A Handbook for Grade Twelve English

A Chapterwise Summary of The Invisible Man

1.       Chapter One: Griffin arrives at Iping in the month of February, books a room and a parlour at the Coach and Horses inn. Mrs. Is very excited at the prospect of earning some money from him.

2.       Chapter Two: Mrs. Hall gathers her courage to ask the stranger if he would like to have some tea. Teddy Henfrey, the clock-jobber arrives and Mrs. Hall finds it convenient to ask him to enter the Parlour to repair the clock. Griffin tells Mrs. Hall that he is an ‘experimental investigator’ and that his baggage due to arrive contains apparatus and appliances. Teddy Henfrey works on the clock and deliberately takes a lot of time in fixing it so that he can have enough time to talk to the stranger. He with, “The weather…” but the stranger scolds him and tells him to, “finish and go”. Teddy Henfrey leaves excessively annoyed. He runs into Mr. Hall and tells him that the stranger is a “rum un” meaning that there is something suspicious about the stranger.

3.       Chapter Three: Griffin’s luggage arrives from the Railway station on board Mr. Fearenside’s carriage. Mr. Fearenside’s dog bites Griffin’s hand and then his leg. Mr. Fearenside is able to look at the space in the trouser leg. What he sees gives rise to the piebald theory about the stranger (He might be a freak with patches of white and black skin). Rather oddly, Griffin rushes to his room. Mr. Hall rushes after Griffin to inquire if he is alright but when he entered the dark room, he is ‘struck violently in the chest and hurled back’ by Griffin. Mrs. Hall looks at the mess of the straw packing that was used to pack the numerous bottles, and test-tubes and is angry. Griffin tells her to put down the cleaning expenses and the damage to property “in the bill.”

4.       Chapter Four:  Various theories are floated about the rather mysterious stranger. He steps out during the evenings and at night. Children believe he is the Bogey Man. Others believe that he is a criminal on the run from the law, this view is spread by Teddy Henfrey. Mr. Gould believes that the stranger is an ‘Anarchist in disguise’. Mr. Fearenside spreads the piebald theory. In the midst of all this speculation, and the arrival of so many flasks and test-tubes, Cuss the general practitioner decides to investigate. His professional curiosity, rather jealousy is aroused and he decides to interview the stranger. He went in and asked the stranger if he was interested in contributing to the ‘Nurse Fund’. His curiosity is further aroused when he sees the bottles and chemicals in the parlour. Griffin told him that he was doing research. A draft of air from the window lifts a prescription Griffin has in his hands and dumps it in the fireplace. He rushes to the fireplace to retrieve the paper and it is then that Mr. Cuss looks Griffin’s empty sleeve. When Mr. Cuss remarks that Griffin has an empty sleeve, the latter extends his hand till his cuff is six inches from the General practitioners face, and then he nips Mr. Cuss’s nose. Mr. Cuss rushes out of the parlour in panic and narrates the story to Mr. Bunting the Vicar.

5.       Chapter Five: A burglary takes place in the early hours in the vicarage. Mrs. Bunting hears the sounds of the burglar making his way into the house. She makes sure that the sounds are real and not imagined before deciding to wake up her husband. When she is sure there is someone, she wakes up Mr. Bunting who grabs hold of a poker and then they both proceed to the hall. In the hall they hear sounds of the drawer in the office table being opened. There were sounds of coins being taken out, and the sound of someone sniffing. It seems as though the robber had just taken away the house-keeping money. Mr. Bunting challenges the robber (whom they can’t see because he is invisible) but the robber escapes from the house exiting from the kitchen door.

6.       Chapter Six: Mrs. and Mr. Hall find the door to Griffin’s room ajar. Being curious, they step into his room and notice that the bed has not been slept in. It is while they are moving around in the room that they hear a sniff. It is then that strange things happen. The bed-sheets come flying in the air, the stranger’s hat comes flying in the air, and then Mrs. Hall’s favourite chair comes flying in the air, the legs ‘came gently but firmly against’ Mrs. Hall’s back. After Mrs. Hall has recovered from her shock, Sandy Wadgers, the blacksmith is called, he is followed by Mr. Huxter, and they both are of a serious opinion about the matter of the flying furniture.

7.       Chapter Seven: It is clear that the stranger had been behind the whole episode of the flying furniture. Wells suggests that Griffin must have been very hungry, not having eaten for a long time. Griffin demands that he be served breakfast, but Mrs. Hall serves him a bill on the breakfast tray. Angered by this affront, Griffin enters into an argument with Mrs. Hall and she tells him that he needs to pay the outstanding amount. Griffin tells her that he has got the money and will make the payment immediately, but then Mrs. Hall asks where he got the money from. It is clear that she knows about the robbery at the Vicarage and has a strong idea who was behind the whole incident. Griffin is angered by the turn of incidents and Mrs. Hall’s refusal to serve him breakfast. He threatens to “show” them “who” and “what” he is. To support this warning, Griffin begins to unveil himself, removing his nose followed by his spectacles, hat, bandages and whiskers. Everyone in the Inn gets agitated. Driven by his hunger, Griffin goes into the kitchen to get a loaf of bread. When he returns, he has a knife and the loaf of bread. Seeing this, everyone goes berserk. In the midst of all this chaos, Bobby Jaffers the constable arrives to arrest him. Bobby Jaffers attempts to handcuff Griffin but then things become really bad when Griffin fights the people attempting to arrest him. In the confusion that follows, in which a lot of people are hurt, Griffin escapes from the Inn.

8.       Chapter Eight: The only person to witness Griffin’s flight is Mr. Gibbons, an amateur naturalist.

9.       Chapter Nine: Griffin comes across Mr. Thomas Marvel, a tramp, and vagabond. Griffin frightens Marvel into working for him. He throws flints at him, intimidates him, and warns him not to betray him. It is clear that Griffin requires the services of an errands boy who can get him clothes, shelter, and other things. The contract that they enter into becomes a one-way contract, a no exit contract for Marvel.

10.   Chapter Ten: Griffin returns to Iping along with Marvel. The plan is that Marvel will open the door to the parlour in the Coach and Horses Inn allowing Griffin to collect his diaries. After this Marvel is supposed to stand outside right under the Parlour window so that he can collect the diaries passed on to him by Griffin. On getting the package he would then make good his escape. Mr. Huxter however, witnesses the passing of the bundle of books and believing he is a witness to a theft, gives chase to Marvel. A lot of other people follow in the chase but are tripped by Griffin who foils or prevents people from getting hold of the fleeing man.

11.   Chapter Eleven: The chapter describes what happened inside the Parlour. When Griffin enters the parlour, he finds Mr.Cuss and Mr. Bunting going through his diaries. Angered by this he threatens them with dire consequences and strips them of their clothes so that they cannot escape.

12.   Chapter Twelve: The twelfth chapter describes Mr. Hall and Teddy Henfrey listening on to the sounds coming from the parlour of Griffin roughing up Vicar Bunting and Mr. Cuss. Both the men however, don’t have the courage to step indoors and check whether everything was alright. They are however caught by Mrs. Hall while eavesdropping at the door to the parlour. She scolds them and it takes them time to make her understand what was happening indoors. The chapter goes on to describe the free for all that takes place as the people try to catch Marvel but are tripped by the invisible man.

13.   Chapter Thirteen: In the thirteenth chapter, Mr. Marvel requests Griffin to free him up from the contract that binds him to the invisible man. Mr. Marvel tries to convince Griffin that he is a “miserable tool” and thus not fit for the job. The invisible man, however, insists that though he is a “poor tool”, he will have to “make use” of him.

14.   Chapter Fourteen: The Chapter describes Marvel’s encounter with the Mariner. The Mariners, rather reminiscent of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, brings Marvel up to date about what the newspapers are saying about the strange events that took place in Ipping. Marvel barely manages to hold himself from telling the Mariner a first- hand report about his being attached to the very person being described in the newspapers. He hardly begins his story when Griffin arrives on the scene and he prevents Marvel from describing his part of the story. The Mariner is angered by Marvel leaving him without telling him his story. The Mariner gets convinced that the story in the newspapers is true when he collates incidents about ‘the flying money’ in which Griffin would rob people of their money and then deposit the same in Mr.Marvel’s pockets.

15.   Chapter Fifteen: The chapter describes Marvel running away apparently from Griffin towards Burdock. We are also introduced to Dr.Kemp, a counterfoil to Griffin. Dr.Kemp, who is a romantic scientist, and with ambitions no greater than that of joining the fellowship of the Royal Society notices that the man who is running “seems in a confounded hurry, but doesn’t seem to be getting on. If his pockets were full of lead, he couldn’t run heavier.” It seems as though Marvel didn’t not have the presence of mind to run lighter, he was carrying a large amount of money stolen by Griffin. The fear in Mr. Marvel seems to infect all those people who on the road much before he reaches them. Fear and terror are highly infectious it seems as people scream, “The Invisible Man is coming!”

16.   Chapter Sixteen: Marvel runs towards the Jolly Cricketers and seeks refuge indoors. The Barman admits him into the bar and all the doors are shut. However, one of the doors, the yard door, and the private door has been left open and Griffin manages to enter the Inn. The Invisible Man manages to grab hold of Marvel who struggles to free himself. All the others in the inn pitch in to save Marvel. The Invisible man starts throwing tiles at the others when the man with the black beard takes out his revolver and fires five shots in the direction from where the tiles were coming. One of the bullets hits Griffin in the hand. This is the turning point in the plot. Griffin is going to become more of a prey, more of a hunted object than a hunter.

17.   Chapter Seventeen: The chapter describes how Griffin slips into Dr.Kemp’s house with the help of a prank. He rang the doorbell, and when the maid opened it, he slipped in quietly. At about two ‘0’ clock, when Dr.Kemp was walking to his bedroom, he noticed a spot of blood on the linoleum covered floor. The door handle to his bedroom door was also stained with blood. He was to come across the invisible man when he enters his bedroom. It takes time for Dr. Kemp to be convinced that the person in his room was indeed invisible. In the physical tussle that takes place between Dr. Kemp, and the Invisible man, the former is grabbed hold of and thrown ‘backward upon the bed. After Dr Kemp becomes somewhat calm, the Invisible man introduces himself as a student junior to Dr.Kemp who studied in the University College. Griffin then begged Dr.Kemp for something to eat. Dr.Kemp expresses his desire to know more about Griffin’s story and what had happened about the shots at the Jolly Cricketers, and the man who had given him the slip, but then Griffin decides to tell him the whole story, later on, he’d rather go off to sleep.

18.   Chapter Eighteen: The chapter describes the invisible man taking a sleep in Dr. Kemp’s bedroom. He locks its rightful owner out of his own bedroom. While his guest was sleeping, Dr. Kemp was awake. In the morning he pores over the newspapers, trying to learn more about the story of the Invisible Man. With each newspaper that he reads, his excitement increases. It is only after he has read every scrap of newspaper that Dr. Kemp decides to send a note to Colonel Adye, Port Burdock to inform him about the presence of the Invisible Man at his house. It is not, however without a sense of guilt on betraying his acquaintance that he sends the note.

19.   Chapter Nineteen: Griffin tells Dr.Kemp, the principles behind his discovery of invisibility. It all starts at Chesilstowe. He talks about refraction, refractive indices, bending of light, and ways to render pigments translucent. The chapter marks the beginning of a flashback going back to the time when he was a college student and felt as if his professor was trying to steal credit for his work. One very important thing that he describes is how he robbed his father and how his father shot himself as a result.

20.   Chapter Twenty: The twentieth chapter is a continuation of the flashback started in the nineteenth chapter. Griffin talks about how he started with a piece of cloth at the house in Great Portland Street and was able to make it invisible. After the piece of cloth, it was the turn of an old woman’s cat. The cat was in great pain during the process of transformation and it cried a lot. The next day its owner, the old woman come enquiring for the cat. She suspects that he has abducted her cat and has vivisected it. Somehow he convinces her that he doesn’t have. Later the cat continues crying out in pain as the drugs start taking effect. The next day, the old Polish landlord comes enquiring about the cat. They enter into an argument and Griffin grabs hold of him by the collar. Something rips and the landlord goes spinning into the passage. The landlord returns a second time and this time he pushes an eviction order into Griffin’s room from under the door. Griffin realises that things have gone too far so he decides to experiment on himself. Griffin is in great pain during the experiment, it seemed as if his body is on fire. He is horror struck as he sees himself turning invisible. His eyelids become transparent, his bones and arteries fade away. At midday, the landlord returns, knocking at the door insistently. This time Griffin answers them to gain time, and then tosses some loose paper and packing straw and turns on the gas to burn down the whole laboratory. After doing this he climbs out of the window, climbs on to the cistern waiting for them to smash the door and enter his lodgings. The landlord, along with others enters the room and everyone is astonished to see that it is empty. When they went away, Griffin returns to the room and sets fire to the equipment.

21.   Chapter Twenty-One: Griffin steps out of his lodgings into Oxford street after setting the whole set up on fire. He is initially thrilled by the idea of his new found powers of invisibility, but then soon realises that invisibility has made him more handicapped than ever. He is knocked about by people and horse carriages in Oxford Street. He has to walk in the gutter to avoid being trampled. He is pursued by dogs, and realises that invisibility cannot protect him from dogs.  Wet and chilled to the core, Griffin wanders around. To make matters worse, the wet footprints made by him are noticed by a few people and a couple of street urchins. Griffin somehow manages to shake them off and comes round to Portland street where he sees  the entire building where he had his lodgings blazing.

22.   Chapter Twenty-Two: The chapter describes how Griffin manages to enter the Omniums, a big shopping complex during closing time. When everyone has left he helps himself to food and warm clothing. He falls asleep and dreams about his Landlord and his sons, the old woman, on whose cat he had experimented. He also sees the last rites of his father, he dreams about falling into his father’s coffin, and feels the gravel falling on to him threatening to  bury him alive. His dreams and troubled sleep is abruptly brought to an end when the store re-opens and the employees turn up for their duties. Moving in haste, he makes a lot of noise which attracts the attention of the workers. To avoid detection, the Invisible man throws off his newly acquired clothes. Griffin once again runs into the street naked and helpless after having beaten up some of the employees.

23.   Chapter Twenty-Three: Griffin is once again on the road and he realises that invisibility comes with its own disadvantages – he has no shelter, no covering and to eat in the open was risky because the unassimilated food would be grotesquely visible to others. To wear clothes would mean foregoing the advantages of invisibility. Yet, to move around without clothes that too in the month of October is disadvantageous. Griffin therefore decides to props to cover his face, and exposed portions of his body. He looks for a prop shop in Drury Lane and enters one. Things go bad when the owner of the shop becomes suspicious of Griffin’s presence. He senses and feels the invisible man’s presence and takes out a gun to shoot at the invisible intruder. A scuffle ensues and in the process, the shopkeeper is beaten up and then put inside a bedsheet and tied inside it. Griffin gets hold of a mask,, dark glasses, whiskers and a wig. He also takes away some money from the desk drawer.

24.   Chapter Twenty-Four: In this chapter, Griffin makes it clear that he needs a base from which to operate. He would like to enlist the services of Dr.Kemp as a confederate. He also expresses his desire to set up a new world order, establish “a Reign of Terror” with himself as the ruler. Even while they are talking, Colonel Adye arrives with his men to arrest Griffin, but the latter smells a rat and makes good his escape.

25.   Chapter Twenty-Five: Dr.Kemp tells Colonel Adye why it is very important that they capture Griffin. He tells him that Griffin is a threat to the society and that as long as he is at large, he will wreak terror. The whole of the chapter is devoted to the hunting of Griffin. Dr. Kemp makes a few important suggestions to Colonel Adye for the capture of Griffin which include locking up of all food in the town, getting people to start hunting for him, using dogs to hunt him, and the spreading of powdered glass on the pavements.

26.   Chapter Twenty-Six: In this chapter, Wells describes how Griffin’s situation becomes even more pathetic. He has become a desperate fugitive, hungry, frustrated and miserable. The Wicksteed murder takes place in this chapter. Circumstantial evidence indicates that Griffin was the perpetrator of the crime.

27.   Chapter Twenty-Seven:  Dr. Kemp receives a note written by Griffin stating that he is not safe anymore, and that even if he, Kemp locks himself, he will not be safe. Colonel Adye arrives at his house and tells him that his servant has been assaulted.There a sound of smashing glass as Griffin starts to throw stones at the window panes. Dr. Kemp’s house is on siege. Colonel Adye decides to go down to the police station and get the bloodhounds put on. On the way out he takes away Dr.Kemp’s revolver. Unfortunately, Adye is confronted by Griffin. Griffin demands that Adye return to Dr.Kemp’s house. Colonel Adye, however disagrees because he fears that Griffin would find a way to slip into the house and then attack Dr. Kemp. A struggle takes place between both the men and Griffin shoots dead Colonel Adye with the revolver he has snatched away from Colonel Adye.  Griffin gains entry into the house by smashing in the kitchen door with an axe. One of the policemen catches the swinging axe with a poker he  has in his hand. Griffin fires the last bullet from his revolver.Seeing that nothing much can be gained by staying indoors, Dr.Kemp follows the maid and jumps out of one of the windows.

28.   Chapter Twenty-Eight: This is the last chapter in the book. Dr. Kemp runs towards Mr. Heelas’ house begging him to let him in. Mr. Heelas however doesn’t let him in. Seeing that there is no refuge for him, Kemp takes the hill-road in the downward direction. It was a desolate and lonely road. Soon he hears footsteps behind him and realises that Griffin was right behind him. He passes the Jolly Cricketers. Soon he comes across some labourers going to work. He calls out to them and tells them that the Invisible man is “close here!” He goes on to tell them to form a line and cut off the street at both ends. Griffin is trapped and then beaten to death by the labourers. Griffin becomes visible after his death.

29.   The Epilogue: The Epilogue ties up the loose ends of the story. We come across Marvel as well settled owner of an Inn. He is supposed to be a wise man now and is the custodian of Griffin’s diaries. He is the only one who has benefitted from his relationship with Griffin. Also, Marvel is the only character in the novel who undergoes a transformation.

Important Characters in The Invisible Man

A Brief glance of the characters in The Invisible Man
1.Griffin – An albino and a crazy scientist. He looks like an alien creature just arrived from space. There is something grotesque about him, rather like a person wearing a diving helmet, and the huge goggles he wears make him look outlandish. He has one goal in life, and that is “to show to the world” what he is and what he is capable of. He is incapable of maintaining human relationships. He is unemotional, does not feel sorry when his father commits suicide after Griffin robbed him. He had a girl whom he liked, but then his habit of finding fault in everyone made her look inferior and full of faults. He is a scientist who is driven by a desire to take revenge on the world for not recognising him and for perceived slights. He is a social as he doesn’t want to mix with society and keeps odd timings in Iping. Griffin is also anti-social and has a strong desire to destroy the world. His ultimate goal is to rule the world with an iron fist. For Griffin, Science is a tool for teaching humanity a lesson and not for its benefit.
2.Dr Kemp happens to be a counterfoil to Griffin. Unlike Griffin, he is a romantic scientist; he is someone who can appreciate the beauty of the setting sun. His biggest ambition is to become a fellow of the Royal Society. Dr Kemp is a person who will not take anything at face value. He listens to Griffin’s account about himself carefully, he asks him a lot of questions and gets the answers from Griffin that are convincing enough. However, Dr Kemp decides to check the newspapers before alerting Colonel Adye. to He wants to study and use science for the betterment of the society. Dr.Kemp cares about humanity. He is anthropomorphic in nature. He is a shrewd observer and suggests a few valuable steps be taken to secure Griffin at Port Stowe. He is a brave man who finally uses himself as a bait to draw Griffin into a street where his escape can be cut off by a group of labourers. It is clear that Dr Kemp is not interested in ruling over the world, rather he is more interested in saving it from a mad man like Griffin. Dr Kemp can also be called a brave man even when he is thought otherwise by the policemen at his house when they see him climbing out of the window after the maid.
3.Mrs Hall is a shrewd businesswoman who runs the Coach and Horses Inn with a tight fist. She is glad to have Griffin come in the month of February and rushes about to serve him food herself. She is level headed and more mature than her husband. She treats Griffin very nicely when he asks for lodging at the Coach and Horses and even looks into his comfort herself. She cooks for him, lays the table and serves him meals, all because she is interested in the money she can make from him. Mrs Hall becomes rather angry when the source of her income in the winter season seems to dry up. She serves him a bill on the breakfast tray and this is what angers the hungry Griffin. She can be harsh and caustic at times, especially when she scolds her husband.
4.Mr Hall is a foil to Mrs Hall, he seems to be less business minded than his wife. He is a dim- witted man who loves to have his pint of ale. Like all the rustic characters in the novel, he makes it a point to know what others are doing, he is too inquisitive. His dim-wittedness reaches a high point when Mrs Hall catches Teddy Henfrey and him listening at the parlour door while Griffin was roughing up Vicar Bunting and Mr Cuss, and she shouts at them, “Ain’t you nothin’ better to do—busy day like this?” There is a rather comical quality about his stupidity. Mr Hall has, perhaps no other role in the novel besides being Mrs Hall’s husband.
5.Teddy Henfrey - like all the rustic characters, the residents of Iping, he is a gossip monger, a nosy Parker who makes it a point to linger on in the parlour with the excuse of getting to know Griffin more. Griffin catches on to his game and tells him to get on with his work and not waste his time. In spite of being the typical dim-witted rustic, countryside character, he however, comes up with the strong feeling that Griffin is on the run from the law, and he expresses his strong belief that there is more to Griffin than meets the eye to Mr Hall.
6.Mr Cuss is the general practitioner of Iping village. His professional jealousy is aroused when he sees the number of bottles and flasks belonging to Griffin arriving at the inn. He makes a daring plan to visit Griffin to know more about him. At the end of the meeting, Mr Cuss is more frightened that ever at not been able Griffin’s hand inside the sleeve. He runs to Vicar Bunting to tell him everything. Like all the other rustic characters, he has the habit of poking his nose into everyone’s affairs. Like all the other rustic characters, Mr Cuss is averse to any kind of change, which is why he views the arrival of all the bottles and flasks with suspicion.
7.Mr and Mrs Bunting are the typical small town church priest and his wife. Mr Bunting is the stereotypical church priest, frugal in nature, (the quality of the wine is poor) and he keeps some money in the office desk, housekeeping money as he calls it. He is also the typically highly educated man, who, because of his superior knowledge of Latin and Greek is supposed to be able to decipher the symbols in Griffin’s diaries. Unfortunately, he is not able to understand what has been written in the diaries. He is level headed and supposedly someone that Mr Cuss can confide in about the strange experience he had while interviewing Griffin. His wife Mrs Bunting is devoted to him. She hears the footsteps of Griffin breaking into the vicarage, but then she doesn’t rush to wake up Revd. Bunting before making very sure that she is not hearing imaginary things. She wakes Revd. Bunting and stays with him all the way to the study where the house keeping money has been kept.
8.Miscellaneous rustic characters Mr Gould is the probationary assistant in the National school. He believes that Griffin is an anarchist out to blow something in an explosion. Mr Fearenside is the driver of the cart that brings Griffin’s bottles and flasks from the railway station. He spreads the piebald theory about Griffin. This is because he had been able to see the inside of the lower portion of Griffin’s leg when his dog bit him. He thought he had seen a patch. He believes that Griffin would be an ideal exhibit at a circus. Mr Sandy Wadgers is the village blacksmith, and he is called for after the incident of the flying furniture because he is a ‘knowing man…and very resourceful.’ When he arrives at the Coach and Horses and listens to a description of the incident of the flying furniture, he believes that witchcraft had caused the furniture to fly around. Mr Huxter is the shopkeeper. He is also ‘The Anglo-Saxon genius for parliamentary government’, and he guides the others about the legally and politically right way to tackle problems like Griffin. They might have a high social standing in the village community but then all of them are rather slow on the uptake and they argue about how they should handle the problem of the flying furniture and Griffin. Sandy Wadgers cautions them about being careful about breaking open Griffin’s door which has apparently opened by Mrs and Mr Hall. The rustic characters of Iping take a lot of time in making the right decisions. They have varied views, and take a long time in coming to a decision.
9.Bobby Jaffers is the typical village policeman. After getting the warrant for the arrest of Griffin, he marches ahead of a group of hangers on, stragglers and scared village folk who want to witness the arrest of Griffin. Unfortunately,  things turn difficult for Mr Bobby Jaffers, who after challenging Griffin is presented with a situation where he has to handcuff a man with no hands. Bobby Jaffers is a typical village constable, who is not able to improvise or handle the situation wisely. He struggles to handcuff Griffin, but Griffin evades him steadily slipping out of his clothes and becoming more and more invisible. Bobby Jaffers is a respected constable in the village, he is dedicated to his work, obeys and fulfils orders, tries to maintain law and order in Iping village, but then he is like his fellow villagers, dim witted, stupid and slow on the up take. The poor fellow gets beaten up in the melee, both by Griffin, and the others who punch and kick each other in their haste to get hold of Griffin.
10.Mr Marvel is the quintessential country side tramp, a vagabond who has no base. He is rotund, has a ruddy appearance with a perpetually red face, courtesy of the liquid diet of alcohol that forms his staple diet. Mr Marvel becomes the unwilling and unfortunate errands boy of Griffin. He is exploited by Griffin, and forced to enter into a no exit contract. He is made to do things that are illegal and dangerous. He is made to accompany Griffin to Iping to collect the diaries left behind in the parlour. He pushes the door to the parlour open allowing Griffin to slip in, and then takes his position under the parlour window from where Griffin hands him over the diaries. Mr Marvel’s pockets become the dumping ground or the containers to carry the coins robbed by Griffin from the people in Port Stowe. He tries to convince Griffin to let him go because he has a weak heart and is of no use to Griffin. However Griffin doesn’t let him go. It is because of this reason that Mr Marvel decides to run away. Mr Marvel barely escapes being caught by Griffin in the Jolly Cricketers inn. Fortunately enough the man with the black beard fires at Griffin. Mr Marvel is surprisingly an interesting character in this book. He is the only person who benefits from his relationship with Griffin, having made off with all the money stolen by the latter. He sets down base in Port Stowe. Opens an inn and names it The Invisible Man. He becomes a wise man, and is the custodian of Griffin’s diaries. That the diaries are safe with him cannot be doubted. Mr Marvel proves to be a humble and modest man who in spite of his newly acquired wealth does not forget his roots.
11.The Man with the black beard is a man of action. He is probably from the Wild West, Texas in America. He has a revolver and itches to use it. The British constable in the Jolly Cricketers Inn however warns him about manslaughter. When the confrontation finally takes place between Griffin and the rest of the guests at the Jolly Cricketers, it is this man who takes things into his hands. He fires five rounds at Griffin and one of his rounds hits Griffin in the hand. The action of the man with the black beard brings about the turning point in the story because it is after this point that Griffin enters Dr Kemp’s house.
12.Colonel Adye is the exact opposite of Bobby Jaffers, the village constable. He is methodical, efficient, hard-working and intelligent. He follows Dr Kemp’s instructions to the word. Colonel Adye is a brave man who goes down fighting Griffin. Unfortunately he is no match for Griffin in terms of intelligence. He refuses to return to Dr Kemp’s house when Griffin instructs him to do so because he knows that the moment the door is opened by Dr Kemp to let him in, Griffin will slip in like he did before.

A Comparison and Contrast of Griffin and Dr. Kemp

It is quite true that both Griffin and Dr. Kemp were scientists who had attended the same institution; however where they differ is in their temperaments, attitudes towards scientific research, life, and humanity. They both have opposite attitudes towards the ethics of scientific research. While for Dr. Kemp Scientific research is about contributing towards the welfare of all humanity, for Griffin it is however a means of self-aggrandisement and showing to others who is in control of the world! For Griffin, invisibility is a discovery that he wants to splash upon the world with a crushing effect to become famous. It was a way of taking revenge on a world that did not recognize his brilliance. Dr. Kemp, on the other had is not obsessed with Science as a means for self-glorification. No, he doesn’t want to  share the opportunity of ruling over the world as Griffin’s confederate even if it lends him all the power and money that anyone would want. It goes without saying that while Griffin is obsessed with success in discovering the secret of invisibility even if it means robbing his own father, Dr. Kemp, however has too great a conscience to join him, and it his concern for the safety of mankind with a maniac on the loose that prompts him to write a note to Colonel Adye.

Griffin’s antisocial and a social behaviour is the result of his being an albino, a young man of twenty-two who has ambitions but not the economic means to fulfil them. He has an exaggerated feeling of being superior in the midst of provincial professors and provincial fellow students. It is about a feeling of inferiority somehow driving the engine of revenge and an exaggerated sense of superiority over others. Griffin was obsessed by a magnificent vision of the power and freedom that his discovery would give him. He didn’t want to share his secret with anyone. This obsession with power invests his character with a violent streak which keeps appearing throughout the novel! Take for example his hitting the landlord in chapter 24, and his setting fire to his lodgings at Oxford street. This violent streak in his character can be seen in the way he assaults whoever comes to capture him in the seventh chapter when he reveals himself at the Coach and Horses Inn at Ipping. Griffin is devoid of conscience and he has no scruples about robbing his own father when he runs out of money to fund his research. What makes things worse is that he has no remorse for his father who commits suicide when he is not able to pay back the stolen money to his debtor! What makes Griffin even more dangerous and scary is his world view which he describes to Dr. Kemp in the chapter 24 where he invites Dr. Kemp to be his confederate, and tells him that together they will unleash, “a reign of terror” on the whole world. Griffin tells Dr. Kemp how they could set out on a spree of “Judicious slaying” of those who would dare to voice their dissent to his rule. Apparently the perceived slight that he feels he has received at the hands of the society has turned him into a very revengeful person with a dangerous personal agenda! The ethics of scientific research might go for a toss, for all he cares, what matters is the rather sadistic pleasure that he gains from hurting others. There is a rather childish form of pleasure in him when he hits Mr. Hall in the chest when he goes to him to ask him about the dog bite,  or for that effect the satisfying feeling of hitting his landlord in Oxford street! The murder of Mr. Wicksteed, an innocent man of 45 in chapter 26 takes this violent streak to another higher and more dangerous level!

Dr. Kemp, the counterfoil to Griffin is a humanist, a compassionate scientist who is able to balance cold scientific reasoning and logic with the romanticism of a poet. His shrewd scientific outlook makes him notice the spot of blood that had been left by Griffin when he entered Dr. Kemp’s house after being shot by the black bearded man at the Jolly Cricketers. Dr. Kemp is a person who doesn’t take things at face value, so he checks all the newspapers before deciding to send a note to Colonel Adye. This is a man who is not only a scientist but also someone who can admire the rich golden colour of the setting sun bathing the back of the hill. When he first meets Griffin, he treats him with great hospitality, and kindness. Dr. Kemp listens to Griffin’s stories about how he discovered the secret of invisibility, how he treated the cat, and how he had no scruples in turning himself, a human being into a guinea pig as the last stage in his research into invisibility. The conflict in Dr. Kemp’s mind as to whether or not he should hand Griffin to the authorities stands testimony to the fact that this is a man who would not easily betray a friend, let alone someone who went to the same college as he did. He thinks to himself if it would not “be a breach of faith” to inform the authorities about Griffin’s presence in his house. However after careful thought, Dr. Kemp finally does send a note addressed to Colonel Adye.  Dr. Kemp is a counterbalance to Griffin, he is a more sane and balanced person than the latter, he believes in the ethics of scientific research, he doesn’t approve of Griffin’s discovery because it doesn’t benefit mankind. He is not tempted by the vision of power and wealth promised by Griffin if he joins him as a “confederate”. He questions the need to indulge in unnecessary killing of people. He doesn’t approve of Griffin’s vision of “playing a game against a race”. He asks Griffin how he could hope to gain happiness through such violent means. He tells him not to “be a lone wolf,” to “Publish” his “results; take the world …into (his) confidence”.

Ultimately, it can be said that Dr. Kemp knows his responsibilities towards the welfare of humankind, and his scientific curiosity doesn’t overshadow his belief in the ethics of scientific ethics.

Note: This will help formulate answers to the following questions:

1. Draw a character sketch of Griffin.

2. Draw a character sketch of Dr. Kemp.

3. Draw a comparison between Griffin and Dr. Kemp.

4. Write a note on the theme of Scientific Ethics as highlighted by the novel The Invisible

    Man.

Was Griffin Happy after discovering invisibility?

I had a wonderful discussion with the Humanities students today while going through the twenty-third chapter of The Invisible Man. The bone of contention was whether life has a meaning if it is not associated with the impact that one has on other people’s lives. The question of the day which I put before the students was whether the discovery of invisibility had any purpose in terms of furthering the human cause. The students claimed that if Griffin had achieved invisibility, it meant that he had achieved his life’s goal and so he would have been happy in all senses. The reality was however that Griffin was not in any way satisfied with what he had achieved. In fact he recounts the fact that invisibility had brought with it more problems than advantages. Take for example the description of  not being able to enjoy the benefits of having Delilah as a lover, or for that effect Griffin’s inability to enjoy his food in the first restaurant because he was worried about exposing his face while eating his food. But then what meaning did life have for Griffin? Apparently life had no meaning for him because his discovery did not benefit anyone at all, and so perhaps the achievement did not have any meaning for mankind as a whole.

The very desire of achieving invisibility, though initially fed by an honest desire to explore the  the secret of invisibility from a scientist’s point of view, later becomes tempered with a desire to show the world what he is. The frustration of being, ‘a shabby, poverty – struck, hemmed in demonstrator, teaching fools in a provincial college,’ - chapter 19, very clearly suggests that the motive for discovering the secret of invisibility had nothing to do with the ethics of scientific research, or perhaps even furthering a good cause for humanity. It was born out a desire for vengeance on a society that had refused too recognize his talents, a society that he feels had wronged him by not allowing him the opportunity to come out of his poverty. It is for this reason, one might claim that Griffin’s euphoria resulting from the discovery soon wears away. In chapter 23, Griffin explains, ‘But you begin to realise the full disadvantage of my condition. I Had no shelter – no covering – to get clothing was to forego all my advantage, to make myself a strange and terrible thing.’ It is not only the cold that drives Griffin crazy, it is also hunger that makes him mad. His brief stay at the emporium in chapter 22 reminds him that he is more of an outcast now after achieving invisibility. All the doors were closed to him, nobody would welcome him home, he has become  the ‘caricature’ of a human being. This is even more evident in chapter 23 when he looks into the mirror after helping himself to glasses, whiskers, and the ‘hunchback’s boots’.

As a result of his experiment, Griffin finally becomes a ‘bandaged caricature of a man’. Who can say that he was a happy man after achieving success? Success came at the cost of his losing his humanness, and his ability to live in the company of human beings. Perhaps the greatest irony of the situation comes up when deciding to treat himself to a ‘sumptuous feast’, he visits a restaurant, almost places the order, but then realises that to eat food in a public place would mean that he would have to expose his invisible face. He is forced to turn to another restaurant that offered poorer quality of food but had the facility of providing him with a separate room which offered him privacy from prying eyes. Griffin’s sense of frustration mostly fuelled by the results of his experiment in invisibility, is brought out in the words, ‘Ambition – what is the good of pride of place when you cannot appear there? What is the good of love of woman when her name must needs be Delilah!’-Chapter 23.

The question is, how can a man enjoy happiness after achieving a sort of success which he can’t flaunt amongst others? How can a person who is all the time on the run enjoy a moment of peace and thereby contentment? Is Griffin happy about his achievement; is there anything to be proud about achieving invisibility? In his words, ‘I made a mistake…a huge mistake, in carrying this thing through alone. I have wasted strength, time, and opportunities. Alone – it is wonderful how little a man can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end.’ Somehow, the reader might claim that Griffin’s invisibility was the result of circumstance, primarily because the landlord had come knocking at his door with ‘threats and inquiries’ regarding Griffin’s ‘vivisection’ of the cat, which leads to an altercation and fisticuffs between the landlord and his tenant. Griffin’s unthinking audacity and violent behaviour with the landlord could lead to only one conclusion, namely his eviction from his lodgings. In his own words, ‘At the thought of the possibility of my work being exposed or interrupted at its climax, I became very angry and active.’ The final emotions that drive Griffin towards taking invisibility towards its next stage, are not in any case associated with the joys of scientific discovery, rather they are associated with the feelings of vindictiveness, anger, and restlessness. Nothing that Griffin does, the hard work that he puts in, his robbing his father leading to his committing suicide nothing can give Griffin the pleasure of having achieved success. Griffin can only wallow in self-pity, blame the society and the circumstances but not feel pride or happiness in what he has achieved!

Note: I could have written the title of this piece as, 'Did Invisibility make Griffin Happy?' or 'Was Griffin Happy to be Invisible?' but instead I decided to put in a lengthier title because the idea was to give stress to the process, the sequence of events leading to his achieving success. The continuous tense form of the verb, 'discover' is thus intentional. It is not the event, but the circumstances leading to it that determine whether or not Griffin will ever be a happy man! I

Griffin’s Manifesto

In chapter 24 of the Novel, The Invisible Man, Griffin describes what one might label as a Manifesto for a new world order. This manifesto is provided to Dr. Kemp with the hope that he would be interested in joining forces with Griffin and thus share and taste the benefits of sharing power with Griffin. The truth, however is that Dr.Kemp has other things in mind, especially the letter that he had sent to Colonel Adye, the Chief of the Burdock Police. Griffin spells out his plans for the new world order in the following terms:

• He advocates an era of, ‘Judicious Killing,’ a term which is ironical in itself!
• He wants to set up a reign of terror in the town of Burdock. This would include terrorizing and dominating the people living in the town.
• Griffin suggests that in his new scheme, all those who are against him and those who support them will be eliminated.

What does Griffin’s Manifesto Reveal about the Character of Griffin?

An analysis of this manifesto reveals the inner workings of Griffin’s mind. He might be labelled as a misanthrope who wants to eliminate the human race. He might also be seen as a person who is obsessed with power and the desire to take revenge on a society that he feels has never acknowledged his capabilities for which he has a grudge for which he wants due acknowledgement. Dr. Kemp calls him, ‘Mad’ and suggests that ‘he has schemes against his species’. While some may call him a megalomaniac, others might call him a person who has a personal vendetta against the society for slights that he thinks have been heaped on his head. We have in Griffin, the qualities of a would be dictator, a person who would like to subjugate humanity through his anti-human policies.

Griffin’s expectations from Dr. Kemp

Griffin, throughout his discourse relating to his manifesto expects Dr. Kemp to be a ‘Confederate’ in the new scheme of things. By   using  the word, ‘Confederate’   Griffin wants to  offer to Griffin a relationship that would be a relation between equals, unlike the unequal relationship that exists between Marvel and him. As a Confederate, Griffin expects Dr. Kemp to be wholly in sync with his nefarious schemes. Griffin makes it clear that he wants someone whom he can depend upon, in terms of mental aptitude and capabilities. In Dr. Kemp he sees the opportunity of enjoying financial and material support, food, shelter, and a secure environment free from the fear of being apprehended by the police. Dr. Kemp however is clearly not interested in Griffin’s offer and he has one eye on the approaching  men led by Colonel Adye.

What is the secret to Success in Life according to William Douglas?

When William Douglas finally crossed from one shore of Warm Lake to the other, he shouted in exultation. He had finally overcome his fear of water, a handicap that had  its roots deeply embedded in two childhood incidents. The first incident happened when he was three or four years old. His father had taken him to the beach in California and there the waves knocked him down. The second took place much later, when at the age of ten or eleven he was thrown into the deep end of the YMCA Swimming pool at Yakima. The whole story is a lesson for all young people. The message of the Lesson, ‘Deep Water’ is that handicaps can be overcome. But then the question is how did Douglas do it? Is there something that we can take from this lesson and use in our own lives? The answer is yes! To understand how Douglas did it, we need to analyse the whole process. I have broken down the whole process into steps with the relevant Headings given below:

1.Accepting that you have a problem in life: I have a problem, I need to do something!

Many years after Douglas had that terrible experience in the swimming pool at Yakima, he felt he had a problem with water. The handicap he had prevented him from enjoying outdoor activities like canoeing, fishing, boating and even swimming. He just couldn’t enjoy life as he wanted to. It was then that he realized that he had a problem. The first step in learning to overcome one’s handicaps and weaknesses is to accept that one has a problem. For Douglas, this also included understanding how his childhood experiences  had a larger meaning for him. What comes after accepting that you have a problem in life, is to try to identify the root cause of the problem.

2. Taking Help from someone

It was after Douglas had accepted that he had a problem that he decided to take the next step in solving it. The next step required taking help from a swimming instructor. The swimming instructor was an expert and he took Douglas through a rigorous training schedule until, ‘piece by piece he built a swimmer out of (him).’

3. Physical Training - The Process

In this case I should mention that physical training is relevant where the handicap has a physical context. In Douglas’ case it was fear for water. The process was arduous enough. The instructor trained Douglas from October to April five days an hour each. The training included tying a rope around Douglas's waist which was wound around a pulley which the instructor slackened and tightened as his student swam to and fro in the pool. Next Douglas was taught to exhale while his mouth and nose were in the water and inhale when his nose came up. Then he was told to hold on to the sides of the pool and kick his legs. The instructor taught him different swimming styles. For students and young people who are struggling with handicaps, this would mean setting up a schedule of work. planning for the days ahead, and sticking to the work schedule. Some of the most successful people I know, like Arunima Sinha the first woman amputee to surmount Mt. Everest stuck to a schedule of processes which would prepare her for her goal.

4.Mental Training – The Process

Some of the most important aspects of training for success include mental training. In the case of William Douglas, it was about developing the mental skills of persistence, patience, and hard work. Success depends to a great level on Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, a hunger to succeed and a desire to overcome one’s limitations. Most of the people I have known have achieved success in life because of their ability to plod over the same areas repetitively. Arunima Sinha kept practicing mountain climbing till she started bleeding from the place where her prosthetic limb joined the stump of her leg. Douglas too repeated his breathing exercise ‘hundreds of times’. While learning to swim in the pool, Douglas describes how, ‘we went back and forth, back and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week.’ Douglas as such had trained himself to be patient and  persistent!

5.Doing it On Your Own-Doing it Solo

The next most important thing to do after the period of physical and mental training is over is to Do it On Your Own! Douglas tells us how after the ‘Instructor was finished’, he still felt that something still remained. Douglas felt that nagging fear at the back of his mind. He wondered if he would be terror stricken if he attempted to swim solo in the swimming pool. Therefore, in his own words, ‘I was not finished’. Douglas knew that he still had to overcome his fear of water, so he decided to swim solo in the swimming pool. Whenever ‘tiny vestiges of the old terror would return,’ he would frown at it and challenge it and swim another lap!

6.Push your Limits!

Complacency, overconfidence and laziness are the worst enemies that an aspiring woman or man can have! For William Douglas, swimming solo in the YMCA swimming pool was simply  not enough. He just had to push his own limits. For him what mattered was proving to himself that he could do it! Douglas thus went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire and dived he dived from Trigg’s Island and swam to Stamp Act Island. In the middle of the route, when he put his face into the water and could not see the bottom, the old terror returned. He confronted it and it fled. But even this was not enough for Douglas – he just had to push his own limits. Douglas  next visited Warm Lake and swam from one shore of the lake to the other. It was only after he had done so, without being confronted by his own fear that he shouted in exultation and the cliffs echoed his shout of joy and achievement. Nothing can beat the joy of having conquered one’s fears and weaknesses to emerge victors in the true sense.

A Critical Analysis of A Thing of beauty

The poem, A Thing of Beauty by John Keats belongs to the Romantic Age of English poetry and as such follows the Romantic Genre of writing. An excerpt taken from Keat’s, ‘Endymion; A Poetic Romance’  A Thing of Beauty romanticizes the concept of beauty as something that has the ability to transform life. Romanticising, as such is about investing objects with a larger than life kind of a treatment, it could be any object, the beloved, nature, beauty (in the case of this extract), and anything that attracts the attention of the poet. Often the poet might be compelled to write about an actual incident, like for example, Daffodils which is prescribed is read by students of grade eight. Daffodils, written by Wordsworth also romanticised the beauty of the Daffodils, that Wordsworth saw during a walk in the mountains with his sister Dorothea. Some of the important aspects of the poem are listed below:

1.Genre/Style of Writing:

A Thing of Beauty belongs to the Romantic Genre of Writing. First published in 1818 the poem, A Thing of Beauty is written in rhyming couplets,the rhyme scheme employed by the poet is aa,bb. and it is written in the iambic pentameter.

2. Theme:

a) The central theme of this poem deals with Beauty in its spiritual and earthly aspects. The poet has attempted to describe beauty in all its forms, and has suggested that beauty has the ability to transform life in a positive way.

b) The poet’s message in this poem is that Beauty has the ability to transform lives, it can dispel negativism, disperse dark thoughts, it can remove the sting from grief, can help you survive even when there is a ‘dearth of noble natures’ or when you are surrounded by hostile and malicious people. Beauty also has a positive impact on one’s heath, it can help steady the breathing, give one  a sound sleep. John Keats suggests that beauty can be found everywhere in life, and as such he draws a list of beautiful things which include, the sun, the moon, trees, daffodils, musk rose blooms,  simple sheep and beauty can also be found in the stories of the bravery, courage and sacrifice shown by people who were not afraid to die for a greater cause. One warning however is that one should not get infatuated by earthly beauty lest we should be blinded to the idea of beauty being spiritual in nature and that the ultimate goal of appreciating beauty should be to appreciate God who created beautiful things for our edification. Keats suggests that beauty has a spiritual source when he implies that it flows from ‘An endless fountain’ in heaven,beauty thus, is a spiritual drink, an ‘immortal drink’ made especially for all mankind.

3. Important Figures of Speech and images metaphors

   a) Metaphors and Symbols: The poet has made liberal use of metaphors and symbols in the poem. The contents in the list of beautiful things themselves are metaphors and symbols for beauty. The fountain in heaven is a metaphor for the source of spiritual beauty. The ‘flowery band’ is a metaphor for earthly beauty which is entrapping, mesmerising, and infatuating, as in enslaving, thus one should beware of the ‘flowery band’ lest we should be trapped in it. The ‘grandeur of the dooms’ of the ‘mighty dead’ is a metaphor for bravery, sacrifice and selflessness, all stories true and made up, beautiful stories too!

    b)  Imagery: The poem contains a very powerful image of earthly beauty in the lines, ‘are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth’. This is an image that creates a picture of the universal beauty, a band, however that traps us to the earth. The warning is implicit in the image itself, and the words, ‘flowery band’ contain a paradox, a conceit in so far that we don’t associate flowers with ‘band’ where the latter creates a sense of being bound, tied, or subject to restrictions. A Thing of Beauty is full of sensory images, and one can almost feel and smell them. these include, ‘shady boon’ which creates a sense of comfort and respite on a hot summer afternoon, and so does the description of the ‘clear rills’ that ‘a cooling covert make’. The description of the ‘sprinkling of fair musk rose blooms’ in the middle of a clearing in the forest provides a rich feast of colours for the eyes!

4. The Aesthetics of Beauty This seems a wrong way to describe how Keats has described beauty, but then when he talks of beauty as something that ‘is a joy forever’ or that ‘Its loveliness increases, or even that, ‘it will never Pass into nothingness’ then what he is doing in effect is to tell the reader that he is talking about universal beauty that transcends time itself.He is expounding the Philosophy of Aesthetics in an attempt to describe what constitutes beauty itself.

5.  Making connections between lessons with the same themes  For students of grade twelve following the CBSE board, it would be a good idea for them to recall the poem, Daffodils written by Wordsworth, which many might have read in grade eight. The poem, Daffodils carries the same theme as A Thing of Beauty. It is wonderful how a single instance of watching the Daffodils dancing in the breeze can have such a powerful impact on the poet, Wordsworth in that poem has a treasure trove which he can fall back on when he is alone and probably low at heart! Another lesson that talks about beauty although of a different kind is The Portrait of a Lady, a lesson in grade eleven in which Khushwant Singh attempts to bring out the inner beauty of his Grandmother who was beautiful in spite of the fact that her face was crisscrossed with wrinkles and she walked with a stoop, but then that was written as a prose piece and not a poem! Common strand that links A Thing of Beauty, Daffodils, and the Prose piece, Portrait of a Lady is that they all talk about the transforming power of Beauty. Beauty is a magical drink that has the ability to transform lives, thoughts, and health!

The Tiger King

   1) Genre of writing : Satire, Comedy

       a)  Style of writing tongue in cheek, sarcasm, makes use of literal irony and dramatic

             irony.

       b)  Subject of Satirical attack: The Tiger King is the subject of this satirical attack.

            The writer attacks bureaucratic system through the Tiger King, he makes fun

             of the hierarchical system people in high  positions  follow. Kalki makes fun of

             the vanity, and obsession of powerful people with all things foreign. The writer

             makes it a point to describe how the relationship that exists between the Boss

             and his minions is based not on mutual trust, but fear, fear of being transferred

             or losing one’s job. Suffice it to say that The Tiger King is a satirical comment on

             the existing Bureaucratic society of the country.

    2) Theme: Crime and punishment / Divine Retribution/Harming Nature will lead

         to serious consequences.

             Message: You can not harm nature and then expect to go scot free, even if you

             are a Maharaja. The Tiger King was aware of the fact that even he did not have

             the right of killing tigers, so he made use of the excuse of ‘Self Defence’ to kill a

             hundred tigers.

     3) Important Characters:

           a) The Tiger King- a prodigy who speaks age of ten days. A gentleman of the

                highest order who is obsessed with a long title like His Highness Jamedar-Gen-

                eral, Khiledar-Major, Sata Vyaghra Samhari, Maharajadhiraja Visva Bhuvana

                Samrat, Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, M.A.D., A.C.T.C., or C.R.C.K.! He is vain,

                self obsessed, obsessed about killing a hundred tigers even if it means

                abdicating his responsibility towards the state, and in many ways, The Tiger

                is a stereotype an equivalent for the  rather proud but vain Bureaucrat!

                The Tiger King is obsessed with defeating fate for the express reason

                that he is afraid that what the astrologers might after all come true.

            b) Dewan Saheb-A rather confused and nervous Chief Minister who is often

                 terrified of his Master, the Tiger King. There are two dialogues that figure

                 in the story. The first is when the Tiger King tells the Dewan that he wants

                 to get married and the Dewan  shudders at the sight of the gun in the

                 Maharaja’s hand and he is so nervous and intimidated by the Maharaj that

                 he is depicted as a typical laughing stock, a babbling and blathering idiot.

                 It takes, however the threat of sacking the Dewan that makes the Dewan

                 regain his senses and this is when we see him as not so foolish! He had

                 arranged for an old tiger to be brought from the People’s Park in Madras

                 to be delivered to him so that he could present it to the Maharaja to be shot.

             c) The Hunters- these are down to earth people who fear the Maharaja so much

                 they dare not inform him that he had missed hitting the tiger lest they should

                 lose their jobs. One of them takes aim at the tiger and shoots him and

                 thereafter they become ready participants in the procession carrying the

                 dead body of the tiger into town. Their relationship with the Maharaja is not

                 based on trust.

             d) The shopkeeper-He too like the Dewan and the Hunters is a minion who

                  lives in fear of his Master, the Maharaja. He inflates the cost of the wooden

                  tiger because he ‘knew that if he quoted such a low price to the Maharaja

                 he would be punished under the rules of the Emergency’ and so he quotes

                 the price of the tiger as ‘three hundred rupees’!

The Enemy

Comparing and contrasting the characters of Dr.Sadao and General Takima

The central theme of the lesson, ‘The Enemy’  deals with  the paradox of how a human being can also be termed as the enemy of a nation which is at war with another nation.The white sailor who is washed on to the shore is labelled as 'The Enemy' according to the Laws of the Land, and one wonders whether the harsh rules of patriotism might not ultimately challenge the very laws of humanity! It is in light this consideration that the next issue crops up, and that is, who is the guiltier of the two, Dr Sadao, or General Takima? The Lesson, ‘The Enemy ’- an extract from one of Pearl S. Buck’s works is a seminal prose piece which challenges our understanding of the narrow limitations of Patriotism by presenting before us the higher laws of humanity!

To begin analysing the whole issue, one might agree that by giving shelter to ‘The Enemy’ Dr Sadao had broken the rules of patriotism, and he could even be guilty of treason! But then one should also go into the motive for giving shelter to the white sailor Tom, was it that he had a sympathy for Americans since he had studied in America? The answer to this question is a clear no and moreover Dr Sadao makes it clear that there was sense of, ‘repulsion’ in the minds of Dr Sadao and Hana. So then why did he desire to save the life of the white sailor and does it make his crime less acute than that of General Takima? The answer to this question deals with his profession which was saving lives, and the Gardener’s complaint about his master is that, ‘he saves any life’ without distinction between enemy and friend apparently! It is clear that for Dr Sadao, the very purpose of his life was to save lives without distinction, and this is exactly why he went ahead to save the life of Tom! Faced by the dilemma of saving Tom’s life or turning him over to the authorities, he instinctively decides to do the former, as handing him over to the authorities would result in his death. While operating on Tom, Dr Sadao’s hands move deftly of their own accord, they are the skilful hands of an accomplished Surgeon! It is clear, therefore that Dr Sadao was compelled by his duty as a doctor to help the enemy soldier.

Like Dr Sadao is equally party to the crime of treason for the very fact that he didn’t report the presence of the, ‘Enemy Sailor’ in Dr Sadao’s home! General Takima chose to keep the presence of Tom under wraps, but then unlike Dr Sadao, this was not out of a desire to save a life, ( in any case, General Takima was known for his ruthlessness in quelling dissent and there were rumours about torture), rather it was all about using the information about the white sailor as tool of leverage over Dr Sadao so that he would continue to treat General Takima! General Takima’s crime against the state is based more on selfish reasons than a desire to give precedence to the higher laws of humanity over the laws of patriotism! That this is indeed the case becomes clear after the operation when both Dr Sadao and General Takima engage in a conversation. General Takima tries to defend himself for not sending the assassins suggesting that he, “was suffering a good deal. The truth is, I thought of nothing but myself. In short, I forgot my promise to you.”  General Takima goes on to impress upon Dr Sadao that, “ it was not lack of patriotism or dereliction of duty” that had made him turn a blind eye to the whole issue. Dr Sadao realized however after the conversation with General Takima that, ‘the General was in the palm of his hand and that,’ consequently at least, ‘he was perfectly safe’ from any action that the General might plan to take against him in order to  ensure that he continued to treat him! Dr Sadao now knew that the General was after all a selfish cowardly man who thought about himself before the nation! This in any case is not true about Dr Sadao!

Dr Sadao, unlike the General didn’t have a selfish motive for saving the life of Tom, while the General did have a selfish motive in not reporting the presence of the white sailor to the authorities. They both were guilty of the crime of treason, but the the nature of their guilt varies. With Dr Sadao it was about giving precedence to the higher laws of humanity than to the harsh laws of patriotism, while for the General it was about giving the self precedence over the Nation and its strict laws of patriotism. What Dr Sadao had done was to suggest and prove how the higher laws of humanity are greater than the narrow harsh and inflexible laws of patriotism. It was an affirmation about how respect for humanity can help transcend the narrow barriers and boundaries that divide nations on the basis of colour, language, race, and geographical distinctions!  It is clear from the outset that General Takima stands out as the guiltier of the two because of the fact that his motives for breaking the rules were based almost entirely on selfish reasons, to be able to blackmail and compel Dr Sadao to continue treating him without fail. Dr.Sadao too broke the laws of the land, but then the motive was fair, it was not selfish, it was about obeying the higher laws of humanity and it was about saving a life, something he had promised to do when he took the oath of Hippocrates- in a way he was doing a duty towards humanity, he was doing his job as a surgeon! A final round of questions would perhaps clear any doubts we might have about who is the guiltier of the two – What would you choose in such a case, humanity or the discriminating laws of Patriotism? What would you choose you self or the nation? What would you choose risk your life to save another’s life, or save your own life at the cost of another’s life? Dr. Sadao risked his life in order to save the life of the white sailor

Why was the Champaran episode a turning point for Gandhi?

The lesson, Indigo describes the Gandhi's tryst with the landlords and the sharecroppers of Champaran. The sharecroppers of Champaran wanted a refund of the amount that they had given to the landlords in lieu of the indigo harvest. The peasants’ grievance was that they had been made to pay more than what the indigo was worth after scientists in Germany had developed synthetic Indigo. When Gandhi met the secretary of the Landlord’s association, he was told that, ‘they could give no information to an outsider’. The British official commissioner of the Tirhut division bullied Gandhi suggesting that he should leave Motihari forthwith!

It was in light of all the opposition that Gandhi experienced that he probably decided to experiment with Non-Cooperation. The first instance of Non-Cooperation took place when Gandhi was served with an order to  quit Champaran while on a trip to a village to investigate an incident of a harassment of a sharecropper by his Landlord. Gandhi signed a receipt for the order and added that he would not comply with the order. Gandhi was then served with a notice from the Magistrate ordering him to appear for a hearing the next day. The next day, we are told that Motihari was, “black with peasants” who wanted to see a, ‘Mahatma’  who had come to fight for them. The presence of the peasants in such large numbers  put the administration into a tizzy. Gandhi went on to manage the crowd. Looking at the tense situation, the magistrate decided to adjourn the court hearing. Gandhi, however didn’t wait for a judgement to be passed on him. He went on to declare himself guilty for breaking the laws of the land, but then he claimed that he was upholding the higher laws of humanity. This was the second instance when Gandhi used the tool of non-cooperation in so far as he didn’t wait for the judge to pass a judgement on him.The judge then announced an adjournment for two hours and asked Gandhi to furnish a bond for that period. Gandhi refused. This was the third instance when he used the tool of Non-Cooperation. The end result was that the case against Gandhi for refusing the order order to leave Champaran was dropped by the British administration. This was a major victory for Gandhi!

What happened next was that an enquiry commission was  set up by the British Administration and it resulted in the acceptance of the fact that the share-croppers had indeed been wronged. What happened next was that the landlords decided to enter into a stalemate with Gandhi about the percentage of the amount to be returned. Gandhi however relented on a demand for a fifty per cent refund and agreed to a twenty-five per cent refund, thus breaking a possible deadlock with the Landlords. Gandhi later stated that the amount of refund was not as important as even a twenty-five per cent refund would prove that the Landlords were not above the law, and moreover he wanted to pass on the message to the peasants that they had rights and had people who would fight for their rights! Ultimately, the landlords quit Champaran being unable to face the the peasants whom they had been compelled to compensate.

The whole Champaran episode became a turning point for Gandhi because it had taught Gandhi about the effectiveness of Non-Cooperation, and Satyagraha. He had succeeded in teaching the peasants a lesson in courage, he had been able to pass on a message to the British that they could not order him about in his own country. He had proved to the Landlords that they were not above the law, and most important of all he had taught the share-croppers that they had rights. The battle was fought and the peasants were victorious, all through a revolution that was based not on blood-shed, but on the tenets of Non-Cooperation, Satyagraha and Non-Violence. His success in Champaran convinced Gandhi that some wars can be fought successfully not with violence and bloodshed, but through more humane means. The Champaran Episode was and eye-opener not just for Gandhi, but also for the common people who rose to the occasion in their own way to support their Mahatma. The Champaran episode proves to the world that what might not be achieved through violence and blood shed might be in fact achieved through more peaceful means. This is a potent message for all of those who are aggrieved that the tools of Non-Violence, Non-cooperation and Satyagraha are more potent than the tools of violence, namely, guns, bombs and knives-an important lesson for us in times of  impatience and shortened tempers!

What is wrong with Sophie in Going Places?

The lesson, ‘Going Places’ by A.R. Barton highlights what can go wrong when a teenager dreams and fantasizes excessively ( yes, that is the theme too ). While it is true that a life without dreams is a dry, drab and rather dead, life that is divorced from reality is equally harmful, bordering on insanity and an inability to differentiate between what is real and what is mere fantasy! Young children often pass through a phase of role playing and fantasizing, but then they soon grow out of it. Sophie, however hasn’t grown out of this phase! She keeps dreaming about what she will do after graduating from school, open a boutique, become an actress, or a manager-all without having the wherewithal to convert these dreams into reality. Her friend, Jansie presents a contrast to Sophie. She is grounded in reality, and she knows very well that they, ‘are earmarked for the biscuit factory’ at the most. Jansie’s cold logic and understanding or reality however might be in themselves rather too depressing, a reaffirmation of the idea that they have a bleak future ahead of them because of their economic circumstances. One might wish for more hope something provided for by dreams and fantasies. It is true that fantasizing or day dreaming within limits might provide a suitable refuge from the stress, disappointments and sadness of real life. In excess however this very refuge might become a trap from which there is no escape.

In many ways, one can’t help pitying Sophie for becoming what she is-a person who will spin tales in order to gain the attention of her father and her brother Geoff, whom she admires. Sophie spins the yarn of having met Danny Cassey probably in order to draw Geoff’s attention away from the motorcycle parts with which he was tinkering. He is the only one who sympathizes with her, although he knows that she has a propensity for spinning tall tales. Sophie is very much like Mademoiselle Loiselle in the short story, ‘The Necklace’ by Guy De Maupassant whose dreams for a better life ultimately leads her and her husband into destitution! Borrowing what she thought was a diamond necklace from her friend proves to be her undoing! Sophie too is like Mademoiselle Loiselle. She is however like a bird trapped in the cage of poverty, and she wants to spread her wings to fly and explore the world that had been denied to her because of her economic circumstances! With Sophie however, we don’t get to see things deteriorating as badly as they did for Madame Loiselle, although looking at how things are progressing we can only guess that her daydreaming could lead to great distress! Sophie’s father is aware about how things could work out for Sophie when he warns her that, “One of these days you’re going to talk yourself into a load of trouble”. Instead of the word, “talk” replace it with day dreaming, and obsession for a more fantastic life. For Sophie, the obsession for a better life coupled with her tendency to day dream and fantasize a lot are sure signs of a mental malady that could cause her great harm in the long run! Some of the danger signs of this tendency to fantasize are described in the part where Sophie walks by the canal to sit on the wooden bench beneath the solitary elm to wait for Danny Casey to come to her. She waits for him and initially is filled with the emotion of excitement which then gradually changes into a sense of disappointment when she realizes that Danny will not be coming after all. The greatest pain is felt by day dreamers when they undergo a phase of disillusionment, a waking from a fantastic dream into a world of reality. Sophie undergoes all these emotions when she wakes up from her fantastic dream to realize that it was after all only a dream, and that her Knight in Armour, Danny Casey will not after all be coming to rescue his damsel in distress!

The message of this lesson is that one should beware of falling into the habit of fantasizing and daydreaming too much, lest the waking up be too painful. Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind and she is responsible for her own disappointments. She should have come to terms with the facts and realities of life, the fact that she was a small town girl living the humble life of a girl with little means. She had put too much store in her dreams which were unfortunately divorced from reality, and when she woke up from her dreams, she realized that the reality was made even more harsh by contrast that the dreams had provided to the real world, she woke up to the reality where she was the Sophie of a small town, and that she was the daughter of impoverished circumstances, the daughter of a miner struggling to make both ends meet.

Analysis of The Enemy

       1.Genre: War fiction/philosophy/long reading text-Novel

             a) Style of writing prosaic, part of a novel. Pearl S.Buck has adopted a prosaic

                 style of writing suitable for writing long texts like novels and novellas. Her

                 writing is marked by regular paragraphs and dialogues interspersed in

                 between. Pearl S.Buck has used a straightforward style of writing.

        2. Theme of the Lesson: The higher laws of humanity are greater than the

            divisive Laws of patriotism.Pacifism,universal brotherhood, and

            humanity go beyond the narrow laws of patriotism, and loyalty to the nation.

                   Message: There are moments in life when we have to make difficult choices in

                   life. In such instances it is better to obey the higher laws of humanity. The

                   ability of human beings to rise above narrow barriers that divide people and

                   nations of the basis of nationality, language and geography is what marks

                   some human beings  as being exceptional. Sadao and Hana chose to save

                   the white sailor knowing well that they stood the risk of being labelled traitors

                   and that if Sadao was caught, then he would surely be thrown into prison, and

                   both husband and wife chose to safe Tom’s life. They chose humanity over

                   the narrow laws of patriotism.

        3. Characters in the lesson:

                 a) Dr. Sadao a skilful surgeon who is discovering ways to render wounds

                     completely clean. He was also treating the Japanese General and so was

                     indispensible to the latter. Dr. Sadao has been educated in America which

                     makes him different from the other Japanese excluding his wife, Hana of

                     course! He is broad minded in the true sense, dedicated to his profession

                     and thus for him the priority is to save lives. Dr. Sadao gives due importance

                     to the higher laws of humanity. He is however, guilty of being a traitor

                     towards his country because of sheltering ‘The Enemy’. Dr. Sadao’s guilt

                     however is less than that of General Takima. If Dr.Sadao betrayed the

                     country, it was for no selfish reason, it was just to save a life.

                  b) Hana, Dr. Sadao’s wife stands firmly beside him. She supports him in every

                      way possible even if it means taking up all the household chores after

                      the servants have left. She along with her husband is most affected by

                      the presence of Tom. The stress seems to eat into her emotionally. Hana

                      like her husband has studied in America and so she has a different outlook

                      than the servants. Hana is a symbol for loyalty, faith, and sincere love

                      for her husband. If it wasn’t for her, then Sadao wouldn’t probably have

                      given shelter to Tom.

                  c) The servants: They represent the common people who lived in Japan in

                      those times, humble, modest, ordinary, simple and thus superstitious. They

                      seem to have all the answers to the difficult questions that play around in

                      Dr. Sadao and Hana’s minds – just let the white sailor die! The servants are

                      by the Gardener who has served the household the longest. He believes

                      Sadao should not have saved Tom’s life since it would bring them great

                      misfortune. According to him, ‘If the master heals what the gun did and what

                      the sea did they will take revenge on us.’ He also believes that ‘That young

                      master is so proud of his skill to save life that he saves any life’ but then that

                      is exactly what a Doctor is expected to do!

                 d) Tom is the white sailor who has been washed ashore in a bad state. Badly

                      bruised and battered by the rocks he also suffers from a gunshot wound.

                      A victim of brutality and torture at the hands of his captors (The

                      gunshot wound and the rope burn marks around his neck are proof enough

                      that he has been a victim of cruelty and torture), it is a miracle how he has

                      survived so much punishment. He is perhaps the reason why the whole

                      story takes place. A young boy of about sixteen, he encapsulates within him

                      the desire to live against all odds, the ‘miracle boy’ who survived all odds

                   e)General Takima is in many ways a foil to Dr. Sadao. While both of them

                      have studied in America, his education abroad has however not made

                      General Takima sensitive towards life. Hana ‘remembered’ such men as him

                      ‘who at home beat his wife cruelly’ and she wonders if he would not be cruel

                      to a prisoner like Tom. General Takima is like Dr. Sadao, equally guilty of

                      treason, breaking the laws of the land and not reporting the presence

                      Tom in Dr. Sadao’s house. However what makes General Takima’s guilt

                      greater than that of Dr. Sadao for the very fact that the reason for not

                      reporting the presence of Tom to the authorities was that if he did so, then

                      Dr. Sadao would be arrested and then there would be no one to treat him.

                      General Takima is guilty of the crime of treason as well as the crime of being

                      selfish and putting himself before the state. There is another motive behind

                      his not informing the authorities, and that is that as long as Tom remains

                      in Dr. Sadao’s house, he will have leverage over Dr. Sadao and will be able

                      to manipulate him easily, that is another reason why the assassins don’t

                      turn up finally. The General might be accused of not only lack of patriotism

                      but also dereliction of duty. He is a coward who beats his wife at home, and

                      tortures prisoners on the battlefield but is himself frightened of pain and

                      suffering caused by his ailment!

                 f)  Dr. Sadao’s father, although we don’t get to see him as a living figure is

                     an important character who makes his presence felt as an ultra-nationalist,

                     conservative and orthodox person who believes in Japanese hegemony;

                     the right of one country to rule over the whole world. He represents the

                     a belief in racial superiority and the concept of the super race that was the

                     driving force behind the second world war. It is ironical that Dr.Sadao and

                     Hana put Tom in Dr. Sadao’s room.

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

The poem Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, a poem a set of four quatrains describes the difficulties and problems of matrimony from the woman’s point of view. The poem itself has a rather sad tone, and is filled with a sense of helplessness, and the poignancy of a woman crying out for help but not getting any and then finally succumbing to the ravages of matrimony. The two characters in the poem, Aunt Jennifer and Uncle are two distinct characters diametrically opposed to each other in terms of character traits, and accepted stereotyped roles. While Aunt Jennifer is the typical example of the married woman who is wedded to the chores of Matrimony, while Uncle is the typical married man who takes his woman for granted, and yes, he doesn’t bother really much about how his wife feels about matrimony. Do they love each other? I guess not as far as Uncle is concerned because, perhaps we don’t see very much of him in the poem, although the very physical absence of Uncle in the poem, beyond a rather shadowy presence, highlights his lack of interest in Aunt Jennifer and Matrimony. Throughout the poem however one doesn’t find a direct criticism of Uncle by Aunt Jennifer as a harsh or cruel man, all that she accuses is an Institution of matrimony that is based on unequal relations between husband and wife, where the wife is expected to do all the household duties and everything else besides, no matter if she is in the process overwhelmed by the chores and the responsibilities that she has taken up!

Is there a sense of fear in the poem towards Uncle? The third line in the first stanza reads, ‘They do not fear the men beneath the tree’, where ‘They’ refers to the two prancing tigers, and the ‘men’ represent men that are definitely not like Uncle! The very use of the word,’fear’ suggests that in this marriage, Aunt Jennifer has always lived in ‘fear’ of her husband and moreover the first stanza is an expression of a desire for a world  where the tigers ‘do not fear men’ where the tigers are the symbolical representations of what Aunt Jennifer wished to have been if there had been more freedom and equality in marriage. The prancing tigers on the screen are a cry of help by Aunt Jennifer for a married life devoid of fear, a more carefree and pleasant, she wants to be like the tigers who are prancing without any fear, she wants to be like the tigers that,’pace in sleek chivalric certainty.’ It is only when you live in a state of fearlessness that you can display chivalry, and confidence.

How can the demands of matrimony crush the spirit? The second Stanza shows how the duties, chores, and responsibilities of matrimony have crushed the spirit of Aunt Jennifer, literally and symbolically. Aunt Jennifer is so overwhelmed and crushed by the demands of matrimony that she has become a nervous wreck – she finds it difficult to pull the knitting needles through the wool while knitting. In this stanza, the poet refers to the ‘wedding band’ that ‘Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand’ suggesting that matrimony has proved to be rather overwhelming and burdensome for her. The wedding band, a symbol of  the bond of togetherness in matrimony, has become  for Aunt Jennifer, more of a symbol of subservience and service, an endless life of duties, and chores and responsibilities a symbol of exclusion, exploitation and inequality between two partners in marriage.

Does death bring liberation from the ordeals and responsibilities of marriage? The last stanza ends describes how even after death, poor Aunt Jennifer will continue to be haunted by the ordeals of marriage. Even in death, she will be ‘Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.’ Has marriage been good to Aunt Jennifer? I would dare to say, that it hasn’t been kind to her at all. As a contrast, however we are told how, the last two lines, ‘The tigers’ that she had created, ‘Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.’ Perhaps then, there is some hope for Aunt Jennifer in that her tigers will go on prancing and proud. If it is to set a contrast between what Aunt Jennifer wished and what she got in the end, the gulf that exists between what we wish for in life and what we get ultimately, then I would surely state that the last two lines of the poem which describe the prancing tigers add insult to injury and make the poem all the more depressing a comment about the worst that could happen in marriage; but then, if you look at the prancing tigers as a voice of triumph, triumph of creation, a voice of freedom pride and fearlessness, then I would suggest that the poem ends with a sense of hope, a note of victory, that at least Aunt Jennifer could express her feelings about marriage, and that she was able to create a voice of fearlessness which would go on echoing long after her death. The tigers thus are very strong symbols of the kind of woman that Aunt Jennifer wanted to be, fearless, confident, and carefree!

It was after a few years that someone who had been teaching English to grade twelve came up with the information that Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers was based on actual autobiographical elements in the life of the writer, Adrienne Rich. I was surprised about this because I had never really thought about going deep into the background of the poet’s life, although my interpretation of the poem had been accurate enough even without knowing about the poet. Now whether it was an actual Aunt that Adrienne Rich was referring to or her own case, is immaterial since the poem Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers has a clear theme and is easily understood. She has clearly written about a social problem that existed in her times as well as ours, the unending conflict, the debate regarding gender inequality in marriage. While it is true there are some marriages  that are very successful examples of partnership, where the wedding band symbolizes not the shackles of inequality, but rather the bonds of togetherness; there are other marriages which are examples of brutality, dehumanization, victimisation, and pain and suffering. Marriages that are based on fear and inequality will always have an Aunt Jennifer, that terrified and devastated woman who will continue to be frightened even in death!

Should Wizard hit Mommy?

The lesson, Should Wizard hit Mommy raises important moral issues  during the story session that Joanne has with her father Jack. Joanne main contention is that it is right for the Wizard to change the smell of Roger Skunk to that of roses so that his friends could might continue to be friends with Roger Skunk and not run away from him whenever he appeared before him. What Jack wants to tell his daughter through the story of Roger Skunk is that ultimately it is the parents who know what is best for their children as was proved when Roger Skunk’s friends ultimately returned to him as they got used to his smell. The moral issues that are raised in this story include whether it is right for the Wizard to play God and change the Smell that he was born with. The moral question as such is whether we have the right to interfere with nature. The same question of moral ethics of scientific research is raised in the novel Invisible Man which in itself questions the ethics of turning cats and human beings invisible. The message in both cases is that you can’t and should not play with nature. The same moral issue is raised in the lesson, The Tiger King which again highlights the theme of Divine Retribution – you simply cannot go on shooting tigers and yet not expect any kind of consequence at all. In all these lessons the common message is that you cannot and should not play with nature!

Although, Joanne continues to assert that the next day Jack should tell her a story in which the Wizard hit Mommy, which means that she wants Jack to tell her a story which justifies altering the way Nature has made us to be, Jack tells her how, even after Roger Skunk continued to smell awful, the other children became used to it and became his friends, and Roger’s mother told her baby skunk that he “smelled like her little baby skunk again and she loved him very much.” A happy ending according to Jack, but a not so happy ending for Joanne. What Jack wanted his daughter to understand was that, “the little skunk loved his mommy more than he loved all the other little animals and she knew what was right.” He wants to tell her that it is not right for the Wizard to hit Mommy, it is not right to play with Nature, it is not morally right to conform to what friends think is best, it is not morally right to look for instant coffee solutions for our problems in life and that often magical solutions are not the best solutions that one can look for. Ultimately, what Jack wants to tell his daughter through his story is that Roger’s mother knew what was best for him and that Roger did love his mother more than he loved his friends.

In times when relations between children and their parents become strained as a result of difference of perspectives, the writer brings out the need to develop respect for each other. Jack would have been able to impress upon his daughter the moral validity of his story if he had been more tactful and flexible while telling his story. He could have listened to Joanne’s perspective and then could have explained to her the moral basis of his ending the story with Mommy hitting the Wizard rather than the other way round. Jack would have done a better job if he had learned to accept and respect the fact that Joanne was growing up, and that she was learning to think with a mind of her own. She had every right to have a different perspective from her father, and he should have taken this into account while getting across his message. On the other hand, Joanne too should have learned to respect her father’s point of view, and  that her parents knew what was best for her – not just her friends. The core issue here is whether it is morally right for a child to think so badly about one’s mother, one’s elder that she wants wizard to hit her. Is it morally right to be so vindictive of Roger Skunk’s mother that Jo argues with her father and reiterates her demand in the following words, “No. Tomorrow you say he hit that mommy. Do it.” The choice of words, “that mommy “ suggests an intentional distancing from Roger Skunk’s mother on Joanne’s part. She was that Mommy, a bad Mommy who dared to hit the Wizard for changing Roger Skunk’s smell to that of roses. How dare Mommy force the Wizard to change the smell of roses to the smell of a Skunk? Joanne needs to learn is that it is morally wrong to play with nature and change the way God has made us to be for fickle reason that all children run away from us. Moreover, there are no magical solutions to problems in life. In fact some of the magical solutions often instant solutions might not be the best solutions after all.

Besides propounding the moral theme of not playing wantonly with nature, Should Wizard Hit Mommy also presents before us the contrast between the Instant Coffee attitude and the Bread making attitude. In today’s world of commercialization and instant gratification, people expect instant solutions to various problems in life. In many cases this is because people have become so busy in life what with catching up with an ever growing workload, and the pressure to maintain a high standard of living that they don’t have time to wait for solutions that take a long time to fructify. In many cases, solutions made in haste can lead to more harm than good! The bread making attitude represented by Jack’s story and his conclusion suggests that one should take time to look for a solution. Ultimately in Jack’s story, Roger Skunk regained his friends, they became used to his friends. This was the best solution because Roger Skunk who smelled bad was in the end able to preserve his identity as a skunk, enjoy his mother’s love and have lots of friends. Joanne’s Roger Skunk would have alienated himself with his mother, he would have lost his dignity and identity as a Skunk, but he would have had lots of friends.

Note Making

It is important for students of all grades and subjects to develop skills in note making and note taking.  Although the CBSE specifically introduces Note Making in Grade Eleven followed by the addition of the writing of the summary in grade Twelve it would be a good idea to develop the skills in earlier grades. The target grades in which note making could be introduced include grades eight to ten.

Learning Tasks:

1.The whole passage is read quickly and then the student tries to identify the Key Paragraph that contains the Nucleus Sentence. It is from the key paragraph that the student is also able to draw a title. In many cases, the key paragraph might be the first paragraph.

2.The passage is then divided into headings and sub headings.

3.Supporting sub-points are then listed in a numerical order (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 under the first heading, then 2.1, 2.2, 2.3…etc. In some cases, there might be  sub-sub points where a  points might be listed as: 2.1.a., 2.1.b., or 2.1.1., 2.1.2., 2.1.3., …etc. depending how these sub-sub points develop from sub-point 2.1.

4.The students will use recognizable abbreviations and symbols in order to write down the notes in a contracted form.

5. The next task, following the note making exercise will include the drafting of the summary based strictly on the notes prepared by the student. The student should note that the word limit should not be exceeded as marks will be deducted. Also, students should avoid repetition of ideas, and make good use of sentence connectors to join sentences, thus avoided too many repetitions of words.

The marks distribution for the twelfth board CBSE paper is as follows:

1.       Title: 1 mark

2.       Notes ( at least three headings and the notes under them) : 3 marks

3.       List of abbreviations (minimum 4): 1 mark

4.       Summary: 3 marks

Important: the final notes will be in the form of a linear listing of points, or in a branched format. A typical note taking exercise in the linear format will look as follows:

Title:

I. Nucleus Sentence

   1.1. sub- point

   1.2. sub- point

   1.3. sub- point

II. Topic Sentence

   2.1. sub- point

   2.2. sub- point

   2.3. sub- point

III. Topic Sentence

   3.1. sub- point

   3.2. sub- point…and so on.

The length of the notes will depend upon the length of the passage. The student will avoid noting down points which are being repeated for the sake of brevity.

The Passage given below is in the form of an example. Go through it carefully and see how the Headings have been listed followed by their supporting value points:

Strategic planning is typically thought of in terms of how large businesses and nations design a plan of action to accomplish their specific goals -- but it is a fabulous tool for individuals as well. If you find yourself disappointed by your life, consider taking a look at how strategically you are living it.

Some people worry that being strategic is about being manipulative. Certainly there is a fine balance between passivity and trying to live life according to the "my way or the highway" approach to influencing the course of events. I think of being strategic as actively engaging in shaping and directing your life. It is about being thoughtful, careful, and purposeful -- the antithesis of simply drifting along being caught up in whatever situations and circumstances you happen to bump into in the course of your life. Strategic living means being smart enough to embrace the opportunity of playing an active role in determining what you are creating, promoting and allowing in your life.

If you were investing in a business, wouldn't you want to know that it was being run by individuals who were well versed regarding the opportunities and challenges they faced? Wouldn't you want them to use their resources (people, money and time) in such a way that they maximized the company's short- and long-term return on investment? Most likely, it would be important to you that these returns be measured not just in terms of money, but relative to such other factors as alignment with the company's mission, and their commitment to such values as integrity, social consciousness and the quality of their relationships with employees and other stakeholders.

Now, let's apply this thinking to how you assess your own life choices. Being strategic is about getting off autopilot behaviour and being thoughtful about the choices you make in your life. It means living within the context of having a good understanding of who you are, what matters to you, and what resources and options you have available.

As a life coach, I work with this perspective as a means of increasing my clients' self-awareness, wellbeing, enjoyment and creative self-empowerment. Making thoughtful and strategic choices about how you live your life can have an enormous impact on your level of satisfaction and enjoyment.

There are three fundamental, on-going, and interrelated activities involved in strategically living your life. They are: creating a plan, keeping track of results and altering your course based on those results and the unanticipated surprises life brings your way. A good strategist needs a great sense of humour and an appreciation for the power of the unknown because no matter how thoughtful and thorough your planning techniques, life will throw you curve balls. It's humbling, but the alternative of having no plan means being at the effect of your life rather than being an active participant and driving force.

Our lives tend to be very complex and to include conflicting priorities and demands on our time. A seasoned life strategist is like a juggler trying to simultaneously stay on course with specific plans for each major aspect of his or her life. For example, you might have plans for your spiritual life, family, career, finances, etc. For a novice planner, I suggest picking the one area of your life where you are experiencing the greatest challenges and starting there. As you stabilize one area of your life, develop a plan for another aspect and learn to develop skill in making the trade-offs that are necessary between the various aspects of your life.

(This Article, written by Judith Johnson was posted on “The Blog, Huff post Healthy Living” on 09/26/2013 12:17 pm)

Task 1: Identifying a suitable title from the passage

The importance of Strategic Planning

Task 2: write down notes under each heading from the passage

I. What is Strategic planning?

  1.1. plan of action

  1.2. tool for large org. & nations

  1.3. tool for ind.

II. Why is Strategic Planning important for people?

  2.1. helps  bal. b/w passivity & trying to live acc.

  2.2. antithesis to simply drifting

 2.3. smartness to embrace opportunities

III. Importance of Strategic planning in Business

 3.1. provides knowledge about employees

 3.2. maximise short/long term investments

IV. Three fundamental steps in Strategic Planning

  4.1. creating a plan

  4.2. keeping track of results

  4.3. altering course based on results

V.  How can we plan for complexities in life?

  5.1. pick one area of life which is most challenged

  5.2. start planning for it

  5.3. when you stabilize that area, dev. plan for another aspect

  5.4. learn to dev. Skills in making trade-offs b/w various aspects of life

Task 3: draw a list or key for the abbreviations used by you

List of abbreviations:

1.b/w   :  between

2.ind.  :  individual

3. acc  :  according

4. dev. :  develop

5. inv.  :  investment

Task 4: Draft a summary from the notes made by you

 Writing down the summary in a specific number of words. In this case, the total number of words is a hundred and twenty. Note: remember to write the summary from the notes you have made, and try to stick to the word limit. The grid is for representational purposes and it can be drawn with a pencil and then rubbed off! Drawing a grid will help the student to stick to the word limit and a quick calculation will determine the number of rows and columns required. In this case the student is required to write a summary in 120 words, so eight columns and fifteen rows will give you 120 boxes in which you can write 120 words.

Strategic	planning	refers	to	a	plan	of	Action.
It	Is	an	important	tool	used	by	large
organisations	industries	nations	and	Individual.	It	Is	important
because	it	provides	a	balance	between	passivity	and
living	according	to		Plan.	Strategic	planning	leads
to	smartness	in	embracing	Opportunities.	Planning	Is	important
in	business	because	you	need	to	know	the
individual	and	you	need	to	maximise	Short-term	and
Long-term	Investments.	The	three	fundamental	activities	in	planning
include	creating	a	plan,	keeping	track	of	results
and	altering	course	based	on	results.	One	can
plan	for	a	complicated	life	by	picking	up
an	area	of	life	that	is	most	challenged
and	starting	to	plan	for	specific	areas.	When
one	area	is	Stabilized,	start	on	the	other!

Letter Writing

Checklist (does your letter contain the following?):

1. Sender’s address 
2. Date
3. Receiver’s designation and address
4. Subject (Central theme indicated concisely)
5. Salutation: Dear Sir/Madam
6. Body of the letter: It is usually written in 3 paragraphs
7. Complementary ending: Yours truly/sincerely
8. Sender’s signature & full name
9. Alignment Block format or justified

Sender’s Address:

Arun Kumar                                                                                                                          

77 Alaknanda Apartments                                                                                                 Adarsh Nagar                                                                                                                    

New Delhi                                                                                                                              

Pin code:1100054

                                                                                                                            

                                                          

The Date:

1. The date appears directly below the address.
2. Write out the full date as follows:
3. 16th December 2013

Or

1. December 16, 2013
2. Avoid writing: 16/12/2013

Receiver’s Official Designation and address:

                                                                                                                                         

The Editor                                                                                                                          

The Times Of India                                                                                                                

 6, Tolstoy Marg                                                                                                                  

New  Delhi                                                                                                                             

Pin Code: 110007                                                      

  The Subject: 

The Subject is written in the headline form, it is not written in the form of a sentence. It is brief, crisp and it provides a  a brief glimpse into  the matter and issues raised in the letter. The first letter of the word Subject is in capitals and it is followed by a colon, whatever comes after the colon is underlined:

Subject: Power cuts in town

The Opening Sentence:

 

1. Through the columns of your newspaper, I would like to draw the attention of the readers towards the problem of....
2. Through the columns of your esteemed newspaper, I would like to bring to the the notice of the readers...

The Salutation:

This is how you address the receiver of the letter. A more formal approach would be to address the reader as:

1. Respecter Sir, / Respected Madam,
2. Sir, / Madam

A less formal address would be:

1. Dear Sir, / Dear Madam

In many cases the word ‘Dear’ signals familiarity and might be used after a number of correspondences.

Body of the Letter, suggested ideas for paragraphs:

• Para 1: who you are/what are you writing about
• Para 2: Details about the Topic/Problem/Issue
• Para 3: What would you like the reader to do (Your hope/appeal/warning/conclusion/comment/suggestions)
• In case there is a problem that is discussed and a solution that is asked, you can include your suggestions to the third paragraph and then add a short fourth paragraph  for you appeal, conclusion.

The Complementary Close:

• It is a polite way of ending the letter and includes the following examples:

1. Yours truly
2. Your sincerely

Sender’s Signature followed by Full name and designation:

1. The sender initials or signs his/her name.
2. This is followed by his/her full name and Designation within brackets

 
A.K                                                                                                                                  

(Arun Kumar-Manager, Infratech Solutions)

Format

Sender’s address

Date

 Recipient’s address (including their name and title if you know it).

Subject of the letter

 Dear Mr [surname], for a man, or Dear Ms [surname] for a woman. If you don’t know the name of the recipient, use Dear Sir or Madam or Dear Sir/Madam.

Content

First paragraph

 The first paragraph should be short and state the purpose of the letter- to make an enquiry, complain, request something, etc.

Here are some options for starting your letter:

I would like to enquire about (or whether) …

I am writing regarding …

I am writing in response to …

I am writing to inform you that/of /about…

I am writing to complain about …

Further to my letter of 15th May…

Second Paragraph

The paragraph or paragraphs in the middle of the letter should contain the relevant information behind the purpose of writing of the letter. Keep the information to the essentials and concentrate on organising it in a clear and logical manner rather than expanding too much.

Last Paragraph

 The last paragraph of a formal letter should state what action you expect the recipient to take- to refund, send you information, etc.

 Here are some  expressions you can use to end a business letter.

Please let me know if …

I look forward to receiving your reply.

 Thank you in advance for your help.

 I would be  grateful if you could inform me …

 A formal ending (if you know the recipient), use Yours sincerely. A formal ending (if you don’t know the recipient): Yours truly or Yours faithfully.

Signature

Name

Formal letters, Business letters, Letters of Enquiry

Sample letter to the editor of a newspaper about noise pollution in your city

110, DLF City

Phase 1

Gurgaon

Haryana

18 March 2014

The Editor

The Times of India

New Delhi-110 001

Subject: Noise pollution in the city

 Sir

With reference to the article published in your newspaper on 10 July 2013 regarding  the health problems due to noise pollution, I would like to draw the kind attention of the readers and concerned authorities towards increasing problem of noise pollution. It poses serious problems to physical and mental health of people.

An increasing number of vehicles on the roads, increasing numbers of  factories, construction work, loudspeakers used on various occasions,  and playing of loud music on loud speakers ... etc, are various factors responsible for  noise pollution. Noise control laws are openly violated. Any loud noise which goes beyond 90 db. can have an adverse impact on the health of people. Persistent loud noise can lead to a loss of sense of hearing. 

The authorities should wake  up to  the danger of noise pollution. They should strictly enforce the noise control laws.Noisy factories located in the residential areas should be shifted to far-off places without any delay. The use of loudspeaker should be stopped after specific time. Above all, the public needs to be aware and cooperative against the danger of noise pollution because without public cooperation authorities cannot make much difference.

I  earnestly hope that the concerned authorities will take immediate and urgent necessary action against those responsible for noise pollution.

Thanking you

Yours faithfully

Sign.

Name

Letter of Placing an Order

Angel Books

14th Main Road

Nungambakkam

Chennai - 34

March 23,2014

The Sales Manager

Galgotia Book Store

Connaught Place        

New Delhi

Subject: Letter of placing an order

Dear Sir

With reference to the catalogue of new books on your website, we would like to place an order for the books mentioned below. 

1. Indian History by Peter Jackson (Jack son and Co.)- 10 copies- code no, 103

2. Festivals by Margaret Smith (DC Publishers)- 10 copies-  code no,203

3. Caring for Earth by Janet Patterson (Nature Ltd.)- 5 copies- code no,403

Kindly send these items before the 10^th of April. We wish to include them in our display at the Book Festival scheduled to begin from the 15th of next month. We are sending a cheque for Rs. 5000 as advance payment. The balance amount will be paid after receiving the order.

Yours sincerely

Sign.

Ketan Darshan

Director

Letter of Cancellation of order

Angel Books

14th Main Road

Nungambakkam

Chennai - 34

April 23,2014

The Sales Manager

Galgotia Book Store

Cannaught Place        

New Delhi

Subject: Letter of cancelling an order

Dear Sir,

Please refer to the order no. 01/468 for the new books placed with you on 23 March , 2014. The order was to be executed by 10 April 2014.

We regret to inform you that the order placed earlier stands cancelled. We needed the books for an event on 15 April 2014.But till date we have neither received the consignment nor any clarification from your side even after telephonic reminders.

The delay has caused us a great deal of inconvenience. The unprofessional handling of the order by you has also forced us to take the action which was completely unnecessary. Kindly return the amount of Rs. 5000 as advance payment sent to you earlier.

Yours sincerely

Sign.

Ketan Darshan

Director

Letter of Enquiry

1802, Hope apartments

Sector 15

Gurgaon

April 30,2014

The Manager

Western  Hotel

Goa

Subject: Information regarding the hotel stay

Dear Sir

With reference to your advertisement in The Hindustan Times on 15th April 2014, I am writing this letter to make arrangements for the stay at your hotel and to get more information on the places of interest.

I will be arriving with my parents and wife to celebrate my parents’ wedding anniversary on Saturday, the 4th of July , and  will be leaving on the 9th of July afternoon. I wish to book double rooms with seaside view for my parents. I would also appreciate if you could provide me with the information about  adventure activities .

You could send me the detailed information through email or fax not later than the 2nd  of July with the total cost of stay during the weekend.

Yours sincerely,

Manish Sharma

Reply to the enquiry

Western  Hotel

Goa

May 5,2014

Mr XYX

1802, Hope apartments

Sector 15

Gurgaon

Subject: Information regarding the hotel stay

Dear Sir

We received your letter dated April30,2014 seeking information about the tariff , facilities and  stay in our hotel between 4th and 9th of July 2014. We thank you for showing interest in our hotel .

We will be able to provide the rooms with seaside view as per your requisition. The room tariff is Rs 5000/- per day which also includes complimentary breakfast.

We have tied up with Blue Waters Adventures for family fun activities which can be booked after your arrival. Day tour packages are available for sightseeing.

We hope to hear from you soon. Kindly write to us if you have any other query.

Yours faithfully

Signature

Name

Letter of Complaint about a Product

H,No. 245

XYZ  Apartments

Gurgaon

May 02, 2014

The Sales Manager

Bloom  Electronics

Lajpat Nagar

New Delhi

Sub.: Complaint about defective working of washing machine

Sir

I purchased a, top-loading, washing machine of LG, with  a capacity of 6 litres from your shop on  January 01,2014 vide invoice no. 46… However, for the past four months, it has not been functioning properly.

The water from the spin basket does not drain properly. As a result , the machine stops abruptly without finishing the complete washing cycle. The washing machine is a domestic necessity and  causes trouble for us.

I  request you to send across your technician to look into the matter. The machine is still under warranty period. Hence, I expect you to either get it repaired or replaced at the earliest. I also wish to know about the  annual maintenance contract  to prevent any further problems.

Yours truly

Sign.

name

Enclosed: A copy of the invoice

Letter of complaint to Civic Authorities

House No. 4A/88

Karol Bagh

 New Delhi-110005

18 July 2014

The Municipal Commissioner

Municipal Corporation of Delhi

New Delhi

Subject: Request for removal of debris and garbage

Sir

I am a resident of Karol Bagh. This is to request for the removal of debris and garbage from my locality from a   vacant   plot.                                                                                            

House No. 3A/88 at Karol Bagh, New Delhi  was demolished by its new owner and has been lying unattended for last two years. The owner of the plot/house has made fencing around it. The problem is that  the people of surrounding areas and passersby take advantage of the vacant plot by throwing garbage/debris in the enclosed area of the plot as well as around it.

 This dumping ground not only provides ideal  breeding conditions for mosquitoes thus affecting  the  health of people living in the surrounding houses but also spoils the aesthetics of the area.

Despite several complaints and reminders by the residents, the apathy shown by the authorities is shocking. So far no action has been taken by the concerned department.  Kindly look into the matter and ensure proper maintenance of the area.

Yours sincerely

Sign.

Anupam Seth

Letter to the Principal

House No. 4A/88

Karol Bagh

New Delhi-110005

18 July 2014

The Principal

Horizon School

Karol Bagh

New Delhi-110005

Subject: Suggestions to improve reading habit among students

Madam

I am the parent of Jatin Seth, a student of VA of your prestigious institute. This is to voice my concern over the declining habit of reading among children.

Reading is a wonderful habit and goes a long way in developing the personality of a child. A well read individual will be able to articulate  well which has become a necessity in the modern world.  I believe  that the parents and the school should work together to help the children.

I would like to offer a few suggestions. There should be a well stocked class library and a compulsory  reading programme for the students of class III onwards. Each student should be given a book for a fortnight and a diary should be maintained with the review of the book read. Regular quiz, book reading sessions, authors’ meet  can be organized with the help of willing parents.

Kindly think over the suggestions . I shall be glad to help you in the capacity of a volunteer parent.

Yours sincerely

Anupam Seth

QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

Q. Madurai University, Palkala Nagar, Madurai,  offers different courses of studies through correspondence. Write to the Director, Institute of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education, Madurai University requesting him to send you the prospectus. (Word Limit : 200 Words)

23/25 Gandhi Nagar

Bombay

March 15, 2Oxx

The Director of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education

Madurai University

Madurai

Sir

Sub. Request -------------------

Please refer to --------------------------------------------------------regarding various correspondence courses offered by your university.

I passed my -------------------------------------------------in 2Oxx with History and Political Science as the elective subjects. I secured-----------------------------------------. Kindly let me know if I am ------------------------------------------------------

You are requested to ----------------------------------------------I am enclosing herewith ---------------------------------------------

Yours faithfully

Mohan Rakesh

1.You are surprised and concerned by personal attacks , complaints of bogus voting ,mudslinging by politicians in the ongoing  Lok Sabha elections. Write a letter to the editor expressing your views on the need to have a healthy and fair elections.

2.    Write a letter to the Manager, Bata Shoe Company, Faridabad complaining about the quality of shoes bought by  you from their local showroom. Mention the cash memo and design number.

3.  You are Sarika Jam of Village Sukurpur, Delhi. Write a letter to MIs ABC Coolers, New Delhi, complaining about a desert cooler you bought from them 3 months ago.

4.  M.K. University offers Diploma course in Management through correspondence. You are Sanjay, resident of 110, R.K. Puram, Delhi. Write to the Director, Correspondence Courses for the brochure and prospectus. Also enquire if the UGC has recognized this course.

5.You are Seetha/ Surya living in Bangalore. Your friends and you are planning a week long holiday. You come across  the following advertisement. Select a destination of your choice. Write a letter making necessary enquiries from the tour operator before you make your final decision. 

This winter fill your holiday with endless fun and thrill We offer exciting domestic and International holiday packages for individuals as well as groups.

1- Magical Singapore 5 nights / 6 days: Rs. 25000. 10 nights / 11 days: Rs. 54,000/-   14,999/-

2- Bangkok, Pattaya + Kullu + Genting Singapore  11 days: Rs. 32,999/-  7 nights / 8 days: Rs. 67,000/-

3- Best of Nepal 6- Exotic Goa  5 nights in a 5 Star Hotel : Rs. 7,999/-

 `3 nights / 4 days: Rs. 3,333/-

For. more details write to us or visit our website:

www.sewanathholidays.com or write to us at: Sewa Nath Worldwide Holidays, 12.A, Kailash Building, Goverdhen Road, City Centre, Malegeon 27 Cuffe Parade Bangalore

Higher Order Writing – Job Applications

The General Objective

Job applications are part of the unit that includes formal and informal letters. The total marks allotted to letters is six marks. The job application includes the cover letter and a bio data or the curriculum vitae. The cover letter includes a brief description of the applicant, while the bio data includes specific details including information about academic achievements, co-curricular achievements, and experience. The student is thus expected to write his or her job application according to the accepted format, accepted conventions, and accepted value points.

A Sample Question

The Sun Star Public School, Kamla Nagar, Delhi, invites applications for the the post of receptionist on full time basis. The post requires the  female candidate to have a minimum qualification of a valid graduate degree. Preference will be given to candidates who have a minimum experience of at least one year on a similar post, have a pleasing personality, fluency in English and have some knowledge of handling computers. Remuneration and perks will be according to industry standards. A higher start can be considered for deserving candidates.

Suggested Answer

  B.26/29                                                                                                                                       Mukherji-Nagar,                                                                                                                                      New Delhi

  25th February, 2015

The Manager,

Sun Star Public School

Kamla Nagar,

Delhi-

110007

 Subject: Application for the post of Receptionist

Respected Sir,                                                                                                                  

I am Ritu Kumar and I am submitting my application for the post of Receptionist in your school as advertised by you in the twenty-fifth January edition of the Hindustan Times Newspaper. I am a graduate from the Delhi University with a second division, and have a one year experience as a receptionist at the DIMS Institute of Management, Pitampura.

I would like to join your institute on a permanent post since I am working on a contract basis. I have also done a one year post graduate diploma course from NIIT in computer basics, and a one year post graduate certificate course in office management from the YMCA, Connaught Place, New Delhi.

Respected Sir, I believe that I have the requisite qualification and experience to apply for the post of Receptionist in your school. I assure you that if I am selected for the post, I will prove to be an asset to the Institution. Kindly accept my application for the post of Receptionist.

Thanking you

Yours Truly

R.K.

Curriculum Vitae

1. Name: Ritu Kumar

2. Father’s Name: Shravan Kumar

3. Place of Birth: New Delhi

4. Date of Birth: 1st June, 1991

5. Permanent Address: B 26/29, Mukherji Nagar, Delhi

6. Postal Address: Same as above

7. Marital Status: Unmarried

8. Educational Qualification:

Sr.No	Exam	Board/University	Name of Institution	Subjects	Marks	Division	Year of Passing
1.	Secondary(10th)	CBSE	S.D.Adarsh Vidyalaya-Delhi	English,Hindi, Maths, Science, S.St.	370/500	I	2006
2.	Senior Secondary (10+2)	CBSE	Virmani Public School-Delhi	English, Economics, Commerce, Accounts, Physical Education	320/400 Best of four	I	2008
3.	B.Com.	Delhi University	Hansraj College, Delhi	English, Commerce, Accounts, Economics, Business Law	400/800 Best of four	II	2011
4.	P.G.Dip. Computer Programming	NIIT	NIIT, Delhi	Computer Languages	430/800	II	2012
5.	Certificate in Secretarial Practices	YMCA	Delhi	Short hand, Office Management	450/800	II	2013

           

9. Other Achievements: Participated in in the zonal championship athletics events in 2008

    and achieved a bronze medal.

10.Other interests: Reading, listening to music, and travelling.

11. Experience: 2014 till date – receptionist at DIMS Institute of Management, Pitampura,

      New Delhi

12. References:

      1. Mrs. Rekha Verma, Principal, Virmani Public School, Pitampura Ph.No. 9729563289

      2. Mr. Mohan Kumar, Director, DIMS institute of Management, Pitampura,

          Ph. No. 9710771508

13.  Signature:                                                                                    Place: New Delhi

       Date: 25/02/2015

14. ENCL.:

     1. Recommendation Letter from present employer

     2. Photocopy of Certificates