The Language of African Literature - Ngugi Wa Thiong’O

Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Pic:businesstoday.co.ke) 

The Language of African Literature 

Ngugi Wa Thiong’O says that he was born into a large family of a farmer. The community was like an extended family. He spoke his native language Gikuyu. Children listened to stories and retold the same to others. People who could make their stories alive and dramatic by using words and images were good storytellers. They used inflexions and tones effectively. He says that children appreciated the magic of words beyond real meanings. They enriched language with the help of puzzles, riddles and proverbs. Homes and farms were their primary schools.

After the Kenyan emergency in 1952, English became the language of education. Students who spoke the native language were humiliated. English was given the most important place n the apartheid pyramid structure of education. Students who couldn’t get better marks in English were made to fail even though they got distinction in all the other subjects. Proficiency in English ensured prominence in the colonial rule. Orature in native languages was stopped and English literature was encouraged. Language and literature took native Africans away from their nativity.

Kenyan languages were equated with backwardness and underdevelopment. Nguigi wanted to fight the colonial intention of detaching native people with nativity. Kenyan children should not grow up hating the tools of communication developed by their own communities and their history. He switched to writing in his mother-tongue of Gikuyu after seventeen years writing in the Afro-European tradition. He believed that writing in native African languages is a part of the anti-imperialistic struggles. He says that colonial alienation takes natives away from reality by distancing the language of daily use. The system separates mind from body and produces a society of headless bodies and bodyless heads.

Ngugi wants to bring back harmony between all the aspects of language and reunite the Kenyan student to the native environment. He wishes to see Kenyan languages carry their literature, culture and social nature. He says the Kenyan student can learn other languages without having any inferior complexes about their own language only after experiencing the richness of native language.

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood

The Road Not Taken

In “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker arrives at a place where his path diverges in a yellow wood. He is unable to see what lies ahead. He examines both roads. He thinks one of the roads to be less used. He realizes that perhaps both roads are equally travelled and regrets that he will probably never return to take the other path.

The contradictions continue. He decides to save the first, probably, more travelled route for another day. Then he confesses that he does not think it probable that he will return. This suggests that this seemingly casual and inconsequential choice is really likely to be crucial. It may be one of the choices of life that involves commitment. It may lead away from the traveller forever from the original stopping place. In the end, he picks the one that has seen the least use, concluding that this has made a significant difference in his life.

The speaker thinks of how he will tell about this incident in the future with a sigh. He chooses the road he thinks to be less worn and says “that has made all the difference.”

It looks like a personal poem about a decision of vast importance, but there is evidence to the contrary both inside and outside the poem. (216 words)

The Knowledge Society

Abdul Kalam - Former President of India

The Knowledge Society

A Brief Summary

Bharat Ratna, Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam is the former president of India.”The Knowledge Society” is taken from his book “Ignited Minds”. Kalam says that poverty can be wiped out only by mixing our past heritage and present-day knowledge.

According to Kalam, India is a land of knowledge and it must rediscover itself its past legacy. The foreign invasions and the colonial rule weakened India considerably. Knowledge has many forms and it is available at several places. It is in academic institutions, at workplaces, in learning skills from people such as artists, craftsmen, hakims, philosophers and saints. It is available from our heritage, history and epics.

Kalam says that Knowledge is important for prosperity and power. In India, we had the tradition of passing knowledge from guru to shishya. Foreign travelers wrote about our Ancient Indian Universities like Nalanda. Agriculture society changed as an Industrial society during the last century. Technology played a key role in the development of the society. In the 21st century, knowledge has become the primary production resource instead of capital and labour. Education, health-care and agriculture are taken ahead in the knowledge society. It promotes high productivity and prosperity creating new sources of employment.

Multiple technologies and suitable management methods must work together to create a knowledge society. India has left its impression in Information Technology and it will be much more developed in future. As a second component, young and dynamic leaders are required for establishing knowledge society. The most important mission for the knowledge society is India should become a superpower by 2010.

If societal transformation and wealth generation are the two important factors to make India as a knowledge society, a third dimension is to transform India into a superpower. Our communication network and information centers must be protected from electronic attacks. It is a great responsibility. Our cultural heritage should also help us in making India a superpower. (315 Words)

Communication Skills

Communication Skills

Questions and Answers

Q. What is communication?

A. Communication is to transfer or share knowledge, important ideas and attitudes. It is an exchange of meaningful information in an effective way.

Q. In what ways do humans communicate?

A. Humans use verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. They use spoken and written forms of communication.

Q. What is a two-way communication? Give a few examples from your experience.

A. In two-way communication, the sender and the receiver interact mutually. Day to day conversations and interviews are examples of two-way communication. When we talk with our friends and speak with our lecturers, that is two-way communication.

Q. How do cultural factors affect communication?

A. Cultural factors affect communication as body language differs from culture to culture. Non-verbal communication cues such as eye contact, posture, gesture and others vary from culture to culture affecting communication.

Q. What is the role of feedback in communication?

Feedback is important to complete communication. This process allows the receiver to inform the reactions to the message received. Unless the sender knows that the message is properly received, communication cycle is not complete. So, it is very important.

Q. Give one example each of formal and informal communication.

A. These are the examples of formal and informal communication.

Formal: I solicit your esteemed presence on the occasion of my sister’s marriage.

Informal: Please attend my sister’s marriage.

B. Answer the following questions in about 100 words each.

1. Define communication.

Communication is to transfer or share knowledge, important ideas and attitudes. It is an exchange of meaningful information in an effective way. There are seven components in communication. They are a. sender, b. receiver, c. message, d. context, e. channel, f. culture and social/business space, and g. feedback. Communication is a two-way process. It involves at least two people, the sender and the receiver. It is purposeful and involves thoughts, feelings and emotions. It is goal oriented and it should have a shared code between the sender and the receiver. The receiver provides feedback about the message received. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations may occur during the process of communication.

2. Describe the process of communication.

There are five important steps in the process of communication. They are Ideation, Encoding, Channel, Decoding and Feedback. Ideation is the first step. In this step, the sender forms an idea of what to communicate. The second step is converting the idea into a transmittable message. This is called as Encoding. The third step, Channel is the selection of media such as spoken, written, electrical and digital or any other. Decoding is the fourth step, which is the understanding of the message by the receiver. The fifth step, Feedback also involves the receiver, where a response is given. With these five steps, the cycle of communication is complete.

3. How is non-verbal communication different from verbal communication?

Non-verbal communication does not use words like verbal communication. This kind of communication has five important components. They are Kinesics, Proxemics, Chronemics, Paralanguage and appearance. Kinesics involves gestures, postures, facial expressions, body language etc. Feelings such as anger, agreement can be expressed by Kinesics. Proxemics is the distance we keep from others during communication. It shows the relationship between the sender and receiver. Chronemics deals with time. It clarifies the interest of the sender and the receiver of the message communicated. Paralanguage is about the vocal qualities such as volume, pitch, rate, pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns. A successful communicator uses these qualities effectively. Appearance is very important to denote the personality of the communicator. Appearance plays a vital role in giving an impression.

4. How can barriers impede communication?

The following factors can impede communication.

Poor use of language can cause a breakdown in communication as the receiver may not understand the message clearly. Distraction leading to inadequate attention can cause a failure in communication. Improper feedback can lead to misunderstanding as the sender may not know whether the message is understood or not. Physical barriers as such noise, distance and others and mechanical barriers such as typographical errors can disturb communication. Medical problems like loss of hearing and communication apprehension are also communication barriers. Lack of interest or clash of interest can cause communication problems.

5. In what situations would you use formal communication? What factors have to be kept in mind in formal communication?

We have to use different kinds of language depending upon the context of our communication. There are two kinds of communication. One is formal communication and the other is informal communication. When we communicate with our seniors, elderly persons, officers and other respectable persons we use formal communication. We should keep in mind that we have to indicate our respect as well as our personal, social or cultural distance from our listeners by using formal language. We should remember to choose an appropriate style of language when communicating with others. We should avoid being too formal or too informal in our communication.

C. Answer the following questions in about 200 words.

1. Discuss the various types of communication, including verbal and non-verbal communication.

Communication is to transfer or share knowledge, important ideas and attitudes. It is an exchange of meaningful information in an effective way. There are different kinds of communication such as verbal, non-verbal, formal, informal, and one-way and two-way communication.

Verbal Communication: There are two types of communication in verbal communication. They are 1. Formal and Informal Communication, and2. One-way and two-way communication.

Formal and Informal Communication:  

We use formal language when we need to show respect towards the person we are speaking to. We use informal language when we speak with our friends, classmates and colleagues.

These are the examples of formal and informal communication.

Formal: I solicit your esteemed presence on the occasion of my sister’s marriage.

Informal: Please attend my sister’s marriage.

2. One-way and two-way communication:

One-way communication is a way of communication in which communication proceeds in one-way only. Reading a book and listening to radio are examples of this type of communication.

Two-way communication is a way of communication in which communication proceeds in two-way. Day-to-day conversations are best examples of this kind of communication.

Non-verbal Communication:

Non-verbal communication does not use words like verbal communication. This kind of communication has five important components. They are Kinesics, Proxemics, Chronemics, Paralanguage and appearance. Kinesics involves gestures, postures, facial expressions, body language etc. Feelings such as anger, agreement can be expressed by Kinesics. Proxemics is the distance we keep from others during communication. It shows the relationship between the sender and receiver. Chronemics deals with time. It clarifies the interest of the sender and the receiver on the message communicated. Paralanguage is about the vocal qualities such as volume, pitch, rate, pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns. A successful communicator uses these qualities effectively. Appearance is very important to denote the personality of the communicator. Appearance plays vital role in giving impression. 

2. Write a note on the barriers of communication. Describe any four in detail, adding examples from your experience.

There are several factors that can impede communication.

1. Poor use of language: Unless we use correct and understandable language, we cannot communicate properly. Poor standard in language leads to misunderstanding of the message being communicated.

Example: A speaker wrongly says that, “We should preserve petrol”. He actually means to say, “We should conserve petrol.”

2. Distraction: When we are communicating, we have to make sure that there are no distractions. Distractions such as loud music lead to poor apprehension of the communication.

Example: When a marriage procession passes by the college with loud film music, students are unable to listen to their lecturers.

3. Communication apprehension:

This is about fear and anxiety associated with communication. Students often fail to communicate with peers and seniors because of fear and anxiety.

Example: Students feel this kind of barrier when they are asked to speak at a meeting or seminar.

4. Lack of interest:

Lack of interest is a major hurdle of communication. Unless there is interest in the topic we are communicating, we cannot be forceful in our communication. 

Example: People only do lip-service when they do not have interest in what they are saying.

Improper feedback and clarification, Physical barriers, Mechanical barriers, and Medical Problems are other important barriers in communication.

D. Read the following sentences and say whether each of them is an example of formal or informal communication.

1. We hope that the new décor will appeal to our esteemed customers. [Formal]

2. You may not agree with her views, but all said and done, she is the expert. [Formal]

3. It goes without saying that a good name is more valuable than riches. [Formal]

4. You must adhere to the rules of the college. [Formal]

5. As a matter of fact, we shall be in Delhi on a business assignment next week. [Formal]

6. She is fed up with their excuses. [Informal]

7. We trust that this new product meets with your approval. [Formal]

8. We hope you like this new product. [Informal]                   

La Belle Dame sans Merci

John Keats

La Belle Dame sans Merci

John Keats is among the greatest romantic poets in English literature. In his poem La Belle Dame sans Merci, he tells us about an enthralled knight and mysterious maiden in a ballad form.

The poet meets a warrior in a field. The warrior is wandering lonely and appears to be nearing death. The poet asks him the reason for the sorrowful situation. The answer of the knight makes the rest of the poem.

The knight says that he met a fairy lady in the meadows. The lady is graceful and has long hair and wild eyes. He is attracted to her and spends time with the beautiful lady. He adorns her with flowers and lets her ride his horse. Though he doesn’t understand her strange language, he thinks that she has fallen in love with him. She sings fairy songs and feeds him tasty roots, wild honey, and manna. As he makes romantic advances, she takes him to her fairy cave. After some passionate time together, she lulls him to sleep.

The knight falls asleep. In his sleep. he dreams of all the long gone warriors, kings, and princes who were seduced by the fairy lady. They are all pale, hungry looking and their mouths are starved. In the nightmare, all the dead cried describing her ‘la belle dame sans merci’. These French words mean that ‘the beautiful woman without mercy’. The knight wakes up alone on the side of a hill. He concludes his story by saying that he has been wandering alone since then.

Gods – Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman-Poet

Gods – Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is an American poet. He is a transcendentalist. He advocated free verse. He is among the greatest poets of America.

In his poem, ‘the Gods’, Whitman glorifies Creation as whole and perfect. He talks about wonderful things that inspire him and invokes them to be his Gods. He commands these things to be Godlike to him.

Whitman asks all thoughts of infinity to be his God. He addresses God as the divine lover and perfect comrade. Though God is invisible, He is surely waiting contentedly. Whitman describes God as fair, able, beautiful, satisfied and loving. God is physically complete and spiritually present everywhere.

Whitman calls death as God because it is the gateway to heaven. According to the poet, God is the best and the mightiest of all the known things. God frees us from all bonds. Whitman says that God exists in trusted traditions, progressive ideas, mankind’s hopes and heroic deeds of passionate people. God manifests in the divine earth, Sun and everything including the poet himself.

The Bird Sanctuary – Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu-Poetess

The Bird Sanctuary – Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu is a well-known freedom fighter. She advocated women’s liberation. She is called as ‘the Nightingale of India' for her poetry’s musical quality and rhythm.

In her poem, the Bird Sanctuary, she describes a garden full of several kinds of birds. The birds welcome dawn making different types of sounds. Birds having various colors such as amber and ebony, birds like bulbul, oriel, honey bird and shama are moving on the trees. The trees are full of nectar and dew.

Silver colored gulls are flying in the sky. Kingfisher and hoopoe birds are in sapphire blue and bronze colors.  Grey pigeons are building homes on tree tops with banyan twigs. The jade green gypsy parrots are enjoying red ripe fig fruits.

The poet says that God’s wonderful garden has space for every bird. She prays God to provide safe resting place for distressed or wounded homing birds. She symbolizes birds to all living creatures and bird sanctuary to earth wonderfully.

The Power of Prayer - APJ Abdul Kalam

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The Power of Prayer - APJ Abdul Kalam

The Power of Prayer is taken from Wings of Fire written by APJ Abdul Kalam. Kalam belongs to a middle-class Tamil Muslim family of Rameswaram. The family lived in their ancestral house.  After evening prayers, his father would dip his fingers in the water and pray. The water would be used to cure suffering people.

His father told Kalam that prayer makes our body a part of the cosmos. Prayer makes communion of spirit between man and God possible. He further told him that every human being is a part of a divine Being.

Kalam says that whatever he achieved in his life is through the help of God. He says that God has graced him with outstanding teachers and colleagues. There is a divine fire in every one of us, we should give wings to the fire and glow.

The Merchant of Venice Act 4 Scene I - Summary

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The Merchant of Venice Act 4 Scene I

Shylock brings Antonio to the Duke’s court and demands justice. He says that he will not accept repayment but wants Antonio's flesh. The Duke’s suggestion, Bassanio’s request and offer of six thousand ducats do not change Shylock’s mind. The Duke allows Doctor Bellario to solve the case. Antonio is ready to give flesh to Shylock.

Portia enters dressed as a Doctor of law, Bellario. She tells Shylock that mercy is a quality of a king and God.  Shylock still refuses to accept money. Shylock refuses to allow a surgeon to stop bleeding. At the last minute, Portia tells Shylock that he may have the flesh, but he cannot draw even a drop of blood as it is not written into the bond.

Shylock realizes that he cannot take flesh and accepts money.But Portia tells him that he is liable to be punished. As he conspired to kill a Venitian citizen, he faces the death penalty and confiscation of his properties.Half of his wealth goes to the Duke and the other half to the victim. Duke spares Shylock's life and Antonio suggests that his half should be given to Shylock's daughter.

Portia doesn't accept Duke's invitation for dinner and Bessanio's offer of three thousand ducats.She takes Antonio's gloves and Bessanio's ring.

The Lottery Ticket - Anton Chekhov

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The Lottery Ticket - Anton Chekhov

Ivan Dmitritch and his wife Masha belong to a middle-class family. He lives contentedly with an income of twelve hundred. One day he is reading a newspaper after supper and Masha is clearing the table. She asks him to look for winning lottery numbers. She tells him that the number is 9499 26.

Though he doesn’t believe in luck, Ivan looks up and finds the series number 9499. Overwhelmed, he drops the paper and thinks about the seventy-five thousand prize money. The couple is happy and starts daydreaming about spending the money. They dream about a new house, traveling and repaying some debts. Both of them plan to spend the money.

Ivan thinks that his wife would be stingy with the money while travelling with him. He is dejected by the idea of his wife having all that lottery money. Similarly, Masha thinks that her husband is after money. Ater all, it is her lottery ticket. She starts hating Ivan for wanting all her money. Even before checking the last two numbers, they have already spent the money and started hating each other.

At last, the husband  searches if the number is 26. It is not. It is 46. They do not win. Soon the husband and wife come back down to earth. This story tells us how money can spoil human relations and trust.

The Man in Black - Oliver Goldsmith

The Man in Black

The essay ‘The Man in Black’ is written by Oliver Goldsmith. It is a mockery of the then contemporary society. He attacks the social and political situation that dominated during Anglo-Saxon period in England. Oliver gives us reason for his admiration. It is that Man in Black appearing as something that he in fact is not.

The writer describes the Man in Black as a kind, sympathetic, and genial person with a compassionate heart. Outwardly, he seems unkind, looking like a rude, curt, and stern person. This is in contrast with his inner personality. In those days the English society considered the male population to be aggressive, manly, stern and chauvinistic. The dominance of males by their ultra masculine nature in the family is encouraged and accepted socially and politically.

Goldsmith discourages these stereotype aspects of male dominance in this essay. He mocks the way the society and politics of that time regarded male authority as prestigious and dignified. He wants to suggest that the trend of being ‘what you are not’ should not be encouraged.