Group members (12M2) : FIRDAUS, HANNAN, HAARATHI, AISYAH, YONG YONG Task : Characters and Characteristics The main character in this Hindu-deity-based short story is the hermit, Swamiji. He is the man who struggle with the humanity. He try to forget the temptations of the world by living a life of modesty. He considers himself as a very good man as we can see in the text, “He rigorously suppressed all cravings of the palate and punished his body in a number of ways”. This indicates that he does not know what he is doing everyday in order to achive the highest spiritual level. However, he is also a normal man. He cannot help himself to look at the seductive features of the woman and leer his body. At the same time, he calls the woman as the destroyer of man’s life. This shows that he is hypocrite. At the end of the story, he however stumbles upon the woman as she asked for his acceptance for the offering day, as he is surprised by the action of the woman whom he regards her as filtny object. The other character in this story is the woman. She is described as a woman with chiseled features, with big arms, breasts and thighs. She daily serves men , ranging from the tailor, to the old man and back to the students. In other words, she is a prostitute offering the worst kind of sin in the world. However, she is not a blasphemous daughter, as she still provide tray of fruits and flowers, to remember her mother.
Group Members (12M2): RUBEN, SHAWN, JAYA, HANNIF & ASIFUR.
Task: Issues
Some of the issues or themes in the short story ‘House Opposite’ by R.K. Narayan are prejudice and the strength of one’s devotion.
One of the issues is that of prejudice. Prejudice is ‘judging a book by its cover’, i.e. superficial judgementation. The hermit has a preconceived notion that the woman living in the house opposite to his is a prostitute. He always sees men of all age and status, from the middle-aged rich tailor from Market Road to the B. Sc student from Albert Mission Hostel, visit her at odd hours of the night and even during the day (on holidays). He had also observed men sitting on the pyol (veranda) of her house while smoking and chewing tobacco, and spitting into the gutter. To the hermit, the prostitute represents the evil of the world for she commits sins of all sorts. Her ways have deeply affected the pious hermit and distracted him from his meditation and prayers. He could not concentrate despite his many efforts to do so as he was too preoccupied with what was happening in the prostitute’s house and to all the men who frequent her. In this sense, the hermit too is sinful as while the prostitute sins with her body, the hermit sins with his ill-thoughts of the prostitute. However, at the end of the story, it is proven that the prostitute is not all bad but does have some admirable qualities as all people do. She begs the forgiveness of the hermit (whom she considers a saint) on the remembrance day for her mother. This evidently shows that there is good and bad in all people. Although the hermit leads a religious life (good), he did have negative thoughts of the prostitute (bad) and while the prostitute offers herself to men for money (bad), she still loves her deceased mother (good).
Furthermore, another issue in the story is the strength of one’s devotion. The hermit is a pious and religious man. He meditates and has devoted his life to prayer and the attainment of Moksya (the Hinduism’s concept of spiritual liberation). He also leads a simple life: waking up early at four in the morning, bathing at the well behind his dwelling, meditating on a deerskin meat, eating only chapattis with restricted vegetables for breakfast and lunch, and sleeping on a wooden block for a pillow at night. He also teaches some good moral values and religious verses to the children in the village. However, his deep devotion was tested with the prostitute living opposite his house. He found himself so distracted by the prostitute and her activities that he could not concentrate on prayer and meditation any longer. Despite reciting the names of gods, he still could not forget the image of the prostitute. In a desperate effort to preserve his virtues, he decides to flee the village as he realised that his devotion to god is not as deep as her previously conceived.
In short, the themes in the short story ‘House Opposite’ by R.K. Narayan are prejudice and the strength of one’s devotion.
In the short story entitled 'House Opposite' by R.K. Narayan, realism is reflected through the characters of the story as well as the storyline. A clear relation between the plot of the story and reality can be seen through the life of the hermit and the prostitute. Their distinctive ways of lives is a reflection of the situation in the society. The hermit symbolizes good whereas the prostitute is a symbol of evil. The hermit led his life meditating and devoting himself solely towards nothing but his religion. An excerpt from the story clearly depicts his devotion towards his religious belief, "Sri Rama, Jayarama..," he repeated. On the contrary, the prostitute's life was described as sinful and filled with activities that are against morality and cultural norms. The writer reflects reality in the story in the sense of the existence of distinctive groups in the society, namely the good and the evil through the lives of the characters-the hermit and the prostitute. Secondly, the narrator also relates the story with the current social problem that is prostitution which is a source of public censure. Prostitution is described as the cause of deterioration of morality among society for both men and women. The prostitute represents the group of people who are willing to let the need to sustain a living subjugate their pride and dignity as a respectful human being to the extent of crossing the border of morality and cultural norms. The prostitute's way of life is used as a symbol of the existence of morally corrupted people in the society. In reality, it is inevitable that this group of people exist as part of the community. Besides that, the human nature of being judgemental and perceptive towards others is also narrated by the writer in this story. The hermit was judgemental and perceptive towards the prostitute, whom he thought of as an awful monster and personification of evil. An excerpt from the story, "Did she sleep with all of them at the same time?" shows a negative assumption of the hermit towards the prostitute. Despite being pious, he could not stop himself from thinking negatively about the prostitute. This is a clear depiction of reality in which people are often judgemental towards others, particularly towards those involved in social problems, influenced by typical social acceptance and discrimination. People often judge a person based on their outer appearance and seldom look beyond skin deep. In conclusion, realism is reflected successfully in the story through convincing characters and effective storyline. The subjects of the story-social problem, morality deterioration and negative perception are the indisputable reflection of the existing real life situation.
Group members:Amrina Raisya,Khairun Nisa Munira,Fatin Nabila,Fatin Fazzrini,Ummi Hazwani.
Task:Realism.
In the short story entitled 'House Opposite' by R.K. Narayan, realism is reflected through the characters of the story as well as the storyline. A clear relation between the plot of the story and reality can be seen through the life of the hermit and the prostitute. Their distinctive ways of lives is a reflection of the situation in the society. The hermit symbolizes good whereas the prostitute is a symbol of evil. The hermit led his life meditating and devoting himself solely towards nothing but his religion. An excerpt from the story clearly depicts his devotion towards his religious belief, "Sri Rama, Jayarama..," he repeated. On the contrary, the prostitute's life was described as sinful and filled with activities that are against morality and cultural norms. The writer reflects reality in the story in the sense of the existence of distinctive groups in the society, namely the good and the evil through the lives of the characters-the hermit and the prostitute. Secondly, the narrator also relates the story with the current social problem that is prostitution which is a source of public censure. Prostitution is described as the cause of deterioration of morality among society for both men and women. The prostitute represents the group of people who are willing to let the need to sustain a living subjugate their pride and dignity as a respectful human being to the extent of crossing the border of morality and cultural norms. The prostitute's way of life is used as a symbol of the existence of morally corrupted people in the society. In reality, it is inevitable that this group of people exist as part of the community. Besides that, the human nature of being judgemental and perceptive towards others is also narrated by the writer in this story. The hermit was judgemental and perceptive towards the prostitute, whom he thought of as an awful monster and personification of evil. An excerpt from the story, "Did she sleep with all of them at the same time?" shows a negative assumption of the hermit towards the prostitute. Despite being pious, he could not stop himself from thinking negatively about the prostitute. This is a clear depiction of reality in which people are often judgemental towards others, particularly towards those involved in social problems, influenced by typical social acceptance and discrimination. People often judge a person based on their outer appearance and seldom look beyond skin deep. In conclusion, realism is reflected successfully in the story through convincing characters and effective storyline. The subjects of the story-social problem, morality deterioration and negative perception are the indisputable reflection of the existing real life situation.
6 comments:
Post your answers here 12m2 peeps...
Group members (12M2) : FIRDAUS, HANNAN, HAARATHI, AISYAH, YONG YONG
Task : Characters and Characteristics
The main character in this Hindu-deity-based short story is the hermit, Swamiji. He is the man who struggle with the humanity. He try to forget the temptations of the world by living a life of modesty. He considers himself as a very good man as we can see in the text, “He rigorously suppressed all cravings of the palate and punished his body in a number of ways”. This indicates that he does not know what he is doing everyday in order to achive the highest spiritual level. However, he is also a normal man. He cannot help himself to look at the seductive features of the woman and leer his body. At the same time, he calls the woman as the destroyer of man’s life. This shows that he is hypocrite. At the end of the story, he however stumbles upon the woman as she asked for his acceptance for the offering day, as he is surprised by the action of the woman whom he regards her as filtny object.
The other character in this story is the woman. She is described as a woman with chiseled features, with big arms, breasts and thighs. She daily serves men , ranging from the tailor, to the old man and back to the students. In other words, she is a prostitute offering the worst kind of sin in the world. However, she is not a blasphemous daughter, as she still provide tray of fruits and flowers, to remember her mother.
wheres the rest of the responds?
Group Members (12M2): RUBEN, SHAWN, JAYA, HANNIF & ASIFUR.
Task: Issues
Some of the issues or themes in the short story ‘House Opposite’ by R.K. Narayan are prejudice and the strength of one’s devotion.
One of the issues is that of prejudice. Prejudice is ‘judging a book by its cover’, i.e. superficial judgementation. The hermit has a preconceived notion that the woman living in the house opposite to his is a prostitute. He always sees men of all age and status, from the middle-aged rich tailor from Market Road to the B. Sc student from Albert Mission Hostel, visit her at odd hours of the night and even during the day (on holidays). He had also observed men sitting on the pyol (veranda) of her house while smoking and chewing tobacco, and spitting into the gutter. To the hermit, the prostitute represents the evil of the world for she commits sins of all sorts. Her ways have deeply affected the pious hermit and distracted him from his meditation and prayers. He could not concentrate despite his many efforts to do so as he was too preoccupied with what was happening in the prostitute’s house and to all the men who frequent her. In this sense, the hermit too is sinful as while the prostitute sins with her body, the hermit sins with his ill-thoughts of the prostitute. However, at the end of the story, it is proven that the prostitute is not all bad but does have some admirable qualities as all people do. She begs the forgiveness of the hermit (whom she considers a saint) on the remembrance day for her mother. This evidently shows that there is good and bad in all people. Although the hermit leads a religious life (good), he did have negative thoughts of the prostitute (bad) and while the prostitute offers herself to men for money (bad), she still loves her deceased mother (good).
Furthermore, another issue in the story is the strength of one’s devotion. The hermit is a pious and religious man. He meditates and has devoted his life to prayer and the attainment of Moksya (the Hinduism’s concept of spiritual liberation). He also leads a simple life: waking up early at four in the morning, bathing at the well behind his dwelling, meditating on a deerskin meat, eating only chapattis with restricted vegetables for breakfast and lunch, and sleeping on a wooden block for a pillow at night. He also teaches some good moral values and religious verses to the children in the village. However, his deep devotion was tested with the prostitute living opposite his house. He found himself so distracted by the prostitute and her activities that he could not concentrate on prayer and meditation any longer. Despite reciting the names of gods, he still could not forget the image of the prostitute. In a desperate effort to preserve his virtues, he decides to flee the village as he realised that his devotion to god is not as deep as her previously conceived.
In short, the themes in the short story ‘House Opposite’ by R.K. Narayan are prejudice and the strength of one’s devotion.
Group members:Amrina Raisya, Fatin Nabila, Fatin Fazzrini, Khairun Nisa, Ummi Hazwani.
Task:Realism.
In the short story entitled 'House Opposite' by R.K. Narayan, realism is reflected through the characters of the story as well as the storyline.
A clear relation between the plot of the story and reality can be seen through the life of the hermit and the prostitute. Their distinctive ways of lives is a reflection of the situation in the society. The hermit symbolizes good whereas the prostitute is a symbol of evil. The hermit led his life meditating and devoting himself solely towards nothing but his religion. An excerpt from the story clearly depicts his devotion towards his religious belief, "Sri Rama, Jayarama..," he repeated. On the contrary, the prostitute's life was described as sinful and filled with activities that are against morality and cultural norms. The writer reflects reality in the story in the sense of the existence of distinctive groups in the society, namely the good and the evil through the lives of the characters-the hermit and the prostitute.
Secondly, the narrator also relates the story with the current social problem that is prostitution which is a source of public censure. Prostitution is described as the cause of deterioration of morality among society for both men and women. The prostitute represents the group of people who are willing to let the need to sustain a living subjugate their pride and dignity as a respectful human being to the extent of crossing the border of morality and cultural norms. The prostitute's way of life is used as a symbol of the existence of morally corrupted people in the society. In reality, it is inevitable that this group of people exist as part of the community.
Besides that, the human nature of being judgemental and perceptive towards others is also narrated by the writer in this story. The hermit was judgemental and perceptive towards the prostitute, whom he thought of as an awful monster and personification of evil. An excerpt from the story, "Did she sleep with all of them at the same time?" shows a negative assumption of the hermit towards the prostitute. Despite being pious, he could not stop himself from thinking negatively about the prostitute. This is a clear depiction of reality in which people are often judgemental towards others, particularly towards those involved in social problems, influenced by typical social acceptance and discrimination. People often judge a person based on their outer appearance and seldom look beyond skin deep.
In conclusion, realism is reflected successfully in the story through convincing characters and effective storyline. The subjects of the story-social problem, morality deterioration and negative perception are the indisputable reflection of the existing real life situation.
Group members:Amrina Raisya,Khairun Nisa Munira,Fatin Nabila,Fatin Fazzrini,Ummi Hazwani.
Task:Realism.
In the short story entitled 'House Opposite' by R.K. Narayan, realism is reflected through the characters of the story as well as the storyline.
A clear relation between the plot of the story and reality can be seen through the life of the hermit and the prostitute. Their distinctive ways of lives is a reflection of the situation in the society. The hermit symbolizes good whereas the prostitute is a symbol of evil. The hermit led his life meditating and devoting himself solely towards nothing but his religion. An excerpt from the story clearly depicts his devotion towards his religious belief, "Sri Rama, Jayarama..," he repeated. On the contrary, the prostitute's life was described as sinful and filled with activities that are against morality and cultural norms. The writer reflects reality in the story in the sense of the existence of distinctive groups in the society, namely the good and the evil through the lives of the characters-the hermit and the prostitute.
Secondly, the narrator also relates the story with the current social problem that is prostitution which is a source of public censure. Prostitution is described as the cause of deterioration of morality among society for both men and women. The prostitute represents the group of people who are willing to let the need to sustain a living subjugate their pride and dignity as a respectful human being to the extent of crossing the border of morality and cultural norms. The prostitute's way of life is used as a symbol of the existence of morally corrupted people in the society. In reality, it is inevitable that this group of people exist as part of the community.
Besides that, the human nature of being judgemental and perceptive towards others is also narrated by the writer in this story. The hermit was judgemental and perceptive towards the prostitute, whom he thought of as an awful monster and personification of evil. An excerpt from the story, "Did she sleep with all of them at the same time?" shows a negative assumption of the hermit towards the prostitute. Despite being pious, he could not stop himself from thinking negatively about the prostitute. This is a clear depiction of reality in which people are often judgemental towards others, particularly towards those involved in social problems, influenced by typical social acceptance and discrimination. People often judge a person based on their outer appearance and seldom look beyond skin deep.
In conclusion, realism is reflected successfully in the story through convincing characters and effective storyline. The subjects of the story-social problem, morality deterioration and negative perception are the indisputable reflection of the existing real life situation.
Post a Comment