She also adores, in part, the cosmopolitan life she lived there, with a banker named Graham, who left her and broke her heart. Moushumi marries Gogol but, after a time, becomes restless in the marriage, and enjoys more and more the company of her intellectual friends. Moushumi begins an affair with Dimitri, an old acquaintance, and later she and Gogol divorce. Moushumi’s point of view is included, though not frequently, in the novel. We learn, for example, of the dissolution of Moushumi’s first engagement, to the American banker, via access to her own thoughts, although the narrator retains the third person in these sections.

6. Maxine Ratliff

Gogol’s second serious girlfriend. Maxine and Gogol meet in New York, at a party. Maxine represents, for Gogol, a life very different from his own. She lives with her parents downtown, in a beautiful townhouse, and shares their intellectual, cosmopolitan life. Maxine does not always understand Gogol’s family’s traditions, but she tries to, and seems to care genuinely for him. After Ashoke’s death, Gogol pulls away from Maxine, leaving her out of the mourning ceremonies. They soon separate.

7. Ruth

Nikhil’s first serious girlfriend. Gogol and Ruth meet on the train, from New Haven to Boston, heading back to their respective homes for a Thanksgiving break in college. They both attend Yale. They fall in love and spend about a year together, but Ruth then goes away to Oxford to study for a semester. After this, their relationship becomes strained, and they part.

Themes of the Novel :-

• The Indian Immigrant Experience

The experiences of the Ganguli family in America—a country that for some of them is an intensely foreign environment—offer a glimpse of life as an Indian immigrant to the United States. What is familiar for most readers in America is deeply unfamiliar to Ashoke and Ashima, who therefore provide a unique perspective on seemingly everyday things within American society. 

• Family, Tradition, and Ritual

The importance of family in The Namesake cannot be overstated. The novel is centered around the Ganguli family, and the ways in which two very different generations interact with one another.For Ashoke and Ashima, the concept of a family life is inherited directly from their background in India, where entire families share the same home for generations, are deeply invested in one another’s lives.

• Independence, Rebellion, and Growing Up

Gogol’s struggle for independence from the family that he sometimes finds embarrassing is a major feature of the novel. The Namesake fits some definitions of a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age novel, with Gogol as the protagonist who grows up over the course of the story.

Conclusion :-

To sum up, Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake tells the story of the Ganguli family, which includes Ashima, Ashoke, Gogol, and Sonia. Most of the novel centres on Gogol and his life as he tries to come to terms with his identity. For most of his childhood and adolescence, he struggles with accepting his name.

 Gogol engages in a constant struggle to remain loyal to both worlds. Hence, the major theme portrayed in the novel is one of identity. This them is illustrated vividly by examining the importance of one's culture and background, gender, and name as the definition of patriarchal lineage and destiny in life.