Higher Secondary Course

Part III
English Literature
STANDARD XII

GOVERNMENT OF KERALA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
2015
 PLEDGE THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

India is my country. All Indians Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he

are my brothers and sisters. I love Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
my country, and I am proud of Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha
its rich and varied heritage. I shall Dravida-Utkala-Banga
always strive to be worthy of it. Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
I shall give my parents, teachers Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.
and all elders respect, and treat Tava shubha name jage,
everyone with courtesy. Tava shubha asisa mage,
To my country and my people, I Gahe tava jaya gatha,
pledge my devotion. In their Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
well-being and prosperity alone Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
lies my happiness. Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!
Higher Secondary Course - English Literature Optional - Part III
Standard XII
Prepared by:
State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT)
Poojappura,
Thiruvananthapuram -12, Kerala.
E-mail: scertkerala@gmail.com
Typesetting by: SCERT Computer Lab
Printed at: Kerala State C-apt, Thiruvananthapuram, Ph: 0471-2365415
©
Government of Kerala
Department of Education
2015
Dear learners
The English Literature Coursebook for Standard XII has
been designed with a view to developing literary taste,
critical reading skills, skills in expressing your ideas both
in the spoken and written forms and reference skills. The
learning of any language inevitably involves the learning
of its rich and varied literature. The selections in this book
represent authors from different cultures ranging from
W B Yeats to Sugathakumari and Salwa Bakr to Leopoldo
Lugones. It also brings in a variety of literary genres like
poetry, short story, one-act play and non-fiction.
You can enjoy reading the texts and think creatively once
you enter the world of letters that the authors create for
you. I hope you will make use of this book to hone your
English language skills. The variety of activities presented
in the book, I am sure, will provide ample opportunities
for you to use the language in different contexts. Your
teacher will guide you in your efforts to interact with the
texts and do the activities in the book.
Learn literature in all its vigour, variety and vivacity.
Wish you all the best.

Dr S. Raveendran Nair
Director
SCERT
 Textbook Development Team

Members
Anupama S S, VMCGHSS Wandoor, Malappuram
Ashrafshah C.M., GHSS Perinad, Kollam
Binuraj R S, GHSS Peruvallur, Malappuram
Manju J Nair, DGHSS Tanur, Malappuram
Preetha P V, GVHSS for Boys, Mancha, Nedumangad, Thiruvananthapuram
Ramachandran Warrier, Kuthuparamba GHSS, Kannur
Reshmi Reghunath, GVHSS Karakulam, Thiruvananthapuram
Sabeena Jalal, GVHSS Vellanad, Thiruvananthapuram
Sajeena Shukkoor, GHSS Cottonhill, Thiruvananthapuram
Smita John, GHSS Chavara, Kollam
Thankachen C A, GHSS Chuzhali, Kannur
Experts
Dr Chitra V R, Asst. Professor, University College, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr Manju C R, Asst. Professor, Govt. Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr Muraleedharan K C, Professor, Payyannur College, Kannur
Smt Reeja Thankachan, Asst. Professor, University College, Thiruvananthapuram
Dr Sherrif K M, Reader, Dept. of English, University of Calicut
Artists
Haridasan N K, Art Teacher, GHSS Azhiyoor, Kozhikode
Rameshan P, Art Teacher, HSS Iringannoor, Kozhikode
Academic Co-ordinator
Jose D' Sujeev, Research Officer, SCERT, Kerala
 CONTENTS

Section 1 - Poetry 7 - 45
1. The Wild Swans at Coole - W.B.Yeats 9
2. The Unknown Citizen - W H Auden 14
3. No More Hiroshimas - James Kirkup 17
4. The Journey of the Magi - T S Eliot 24
5. Ecology - A K Ramanujan 28
6. Bicycle - David Malouf 31
7. Million Man March - Maya Angelou 34
8. Africa - David Diop 38
9. Night Rain - Sugathakumari 41

Section 2 - Short Story 46 - 96

1. Doves on the Wing - Salwa Bakr 48
2. We too are Human Beings - Bama 55
3. My Old Home - LuHsun 60
4. Yzur - Leopoldo Lugones 74
5. Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat - Khyrunnisa A 84
Section 3 - Non-Fiction 97 - 138
1. Excerpts from The Sixth Sense - Manoj Night Shyamalan 99

2. In Memory of Azores - Samuel Langhorne Clemens 108

3. Role Play - V Geetha 116
4. Are the Rich Happy? - Stephen Leacock 126
5. The Story of English - An Overview 133

Section 4 - Drama 139 - 196

1. Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw 141

Section 5 - Novella 197 - 248

1. The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka 199

6
 Poetry

Section 1
Poetry

Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.

- Edgar Allan Poe

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the

thought has found words.

- Robert Frost

7
 Poetry

Preface
Modern poetry indulges in a lot of experimentation and innovation and has a
wider canvas of choice of themes. The poems prescribed for study, delve deep
into the intricacies of modern life with all its perplexities, confusions and the
resultant anarchy. In these poems you may come across unflinching realism,
pessimism, humanitarianism, mysticism and psychological profundity. This
section intends to introduce you to different genres of poetry as well as poets of
different nationalities and literary tastes.

Lear ning Outcomes

Learning
The learner will be able to:
• identify the confusions and perplexities of modern life which were
characteristic of 20th century poetry.
• analyse poems and recognize new trends in modern poetry.
• elucidate the socio-cultural and historical background of the period and its
impact on poetry.
• apply critical reading to identify the context, theme, message, mood, tone,
emotions and language of the poems.
• bring out the implied meanings of the text.
• interpret the attitudes and feelings of the poet.
• demonstrate awareness of ecological issues and the after-effects of war.
• demonstrate knowledge of literary and figurative elements.

8
The Wild Swans at Coole Poetry

William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Born in 1865 in Dublin, W. B. Yeats is considered as one of the

greatest writers of the twentieth century. Although he spent
his childhood in London, Yeats' poems reflect his deep
emotional attachment to his native land, Ireland. Being a
staunch supporter of Irish nationalism, he devoted himself to
native subjects - writing poems, plays, short stories and novels
with Irish characters and setting. Many of his writings reveal
a dreamlike nostalgia. He was a modernist who experimented with free
verse and a symbolist who used allusive images and symbols throughout
his career. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

In the poem ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, Yeats laments the loss of his youth.

The Wild Swans at Coole

THE TREES are in their autumn beauty, 1. What does the

The woodland paths are dry, poet mean by
'autumn beauty'?
Under the October twilight, the water
Mirrors a still sky;
2. How does the
Upon the brimming water among the stones poet describe the
autumn scene ?
Are nine and fifty swans.

The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me

3. How is
Since I first made my count; 'nineteen years'
connected with
I saw, before I had well finished, the swans?

Coole : a national park near Dublin in Ireland

9
The Wild Swans at Coole Poetry

4. What did the

swans do
suddenly?

5. What change
has come over the
poet now?

6. Pick out two

All suddenly mount words that denote
the movement of
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings the swans.
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, 7. What remains

with the swans
And now my heart is sore. wherever they go?
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head, 8. List some of the
adjectives used by
Trod with a lighter tread. the poet to
describe the
swans.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold,
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;

10
The Wild Swans at Coole Poetry

Passion or conquest, wander where they will,

Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water

Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

clamorous: noisy sore: grieved

mount: to get upon trod: walked heavily or laboriously
paddle: to swim with short movements wheeling: moving in large circles

Understanding the Text

1. In the first stanza, the poet expresses his delight at the sight of the swans. Does
he remain happy throughout the poem? Why does the mood of the poet change?
2. Yeats says that everything has changed at Coole Park. What do you think he is
talking about - the scenery or his own life?
3. The poet visits Coole Park in autumn and at twilight. Does this give any clue
about the theme of the poem? What is its significance?
4. The paths in the wood are dry. Can you attribute any deeper meaning to the
word ‘dry’?
5. The poet says that the swans took off suddenly as he was counting them. Yet he
says that there are fifty nine swans. How does he know that? What may be the
intention of the poet in choosing fifty nine as the number of swans?
6. What do the swans symbolise?
7. The poet creates a poignant and calm atmosphere in the poem. How does it
support the theme of the poem?

11
The Wild Swans at Coole Poetry
8. What is the prevailing tone in the poem? You may notice an interplay of varying
tones at different places. Pick out lines which reflect the following tones.
a. calm/serene : ________________________________________
b. full of admiration : ______________________________________
c. regretful : ________________________________________
9. In the poem, the poet contrasts the ‘dry paths’ with the ‘brimming lakes’. What
other things are contrasted in the poem?
10. How does the last stanza contribute to the theme of the poem?
11. The poem contains a beautiful imagery of nature. It also contains images of
the poet’s ageing self. List down these images.
12. Identify and explain the figure of speech used in lines 3 and 4.
13. In stanza 4, the poet makes ‘passion’ and ‘conquest’ to attend the swans.
Identify the figure of speech employed here.
14. A synecdoche is a literary device that uses a part of something to refer to the
whole. (For example, ‘wheels’ can refer to a car.) Pick out lines from the third
stanza in which this figure of speech is used.
15. Find out the lines which are examples for ‘alliteration’, ‘assonance’ and
‘consonance’ from the poem.
16. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
Writing about the Text
1. Write an essay on the theme, language and literary devices of the poem.
2. Describe the reflections of the poet at the sight of the swans.
3. ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ portrays the regret and sentiments of a man on the
verge of old age. Do you agree? Substantiate.

Here is a poem written by D. H. Lawrence.

Beautiful Old Age

It ought to be lovely to be old

to be full of the peace that comes of experience
and wrinkled ripe fulfilment.

12
The Wild Swans at Coole Poetry

The wrinkled smile of completeness that follows a life

lived undaunted and unsoured with accepted lies
they would ripen like apples, and be scented like pippins
in their old age.

Soothing, old people should be, like apples

when one is tired of love.
Fragrant like yellowing leaves, and dim with the soft
stillness and satisfaction of autumn.
And a girl should say:

It must be wonderful to live and grow old.

Look at my mother, how rich and still she is! -
And a young man should think: By Jove
my father has faced all weathers, but it’s been a life!

Attempt a comparative study of the attitudes of D. H. Lawrence and W. B. Yeats

towards old age.
References
Jeffares, A Norman. W. B. Yeats: A New Biography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.1989
Pritchard, William H. W. B. Yeats: A Critical Anthology. Penguin.1972
Vendler, Helen. Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and Lyric Form. Harvard University Press.2007

13
The Unknown Citizen Poetry

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907–1973)

W. H. Auden was an Anglo-American poet, who is regarded as
one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His work is noted
for its stylistic and technical achievement. The central themes of
his poetry are love, politics and citizenship, religion and morals,
intricate human relationships and the anonymous, impersonal
world of nature. He was also a prolific writer of essays and reviews
on literary, psychological and religious subjects and he worked
on documentary films, poetic plays and other forms of performance.

The poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’ is a satire on modern society where an

individual is reduced to a numerical factor.

The Unknown Citizen

(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned
word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater
Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired, 1. Why does the
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc. poet remark that
‘he was a saint’?
Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,

14
The Unknown Citizen Poetry
For his Union reports that he paid his dues, 2. How do we
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound) know that his
employer and the
And our Social Psychology workers found trade union were
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink. satisfied?

The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every

day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal
in every way.
3. What was the
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully conviction the
insured, Press had about the
unknown citizen?
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital
but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living
declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the
Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
4. Why does the
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content poet say that the
unknown citizen
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year; had everything
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there necessary for the
was war, he went. Modern Man?

He was married and added five children to the

population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a 5. Which lines
parent of his generation. indicate that he
was an
And our teachers report that he never interfered with opportunist?
their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd: 6. Why are the
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have questions posed in
the poem ‘absurd’?
heard.

15
The Unknown Citizen Poetry
Eugenist : a specialist who tries to improve the human race by encouraging
reproduction by persons having desirable traits
frigidaire : a brand of electric refrigerator
scab : a worker who refuses to join a strike
Understanding the Text
1. The epitaph gives the dead person the identity of a code number. What does it
imply?
2. Who is the speaker in the poem? Is he/she a single person? Does he/she symbolise
anything more? Discuss.
3. The poet lists many accomplishments by the unknown citizen. But they are all
phrased in the negative sense. Comment.
4. Does the unknown citizen's passivity mean that he was really happy and content?
Explain.
5. Though the dead man is called an unknown citizen, he had been thoroughly
investigated by different agencies of the State. Could this be a prophetic warning
about the future of modern man? Elucidate.
6. What is the message of the poem?
7. Identify and discuss the rhyme scheme of the poem.
8. Some critics consider the poem as a satirical elegy. Does the treatment of the
theme, tone and diction support this view? Elaborate.
9. The poem is considered as an allegory. Justify this statement.
Writing about the Text
1. Though the poem was written in 1930, the theme of the poem is relevant even
today. Substantiate.
2. Consider ‘The Unknown Citizen’ as a satire on a modern welfare state, where a
human being is reduced to a numerical factor.
3. ‘The Unknown Citizen’ is a typical modern poem. Comment.
References
Carpenter, Humphrey. W H Auden: A Biography. London: George Allen & Unwin. 1981.
Fuller, John. W H Auden: A Commentary. London: Faber and Faber. 1998.
Hewett, Ronald. A Choice of Poets. London: Harrap. 1968.

16
No More Hiroshimas Poetry

James Falconer Kirkup (1918 - 2009)

James Kirkup (1918 – 2009) was a prolific English poet, translator and travel
writer. He wrote over thirty books, including his autobiography, novels and
plays. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. His
collection of poems include Refusal to Conform, A Correct Compassion etc. His
works offer a different perspective on modern life, its brutality and ruggedness.
He won many awards like The Atlantic Award for Literature in 1950, P.E.N.
Club Prize for Poetry in 1965 and The Japan Festival Foundation Award in 1997.

The poem is an outright plea to realise the level of devastation that war causes
and it strives to conjure up anti-war emotions in the reader.

No More Hiroshimas

At the station exit, my bundle in my hand, 1. Comment on

the time, place
Early the winter afternoon’s wet snow and climate of
Falls thinly round me, out of a crudded sun the setting from
the opening lines.
I had forgotten to remember where I was
Looking about, I see it might be anywhere-
A station, a town like any other in Japan,
Ramshackle, muddy, noisy, drab, a cheerfully
Shallow permanence, peeling concrete, litter, ‘Atomic
Lotion, for hair fall-out, a flimsy department-store
Racks and towers of neon, flashy over tiled and tilted
waves
2. What are the
Of little roofs, shacks cascading lemons and things that the
persimmons, poet sees in the
Oranges and dark-red apples, shanties awash with department
store?
rainbows

17
No More Hiroshimas Poetry

Of squid and octopus, shellfish, slabs of tuna, oysters, ice,

Ablaze with fans of soiled nude-picture books 3. Which line tells
us that the town
Thumbed abstractedly by schoolboys, with second-
of Hiroshima does
hand looks not want to move
forward in time?

The river remains unchanged, sad, refusing

rehabilitation
In this long, wide, empty, official boulevard
The new trees are still small, the office blocks
4.Why does the
Barely functional, the bridge a slick abstraction poet say ‘a kind of
But the river remains unchanged, sad, refusing life goes on’?
rehabilitation

18
No More Hiroshimas Poetry
5. How does
In the city centre, far from the station’s lively squalor society
A kind of life goes on, in cinemas and hi-fi coffee bars, commercialise
even death and
In the shuffling racket of pin-table palaces and destruction?
parlours,
The souvenir-shops piled with junk, kimonoed
kewpie-dolls,
Models of the bombed Industry Promotion Hall,
memorial ruin
Tricked out with glitter-frost and artificial pearls

Set in an awful emptiness, the modern tourist hotel is

trimmed
With jaded Christmas frippery, flatulent balloons; in
the hall,
A giant dingy iced cake in the shape of a Cinderella
coach
Deserted, my room an overheated morgue, the bar in
darkness
Punctually, the electric chimes ring out across the tidy
waste 6. What is the
‘tidy waste’ that
Their doleful public hymn - the tune unrecognizable, the poet is
evangelist referring to?
Here atomic peace is geared to meet the tourist trade
Let it remain like this, for all the world to see
Without nobility or loveliness, and dogged with
shame 7. Why does the
poet remark that
That is beyond all hope of indignation. Anger, too, is the memorials
dead have the grace to
And why should memorials of what was far help forget
everything?
From pleasant have the grace that helps us to forget?

19
No More Hiroshimas Poetry
In the dying afternoon, I wander dying round the Park
of Peace
It is right, this squat, dead place, with its left-over air
Of an abandoned International Trade and Tourist Fair 8. What are the
relics of the
The stunted trees are wrapped in straw against the cold catastrophe
The gardeners are old, old women in blue bloomers, presented in the
white aprons poem?

Survivors weeding the dead brown lawns around the

Children’s Monument

A hideous pile, the Atomic Bomb Explosion Centre,

freezing cold,
‘Includes the peace Tower, a museum containing 9. ‘Remember
Atomic-melted slates and bricks, photos showing only these. They
are the memorials
What the Atomic Desert looked like, and other we need.’ Why
Relics of the catastrophe does the poet say
so?
The other relics
The ones that made me weep;
The bits of burnt clothing
The stopped watches, the torn shirts
The twisted buttons
The stained and tattered vests and drawers
The ripped kimonos and charred boots
The white blouse polka-dotted with atomic rain,
indelible
The cotton summer pants the blasted boys crawled
home in, to bleed
And slowly to die

Remember only these

They are the memorials we need.

20
No More Hiroshimas Poetry
Park of Peace: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a park in Hiroshima dedicated
to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city to suffer a nuclear attack.
bloomers : a woman’s dress, long loose hideous : devilish
trousers gathered at the ankles indignation : a feeling of anger and surprise
cascading : tremble down like a waterfall junk : discarded articles; here, articles of
catastrophe : a sudden event that less value
causes many people to suffer kewpie dolls : a trademark for small
chubby dolls with a top-knot of hair
chimes : a ringing sound
morgue : a place where dead bodies are
crudded sun : a partially visible sun kept before burial
through winter fog persimmons : a tropical fruit like an orange
dingy : discoloured and dirty pin table : a game equipment on which
drab : dull and boring (jaded) pin-ball is played
flatulent : filled with gas ramshackle : in a very bad condition
slick : slippery
flimsy : badly maintained
squalor : dirty condition
frippery : decorations trim : to decorate

Understanding the Text

1. Consider Hiroshima as a symbol. What is the significance of the title?
2. A 'paradox' is a self-contradictory statement which is difficult to believe, or
which goes against the generally accepted opinion. Find out the paradox in the
first stanza. How far does it emphasise the message of the poem?
3. Identify the adjectives and metaphors in the first stanza. What do they imply?
4. What is the tone of the first stanza and how does it contrast with the other
stanzas of the poem?
5. In which stanza does the tone of the poem change? What is the significance of
the change in the tone of the poem?
6. Why does the poet repeat the line ‘the river remains unchanged, sad, refusing
rehabilitation’?
7. Identify the figures of speech used in the second stanza.
8. What is the poetic device used in the third stanza? What is its purpose?

21
No More Hiroshimas Poetry
9. Pick out words associated with emptiness in the first four stanzas. What effect
does the imagery have?
10. How does the poet's comment on what he has found in Hiroshima explain the
negative imagery of the first four stanzas? Discuss.
11. How often does the poet repeat the idea of death while describing the ‘Park
of Peace’? What is the significance of this repetition?
12. There is a reference to the items found in the museum. What are they? What
do they signify?
13. 'Lively squalor' is an oxymoron used to create greater poetic effect. Pick out
other examples of oxymoron in the poem.
14. Does the poem have any regular rhyme scheme or rhythm? Why?
15. ‘Here, atomic peace is geared to meet the tourist trade.’ Why does the poet say
so?
Writing about the Text
1. The first stanza of the poem presents a vivid picture of a station in Hiroshima.
Does the picture serve as a preface to the rest of the poem? Explain.
2. Trace the change in the attitude of the poet as the poem progresses.
3. What is the general tone of the poem?
4. What message does the poem put across?
5. Does the poem stir anti-war emotions in the reader? Prepare the script of a
speech on the topic ‘The Need to Abandon Wars in Future’ in the light of your
reading of the poem.
5. Critically evaluate the poem and prepare a review of it.
Now, read the poem given below and answer the questions.
Glory of Women
You love us when we’re heroes, home on leave,
Or wounded in a mentionable place
You worship decorations; you believe
That chivalry redeems the war’s disgrace
You make us shells. You listen with delight,

22
No More Hiroshimas Poetry
By tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilled.
You crown our distant ardours while we fight,
And mourn our laurelled memories when we’re killed.
You can’t believe that British troops retire
When hell’s last horror breaks them, and they run,
Trampling the terrible corpses - blind with blood.
O German mother dreaming by the fire,
While you are knitting socks to send your son
His face is trodden deeper in the mud.
Siegfried Sassoon
1. Who are the ‘you’ and ‘we’ referred to in the poem?
2. How do women romanticise war?
3. The last lines give a powerful ending to the poem with a striking word picture.
What is its significance?
Reference
Clifford Dyment, Roy Fuller and Montagu Slater (ed.) New Poems 1952.

23
The Journey of the Magi Poetry

T S Eliot (1888 - 1965)

Thomas Stearns Eliot, the British-American essayist,
playwright, social and literary critic, was one of the stalwarts
of 20th century literature. He has influenced the course and
future of modern poetry more than any other poet of the modern
era. Most of his poems reveal his distress at the moral
degradation and corruption that was rampant in the
contemporary European Society. He is chiefly remembered for
his much acclaimed poem The Waste Land, which symbolises
the breakdown of faiths and values in the life of the Europeans.

The poem testifies the influence of religion on the poet, especially his change of
faith to the Anglican Church of England in 1927. It reflects the poet’s search for
a solution to the human dilemma in the modern world.

The Journey of the Magi

‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey.
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

The Magi : the three wise men who had come to Bethlehem to pay their respects to
infant Jesus Christ presenting him with gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense

24
The Journey of the Magi Poetry
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling 1. Why does the
And running away, and wanting their liquor and speaker say that
it is ‘the worst
women, time’ for a
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, journey?
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
2. What did they
And the villages dirty and charging high prices. regret during
A hard time we had of it. their travel?

At the end we preferred to travel all night, 3. Why did the

Magi prefer to
Sleeping in snatches, travel at night?
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,

Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the
darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the
4. What did the
lintel,
Magi see in the
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, temperate valley?
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued 5. Why did they
decide to continue
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon the journey?
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,

And I would do it again, but set down
This set down

25
The Journey of the Magi Poetry
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and
death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. 6. Whose birth is
referred to here?
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

temperate valley: valley of mild climate

an old white horse: (here) a
metaphor for the rebirth of Christ and the old dispensation: the old way of
the defeat of pagan beliefs life, the old religion
three trees: stands for the three crosses
galled: annoyed at Calvary
grumbling: expressing discontent water-mill beating the darkness:
running stream: a stream that flows symbolic of the extinction and renewal
(symbolic of life’s change) vine leaves over the lintel: refers to
the water that Christ transformed into
six hands at an open door dicing wine
for pieces of silver: betrayal of Christ
wine- skin: a leather bag used to hold
by Judas
wine

Understanding the Text

1. Who is the speaker of the poem?
2. What are the difficulties faced by the Magi at the beginning of the journey?
3. Find out the significance of the first line which is a quote from Lancelot Andrew’s
‘A Prominent Clergyman and Scholar’.
4. Why did the camel men rebel?
5. What picture of the life and times of the people do you get in the first stanza of
the poem?

26
The Journey of the Magi Poetry
6. How did the birth of Christ influence the life in the West?
7. How is the theme of death presented in the poem?
8. How are the themes of birth and death combined in the poem?
9. How does the Magi become alienated?
10. What are the symbols used in the second stanza? What do they signify?
11. Why does the speaker desire for death towards the end of the poem?
12. Where does the poet link the spiritual and the physical death in the poem? How?
13. Anachronism refers to the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance or object.
An example for anachronism can be seen in the quotation from ‘Lancelot
Andrews’ ‘A Prominent Clergyman and Scholar’ which was published in 1622.
Find out other instances of anachronism from the poem.
14. Comment on the poet’s use of imagery in the poem.
Writing about the Text
1. Attempt a critical evaluation of the poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’.
2. Comment on the symbols used in the poem.
3. Analyse the confessional elements in the poem.
4. Trace the psychological changes that the Magi underwent towards the end of
their journey.
5. How does the birth of Christ become a hard and bitter agony for the Magi?
6. Comment on the Biblical allusions in the poem.
7. ‘The Magi’s fear as revealed in the poem is an example of the innate fear of the
human being facing changes.’ Discuss.
8. ‘The Journey of the Magi’ is regarded by many as a ‘conversion narrative’. Do
you think that the poem is autobiographical? How do the lines relate to the
poet’s life?
References
Batra, Shakti. T.S Eliot: A Critical Study of His Poetry. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. 2001.
Dawson, J.L, P.D. Holland & D.J. McKitterick. A Concordance to the Complete Poems and
Plays of T.S. Eliot. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1995.
Gardner, Helen: The Art of T.S. Eliot. London: Faber & Faber, 1949.
Scofield, Dr. Martin, T.S. Eliot: The Poems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

27
Ecology Poetry

Attipet Krishnaswami Ramanujan (1929 - 1993)

A.K. Ramanujan was an Indian writer who wrote in both
English and Kannada. He was a poet, folklorist, translator
and a linguist. He was born and brought up in Mysore. He
taught at many universities in South India. In 1962 he
joined the University of Chicago as a Professor of
Linguistics. Ramanujan’s poetry is deeply rooted in Indian
culture and mythology. He used the Indian backdrop to
deal with themes that were familiar to the western world.
Ramanujan’s poetry reflects the Indian ethos and its pertinence to life. In 1976,
he was honoured with the Padmasree award. He was also awarded the Sahitya
Akademi Award posthumously in 1999.

The poem ‘Ecology’ taken from Ramanujan’s collection of poems titled Second
Sight depicts the reverence and affinity with which Indians regard Mother
Nature.

Ecology

The day after the first rain,

for years, I would come home
in a rage, for I could see from a mile away
our three Red Champak trees
had done it again
1. Why did the
had burst into flower and given Mother poet come home
her first blinding migraine in a rage the day
after the first
of the season rain?
with their street-long heavy- hung
yellow pollen fog of a fragrance
no wind could sift.

28
Ecology Poetry
no door could shut out from our black
pillared house whose walls had ears
and eyes,
scales, smells, bone-creaks, nightly
visiting voices, and were porous
like us,
but mother, flashing her temper
like her mother’s twisted silver,
grandchildren’s knickers
wet as the cold pack on her head,
would not let us cut down 2. How does the
poet describe his
a flowering tree
house?

3. What did the

almost poet’s mother do
as old as her, seeded, to lessen her
pain?
she said, by a passing bird’s
4. How did the
providential droppings tree sprout in the
poet’s courtyard?

to give her gods and her daughters

and daughter’s daughters basketfuls
5. Why does the
of annual flower poet’s mother
and for one line of cousins insist on retaining
the Champak
a dower of migraines in season. trees?

dower : (here) gift porous : small holes that allow water or

fragrance : a pleasant smell air to pass through slowly
migraine : a severe splitting headache providential : pertaining to the divine

29
Ecology Poetry
Understanding the Text
1. Why does the poet want to cut the trees?
2. Ramanujan depicts the cultural beliefs of the Indian people through the character
of his mother. Substantiate the statement with reference to the reasons given by
his mother for not cutting the tree.
3. How do the last two lines add a note of discord to the mother’s arguments? Do
these lines support the cutting of the tree? Discuss.
4. How is the title ‘Ecology’ connected to the theme of the poem? Does it imply any
underlying idea?
5. Comment on the feelings of the poet’s mother to those of Mother Earth?
6. In line 18, the mother’s flashing temper is compared to ‘the flash of twisted
silver’. Identify the figure of speech employed here. Find another line in which
the same device is used.
7. The description of the poet’s house is a fine example of sarcasm. Identify another
instance of the same poetic device in the poem.
8. A.K. Ramanujan makes appropriate use of imagery to convey the theme
effectively. List these images and categorise them as visual, auditory, etc.
Writing about the Text
1. The poetry of Ramanujan mirrors Indian tradition in all its grandeur. Prepare a
write-up on the depiction of Indian culture in the poem.
2. The poem depicts how reverence for nature is an intrinsic part of the Indian
psyche. Write a note on the poem with reference to the above statement.
3. Prepare a critical review of the poem.
4. Imagine that the poet’s mother is the speaker in the poem. Write a paragraph on
the ideas presented in the poem as narrated by her.
References
Banerjee. A.K.Ramanujan's Poetic Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Sunrise Publications,
2009.
Baral, Saranga Dhar. The Verse and Vision of A.K.Ramanujan. Delhi: Sarup and Sons, 2008.
Bhatnagar, M.K., ed. The Poetry of A.K. Ramanujan. New Delhi: Atlantic. 2011.
Biswas, Mita. Representations of a Culture in Indian English Poetry. Shimla: Indian
Institute of Advanced Study, 2009.
Ghosh, Sumana. A.K. Ramanujan As a Poet. Jaipur: Book Enclave, 2004.

30
Bicycle Poetry

David Malouf (1934 - )

David George Joseph Malouf is an Australian poet and
novelist of Lebanese and English descent whose works
reflect his ethnic background as well as his Queensland
childhood and youth. His major volumes of poetry include
Bicycle and Other Poems (1970), Wild Lemons (1980) and
Typewriter Music (2007). He was awarded the Neustadt
International Prize for Literature in 2000, the International
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996 and the inaugural Australia-Asia
Literary Award in 2008.

The poem ‘Bicycle’ evokes in us a heightened sense of awareness about the

insecurities of modern life and man’s excessive dependence on machines.

Bicycle

for Derek Peat

Since Thursday last, the bare living-room 1. To whom is the

of my flat’s been occupied poem dedicated?

by a stranger from the streets, a light-limbed traveller.

2. What does the
expression ‘the
pine-needle spokes, bright rims, the savage downward bare living -
room’ signify?
curve (like polished horns) of its handlebars, denote

3. What features
some forest deity, or deity of highway of the machine
and sky, has incognito set up residence—the godhead give it the
appearance of a
invoked in a machine. forest deity?

31
Bicycle Poetry
To the other inmates of the room, a bookcase,
two chairs, its horizontals speak
of distance, travelling light. Only the
mirror

remains unruffled—holding
its storm of light unbroken, calmly
accepting
all traffic through its gaze. Appease!
Appease! Even

4. What does the

this tall metallic insect,
machine speak to
this horizontal angel the other inmates
of the room?
of green. So much for mirrors!…As for myself,

5. How is the
I hardly dare look in. What should I offer mirror of the
a bicycle? Absurd machine
described?
to lay before its savage iridescence—

grease-drops’ miraculous resin,

6. What are the
blue mist of stars, things which the
a saucer of cold sweat… poet can offer the
bicycle?

Now time yawns and its messengers appear

like huge stick-insects, wingless, spoked with stars,
7. How are ‘the
they wheel through the dusk towards us, messengers of
time’ described?
the shock-wave of collision still lifting
their locks, who bear our future 8. Who bears our
future like urgent
sealed at their lips like urgent telegrams. telegrams?

32
Bicycle Poetry
appease : to make someone calm, to iridescence : showing changing colours
satisfy as light falls on
deity : god or goddess resin : a sticky liquid produced by trees
used for making varnish, medicines, etc.
incognito : with one’s name or spokes : bars which connect the centre
identity kept secret of the wheel to its outer edge

Understanding the Text

1. What is the theme of the poem?
2. Why is the bicycle called ‘a stranger from the streets’?
3. How did the bicycle set up residence in the poet’s home?
4. What are the things to which the bicycle is compared in the poem?
5. What is the ‘machine’ referred to in the poem?
6. What do the expressions ‘grease-drops’ ‘miraculous resin’, ‘blue mist of stars’
and ‘a saucer of cold sweat’ mean? Why does the poet say that all these are
absurd?
7. What does the expression ‘our future sealed at their lips like urgent telegrams’
mean?
Writing about the Text
1. Comment on the style and metaphoric language of the poem.
2. The poem expresses the anxieties, dangers and insecurities of the age of
machines. Elaborate.
References
Giffuni, Cathe. The Prose of David Malouf. Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada,1992.
Gilling, Tom. David Malouf: Writer. The Weekend Australian Magazine, 2008.

33
Million Man March Poetry

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Marguerite Annie Johnson, popularly known as Maya
Angelou, was a celebrated American author who showed
her multiple talents as poet, dancer, actress, screenwriter,
singer and civil rights activist. She is particularly known for
her 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. As an
Afro-American, she had a first-hand experience of racial
prejudices and discrimination.

‘Million Man March’ is a poem which reflects the poet’s deep antipathy towards
the apartheid system. It is a protest march of African-Americans in Washington
D.C. on Oct 16, 1995 led by Louis Farrakhan.

Million Man March

The night has been long,

The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,

I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn’t even call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I, 1. How is the
helplessness of
But unfortunately throughout history the race
You’ve worn a badge of shame. presented?

I say, the night has been long,

34
Million Man March Poetry
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark
And the walls have been steep.

But today, voices of old spirit sound

Speak to us in words profound,
Across the years, across the centuries,
Across the oceans, and across the seas.
They say, draw near to one another,
Save your race. 2. What do the
You have been paid for in a distant place, old ones remind
the new
The old ones remind us that slavery’s chains generation?
Have paid for our freedom again and again.

The night has been long,

The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.
3. What have
The hells we have lived through and live through still, sharpened their
senses?
Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will.
The night has been long.
This morning I look through your anguish
Right down to your soul.
I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole. 4. ‘I look through
the posture and
I look through the posture and past your disguise,
past your
And see your love for family in your big brown eyes. disguise,’ - What
does the poet see?

35
Million Man March Poetry
I say, clap hands and let’s come together in this
meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let’s deal with each other with
love,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of
indifference,
Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our
hearts, 5. What does the
Let us come together and revise our spirits, poet like to invite
into their
Let us come together and cleanse our souls, conversation,
Clap hands, let’s leave the preening bedrooms,
kitchens and
And stop impostering our own history. nursery?
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,
Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation,
Courtesy into our bedrooms,
Gentleness into our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.

The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain

6. Which
We are a going-on people who will rise again. important aspect
of the Afro-
Americans is
And still we rise. stressed by the
ancestors?

braid : a weave of three or more strands profound : deep

of hair posture : to pretend to be somebody
preening : a bird tidying its own feathers imposter : a person who pretends to
(here) admiring oneself be somebody else in order to trick others

36
Million Man March Poetry
Understanding the Text
1. What are the images employed by the poet to describe the suppression of her
race? What do they signify? Why are these images repeated and emphasized?
2. Who does the poet address? What is the plight of the poet and the addressee?
3. What are the allusions used by the poet? What do they indicate?
4. What was the condition of the Blacks in the past?
5. The repetition of a line or a part of a line of a poem is called a refrain. Usually
this repetition occurs at the end of each stanza. Pick out an example of refrain
from the poem. What purpose does it serve in the poem?
6. What do the words ‘years’, ‘centuries’, ‘oceans’ and ‘seas’ evoke in the reader?
7. What do the old ones claim? What do they demand in return?
8. What did the African-American race gain from their slavery through the years?
9. What does the phrase ‘clap hands’ signify? Why does the poet repeatedly use
this phrase?
10. What are the poet’s exhortations to her people?
11. The poem ends on a positive note. What does this indicate?
Writing about the Text
1. ‘Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings....’ How far does this
definition of William Wordsworth suit ‘Million Man March’?
(Hints: emotions of pain, love and understanding - apartheid - sacrifice -fight against injustice)
2. Write a critical appreciation of ‘Million Man March’ highlighting its theme and
its relevance in the contemporary world. Also comment on its tone, rhyme
scheme and poetic devices.
References
Bloom, Harold. Maya Angelou. Broomall, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001.
Hagen, Lyman B. Heart of a Woman, Mind of a Writter and Soul of a Poet: A Critical
Ananlysis of the Writtings of Maya Angelou. Maryland: University Press, 1997.
Neubauer, Carol E. Maya Angelou: Self and a Song of Freedom in the Southern
Tradition. Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1990.

37
Africa Poetry

David Diop (1927 - 1960)

David Diop was one of the most promising French-West
African poets of the 1950s, whose short career ended in an air-
crash off Dakar in 1960. Diop lived an uprooted life, moving
frequently between France and West Africa. While in Paris,
Diop joined the literary movement, Negritude, which
championed and celebrated the uniqueness of black experience
and heritage.

The poem ‘Africa’ reflects the poet’s hatred towards colonial rulers and his hope
for an independent Africa.

Africa
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
1. Who is
The blood of your sweat
addressed in the
The sweat of your work poem?
The work of your slavery
Africa, tell me Africa 2. What does the
poet’s
Is this your back that is unbent grandmother sing
about?
This back that never breaks under the weight of
humiliation

38
Africa Poetry
This back trembling with red scars 3. What
according to the
And saying no to the whip under the midday sun poet is the colour
But a grave voice answers me of his blood?

Impetuous child that tree, young and strong 4. Pick out lines
which speak of
That tree over there the tolerance of
the people of
Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers
Africa.
That is your Africa springing up anew
springing up patiently, obstinately 5. How is the tree
Whose fruit bit by bit acquires described?

The bitter taste of liberty.

6. Why does the
fruit taste bitter?
grave : serious savannah : flat grasslands without trees
impetuous : hasty; thoughtless
obstinate : refusing to change one’s opinions, splendid : excellent; very good
way of behaviour, etc.

Understanding the Text

1. How does the poet describe the onslaught of slavery and colonisation in Africa?
2. Why does the poet say that Africa’s back is never broken under the weight of
humiliation?
3. What does the expression ‘young and strong’ in the poem mean?
4. The poet creates an image of a tree surrounded by white flowers. How is the
tree contrasted with the flowers? What is the implied meaning of this contrast?
5. What do the words ‘patiently’ and ‘obstinately’ contribute to the gradual growth
of Africa in the poem?
6. Why does the poet think that the fruit of liberty will taste bitter?
7. The poet considers Africa’s blood as ‘beautiful black blood that irrigates the
field.’ Comment on the attitude, workmanship and submissiveness of the African
people on the basis of this expression.
8. What is the tone at the beginning of the poem? What change in tone do you
notice towards the end?

39
Africa Poetry
Writing about the Text
1. How does the poem picturise the past, the present and the future of Africa?
2. Prepare a critical review of the poem considering it as a typical post-colonial
poem.
Now, read the following poem and compare it with the poem ‘Africa’.
A poem by an African Shakespeare
Dear white fella
Couple things you should know
When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I black.

You white fella

When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey.

And you have the cheek to call me coloured?

- Anonymous
Reference
Blair, Dorothy S. African literature in French. CUP Archive,1976.

40
Night Rain Poetry

Sugathakumari (1934 - )
One of the foremost writers in Malayalam, Sugathakumari
is noted for her philosophical and perceptive poems. She
is also a renowned environmental and social activist. Her
poetry is noted for its emotional empathy, humanist
sensitivity and moral alertness. Her poems reflect a quest
for a woman's identity and integration, a deep reverence
for nature and a profound understanding of the liberating
power of love. She received the Sahithya Akademi Award
in 1968 for her work Pathirapookal (Flowers of Midnight).
Rathrimazha (Night Rain) won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978. She
also won the Odakkuzhal Award in 1982 and the Vayalar Award in 1984. This
was followed by the Asan Smaraka Award for her collection of poems
Kurinjipookal (Kurinji Flowers). Other major honours bestowed on her include
the Asan Prize (1991), Vallathol Award (2003), Ezhuthachan Award (2009) etc.

'Night Rain' is a poem that portrays the loneliness, dejection and despondency
of a woman through the image of rain.

Night Rain

Night rain,
Like some young madwoman
1. Which words
Weeping, laughing, whimpering,
suggest the
For nothing sounds made by
the rain?
Muttering without a stop,
And sitting huddled up
Tossing her long hair.

41
Night Rain Poetry
Night rain,
Pensive daughter of the dusky dark
Gliding slowly like a long wail,
Into this hospital,
Extending her cold fingers
Through the window
And touching me.

Night rain,
When groans and shudders
And sharp voices
And the sudden anguished cry of a mother 2. Where is the
Shake me, and I put my hand to my ears poem set?

And sob, tossing on my sick bed

You, like a dear one 3. Why does the
poet put her
Coming through the gloom with comforting words.
hand to her ears?
Somebody said,
The diseased part can be cut and removed
But what can be done with the poor heart 4. How does the
rain become a
More deeply diseased? soothing
experience to the
poet?
Night rain,
Witness to my love,
Who lulled me to sleep 5. How did the
night rain
On those auspicious nights long ago, comfort the poet
Giving more joy than the white moonlight on ‘those
auspicious
Which made me thrill with joy nights’?
And laugh.

42
Night Rain Poetry
Night rain,
Now witness to my grief
When on my sweltering sickbed
In the sleepless hours of night
Alone I reel with pain, 6. What effect
does the pain
Forgetting even to weep exert on the poet?
And freeze into stone.

Let me tell you,

Night rain,
I know your music, kind and sad, 7. How does the
music of the
night rain sound
to the poet?

Your pity and your suppressed rage,

Your coming in the night,
8. What does the
Your sobbing and weeping when all alone; rain do at night?
And when it is dawn
Your wiping your face and forcing a smile,
Your hurry and your putting on an act: 9. What does
night rain do
How do I know all this? when it is dawn?
My friend, I, too, am like you
Like you, rain at night. 10. What does
‘rain at night’
Translated by B. Hridayakumari mean?
anguish: extreme pain reel: to roll
auspicious: promising, favourable sweltering: hot and humid
huddle: to sit with the legs curled up wail: a prolonged cry
to the chest whimper: to cry with a low and broken
pensive: thoughtful voice

43
Night Rain Poetry
Understanding the Text
1. Who is the speaker of the poem? What details about the speaker do we get from
stanzas 2, 3 & 5?
2. The night rain is compared to a mad woman. How apt is this comparison?
Comment.
3. How does the poet describe the night rain in the second stanza?
4. Describe how the poet creates the gloomy and painful atmosphere of the hospital
in the poem.
5. Why does the poet say that her heart is ‘more deeply diseased’?
6. Find out instances where the night rain assumes the role of a friend and a nurse
in the speaker's life.
7. How does the poet describe the feelings of the night rain in the last stanza?
8. How is rain related to a woman's life as suggested in the last stanza? What
picture of a woman does the poet evoke through the description of rain?
9. List some of the images used by the poet.
10. Read the poem carefully and complete the given table:

44
Night Rain Poetry
Writing about the Text
1. Sugathakumari’s poetry ‘makes an odyssey into the very essence of womanhood.’
Write a review of the poem in the light of the above statement.
2. Write a paragraph on the deep bonding between nature and women as expressed
in ‘Night Rain’.
3. Prepare a short note on Sugathakumari’s use of imagery in the poem.
References
T. M. Chummar Padya Sahitya Charitram (in Malayalam). Kottayam. (1973).
M. Leelavathi Malayala Kavita Sahitya Charitram (in Malayalam). Trichur: Kerala Sahitya
Akademi. (1980).
Mohan Lal (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot . New Delhi: Sahitya
Akademi.
K. V. Surendran (ed.). Indian Women Poets: Mapping out New Terrains and Man-
Woman Relationship in Kamala Das and Sugathakumari. Indian English Poetry: New
Perspectives . New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.
Susie Tharu, K. Lalita, Women Writing in India: The Twentieth century Feminist Press,
(1993).

Know your text

• Analyse the features of twentieth century poetry and prepare a write-up.
• Prepare an article on the socio- cultural issues that culminated in the development
of war poetry and eco-poetry.
• Write an essay on the social evils of marginalisation and discrimination as
presented in the poems you have studied linking it with the Indian context.
Let’s conclude
In this unit we have identified the essential socio-cultural aspects depicted in
poetry from different parts of the world.
Now, let’s examine how these aspects are addressed in another important genre,
namely, short fiction.

45
 Short Stories

Section 2
Short Stories

46
 Short Stories

Preface
The disintegration of life and erosion of traditional values find expression in
the short story which emerged as a popular genre of the 20th century. Each
short story included in this unit is distinct for its plot, characterisation, theme
and narrative techniques. These stories portray the harsh realities of life, giving
an insight into the language and style of different authors from varied socio-
cultural backgrounds.

Lear ning Outcomes

Learning
The learner will be able to:
• identify the features of literary works belonging to different cultures.
• apply close and critical reading of different texts.
• demonstrate the knowledge of literary and figurative elements and how they
influence the development of the thought and the emotions depicted.
• analyse how the point of view, language, style and theme differ with reference
to the author’s socio-cultural background.
• demonstrate an awareness about the abundance of literary contribution from
different nations of the Asian and African continents.
• explain the multiplicity of voices, especially, the emergence and importance
of Dalit writing as a genre of literature.
• analyse the social circumstances that resulted in the emergence of Dalit writing.
• criticise social evils like marginalisation and discrimination rampant in the
society at various levels.
• explain the implied meaning and elevated thoughts in the stories.

47
Doves on the Wing Short Stories

Salwa Bakr (1949-)

A major Egyptian short story writer and novelist, Salwa Bakr
rose to fame after the publication of her much acclaimed novel
and short stories under the title of Atiyya’s Shrine (1986).
Though Bakr’s writings are characterised by her Egyptian
experience, her deep understanding of the human nature and
insightful handling of themes have lent a universal outlook to them.

The story Doves on the Wing presents a theft in a moving bus and showcases the
pathetic condition of the Egyptian society and politics.

Doves on the Wing

They carried out their plan very efficiently. The first one,
the one with the deep scar on his short neck, boarded the 1. The story
bus at the main terminal. Then, after the bus had made opens with a
its way through the central shopping area, creeping vivid picture of
along like a tortoise because of the masses of cars and the streets. List
people and the merchandise spilling out over the their peculiarities.
pavements and onto the streets, the second one leapt on •______________
the bus the moment it slowed down at the first stop in the •______________
old district - where buildings now vied with one another
•______________
to soar into the sky, stifling the lovely gardens that had
slumbered peacefully there such a short time before. The •______________
third, sharp-eyed, with a lean, straight body translating
itself easily into sudden lithe movements, clung to the
bar fixed to the rear door as the bus set off from the stop
2. Identify the
at the public garden, which separates the old district humour in Bakr’s
from the other districts. Every district had its distinct description of the
identity, reflected in the street lighting (sometimes faint, pavements and
most often non-existent), the broken pavements and the the movement of
regular potholes in the street, to which the bodies of the the passengers
inside the bus.

48
Doves on the Wing Short Stories
passengers responded by going up and down, or left and
right, whenever the bus landed in one of them or the
driver tried to go around them. The moment the third
man boarded the bus and made sure his two partners
were there too - the first one standing at the front, behind
the driver, the second sitting in the last seat at the back -
he raised his hand as a signal to go ahead and pushed his
way through the standing passengers to the front, upon
which the other two produced ‘gazelle horn’ knives and
pointed them at the backs of the driver and conductor. 3. What did the
Then the third man whipped out his gun and aimed at third man
the passengers. ‘Put your hands up,’ he said, ‘and don’t command?
move.’ Stunned, the passengers hesitated for a few seconds,
then raised their hands. So did the conductor, in spite of
the Belmont cigarette burning between his thumb and
forefinger, the one his friend, the street vendor had given
4. Why didn’t the
him before calling out to sell his wares, then jumping off
driver raise his
the bus. The only one whose hands didn’t go up was the hands?
driver; he clutched the steering wheel and followed the
instructions of the leader with the gun, slowing the bus
down. This holdup, he thought sadly, could only put back
the moment when he got back home and dropped on his
bed like a stone, sinking into a sound sleep and getting a
little relief from the pain and toil of a long day. No doubt,
too, the passengers would insist he change course when
the thieves had run off, heading for the nearest police
station to file a complaint. He gave an angry grunt. Here
was one more reason, he reflected, just one more to add 5. How were the
to all the other reasons, for cursing the ill-starred day he six passengers
was appointed a driver in the Public Transport saved from the
Department. Meanwhile there were thirty-five of its trouble of putting
clients on the bus, six of whom had fallen into a deep up their hands
sleep after the first stop or two, probably because they for a few
minutes?
lived in the district at the other end of the route; these, for
a few minutes at least, were still unconscious of what
was going on and so were saved the trouble of putting
up their hands. Then the man with the gun yelled at them,
frightening them so much they sat up and raised their

49
Doves on the Wing Short Stories
hands like all the other passengers. Even the little boy
who’d been sitting on his mother’s lap and smiling and 6. At the
gaily putting up his hands because he supposed everyone beginning, the
little boy was
was playing ‘Doves on the Wing’ - even he got upset and
happy. Why?
started crying when his hands stayed up too long, and
his mother didn’t, as she usually did when they played
this game, say ‘Put down the dove’ and lower her hands 7. Why did the
into her lap. But the man with the gun glared at him, and little boy start
the boy buried his face in his mother’s bosom. She was crying?
tense as well, and had started worrying, not about the
one pound five piastres wrapped up in a piece of cloth
and hidden between her breasts - she didn’t suppose the 8.What was the
thieves would be so mean and low as to search the secret mother of the
places in her bosom - but because they might seize the little boy worried
about?
goose in the basket under her seat, which now kept
stretching out its neck and moving it enquiringly from
side to side. For the moment, though, the thieves didn’t 9. Where was she
share her concern about the goose, or about all the trouble going with her
she’d taken to feed it and fatten it so she could take it to son?
her daughter, a bride of less than a week, whose home
she was now going to on this bus, to spend the night and
slaughter the goose, the next morning. All the thieves were
worried about for the moment was collecting the
10. What did the
passengers’ money just as quickly as they could. The one thief in the rear
in the rear started ordering the passengers to get all their order?
money out, and to take their watches off if they had them,
and he also told them all, men and women alike, to give
up any items of gold jewellery like rings and earrings.
The one farmer on the bus, who was not only carrying 11. The farmer
nineteen pounds thirty piastres in his pocket but had a decided to keep
gold crown in his mouth as well, decided- a true child his mouth shut.
of our times - to keep his mouth shut tight and quietly Why?
hand over everything in his pocket, not letting the
smallest grumble escape his lips. In contrast, the young
conscript soldier sitting next to him had his mouth wide
open, unable to believe this was actually happening on a
bus that was supposed to be taking him to the nearest
place to his military unit (from which he would still have

50
Doves on the Wing Short Stories
to walk at least three kilometers across the desert to reach
his destination), the whole thing was like a scene from 12. How did the
soldier feel about
some American gangster film. It was true he had no more the incident in
than twenty-five piastres in his pocket, and the thieves, the bus?
damn them, were more than welcome to it, but he was
bitter because he’d saved the provisions his mother had
given him rather than eating them all straight off: three 13. The thief did
boiled eggs, a loaf of homemade bread, onions and a large not bother to ask
fig. The thieves, though, passed him by; the one collecting the soldier for his
the money didn’t, for some reason, bother to ask the soldier money. Why?
for his money-probably he’d learned from the wise
saying: ‘What can the wind gain from bare tiles?’ Not
wanting to waste his precious thief’s time, he didn’t even
glance at the soldier who (whatever the words of the
popular song might say) obviously wasn’t the Pride of 14. What was the
the Egyptian Nation, but told the old man in the next seat old man’s plea to
to produce his wallet and empty the contents. The old the thief?
man pleaded with him. ‘For the Prophet’s sake,’ he begged,
‘let me keep just five pounds. My daughter Loza needs a
pair of shoes to wear to the children’s festival at school
tomorrow.’ But the thief told him to keep his mouth shut.
The thin black man sitting in the back made a similar
request (with three pounds difference in the sum 15. Why did the
involved); then, when the thief took no notice, he moaned thin black man
and grumbled and cursed his own stupidity and lack of curse himself?
foresight, because if he’d stayed in the cafe and played
backgammon and smoked the nargila the one pound fifty
would have been well spent instead of being stolen by
thieves. But no, he’d decided to be sensible and wise; rather 16. What did the
than spend money on pointless games, he’d told himself, man with the
gun tell the
make your children happy by buying them some fruit.
young man with
As for the young man with the thick glasses who was thick glasses?
carrying books, the man with the gun told him to stop
scratching the floor with his feet because it was setting
his teeth on edge; he’d cut those feet off, he threatened, if
it happened again. When four pounds sixty piastres had
been extracted from the young man, the money collector
announced that the operation was complete. ‘What about

51
Doves on the Wing Short Stories
the conductor?’ asked the man with the gun. ‘We’ve done
him,’ said the money collector. ‘He didn’t have much on
him anyway.’ This annoyed the man with the gun. He
grunted irritably. ‘We’ll take it anyway,’ he said, ‘just to
get back at the government.’ He hurled some insults at
the passengers and started telling them again what he’d
do if anyone tried to move, but the money collector
interrupted him. ‘That woman with the child’s got a
goose,’ he said. ‘Shall I go and grab it?’ The man with the
gun considered this for a while, but, fearing the goose 17. The man with
might expose them with its honking, he didn’t answer the gun did not
his partner, ordering the driver, instead, to open the bus prefer snatching
doors which had stayed shut since he got on. Then he the goose. Why?
made a sign to his partners to join him. ‘Come on,’ he
ordered. ‘Jump off, quick!’

The bus sped away, and the thieves ran like the wind to a
piece of waste land behind the old mosque, in a distant
18. What were
street parallel to the one where they’d got off. There they the things looted
sat down to catch their breath, count the money and from the
examine the articles they’d stolen - the latter consisting passengers?
of three wedding rings (one of silver and two which
broke between the teeth of the man with the scar on his
neck, showing that they were polished brass) and five
watches (two of them not working and another two at

52
Doves on the Wing Short Stories
least thirty years old and not worth a thing). The
combined money from the passengers and the conductor
amounted to the sum of sixty-eight pounds ninety-three
piastres. ‘Bastards!’ yelled the man with the gun bitterly.
He was backed up by the man with the scar, whose only
wish at that moment was to smash anything he could lay
his hands on. Finding nothing suitable he took his shoe
off and banged it on the ground. ‘Scum!’ he said. ‘God
damn a country with passengers like these!’ The third
man, who’d pointed his knife into the driver’s back, was
struck by the force of his friends’ words. The whole
19. ‘We’ll have to
situation was so ridiculous his laughter rang through
forget about
the empty lot. ‘We’ll have to forget about eating kebabs eating kebabs or
or getting drunk tonight,’ he said. ‘We’ve ended up with getting drunk
nothing.’ He fingered his scar, as he always did when he tonight.’ Why did
got worked up. ‘A great, fat bus full of people,’ he went the thief say so?
on, ‘and we come out with a lousy sixty-eight pounds!
Just our luck! God, this bunch had already been robbed
20. Why did the
before we came along!’ The thin, nervous-looking man
thieves remark
joined in his partner’s laughter. ‘The ones who robbed that the
them must have been big thieves,’ he answered. ‘Really passengers had
big thieves! It’s a big-time game they’re playing. Ha, ha, already been
ha!’ robbed?

backgammon: a board game for two players; merchandise: goods that are bought or
pieces move according to throws of dices sold
conscript: to make somebody join the nargila : a tobacco pipe
armed forces piastre: a fractional monetary unit in
gazelle: an antelope found in Africa Egypt, Syria and Lebanon
lousy : very bad or worthless stifle: to prevent something from happening

Understanding the Text

1. ‘They carried out their plan very efficiently.’ Who are the ‘they’ referred to
here? What was their plan?
2. How is the theme of theft related to the game ‘Doves on the Wing’?
3. Describe the route taken by the bus. Does it contribute in any way to the social
setting of the story? Comment.

53
Doves on the Wing Short Stories
4. People from different walks of life were travelling in the bus. Comment on their
responses to the incident in the bus.
5. What were the attitudes of the passengers towards their possessions?
6. ‘The ones who robbed them must have been big thieves.’ Why did one of the
thieves say so?
7. Attempt a character sketch of the thieves as revealed from their actions and
attitude towards the passengers.
8. What does the title Doves on the Wing signify?
Writing about the Text
1. Theft is a theme handled by many authors. Do you think that Salwa Bakr has
treated it in a unique manner?
2. Satire often becomes a weapon in the hands of the author while exposing the
darker shades of life. Pick out instances in which dark humour and satire reveal
the plight of the characters in the story.
3. The passengers do not resist the thieves from looting them. Instead, they give
away their possessions. What aspect of mob psychology is revealed here? Discuss
the social concerns that get highlighted in this context.
4. ‘Broken pavements’, ‘potholes’, ‘gangster film’, ‘empty wasteland’ are some of
the images employed by the author to precipitate the crisis. Comment.
5. The characterisation and plot mutually support the storyline. What conclusion
do you arrive at after reading the story? What do you think of the author’s
point of view? Substantiate.
6. Did you notice that the story reads like a long passage, without being broken up
into paragraphs? Does it have any bearing on the theme?
References
1. Mende, Claudia.The Voice of the Marginalised: Quantarade. 2012.
2. Radwa, Ashour. Arab Women Writers - A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999. Cairo:
American University in Cairo Press. 2008.

54
We too are Human Beings Short Stories

Bama (1958-)
Bama is the pen-name of Tamil Dalit novelist Bama Faustina
Soosairaj. Basically from a Roman Catholic family, Bama has been
hailed as the leading voice of the suppressed class of Dalits in
Tamil Nadu. She came into the limelight with her autobiographical
novel Karukku (1992) and penned two more novels, Sangati (1994)
and Vanmam (2002) along with two collections of short stories:
Kusumbukkaran (1996) and Oru Tattvum Erumaiyum (2003). Her critically
acclaimed work Karukku won the Crossword Book Award in 2000. Bama's novels
focus on caste and gender-based discrimination.
The story We too are Human Beings has been taken from Karukku (means palmyra
leaves). It throws light on her childhood experiences especially on the caste-
based discrimination that prevailed in her society.

We too are Human Beings

When I was studying in the third class, I hadn’t yet heard

people speak openly of untouchability. But I had already
seen, felt, experienced and been humiliated by what it is.
I was walking home from school one day, an old bag 1. Bama took
hanging from my shoulder. It was actually possible to more than half
walk the distance in ten minutes. But usually it would an hour to reach
take me thirty minutes at the very least to reach home. It home from
would take me from half an hour to an hour to dawdle school. Why?
along, watching all the fun and games that were going
on, all the entertaining novelties and oddities in the streets,
the shops and the bazaar.
The performing monkey; the snake which the snake
charmer kept in its box and displayed from time to time;
the cyclist who had not got off his bike for three days,
and who kept pedalling as hard as he could from break
of day; the rupee notes that were pinned on to his shirt to

55
We too are Human Beings Short Stories

spur him on; the spinning wheels; the Maariyaata temple,

the huge bell hanging there; the pongal offerings being
cooked in front of the temple; the dried fish stall by the
Statue of Gandhi; the sweet stall, the stall selling fried
snacks, and all the other shops next to each other; the
street light always demonstrating how it could change
from blue to violet; the Narikkuravan hunter-gypsy with
his wild lemur in cages, selling needles, clay beads and
instruments for cleaning out the ears — Oh, I could go
on and on. Each thing would pull me to a stand-still and
not allow me to go any further.
At times, people from various political parties would
arrive, put up a stage and harangue us through their
mikes. Then there might be a street play, or a puppet show, 2. What were the
or a ‘no magic, no miracle’ stunt performance. All these sights that held
would happen from time to time. But almost certainly the author from
there would be some entertainment or other going on. going home?

Even otherwise, there were the coffee clubs in the bazaar:

the way each waiter cooled the coffee, lifting a tumbler
high up and pouring its contents into a tumbler held in
his other hand. Or the way some people sat in front of the
shops chopping up onion, their eyes turned elsewhere so
that they would not smart. Or the almond tree growing
there and its fruit which was occasionally blown down
by the wind. All these sights taken together would tether
my legs and stop me from going home.
And then, according to the season, there would be mango,
cucumber, sugar-cane, sweet-potato, palm-shoots, gram,
palmsyrup and palm-fruit, guavas and jack-fruit. Every
day I would see people selling sweet and savoury fried
snacks, payasam, halva, boiled tamarind seeds and
iced lollies.
Gazing at all this, one day, I came to my street,
my bag slung over my shoulder. At the opposite
corner, though, a threshing floor had been set up,
and the landlord watched the proceedings, seated

56
We too are Human Beings Short Stories

on a piece of sacking spread over a stone ledge. Our people

3. What was the
were hard at work, driving cattle in pairs, round and landlord
round, to tread out the grain from the straw. The animals watching?
were muzzled so that they wouldn’t help themselves to
the straw. I stood for a while there, watching the fun.
Just then, an elder of our street came along from the
direction of the bazaar. The manner in which he was
walking along made me want to double up. I wanted to
shriek with laughter at the sight of such a big man
carrying a small packet in that fashion. I guessed there 4. Which sight
was something like vadai or green banana bhajji in the evoked laughter
packet, because the wrapping paper was stained with in the author?
oil. He came along, holding out the packet by its string,
without touching it. I stood there thinking to myself, if
he holds it like that, won’t the package come undone,
and the vadais fall out?
The elder went straight up to the landlord, bowed low
and extended the packet towards him, cupping the hand 5. How did the
author guess that
that held the string with his other hand. The landlord
the small packet
opened the parcel and began to eat the vadais. contained vadais?
After I had watched all this, at last I went home. My elder
brother was there. I told him the story in all its comic
detail. I fell about with laughter at the memory of a big
man, and an elder at that, making such a game out of
carrying the parcel. But Annan was not amused. Annan
told me the man wasn’t being funny when he carried the 6. How did her
package like that. He said everybody believed that they brother’s
explanation
were upper caste and therefore must not touch us. If they
change the
did, they would be polluted. That’s why he had to carry author’s attitude?
the package by its string.
When I heard this, I didn’t want to laugh any more, and
I felt terribly sad. How could they believe that it was
disgusting if one of us held that package in his hands,
even though the vadai had been wrapped first in a banana
leaf, and then parcelled in paper? I felt so provoked and
angry that I wanted to touch those wretched vadais myself

57
We too are Human Beings Short Stories
straight away. Why should we have to fetch and carry
for these people, I wondered. Such an important elder of
ours goes meekly to the shops to fetch snacks and hands
them over reverently, bowing and shrinking, to this fellow
who just sits there and stuffs them into his mouth. The
thought of it infuriated me.
7. ‘The thought of
How was it that these fellows thought so much of it infuriated me.’
themselves? Because they had scraped four coins together, What was the
did that mean they must lose all human feelings? But we thought?
too are human beings. Our people should never run these
petty errands for these fellows. We should work in their
fields, take home our wages, and leave it at that.
My elder brother, who was studying at a university, had
come home for the holidays. He would often go to the
library in our neighbouring village in order to borrow
books. He was on his way home one day, walking along
the banks of the irrigation tank. One of the landlord’s
men came up behind him. He thought my Annan looked 8. Why did the
unfamiliar, and so he asked, ‘Who are you, appa, what’s landlord’s man
your name?’ Annan told him his name. Immediately the ask about the
other man asked, ‘Thambi, on which street do you live?’ street where
The point of this was that if he knew on which street we Annan lived?
lived, he would know our caste too.
Annan told me all these things. And he added, ‘Because
we are born into this community, we are never given
any honour or dignity or respect; we are stripped of all
that. But if we study and make progress, we can throw 9. What reason
away these indignities. So study with care, learn all you did Annan give
can. If you are always ahead in your lessons, people will for not getting
honour or dignity
come to you on their own accord and attach themselves in the society?
to you. Work hard and learn.’ The words that Annan
spoke to me that day made a very deep impression on
me. And I studied hard, with all my breath and being, in 10. What way
a frenzy almost. As Annan had urged, I stood first in my did Annan
class. And because of that, many people became my suggest to throw
away the social
friends.
inequalities?

58
We too are Human Beings Short Stories

dawdle : to take a long time to do something muzzle : guard fitted over an animal’s
double up : overcome with laughter nose and mouth to stop it feeding or biting
errand : a petty job Narikkuravan : a tribal gypsy group
harangue : long, loud, angry speech to novelty : something new and unusual
persuade people oddity : something that seems strange
humiliate : abuse; ill-treat and unusual
indignity : a situation that makes you feel pongal : a harvest festival celebrated
embarrassed or ashamed by Tamilians
infuriate : make a person extremely angry scrape : collect/gather
Lemur : a long tailed primate living in trees spur : something that encourages
usually found in Madagaskar someone to do something
Maariyata temple : temple of goddess tether : to tie an object to a post with rope
Mariyamman wretched : (here) something of no merit

Understanding the Text

1. The narrator is a keen observer of things on her way home. Describe the
‘entertaining novelties and oddities’ on her way.
2. What was the narrator’s initial reaction to the incident on the street? Did it
change later on?
3. Why did the narrator feel terribly sad and provoked?
4. ‘I wanted to touch those wretched vadais….’ Were the vadais wretched? If so,
why did Bama want to touch them?
5. Contrast the landlord with the people at work.
6. How did Annan justify the strange behaviour of the elder man of their
community?
7. Describe the role played by Annan in the life of the narrator.
Writing about the Text
1. Humanity is beyond caste, creed and race. Elucidate this statement in the light
of the story We too are Human Beings.
2. Education plays a key role in eradicating casteism and securing a respectable
status for the marginalised sections in the society. Do you agree with this
statement? Justify the statement in the light of the story We Too are Human Beings.
References
Bama. (trans. Holmström, Lakshmi). Karukku. Chennai: Macmillan, 2000.
Beverley, John. Subalternity and Representation: Arguments in Cultural
Theory. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1999.

59
My Old Home Short Stories

LuHsun (1881-1936)
LuHsun was the Chief Commander of China's Modern
Cultural Revolution. He was not only a great thinker but
also the founder of modern Chinese literature. His A
Madman's Diary was the first short story in the history of
modern Chinese literature. This was his declaration of war
against China's feudal society. His other works include
The True Story of AhQ and The New Year's Sacrifice.
My Old Home portrays his childhood experience in his ancestral home.

My Old Home
Braving the bitter cold, I travelled more than seven
hundred miles back to the old home I had left over twenty
years before.
It was late winter. As we drew near my former home the 1. Why did Hsun
day became overcast and a cold wind blew into the cabin feel depressed
of our boat, while all one could see through the chinks in when he was
nearing his
our bamboo awning were a few desolate villages, void of
former home?
any sign of life, scattered far and near under the sombre
yellow sky. I could not help feeling depressed.
Ah! Surely this was not the old home I had remembered
for the past twenty years.
The old home I remembered was not in the least like this.
My old home was much better. But if you asked me to
recall its peculiar charm or describe its beauties, I had 2. How did Hsun
no clear impression, no words to describe it. And now it pacify his
seemed this was all there was to it. Then I rationalized depressed state of
the matter to myself, saying: Home was always like this, mind?
and although it has not improved, still it is not so
depressing as I imagine; it is only my mood that has
changed, because I am coming back to the country this
time with no illusions.

60
My Old Home Short Stories
This time I had come with the sole object of saying
goodbye. The old house our clan had lived in for so many
years had already been sold to another family, and was 3. Why did the
to change hands before the end of the year. I had to hurry author want to
there before New Year’s Day to say goodbye for ever to say goodbye to
the familiar old house, and to move my family to another his old home?
place where I was working, far from my old home town.
At dawn on the second day I reached the gateway of my
home. Broken stems of withered grass on the roof,
trembling in the wind, made very clear the reason why
this old house could not avoid changing hands. Several
branches of our clan had probably already moved away,
so it was unusually quiet. By the time I reached the house
my mother was already at the door to welcome me, and
my eight-year-old nephew, Hungerh, rushed out after
her.
Though mother was delighted, she was also trying to hide
a certain feeling of sadness. She told me to sit down and
rest and have some tea, letting the removal wait for the
time being. Hungerh, who had never seen me before, stood
watching me at a distance.
But finally we had to talk about the removal. I said that 4. What were
rooms had already been rented elsewhere, and I had their plans about
bought a little furniture; in addition it would be necessary their shifting
to sell all the furniture in the house in order to buy more from the old
home?
things. Mother agreed, saying that the luggage was nearly
all packed, and about half the furniture that could not
easily be moved had already been sold. Only it was
difficult to get people to pay up.
“You must rest for a day or two, and call on our relatives,
and then we can go,” said mother.
“Yes.”
”Then there is Jun-tu. Each time he comes here he always
asks after you, and wants very much to see you again. I
told him the probable date of your return home, and he

61
My Old Home Short Stories

may be coming any time.”

At this point a strange picture suddenly flashed into my
mind: a golden moon suspended in a deep blue sky and
beneath it the seashore, planted as far as the eye could see
with jadegreen watermelons, while in their midst a boy
of eleven or twelve, wearing a silver necklet and grasping
a steel pitchfork* in his hand, was thrusting with all his
might at a zha which dodged the blow and escaped
between his legs.
This boy was Jun-tu. When I first met him he was just
over ten—that was thirty years ago, and at that time my
father was still alive and the family well off, so I was
really a spoilt child. That year it was our family’s turn to
take charge of a big ancestral sacrifice, which came
round only once in thirty years, and hence was an 5. When did he
important one. In the first month the ancestral images meet Jun-tu for
were presented and offerings made, and since the the first time?
sacrificial vessels were very fine and there was such a What was the
crowd of worshippers, it was necessary to guard against importance of
that occasion?
theft. Our family had only one part-time labourer. (In
our district we divide labourers into three classes: those
who work all the year for one family are called full-
timers; those who are hired by the day are called dailies;
and those who farm their own land and only work for
one family at New Year, during festivals or when rents
are being collected are called part-timers.) And since
there was so much to be done, he told my father that he
would send for his son Jun-tu to look after the sacrificial
6. Who was Jun-
vessels.
tu? Why was he
When my father gave his consent I was overjoyed, because named so?
I had long since heard of Jun-tu and knew that he was
about my own age, born in the intercalary month*, and
when his horoscope was told it was found that of the five
Note : intercalary The Chinese lunar calendar reckons 360 days to a year, and
each month comprises of 29 or 30 days, never 31. Hence every few years a 13th,
or intercalary month is inserted in the calendar.

62
My Old Home Short Stories

elements that of earth was lacking, so his father called

him Jun-tu (Intercalary Earth). He could set traps and
catch small birds.
I looked forward every day to New Year, for New Year
would bring Jun-tu. At last, when the end of the year came,
one day mother told me that Jun-tu had come, and I flew
to see him. He was standing in the kitchen. He had a
round, crimson face and wore a small felt cap on his head
and a gleaming silver necklet round his neck, showing
that his father doted on him and, fearing he might die,
had made a pledge with the gods and buddhas, using the
necklet as a talisman. He was very shy, and I was the
only person he was not afraid of. When there was no one
else there, he would talk with me, so in a few hours we
were fast friends.
I don’t know what we talked of then, but I remember
that Jun-tu was in high spirits, saying that since he had
7. How did Jun-
come to town he had seen many new things. tu describe his
The next day I wanted him to catch birds. method of
catching birds?
‘Can’t be done,’ he said. ‘It’s only possible after a heavy
snowfall. On our sands, after it snows, I sweep clear a
patch of ground, prop up a big threshing basket with a
short stick, and scatter husks of grain beneath. When the
birds come there to eat, I tug a string tied to the stick,
and the birds are caught in the basket. There are all kinds:
wild pheasants, woodcocks, wood-pigeons, blue-backs...’
Accordingly I looked forward very eagerly to see the
snowfall.
‘Just now it is too cold,’ said Jun-tu another time, ‘but
you must come to our place in summer. In the daytime
we’ll go to the seashore to look for shells, there are green
ones and red ones, besides ‘scare-devil’ shells and
‘buddha’s hands.’ In the evening when dad and I go to
see to the watermelons, you shall come too.’

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My Old Home Short Stories

‘Is it to look out for thieves?’

‘No. If passers-by are thirsty and pick a watermelon, folk
down our way don’t consider it as stealing. What we have 8. The message of
to look out for are badgers, hedgehogs and zha. When sharing is
under the moonlight you hear the crunching sound made conveyed in the
by the zha when it bites the melons, then you take your story. Pick out an
pitchfork and creep stealthily over...’ instance from the
story.
I had no idea then what this thing called zha was—and
I am not much clearer now for that matter—but somehow
I felt it was something like a small dog, and very fierce.
‘Don’t they bite people?’
9. What were the
‘You have a pitchfork. You go across, and when you see it strange lores
you strike. It’s a very cunning creature and will rush which he heard
towards you and get away between your legs. Its fur is as from Jun-tu?
slippery as oil....’
I had never known that all these strange things existed:
at the seashore there were shells all colours of the
rainbow; watermelons were exposed to such danger, yet
all I had known of them before was that they were sold
in the greengrocer’s.
‘On our shore, when the tide comes in, there are lots of 10. Jun-tu and
jumping fish, each with two legs like a frog....’ the author shared
a deep bond even
Jun-tu’s mind was a treasure-house of such strange lore, after their
all of it outside the ken of my former friends. They were separation. How?
ignorant of all these things and, while Jun-tu lived by
the sea, they like me could see only the four corners of
the sky above the high courtyard wall.
Unfortunately, a month after New Year Jun-tu had to go
home. I burst into tears and he took refuge in the kitchen,
crying and refusing to come out, until finally his father
carried him off. Later he sent me by his father a packet of
shells and a few very beautiful feathers, and I sent him
presents once or twice, but we never saw each other again.
Now that my mother mentioned him, this childhood

64
My Old Home Short Stories

memory sprang into life like a flash of lightning, and I

seemed to see my beautiful old home. So I answered:
‘Fine! And he—how is he?’
‘He’s not at all well off either,’ said mother. And then,
looking out of the door: ‘Here come those people again.
They say they want to buy our furniture; but actually
they just want to see what they can pick up. I must go
and watch them.’
Mother stood up and went out. The voices of several
women could be heard outside. I called Hung-erh to me
and started talking to him, asking him whether he could
write, and whether he would be glad to leave.
‘Shall we be going by train?’
‘Yes, we shall go by train.’
‘And boat?’
‘We shall take a boat first.’
‘Oh! Like this! With such a long moustache!’ A strange
shrill voice suddenly rang out.
I looked up with a start, and saw a woman of about fifty
with prominent cheekbones and thin lips. With her hands
on her hips, not wearing a skirt but with her trousered
legs apart, she stood in front of me just like the compass
11. Who was
in a box of geometrical instruments. Mrs. Yang? How
I was flabbergasted. different was she
in her
‘Don’t you know me? Why, I have held you in my arms!’ appearance,
I felt even more flabbergasted. Fortunately my mother many years ago?
came in just then and said:
‘He has been away so long, you must excuse him for
forgetting. You should remember,’ she said to me, ‘this is
Mrs. Yang from across the road... She has a bean curd shop.’
Then, to be sure, I remembered. When I was a child there
was a Mrs. Yang who used to sit nearly all day long in

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My Old Home Short Stories

the bean curd shop across the road, and everybody used
to call her Beancurd Beauty. She used to powder herself,
and her cheekbones were not so prominent then nor her
lips so thin; moreover she remained seated all the time,
so that I had never noticed this resemblance to a compass.
In those days people said that, thanks to her, that bean
curd shop did very good business. But, probably on
account of my age, she had made no impression on me,
so that later I forgot her entirely. However, the Compass
was extremely indignant and looked at me most
contemptuously, just as one might look at a Frenchman
who had never heard of Napoleon or an American who
12. What was the
had never heard of Washington, and smiling sarcastically demand put
she said: forward by Mrs.
‘You had forgotten? Naturally I am beneath your notice....’ Yang?

‘Certainly not... I...’ I answered nervously, getting to my

feet.
‘Then you listen to me, Master Hsun. You have grown
rich, and they are too heavy to move, so you can’t possibly
want these old pieces of furniture any more. You had
better let me take them away. Poor people like us can do
with them.’
‘I haven’t grown rich. I must sell these in order to buy....’
‘Oh, come now, you have been made the intendant of a
circuit, how can you still say you’re not rich? You have
three concubines now, and whenever you go out it is in a
big sedan chair with eight bearers. Do you still say you’re
not rich? Hah! You can’t hide anything from me.’
Knowing there was nothing I could say, I remained silent. 13. What was
‘Come now, really, the more money people have the more Mrs. Yang’s
miserly they get, and the more miserly they are the more opinion about the
rich?
money they get...’ remarked the Compass, turning
indignantly away and walking slowly off, casually
picking up a pair of mother’s gloves and stuffing them
into her pocket as she went out.

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My Old Home Short Stories

After this a number of relatives in the neighbourhood

came to call. In the intervals between entertaining them,
I did some packing, and so three or four days passed.
One very cold afternoon, I sat drinking tea after lunch
when I was aware of someone coming in, and turned my
head to see who it was. At the first glance I gave an
involuntary start, hastily stood up and went over to
welcome him.
The newcomer was Jun-tu. But although I knew at a
glance that this was Jun-tu, it was not the Jun-tu I
remembered. He had grown to twice his former size. His 14. What were
round face, once crimson, had become sallow, and the changes that
acquired deep lines and wrinkles; his eyes too had become Hsun noticed in
like his father’s, the rims swollen and red, a feature Jun-tu?
common to most peasants who work by the sea and are
exposed all day to the wind from the ocean. He wore a
shabby felt cap and just one very thin padded jacket, with
the result that he was shivering from head to foot. He
carried a paper package and a long pipe, nor was his
hand the plump red hand I remembered, but coarse and
clumsy and chapped, like the bark of a pine tree.
Delighted as I was, I did not know how to express myself,
and could only say: ‘Oh! Jun-tu—so it’s you...?’
After this there were so many things I wanted to talk about,
they should have poured out like a string of beads:
woodcocks, jumping fish, shells, zha.... But I was tongue-
tied, unable to put all I was thinking into words.
He stood there, mixed joy and sadness showing on his
face. His lips moved, but not a sound did he utter. Finally, 15. Why was
assuming a respectful attitude, he said clearly: Hsun shocked by
‘Master....!’ Jun-tu’s
response?
I felt a shiver run through me; for I knew then what a
lamentably thick wall had grown up between us. Yet I
could not say anything.

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My Old Home Short Stories

He turned his head to call:

‘Shui-sheng, bow to the master.’ Then he pulled forward
a boy who had been hiding behind his back, and this
was just the Jun-tu of twenty years before, only a little
paler and thinner, and he had no silver necklet.
‘This is my fifth,’ he said. ‘He’s not used to company, so
he’s shy and awkward.’
Mother came downstairs with Hung-erh, probably after
hearing our voices.
‘I got your letter some time ago, madam,” said Jun-tu. “I
was really so pleased to know the master was coming
back....’
‘Now, why are you so polite? Weren’t you playmates
together in the past?’ said mother gaily. ‘You had better
still call him Brother Hsun as before.’
‘Oh, you are really too. . . . What bad manners that would
be. I was a child then and didn’t understand.’ As he was 16. Why did Jun-
speaking Jun-tu motioned Shui-sheng to come and bow, tu hesitate to call
but the child was shy, and stood stock-still behind his the author
father. Brother Hsun?
‘So he is Shui-sheng? Your fifth?’ asked mother. ‘We are
all strangers, you can’t blame him for feeling shy. Hung-
erh had better take him out to play.’
When Hung-erh heard this he went over to Shui-sheng,
and Shui-sheng went out with him, entirely at his ease.
Mother asked Jun-tu to sit down, and after a little
hesitation he did so; then leaning his long pipe against
the table he handed over the paper package, saying:
‘In winter there is nothing worth bringing; but these few
beans we dried ourselves, if you will excuse the liberty,
17. What
sir.’
hardships did
When I asked him how things were with him, he just Jun-tu explain to
shook his head. Hsun?

68
My Old Home Short Stories

‘In a very bad way. Even my sixth can do a little work, 18. ‘...the
but still we haven’t enough to eat . . . and then there is no harvests are bad.’
security . . . all sorts of people want money, there is no The plight of
fixed rule . . . and the harvests are bad. You grow things, farmers like Jun-
and when you take them to sell you always have to pay tu was also bad.
How do you
several taxes and lose money, while if you don’t try to
relate it to our
sell, the things may go bad...’ society?
He kept shaking his head; yet, although his face was lined
with wrinkles, not one of them moved, just as if he were a
stone statue. No doubt he felt intensely bitter, but could
not express himself. After a pause he took up his pipe and
began to smoke in silence.
From her chat with him, mother learned that he was busy
at home and had to go back the next day; and since he
had had no lunch, she told him to go to the kitchen and
fry some rice for himself.
After he had gone out, mother and I both shook our heads
over his hard life: many children, famine, taxes, soldiers,
bandits, officials and landed gentry, all had squeezed him
as dry as a mummy. Mother said that we should offer
him all the things we were not going to take away, letting 19. What were
him choose for himself. the things Jun-tu
picked up?
That afternoon he picked out a number of things: two
long tables, four chairs, an incense burner and
candlesticks, and one balance. He also asked for all the
ashes from the stove (in our part we cook over straw, and
the ashes can be used to fertilize sandy soil), saying that
when we left he would come to take them away by boat.
That night we talked again, but not of anything serious;
and the next morning he went away with Shui-sheng.
After another nine days it was time for us to leave. Jun-tu
came in the morning. Shui-sheng did not come with
him—he had just brought a little girl of five to watch the
boat. We were very busy all day, and had no time to talk.
We also had quite a number of visitors, some to see us off,

69
My Old Home Short Stories

some to fetch things, and some to do both. It was nearly

evening when we left by boat, and by that time everything
in the house, however old or shabby, large or small, fine
or coarse, had been cleared away.
As we set off, in the dusk, the green mountains on either
side of the river became deep blue, receding towards the
stern of the boat.
Hung-erh and I, leaning against the cabin window, were
looking out together at the indistinct scene outside, when
suddenly he asked:
‘Uncle, when shall we go back?’
‘Go back? Do you mean that before you’ve left you want
to go back?’
‘Well, Shui-sheng has invited me to his home....’
He opened wide his black eyes in anxious thought. 20. Mrs.Yang
Mother and I both felt rather sad, and so Jun-tu’s name alleged that Jun-
tu had buried
came up again. Mother said that ever since our family
some vessels
started packing up, Mrs. Yang from the bean curd shop under the ash.
had come over every day, and the day before in the ash- What aspect of
heap she had unearthed a dozen bowls and plates, which her character gets
after some discussion she insisted must have been buried revealed here?
there by Jun-tu, so that when he came to remove the ashes
he could take them home at the same time. After making
this discovery Mrs. Yang was very pleased with herself,
and flew off raking the dog teaser with her. (The dog-
teaser is used by poultry keepers in our parts. It is a
wooden cage inside which food is put, so that hens can
stretch their necks in to eat but dogs can only look on
furiously.) And it was a marvel, considering the size of
her feet, how fast she could run.
I was leaving the old house farther and farther behind,
while the hills and rivers of my old home were also
receding gradually ever farther in the distance. But I felt
no regret. I only felt that all around me was an invisible

70
My Old Home Short Stories

high wall, cutting me off from my fellows, and this 21. Is there any
depressed me thoroughly. The vision of that small hero barrier between
Hung-erh and
with the silver necklet among the watermelons had
Shui-sheng?
formerly been as clear as day, but now it suddenly blurred, Why?
adding to my depression.
Mother and Hung-erh fell asleep.
I lay down, listening to the water rippling beneath the
boat, and knew that I was going my way. I thought:
although there is such a barrier between Jun-tu and
myself, the children still have much in common, for
wasn’t Hung-erh thinking of Shui-sheng just now? I hope
they will not be like us, that they will not allow a barrier
to grow up between them. But again I would not like
them, because they want to be akin, all to have a treadmill
existence like mine, nor to suffer like Jun-tu until they
become stupefied, nor yet, like others, to devote all their
energies to dissipation. They should have a new life, a life
we have never experienced. 22. What was the
difference
The access of hope made me suddenly afraid. When Jun- between Jun-tu’s
tu asked for the incense burner and candlesticks I had desire and that of
laughed up my sleeve at him, to think that he still Hsun’s?
worshipped idols and could not put them out of his mind.
Yet what I now called hope was no more than an idol I
had created myself. The only difference was that what he
desired was close at hand, while what I desired was less
easily realised.
As I dozed, a stretch of jade-green seashore spread itself
before my eyes, and above a round golden moon hung in
a deep blue sky. I thought: hope cannot be said to exist,
nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like roads across
the earth. For actually the earth had no roads to begin
with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made.

awning : sheet of canvas or similar badgers : omnivorous gray–coated

material stretched on a frame and used nocturnal mammal with a black and white
as a shelter from sun or rain striped head

71
My Old Home Short Stories
bean-curd : soft, spongy food made mummy : a body that has been treated
from fermented soyabeans, that is for burial and is well-preserved
regularly eaten in China
pitchfork : a farm tool with a long
chinks : narrow openings, slits handle and two sharp metal prongs
clan : a number of households which rationalize : offer a special explanation
claim descent from a common ancestor of one’s behaviour
concubine : a mistress sedan-chair : a portable, covered chair
contemptuously : expressing lack of that is carried on poles by two men
respect for something or someone designed to carry one person
dodge : move quickly to elude a blow sombre : dark or dull in colour
flabbergast : overwhelm with shock, spoilt : having a selfish/greedy character
surprise or wonder due to pampering
hedgehogs : a spiny mammal similar talisman : an object that is worn and
to a porcupine thought to act as a charm to protect one
illusion : a faulty perception of an from evil and bring good fortune
external object thrusting : pushing with a sudden
indignant : feeling or showing anger or impulse
annoyance
withered : to make or become dry
lamentably : expressing regret
zha : a small dog-like animal having soft
miserly : stingy, greedy and slippery fur all over its body

Understanding the Text

1. Attempt a character sketch of Jun-tu.
2. ‘Jun-tu’s mind was a treasure house of such strange lore.’ What prompts Hsun
to think so?
3. Why did Mrs. Yang regard Hsun as a miserly person?
4. Jun-tu addressed Hsun as ‘master’ rather than call him ‘brother’ when they met
years later. What was the reason for this change?
5. ‘Mother and I both shook our heads over his hard life... all had squeezed him as
dry as a mummy.’ What picture do we get from these lines about the life of Jun-
tu?
6. ‘Master...! I felt a shiver run through me for I knew then what a lamentably
thick wall had grown up between us.’ What do you understand from the
expression ‘thick wall’ used by the author?

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My Old Home Short Stories

7. Describe the friendship that existed between LuHsun and Jun-tu, during their
childhood.
8. What was Hsun’s hope regarding the friendship between Jun-tu’s son and his
nephew?
Writing about the Text
1. My Old Home is the description of a nostalgic excursion to Hsun’s ancestral
home.’ Comment on the statement.
2. What message does Hsun give the readers through his story?
3. Social barriers prevent people belonging to different classes from mingling with
each other. How far is it true in the friendship between Lu Hsun and Jun-tu?
References
Davies, Goria. Lu Hsun's Revolution: Writing in a Time of Violence. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2011.
Denton, Kirk. Lu Hsun Biography. MCLC Resource Center, 2014.
Lee, Leo Ou-Fan. Lu Hsun and his Legacy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

73
Yzur Short Stories

Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938)

Leopoldo Lugones is an Argentinian poet, essayist and journalist who
gave new dimensions to Argentinian poetry. His prose includes essays
on a broad range of subjects. Some of his early stories are excellent
examples of fantasy and science fiction written under the influence
of H G Wells and Edgar Allan Poe. He published two collections of
stories.
‘Yzur’ is a short story taken from the collection Strange Forces, which deals with
the attempts of the narrator to make an ape speak.

Yzur
I bought the ape at an auction from a circus that had
gone bankrupt.
The first time it occurred to me to try the experiment
described in these pages was an afternoon when I
happened to read, somewhere or other, that the natives
of Java ascribe the absence of articulate speech among
the apes to deliberate abstention, not to incapacity. “They
keep silent,” the article states, “so as not to be set to work.”
This idea, which at first struck me as superficial, in the
end engaged my mind until it evolved into this
anthropological theory - apes were men who for one 1. What made the
reason or another had stopped speaking, with the result narrator decide
that the vocal organs and the centers of the brain that ‘to make the ape
control speech had atrophied; the connection between talk’?
the two was weakened nearly to the breaking-point; the
language of the species was arrested at the stage of the
inarticulate cry; and the primitive human being sank to
the animal level.
Clearly if this could be proved it would readily account
for all the anomalies which make the ape such a singular

74
Yzur Short Stories
creature. But there could be only one proof possible - to
get an ape to talk.
Meanwhile I had travelled the world over with my ape,
and our experiences, our ups and downs, had bound him
closer and closer to me. 2. Will apes
speak? What
In the grip of my obsession I exhausted the entire conclusion did
literature on the subject of speech among the apes, with the narrator
no appreciable result. All that I knew, with absolute arrive at?
certainty, was that there is no scientific explanation for
the fact that apes do not speak. And this took five years of
study and thought.
Yzur (where he got his name I could never find out, for
his former owner did not know either) was certainly a
remarkable animal. His training in the circus, even
though it was restricted almost exclusively to mimicry,
had greatly developed his faculties; and this prompted
3. What
me to try out on him a theory that seemed, on the face of prompted the
it, nonsensical. Moreover I knew that of all the apes the narrator to think
chimpanzee (which Yzur was) is equipped with the best that Yzur was ‘a
brain, and is also one of the most docile - my chances of retarded human
success were thus increased. Every time I saw him, rolling being’?
along like a drunken sailor, with his hands behind his
back to keep his balance, I felt more strongly convinced
that he was a retarded human being.
Actually there is no way of accounting for the fact that
an ape does not articulate at all. His native speech, that
is, the system of cries he uses to communicate with his
fellows, is varied enough, his larynx, although very
different from a human being’s, is not so different as the
parrot’s, yet the parrot speaks. 4. Why does the
narrator
Fortunately, among so many bad traits, the ape has a taste conclude that the
for learning, as his aptitude for mimicry proves, an ape is ‘a most
excellent memory, a capacity for reflection that can turn promising subject
him into a profound dissembler, and an attention span for pedagogy?’
comparatively better developed than a human child’s.
Hence he is a most promising subject for pedagogy.

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Yzur Short Stories

My ape was young, moreover, and we know that it is in

youth that the ape’s intelligence reaches its peak. The only
difficulty lay in choosing what teaching method to use. I
was well aware of the fruitless endeavours of my
predecessors, and when I considered all the effort 5. What is the
expended, with no result, but so many, some of them of first step in
the highest competence, my purpose faltered more than teaching the apes
once. But all my thinking on the subject led me to this to speak?
conclusion: the first step is to develop the organs which
produce sound.
I decided, then, to begin with series of exercises for
the lips and tongue, treating my ape as I would a
deaf mute. After that his ear would enable me to
establish direct communication, I should not have
to resort to the sense of touch. The reader will see
that in this I was planning ahead too optimistically.
Happily, of all the great apes the chimpanzee has
the most mobile lips; and in this particular case Yzur,
having been subject to sore throat, knew how to
open his mouth wide for examination.
His lips had to be stretched with pincers. But he fully
realized-perhaps from the expression of my face - the
6. How did
importance of that singular task, and performed it with Yzur respond to
zeal. While I demonstrated the lip movements he was the narrator’s
supposed to imitate, he would sit there with one arm attempts at
twisted behind him, scratching his rump, his face teaching him lip
screwed up in mingled concentration and doubt, or movements?
rubbing his hairy cheeks, for all the world like a man
using rhythmic gestures as an aid to setting his thoughts
in order. In the end he learned how to move his lips.
With regard to speech, Yzur was in the same situation as
the child, who already understands many words before
he begins to talk; but his greater experience of life made
him far quicker to associate ideas and to reach
conclusions. Conclusions not based on mere impressions;
to judge by their varied character they must have been

76
Yzur Short Stories

the fruit of intellectual curiosity and a spirit of inquiry.

All this indicated a capacity for abstract reasoning and
a superior intelligence which would be highly favourable
to my purpose. 7. Why did the
And so I began Yzur’s phonetic education. The point was narrator
to teach him the mechanics first of all, leading him on conclude that
gradually to rational speech. Since the ape possessed a Yzur had the
capacity for
voice –he had this advantage over the deaf mute, besides abstract
having a rudimentary control of the organs of reasoning and a
articulation-the question was how to train him to superior
modulate that voice, how to produce those sounds which intelligence?
speech teachers call static if they are vowels, dynamic if
they are consonants.
Considering the greediness of the ape tribe, and following 8. How did the
a method which Heinicke had employed with deaf mutes, narrator give
I decided to associate each vowel with something tasty phonetic lessons
to eat: a with potato, e with cream, i with wine, o with to Yzur?
cocoa, u with sugar, in such a way that the vowel would
be contained in the name of the tidbit either alone and
repeated as in cocoa, or combining the basic sounds in
both accented and unaccented syllables, as in potato. All
went smoothly while we were on the vowels, the sounds, 9. ‘Yzur learned
that is, which are formed with the mouth open. Yzur the vowels in two
learned them in two weeks. The u was the hardest for weeks.’ Describe
the learning
him.
process.
But I had the devil of a time with the consonants. I was
soon forced to admit he would never be able to pronounce
those consonants which involve the teeth and the gums.
His long eye teeth were an absolute impediment. He would
always be limited to the five vowels, plus b, k, m, g, f and
c, the consonants which require the action of the tongue
and the palate only. Even for this much, his hearing alone
was not sufficient. I had to resort to the sense of touch, as
one does with deaf mutes, placing his hand first on my
chest and then on his, so that he could feel the sound
vibrations.

77
Yzur Short Stories

Three years passed, and I had still not succeeded in getting 10. How did
him to form a single word. He tended to name things Yzur try to pacify
after the letter that predominated in them. That was all. the narrator?

In the circus he had learned to bark, like the dogs he

worked side by side with; and when he saw me in despair
over my vain attempts to wrest a word from him, he
would bark loudly, as though trying to offer me all he
had to give. He could pronounce isolated vowels and
consonants, but he could not combine them. The best he
could produce was a dizzying series of repeated p’s and
m’s. 11. What were
the changes that
For all the slowness of his progress, a great change had had come over
come over him. His face was less mobile, his expression Yzur?
more serious, his attitudes were those of a creature deep
in thought. He had acquired, for instance, the habit of
gazing at the stars…. And at the same time his sensibilities
had developed: I noticed that he was easily moved to tears.
The lessons continued with unremitting determination,
but with no greater success. The whole business had
become a painful obsession with me; and as time went
on I felt inclined to resort to force. The failure was
embittering my disposition, filling me with unconscious 12. Why did the
resentment against Yzur. As his intellect developed he narrator resort to
withdrew into a stubborn silence which I was beginning force?
to believe I should never draw him out of, when I
suddenly discovered that he wasn’t speaking because he
chose not to!
One evening the horrified cook came to tell me he had
overheard the ape “speaking real words.” According to 13. What was the
his story, Yzur had been squatting beside a fig-tree in striking
the garden; but the cook’s terror prevented him from revelation that
recalling what was the real point, the actual words. He the cook made?
thought he could remember two: bed and pipe. I came
near to kicking him for his stupidity.
Needless to say the profoundest agitation preyed upon

78
Yzur Short Stories

me the whole night through; and what I had not done in

the three years, the mistake that ruined everything was
the result of the exasperation that followed on that
sleepless night, and of my overweening curiosity as well.
Instead of allowing the ape to arrive at his natural pace
to the point of revealing his command of speech, I
summoned him the next day and tried to compel him to 14. What were
the feelings of the
it. All I could get out of him was the p’s and m’s I’d already author after the
had my fill of, the hypocritical winks, and- may God ape fell ill?
forgive me- a hint of mockery in the incessant grimaces.
I lost my temper: without thinking twice I beat him. The
only result was tears and absolute silence, unbroken even
by moans.
Three days later he fell ill, with a kind of deep depression 15. What change
complicated by symptoms of meningitis. Leeches, cold came over, in the
showers, purgatives, counter-irritants, tincture of alcohol, behaviour of the
bromides-every remedy for the terrible illness was ape during his
applied to him. Driven by remorse and fear, I struggled illness?
with desperate energy. Remorse for the cruelty which had
made him its victim, fear for the secret he might perhaps
be carrying with him to the grave.
After a long time he began to improve, but he was still
too feeble to stir from his bed. The closeness of death had
ennobled and humanized him. His eyes, filled with
16. How did the
gratitude, never left me, following me about the room
ape assume the
like two revolving globes, even when I was behind him; importance of a
his hand sought mine in the companionship of person?
convalescence. In my great solitude he was rapidly
assuming the importance of a person.
Yet the demon of investigation, which is only one other
form of the spirit of perversity, kept urging me on to renew
my experiment. The ape had actually talked. It was
impossible simply to let it go at that.
I began very slowly, asking for the letters he knew how
to pronounce. Nothing! I left him alone for hours at a
time, spying on him through a chink in the wall. Nothing!

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Yzur Short Stories

I spoke to him In brief sentences, trying to appeal to his

loyalty or his greediness. Nothing! When my words
moved him, his eyes would fill with tears. When I uttered
a familiar phrase, such as the “I am your master” with
which every lesson began, or the “You are my ape” with
which I completed the statement, to impress upon his
mind the conviction of a total truth, he would close his
eyelids by way of assent; but he would not utter a sound,
not even move his lips.
He had reverted to sign language as the only way of
communicating with me; and this circumstance, together
with the analogies between him and deaf mutes, led me
to redouble my precautions, for everyone knows that
mutes are extremely subject to mental illness. I had
moments of wishing he would really lose his mind, to see
if delirium would at last break his silence.
His convalescence had come to a halt. The same
emaciation, the same depression. It was clear he was ill
and suffering, in body and mind. The abnormal effort
demanded of his brain had shattered his organic unity, 17. What might
and sooner or later he would become a hopeless case. But be the reasons
for all his submissiveness, which increased still more as that prompted
the illness took its course, his silence, that despairing Yzur to remain
silence my fury had driven him to, would not yield. Out mute?
of a dim past of tradition that had petrified and become
instinct, the species was forcing its millennial mutism
on the animal, whose ancestral will was strengthened by
his own inner being. The primitive men of the jungle,
driven into silence, to intellectual suicide that is, were
guarding their secret; ancient mysteries of the forest, 18. Why were the
formidable with the immense weight of ages, dictated primitive men of
that unconscious decision that Yzur was now making. the jungle driven
into silence?
In the race we call evolution, man had overtaken the
anthropoid and crushed him with savage brutality,
dethroning the great families who ruled their primitive
Eden, thinning their ranks, capturing their females so that

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Yzur Short Stories

organized slavery might begin in the very womb. Until,

beaten and helpless, they expressed their human dignity
by breaking the higher but fatal bond-speech-that
linked them to the enemy, and as their last salvation took
refuge in the dark night of the animal kingdom. 19. Why did apes
And what horrors, what monstrous excesses of cruelty give up their
the conquerors must have inflicted upon this half-beast faculty of speech?
in the course of his evolution to make him-once he had
tasted the joys of the intellect, the forbidden fruit of the
Bible-resign himself to stultifying his mind in degrading
equality with inferior begins; to that retrogression which
fixed of his intelligence for ever, leaving him a robot, an
acrobat, a clown; to that fear of life which would bend
his servile back as a sign of his animal condition, and 20. How did
melancholy
imprint upon him that melancholy bewilderment which
become the basic
is his basic trait. trait of apes?
This is what had aroused my evil temper, buried deep in
some atavist limbo, on the very brink of success. Across
the millions of years the magic of the word still kept its
power to stir the simian soul; but against that temptation
which was about to pierce the dark shadows of animal
instinct, ancestral memories that filled his race with some 21. What was the
instinctive horror were heaping age upon age as a barrier. extraordinary
thing which
Yzur did not lose consciousness as death approached. It made the
was gentle death, with closed eyes, faint breathing, feeble narrator write
pulse, and perfect tranquility, interrupted only at this account?
intervals, when he would turn his sad, old mulatto face
toward me with a heart-rending expression of eternity.
And the last afternoon,the afternoon he died, the
extraordinary thing occurred that decided me to write
this account.
Overcome by the heat, drowsy with the quiet of the
twilight coming on, I had dozed off by his bedside.
Suddenly I felt something gripping my wrist. I woke up
with a start. The ape, his eyes wide open, was dying,
unmistakably, and his look was so human that I was

81
Yzur Short Stories

seized with horror; yet something expressive in his hands

and in his eyes impelled me to bend over him. And then
with his last breath which at once crowned and blasted
all my hopes, he murmured (how can I describe the tone
of a voice which has not spoken for ten thousand
centuries?) these words, whose humanity reconciled our
two species:
‘Water, master. Master, my master…’
Translated by GREGORY WOODRUFF

abstention : the act of choosing not to exasperate : to annoy or irritate

do or have something someone very much
ascribe : to refer to a supposed cause or grimace : to make an ugly expression
source with your face to show pain, disgust, etc.

atavistic : related to the attitudes and limbo : a situation in which you are not
behaviour of the first humans certain what to do next
millennial : relating to a millennium (a
atrophy : the condition of losing the
period of time equal to thousand years)
strength of a part of the body
mulatto : a person with one black parent
auction : a public event at which things and one white parent
are sold to the person who offers the
biggest amount for them mutism : a medical condition in which a
person is unable to speak
bromide : a chemical which contains
overweening : showing too much of
bromine
confidence or pride
convalescence : a period of time when
perversity : showing deliberate
we get well after an illness or a surgery determination to behave in a way that
dissemble : to hide your real feelings or most people think is wrong, unacceptable
intentions, often by pretending to have a or unreasonable
different one resentment : a feeling of anger or
docile : quiet and easy to control and unhappiness about something that you
persuade think is unfair
retrogression : the process of returning
emaciation : the state of being thin and
to the previous state
weak, usually because of illness or lack
of food revert : to return to the original position

82
Yzur Short Stories
rudimentary : dealing with only the tidbit : a small special piece of food
most basic traits or ideas
simian : like an ape; connected with apes tincture : a medicine that is made of a
drug mixed with alcohol
squat : to sit on one’s heels with one’s
knees bent up close to your body wink : to blink with one eye as a
stultify : making one feel very bored and message, signal or suggestion
unable to think of new ideas

Understanding the Text

1. The narrator does intense research in the science of articulation so as to make
Yzur speak. Does it show the undying spirit of enquiry and research in human
beings? Explain.
2. Till the end of the story, Yzur does not speak. What might be the reason
behind his muteness? Why does he speak at last?
3. What is Yzur’s attitude towards the narrator?
4. In the story you come across the sentence, ‘The reader will see that in this I was
planning ahead too optimistically.’ Why does the author say so?
5. Yzur died with the word ‘master’ on his lips. What does this signify?
Writing about the Text
1. Is the narrator a true representative of the civilised man who is inflicts monstrous
cruelty upon animals? Write an essay on this topic, in the light of the incident
in the story ‘Yzur’.
2. In certain circumstances, human beings lose their human character and beasts
lose their beastly character as revealed in the story. How far is this true in the
context of the modern world?
3. Examine the story ‘Yzur’ as a critique on man’s constant attempt to subjugate
the weaker species.
4. Language is a means to assert one’s supremacy over the other. Do you think
that Yzur’s soul frets under the weight of the narrator’s language? Explain.
References
Kirkpatrick, Gwen. Leopoldo Lugones - Selected Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2008.
Lockhart, Darrell B. Latin American Science Fiction Writers: An A-to-Z Guide. New York:
Greenwood Press, 2004.

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Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

Khyrunnisa A (1956-)
Khyrunnisa A. worked as Associate Professor of English at All
Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, and is now a full time
writer. She is a prize winning author of children's fiction and
occasionally writes for adults. She created the popular comic
character, Butterfingers, for the children's magazine Tinkle. Her
novels in the Butterfingers series-Howzzat Butterfingers! (2010),
Goal Butterfingers! (2012) and Clean Bowled, Butterfingers! (2015) have been
published by Penguin (Puffin). A collection of her short stories, Lost in Ooty and
Other Adventure Stories, was brought out by Unisun Publications in 2010. She is
a columnist for The New Indian Express, The Hindu Metroplus and freelances
for other publications.
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat is a short story taken from Let's Play!, a collection of sports
stories, published by Penguin (Puffin) in 2010.

Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat

‘Kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi…!’ Sundar Kapoor

muttered quite audibly as he made his way, like a raider,
to the dining table adopting a sideways motion. For a
heavy man, he was surprisingly lithe as he deftly dodged
a chair and made a quick lunge at another one. He
adroitly stretched out his right leg and touched the chair
with his big toe before plonking himself on it and letting 1. How is Sundar
out his breath like a whale giving distress signals in the Kapoor described
deep. in the story?
His wife, Sarala, was bringing in the dish of hot puris
when this mock kabaddi exhibition took place and
emitting an exasperated sigh that seemed a poor cousin
to his explosive expiration, she quickly placed it out of
harm’s way at the other end of the table and said archly,
‘How old do you think you are?’

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Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

‘All of forty one!’ her husband replied cheerfully and as

he reached for the puris and piled them on his plate he
chanted, ‘Puri, puri, puri, puri…’
‘Oh, stop it!’ said Sarala, covering her ears as their son,
thirteen-year-old Ashwin, laughed. 2. Who are the
‘You two don’t realize how important the match is. Our other members of
town must win this time. We hope it’ll be third time lucky Sundar’s house?
for Dilshan. Don’t you think it’s high time we all held up
our heads and walked with pride whenever someone from
Deewar approached us?’
Dilshan and Deewar were neighbouring towns and all
was well between them until three years before when
the Lok Sabha elections took place. That was when
Manohar Ram, a rich and influential businessman who 3. Who was
had a house in each town and travelled back and forth Manohar Ram?
like a well aimed shuttlecock between the two, decided
to stand for elections. Determined to win, he decided to
play safe and contested from both Dilshan and Deewar
constituencies. He showed himself to be a wily politician
with his shrewd campaigning tactics. Knowing how dear 4. Which was the
the game of kabaddi was to the adult residents of the two election symbol
towns, he chose as his election symbol a kabaddi raider chosen by
flat on the ground with his right hand just touching the Manohar Ram?
centre line. Why?

But his masterstroke was telling the residents of Dilshan

that his father Dheeraj Ram was a native of that town
and loved it so much that on his death his ashes were
immersed in the river that ran through the town. This
impressed the Dilshanians so much that they voted for
him without a second thought. He assured the people of
Deewar in their turn that his mother Rukmani Devi 5. How did
originally came from there and had died in Delhi pining Manohar Ram
for her native town. That successfully tugged at the impress the
heartstrings of the Deewarites who decided to reward people of Dilshan
such touching attachment with their votes. Neither town and Deewar at
knew how authentic his claims were but didn’t care, the same time??
preferring to believe that a son of their soil would soon
take care of their interests in Parliament.

85
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

Manohar Ram’s ploy worked like a dream and he won 6. What was the
the elections from both constituencies with an outcome of the
overwhelming majority. The two towns rejoiced but not elections?
for long. The time soon came for him to give up one
constituency since he couldn’t hold both simultaneously.
After much mulling over this issue, he gave up Deewar
and immediately incurred the wrath of its electorate. The
people of Dilshan though, were very pleased at having 7. Why did the
been chosen over Deewar and made no secret of their towns of Dilshan
glee. Overnight the two towns became hostile towards and Deewar
become hostile
each other. The children, however, were mercifully quite
towards each
unaffected. The reason was simple. The two towns shared other?
a huge common playground that touched both towns and
8. Why were the
since the children of both Deewar and Dilshan gathered
children of the
there practically every day to play, they were all friends two towns
and had no time to be bothered about quarrels between unaffected by the
grownups. They found the whole thing silly but wisely hostility?
kept this opinion from the adults.
Manohar Ram felt guilty about his role in the rift and
thought long and hard about how he could resolve the 9. Why did
Manohar Ram
crisis and bring the two towns together again. He finally
feel guilty? How
came up with what he believed was a gem of an idea. He did he try to solve
instituted an annual Kabaddi competition between the the issue?
two towns and offered as prize for the winners a glittering
gold plated trophy called the Rukmani Devi Trophy and
instituted the Dheeraj Ram Trophy, a sparkling affair in
silver, as the prize for the runners up. But the competition 10. What was the
only added fuel to the flames of animosity between the result?
two towns and when Deewar won both times, a bitter
rivalry developed between the two. The only adults not 11. How is Lt.
drawn into this hate drama were Lt. Aaron, a 65 year old Aaron described?
retired army lieutenant, and his wife Sonu, who baked
the most delectable pastry. Two years back they had come
to live in a small but elegant house right on the border 12. What is
special about
between the two towns and set up a bakery, Taste Buds Taste Buds Bakery?
Bakery, that was patronized by all.

86
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

Lt. Aaron was a stern, rather fierce-looking man, always

impeccably turned out in stiff and starched formal attire
and was never seen without a solar topee on his head. He
carried his army background and training with him
wherever he went and was always polite and courteous.
His politeness was inevitably couched in excellent
English. At first the boys of Deewar and Dilshan were a
little wary of him, but soon they realized that his rough
exterior hid a loving heart and warmed towards him.
His gentle and bird like wife Sonu, entirely dwarfed by
her big built husband, made sweets and baked cakes,
biscuits and breads, the likes of which had only been read
or dreamt about by the two towns. People’s mouths began
to water even before they set out for the bakery and after
tasting the cakes, they would weep tears of pure joy and 13. Why were the
satisfaction. Dilshan boys not
Ashwin and his friends practically lived in Taste Buds interested in
kabaddi? What
during their spare time when they were not involved in
were their
playing cricket or football, their two favourite games. favourite games?
The Dilshan boys, unlike the boys of Deewar, did not share
their fathers’ love for kabaddi, finding it too rough for
their taste. In vain did Ashwin’s father try to inculcate
love for the traditional game in his son.
Wolfing down the puris with noisy relish, Sundar Kapoor 14. What is the
continued, directing his words to his son, ‘It’s only two relevance of
weeks to the match and you seem so casual about it. I kabaddi in the
can’t understand why you don’t like kabaddi. Kabaddi, Indian context?
kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi… it’s our national game!’ he
announced as a clinching argument. ‘If we are to win,
we have to practise all the time.’
‘If you would make an exception of meal times, I’d be
very grateful,’ said Sarala with mock politeness as she
took the empty plate to the kitchen to replenish it with
puris.
‘Father, is it true that Manohar Ramji is coming this time
to watch the match?’ asked Ashwin.

87
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

‘That’s what we heard. All the more reason why we

should try and win. Kabaddi, kabaddi, puri, puri…’ He
stretched himself from his chair and neatly snatching
the laden plate from an exasperated Sarala, thrust his
left thumb forward indicating a bonus point.
Both the towns were taken by surprise when they heard
two days later that Manohar Ram had brought about a
change in the rules governing the competition and now 15. What was the
wanted the children of the ‘towns’ and not the ‘adults’ to news that took
play the match. This was yet another bid on Manohar the towns by
Ram’s part to bring the rivalry to a close. Having heard surprise?
that the children of the two towns were good friends, he
thought a game between them might solve the issue. But
he had not reckoned with the response of the adults who
were shocked and felt cheated.
‘How dare!’ exclaimed Sundar Kapoor, frothing at the
mouth. ‘Here we’ve been practising for such a long time
and he coolly says we adults need not play!’
‘Good thing!’ said Sarala, looking pleased as her husband
directed black looks at her and the world in general.
Neither had Manohar Ram reckoned with the response
of the children. ‘Why should we play kabaddi of all
games?’ said Ashwin to his friends. ‘We don’t even know 16. How did the
how to play it. We could’ve had a game of cricket or Dilshan boys
football or even hockey. The Deewar boys will definitely react to the
win.’ news?
That evening when the Dilshan boys met gloomily at
Taste Buds, Lt. Aaron asked them, ‘So what’s eating you,
boys? And what would you wish to eat, anyway?’
The boys smiled faintly and Dilip said, ‘We’d like one 17. What does
piece of cake and a chocolate shake. We’ve only money the phrase
for one of each. We’ll share. As for what’s eating us, Uncle, ‘what’s eating
Ashwin here will tell you.’ you’ mean?
‘Ha, ha, ha!’ Lt. Aaron guffawed loudly when Ashwin told
him about the new rule. ‘That’s hilarious! You Dilshan

88
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

boys to play kabaddi!! Why, it’s like asking a cat to knit 18. Why does Lt.
a sweater! I’ll eat my hat if you guys win against the Aaron comment,
Deewar boys!’ 'Why, it's like
asking a cat to
‘You will, Uncle?’ asked Rajesh immediately. knit a sweater!'?
‘I sure will! I’m an honourable man. I always keep my
word.’
The boys quickly looked at one other, interest kindling 19. What
in their eyes. ‘I’ll eat my hat’ was Lt. Aaron’s favourite comment did Lt.
expression and the boys had already spent hours Aaron make
discussing how wonderful it would be if they could when he heard
that the Dilshan
actually see him do it. Lt. Aaron’s solar topee that fitted
boys were
so perfectly on his head was a source of great interest to playing kabaddi?
them and they often wondered why Lt. Aaron never ever
took it off. During one of their endless discussions about
it, Rajesh had said, ‘I’m sure he’s completely bald.’
‘That’s tame! I think his hair must have turned a weird
colour after he experimented with some hair dye,’ Dilip
had offered as his explanation. ‘Probably purple or green
or a brilliant peacock blue or all these colours together 20. What
streaked with red and yellow!’ The boys had hollered at assumptions
the image of Lt. Aaron sporting a multi-coloured head of were made by the
hair. boys about Lt.
Aaron's hiding
Ashwin, the most imaginative of the lot, had something his head under a
different to suggest. ‘Uncle was in the army, wasn’t he? I hat?
bet he was involved in some dare devil mission and got
badly hurt. His head probably took the brunt. Quite likely
it’s now covered with bumps or craters or both. I bet it
has some strange shaped, ugly scars. Who knows,
probably the enemy scalped him and had a fierce looking
tattoo done on his head!’
As at the end of every such discussion, the boys had fallen
silent, looks of fascination seen on their faces as open
mouthed, they allowed their imagination free rein.
As they left the bakery, Ashwin said, ‘Did you hear that?
This is a golden opportunity to make him eat his hat and

89
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

to see what lies hidden underneath the solar wonder.’

‘True,’ agreed Dilip. ‘We can’t let this chance go. We’ve
got to practice and win. I’ll ask my father if he’ll teach
me.’
21. Why did the
‘So will I,’ said Ashwin. children decide to
practise and win
‘And I,’ added Rajesh.
the kabaddi
But the boys were in for a rude surprise. That evening at match?
dinner Ashwin was surprised to see his father full of high
spirits again and repeating the kabaddi cant as he tackled
22. What did the
his food. Sarala, who had been relieved at the peace of children see as a
the last few days, asked in some irritation, ‘What’s wrong ‘golden
now?’ opportunity’?
‘What’s right is what you should ask, my dear. So what if
Manohar Ram cancels our match? We adults have
decided to go ahead anyway with the match. Both teams
have practised so hard.’
‘But who’ll sponsor the prizes?’ asked his wife, dismayed
that kabaddi was once more going to become a feature
at the dining table.
‘Somebody will. We’re not bothered about that. Kabaddi,
kabaddi, kabaddi, chappati, chappati, chappati…’
‘Father, will you train us in kabaddi?’ asked Ashwin.
‘Train you? No time! There’s only a week to go for our
match.’
‘Ditto for us, father.’
‘It’s too late to start, Ashwin. You don’t know the ABC of
it. If I start teaching you now, I’ll unlearn all I know. You’d
better offer a walkover to the Deewar boys and start from 23. Why did
Ashwin's father
scratch next year.’
refuse to train the
The other boys had similar experiences in their homes children in
and the next evening they met along with many of their kabaddi?
friends to decide on their plan of action.

90
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

‘Let’s search the Internet and find out. And maybe we can
go watch the grownups play. We’ve never done it so far.
Vacation has started, so we can put in quite some
practice,’ said Ashwin.
‘We better practice secretly,’ said Manoj. ‘The Deewar
boys are taking it easy since they know we’re hopeless at
it and we shouldn’t alert them.’ 24. Why did the
‘Right you are,’ said Ashwin approvingly. ‘And Aaron Dilshan boys
decide to practise
Uncle also shouldn’t get wind of this, lest he withdraws
kabaddi secretly?
his bet.’
‘We can practice in the yard behind my house,’ said
Sachin. ‘My father’s gone on tour this month and Ma has
no idea about any game.’
‘That’s a good idea!’ said Ashwin. ‘Let’s all try to find out
the rules and then go ahead with the practise.’
Frantic net surfing that night resulted in a wealth of
conflicting information about kabaddi that led to much
argument and it was only after watching the adults
practising that the boys were able to put two and two
together and arrive at some sensible understanding of
the rules. Then began the practise that went on at a
frenetic pace. Ashwin was made captain – a case of the
blind leading the blind, as Rajesh put it – and the others
who made the playing seven were Dilip, Rajesh, Sachin, 25. Who was
Manoj, Vijay and Pradeep. Another five were in reserve made the captain
and some others came regularly to watch the practise of the kabaddi
sessions. team? How did
Rajesh view
Though the boys continued to go to the bakery, they hardly Ashwin’s
lingered long there, much to the disappointment of Lt. captaincy?
Aaron who loved to talk to them. Ashwin tried to throw
him off the scent by saying they were busy with a holiday
project.
‘Holiday project, eh?’ said Lt. Aaron. ‘So you’re prepared
to go down without fighting! That’s not done in the army.’

91
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories
‘We are very considerate boys, Uncle. We don’t want you
to be forced to eat your hat, ha, ha!’ laughed Ashwin as
he raced away with the pastry leaving Lt. Aaron looking
speculatively after him.
The day of the match dawned bright and clear and by 4
in the afternoon, the adults and children of Dilshaan and
Deewar had reached the playground. Both teams were
barefooted. The Deewar boys wore white T-shirts and 26. How were the
khaki coloured shorts and the Dilshan boys turned up in boys of the two
black. The Deewar boys, in addition, wore huge smiles teams dressed on
on their faces, as if they had already won the match and the day of the
kept darting proprietorial glances at the winners’ trophy match?
that was prominently displayed in a makeshift pavilion
where the guest of honour, Manohar Ram, and his friends,
were seated.
The referee, the scorer and the line
umpires who came from Bageecha,
a neighbouring town, took their
places and at sharp 4.30, the
captains went for the toss. Ashwin
called right and choosing to attack,
sent Rajesh as raider. Everyone
laughed for Rajesh was a very thin
boy and they thought he would be
out in no time. But Rajesh stunned
the spectators into silence by
thundering out the cant for the
whole world to hear, and while everyone was trying to
get adjusted to the cacophony, quickly darted to the bonus
line, touched an opponent and managed to return. The 27. How did
referee signalled two points for Dilshan whose supporters Rajesh stun the
recovered from their shock and cheered wildly. Deewar’s spectators?
raider quickly followed Rajesh, but as he made for the
bonus line, Dilip in left cover position pounced on him
and Manoj came to help but the clever raider threw off
the two and returned gasping. Dilip and Manoj were out
but Ashwin in a flash went for the next raid and got hold

92
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

of the returning Deewar raider and returned in a trice.

Sunder Kapoor rubbed his eyes in disbelief as the crowd
settled down to watch an absorbing game of kabaddi.
The Deewar boys stopped looking at the trophy and began
28. Why did
concentrating on the game and soon Dilshan got a lona
Sundar Kapoor
when they managed to put all their opponents out. rub his eyes in
Deewar stepped up their game and began to play disbelief?
brilliantly and at half time, had 23 points to Dilshan’s
20. During the 5-minute break, as the boys changed sides,
Ashwin jerked his head towards where Lt. Aaron was
seated and said, ‘This is our only chance to make him eat
his hat. Let’s do it.’
Dilshan went on the offensive from the beginning,
making daring raids, and fortune favoured them when
the Deewar boys in their desperation forgot to chant and
got cant out several times. The teams were soon level with
44 points each and there was just a minute to go when
Ashwin went as raider. A defender got hold of his shirt
but Ashwin deftly slipped out of it and returned with a
point gained. Deewar’s captain and best raider, Shyam,
swiftly followed and got involved in a struggle with
Rajesh and Vijay, but shook off their double crocodile
holds and throwing them out, was close to the centre line
when, sand having got into his nose, he began sneezing.
‘Kabadachooo! Kabchooo! Kachoo! Achooo! Choo!’ He
chanted gamely as the final whistle blew and he was
given cant out. Dilshan had won and a huge cheer greeted
this announcement from the referee.
29. Who won the
‘Hard luck!’ said Ashwin to Shyam, as he tried to wear game of kabaddi?
his shirt and shake his opponent’s hand at the same time.
‘Well played!’ said Shyam, blowing his nose and trying
hard not to show his disappointment.
‘Now Aaron Uncle will have to eat his hat!’ shouted Rajesh.
Lt. Aaron smiled, nodded and coming to the centre of the
court, in full view of all present, took off his topee with a
flourish and coolly began to munch it. At first everyone
93
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

looked shocked, and then a huge roar of laughter went

up as they realized that the topee was obviously made of
something edible. He broke it into many pieces and began
to distribute them. When Manohar Ram’s friend Mr.
Deepak Kumar, a retired bureaucrat who had 30. Who
accompanied him, bit into one, his eyes lit up behind his discovered the
glasses and looking closely at Lt. Aaron, said, true identity of Lt
‘Aarumugham, aren’t you? I knew it from the taste of Aaron?
this pastry. Aaaah! Only you can bake this heavenly stuff!
So this is where you’ve been hiding! I was trying to figure
out where I’d seen you before!’
Lt. Aaron looked sheepish, but Mr. Deepak Kumar, licking
his lips appreciatively, greedily looked around for more
bits of topee. Handing him the final crumbs, Lt. Aaron
decided that, the cat being out of the bag, he might as
well come clean dramatically and let his audience decide
what to do. So, addressing the people of Deewar and
Dilshan and the others, his bare, sparsely vegetated head
held high, he came out with his story. Everyone listened
enthralled as he disclosed that he was no army lieutenant,
but just a cook at Mr. Deepak’s house. ‘A top class cook!’
Mr. Deepak interrupted, blowing out a spray of pastry
in his enthusiasm.
Lt. Aaron continued, ‘I was bored with life as a cook and
wanted a change. Having picked up excellent English
and good manners at Mr. Deepak’s, I decided to use them,
just for fun and just for a little while. I changed my 31. What was his
true story that Lt.
appearance and came here. But I just fell in love with the
Aaron revealed?
place and the people and decided to stay on. I cook and
Sonu serves. I thought these boys might win their bet, so
I came prepared with an edible hat. Now you can do
whatever you want with me.’
32. How did the
The people reacted with good-humoured laughter. ‘Great people react to
story, Lieutenant, sorry Aarumugham,’ said Sundar Lt. Aaron?
Kapoor. ‘And stop looking like a lamb waiting to be
slaughtered! Deewar and Dilshan can’t think of life
without you and your delectable cakes. You and Taste

94
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

Buds belong to all of us, and we want you to make your

home with us always.’
‘Couldn’t have put it better myself!’ said Rajat Singh of
Deewar town, nodding approvingly. ‘We’ve been silly to
have this meaningless rivalry. Let’s have a kabaddi match
to seal our friendship.’
‘Right away!’ said Sunder Kapoor as all except Sarala
whistled, shouted and laughed in enthusiastic assent.
Sarala groaned. 33. Why were
Ashwin and his
Manohar Ram smiled with relief. As the adults got ready
friends
for the match, Ashwin and his friends, who had all this disappointed?
while been gazing at Lt. Aaron’s very normal head with
almost comical disappointment, gathered round him.
‘Uncle, why did you always keep your head covered?’
Ashwin asked. ‘We’ve been so curious about it.’
34. What was the
‘Oh, that!’ said “Lt. Aaron” with a laugh. ‘I get a cold in real reason for Lt.
my head very easily, so my wife insists I keep my head Aaron wearing
covered all the time, as protection. And I wouldn’t dare his hat all the
disobey her.’ He rolled his eyes towards Sonu standing a time?
little distance away, puckered his face and stiffened his
body in a mock gesture of fear. The boys looked at his
gentle and mild-looking wife and laughed.

audible: that which can be heard clearly lunge: a sudden powerful forward
movement of the body and arm that a
deftly: skilfully and quickly person makes towards another person
dodge: to move quickly and suddenly to or thing
one side in order to avoid somebody or mutter: to speak or say something in
something a quiet voice that is difficult to hear
adroitly: skilfully and cleverly plonk: to put something down on
something, especially noisily or
archly: in a tone of voice that deliberately
carelessly
shows amusment
puckered: to for m or to make
frothing: seem attractive and enjoyable something to form small folds or lines
but have no real value
tug: to pull something hard, often
guffawed: laughed noisily several times

95
Lt. Aaron Eats his Hat Short Stories

Understanding the text

1. What does the expression ‘eat one's hat’ mean? Describe the significance of the
title Lt. Aaron Eats His Hat.
2. How far is the story successful in presenting a lively and energetic picture of a
local township in India?
3. What is the role played by kabaddi in the story?
Writing about the text
1. Tagore in his Gitanjali says that the world should not be broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic walls. How far is the same idea brought out in the story Lt.
Aaron Eats His Hat?
2. Children are often more compassionate and they have greater feeling of unity
than grown-ups. Do you agree with this statement? If so, prepare a write-up on
this topic based on your reading of the story, Lt Aaron Eats His Hat.
3. How does the author use humour to enliven the story? Give examples.

Know your text

• Compare and contrast the various themes dealt with in the stories you have
come across in this section and examine their link with modernism.
• Across the world, stories show striking similiarity in plot, characterisation,
narrative techniques, use of realism and symbolism. Substantiate.
• Attempt an essay on the marginalisation and discrimination as presented in the
stories you have read in this section.
Let’s conclude
In this unit we have seen how social, cultural, political and economic issues from
different parts of the world are addressed in the short stories. Now, let’s enjoy
prose in the non-fiction form.

96
 Non-fiction

Section 3
Non-fiction

97
 Non-fiction

Preface
Non-fiction has emerged as a popular genre of literature in the 20th century
comprising of essays, journals, biographies, memoir documentaries, travel books,
magazine articles, literary criticism and so on. A work of non-fiction derives its
origin from presumably real life events and established facts. Since it reflects
upon various social and cultural aspects of life, it promises to offer us a variety of
literary experiences. This unit takes us through some of the sub genres of non-
fiction, which help us to understand the essential features of this genre.

Lear ning Outcomes

Learning

The learner will be able to:

• express and share ideas with friends.
• analyse and comprehend the content of a text.
• relate with the point of view, style of writing, etc. of the author.
• explain the theme of the text.
• attempt a critical appreciation of the article.
• communicate the new perspectives and diverse views.
• support the idea of equality of men and women.
• demonstrate awareness of the role of media.
• demonstrate an awareness of various cultures and traditions.
• explain the specific features of travel writing.
• demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the creative process
involved in screen writing.
• identify the terminology related to screenplays.
• examine the different formatting styles of screenplays.
• analyse the literary elements in screenplays.
• differentiate between a story and a screenplay.
• rewrite a story into a screenplay.
• appraise the elements of humour in a literary work.

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Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction

Manoj Night Shyamalan (1970 - )

Manoj Shyamalan, known professionally as M. Night

Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film
director and producer known for making movies with
contemporary supernatural plots including The Sixth Sense
(1999), Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Lady
in the Water (2006), The Last Airbender (2010), and After Earth (2013). He is also
known for filming and setting his movies in and around Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania where he was brought up and for including unexpected twists
and turns in the plot in most of his films.

Excerpts from ‘The Sixth Sense’ (Screenplay)

INT. SCHOOL LOBBY - LATE AFTERNOON

The rain comes down a little stronger now on the stained 1. Identify the
location of this
glass window.
shot.
Malcolm sits on the stairs in the lobby. Cole walks back 2. Do you find
and forth in front of him. Cole still holds the sword from anything peculiar
the play. about writing of
the names of
COLE
characters?
How come we’re so quiet?
Malcolm shrugs his shoulders.
MALCOLM
I think we said everything we needed to say.
(beat) 3. Which word
denotes a pause
May be it’s time to say things to someone else? in the dialogue?
Someone close to you?

99
Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
COLE
May be.
Cole keeps moving. Beat. 4. How is the
COLE (CONT’D) dialogue
continued after a
I’m not going to see you anymore, am I? pause?
Malcolm doesn’t respond for a while. He shakes his head,
‘No’. Beat.
MALCOLM
You were great in the play, Cole.
COLE
Really?
MALCOLM
And you know what else?
COLE
What?
MALCOLM
Tommy Tammisimo sucked big time.
Cole smiles huge. Beat. Cole’s sword drags on the tile as
he continues to circle around the hall. We get the idea he
doesn’t want to be still.
COLE
May be we can pretend we’re going to see each
other tomorrow?
Cole glances at Malcolm.
COLE (CONT’D)
Just for pretend.
Beat. Malcolm exhales very slowly as he gets up. 5. Why does
MALCOLM Malcolm say ‘I’m
going to go
Okay, Cole, I’m going to go now.... I’ll see you now....’?
tomorrow.

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Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
Cole watches as Malcolm walks down the stairs to the
entrance. Cole stops moving.
COLE
6. What is the
(soft) tone of Cole’s
See you tomorrow. voice?

Malcolm’s face shows his losing battle against his

emotions. He doesn’t turn to look back.
CUT TO:

EXT. MALCOLM’S HOUSE – NIGHT 7. The stage

directions appear
Malcolm walks quietly down the sidewalk towards his both in upper
home. and lowercase
letters. How is it
CUT TO: significant?

INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

Malcolm enters the living room and smiles at what he
sees.
Anna is asleep in a chair. She’s curled up in a ball. In a 8. What are the
way, she looks like a little girl. sounds we listen
Their WEDDING VIDEO PLAYS SOFTLY ON THE to during the
TELEVISION. action?
9. How are
Malcolm watches himself and Anna cutting their sounds other
wedding cake. THE CROWD APPLAUDS AS THEY FEED than dialogues
EACH OTHER, PIECES. differentiated?
Malcolm turns from the television and takes a seat next 10. From where
to Anna. He gazes upon his wife softly. do you get the
MALCOLM idea of the tone
of the dialogue?
(whispers)
Anna, I’ve been so lost.
(beat)

101
Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
I need my best friend.
Silence. Malcolm gazes for a beat before looking down.
ANNA 11. Which action
is highlighted
I miss you. here?
Malcolm’s eyes move back up. He looks at his sleeping
wife. ANNA’S TALKING IN HER SLEEP.
Malcolm can’t believe it.
MALCOLM
I miss you.
Beat. Her lips move again. Eyes never open.
ANNA
Why, Malcolm?
MALCOLM
What, Anna? What did I do? What’s made you so
sad? Beat.
ANNA
Why did you leave me?
MALCOLM
I didn’t leave you. 12. What is the
sound you hear
Beat. She becomes silent. Anna falls back into deep sleep, at this part of the
her arm slides down. SOMETHING SHINY FALLS OUT action?
AND ROLLS ON THE GROUND.
Malcolm’s eyes watch as it comes to a stop... Beat. He gazes
curiously at a GOLD WEDDING BAND laying on the
wood floor.
Confusion washes over his face. He looks to Anna’s hand...
An identical gold wedding ring is on her finger.
Beat. Malcolm looks down at his own hand.... HIS
WEDDING RING IS GONE.

102
Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
Malcolm is completely lost. He takes a couple steps back.
Looks around in confusion...
His eyes come to rest on the door to his basement office.
He looks in disbelief at the set of DEAD BOLT LOCKS on
the door.
Malcolm doesn’t know what the hell’s going on.. His eyes
are drawn to the dining table... Only ONE PLACE SETTING
is out on the tabletop.
His eyes search again — they finally lock on the
WEDDING VIDEO PLAYING. Malcolm watches images
of himself on the screen.... His eyes fill with a storm of 13. What is
emotions... special about the
setting on the
Malcolm looks to Anna’s face and becomes very still. Beat. dining table?
CLOSE ON ANNA... TILL HER SLEEPING FACE FILLS THE
FRAME... IT’S NOW WE NOTICE FOR THE FIRST TIME,
THAT ANNA’S BREATHS ARE FORMING TINY CLOUDS
IN THE COLD AIR.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
(like he’s falling down a deep hole)
No...
SLAM CUT:
14. Where is the
FLASHBACK: INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT end of this shot?
VIOLENT GUN SHOTS RING THROUGH THE
BEDROOM.
Anna rushes across the room to a crumpled Malcolm 15. Is this shot a
laying on the floor. Malcolm’s hands are clutched at his flashback?
side. Explain.
Anna pries his hands away to reveal the tiniest tear in his
shirt. Anna’s eyes catch something dark — moving... A
POOL OF BLOOD IS FORMING UNDER MALCOLM. She
slowly turns him over on his side... A horrific sight... An
enormous exit wound on his lower back pours out blood
uncontrollably.

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Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
Malcolm’s jaw is locked open. His breaths are long and
strained.
ANNA IS SCREAMING, BUT HER VOICE SOUNDS FAR
AWAY.
Malcolm’s open jaw releases a long strained breath and
then becomes silent. Anna tries to cover the wound with
her hands desperately.
SLAM CUT:
PRESENT: INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
MALCOLM 16. How does
this shot end?
(screaming)
ANNA!
MALCOLM’S VOICE SHAKES THE ROOM.
Anna just sleeps.
Malcolm staggers back. His breathing erratic.
He takes a seat across from her. He looks at his wife and
suddenly becomes very still.
Anna’s still curled up asleep, but tears are falling from
her shut eyes.
Beat.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
Don’t cry.
Anna doesn’t move, but her tears seem to fall little faster.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
I think I have to go.
Malcolm’s mind is racing.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
(realizing)
I just needed to do a couple of things.
Beat.

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Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
And I needed to tell you something.
ANNA
Tell me. 17. What are the
Beat. couple of things
Malcolm wants
MALCOLM to do?
You were never second... ever.
Malcolm gazes at his wife. Tears fall from both their eyes.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
You sleep now, Anna. Everything will be different
in the morning.
Anna lays still.
ANNA
Goodnight, Malcolm.
MALCOLM
Goodnight, sweetheart.
The room falls into silence. Malcolm sits still across from
his wife. He drinks her in with his eyes.
Malcolm leans back in the chair. Slowly closes his eyes.
They close shut.
WE ARE TIGHT ON ANNA... WE SEE HER SOFT BREATHS
FORMING A TINY CLOUD IN THE COLD AIR...
WITH EACH BREATH, THEY BECOME LESS AND LESS
VISIBLE... THE ROOM BECOMING LESS AND LESS COLD.
SOON HER BREATHS AREN’T VISIBLE AT ALL. SHE
BREATHES GENTLY, FALLING BACK INTO A PEACEFUL
SLEEP.
WE PULL BACK to reveal Anna alone in the living room.
THE WEDDING VIDEO PLAYS ITS LAST SCENES......
MALCOLM IS AT THE MICROPHONE ON THE DANCE

105
Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction
FLOOR IN FRONT OF ALL THE GUESTS.HE’S HOLDING
A GLASS OF WINE.
18. For what
MALCOLM (CONT’D) reason do you
think the action is
(on tape)
written in
...I think I’ve had too much to drink. capitals?
Malcolm smiles as he takes a sip. The guests chuckle as
they watch. Beat.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
(on tape)
I just have to say, this day today has been one very
special day... I wish we all could stay and play.
The crowd erupts in LAUGHTER. 19. How do we
know that this
MALCOLM (CONT’D) dialogue is from
(on tape) the video tape?

What?
Malcolm looks around at everyone’s smiling faces.Beat.
Malcolm takes his time. He looks just past the camera.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
Anna, I never thought I’d feel the things I’m feeling.
I never thought I’d be able to stand up in front of my
friends and family and tell them what’s inside me...
Today I can...
Malcolm’s eyes fill with water.
MALCOLM (CONT’D)
(softly)
Anna Crowe... I am in love. In love I am.
FADE TO BLACK.

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Excerpts from The Sixth Sense Non-fiction

Understanding the Text

1. A screenplay makes use of abbreviations to suggest the place of action. What
are the abbreviations used for actions happening outdoors and indoors? How
do you know the time of the action from the screenplay?
2. Action in a screenplay follows different formatting. What type of actions do we
write in capital letters? There can be pauses during action and dialogues. What
difference do you find while marking pauses during an action and pauses during
a dialogue?
3. A screenplay is the literary form of a film which uses visuals and sounds. How
do we express different tones in dialogues? How are sounds other than dialogues
written in a screenplay? What technique is used for a loud sound or a loud
dialogue?
4. What do you think is the climax of the scene?
5. Which terms are used to mark the end of different shots?
Writing about the Text
1. Attempt a plot summary of this excerpt.
2. Attempt a screenplay selecting a scene from a story you have read.
3. Collect screenplays written in English and other languages and find out the
difference in formatting screenplays.
References
Aronson, Linda. The 21st-Century Screenplay, A Comprehensive Guide to Writing
Tomorrow's Films. Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 2011.
Haag Judith H, Hillis R. Cole. The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats: The
Screenplay. California:CMC Publishing, 1980.
Trottier, David. The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting,
and Selling Your Script. Los Angeles: Silman-James Press, 1998.

107
In Memory of Azores Non-fiction

Samuel Langhor
Samuel ne Clemens (1835-1910)
Langhorne

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark

Twain, was an American author and humourist. He wrote The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn (1885), which is often called ‘The Great American
Novel’. During his tour of Europe and the Middle East, he wrote a
popular collection of travel letters, which were later compiled as The Innocents
Abroad in 1869. It was on this trip that he met his future brother-in-law, Charles
Langdon. Both were passengers aboard the Quaker City on their way to the
Holy Land of Jerusalem.

In Memory of Azores
I think the Azores must be very little known in America.
Out of our whole ship’s company, there was not a solitary
individual who knew anything whatever about them.
Some of the party, well-read concerning most other lands,
had no other information about the Azores than that they
were a group of nine or ten small islands far out in the 1. What
Atlantic, something more than halfway between New information do
York and Gibraltar. That was all. These considerations you get about
move me to put in a paragraph of dry facts just here. Azores?
The community is eminently Portuguese—that is to say,
it is slow, poor, shiftless, sleepy, and lazy. There is a civil
governor, appointed by the King of Portugal, and also a
military governor, who can assume supreme control and
suspend the civil government at his pleasure. The islands
contain a population of about 200,000, almost entirely
Portuguese. Everything is staid and settled, for the country
was one hundred years old when Columbus discovered
2. What is the
America. The principal crop is corn, and they raise it staple crop of
and grind it just as their great-great great-grandfathers Azores?
did. They plow with a board slightly shod with iron; their
trifling little harrows are drawn by men and women;
small windmills grind the corn, ten bushels a day, and

108
In Memory of Azores Non-fiction
there is one assistant superintendent to feed the mill and
a general superintendent to stand by and keep him from
going to sleep. When the wind changes they hitch on some
donkeys and actually turn the whole upper half of the
mill around until the sails are in proper position, instead
of fixing the concern so that the sails could be moved
instead of the mill. Oxen tread the wheat from the ear,
after the fashion prevalent in the time of Methuselah.
There is not a wheelbarrow in the land—they carry
everything on their heads, or on donkeys, or in a wicker-
bodied cart, whose wheels are solid blocks of wood and
whose axles turn with the wheel. There is not a modern
plow in the islands or a threshing machine. All attempts 3. Why don’t you
to introduce them have failed. The Portuguese crossed find a modern
plow or a
himself and prayed God to shield him from all
threshing
blasphemous desire to know more than his father did machine in
before him. The climate is mild; they never have snow or Azores?
ice, and I saw no chimneys in the town. The donkeys and
the men, women, and children of a family all eat and
sleep in the same room, and are unclean, are ravaged by
vermin, and are truly happy. The people lie, and cheat
the stranger, and are desperately ignorant, and have 4. The people in
hardly any reverence for their dead. The latter trait shows Azores are not
how little better they are than the donkeys they eat and better than the
sleep with. The only well-dressed Portuguese in the camp donkeys they eat
are the half a dozen well-to-do families, the priests, and and sleep with.
the soldiers of the little garrison. Do you agree?
Explain.
The wages of a laborer are twenty to twenty-four cents a
day, and those of a good mechanic about twice as much.
They count it in reis at a thousand to the dollar, and this
makes them rich and contented. Fine grapes used to grow
in the islands, and an excellent wine was made and
5. What makes
exported. But a disease killed all the vines fifteen years the people rich
ago, and since that time no wine has been made. The and contented?
islands being wholly of volcanic origin, the soil is
necessarily very rich. Nearly every foot of ground is under
cultivation, and two or three crops a year of each article

109
In Memory of Azores Non-fiction
are produced, but nothing is exported save a few
6. ‘Nobody comes
oranges—chiefly to England. Nobody comes here, and
here, and nobody
nobody goes away. News is a thing unknown in Fayal. A goes away.’ What
thirst for it is a passion equally unknown. A Portuguese idea do you get of
of average intelligence inquired if our civil war was over. the life at
Because, he said, somebody had told him it was—or at Azores?
least it ran in his mind that somebody had told him
something like that! And when a passenger gave an
officer of the garrison copies of the Tribune, the Herald,
and Times, he was surprised to find later news in them
from Lisbon than he had just received by the little monthly
steamer. He was told that it came by cable. He said he
knew they had tried to lay a cable ten years ago, but it
had been in his mind somehow that they hadn’t succeeded!
We visited a Jesuit cathedral nearly two hundred years
old. In a chapel of the cathedral is an altar with facings
of solid silver—at least they call it so, and I think myself
it would go a couple of hundred to the ton (to speak after
the fashion of the silver miners)—and before it is kept
forever burning a small lamp. A devout lady who died,
left money and contracted for unlimited masses for the
repose of her soul, and also stipulated that this lamp should 7. What picture
be kept lighted always, day and night. She did all this do you get about
before she died, you understand. It is a very small lamp the cathedral?
and a very dim one, and it could not work her much
damage, I think, if it went out altogether. The great altar
of the cathedral and also three or four minor ones are a
perfect mass of gilt gimcracks and gingerbread.
The walls of the chancel are of porcelain, all pictured
over with figures of almost life size, very elegantly
wrought and dressed in the fanciful costumes of two
centuries ago. The design was a history of something or
8. What does the
somebody, but none of us were learned enough to read author hope to
the story. The old father, reposing under a stone close by, learn if the dead
dated 1686, might have told us if he could have risen. old father could
But he didn’t. have risen?

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In Memory of Azores Non-fiction
As we came down through the town we encountered a
squad of little donkeys ready saddled for use. The saddles
were peculiar, to say the least. They consisted of a sort of
saw-buck with a small mattress on it, and this furniture
covered about half the donkey. There were no stirrups,
but really such supports were not needed—to use such a
saddle was the next thing to riding a dinner table—there
was ample support clear out to one’s knee joints. A pack
of ragged Portuguese muleteers crowded around us,
offering their beasts at half a dollar an hour—more
rascality to the stranger, for the market price is sixteen
cents. Half a dozen of us mounted the ungainly affairs 9. What is the
and submitted to the indignity of making a ridiculous ‘ridiculous
spectacle of ourselves through the principal streets of a spectacle’
town of 10,000 inhabitants. referred to here?
We started. It was not a trot, a gallop, or a canter, but a
stampede, and made up of all possible or conceivable
gaits. No spurs were necessary. There was a muleteer to
every donkey and a dozen volunteers beside, and they
banged the donkeys with their goad sticks, and pricked
them with their spikes, and shouted something that
sounded like “Sekki-yah!” and kept up a din and a racket
that was worse than Bedlam itself. These rascals were all
on foot, but no matter, they were always up to time—
10. Why does the
they can outrun and outlast a donkey. Altogether, ours author refer to
was a lively and a picturesque procession, and drew their procession,
crowded audiences to the balconies wherever we went. ‘worse than
Blucher could do nothing at all with his donkey. The beast Bedlam’?
scampered zigzag across the road and the others ran into
him; he scraped Blucher against carts and the corners of
houses; the road was fenced in with high stone walls, and
the donkey gave him a polishing first on one side and
then on the other, but never once took the middle; he
11. Do you think
finally came to the house he was born in and darted into
Blucher had a
the parlor, scraping Blucher off at the doorway. After comfortable trip?
remounting, Blucher said to the muleteer, “Now, that’s Why?
enough, you know; you go slow hereafter.”

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In Memory of Azores Non-fiction
But the fellow knew no English and did not understand, 12. What is the
so he simply said, “Sekki-yah!” and the donkey was off funny incident of
again like a shot. He turned a corner suddenly, and donkey riding
Blucher went over his head. And, to speak truly, every that the author
mule stumbled over the two, and the whole cavalcade narrates?
was piled up in a heap. No harm done. A fall from one of
those donkeys is of little more consequence than rolling
off a sofa. The donkeys all stood still after the catastrophe
and waited for their dismembered saddles to be patched
up and put on by the noisy muleteers. Blucher was pretty
angry and wanted to swear, but every time he opened his
mouth his animal did so also and let off a series of brays
that drowned all other sounds.
It was fun, scurrying around the breezy hills and through
the beautiful canyons. There was that rare thing, novelty,
about it; it was a fresh, new, exhilarating sensation, this
donkey riding, and worth a hundred worn and
threadbare home pleasures. The roads were a wonder,
and well they might be. Here was an island with only a
handful of people in it 25,000—and yet such fine roads
do not exist in the United States outside of Central Park.
Everywhere you go, in any direction, you find either a
hard, smooth, level thoroughfare, just sprinkled with black
lava sand, and bordered with little gutters neatly paved
with small smooth pebbles, or compactly paved ones like
Broadway. They talk much of the Russ pavement in New 13. What makes
York, and call it a new invention—yet here they have the author
been using it in this remote little isle of the sea for two comment about
hundred years! Every street in Horta is handsomely paved the Russ
with the heavy Russ blocks, and the surface is neat and pavement in New
true as a floor—not marred by holes like Broadway. And York?
every road is fenced in by tall, solid lava walls, which
will last a thousand years in this land where frost is
unknown. They are very thick, and are often plastered
and whitewashed and capped with projecting slabs of
cut stone. Trees from gardens above hang their swaying
tendrils down, and contrast their bright green with the

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In Memory of Azores Non-fiction
whitewash or the black lava of the walls and make them
beautiful. The trees and vines stretch across these narrow
roadways sometimes and so shut out the sun that you seem
to be riding through a tunnel. The pavements, the roads,
and the bridges are all government work.
The bridges are of a single span—a single arch—of cut
stone, without a support, and paved on top with flags of
lava and ornamental pebble work. Everywhere are walls,
walls, walls, and all of them tasteful and handsome—
and eternally substantial; and everywhere are those 14. What gives
marvelous pavements, so neat, so smooth, and so you the
impression that
indestructible. And if ever roads and streets and the
you are riding
outsides of houses were perfectly free from any sign or through a
semblance of dirt, or dust, or mud, or uncleanliness of tunnel?
any kind, it is Horta. The lower classes of the people, in
their persons and their domiciles, are not clean—but
there it stops—the town and the island are miracles of
cleanliness.
We arrived home again finally, after a ten-mile
excursion, and the irrepressible muleteers scampered at
our heels through the main street, goading the donkeys,
shouting the everlasting “Sekki-yah,” and singing “John
Brown’s Body” in ruinous English.
When we were dismounted and it came to settling, the
shouting and jawing and swearing and quarreling
among the muleteers and with us was nearly deafening.
One fellow would demand a dollar an hour for the use of
his donkey; another claimed half a dollar for pricking
him up, another a quarter for helping in that service, and
about fourteen guides presented bills for showing us the
way through the town and its environs; and every vagrant
of them was more vociferous, and more vehement and
more frantic in gesture than his neighbor. We paid one
guide and paid for one muleteer to each donkey.
The mountains on some of the islands are very high. We

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In Memory of Azores Non-fiction
sailed along the shore of the island of Pico, under a stately
green pyramid that rose up with one unbroken sweep
from our very feet to an altitude of 7,613 feet, and thrust
its summit above the white clouds like an island adrift
in a fog! 15. What gives
the island of Pico
We got plenty of fresh oranges, lemons, figs, apricots, etc., an impression
in these Azores, of course. But I will desist. I am not here that it is adrift in
to write Patent Office reports. a fog?

We are on our way to Gibraltar, and shall reach there

five or six days out from the Azores.

blasphemy : behaviour or language stampede : a sudden rush of a panic-

that insults or shows a lack of respect stricken herd
for God or religion stipulate : to demand or specify
canter : a movement of a horse at a stirrups : the metal rings that hang
speed that is fairly fast but not very fast down on each side of a horse’s saddle,
gait : manner of walking used to support the rider’s foot
garrison : a group of soldiers living in thread bare : something that is old and
a town or fort to defend it thin because it has been thoroughly used
gimcracks : badly made and of little value thrush : to beat out
muleteer : a person who controls mules trifle : silly
ravage : destroy vagrant : a person who has no home or
Reis : obsolete Portuguese money job, especially one who begs

scamper : to walk unsteadily vermin : troublesome animals that

threaten human society by spreading
scurry : to run with quick, short steps diseases or destroying crops
shiftless : inefficient vociferous : expressing your opinions
solitary : alone or feelings in a loud and confident manner
staid : boring and old-fashioned wrought : shaped by tools

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In Memory of Azores Non-fiction

Understanding the Text

1. Do you think that Mark Twain is being dispassionate and balanced in his
assessment of the inhabitants of Azores? Why?
2. A travelogue contains a description of the people of a locality and their culture.
What details of the life and culture of the people of Azores can you find in this
travelogue?
3. Anecdotes make a travelogue interesting to readers. How does Mark Twain use
anecdotes in his travelogue?
4. Descriptions of the scenic beauty of places enrich a travelogue. What details
of scenic beauty and places make this travelogue interesting?
Writing about the Text
1. Consider In Memory of Azores as a travelogue. How does the author present the
details of the people, places, scenic beauty and the culture of Azores in his
narration?
2. Mark Twain’s works are celebrated for their touch of humour. Find instances of
Twain’s humour in the text. What other features do you think make him a
popular writer. Comment on the literary style of the writer based on your reading
of In Memory of Azores.
3. Did you notice the difference in the spelling of words like ‘laborer’, ‘quarreling’,
‘marvelous’, ‘neighbor’, etc.? How can we account for it?
In British and American English, the same words are often spelt differently.
Find such examples from the text.
There is a remarkable difference in vocabulary too. The word ‘pavement’ which
occurs in the text is a typical American usage for what we call ‘footpath’. Likewise,
for an American, a ‘lift’ is an ‘elevator’, a ‘car’ is an ‘automobile’ and ‘petrol’ is
‘gasolene’. Find out more such word pairs referring to a dictionary.
References
Budd, J Louis (Ed.). Mark Twain: The Contemporary Reviews. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999.
Emerson, Everett. Mark Twain, A Literary Life. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania,
2000.
Powers, Ron. Mark Twain: A Life. New York: Free Press, 2005.

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Role Play Non-fiction

V Geetha
V Geetha, writer, translator, social historian and activist has
written widely, both in Tamil and English on gender, popular
culture, caste and politics. The present extract ‘Role Play’ is taken
from her book Gender which was published in 2002. Geetha
makes an observation that gender is ‘both part of the world we
live in as well as a way of understanding the world.’ She points
out that when we allocate specific attributes and roles to male
and female sexes, we are ‘doing’ gender.

Role Play
Masculine and feminine modes of behaviour are relevant
in as far as they reflect social expectations. Men and
1. What do you
women enact different roles, because society expects them think is the
to act in these ways and rewards them if they do, punishes reason, for men
them if they do not. and women
enacting different
Why do these expectations exist in the first place? Role roles?
theory has little to offer by way of a convincing answer.
It accepts different roles as a point of departure. It only
allows for the possibility that roles and expectations can
be transformed, provided one knows how this system
works.
What Happens with Children?
How are social expectations expressed and enforced?
Through a variety of practices and institutions. A child
acquires its earliest knowledge of its destined role in the
family. Parents dress their boy and girl children in
different ways. They buy them different toys and books.
They have different codes of behaviour for boys and girls.
2. How does a
Boys must not cry. Boys can run, jump, climb trees, girls
child get to know
are asked to be careful. In countries like India, there are its destined role
further distinctions: Girls in poor families get to eat less in the family?
food than boys. They are less likely to be sent to school,

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Role Play Non-fiction
less favoured when it comes to buying new clothes or
toys. By the time a child is six or seven years old, it has a
fairly coherent sense of its sexual identity and the
expectations which are attached to it.
Children accept and abide by these roles for two major
reasons: They are scolded, reprimanded or punished if 3. Why do
they do not. Or worse, they are shamed if they dare to be children accept
different. Girl children, especially learn at a very early and abide by
age that they will be laughed at, teased, if, for example, their destined
they do not wear clothes which they are expected to wear. roles?
Often they are teased by their own peers. Boys are likewise
mocked at for being ‘sissies’ should they wish to play with
girls.
Schools reinforce some of these expectations: in Indian
4. What role do
schools girls and boys are made to sit separately in the schools play in
classroom, are not encouraged to talk or play together. reinforcing the
This segregation sends out signals to children that boys social
and girls are inescapably, dangerously different. Primary expectations?
school textbooks are replete with references to distinctive
male and female roles. Boy-girl interactions in school
are not spontaneous. They are mediated by notions of
shame, modesty and fear, for girls, and aggression and
awkwardness for boys. An advertisement for a biscuit,
popular in the late 1990s in India expresses this perfectly.
A schoolboy tears open a packet of biscuits. A girl
associates the sound of tearing with a slit hem in her
school uniform and embarrassedly pulls her pinafore
down. The boy laughs indulgently and holds out the
biscuit packet to her, the girl realizes she has been 5. Certain
behavioural
deliberately fooled, and coyly accepts a biscuit.
patterns for boys
As children grow up, they find out that everything around and girls are
them communicates fairly identical messages about reinforced in
growing up male or female. Many things seem to suggest schools. What are
they?
that it is natural and inevitable for men and women to
pursue different paths and seek particular and exclusive
destinies. These come from the media or from the things

117
Role Play Non-fiction
parents and teachers say, the books they read; the
behaviour of men and women as they conduct themselves
at home, on the streets, at work. These norms of
masculinity and femininity, for in effect that is what they 6. How does the
are, are not merely descriptive. They also prescribe and society prescribe
roles for men and
demand certain sorts of behaviour from men and women. women?
If such behaviour is not forthcoming, punishment is swift.
Think of what happened to a female social worker,
Bhanwari Devi of Rajasthan. Unlike most women from
her state, she dared to do public work. She also attempted
something more. She actively campaigned
against the practice of child marriage in her
area of work. For being forward and daring, a
group of upper caste men raped her: as if to
remind her that she was after all a woman and
must never presume to act out of character. If
she did, this is what would befall her.
Challenging Stereotypes
Given the force of social expectations, and the fact that
they are justified on the grounds of biology, can they be
challenged at all? Those who insist that it is society which
is responsible for assigning particular roles to men and
women argue that this is indeed possible. For example,
the content of media messages can be changed. Women 7. How can
textbooks and
can be shown in more enabling and empowering roles.
media prevent
Textbooks can be re-written in such a way that we people from
present men and women as being not really all that thinking that
different. Likewise male and female roles and functions men and women
can also be shown to be reversible. Most important, men are different?
must be told that norms of masculinity limit and make
them quite oppressive. The government can be persuaded
to reserve a certain number of posts for women in all its
departments, including legislative bodies. All these are
of course possible and must be done. But will such
measure undermine the belief, the idea, that there exist
distinctive male and female roles?
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Role Play Non-fiction
We know from history that these roles have been
reversed, if need be. There have been men like St. Francis
of Assisi, and in our time, Mahatma Gandhi, who
exhibited great compassion and care. Gandhi confessed
feeling like a woman and a mother on several occasions.
Heroic female warriors are legion. Joan of Arc and
Lakshmibai of Jhansi come to mind. There are also female
guerrilla fighters in many resistance movements. Then
again there have been power-renouncing kings who 8. Do you think
retired to the forest to write, and there have been women the roles
who ruled for several decades. Today there is no domain prescribed by the
of work or achievement which men can claim to be theirs society have been
reversed today?
and theirs only. Whatever was conventionally deemed
Why?
the province of men has been encroached upon by women.
Women may not be accepted in their new roles but this
has not stopped them from doing what they can and wish
to do.
The fact, however, is that whether from the leisure classes
or the working classes, women take on male roles, they
do this either because they need to survive or because
they do not see their sex as a disqualification and simply
go ahead to do things, or at least struggle to do them. It is
also significant that men have not taken to female roles 9. ‘Women’s
and functions, as women have taken to theirs. Women’s work does not
work does not bring prestige or power. Besides there has bring prestige or
really been no bar on men doing women’s work- in fact, power.’ Why
does the author
in those instances where men have taken on
say so?
characteristically female roles and tasks, such as cooking,
they have transformed them into professions which fetch
money and prestige.
We also need to differentiate here between different
classes of men. In countries like India, working class men 10. What is the
have always helped around the house and obligingly attitude of
carried and looked after infants. For them, as with their working class
men in India?
women who work outside the home, such a sharing of
work is a crucial aspect of a distinctive culture of
survival.

119
Role Play Non-fiction

The problem is while to an extent male and female roles

and functions have become interchangeable, they
continue to remain female and male roles and functions.
11. What do you
A caring father is like a mother. A working class man
think is the
who takes on female roles is as conscious of roles and reason for
identities as any other man. While he may work around women retiring
the house, he is under no illusion that it is a woman’s job. into domesticity?
He does it because the women in his house too work. In
fact, as working class families improve their lives, women
stop going to work. They retire into domesticity.
At the other end of the spectrum, successful female
professionals rarely view their success as legitimately
female. Often they imagine they have ‘usurped’ a man’s
place and therefore must do justice to the position that is
theirs. Many of them consider it a matter of pride that
they are seen as being as tough and efficient as men.
Consequently, they learn to eschew their so called 12. How do
feminine qualities of compassion and gentleness. female
Significantly Indira Gandhi was often referred to by the professionals
view their
Indian press as ‘the only man in the cabinet’ and there is
success?
no record of her having repudiated such a statement.
Do Roles Fit?
There is a further problem. Assigned social roles also
produce and perpetrate emotions and ways of relating
that justify these roles. Being a man also means that one 13. How do the
social roles that
is rational, always in control, unemotional and are thrust upon
consistently strong. Being female requires that she is men and women
patient, understanding, emotionally expressive and affect their
compassionate. Roles and emotions do not always exist emotions?
in a perfect fit - there are irritable and impatient mothers,
timid and self-effacing men who are uneasy in their
professions. Yet both men and women strive to be as
typical as possible, convinced that these are their natural
modes of being, often suppressing or downplaying
contrary emotions. The irritable mother ends up feeling

120
Role Play Non-fiction
enormously guilty for not being sufficiently gentle and
patient, while the timid man cultivates a huge sense of
inferiority for not being man enough.
One of the Guys
Women who persist in being tough and hard come up
against very real limits. They find that they are often
unable to find suitable professional positions, though they
may be brave and sexually confident, the rules which
govern behaviour are such that their courage is often
mistaken for brazenness, their honesty for promiscuity.
Most important, the world is so arranged that such
women find that at best the fact of their sex is ignored 14. Women who
and they are treated as ‘one of the guys’, at worst, they persist in being
are punished for being different- made fun of, ostracized, tough are treated
physically hurt. worst. How?
A Complete Man
Men who seek to downplay their given, masculine roles
and feelings and be like women, more expressive and
emotional, find out-like the ‘complete man’ who is
portrayed in a textile advertisement-that they do not
really have to stop being male. They continue to occupy 15. A man can
positions of power, prestige and authority. They may attain the stature
of a ‘complete
spend more time with their children, attending to the
man’. How?
old, even lead a rich emotional life, but these emotional
transformations do not alter the structures they inhabit.
Unlike women for whom a life of the emotions went hand
in hand with a limited engagement with the world, less
pay, lack of mobility, overwork and loneliness, for men
who seek to step out of their ordained emotional lives,
there are no such limits.
This does not mean that one cannot afford to be really
untypical, or that women somehow are forced to conform,
while men get to have the best of both worlds. This is
neither true nor indeed possible, given the ingenuity of
human behaviour and action. But the point is that social

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Role Play Non-fiction
roles and functions exist as parts of real structures of
power, of inclusion and exclusion, approval and 16. Why does the
writer feel that
disapproval, privilege and punishment. These structures we cannot afford
are not external to our lives, but are embedded in the to be really
ways we work, live, behave and think. Thus protest and untypical?
resistance need to be continuous, reflected in the actual
choices women and men make, both in relation to how
they wish to live and think and what they wish to do, by
way of a living.

brazen: shameless, brave legion: in large numbers

coherent: adhesive, tenacious oblige: to force
convincing : plausible, valid ostracize: to exclude or keep out
coy: shy pertinent: to the point, relevant
embarrassedly: uneasily
prestige: self-esteem
encroach: to trespass or advance,
pursue: to reveal, display
beyond usual limits
reprimand: to rebuke or reproach
enforce: to strengthen
eschew: to avoid on moral, practical segregate: to seclude, isolate
grounds self-effacing: reticent, unassertive
guerilla fight: an aggressive warfare stereotype: a conventional custom,
illusion: hallucination fixed or unalterable form
innate: native, inherent usurp: to take over, seize

Gender Studies : It is based on the premise that while sex is determined by

anatomy, gender is largely independent of it as it is a social construct that is diverse,
variable and dependent on historical circumstances.
Feminism : It is an umbrella term that signifies women’s socio-political rights,
cultural freedom and equality. It may also mean the philosophical notions on which
all these are founded.

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Role Play Non-fiction

Understanding the Text

1. Read the text and identify the following.
What are the traditional roles and qualities ascribed to men and women as
shown in the diagram? family

wife husband

suggestive calm enduring Head of courageous

the
family

2. ‘An advertisement for a biscuit, popular in the late 1980's in India expresses
this perfectly.’ What does it express?
3. What happened to the female social worker Bhanwari Devi of Rajasthan?
4. Do you think the word ‘encroachment’ in the eighth paragraph of the essay is
appropriate? If so, state your opinion.
5. ‘Successful women like to be equated with men.’ Cite an example from the essay.
Writing about the Text
1. Do you think that society is responsible for assigning particular roles for men
and women? Justify.
2. What is the role of media in constructing images of women and men?
3. Point out the instances where great men confessed feeling like women and
heroic women warriors fought like men.
4. Men playing both the male and female roles get the best of both worlds while
women doing the same suffer. Why?
5. Why do girls and boys try to meet to the social expectations?
6. Do you think Indian schools and curricula segregate boys and girls? How?

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Role Play Non-fiction

Read the following text.

I want a Wife (1971)
[Judy Brady's essay became an instant classic when it appeared in 1971 in the
premier issue of the feminist magazine Ms. As you read, analyze the definitions
of "husband" and "wife" that Brady uses, and consider why this essay became
so powerful in the 1970s.]
I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am a wife, not
altogether incidentally, I am a mother.
Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a
recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is
looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one
evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife.
Why do I want a wife?
I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent,
support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a
wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I
want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the
children's doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too.
I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I
want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, who arrange
for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with
their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes
care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around
when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss
classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose
the job. It may mean a small cut in my wife's income from time to time, but I
guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for
the care of the children while my wife is working.
I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will
keep my house clean, a wife who will pick my children up, a wife who will
keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who
will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I
can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals,
a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the
necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and
then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for

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Role Play Non-fiction
me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from
school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that
someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest
and change of scene.
I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's
duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain
a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want
a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.
I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life. When my wife
and I are invited out by my friends, I meet people at school that I like and
want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a
special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk
about things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have
arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive
so that the children do not bother us. I want a wife who takes care of the
needs of my guests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they
have an ash-tray, that they are passed the hors d'oeuvres, that they are
offered a second helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished
when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want
a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.
If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already
have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally,
I will expect a fresh new life; my wife will take the children and be solely
responsible for them so that I am left free.
When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working
and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care
of a wife's duties.
My God, who wouldn't want a wife?
Prepare a short note on the problems faced by women in the light of your
reading of Role Play and I Want a Wife.

References
Betty F. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Laurel Book, 1984.
Dass V.N. Feminism and Literature. New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1995.
Geetha, V. Gender. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan P. Ltd., 2002.
Rajadurai S. V. Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Peiryar
Calcutta: Samya, 1998.

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction

Stephen Butler Leacock (1869 -1944)

Stephen Leacock was born in England but later his family
emigrated to Canada in 1876 and settled in Ontario. He
graduated from University College in 1891with a Bachelor of Arts
degree. He is remembered for his best-selling book Sunshine Sketches
of a Little Town (1912). His famous works include Further
Foolishness and Essays and Literary Studies (1916) The Unsolved Riddle of Social
Justice (1920) My Discovery of England (1922) Economic Prosperity in the British
Empire (1930) Humour: Its Theory and Technique (1935).

Are the Rich Happy?

Let me admit at the outset that I write this essay without

adequate material. I have never known, I have never seen,
any rich people. Very often I have thought that I had found
them. But it turned out that it was not so. They were not 1. Why does the
rich at all. They were quite poor. They were hard up. They author feel that
were pushed for money. They didn’t know where to turn he is attempting
for ten thousand dollars. to write the essay
without adequate
In all the cases that I have examined this same error has material?
crept in. I had often imagined, from the fact of people
keeping fifteen servants, that they were rich. I had
supposed that because a woman rode down town in a 2. What does the
limousine to buy a fifty-dollar hat, she must be well-to- author infer
do. Not at all. All these people turn out on examination to about the
be not rich. They are cramped. They say it themselves. seemingly rich
Pinched, I think is the word they use. When I see a glittering people?
group of eight people in a stage box at the opera, I know
that they are all pinched. The fact that they ride home in
a limousine has nothing to do with it.
A friend of mine who has ten thousand dollars a year
told me the other day with a sigh that he found it quite
impossible to keep up with the rich. On his income he

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction
couldn’t do it. A family that I know who have twenty
thousand a year have told me the same thing. They can’t
keep up with the rich. There is no use in trying. A man
that I respect very much who has an income of fifty
thousand dollars a year from his law practice has told
me with the greatest frankness that he finds it absolutely
impossible to keep up with the rich. He says it is better to
face the brutal fact of being poor. He says he can only 3. What do the
give me a plain meal, what he calls a home dinner—it acquaintances of
the author admit
takes three men and two women to serve it—and he begs
frankly?
me to put up with it.
On the other hand there are, and there must be, rich
people somewhere. I run across traces of them all the time.
The janitor in the building where I work has told me
that he has a rich cousin in England who is in the South
Western Railway and gets ten pounds a week. He says
the railway wouldn’t know what to do without him. In
the same way the lady who washes at my house has a
rich uncle. He lives in Winnipeg and owns his own house,
clear, and has two girls at the high school.
But these are only reported cases of richness. I cannot 4. Which are the
vouch for them myself. reported cases of
richness
When I speak therefore of rich people and discuss mentioned by the
whether they are happy, it is understood that I am merely author?
drawing my conclusions from the people that I see and
know. 5. What is the
My judgment is that the rich undergo cruel trials and author’s
bitter tragedies of which the poor know nothing. judgment about
the rich?
In the first place I find that the rich suffer perpetually
from money troubles. The poor sit snugly at home while
6. How do the
sterling exchange falls ten points in a day. Do they care?
rich people suffer
Not a bit. An adverse balance of trade washes over the from troubles
nation like a flood. Who have to mop it up? The rich. caused by
Call money rushes up to a hundred per cent, and the poor money? How
can still sit and laugh at a ten cent moving picture show different are the
and forget it. poor?

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction
But the rich are troubled by money all the time.
I know a man, for example—his name is Spugg—whose
private bank account was overdrawn last month twenty
thousand dollars. He told me so at dinner at his club, with
apologies for feeling out of sorts. He said it was bothering 7. What was
bothering Mr.
him. He said he thought it rather unfair of his bank to
Spugg?
have called his attention to it. I could sympathise, in a
sort of way, with his feelings. My own account was
overdrawn twenty cents at the time. I knew that if the
bank began calling in overdrafts it might be my turn
next. Spugg said he supposed he’d have to telephone his
secretary in the morning to sell some bonds and cover it.
It seemed an awful thing to have to do. Poor people are
never driven to this sort of thing. I have known cases of
their having to sell a little furniture, perhaps, but imagine
having to sell the very bonds out of one’s desk. There’s a
bitterness about it that the poor can never know.
With this same man, Mr. Spugg, I have often talked of 8. What is ‘the
the problem of wealth. He is a self-made man and he has problem of wealth’
told me again and again that the wealth he has narrated by Mr.
accumulated is a mere burden to him. He says that he Spugg?
was much happier when he had only the plain, simple
things of life. Often as I sit at dinner with him over a
meal of nine courses, he tells me how much he would
prefer a plain bit of boiled pork, with a little mashed
turnip. He says that if he had his way he would make his
dinner out of a couple of sausages, fried with a bit of
bread. I forget what it is that stands in his way. I have
seen Spugg put aside his glass of champagne—or his glass
9. Why did Mr.
after he had drunk his champagne— with an expression Spugg put aside
of something like contempt. He says that he remembers his glass of
a running creek at the back of his father’s farm where he champagne with
used to lie at full length upon the grass and drink his fill. an expression of
Champagne, he says, never tasted like that. I have contempt?
suggested that he should lie on his stomach on the floor
of the club and drink a saucerful of soda water. But he
won’t.

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction
I know well that my friend Spugg would be glad to be
10. What
rid of his wealth altogether, if such a thing were possible. alternative does
Till I understood about these things, I always imagined the author
that wealth could be given away. It appears that it cannot. suggest for the
It is a burden that one must carry. Wealth, if one has disgust that Mr.
enough of it, becomes a form of social service. One regards Spugg feels for
it as a means of doing good to the world, of helping to champagne?
brighten the lives of others, in a word, a solemn trust.
Spugg has often talked with me so long and so late on 11. The author
this topic—the duty of brightening the lives of others— describes wealth
that the waiter who held blue flames for his cigarettes as a burden.
fell asleep against a door post, and the chauffeur outside Why?
froze to the seat of his motor.
Spugg’s wealth, I say, he regards as a solemn trust. I have
often asked him why he didn’t give it, for example, to a
college. But he tells me that unfortunately he is not a
college man. I have called his attention to the need of
further pensions for college professors; after all that Mr.
Carnegie and others have done, there are still thousands
and thousands of old professors of thirty-five and even 12. Why was Mr.
forty, working away day after day and getting nothing Spugg not ready
but what they earn themselves, and with no provision to give away his
beyond the age of eighty-five. But Mr. Spugg says that wealth?
these men are the nation’s heroes. Their work is its own
reward.
But after all, Mr. Spugg’s troubles—for he is a single man
with no ties—are in a sense selfish. It is perhaps in the 13. The author
homes—or more properly in the residences—of the rich says that the poor
that the great silent tragedies are being enacted every are ‘fortunate’.
Why does he say
day—tragedies of which the fortunate poor know and
so?
can know nothing.
I saw such a case only a few nights ago at the house of the
Ashcroft-Fowlers, where I was dining. As we went in to
dinner, Mrs. Ashcroft-Fowler said in a quiet aside to her
husband, “Has Meadows spoken?” He shook his head
rather gloomily and answered, “No, he has said nothing

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction
yet.’ I saw them exchange a glance of quiet sympathy
and mutual help, like people in trouble, who love one
another. They were old friends and my heart beat for them.
All through the dinner as Meadows-he was their butler—
poured out the wine with each course, I could feel that
some great trouble was impending over my friends. 14. Though rich,
After Mrs. Ashcroft-Fowler had risen and left us, and we the Ashcroft-
Fowlers were in
were alone over our port wine, I drew my chair near to
trouble. Why?
Fowler’s and I said, “My dear Fowler, I’m an old friend
and you’ll excuse me if I seem to be taking a liberty. But
I can see that you and your wife are in trouble.”
“Yes,” he said very sadly and quietly, “we are.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “Tell me—for it makes a thing easier
if one talks about it—is it anything about Meadows?”
“Yes,” he said. “It is about Meadows.”
There was silence
for a moment, but
I knew already
what Fowler was
going to say. I
could feel it coming.
“Meadows,” he said presently, constraining himself to
speak with as little emotion as possible, “is leaving us.”
“Poor old chap!” I said, taking his hand. 15. What made
“It’s hard, isn’t it?” he said. “Franklin left last winter—no Meadows leave
Ashcroft-
fault of ours; we did everything we could—and now Fowlers?
Meadows.” There was almost a sob in his voice.
“He hasn’t spoken definitely as yet,” Fowler went on, “but
we know there’s hardly any chance of his staying.”
“Does he give any reason?” I asked.
“Nothing specific,” said Fowler. “It’s just a sheer case of
incompatibility. Meadows doesn’t like us.”
He put his hand over his face and was silent.

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction
I left very quietly a little later, without going up to the 16. Why does the
drawing room. A few days afterwards I heard that author say that
the rich people
Meadows had gone. The Ashcroft-Fowlers, I am told, are
who get ruined
giving up in despair. They are going to take a little suite are fortunate?
of ten rooms and four baths in the Grand Palaver Hotel,
and rough it there for the winter.
Yet one must not draw a picture of the rich in colours
altogether gloomy. There are cases among them of genuine,
light-hearted happiness.
I have observed that this is especially the case among those
of the rich who have the good fortune to get ruined,
absolutely and completely ruined. They may do this on
the Stock Exchange or in a dozen other ways. The business
side of getting ruined is not difficult. Once the rich are
ruined, they are—as far as my observation goes—all right.
They can then have anything they want.
I saw this point illustrated again just recently. I was
walking with a friend of mine and a motor passed bearing
a neatly dressed young man, chatting gaily with a pretty
woman. My friend raised his hat and gave it a jaunty and
cheery swing in the air as if to wave goodwill and
happiness.
“Poor old Edward Overjoy!” he said, as the motor moved 17. Why can’t
Edward Overjoy
out of sight.
sell his motor?
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
“Hadn’t you heard?” said my friend. “He’s ruined—
absolutely cleaned out—not a cent left.”
“Dear me!” I said. “That’s awfully hard. I suppose he’ll have
to sell that beautiful motor?”
My friend shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said. “He’ll hardly
do that. I don’t think his wife would care to sell that.”
My friend was right. The Overjoys have not sold their
motor. Neither have they sold their magnificent sandstone
residence. They are too much attached to it, I believe, to
sell it. Some people thought they would have given up

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Are the Rich Happy? Non-fiction
their box at the opera. But it appears not. They are too
musical to care to do that. Meantime it is a matter of
general notoriety that the Overjoys are absolutely ruined;
in fact, they haven’t a single cent. You could buy 17. Even though
Overjoy—so I am informed—for ten dollars. Mr. Overjoy is
ruined, he wears
But I observe that he still wears a seal-lined coat worth an expensive coat.
at least five hundred. Why?

brutal : violent and cruel limousine : a large expensive

comfortable car
chauffeur : a person whose job is to
drive a car, especially a luxury vehicle outset : beginning
creek : a stream, a narrow channel perpetual : eternal
incompatible : in conflict with, so snugly : comfortably sheltered
different in nature turnip : a round white, or white and
janitor : caretaker purple, root vegetable

Understanding the Text

1. The essay opens with the statement, ‘Let me admit at the outset that I write this
essay without adequate material.’ Do you think that the writer should collect
enough material before attempting to write an essay? Why?
2. What is the theme of the essay? Is the theme relevant in the modern society?
Substantiate with suitable examples from the essay.
3. Mention some of the great silent tragedies enacted in the life of the rich? Do
you agree with the author's opinion? Comment.
Writing about the Text
1. Leacock’s essay focuses on the triviality of the twentieth century Canadian
society. Attempt an article on the artificialities of our society.
2. ‘English Snobbery’ by Aldous Huxley is an essay with a similar theme. Read the
essay and compare it with Are the Rich Happy and prepare a write-up.
References
Curry, Ralph L. Stephen Leacock, Humorist and Humanist. New York: Doubleday, 1959.
Mcmillan, Margaret. Stephen Leacock. Canada: Penguin group, 2012.

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The Story of English Non-fiction

T he Stor
Storyy of Eng lish - An Ov
English er
Over vie
ervie w
view

The study of the evolution of English is interesting to us

not only because it plays an important role in our
educational system and in our national life but also
because it is the most widely spoken language in the
1. Why did the
world. Even though English was introduced in India by British introduce
the British as a handy tool to smoothen their colonial English in India?
administration, it ultimately proved a useful aid in the
growth of nationalism, an instrument of political
awakening which culminated in our liberation from the
British yoke.
English has been for us, our window to the world right
from the beginning of the modern era. Our national
leaders drew inspiration from the writings of great
thinkers like Ruskin, Carlyle, Abraham Lincoln and others
who wrote in English. English served as a great unifying 2. How did
force in our struggle for independence. It was through English help the
this language that the leaders across our vast country growth of
could communicate and chalk out their common plan nationalism in
of action. India?

English has enriched Indian languages every now and

then. All Indian languages have freely borrowed words
from English and have coined words and phrases 3. Why is English
modelled on English thus enriching their vocabulary. The important in the
most noteworthy contribution of English languages is Indian context?

133
The Story of English Non-fiction
however, in the field of scientific advancement and
learning. English has been serving as a national link
language, an international link language and most
importantly as a library language. Even now, English acts
as a link language for the purpose of inter-state
correspondence and as the language of trade and
commerce between different parts of the country.
English can rightly be regarded as the key to a treasure-
house of knowledge. Everything happening in the world
of science and technology, arts, music and humanities
4. How does
gets documented in English. Hence to keep themselves English language
abreast of the latest developments in these fields, our youth help the youth?
will have to acquire a minimum functional knowledge
in English which is justified by the fact that more than
sixty percent of the world’s technical journals, newspapers
and periodicals are published in English.
Soon after gaining Independence, the role of English in
our education as well as in our national life came to be
scrutinised seriously. It became apparent that English
could not continue to occupy the privileged position it 5. According to
had been occupying under the British. There ensued a Radhakrishna
controversy over the status of English in the changed Commision, what
scenario and its reverberations are not yet over. However, will happen if we
the importance of English as a library language can best give up English?
be summed up in the words of the Radhakrishna
Commission: ‘English is a language which is rich in
literature- humanistic, scientific and technical. If under
sentimental urges we should give up English, we would
cut ourselves from the living stream of ever-growing
knowledge.’
As we have examined the scope of English language in
India, let us now have a quick glance about the evolution 6. Who were the
first inhabitants
of English language. The first inhabitants of the island of
of Britain and
Britain - the birth place of English - were the Celts. what was the
Languages like Welsh, Scots and Irish grew out of old language spoken
Celtic languages that the Celts spoke. It is interesting to by them?

134
The Story of English Non-fiction
note that although the Celts were the first people to inhabit
Britain, English is not derived from their language.
The Celts were conquered by the Romans under Julius
Caesar in 55 BC. The Romans wanted to exploit the land
rich in minerals. The Celts were either killed or enslaved
and the few surviving ones lived in the remote parts of
the land. The Romans established their customs and their 7. What
language, Latin, in the following five hundred years that happened to the
they ruled but they did not succeed in making the native Celts under the
population learn Latin. Roman rule?

The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes who were Germanic
tribes from the nearby regions now known as France and
Germany invaded Britain. These people known as the
Anglo Saxons fought against the Celts and successfully
defeated them. The Anglo Saxons were a kind of
agricultural people who farmed the land that they had
taken from the Celts. They domesticated the population
of the island and influenced their way of life considerably.
Their language was closely connected with their life
style and it is no wonder that their everyday words like:
‘earth’, ‘plough’, ‘field’, ‘work’, ‘wood’, ‘dog’, ‘ox’, ‘sheep’ 8. How was
and ‘shepherd’ later became part of the English language. English language
enriched by the
Some of the words which form the basic building
Anglo-Saxons?
blocks of English sentences such as: ‘the’, ‘is’, ‘you’, ‘here’
and ‘there’ are also taken from the language of the Anglo
Saxons. In short, it can be estimated that more than 80
percent of the words that we use in everyday speech came
from the Anglo Saxon language.
By about 600 AD England was christianised and the
conversion had far reaching linguistic consequences. The
missionaries brought Greek and Latin words like ‘angel’, 9. How did
‘disciple’, ‘apostle’, ‘litany’, ‘psalm’ and ‘mass’ with them christianising of
England
which have become part of the English language today.
influence the
Most of the ecclesiastical words in English are of Latin growth of English
origin. language?

135
The Story of English Non-fiction
The next invasion took place almost 200 years later in 10. What is the
AD. 793. The Vikings, known as Danes who came from significance of
Denmark invaded the island and nearly defeated the the Norman
Anglo Saxons. It was King Alfred the Great who defeated Conquest of 1066
AD?
them in a famous battle and thus saved English language
which might have otherwise disappeared. Over the next
200 years the Danes began to speak the language of the
people they have conquered and the words of Danish
origin like: ‘get’, ‘hit’, ‘root’, ‘low’ etc. have become part
of English. Then came the Norman Conquest of 1066 A.D.
The Normans who won the famous Battle of Hastings
brought with them French which was to become the
language of the Royal court. The French set the fashion in
the later Middle ages, as they do even now. However, Latin
was used in the law courts and the peasants and common
people continued to speak English. It is interesting to note
that the names of several animals while they are alive
11. Why did the
are in English [ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, boar, deer],
animals have
while they appear as delicacies on the table are with English names
French names [beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, brawn, while their meat
venison]. The masters generally left the care of the living had French
animals to the lower classes,while they did not leave names?
much of the meat to be eaten by them. The humbler
breakfast is an English word whereas the more sumptuous
meals, dinner and supper as well as feasts generally are
French words. On the whole, words related to the best
things in life: ‘joy’, ‘pleasure’, ‘delight’, ‘ease’ and ‘comfort’
were of French origin. In English, many words related to
arts and sports can be traced back to French.
All these clearly points to the fact that English language
has always welcomed intrusions of some other languages.
However, the invention of printing press by William 12. How did the
Caxton in 1476, the English translation of The Holy Bible invention of the
by Tyndale and Coverdale in 1526 and the Authorized printing press
help the
Version of the Bible brought out by James I in 1611 were evolution of
instrumental in shaping the Standard English language. English?
Moreover the contribution of writers such as Geoffrey

136
The Story of English Non-fiction
Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Dr Johnson
and many others have enriched English language. Besides
the American-Indian languages, Australian aboriginal
languages and the languages of Africa and India also
contributed a great deal of culture specific words to
English language.
Along with these changes, in the field of syntax and
grammar too there has been a constant tendency towards
simplification. Inflexions have disappeared, verb 13. What do you
conjugations have been levelled, and dialects have been think were the
replaced by many regional varieties of English. In course most influential
aspects in fixing
of time, many words have also undergone a change of
the standards for
meaning. English
Thus the English language - which had an obscure origin language?
- is now widely accepted as a global language and is the
lingua franca in most of the larger and highly developed 14. Name some
countries. English language, as we know it today is in a known writers
constant state of flux. This is partly due to the historical who have
peculiarities and foreign influences and partly due to the enriched the
influence of science and technology. Thousands of new English language.
words make their way into the language everyday.
Vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling and even
grammatical rules are all moving towards greater
15. What are the
flexibility and simplicity. Thus English is far ahead of
factors that
any competitor, for no other language is attaining as fast helped English in
a growth as English language does. becoming what it
is today?

Understanding the Text

1. English has become an indispensable language in India. Comment.
2. Why is English called the key to the treasure-house of knowledge?
3. How did the Norman conquest influence the growth of English?
4. English language has always welcomed intrusions from other languages.
Elucidate.

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The Story of English Non-fiction

Writing about the Text

1. Write notes on the following.
a. The introduction of English in India.
b. The influence of English on Indian languages.
c. English as a key to knowledge.
d. The status of English in post-independent India.
2. Based on the above notes prepare an article on the role of English in India to be
published in your school magazine.
3. Write an essay on the evolution of English into a global language.

References
Baruah, T. C. The English Teacher’s Handbook. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1988.
Groom, Bernard. A Short History of English Words. London: Macmillan, 1966.
Jesperson, Otto. Growth and Structure of the English Language. London: Penguin, 2012.
Prasad, Birjadish. A Background to the Study of English Literature. Delhi: Macmillan, 2013.

Know your Text

• Compare different forms of essays and prepare a write-up on their stylistic
features.
• Write an essay on a subject of your choice and publish in magazines or blogs.
• Prepare a travelogue of a journey that you have undertaken.
Let’s conclude
We have seen how non-fiction acts as a mirror in which we can find the reflection
of life as it is. It amuses but often jolts us into serious thinking about the
everyday concerns of life.

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Pygmalion Drama

Section - 4
Drama

139
Pygmalion Drama

Preface
Modern drama flourished from realistic and naturalistic traditions. The theatre
of Europe was deeply influenced by the two World Wars. The technical
innovations of the European theatre crept into the British drama only in the
latter half of the twentieth century. Till then the British theatre had been
preoccupied with addressing many of the contemporary social issues like class
distinctions, morality, family and marriage, the status of women etc. in a realistic
manner. This type of drama which drew its inspiration from social realism
was perfected by G B Shaw.

Lear ning Outcomes

Learning
The learner will be able to:
• understand major trends in modern drama.
• demonstrate an awareness of the Victorian society.
• form an idea about the structure and form of a five-act play.
• develop a positive attitude towards social issues like female emancipation
and class distinctions.
• compare different characters and their character traits.
• critically examine how language functions in different contexts.
• find the elements of social criticism and satire in a literary work.
• exhibit an insight into the changing nature of social values.

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Pygmalion Drama

Geor
Georgge Ber nar
nard
Bernar d Shaw (1856-1950)
Shaw
G B Shaw was a leading figure in the twentieth century theatre.
He was a free thinker, a defender of women's rights and an
advocate of social equality. He began his literary career by
writing musical reviews and criticism without much success.
A man of many causes, Shaw joined the Fabian Society in
1884 and stood for some radical social changes. He addressed
the prevailing social problems and moral issues with a vein of
comedy making these star themes more palpable. He was a
prolific writer who wrote more than sixty plays, essays, novels, short stories
and innumerable pieces of journalistic writing. His famous plays include The
Apple Cart, The Devil's Disciple, The Doctor's Dilemma and Saint Joan. The year
1912 saw the publication of what might be Shaw's most famous play Pygmalion
which shot into fame when it was adapted first into a Broadway musical
(1856) and later on the silver screen as My Fair Lady (1964). Shaw won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

Pygmalion
[Covent Garden at 11.15 p.m. Torrents The Daughter [in the space between
of heavy summer rain. Cab whistles the central pillars, close to the one on
blowing frantically in all directions. her left]: I’m getting chilled to the
Pedestrians running for shelter into the bone. What can Freddy be doing all
market and under the portico of St. this time? He’s been gone twenty
Paul’s Church, where there are already minutes.
several people, among them a lady and
The Mother [on her daughter’s right]:
her daughter in evening dress. They are
Not so long. But he ought to have got
all peering out gloomily at the rain,
us a cab by this time.
except one man with his back turned
to the rest, who seems wholly A Bystander [on the lady’s right]: He
preoccupied with a notebook in which won’t get no cab not until half-past
he is writing busily. eleven, missus, when they come back
after dropping their theatre fares.
The church clock strikes the first
quarter.] The Mother
Mother: But we must have a cab.
frantically: desperately peer: look with difficulty

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Pygmalion Drama
We can’t stand here until half-past Strandwards, but comes into collision
eleven. It’s too bad. with a flower girl, who is hurrying in
for shelter, knocking her basket out of
The Bystander
Bystander: Well, it ain’t my
her hands. A blinding flash of lightning,
fault, missus.
followed instantly by a rattling peal of
The Daughter
Daughter: If Freddy had a bit of thunder, orchestrates the incident.]
gumption, he would have got one at
The Flower Girl
Girl: Nah then, Freddy:
the theatre door.
look wh’ y’ gowin, deah.
The Mother
Mother: What could he have
Freddy : Sorry.
done, poor boy?
The Daughter
Daughter: Other people got [He rushes off.]
cabs. Why couldn’t he? The Flower Girl [ picking up her
[Freddy rushes in out of the rain from scattered flowers and replacing them
the Southampton Street side, and comes in the basket]: There’s menners f’ yer!
between them closing a dripping Te-oo banches o voylets trod into the
umbrella. He is a young man of twenty, mad. [She sits down on the plinth of
in evening dress, very wet around the the column, sorting her flowers, on the
ankles.] lady’s right. She is not at all an
attractive person. She is perhaps
The Daughter
Daughter: Well, haven’t you got eighteen, perhaps twenty, hardly older.
a cab? She wears a little sailor hat of black
Freddy
Freddy: There’s not one to be had for straw that has long been exposed to the
love or money. dust and soot of London and has seldom
if ever, been brushed. Her hair needs
The Mother
Mother: Oh, Freddy, there must washing rather badly, its mousy colour
be one. You can’t have tried. can hardly be natural. She wears a
The Daughter
Daughter: It’s too tiresome. Do shoddy black coat that reaches nearly
you expect us to go and get one to her knees and is shaped to her waist.
ourselves? She has a brown skirt with a coarse
apron. Her boots are much the worse
The Mother
Mother: You really are very for wear. She is no doubt as clean as
helpless, Freddy. Go again; and don’t she can afford to be; but compared to
come back until you have found a the ladies she is very dirty. Her features
cab. are no worse than theirs; but their
Freddy
Freddy: Oh, very well. I’ll go, I’ll go. condition leaves something to be
desired; and she needs the services of a
[He opens his umbrella and dashes off dentist.]
missus: lady gumption: cleverness plinth: footstall shoddy: cheap

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Pygmalion Drama
The Mother
Mother: How do you know that trying to deceive you? I called him
my son’s name is Freddy, pray? Freddy or Charlie same as you might
The Flower Girl
Girl: Ow, eez ye-ooa san, yourself if you was talking to a
is e? Wal, fewd dan y’ de-ooty bawmz stranger and wished to be pleasant.
a mather should, eed now bettern to [She sits down beside her basket.]
spawl a pore gel’s flahrzn than ran The Daughter
Daughter. Sixpence thrown
awy atbaht pyin. Will yeoo py me f away! Really, mamma, you might
’them? have spared Freddy that.
[Here, with apologies, this desperate [ She retreats in disgust behind the
attempt to represent her dialect pillar.]
without a phonetic alphabet must be
abandoned as unintelligible outside [An elderly gentleman of the amiable
London.] military type rushes into shelter, and
closes a dripping umbrella. He is in the
The Daughter
Daughter: Do nothing of the same plight as Freddy, very wet about
sort, mother. The idea! the ankles. He is in evening dress, with
The Mother
Mother: Please allow me, Clara. a light overcoat. He takes the place left
Have you any pennies? vacant by the daughter’s retirement.]
The Daughter
Daughter: No. I’ve nothing The Flower Girl [taking advantage
smaller than sixpence. of the military gentleman’s proximity
to establish friendly relations with
The Flower Girl [hopefully]: I can
him.]: If it’s worse it’s a sign it’s nearly
give you change for a tanner, kind
over. So cheer up, Captain; and buy a
lady.
flower off a poor girl.
The Mother [to Clara]: Give it to me.
The Gentleman
Gentleman: I’m sorry, I haven’t
[Clara parts reluctantly.] Now [to the
any change.
girl] This is for your flowers.
The Flower Girl: I can give you
The Flower Girl
Girl: Thank you kindly, change, Captain,
lady.
The Gentleman
Gentleman: For a sovereign? I’ve
The Mother
Mother: Now tell me how you nothing less.
know that young gentleman’s name.
The Flower Girl: Garn! Oh do buy
The Flower Girl
Girl: I didn’t. a flower off me, Captain. I can change
The Mother
Mother: I heard you call him by half-a-crown. Take this for tuppence.
it. Don’t try to deceive me. The Gentleman: Now don’t be
The Flower Girl [protesting]: Who’s troublesome, there’s a good girl.
tanner: six pence disgust: aversion amiable: friendly proximity: closeness

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Pygmalion Drama
[Trying his pockets] I really haven’t any The Note Taker [coming forward on
change - Stop, here’s three hapence, her right, the rest crowding after him]:
if that’s any use to you. There, there, there, there! Who’s
[He retreats to the other pillar.] hurting you, you silly girl? What do
you take me for?
The Flower Girl [disappointed, but
thinking three halfpence better than The Bystander
Bystander: It’s all right, he’s a
nothing]: Thank you, sir. gentleman, look at his boots.
[Explaining to the Note Taker] She
The Bystander [to the girl]: You be thought you was a copper’s nark, sir.
careful, give him a flower for it.
There’s a bloke here behind taking The Note Taker [with quick interest]:
down every blessed word you’re What’s a copper’s nark?
saying. The Bystander [inept at definition]:
[All turn to the man who is taking notes.] It’s a—well, it’s a copper’s nark, as
you might say. What else would you
The Flower Girl [ springing up call it? A sort of informer.
terrified]: I ain’t done nothing wrong
by speaking to the gentleman. I’ve a The Flower Girl [still hysterical]: I
right to sell flowers if I keep off the take my Bible oath I never said a
kerb. [Hysterically] I’m a respectable word—
girl, so help me, I never spoke to him The Note Taker [overbearing but
except to ask him to buy a flower off good-humoured] : Oh, shut up, shut up.
me. Do I look like a policeman?
[General hubbub, mostly sympathetic The Flower Girl [far from reassured]:
to the flower girl but deprecating her Then what did you take down my
excessive sensibility. What’s the row? words for? How do I know whether
What she do? Where is he? A tec taking you took me down right? You just
her down. What! him? Yes, him over show me what you’ve wrote about
there. Took money off the gentleman, me.
etc. The flower girl, distraught and
mobbed, breaks through them to the [The Note Taker opens his book and
gentleman, crying mildly.] holds it steadily under her nose, though
the pressure of the mob trying to read
Oh, sir, don’t let him charge me. You it over his shoulders would upset a
dunno what it means to me. They’ll weaker man.]
take away my character and drive
me on the streets for speaking to What’s that? That ain’t proper
gentlemen. They— writing. I can’t read that.
deprecating: belittling tupence: two pence distraught: distract

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Pygmalion Drama
The Note Taker: I can. [Reads, in; and I had to pay four-and-six a
reproducing her pronunciation exactly] week. [In tears] Oh, boo—hoo—oo—
“Cheer ap, Keptin; n’ haw ya flahr orf The Note Taker
Taker: Live where you like;
a pore gel.” but stop that noise.
The Flower Girl [much distressed]: The Flower Girl [ subsiding into a
It’s because I called him Captain. I brooding melancholy over her basket,
meant no harm. [To the gentleman] and talking very low-spiritedly to
Oh, sir, don’t let him lay a charge agen herself]: I’m a good girl, I am.
me for a word like that. You— The Sarcastic Bystander [ not
The Gentleman
Gentleman: Charge! I make no attending to her]: Do you know where
charge. [To the Note Taker] Really, sir, I come from?
if you are a detective, you need not The Note Taker [promptly]: Hoxton.
begin protecting me against [Titterings. Popular interest in the note
molestation by young women until I taker’s performance increases.]
ask you. Anybody could see that the
The Sarcastic One [amazed]: Well,
girl meant no harm. who said I didn’t? Bly me! You know
The Bystanders [ demonstrating everything, you do.
against police espionage: Course they The Flower Girl [ still nursing her
could. What business is it of yours? You sense of injury]: Ain't no call to meddle
mind your own affairs. He wants with me, he ain't.
promotion, he does. Taking down
The Bystander [to her]: Of course he
people’s words! Girl never said a word
ain't. Don't you stand it from him. [To
to him. What harm if she did? Nice
the Note Taker] See here: what call
thing a girl can’t shelter from the rain
have you to know about people what
without being insulted, etc.] never offered to meddle with you?
[ She is conducted by the more Where's your warrant?
sympathetic demonstrators back to her Several Bystanders [encouraged by
plinth, where she resumes her seat and this seeming point of law]: Yes: where's
struggles with her emotion.] your warrant?
The Note Taker [To the girl]: How The Flower Girl: Let him say what
do you come to be up so far east? You he likes. I don't want to have no truck
were born in Lisson Grove. with him.
The Flower Girl [appalled]: Oh, what The Sarcastic Bystander
Bystander: Yes: tell
harm is there in my leaving Lisson him where he come from if you want
Grove? It wasn’t fit for a pig to live to go fortune-telling.
espionage: spying meddle: interfere

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Pygmalion Drama
The Note Taker
Taker: Cheltenham, The Mother [advancing between her
Harrow, Cambridge, and India. daughter and the Note Taker]: How
The Gentleman
Gentleman: Quite right. very curious! I was brought up in
Largelady Park, near Epsom.
[Great laughter. Reaction in the note
The Note Taker [ uproariously
taker’s favour. Exclamations of He
amused]: Ha! ha! What a devil of a
knows all about it. Told him proper.
name! Excuse me. [To the daughter]
Hear him tell where he come from? etc.].
You want a cab, do you?
May I ask, sir, do you do this for your
The Daughter
Daughter: Don’t dare speak to
living at a music hall?
me.
The Note Taker
Taker: I’ve thought of that.
The Mother
Mother: Oh, please, please Clara.
Perhaps I shall some day.
[Her daughter repudiates her with an
[The rain has stopped; and the persons
angry shrug and retires haughtily.]
on the outside of the crowd begin to
drop off.] We should be so grateful to you, sir, if
you found us a cab. [The Note Taker
The Flower Girl [ resenting the produces a whistle.] Oh, thank you.
reaction]: He’s no gentleman, he ain’t,
to interfere with a poor girl. [She joins her daughter. The Note Taker
blows a piercing blast.]
The Daughter [ out of patience,
pushing her way rudely to the front and The Sarcastic Bystander
Bystander: I knowed
displacing the gentleman, who politely he was a plain-clothes copper.
retires to the other side of the pillar]: The Bystander
Bystander: That ain’t a police
What on earth is Freddy doing? I shall whistle: that’s a sporting whistle.
get pneumonia if I stay in this draught.
The Flower Girl [ still preoccupied
The Note Taker [to himself, hastily with her wounded feelings]: He’s no
making a note of her pronunciation of right to take away my character. My
“monia”]: Earlscourt. character is the same to me as any
The Daughter [violently]: Will you lady’s.
please keep your impertinent remarks The Note Taker: I don’t know
to yourself? whether you’ve noticed it; but the rain
The Note Taker
Taker: Did I say that out stopped about two minutes ago.
loud? I didn’t mean to. I beg your The Bystander: So it has. Why didn’t
pardon. Your mother’s Epsom, you say so before? We are losing our
unmistakably. time listening to your silliness.
impertinent: discourteous repudiate: refuse to obey

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Pygmalion Drama
[He walks off towards the Strand.] The Note Taker: Oh yes. Quite a fat
The Mother
Mother: It’s quite fine now, one. This is an age of upstarts. Men
Clara. We can walk to a motor bus. begin in Kentish Town with 80
Come. pounds a year, and end in Park Lane
with a hundred thousand. They want
[She gathers her skirts above her ankles to drop Kentish Town; but they give
and hurries off towards the Strand.] themselves away every time they open
The Daughter
Daughter: But the cab— [her their mouths. Now I can teach them—
mother is out of hearing]. Oh, how The Flower Girl
Girl: Let him mind his
tiresome! own business and leave a poor girl—
[She follows angrily.All the rest have The Note Taker: A woman who
gone except the note taker, the utters such depressing and disgusting
gentleman, and the flower girl, who sits sounds has no right to be anywhere—
arranging her basket, and still pitying no right to live. Remember that you
herself in murmurs.] are a human being with a soul and
The Flower Girl
Girl: Poor girl! Hard the divine gift of articulate speech,
enough for her to live without being that your native language is the
worrited and chivied. language of Shakespeare and Milton
and The Bible; and don’t sit there
The Gentleman [ returning to his crooning like a bilious pigeon.
former place on the Note Taker’s left]:
How do you do it, if I may ask? The Flower Girl [quite overwhelmed,
and looking up at him in mingled
The Note Taker
Taker: Simply phonetics. wonder and deprecation without
The science of speech, that’s my daring to raise her head]: Ah—ah—
profession; also my hobby. Happy is ah—ow—ow—oo!
the man who can make a living by
his hobby! You can spot an Irishman The Note Taker [whipping out his
or a Yorkshireman by his brogue. I book]: Heavens! What a sound!
can place any man within six miles. I [He writes; then holds out the book and
can place him within two miles in reads, reproducing her vowels exactly]
London. Sometimes within two Ah—ah—ah—ow—ow—ow—oo!
streets. The Flower Girl [ tickled by the
The Flower Girl
Girl: Ought to be performance, and laughing in spite of
ashamed of himself, unmanly herself]: Garn!
coward! The Note Taker: You see this
The Gentleman
Gentleman: But is there a living creature with her kerbstone English,
in that? the English that will keep her in the
brogue: dialect upstart: arrogant crooning: singing

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Pygmalion Drama
gutter to the end of her days. Well, sir, God, rebuking him for his Pharisaic
in three months I could pass that girl want of charity to the poor girl]: A
off as a duchess at an ambassador’s reminder.
garden party. I could even get her a [ He raises his hat solemnly; then
place as lady’s maid or shop assistant, throws a handful of money into the
which requires better English, basket and follows Pickering.]
The Gentleman
Gentleman: I am myself a The Flower Girl [picking up a half-
student of Indian dialects; and— crown]: Ah—ow—ooh!
The Note Taker [eagerly]: Are you? [Picking up a couple of florins.]
Do you know Colonel Pickering, the
Aaah—ow—ooh! [Picking up several
author of Spoken Sanskrit? coins.] Aaaaaah—ow—ooh!
The Gentleman: I am Colonel [Picking up a half sovereign]
Pickering. Who are you?
Freddy [springing out of a taxicab]:
The Note Taker: Henry Higgins, Got one at last. Hallo! [To the girl]
author of Higgins’s Universal Where are the two ladies that were
Alphabet. here?
Pickering [with enthusiasm]: I came The Flower Girl: They walked to the
from India to meet you. bus when the rain stopped. Never you
Higgins: I was going to India to meet mind, young man. I’m going home in
you. a taxi.
Pickering : Where do you live? [She sails off to the cab. The driver puts
his hand behind him and holds the door
Higgins : 27A Wimpole Street. Come firmly shut against her. Quite
and see me tomorrow. understanding his mistrust, she shows
Pickering : I’m at the Carlton. Come him her handful of money.]
with me now and let’s have a jaw over Eight pence ain’t no object to me,
some supper. Charlie.
Higgins : Right you are. [He grins and opens the door.]
The Flower Girl [rising in desperation Angel Court, Drury Lane, round the
flinging the basket at his feet]: Take the corner of Micklejohn’s oil shop. Let’s
whole basket for six pence. see how fast you can make her hop it.
[The church clock strikes the second [She gets in and pulls the door to with
quarter.] a slam as the taxicab starts.]
Higgins [hearing in it the voice of Freddy : Well, I’m dashed!

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Pygmalion Drama
1. What is the dramatic purpose of the sudden summer rain? How does it help to
introduce the main characters of the play?
2. Why does the attitude of the crowd change dramatically?
3. What impression do you form of the Flower Girl?
4. Where does the Note Taker live?
5. Why does the Note Taker think that a woman who utters such depressing and
disgusting sounds has no right to live?
6. Who is a Copper’s nark?
7. How does the Note Taker manage to tell people the places of their orgin?
8. Who is the author of Spoken Sanskrit?
9. What is the name of the book written by Higgins?
10. ‘Cheer ap, Keptin; n’ haw ya flahr orf a pore gel.’ How would you transform
this sentence to Standard English?

ACT II
[ Next day at 11 a.m. Higgins’s section the vocal organs, and a box
laboratory in Wimpole Street. It is a containing a supply of wax cylinders
room on the first floor, looking on the for the phonograph. Pickering is seated
street, and was meant for the drawing- at the table, putting down some cards
room. The double doors are in the and a tuning-fork which he has been
middle of the back hall; and persons using. Higgins is standing up near him,
entering find in the corner to their right closing two or three file drawers which
two tall file cabinets at right angles to are hanging out. He appears in the
one another against the walls. In this morning light as a robust, vital,
corner stands a flat writing-table, on appetizing sort of man of forty or
which are a phonograph, a thereabouts, dressed in a professional-
laryngoscope, a row of tiny organ pipes looking black frock coat with a white
with a bellows, a set of lamp chimneys linen collar and black silk tie. He is of
for singing flames with burners the energetic, scientific type, heartily,
attached to a gas plug in the wall by even violently interested in everything
an India rubber tube, several tuning that can be studied as a scientific
forks of different sizes, a life-size image subject, and careless about himself and
of half a human head, showing in other people, including their feelings.]

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins [as he shuts the last drawer]: I’ll show you how I make records.
Well, I think that’s the whole show. We’ll set her talking; and I’ll take it
Pickering: It’s really amazing. I down first in Bell’s Visible Speech;
haven’t taken half of it in, you know. then in broad Romic; and then we’ll
get her on the phonograph so that you
Higgins: Would you like to go over can turn her on as often as you like
any of it again? with the written transcript before you.
Pickering
Pickering: Yes. It’s a fearful strain. I Mrs. Pearce [returning]: This is the
rather fancied myself because I can young woman, sir.
pronounce twenty-four distinct
vowel sounds; but your hundred and [The flower girl enters in state. She has
thirty beat me. I can’t hear a bit of a hat with three ostrich feathers,
difference between most of them. orange, sky-blue, and red. She has a
nearly clean apron, and the shoddy
Higgins [chuckling, and going over coat has been tidied a little.]
to the piano to eat sweets]: Oh, that
comes with practice. You hear no Higgins [brusquely, recognizing her
difference at first; but you keep on with unconcealed disappointment, and
listening, and presently you find at once, baby-like, making an
they’re all as different as A from B. intolerable grievance of it] : Why, this
is the girl I jotted down last night.
[Mrs. Pearce looks in. She is Higgins’s
She’s no use. I’ve got all the records I
housekeeper]
want of the Lisson Grove lingo; and
What’s the matter? I’m not going to waste another
Mrs. Pearce [hesitating ]: A young cylinder on it. [To the girl] Be off with
woman wants to see you, sir. you. I don’t want you.
Higgins: A young woman! What The Flower Girl
Girl: Don’t you be so
does she want? Let’s have her up. Show saucy. You ain’t heard what I come
her up, Mrs. Pearce. for yet.
[He rushes across to his working table [To Mrs. Pearce, who is waiting at the
and picks out a cylinder to use on the door for further instruction.]
phonograph.] Did you tell him I come in a taxi?
Mrs. Pearce [only half resigned to it]: Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Nonsense, girl! what do
Very well, sir. It’s for you to say. you think a gentleman like Mr.
[She goes downstairs.] Higgins cares what you came in?
Higgins : This is rather a bit of luck. The Flower Girl
Girl:Well, if you was a
chuckle: laugh phonograph: gramaphone brusquely: abruptly

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Pygmalion Drama
gentleman, you might ask me to sit [She places the stray chair near the
down, I think. Don’t I tell you I’m hearthrug between Higgins and
bringing you business? Pickering, and stands behind it waiting
for the girl to sit down.]
Pickering [gently]: What is it you
want, my girl? The Flower Girl
Girl: Ah—ah—ah—
ow—ow—oo!
The Flower Girl
Girl: I want to be a lady
in a flower shop at the corner of [ She stands, half rebellious, half
Tottenham Court Road. But they won’t bewildered.]
take me unless I can talk more genteel. Pickering [very courteous] : Won’t
He said he could teach me. Well, here you sit down?
I am ready to pay him—not asking
Liza [coyly]: Don’t mind if I do.
any favour—and he treats me as if I
was dirt. [She sits down. Pickering returns to the
hearthrug.]
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: How can you be such a
foolish ignorant girl as to think you Higgins
Higgins: What’s your name?
could afford to pay Mr. Higgins? The Flower Girl
Girl: Liza Doolittle.
The Flower Girl
Girl: Why shouldn’t I? I Higgins
Higgins: How much do you propose
know what lessons cost as well as you to pay me for the lessons?
do; and I’m ready to pay.
Liza
Liza: Oh, I know what’s right. A lady
Higgins: How much? friend of mine gets French lessons for
The Flower Girl [coming back to him, eighteen pence an hour from a real
triumphant]: Now you’re talking! I French gentleman. Well, you
thought you’d come off it when you wouldn’t have the face to ask me the
saw a chance of getting back a bit of same for teaching me my own
what you chucked at me last night. language as you would for French; so
[Confidentially] You’d had a drop in, I won’t give more than a shilling.
hadn’t you? Take it or leave it.

Higgins [peremptorily]: Sit down. Higgins [walking up and down the

room, rattling his keys and his cash in
The Flower Girl
Girl: Oh, if you’re going his pockets] You know, Pickering, if
to make a compliment of it— you consider a shilling, not as a simple
Higgins [thundering at her]: Sit down. shilling, but as a percentage of this
girl’s income, it works out as fully
Mrs. Pearce [severely]: Sit down, equivalent to sixty or seventy guineas
girl. Do as you’re told. from a millionaire.

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Pygmalion Drama
Pickering: How so? party? I’ll say you’re the greatest
Higgins: Figure it out. A millionaire teacher alive if you make that good.
has about 150 pounds a day. She earns I’ll bet you all the expenses of the
about half-a-crown. experiment you can’t do it. And I’ll
pay for the lessons.
Liza [ haughtily ] : Who told you I
only— Liza
Liza: Oh, you are real good. Thank
you, Captain.
Higgins [continuing] : She offers me
two-fifths of her day’s income for a Higgins [tempted, looking at her]: It’s
lesson. Two-fifths of a millionaire’s almost irresistible. She’s so deliciously
income for a day would be low—so horribly dirty—
somewhere about 60 pounds. It’s Liza [protesting extremely]: Ah—ah—
handsome. By George, it’s enormous! ah—ah—ow—ow— oooo!!! I ain’t
it’s the biggest offer I ever had. dirty: I washed my face and hands
Liza [terrified]: Sixty pounds! What afore I come, I did.
are you talking about? I never offered Pickering: You’re certainly not
you sixty pounds. Where would I going to turn her head with flattery,
get— Higgins.
Higgins
Higgins: Hold your tongue. Mrs. Pearce [uneasy]: Oh, don’t say
Liza [weeping]: But I ain’t got sixty that, sir, there’s more ways than one
pounds. Oh— of turning a girl’s head; and nobody
Higgins
Higgins: Here! can do it better than Mr. Higgins,
though he may not always mean it. I
[He offers her his silk handkerchief.] do hope, sir, you won’t encourage
Liza
Liza: What’s this for? anything foolish.
Higgins: To wipe your eyes. To wipe Higgins [excited as the idea grows on
any part of your face that feels moist. him]: What is life but a series of
Remember: that’s your handkerchief; inspired follies? The difficulty is to
and that’s your sleeve. Don’t mistake find them to do. Never lose a chance.
the one for the other if you wish to I shall make a duchess of this draggle
become a lady in a shop. tailed gutter snipe.
[ Liza, utterly bewildered, stares Liza [strongly deprecating this view of
helplessly at him.] her]: Ah—ah—ah— ow—ow—oo!
Pickering: Higgins: I’m interested. Higgins [carried away] : Yes: in six
What about the ambassador’s garden months—in three if she has a good ear
draggle tailed gutter snipe: a dirty woman who lives in the streets

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Pygmalion Drama
and a quick tongue—I’ll take her my dear Pickering, I never had the
anywhere and pass her off as slightest intention of walking over
anything. We’ll start today, now! This anyone. All I propose is that we should
moment! Take her away and clean be kind to this poor girl. We must
her, Mrs. Pearce. Is there a good fire help her to prepare and fit herself for
in the kitchen? her new station in life. If I did not
Mrs. Pearce [protesting]: Yes; but— express myself clearly it was because
I did not wish to hurt her delicacy, or
Higgins [storming on]: Take all her yours.
clothes off and burn them. Ring up
Whiteley for new ones. Wrap her up [Liza, reassured, steals back to her chair.]
in brown paper till they come. Mrs. Pearce [to Pickering]: Well, did
Liza
Liza: You’re no gentleman, you’re not, you ever hear anything like that, sir?
to talk of such things. I’m a good girl, Pickering [laughing heartily]: Never,
I am; and I know what the like of you Mrs. Pearce, never.
are, I do.
Higgins [ patiently ] : What’s the
Higgins
Higgins: We want none of your matter?
Lisson Grove prudery here, young
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Well, the matter is, sir,
woman. You’ve got to learn to behave
that you can’t take a girl up like that
like a duchess. Take her away, Mrs.
as if you were picking up a pebble on
Pearce. If she gives you any trouble
the beach.
wallop her.
Higgins: Why not?
Liza
Liza: Ah—ah—ah—ow—ow—oo!
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Why not! But you don’t
Pickering: Oh come, Higgins! be
know anything about her. What about
reasonable.
her parents? She may be married.
Mrs. Pearce [resolutely]: You must be
Liza
Liza: Garn!
reasonable, Mr. Higgins, really you
must. You can’t walk over everybody Higgins
Higgins: There! As the girl very
like this. properly says, Garn! Married indeed!
[Higgins, thus scolded, subsides. The
Don’t you know that a woman of that
hurricane is succeeded by a zephyr of
class looks a worn out drudge of fifty
amiable surprise.] a year after she’s married.

Higgins [ with professional Liza: Who’d marry me?

exquisiteness of modulation]: I walk Higgins [ suddenly resorting to the
over everybody! My dear Mrs. Pearce, most thrillingly beautiful low tones in
prudery: modesty wallop: heavy blow zephyr: a soft gentle breeze

153
Pygmalion Drama
his best elocutionary style]: By George, won’t allow it. It’s you that are wicked.
Eliza, the streets will be strewn with Go home to your parents, girl; and tell
the bodies of men shooting themselves them to take better care of you.
for your sake before I’ve done with Liza
Liza: I ain’t got no parents. They told
you. me I was big enough to earn my own
Mrs. Pearce: Nonsense, sir. You living and turned me out.
mustn’t talk like that to her. Mrs. Pearce: But what’s to become
Liza [ rising and squaring herself of her? Is she to be paid anything? Do
determinedly] : I’m going away. He’s be sensible, sir.
off his chump, he is. I don’t want no Higgins: Oh, pay her whatever is
balmies teaching me. necessary, put it down in the
Higgins [wounded by her insensibility housekeeping book. [ Impatiently]
to his elocution]: Oh, indeed! I’m mad, What on earth will she want with
am I? Very well, Mrs. Pearce, you money? She’ll have her food and her
needn’t order the new clothes for her. clothes.
Throw her out. Pickering [ in good-humoured
Liza [whimpering]: Nah—ow. You remonstrance]: Does it occur to you,
got no right to touch me. Higgins, that the girl has some
Mrs. Pearce: You see now what feelings?
comes of being saucy. [Indicating the Higgins [looking critically at her]: Oh
door] This way, please. no, I don’t think so. Not any feelings
Liza [almost in tears]: I didn’t want that we need bother about. [Cheerily]
no clothes. I wouldn’t have taken them. Have you, Eliza?

[She throws away the handkerchief.] Liza

Liza: I got my feelings same as anyone
else.
I can buy my own clothes.
Higgins [to Pickering, reflectively ]:
Higgins [ deftly retrieving the You see the difficulty?
handkerchief and intercepting her on
her reluctant way to the door]: You’re Pickering
Pickering: Eh? What difficulty?
an ungrateful wicked girl. This is my Higgins: To get her to talk grammar.
return for offering to take you out of The mere pronunciation is easy
the gutter and dress you beautifully enough.
and make a lady of you. Liza
Liza: I don’t want to talk grammar. I
Mrs. Pearce: Stop, Mr. Higgins. I want to talk like a lady.
whimper: sobbing, crying remonstrance: protest

154
Pygmalion Drama
Mrs. Pearce: Will you please keep You shall have boxes of them, barrels
to the point, Mr. Higgins. I want to of them, every day. You shall live on
know on what terms the girl is to be them. Eh?
here. Is she to have any wages? And Liza [ who has disposed of the
what is to become of her when you’ve chocolate after being nearly choked by
finished your teaching? You must it]: I wouldn’t have ate it, only I’m too
look ahead a little. ladylike to take it out of my mouth.
Higgins: Well, when I’ve done with Higgins
Higgins: Listen, Eliza. I think you said
her, we can throw her back into the you came in a taxi.
gutter; and then it will be her own
business again; so that’s all right. Liza
Liza: Well, what if I did? I’ve as good
a right to take a taxi as anyone else.
Liza
Liza: Oh, you’ve no feeling heart in
you: you don’t care for nothing but Higgins
Higgins: You have, Eliza; and in
yourself. future you shall have as many taxis
as you want. Think of chocolates, and
[She rises and takes the floor resolutely.] taxis, and gold, and diamonds.
Here! I’ve had enough of this. I’m Liza
Liza: No. I don’t want no gold and no
going [making for the door.] You ought diamonds. I’m a good girl, I am.
to be ashamed of yourself, you ought.
[She sits down again, with an attempt
Higgins [snatching a chocolate cream at dignity.]
from the piano, his eyes suddenly
beginning to twinkle with mischief]: Higgins
Higgins: You shall remain so, Eliza,
Have some chocolates, Eliza. under the care of Mrs. Pearce. And
you shall marry an officer in the
Liza [ halting, tempted ] : How do I Guards, with a beautiful moustache,
know what might be in them? I’ve the son of a marquis, who will
heard of girls being drugged by the disinherit him for marrying you, but
like of you. will relent when he sees your beauty
[Higgins whips out his penknife; cuts a and goodness—
chocolate in two; puts one half into his Pickering
Pickering: Excuse me, Higgins; but
mouth and bolts it; and offers her the I really must interfere. Mrs. Pearce is
other half.] quite right. If this girl is to put herself
Higgins
Higgins: Pledge of good faith, Eliza. in your hands for six months for an
I eat one half you eat the other. experiment in teaching, she must
[Liza opens her mouth to retort, he pops understand thoroughly what she’s
the half chocolate into it.] doing.

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins [To Eliza] : At the end of six question, Higgins. Are you a man of
months you shall go to Buckingham good character where women are
Palace in a carriage, beautifully concerned?
dressed. If the King finds out you’re Higgins [moodily]: Have you ever met
not a lady, you will be taken by the a man of good character where
police to the Tower of London, where women are concerned?
your head will be cut off as a warning
to other presumptuous flower girls. If Pickering
Pickering: Yes, very frequently.
you are not found out, you shall have Higgins [dogmatically, lifting himself
a present of seven-and-sixpence to on his hands and sitting on piano with
start life with as a lady in a shop. If a bounce]: Well, I haven’t. I find that
you refuse this offer you will be a most the moment I let myself make friends
ungrateful and wicked girl; and the with a woman, I become selfish and
angels will weep for you. [ To tyrannical. Women upset everything.
Pickering ] Now are you satisfied, You find that the woman is driving
Pickering? [To Mrs. Pearce] Can I put at one thing and you’re driving at
it more plainly and fairly, Mrs. another.
Pearce? Pickering [rising and standing over
Mrs. Pearce [patiently]: I think you’d him gravely]: Come, Higgins! You
better let me speak to the girl properly know what I mean. If I’m to be in this
in private. I don’t know that I can take business I shall feel responsible for
charge of her or consent to the that girl. I hope it’s understood that
arrangement at all. Of course I know no advantage is to be taken of her
you don’t mean her any harm; but position.
when you get what you call interested Higgins
Higgins: What! That thing! Sacred, I
in people’s accents, you never think assure you. [Rising to explain] You see,
or care what may happen to them or she’ll be a pupil; and teaching would
you. Come with me, Eliza. be impossible unless pupils were
Higgins
Higgins: That’s all right. Thank you, sacred. They might as well be blocks
Mrs. Pearce. Bundle her off to the of wood. I might as well be a block of
wood. It’s—
bath-room.
[Mrs. Pearce opens the door. She has
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Come with me.
Eliza’s hat in her hand. Pickering retires
[She leads the way to the door, and to the chair at the hearth and sits down.]
holds it open for Eliza.]
Higgins [eagerly]: Well, Mrs. Pearce,
Pickering : Excuse the straight is it all right?
dogmatical: assertively tyrannical: oppressive, autocratic

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Pygmalion Drama
Mrs. Pearce [at the door]: I wish to [She looks at him steadfastly. He adds,
trouble you with a word Mr. Higgins. hiding an uneasy conscience with a
judicial air.]
Higgins: Yes, certainly. Come in. [She
comes forward.] Don’t burn that, Mrs. Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Only this morning, sir,
Pearce. I’ll keep it as a curiosity. [He you applied it to your boots, to the
butter, and to the brown bread.
takes the hat.]
Higgins
Higgins: Oh, that! Mere alliteration,
Mrs. Pearce: Handle it carefully, sir, Mrs. Pearce, natural to a poet.
please. I had to promise her not to
burn it; but I had better put it in the Pearce: Well, sir, whatever you
Mrs. Pearce
oven for a while. choose to call it, I beg you not to let
the girl hear you repeat it.
Higgins [putting it down hastily on
Higgins: Oh, very well, very well. Is
Higgins
the piano]: Oh! Thank you. Well, what that all?
have you to say to me?
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: No, sir. We shall have
Pickering: Am I in the way? to be very particular with this girl as
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Not at all, sir. You’re to personal cleanliness.
not at all particular when you’ve Higgins: Certainly. Quite right. Most
Higgins
mislaid anything or when you get a important.
little impatient. Now it doesn’t matter Pearce: I mean not to be slovenly
Mrs. Pearce
before me: I’m used to it. But you about her dress or untidy in leaving
really must not swear before the girl. things about.
Higgins [indignantly]: I swear! [Most Higgins: Not at all, not at all. You’re
Higgins
emphatically] I never swear. quite right, Mrs. Pearce, I shall be
particularly careful before the girl. Is
Mrs. Pearce [not to be put off]: —but
that all?
there is a certain word I must ask you
not to use. The girl has just used it Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: No, sir. Might she use
herself because the bath was too hot. some of those Japanese dresses you
brought from abroad? I really can’t
It begins with the same letter as bath.
put her back into her old things.
She knows no better, she learnt it at
her mother’s knee. But she must not Higgins: Certainly. Anything you
Higgins
hear it from your lips. like. Is that all?
Higgins [loftily ] : I cannot charge Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Thank you, sir. That’s
all.
myself with having ever uttered it,
Mrs. Pearce. [She goes out.]
indignantly: angrily slovenly: untidy and dirty alliteration: a figure of speech

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins
Higgins: You know, Pickering, that of the two gentlemen is his man ] :
woman has the most extraordinary Professor Higgins?
ideas about me. Here I am, a shy, Higgins
Higgins: Here. Good morning. Sit
diffident sort of man. I’ve never been down.
able to feel really grown-up and
tremendous, like other chaps. And yet Doolittle: Morning, Governor. [He
she’s firmly persuaded that I’m an sits down magisterially.] I come about
arbitrary overbearing bossing kind of a very serious matter, Governor.
person. I can’t account for it. Higgins [to Pickering]: Brought up in
[Mrs. Pearce returns.] Hounslow. Mother Welsh, I should
think.
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: If you please, sir, the
trouble’s beginning already. There’s [Doolittle opens his mouth, amazed.
a dustman downstairs, Alfred Higgins continues] What do you want,
Doolittle, wants to see you. He says you Doolittle?
have his daughter here. Doolittle [menacingly]: I want my
Pickering [rising]: Phew! I say! daughter, that’s what I want. See?
[He retreats to the hearthrug.] Higgins
Higgins: Of course you do. You’re her
father, aren’t you? You don’t suppose
Higgins [ promptly ] : Send the anyone else wants her, do you? I’m
blackguard up. glad to see you have some spark of
Mrs. Pearce: Oh, very well, sir. family feeling left. She’s upstairs. Take
[She goes out. She admits Doolittle and her away at once. Then how did you
retires. Alfred Doolittle is an elderly but know she was here?
vigorous dustman, clad in the costume Doolittle [ most musical, most
of his profession, including a hat with melancholy]: I’ll tell you, Governor, if
a back brim covering his neck and you’ll only let me get a word in. I’m
shoulders. He has well marked and willing to tell you. I’m wanting to tell
rather interesting features, and seems you. I’m waiting to tell you.
equally free from fear and conscience. Higgins: Pickering, this chap has a
He has a remarkably expressive voice, certain natural gift of rhetoric.
the result of a habit of giving vent to Observe the rhythm of his native
his feelings without reserve. His present woodnotes wild. ‘I’m willing to tell
pose is that of wounded honour and you: I’m wanting to tell you: I’m
stern resolution.] waiting to tell you.’ Sentimental
Higgins [at the door, uncertain which rhetoric! That’s the Welsh strain in
arbitrary: domineering resolution: determination menancingly: with evil intention

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Pygmalion Drama
him. It also accounts for his Mrs. Pearce: He can’t take her away,
mendacity and dishonesty. Mr. Higgins, how can he? You told
Pickering: Oh, Please, Higgins: I’m
Pickering me to burn her clothes.
west country myself. [To Doolittle] Doolittle
Doolittle: That’s right. I can’t carry
How did you know the girl was here the girl through the streets like a
if you didn’t send her? blooming monkey, can I? I put it to
Doolittle
Doolittle: It was like this, Governor. you.
The girl took a boy in the taxi to give Higgins
Higgins: You have put it to me that
him a jaunt. Son of her landlady, he you want your daughter. Take your
is. He hung about on the chance of her
daughter. If she has no clothes go out
giving him another ride home. Well,
and buy her some.
she sent him back for her luggage
when she heard you was willing for Doolittle [ desperate ] :Where’s the
her to stop here. I met the boy at the clothes she come in? Did I burn them
corner of Long Acre and Endell Street. or did your missus here?
Higgins: So you came to rescue her Mrs. Pearce: I am the housekeeper,
from worse than death, eh? if you please. I have sent for some
Doolittle [appreciatively relieved at clothes for your girl. When they come
being understood]: Just so, Governor. you can take her away. You can wait
That’s right. in the kitchen. This way, please.
Pickering
Pickering: But why did you bring [Doolittle, much troubled, accompanies
her luggage if you intended to take her to the door; then hesitates; finally
her away? turns confidentially to Higgins.]
Doolittle: Have I said a word about Doolittle
Doolittle: Listen here, Governor. You
taking her away? Have I now? and me is men of the world, ain’t we?
[Mrs. Pearce opens the door and awaits Higgins: Oh! Men of the world, are
orders.] we? You’d better go, Mrs. Pearce.
Higgins
Higgins: Mrs. Pearce, this is Eliza’s Mrs. Pearce: I think so, indeed, sir.
father. He has come to take her away.
Give her to him. [She goes, with dignity.]
[He goes back to the piano, with an air Pickering: The floor is yours, Mr.
of washing his hands off the whole Doolittle.
affair.] Doolittle [to Pickering]: I thank you,
Doolittle
Doolittle: No. This is a Governor. [ To Higgins, who takes
misunderstanding. Listen here— refuge on the piano bench, a little
mendacity: falsehood jaunt: trip

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Pygmalion Drama
overwhelmed by the proximity of his you was as poor as me. Not that I mean
visitor; for Doolittle has a professional any harm, you know. But if Liza is
flavour of dust about him.] going to have a bit out of this, why
Well, the truth is, I’ve taken a sort of not me too?
fancy to you, Governor; and if you Higgins [troubled]: I don’t know
want the girl, I’m not so set on having what to do, Pickering. There can be
her back home again but what I might no question that as a matter of morals
be open to an arrangement. Regarded
it’s a positive crime to give this chap
in the light of a young woman, she’s a
fine handsome girl. As a daughter a farthing. And yet I feel a sort of rough
she’s not worth her keep; and so I tell justice in his claim.
you straight. All I ask is my rights as Higgins
Higgins: I suppose we must give him
a father; and you’re the last man alive a fiver.
to expect me to let her go for nothing;
for I can see you’re one of the straight Pickering
Pickering: He’ll make a bad use of
sort, Governor. Well, what’s a five it, I’m afraid.
pound note to you? And what’s Eliza Doolittle
Doolittle: Not me, Governor, so help
to me? me I won’t. Don’t you be afraid that
[He returns to his chair and sits down I’ll save it and spare it and live idle
judicially.] on it. There won’t be a penny of it left
Pickering: I think you ought to by Monday: I’ll have to go to work
know, Doolittle, that Mr. Higgins’ same as if I’d never had it.
intentions are entirely honourable. Higgins
Higgins: Pickering: if we listen to this
Doolittle
Doolittle: Course they are, Governor. man another minute, we shall have no
If I thought they wasn’t, I’d ask fifty. convictions left. [To Doolittle] Five
pounds I think you said.
Higgins [revolted]: Do you mean to
say, you callous rascal, that you would Doolittle
Doolittle: Thank you kindly, Governor.
sell your daughter for 50 pounds? Higgins : You’re sure you won’t take
Doolittle
Doolittle: Not in a general way I ten?
wouldn’t; but to oblige a gentleman
Doolittle
Doolittle: Not now. Another time,
like you I’d do a good deal, I do assure
you. Governor.
Pickering
Pickering: Have you no morals, Higgins [handing him a five-pound
man? note]: Here you are.
Doolittle [unabashed]: Can’t afford Doolittle: Thank you, Governor.
them, Governor. Neither could you if Good morning.

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Pygmalion Drama
[He hurries to the door, anxious to get Doolittle [with fatherly pride]: Well,
away with his booty. When he opens it I never thought she’d clean up as good
he is confronted with a dainty and looking as that, Governor. She’s a
exquisitely clean young Japanese lady credit to me, ain’t she?
in a simple blue cotton kimono printed
Liza
Liza: I tell you, it’s easy to clean up
cunningly with small white jasmine
here. Hot and coldwater on tap, just
blossoms. Mrs. Pearce is with her. He
as much as you like, there is. Soft
gets out of her way deferentially and
brushes to scrub yourself, and a
apologizes.] Beg pardon, miss.
wooden bowl of soap smelling like
The Japanese Lady
Lady: Garn! Don’t you primroses. Now I know why ladies is
know your own daughter? so clean. Washing’s a treat for them.
[Exclaiming simultaneously.] Wish they saw what it is for the like
of me!
Doolittle
Doolittle: Bly me! it’s Eliza!
Higgins: I’m glad the bath-room met
Higgins
Higgins: What’s that! This! with your approval.
Pickering
Pickering: By Jove! Liza
Liza: It didn’t, not all of it; and I don’t
Liza
Liza: Don’t I look silly? care who hears me say it. Mrs. Pearce
Higgins: Silly? knows.
Mrs. Pearce [at the door]: Now, Mr. Higgins: What was wrong, Mrs.
Higgins, please don’t say anything to Pearce?
make the girl conceited about herself. Mrs. Pearce [blandly]: Oh, nothing,
Higgins [conscientiously]: Oh! Quite sir. It doesn’t matter.
right, Mrs. Pearce. [To Eliza] Yes: Liza
Liza: I had a good mind to break it. I
damned silly. didn’t know which way to look. But I
Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Please, sir. hung a towel over it, I did.
Higgins [correcting himself]: I mean Higgins
Higgins: Over what?
extremely silly. Mrs. Pearce
Pearce: Over the looking-glass,
Liza
Liza: I should look all right with my sir.
hat on. Higgins : Doolittle, you have brought
[She takes up her hat; puts it on; and your daughter up too strictly.
walks across the room to the fireplace Doolittle: Me! I never brought her
with a fashionable air.] up at all, except to give her a lick of a
Higgins: A new fashion, by George! strap now and again. Don’t put it on
And it ought to look horrible! me, Governor. She ain’t accustomed
dainty: charming deferentially: respectfully

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to it, you see, that’s all. But she’ll soon put the girls in their place a bit. I
pick up your free-and-easy ways. wouldn’t speak to them, you know.
Afternoon, gentlemen. Afternoon, Pickering
Pickering: Better wait till we get you
ma’am. something really fashionable.
[He takes off his hat to Mrs. Pearce, who Higgins
Higgins: Besides, you shouldn’t cut
disdains the salutation and goes out. He your old friends now that you have
winks at Higgins, thinking him risen in the world. That’s what we call
probably a fellow sufferer from Mrs. snobbery.
Pearce’s difficult disposition, and follows
her.] Liza
Liza: You don’t call the like of them
my friends now, I should hope.
Liza
Liza: Don’t you believe the old liar. They’ve took it out of me often enough
He’d as soon you set a bull-dog on with their ridicule when they had the
him as a clergyman. You won’t see chance; and now I mean to get a bit
him again in a hurry. of my own back. But if I’m to have
Higgins
Higgins: I don’t want to, Eliza. Do fashionable clothes, I’ll wait. I should
you? like to have some. Mrs. Pearce says
you’re going to give me some to wear
Liza : Not me. I don’t want never to in bed at night different to what I wear
see him again, I don’t. He’s a disgrace in the daytime; but it do seem a waste
to me, he is, collecting dust, instead of of money when you could get
working at his trade. something to show. Besides, I never
Pickering
Pickering: What is his trade, Eliza? could fancy changing into cold things
on a winter night.
Liza
Liza: Talking money out of other
people’s pockets into his own. His Mrs. Pearce [ coming back] : Now,
proper trade’s a navvy; and he works Eliza. The new things have come for
at it sometimes too—for exercise— you to try on.
and earns good money at it. Ain’t you Liza
Liza: Ah—ow—oo—ooh! [She rushes
going to call me Miss Doolittle any out].
more?
Mrs. Pearce [following her]: Oh, don’t
Pickering
Pickering: I beg your pardon, Miss rush about like that, girl.
Doolittle. It was a slip of the tongue.
[She shuts the door behind her.]
Liza
Liza: Oh, I don’t mind; only it
Higgins
Higgins: Pickering, we have taken on
sounded so genteel. I should just like
a stiff job.
to take a taxi to the corner of
Tottenham Court Road and get out Pickering [with conviction]: Higgins,
there and tell it to wait for me, just to we have.
disposition: temperament snobbery: pretension conviction: belief

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Pygmalion Drama

1. Why does the Flower Girl want to talk more genteel?

2. What is the real name of the Flower Girl?
3. How much does Liza offer Higgins for the lessons?
4. Why does Higgins accept Liza’s offer?
5. Who is the draggle-tailed gutter snipe?
6. Why does Higgins ask Mrs. Pearce to burn Liza’s clothes?
7. Why does Mrs. Pearce say, “You can’t take a girl up like that as if you were
picking up a pebble on the beach.” to Mr. Higgins?
8. Why does Mrs. Pearce think that Mr. Higgins is wicked?
9. Why does Mrs. Pearce warn Mr. Higgins repeatedly? What character trait of
Mrs. Pearce is revealed here?
10. Why does Mr. Higgins offer cakes of chocolate to Miss Liza?
11. What is Higgins’ attitude to women?
12. What does Mrs. Pearce want to say to Mr. Higgins as she takes Liza to the
bathroom?
13. Mrs. Pearce makes certain conditions to Mr. Higgins. What do these conditions
tell us about Mr. Higgins’ character?
14. Who is Alfred Doolittle?
15. Why does Mr. Doolittle pay a visit to Mr. Higgins?
16. How does Mr. Doolittle convince Mr. Pickering that he will not make bad use
of the pounds?
17. Why is Mr. Doolittle convinced that his daughter is a credit to him?
18. How did Mr. Doolittle bring his daughter up?
19. What is Doolittle’s trade according to his daughter?
20. How did Mr. Doolittle come to know that Eliza is with Mr. Higgins?

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ACT III
[ It is Mrs. Higgins’ at-home day. between four and five in the afternoon.
Nobody has yet arrived. Her drawing- The door is opened violently; and
room, in a flat on Chelsea embankment, Higgins enters with his hat on.]
has three windows looking on the river; Mrs. Higgins [ dismayed ] : Henry
and the ceiling is not so lofty as it would [scolding him] What are you doing
be in an older house of the same here to-day? It is my at home day, you
pretension. The windows are open, promised not to come.
giving access to a balcony with flowers
in pots. If you stand with your face to [As he bends to kiss her, she takes his
the windows, you have the fireplace on hat off, and presents it to him.]
your left and the door in the right-hand Higgins
Higgins: Oh bother!
wall close to the corner nearest the [He throws the hat down on the table.]
windows. A few good oil-paintings from
the exhibitions in the Grosvenor Gallery Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Go home at once.
thirty years ago are on the walls. There Higgins [kissing her]: I know, mother.
is a portrait of Mrs. Higgins as she was I came on purpose.
when she defied fashion in her youth Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: But you mustn’t. I’m
in one of the beautiful. Rossettian serious, Henry. You offend all my
costumes which, when caricatured by friends: they stop coming whenever
people who did not understand, led to they meet you.
the absurdities of popular aestheticism
in the eighteen-seventies. In the corner Higgins
Higgins: Nonsense! I know I have no
diagonally opposite the door Mrs. small talk; but people don’t mind.
Higgins, now over sixty and long past [He sits on the settee.]
taking the trouble to dress out of the Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Oh! don’t they? Small
fashion, sits writing at an elegantly talk indeed! What about your large
simple writing-table with a bell button talk? Really, dear, you mustn’t stay.
within reach of her hand. There is a
chair further back in the room between Higgins
Higgins: I must. I’ve a job for you. A
her and the window nearest her side. phonetic job.
At the other side of the room, further Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: No use, dear. I’m
forward, is an Elizabethan chair. On the sorry; but I can’t get round your
same side a piano in a decorated case. vowels; and though I like to get pretty
The corner between the fireplace and postcards in your patent shorthand, I
the window is occupied by a divan. It is always have to read the copies in

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Pygmalion Drama
ordinary writing you so thoughtfully [With a gesture of despair, he obeys and
send me. sits down again.]
Higgins
Higgins: Well, this isn’t a phonetic job. That’s a good boy. Now tell me about
Higgins: You said it was.
Mrs. Higgins the girl.
Higgins : Not your part of it. I’ve Higgins
Higgins: She’s coming to see you.
picked up a girl. Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: I don’t remember
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Does that mean that asking her.
some girl has picked you up? Higgins
Higgins: You didn’t. I asked her. If
Higgins
Higgins: Not at all. I don’t mean a you’d known her you wouldn’t have
love affair. asked her.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: What a pity! Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Indeed! Why?
Higgins: Why?
Higgins Higgins
Higgins: Well, it’s like this. She’s a
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Well, you never fall common flower girl. I picked her off
in love with anyone under forty-five. the kerbstone.
When will you discover that there are Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: And invited her to my
some rather nice-looking young at-home!
women about?
Higgins [rising and coming to her to
Higgins
Higgins: Oh, I can’t be bothered with coax her]: Oh, that’ll be all right. I’ve
young women. My idea of a loveable taught her to speak properly; and she
woman is something as like you as has strict orders as to her behaviour.
possible. I shall never get into the way
She’s to keep to two subjects: the
of seriously liking young women,
weather and everybody’s health—
some habits lie too deep to be
changed. [Rising abruptly and walking Fine day and How do you do, you
about, jingling his money and his keys know—and not to let herself go on
in his trouser pockets.] Besides, they’re things in general. That will be safe.
all idiots. Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Safe! To talk about
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Do you know what our health! About our insides! Perhaps
you would do if you really loved me, about our outsides! How could you be
Henry? so silly, Henry?
Higgins
Higgins: Oh bother! What? Marry, I Higgins [impatiently]:Well, she must
suppose? talk about something.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: No. Stop fidgeting and [He controls himself and sits down
take your hands out of your pockets. again.]
fidgeting: make small movements of hands and feet coax: persuade

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Pygmalion Drama
Oh, she’ll be all right, don’t you fuss. acquired a gay air of being very much
Pickering is in it with me. I’ve a sort at home in society, the bravado of
of bet on that I’ll pass her off as a genteel poverty.]
duchess in six months. I started on her Mrs. Eynsford Hill [to Mrs. Higgins]:
some months ago; and she’s getting How do you do?
on like a house on fire. I shall win my
bet. She has a quick ear; and she’s been [They shake hands.]
easier to teach than my middle-class Miss Eynsford Hill
Hill: How d’you do?
pupils because she’s had to learn a [She shakes.]
complete new language. She talks
English almost as you talk French. Mrs. Higgins [introducing]: My son
Henry.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: That’s satisfactory, at
all events. Mrs. Eynsford Hill
Hill: Your celebrated
son! I have so longed to meet you,
Higgins
Higgins: Well, it is and it isn’t. Professor Higgins.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: What does that mean? Higgins [ glumly, making no
Higgins
Higgins: You see, I’ve got her movement in her direction]: Delighted.
pronunciation all right; but you have [He backs against the piano and bows
to consider not only how a girl brusquely.]
pronounces, but what she
pronounces; and that’s where— Miss Eynsford Hill [ going to him
with confident familiarity]: How do you
[They are interrupted by the parlour- do?
maid, announcing guests.]
Higgins [staring at her]: I’ve seen you
The Parlour-maid
Parlour-maid: Mrs. and Miss before somewhere. I haven’t the ghost
Eynsford Hill. [She withdraws.] of a notion where; but I’ve heard your
Higgins
Higgins: Oh Lord! voice. [Drearily] It doesn’t matter.
You’d better sit down.
[He rises; snatches his hat from the
table; and makes for the door; but Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: I’m sorry to say that
before he reaches it his mother my celebrated son has no manners.
introduces him. Mrs. and Miss Eynsford You mustn’t mind him.
Hill are the mother and daughter who Miss Eynsford Hill [gaily]: I don’t.
sheltered from the rain in Covent
Garden. The mother is well bred, quiet, [She sits in the Elizabethan chair.]
and has the habitual anxiety of Mrs. Eynsford Hill [a little
straitened means. The daughter has bewildered]: Not at all.
glumly: unsociable, moody brusquely: abruptly

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Pygmalion Drama
[She sits on the ottoman between her You’ll do as well as anybody else.
daughter and Mrs. Higgins, who has
[The parlour-maid returns, ushering
turned her chair away from the
Freddy.]
writing-table.]
The Parlour-maid: Mr. Eynsford Hill.
Higgins
Higgins: Oh, have I been rude? I
didn’t mean to be. Higgins [ almost audibly, past
[The parlour-maid returns, ushering in endurance]: God of Heaven! another
Pickering.] of them.
The Parlour-maid
Parlour-maid: Colonel Pickering. Freddy [ shaking hands with Mrs.
Higgins]: Ahdedo?
[She withdraws.]
Mrs. Higgins: Very good of you to
Pickering
Pickering: How do you do, Mrs. come. [Introducing] Colonel Pickering.
Higgins?
Freddy [bowing]: Ahdedo?
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: So glad you’ve come.
Do you know Mrs. Eynsford Hill— Mrs. Higgins: I don’t think you
Miss Eynsford Hill? know my son, Professor Higgins.
[Exchange of bows. The Colonel brings Freddy [going to Higgins]: Ahdedo?
the Chippendale chair a little forward Higgins [looking at him much as if
between Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Higgins, and he were a pickpocket]: I’ll take my oath
sits down.] I’ve met you before somewhere.
Pickering
Pickering: Has Henry told you what Where was it?
we’ve come for?
Freddy: I don’t think so.
Higgins [over his shoulder]: We were
Higgins [resignedly]: It don’t matter,
interrupted, damn it!
anyhow. Sit down.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Oh Henry, Henry,
really! Higgins: Well, here we are, anyhow!

Mrs. Eynsford Hill [half rising]: Are [He sits down on the ottoman next
we in the way? Mrs. Eynsford Hill, on her left.]

Mrs. Higgins [rising and making her And now, what the devil are we going
sit down again]: No, no. You couldn’t to talk about until Eliza comes?
have come more fortunately, we want Mrs. Higgins: Henry, you are the life
you to meet a friend of ours. and soul of the Royal Society’s soirees;
Higgins [turning hopefully]: Yes, by but really you’re rather trying on
George! We want two or three people. more commonplace occasions.
usher: to take or show where they should go soirees: an elegant evening gathering

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins: Am I? Very sorry. [beaming know of poetry? [To Mrs. Hill] What
suddenly] I suppose I am, you know. do you know of science? [Indicating
[uproariously] Ha, ha! Freddy] What does he know of art or
science or anything else? What the
Miss Eynsford Hill [who considers
devil do you imagine I know of
Higgins quite eligible matrimonially]: I
philosophy?
sympathize. I haven’t any small talk.
If people would only be frank and say Mrs. Higgins [ warningly ] : Or of
what they really think! manners, Henry?
Higgins [relapsing into gloom]: Lord The Parlour- maid [ opening the
forbid! door]: Miss Doolittle. [She withdraws.]

Mrs. Eynsford Hill [taking up her Higgins [rising hastily and running
daughter’s cue]: But why? to Mrs. Higgins]: Here she is, mother.
[He stands on tiptoe and makes signs
Higgins: What they think they ought
over his mother’s head to Eliza to
to think is bad enough, Lord knows;
indicate to her which lady is her hostess.
but what they really think would
break up the whole show. Do you Eliza, who is exquisitely dressed, produces
suppose it would be really agreeable an impression of such remarkable
if I were to come out now with what I distinction and beauty as she enters
really think? that they all rise, quite flustered. Guided
by Higgins’s signals, she comes to Mrs.
Miss Eynsford Hill [gaily]: Is it so Higgins with studied grace.]
very cynical?
Liza [ speaking with pedantic
Higgins: Cynical! Who the dickens correctness of pronunciation and great
said it was cynical? I mean it beauty of tone]: How do you do, Mrs.
wouldn’t be decent. Higgins?
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [seriously]: Oh! [She gasps slightly in making sure of
I’m sure you don’t mean that, Mr. the H in Higgins, but is quite successful.]
Higgins.
Mr. Higgins told me I might come.
Higgins: You see, we’re all savages, Mrs. Higgins [cordially]: Quite right:
more or less. We’re supposed to be I’m very glad indeed to see you.
civilized and cultured—to know all
about poetry and philosophy and art Pickering
Pickering: How do you do, Miss
and science, and so on; but how many Doolittle?
of us know even the meanings of these Liza [ shaking hands with him ] :
names? [To Miss Hill] What do you Colonel Pickering, is it not?
uproarious: loud laughter cynical: distrustful, contemptuous pedantic: precise, exact

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Pygmalion Drama
Mrs. Eynsford Hill: I feel sure we that he almost breaks it. Mrs. Higgins
have met before, Miss Doolittle. I looks at him, but controls herself and
remember your eyes. says nothing. A long and painful pause
Liza
Liza: How do you do? ensues.]

[She sits down on the ottoman gracefully Mrs. Higgins [ conversationally. ] :

in the place just left vacant by Higgins.] Will it rain, do you think?
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ introducing ] : Liza
Liza: The shallow depression in the
My daughter Clara. west of these islands is likely to move
slowly in an easterly direction. There
Liza
Liza: How do you do? are no indications of any great change
Clara [impulsively]: How do you do? in the barometrical situation.
[She sits down on the ottoman beside Fredd : Ha! ha! how awfully funny!
Eliza, devouring her with her eyes.]
Liza
Liza: What is wrong with that, young
Freddy [coming to their side of the man? I bet I got it right.
ottoman ] : I’ve certainly had the
Freddy: Killing!
pleasure.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill: I’m sure I hope
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ introducing ] :
My son Freddy. it won’t turn cold. There’s so much
influenza about. It runs right through
Liza
Liza: How do you do? our whole family regularly every
[Freddy bows and sits down in the spring.
Elizabethan chair, infatuated.] Liza [ darkly ] : My aunt died of
Mrs. Higgins: Henry, please! influenza: so they said.
[He is about to sit on the edge of the Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ clicks her
table.] tongue sympathetically] : !!!
Don’t sit on my writing-table, you’ll Liza [in the same tragic tone]: But it’s
break it. my belief they done the old woman
Higgins [sulkily]: Sorry. in.

[He goes to the divan, stumbling into Mrs. Higgins [puzzled]: Done her in?
the fender and over the fire-irons on Liza
Liza: Y-e-e-e-es, Lord love you! Why
his way; extricating himself with should she die of influenza? She come
muttered imprecations; and finishing through diphtheria right enough the
his disastrous journey by throwing year before. I saw her with my own
himself so impatiently on the divan eyes. Fairly blue with it, she was. They
devour: look carefully sulkily: angrily imprecation: curse

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Pygmalion Drama
all thought she was dead; but my Liza
Liza: Drank! My word! Something
father he kept ladling gin down her chronic.
throat till she came to so sudden that Mrs. Eynsford Hill: How dreadful
she bit the bowl off the spoon. for you!
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [startled]: Dear Liza
Liza: Not a bit. It never did him no
me! harm what I could see. But then he did
Liza [piling up the indictment]: What not keep it up regular. [cheerfully] On
call would a woman with that the burst, as you might say, from time
strength in her to die of influenza? to time. And always more agreeable
What become of her new straw hat when he had a drop in. When he was
that should have come to me? out of work, my mother used to give
Somebody pinched it; and what I say him four pence and tell him to go out
is, them as pinched it done her in. and not come back until he’d drunk
himself cheerful and loving-like.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill
Hill: What does There’s lots of women has to make
doing her in mean? their husbands drunk to make them
Higgins [hastily]: Oh, that’s the new fit to live with. [Now quite at her ease]
small talk. To do a person in means to You see, it’s like this. If a man has a
kill them. bit of a conscience, it always takes him
when he’s sober; and then it makes
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ to Eliza, him low-spirited. A drop of booze just
horrified]: You surely don’t believe that takes that off and makes him happy.
your aunt was killed? [To Freddy, who is in convulsions of
Liza
Liza: Do I not! Them she lived with suppressed laughter.] Here! what are
would have killed her for a hat-pin, you sniggering at?
let alone a hat. Freddy
Freddy: The new small talk. You do
it so awfully well.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill : But it can’t have
been right for your father to pour Liza
Liza: If I was doing it proper, what
spirits down her throat like that. It was you laughing at? [to Higgins]
might have killed her. Have I said anything I oughtn’t?
Liza
Liza: Not her. Gin was mother’s milk Mrs. Higgins [intervening]: Not at
to her. Besides, he’d poured so much all, Miss Doolittle.
down his own throat that he knew the Liza: Well, that’s a mercy, anyhow.
good of it. [expansively] What I always say is—
Mrs. Eynsford Hill
Hill: Do you mean Higgins [ rising and looking at his
that he drank? watch] : Ahem!
ladling: serving indictment: accusation convulsion: sudden movement snigger: laugh

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Pygmalion Drama
Liza [looking round at him; taking the calling everything filthy and beastly;
hint; and rising]: Well, I must go. though I do think it horrible and
[They all rise. Freddy goes to the door.]
unladylike. But this last is really too
much. Don’t you think so, Colonel
So pleased to have met you. Good-bye. Pickering?
[She shakes hands with Mrs.Higgins.] Pickering
Pickering: Don’t ask me. I’ve been
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Good-bye. away in India for several years; and
manners have changed so much that
Liza: Good-bye, Colonel Pickering. I sometimes don’t know whether I’m
Pickering
Pickering: Good-bye, Miss Doolittle. at a respectable dinner-table or in a
[They shake hands.] ship’s forecastle.

Liza [nodding to the others]: Good- Clara

Clara: It’s all a matter of habit.
bye, all. There’s no right or wrong in it.
Nobody means anything by it. And it’s
Freddy [opening the door for her]: Are so quaint, and gives such a smart
you walking across the Park, Miss emphasis to things that are not in
Doolittle? If so— themselves very witty. I find the new
Liza
Liza: Walk! Not bloody likely. small talk delightful and quite
[sensation]. I am going in a taxi. innocent.
[She goes out. Pickering gasps and sits Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ rising ] : Well,
down. Freddy goes out on the balcony after that, I think it’s time for us to go.
to catch another glimpse of Eliza.] [Pickering and Higgins rise.]
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [suffering from Clara [rising]: Oh yes: we have three
shock]: Well, I really can’t get used to at homes to go to still. Good-bye, Mrs.
the new ways. Higgins. Good-bye, Colonel Pickering.
Clara [throwing herself discontentedly Good-bye, Professor Higgins.
into the Elizabethan chair]: Oh, it’s all Higgins [coming grimly at her from
right, mamma, quite right. People will the divan, and accompanying her to the
think we never go anywhere or see door]: Good-bye. Be sure you try on
anybody if you are so old-fashioned. that small talk at the three at-homes.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill: I daresay I am Don’t be nervous about it. Pitch it in
very old-fashioned; but I do hope you strong.
won’t begin using that expression, Clara [all smiles]: I will. Good-bye.
Clara. I have got accustomed to hear Such nonsense, all this early Victorian
you talking about men as rotters, and prudery!
filthy: dirty quaint: unusual grimly: firmly

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins [tempting her]: Such damned reeking with the latest slang. Good-
nonsense! bye.
Clara
Clara: Such bloody nonsense! Pickering
Pickering: Good-bye.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ convulsively] : [They shake hands.]
Clara! Mrs. Eynsford Hill [to Mrs. Higgins]:
Clara
Clara: Ha! ha! You mustn’t mind Clara.
[She goes out radiant, conscious of [Pickering, catching from her lowered
being thoroughly up to date, and is tone that this is not meant for him to
heard descending the stairs in a stream hear, discreetly joins Higgins at the
of silvery laughter.] window.]
Freddy [to the heavens at large]: Well, We’re so poor! She gets so few parties,
I ask you. [He gives it up, and comes to poor child! She doesn’t quite know.
Mrs. Higgins.] Good-bye.
[Mrs. Higgins, seeing that her eyes are
Mrs. Higgins [ shaking hands ]: moist, takes her hand sympathetically
Good-bye. Would you like to meet and goes with her to the door.]
Miss Doolittle again?
But the boy is nice. Don’t you think
Freddy [eagerly]: Yes, I should, most so?
awfully.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Oh, quite nice. I shall
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Well, you know my always be delighted to see him.
days.
Mrs. Eynsford Hill: Thank you,
Freddy: Yes. Thanks awfully. Good- dear. Good-bye.
bye. [He goes out.]
[She goes out.]
Mrs. Eynsford Hill: Good-bye, Mr.
Higgins [ eagerly ] : Well? Is Eliza
Higgins.
presentable?
Higgins
Higgins: Good-bye. Good-bye.
[He swoops on his mother and drags
Mrs. Eynsford Hill [ to Pickering] : her to the ottoman, where she sits down
It’s no use. I shall never be able to in Eliza’s place with her son on her left.
bring myself to use that word. Pickering returns to his chair on her
Pickering
Pickering: Don’t. It’s not compulsory, right.]
you know. You’ll get on quite well Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: You silly boy, of
without it. course she’s not presentable. She’s a
Mrs. Eynsford Hill: Only, Clara is triumph of your art and of her
so down on me if I’m not positively dressmaker’s; but if you suppose for
reeking: unpleasant discreet: careful sanguinary: bitter

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Pygmalion Drama
a moment that she doesn’t give herself Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Quite so. I know all
away in every sentence she utters, you about that, it’s an excellent
must be perfectly cracked about her. arrangement. But where does this
Pickering: But don’t you think
Pickering girl live?
something might be done? I mean Higgins
Higgins: With us, of course. Where
something to eliminate the would she live?
sanguinary element from her
conversation. Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: But on what terms? Is
she a servant? If not, what is she?
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Not as long as she is
in Henry’s hands. Pickering [slowly]: I think I know
what you mean, Mrs. Higgins.
Higgins [aggrieved]: Do you mean
that my language is improper? Higgins
Higgins: Well, dash me if I do! I’ve
had to work at the girl every day for
Higgins: No, dearest, it would
Mrs. Higgins months to get her to her present pitch.
be quite proper but it would not be
Besides, she’s useful. She knows where
proper for her at a garden party.
my things are, and remembers my
Higgins [deeply injured]: Well I must appointments and so forth.
say—
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: How does your
Pickering [interrupting him]: Come, housekeeper get on with her?
Higgins, you must learn to know
yourself. I haven’t heard such Higgins
Higgins: Mrs. Pearce? Oh, she’s jolly
language as yours since we used to glad to get so much taken off her
review the volunteers in Hyde Park hands; for before Eliza came, she had
twenty years ago. to have to find things and remind me
of my appointments.
Higgins [sulkily]: Oh, well, if you say
so, I suppose I don’t always talk like a Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: You certainly are a
bishop. pretty pair of babies, playing with
your live doll.
Mrs. Higgins [quieting Henry with
a touch]: Colonel Pickering, will you Higgins
Higgins: Playing! The hardest job I
tell me what is the exact state of ever tackled, make no mistake about
things in Wimpole Street? that. But you have no idea how fright-
Pickering [ cheerfully,as if this fully interesting it is to take a human
completely changed the subject]: Well, being and change her into a quite
I have come to live there with Henry. different human being by creating a
We work together at my Indian new speech for her. It’s filling up the
Dialects; and we think it more deepest gulf that separates class from
convenient— class and soul from soul.
pitch: level assail: attack

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Pygmalion Drama
Pickering [drawing his chair closer to Higgins
Higgins: Continental dialects,
Mrs. Higgins and bending over to her African dialects, Hottentot
eagerly ] : Yes: it’s enormously
Pickering
Pickering: halls; and it’s all the same
interesting. I assure you, Mrs. Higgins,
we take Eliza very seriously. Every to her: she plays everything
week—every day almost—there is Higgins
Higgins: clicks, things it took me
some new change. [Closer again] We years to get hold of; and
keep records of every stage—dozens
Pickering
Pickering: she hears right off when
of gramophone disks and
photographs— she comes home, whether it’s
Higgins [assailing her at the other ear]: Higgins
Higgins: she picks them up like a
Yes, by George, it’s the most absorbing shot, right away, as if she had
experiment I ever tackled. She Pickering
Pickering: Beethoven and Brahms or
regularly fills our lives up; doesn’t Lehar and Lionel Morickton;
she, Pick?
Higgins
Higgins: been at it all her life.
Pickering: We’re always talking
Pickering
Eliza. Pickering
Pickering: though six months ago,
she’d never as much as touched a
Higgins: Teaching Eliza.
Higgins piano.
Pickering
Pickering: Dressing Eliza. Mrs. Higgins [putting her fingers in
Higgins: What!
Mrs. Higgins her ears, as they are by this time
Higgin
Higgin: Inventing new Elizas. shouting one another down with an
intolerable noise]: Sh—sh—sh—sh!
[ Higgins and Pickering, speaking
together.] [They stop.]
Higgins
Higgins: You know, she has the most Pickering
Pickering: I beg your pardon.
extraordinary quickness of ear. [He draws his chair back apologetically.]
Pickering: I assure you, my dear Mrs.
Pickering Higgins
Higgins: Sorry. When Pickering
Higgins, that girl starts shouting nobody can get a
Higgins: just like a parrot. I’ve tried
Higgins word in edgeways.
her with every Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Be quiet, Henry.
Pickering: is a genius. She can play
Pickering Colonel Pickering: don’t you realize
the piano quite beautifully. that when Eliza walked into Wimpole
Higgins
Higgins: possible sort of sound that Street, something walked in with
a human being can make— her? A problem.
Pickering: We have taken her to
Pickering Pickering
Pickering: Oh, I see. The problem of
classical concerts and to music. how to pass her off as a lady.

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins
Higgins: I’ll solve that problem. I’ve Higgins
Higgins: Anyhow, there’s no good
half solved it already. bothering now. The thing’s done.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: No, you two infinitely Good-bye, mother.
stupid male creatures, the problem of [He kisses her and follows Pickering.]
what is to be done with her Pickering [ turning for a final
afterwards. consolation ] : There are plenty of
Higgins
Higgins: I don’t see anything in that. openings. We’ll do what’s right.
She can go her own way, with all the Good-bye.
advantages I have given her. Higgins [to Pickering as they go out
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: The advantages of that together ] : Let’s take her to the
poor woman who was here just now! Shakespeare exhibition at Earls Court.
The manners and habits that Pickering
Pickering: Yes: let’s. Her remarks
disqualify a fine lady from earning will be delicious.
her own living without giving her a
fine lady’s income! Is that what you Higgins
Higgins: She’ll mimic all the people
mean? for us when we get home.
Pickering [indulgently, being rather Pickering
Pickering: Ripping.
bored]: Oh, that will be all right, Mrs. [Both are heard laughing as they go
Higgins. downstairs.]
[He rises to go.] Mrs. Higgins [rises with an impatient
bounce, and returns to her work at the
Higgins [rising]: We’ll find her some
writing-table. She sweeps a litter of
light employment.
disarranged papers out of her way;
Pickering
Pickering: She’s happy enough. snatches a sheet of paper from her
Don’t you worry about her. Good-bye. stationery case; and tries resolutely to
write. At the third line she gives it up;
[ He shakes hands as if he were
flings down her pen; grips the table
consoling a frightened child, and makes angrily and exclaims]: Oh, men! men!!
for the door.] men!
1. Why does Mrs. Higgins ask Higgins not to come on her at home days?
2. Why did Higgins say that he can’t be bothered with young women?
3. Why does Mrs. Higgins opine that her celebrated son has no manners?
4. For what reason does Higgins want two or three people?
5. Why does Higgins correct Miss Eynsford Hill?

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Pygmalion Drama
6. How does Miss Doolittle greet Pickering?
7. How does Liza take part in the conversation at Mrs. Higgins’ house? What
changes happen as their conversation progresses?
8. How do Mrs. Eynsford Hill and Miss Clara react to Eliza’s new small talk?
9. Why does Mrs. Eynsford remark that they are poor?
10. What is Mrs. Higgins’ opinion of Liza’s performance?
11. Why does Mrs. Higgins call them a pretty pair of babies?
12. What is the problem that walked in with Eliza? What solution does Higgins
and Pickering offer?

ACT IV
[ The Wimpole Street laboratory. in evening dress, with overcoat and hat,
Midnight. Nobody in the room. The comes in, carrying a smoking jacket
clock on the mantelpiece strikes twelve. which he has picked up downstairs. He
The fire is not alight, it is a summer takes off the hat and overcoat; throws
night. Presently Higgins and Pickering them carelessly on the newspaper
are heard on the stairs.] stand; disposes of his coat in the same
way; puts on the smoking jacket; and
Higgins [calling down to Pickering]: I
throws himself wearily into the easy-
say, Pick: lock up, will you. I shan’t be
chair at the hearth. Pickering, similarly
going out again.
attired, comes in. He also takes off his
Pickering: Right. Can Mrs. Pearce go hat and overcoat, and is about to throw
to bed? We don’t want anything them on Higgins’s when he hesitates.]
more, do we? Pickering
Pickering: I say: Mrs. Pearce will row
Higgins: Lord, no! if we leave these things lying about
[Eliza opens the door and is seen on the in the drawing-room.
lighted landing in opera cloak, brilliant Higgins: Oh, chuck them over the
evening dress, and diamonds, with fan, banisters into the hall. She’ll find them
flowers, and all accessories. She comes there in the morning and put them
to the hearth, and switches on the away all right. She’ll think we were
electric lights there. Puts her fan and drunk.
flowers on the piano; and sits down on Pickering
Pickering: We are, slightly. Are there
the bench, brooding and silent. Higgins, any letters?

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins: I didn’t look. Pickering
Pickering: Were you nervous at the
[Pickering takes the overcoats and hats garden party? I was. Eliza didn’t seem
and goes down stairs. Higgins begins a bit nervous.
half singing half yawning an air from Higgins: Oh, she wasn’t nervous. I
La Fanciulla del Golden West. Suddenly
he stops and exclaims. ] I wonder
knew she’d be all right. No, it’s the
where the devil my slippers are! strain of putting the job through all
these months that has told on me. It
[Eliza looks at him darkly; then leaves was interesting enough at first, while
the room. Higgins yawns again and
we were at the phonetics; but after
resumes his song. Pickering returns,
with the contents of the letter-box in that I got deadly sick of it. It was a
his hand.] silly notion, the whole thing has been
a bore.
Pickering
Pickering: Only circulars.
Pickering
Pickering: Oh come! The garden
[Eliza returns with a pair of large down-
at-heel slippers. She places them on the party was frightfully exciting.
carpet before Higgins, and sits as before Higgins: Yes, for the first three
without a word.] minutes. But when I saw we were
Higgins [yawning again]: Oh Lord! going to win hands down, I felt like a
What an evening! What a crew! What bear in a cage, hanging about doing
a silly tomfoollery! nothing. Pickering, never again for
[He raises his shoe to unlace it and me. No more artificial duchesses. The
catches sight of the slippers. He stops whole thing has been simple
and looks at them as if they had purgatory.
appeared there of their own accord.] Pickering
Pickering: You’ve never been broken
Oh! they’re there, are they? in properly to the social routine.
Pickering[stretching himself]: Well, I [Strolling over to the piano.] I rather
feel a bit tired. It’s been a long day. enjoy dipping into it occasionally
The garden party, a dinner party, and myself. Anyhow, it was a great
the opera! But you’ve won your bet, success, an immense success. I was
Higgins. Eliza did the trick, and quite frightened once or twice
something to spare, eh? because Eliza was doing it so well.
Higgins [fervently]: Thank God it’s You see, lots of the real people can’t
over! do it at all, they’re such fools that they
[Eliza flinches violently; but they take think style comes by nature to people
no notice of her; and she recovers in their position; and so they never
herself and sits stonily as before.] learn.
accord: wish fervently: showing emotion flinch: draw back purgatory: purify

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins: Yes: that’s what drives me Liza [breathless]: Nothing wrong—
mad, the silly people don’t know their with YOU. I’ve won your bet for you,
own silly business. [Rising] However, haven’t I? That’s enough for you. _I_
it’s over and done with; and now I can don’t matter, I suppose.
go to bed at last without dreading Higgins
Higgins: YOU won my bet! You!
tomorrow.
Presumptuous insect! _I_ won it.
Pickering: I think I shall turn in too.
Pickering What did you throw those slippers at
Still, it’s been a great occasion, a me for?
triumph for you. Good-night.
Liza
Liza: Because I wanted to smash your
[He goes out.] face. I’d like to kill you, you selfish
Higgins [following him]: Good-night. brute. Why didn’t you leave me where
[Over his shoulder, at the door] Put out you picked me out of—in the gutter
the lights, Eliza; and tell Mrs. Pearce [She crisps her fingers, frantically].
not to make coffee for me in the Higgins [ looking at her in cool
morning: I’ll take tea. [He goes out.] wonder]: The creature is nervous, after
[Eliza tries to control herself and feel all.
indifferent as she rises and walks across [Liza gives a suffocated scream of fury,
to the hearth to switch off the lights. and instinctively darts her nails at his
By the time she gets there she is on the face.]
point of screaming. She sits down in
Higgins’s chair and holds on hard to the Higgins [catching her wrists]: Ah!
arms. Finally she gives way and flings Would you? Claws in, you cat. How
herself furiously on the floor raging.] dare you show your temper to me? Sit
down and be quiet.
Higgins [in despairing wrath outside]:
What the devil have I done with my [He throws her roughly into the easy-
slippers? chair.]
[He appears at the door.] Liza [crushed by superior strength and
weight]: What’s to become of me?
Liza [snatching up the slippers, and What’s to become of me?
hurling them at him one after the other
with all her force]: There are your Higgins
Higgins: How the devil do I know
slippers. And there. Take your slippers. what’s to become of you? What does
it matter what becomes of you?
Higgins [astounded]: What on earth!
Liza
Liza: You don’t care. I know you don’t
[He comes to her.] What’s the matter?
care. You wouldn’t care if I was dead.
Get up.
I’m nothing to you—not so much as
[He pulls her up.] Anything wrong? these slippers.
astounded: surprised presumptuous: arrogant

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins
Higgins: Has anybody behaved badly Liza
Liza: I don’t understand. I’m too
to you? Colonel Pickering? Mrs. ignorant.
Pearce? Any of the servants? Higgins: It’s only imagination. Low
Liza: No. spirits and nothing else. Nobody’s
Higgins
Higgins: I presume you don’t pretend hurting you. Nothing’s wrong. You go
that I have treated you badly. to bed like a good girl and sleep it off.
Have a little cry and say your prayers,
Liza: No.
Liza that will make you comfortable.
Higgins
Higgins: I am glad to hear it. Liza
Liza: I heard YOUR prayers. “Thank
[ He moderates his tone. ] Perhaps God it’s all over!”
you’re tired after the strain of the day. Higgins [impatiently ]: Well, don’t
Will you have a glass of champagne? you thank God it’s all over? Now you
[He moves towards the door.] are free and can do what you like.
Liza
Liza: No. [recollecting her manners] Liza [ pulling herself together in
Thank you. desperation]: What am I fit for? What
have you left me fit for? Where am I
Higgins [good-humored again]: This
to go? What am I to do? What’s to
has been coming on you for some days.
become of me?
I suppose it was natural for you to be
anxious about the garden party. But Higgins [enlightened, but not at all
that’s all over now. impressed]: Oh, that’s what’s worrying
you, is it?
[He pats her kindly on the shoulder. She
writhes.] There’s nothing more to [He thrusts his hands into his pockets,
worry about. and walks about in his usual manner,
rattling the contents of his pockets, as
Liza: No. Nothing more for you to
Liza
if condescending to a trivial subject out
worry about.
of pure kindness.] I shouldn’t bother
[She suddenly rises and gets away from about it if I were you. I should imagine
him by going to the piano bench, where you won’t have much difficulty in
she sits and hides her face.] Oh God! I settling yourself, somewhere or other,
wish I was dead. though I hadn’t quite realized that you
Higgins [staring after her in sincere were going away.
surprise]: Why? in heaven’s name, [She looks quickly at him: he does not
why? look at her, but examines the dessert
[Reasonably, going to her] Listen to me, stand on the piano and decides that he
Eliza. All this irritation is purely will eat an apple.] You might marry,
subjective. you know. You go to bed and have a
writhe: jerk rattle: make sound condescend: look down trivial: of little importance

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good nice rest; and then get up and Liza
Liza: Your slippers.
look at yourself in the glass; and you Higgins
Higgins: Oh yes, of course. You shied
won’t feel so cheap. them at me.
[Eliza again looks at him, speechless, [He picks them up, and is going out
and does not stir. The look is quite lost when she rises and speaks to him.]
on him, he eats his apple with a dreamy
expression of happiness, as it is quite a Liza
Liza: Before you go, sir—
good one.] Higgins [dropping the slippers in his
Higgins [ a genial afterthought surprise at her calling him sir]: Eh?
occurring to him ] : I daresay my Liza
Liza: Do my clothes belong to me or
mother could find some chap or to Colonel Pickering?
other who would do very well— Higgins [coming back into the room
Liza
Liza: We were above that at the as if her question were the very climax
corner of Tottenham Court Road. of unreason ] : What the devil use
Higgins [waking up]: What do you would they be to Pickering?
mean? Liza
Liza: He might want them for the next
Liza
Liza: I sold flowers. I didn’t sell myself. girl you pick up to experiment on.
Now you’ve made a lady of me I’m Higgins [shocked and hurt]: Is THAT
not fit to sell anything else. I wish the way you feel towards us?
you’d left me where you found me. Liza: I want to know what I may take
Higgins [slinging the core of the apple away with me. I don’t want to be
decisively into the grate]: Tosh, Eliza. accused of stealing.
You needn’t marry the fellow if you Higgins [ now deeply wounded ] :
don’t like him. Stealing! You shouldn’t have said that,
Liza: What else am I to do? Eliza. That shows a want of feeling.
Higgins
Higgins: Oh, lots of things. What Liza: I’m sorry. I’m only a common
about your old idea of a florist’s shop? ignorant girl; and in my station I have
Pickering could set you up in one, he’s to be careful. There can’t be any
lots of money. [chuckling] Why, six feelings between the like of you and
months ago you would have thought the like of me. Please will you tell me
it the millennium to have a flower what belongs to me and what
shop of your own. Come! You’ll be all doesn’t?
right. I must clear off to bed, I’m Higgins [very sulky]: You may take
devilish sleepy. By the way, I came the whole damned houseful if you like.
down for something. Except the jewels. Hand them over.
genial: pleasant decisive: firm

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Pygmalion Drama
[She puts them into his hands.] If these Higgins [ with dignity, in his finest
belonged to me instead of to the professional style]: You have caused
jeweller, I’d ram them down your me to lose my temper, a thing that has
ungrateful throat. hardly ever happened to me before. I
[He perfunctorily thrusts them into his prefer to say nothing more tonight. I
pockets, unconsciously decorating am going to bed.
himself with the protruding ends of the Liza [pertly]: You’d better leave a note
chains.] for Mrs. Pearce about the coffee; for
Liza [taking a ring off] : This ring isn’t she won’t be told by me.
the jeweller’s: it’s the one you bought Higgins [ formally ] : Damn Mrs.
me in Brighton. I don’t want it now. Pearce; and damn the coffee; and
[Higgins dashes the ring violently into damn you; and damn my own folly
the fireplace, and turns on her so in having lavished MY hard-earned
threateningly that she crouches over knowledge and the treasure of my
the piano with her hands over her face, regard and intimacy on a heartless
and exclaims.] Don’t you hit me. gutter snipe.
Higgins
Higgins: Hit you! You infamous [He goes out with impressive decorum,
creature, how dare you accuse me of and spoils it by slamming the door
such a thing? It is you who have hit savagely. Eliza smiles for the first time;
me. You have wounded me to the expresses her feelings by a wild
heart. pantomime in which an imitation of
Higgins’s exit is confused with her own
Liza [thrilling with hidden joy]: I’m triumph; and finally goes down on her
glad. I’ve got a little of my own back, knees on the hearthrug to look for the
anyhow. ring.]
1. Why does Higgins remark “No more artificial duchesses”?
2. Who won the bet?
3. What makes Liza get agitated?
4. What made Liza reply, ‘We were above that at the corner of Tottenham Court
Road’?
5. What character trait of Liza is revealed in her arguments with Higgins?
6. Why did Higgins take away the jewels from Liza?
7. What makes Liza look for the ring after Higgins leaves?
perfunctorily: showing indifference decorum: behaviour pantomime: gesture

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Pygmalion Drama

ACT V

[Mrs. Higgins’s drawing-room. She is at Mrs. Higgins: Yes, dear. Good-

her writing-table as before. The parlour- morning.
maid comes in.] [He checks his impatience and kisses
The Parlour- maid [ at the door ] : her, whilst the parlour-maid goes out.]
Mr. Henry, mam, is downstairs with What is it?
Colonel Pickering.
Higgins: Eliza’s bolted.
Mrs. Higgins: Well, show them up.
Mrs. Higgins [calmly continuing her
The Parlour-maid: They’re using writing]: You must have frightened her.
the telephone, mam. Telephoning to
the police, I think. Higgins: Frightened her! nonsense!
She was left last night, as usual, to
Mrs. Higgins: What! turn out the lights and all that; and
The Parlour-maid [coming further instead of going to bed she changed
in and lowering her voice]: Mr. Henry’s her clothes and went right off, her bed
in a state, mam. I thought I’d better wasn’t slept in. She came in a cab for
tell you. her things before seven this morning;
and that fool Mrs. Pearce let her have
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: If you had told me that them without telling me a word about
Mr. Henry was not in a state it would it. What am I to do?
have been more surprising. Tell them
to come up when they’ve finished Mrs. Higgins: Do without, I’m
with the police. I suppose he’s lost afraid, Henry. The girl has a perfect
right to leave if she chooses.
something.
Higgins [ wandering distractedly
The Parlour-maid
Parlour-maid: Yes, mam.
across the room]: But I can’t find
[going]
anything. I don’t know what
Mrs. Higgins Go upstairs and tell appointments I’ve got. I’m—
Miss Doolittle that Mr. Henry and the [Pickering comes in. Mrs. Higgins puts
Colonel are here. Ask her not to come down her pen and turns away from the
down till I send for her. writing-table.]
The Parlour-maid: Yes, mam. Pickering [ shaking hands]: Good-
[Higgins bursts in. He is, as the parlour- morning, Mrs. Higgins. Has Henry
maid has said, in a state.] told you?
Higgins: Look here, mother, here’s a [He sits down on the ottoman.] The
confounded thing! inspector made a lot of difficulties. I

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Pygmalion Drama

really think he suspected us of some The Parlour-maid [ announcing ] :

improper purpose. Mr. Doolittle.
Mrs. Higgins: Well, of course he did. [She withdraws.
What right have you to go to the Doolittle enters. He is brilliantly dressed
police ? in a new fashionable frock-coat, with
[She sits down again, deeply vexed.] white waistcoat and grey trousers. He
walks straight to Higgins, and accosts
Higgins: But we want to find her.
him with vehement reproach.]
Pickering
Pickering: We can’t let her go like Doolittle [indicating his own person]:
this, you know, Mrs. Higgins. What See here! Do you see this? You done
were we to do? this.
Mrs. Higgins: You have no more Pickering
Pickering: Has Eliza been buying
sense. you clothes?
[Parlour-maid comes in and breaks off Doolittle: Eliza! Not she. Not half.
the conversation.] Why would she buy me clothes?
The Parlour-maid
Parlour-maid: Mr. Henry, a Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Good-morning, Mr.
gentleman wants to see you very Doolittle. Won’t you sit down?
particular. A Mr. Doolittle, Sir.
Doolittle [taken aback as he becomes
Pickering
Pickering: Doolittle! Do you mean conscious that he has forgotten his
the dustman? hostess]: Asking your pardon, ma’am.
The Parlour-maid
Parlour-maid: Dustman! Oh [He approaches her and shakes her
no, sir: a gentleman. proffered hand.] Thank you.
Higgins [springing up excitedly]: By [ He sits down on the ottoman, on
George, Pick, it’s some relative of hers Pickering’s right.] I am that full of what
that she’s gone to. has happened to me that I can’t think
[To the Parlour-maid] Send him up, of anything else.
quick. Higgins: What the dickens has
The Parlour-maid
Parlour-maid: Yes, Sir. [ She happened to you?
goes.] Doolittle
Doolittle: But this is something that
Mrs. Higgins : Do you know any of you done to me, yes, you, Henry
her people? Higgins.
Pickering
Pickering: Only her father: the fellow Higgins
Higgins: Have you found Eliza?
we told you about. That’s the point.
vexed: worried accosts: speaks vehement: powerful proffer: extend

183
Pygmalion Drama
Doolittle
Doolittle: Have you lost her? knowledge, was Alfred Doolittle, a
Higgins: Yes. common dustman.
Doolittle
Doolittle: You have all the luck, you Higgi
Higginns: Oh, after your last visit I
have. I ain’t found her; but she’ll find remember making some silly joke of
me quick enough now after what you the kind.
done to me. Doolittle
Doolittle: Henry Higgins, thanks to
Mrs. Higgins: But what has my son your silly joking, he leaves me a share
done to you, Mr. Doolittle? in his Pre-digested Cheese Trust
worth three thousand a year on
Doolittle
Doolittle: Done to me! Ruined me. condition that I lecture for his
Destroyed my happiness. Tied me up Wannafeller Moral Reform World
and delivered me into the hands of League as often as they ask me up to
middle class morality. six times a year.
Higgins [ rising intolerantly and Higgins
Higgins: The devil he does! Whew!
standing over Doolittle]: You’re raving.
You’re drunk. You’re mad. I gave you [Brightening suddenly.] What a lark!
five pounds. After that I had two Pickering: A safe thing for you,
conversations with you, at half-a-crown Doolittle. They won’t ask you twice.
an hour. I’ve never seen you since.
Doolittle
Doolittle: It ain’t the lecturing I
Doolittle: Oh! Drunk! am I? Mad! mind. I’ll lecture them blue in the face,
am I? Tell me this. Did you or did you I will, and not turn a hair. It’s making
not write a letter to an old blighter in a gentleman of me that I object to.
America that was giving five millions Who asked him to make a gentleman
to fund Moral Reform Societies all of me? I was happy. I was free. I
over the world, and that wanted you touched pretty nigh everybody for
to invent a universal language for money when I wanted it, same as I
him? touched you, Henry Higgins. Now I
Higgins
Higgins: What! Ezra D. Wannafeller! am worrited; tied neck and heels; and
He’s dead. everybody touches me for Money. It's
a fine thing for you, says my solicitor.
[He sits down again carelessly.]
Is it? says I. You mean it's a good thing
Doolittle
Doolittle: Yes: he’s dead; and I’m for you, I says. When I was a poor man
done for. Now did you or did you not and had a solicitor once when they
write a letter to him to say that the found a pram in the dust cart, he got
most original moralist at present in me off, and got shut of me and got me
England, to the best of your shut of him as quick as he could. Same

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Pygmalion Drama
with the doctors, used to shove me out Which one of us has? We’re all
of the hospital before I could hardly intimidated. Intimidated, ma’am,
stand on my legs, and nothing to pay. that’s what we are. It’s a choice
Now they finds out that I'm not a between the workhouse and the
healthy man and can't live unless they middle class; and I haven’t the nerve
looks after me twice a day. In the for the workhouse. Intimidated, that’s
house I'm not let do a hand's turn for what I am. Broke. Bought up. And
myself, somebody else must do it and that’s what your son has brought me to.
touch me for it. A year ago I hadn't a
relative in the world except two or [He is overcome by emotion.]
three that wouldn't speak to me. Now Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Well, I’m very glad
I've fifty, and not a decent week's you’re not going to do anything
wages among the lot of them. I have foolish, Mr. Doolittle. For this solves
to live for others and not for myself, the problem of Eliza’s future. You can
that's middle class morality. You talk provide for her now.
of losing Eliza. Don't you be anxious,
I bet she's on my doorstep by this: she Doolittle [with melancholy resignation]:
that could support herself easy by Yes, ma’am; I’m expected to provide
selling flowers if I wasn't respectable. for everyone now, out of three
I have to live for others and not for thousand a year.
myself, that’s middle class morality. Higgins [jumping up]: Nonsense! He
And the next one to touch me will be can’t provide for her. He shan’t
you, Henry Higgins. I’ll have to learn provide for her. She doesn’t belong to
to speak middle class language from him. I paid him five pounds for her.
you, instead of speaking proper Doolittle, either you’re an honest man
English. or a rogue.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: But, my dear Mr. Doolittle [tolerantly]: A little of both,
Doolittle, you need not suffer all this Henry, like the rest of us, a little of both.
if you are really in earnest. Nobody
can force you to accept this bequest. Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Henry, don’t be
You can repudiate it. Isn’t that so, absurd. If you really want to know
Colonel Pickering? where Eliza is, she is upstairs.
Pickering
Pickering: I believe so. Higgins [amazed]: Upstairs!!! Then I
shall jolly soon fetch her downstairs.
Doolittle [ softening his manner in
[He makes resolutely for the door.]
deference to her sex ] : That’s the
tragedy of it, ma’am. It’s easy to say Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Sit down, dear; and
chuck it; but I haven’t the nerve. listen to me.
repudiate: reject, refuse deference: respect

185
Pygmalion Drama
Higgins
Higgins: Oh very well, very well, of trial came, and she did this
very well. wonderful thing for you without
[He throws himself ungraciously on the
making a single mistake, you two sat
there and never said a word to her,
ottoman, with his face towards the
but talked together of how glad you
windows.] But I think you might have
were that it was all over and how you
told me this half an hour ago.
had been bored with the whole thing.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Eliza came to me this And then you were surprised because
morning. She passed the night partly she threw your slippers at you! -I-
walking about in a rage, partly trying should have thrown the fire-irons at
to throw herself into the river and you.
being afraid to, and partly in the Higgins
Higgins: We said nothing except that
Carlton Hotel. She told me of the we were tired and wanted to go to
brutal way you two treated her. bed. Did we, Pick?
Higgins [bounding up again]: What! Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: You didn’t thank her,
Pickering [rising also]: My dear Mrs. or pet her, or admire her, or tell her
Higgins, she’s been telling you stories. how splendid she’d been.
[Turning on Higgins.] Higgins did you Higgins[impatiently] : But she knew
bully her after I went to bed? all about that. We didn’t make
speeches to her, if that’s what you
Higgins: Just the other way about. mean.
She threw my slippers in my face. She
behaved in the most outrageous way. Pickering [ conscience stricken ] :
And used perfectly awful language. Perhaps we were a little inconsiderate.
Is she very angry?
Pickering [ astonished ] : But why?
What did we do to her? Mrs. Higgins [returning to her place
at the writing-table]: Well, I’m afraid
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: I think I know pretty she won’t go back to Wimpole Street
well what you did. The girl is but she says she is quite willing to
naturally rather affectionate, I think. meet you on friendly terms and to let
Isn’t she, Mr. Doolittle? bygones be bygones.
Doolittle
Doolittle: Very tender-hearted, Higgins [furious]: Is she, by George? Ho!
ma’am. Takes after me.
Mrs. Higgins : If you promise to
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Just so. She had behave yourself, Henry, I’ll ask her to
become attached to you both. She come down. If not, go home; for you
worked very hard for you, Henry! have taken up quite enough of my
Well, it seems that when the great day time.
outrageous: shocking awful: unpleasant

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Pygmalion Drama
[The Parlour-maid answers the bell. [She sits down on his left. He sits beside
Pickering sits down in Doolittle’s place.] her.]
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Ask Miss Doolittle to Higgins
Higgins: Don’t you dare try this
come down, please. game on me. I taught it to you; and it
The Parlour-maid doesn’t take me in. Get up and come
Parlour-maid: Yes, mam. [She
home; and don’t be a fool.
goes out.]
[Eliza takes a piece of needlework from
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Now, Henry, be good.
her basket, and begins to stitch at it,
Higgins
Higgins: I am behaving myself without taking the least notice of this
perfectly. outburst.]
Pickering
Pickering: He is doing his best, Mrs. Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Very nicely put,
Higgins. indeed, Henry. No woman could resist
[A pause. Higgins throws back his head; such an invitation.
stretches out his legs; and begins to Higgins: You let her alone, mother.
whistle.] Let her speak for herself. You will jolly
Higgins [springing up, out of patience]: soon see whether she has an idea that
Where the devil is that girl? Are we I haven’t put into her head or a word
to wait here all day? that I haven’t put into her mouth. I tell
you I have created this thing out of
[Eliza enters, sunny, self-possessed, and the squashed cabbage leaves of
giving a staggeringly convincing Covent Garden; and now she pretends
exhibition of ease of manner. She carries to play the fine lady with me.
a little work-basket, and is very much
Mrs. Higgins [placidly]: Yes, dear;
at home. Pickering is too much taken
but you’ll sit down, won’t you?
aback to rise.]
[Higgins sits down again, savagely.]
Liza: How do you do, Professor
Higgins? Are you quite well? Liza [to Pickering, taking no apparent
notice of Higgins, and working away
Higgins [choking]: Am I—
deftly]: Will you drop me altogether
[He can say no more.] now that the experiment is over,
Liza: But of course you are, you are Colonel Pickering?
never ill. So glad to see you again, Pickering: Oh don’t. You mustn’t
Colonel Pickering. think of it as an experiment. It shocks
[ He rises hastily; and they shake me, somehow.
hands.] Quite chilly this morning, Liza
Liza: Oh, I’m only a squashed
isn’t it? cabbage leaf.
placid: calm savage: ruthless deftly: mildly squashed: squeezed

187
Pygmalion Drama
Pickering [impulsively]: No. Liza [ continuing]: It was just like
Liza [continuing quietly] : —but I owe learning to dance in the fashionable
so much to you that I should be very way, there was nothing more than
unhappy if you forgot me. that in it. But do you know what
began my real education?
Pickering: It’s very kind of you to say
so, Miss Doolittle. Pickering: What?
Liza
Liza: It’s not because you paid for my Liza [ stopping her work for a
dresses. I know you are generous to moment ] : Your calling me Miss
everybody with money. But it was Doolittle that day when I first came
from you that I learnt really nice to Wimpole Street. That was the
manners; and that is what makes one beginning of self-respect for me.
a lady, isn’t it? You see it was so very Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Please don’t grind
difficult for me with the example of your teeth, Henry.
Professor Higgins always before me.
Pickering: Well, this is really very
I was brought up to be just like him,
nice of you, Miss Doolittle.
unable to control myself, and using
bad language on the slightest Liza
Liza: I should like you to call me
provocation. And I should never have Eliza, now, if you would.
known that ladies and gentlemen Pickering
Pickering: Thank you. Eliza, of
didn’t behave like that if you hadn’t course.
been there.
Liza
Liza: And I should like Professor
Higgins
Higgins: Well! Higgins to call me Miss Doolittle.
Pickering
Pickering: Oh, that’s only his way, Higgins
Higgins: I’ll see you damned first.
you know. He doesn’t mean it.
Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Henry! Henry!
Liza
Liza: Oh, I didn’t mean it either, when
I was a flower girl. It was only my Pickering [laughing]: Why don’t you
way. But you see I did it; and that’s slang back at him? Don’t stand it. It
what makes the difference after all. would do him a lot of good.
Pickering: No doubt. Still, he taught Liza
Liza: I can’t. I could have done it once;
you to speak; and I couldn’t have done but now I can’t go back to it. Last
that, you know. night, when I was wandering about,
a girl spoke to me; and I tried to get
Liza [trivially]: Of course: that is his back into the old way with her; but it
profession. was no use. Leaving Wimpole Street
Higgins
Higgins: Damnation! finishes it.

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Pygmalion Drama
Pickering [much alarmed]: Oh! but Doolittle [ sadly ] : Intimidated,
you’re coming back to Wimpole Governor. Intimidated. Middle class
Street, aren’t you? You’ll forgive morality claims its victim. Won't you
Higgins? put on your hat, Liza, and come and
Higgins [rising]: Forgive! Will she? see me turned off?
by George! Let her go. Let her find out Liza
Liza: If the Colonel says I must, I-I'll
how she can get on without us. She [almost sobbing] I'll demean myself.
will relapse into the gutter in three And get insulted for my pains, like
weeks without me at her elbow. enough.
Pickering
Pickering: He’s incorrigible, Eliza. Doolittle
Doolittle: Don't be afraid: she never
You won’t relapse, will you? comes to words with anyone now,
Liza
Liza: No: Not now. Never again. I have poor woman! respectability has broke
learnt my lesson. I don’t believe I all the spirit out of her.
could utter one of the old sounds if I Pickering [ squeezing Eliza’s elbow
tried. gently]: Be kind to them, Eliza. Make
[ Doolittle touches her on her left the best of it.
shoulder. She drops her work, losing her
Liza [ forcing a little smile for him
self-possession utterly at the spectacle
through her vexation]: Oh well, just to
of her father’s splendour.] A—a—a—
show there’s no ill feeling. I’ll be back
a—a—ah—ow—ooh!
in a moment.
Doolittle
Doolittle: Can you blame the girl?
[She goes out.]
Don’t look at me like that, Eliza. It
ain’t my fault. I’ve come into money. Doolittle [ sitting down beside
Liza : You must have touched a Pickering]: I feel uncommon nervous
millionaire this time, dad. about the ceremony, Colonel. I wish
you’d come and see me through it.
Doolittle
Doolittle: I have. But I’m dressed
something special today. I’m going to Pickering
Pickering: With pleasure. As far as a
St. George’s, Hanover Square. Your bachelor can.
stepmother is going to marry me. Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: May I come, Mr.
Liza [angrily]: You’re going to let Doolittle? I should be very sorry to
yourself down to marry that low miss your wedding.
common woman! Doolittle
Doolittle: I should indeed be honored
Pickering [ quietly ] : He ought to, by your condescension, ma’am; and
Eliza. [ To Doolittle ] Why has she my poor old woman would take it as
changed her mind? a tremenjous compliment. She’s been
incorrigible: uncorrectable relapse: regress, fall intimidate: frighten

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very low, thinking of the happy days Higgins
Higgins: Well, Eliza, you’ve had a bit
that are no more. of your own back, as you call it. Have
Mrs. Higgins [rising]: I’ll order the you had enough? Are you going to be
carriage and get ready. reasonable? Or do you want any
more?
[The men rise, except Higgins.] I shan’t
Liza
Liza: You want me back only to pick
be more than fifteen minutes.
up your slippers and put up with
[As she goes to the door Eliza comes in, your tempers and fetch and carry for
hatted and buttoning her gloves.] you.
I’m going to the church to see your Higgins: I haven’t said I wanted you
father married, Eliza. You had better back at all.
come in the brougham with me. Liza
Liza: Oh, indeed. Then what are we
Colonel Pickering can go on with the talking about?
bridegroom.
Higgins: About you, not about me. If
Pickering
Pickering: Before I go, Eliza, do you come back I shall treat you just
forgive him and come back to us. as I have always treated you. I can’t
Liza
Liza: I don’t think papa would allow change my nature; and I don’t intend
me. Would you, dad? to change my manners. My manners
Doolittle [ sad but magnanimous ] : are exactly the same as Colonel
They played you off very cunning, Pickering’s.
Eliza, them two sportsmen. If it had Liza: That’s not true. He treats a
been only one of them, you could have flower girl as if she was a duchess.
nailed him. I shan’t interfere. It’s time Higgins: And I treat a duchess as if
for us to go, Colonel. So long, Henry. she was a flower girl.
See you in St. George’s, Eliza.
Liza
Liza: I see.
[He goes out.]
[She turns away composedly, and sits
Pickering [coaxing]: Do stay with us, on the ottoman, facing the window.]
Eliza. The same to everybody.
[He follows Doolittle. Eliza goes out on Higgins
Higgins: Just so.
the balcony to avoid being alone with
Higgins. He rises and joins her there. She Liza
Liza: Like father.
immediately comes back into the room Higgins [ grinning, a little taken
and makes for the door; but he goes down ] : Without accepting the
along the balcony quickly and gets his comparison at all points, Eliza, it’s
back to the door before she reaches it.] quite true that your father is not a
magnanimous: noble, great tremendous: wonderful, terrific

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snob, and that he will be quite at Higgins
Higgins: You never asked yourself, I
home in any station of life to which suppose, whether I could do without
his eccentric destiny may call him. YOU.
[Seriously] The great secret, Eliza, is Liza [earnestly]: Don’t you try to get
not having bad manners or good
round me. You’ll HAVE to do without
manners or any other particular sort
me.
of manners, but having the same
manner for all human souls. Higgins [arrogant]: I can do without
anybody. I have my own soul, my own
Liza
Liza: Amen. You are a born preacher.
spark of divine fire. But [with sudden
Higgins [irritated]: The question is humility] I shall miss you, Eliza. And I
not whether I treat you rudely, but have grown accustomed to your voice
whether you ever heard me treat and appearance. I like them, rather.
anyone else better.
Liza
Liza: Well, you have both of them on
Liza [with sudden sincerity]: I don’t your gramophone and in your book
care how you treat me. I don’t mind of photographs. When you feel lonely
your swearing at me. I don’t mind a without me, you can turn the machine
black eye: I’ve had one before this. But on. It’s got no feelings to hurt.
[standing up and facing him] I won’t
be passed over. Higgins
Higgins: I can’t turn your soul on.
Leave me those feelings; and you can
Higgins : Then get out of my way; take away the voice and the face. They
for I won’t stop for you. You talk about are not you.
me as if I were a motor bus.
Liza
Liza: Oh, you ARE a devil. You can
Liza: So you are a motor bus, all twist the heart in a girl as easy as some
bounce and go, and no consideration could twist her arms to hurt her. Mrs.
for anyone. But I can do without you: Pearce warned me. Time and again
don’t think I can’t. she has wanted to leave you; and you
Higgins
Higgins: I know you can. I told you always got round her at the last
could. minute. And you don’t care a bit for
Liza [wounded, getting away from him her. And you don’t care a bit for me.
to the other side of the ottoman with Higgins
Higgins: I care for life, for humanity;
her face to the hearth]: I know you did, and you are a part of it that has come
you brute. You wanted to get rid of me. my way and been built into my house.
Higgins
Higgins: Liar. Liza
Liza: I won’t care for anybody that
Liza
Liza: Thank you. [She sits down with doesn’t care for me.
dignity.] Higgins : Commercial principles,

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Pygmalion Drama
Eliza. Like [reproducing her Covent Miltonic mind by spreading them
Garden pronunciation with professional before you.
exactness] s’yollin voylets [selling Liza: What am I to come back for?
violets], isn’t it?
Higgins [bouncing up on his knees on
Liza : Don’t sneer at me. It’s mean to the ottoman and leaning over it to her]:
sneer at me. For the fun of it. That’s why I took you
Higgins
Higgins: I have never sneered in my on.
life. Sneering doesn’t become either Liza [with averted face]: And you may
the human face or the human soul. I throw me out tomorrow if I don’t do
am expressing my righteous everything you want me to?
contempt for Commercialism. I don’t Higgins: Yes; and you may walk out
and won’t trade in affection. If you tomorrow if I don’t do everything
come back, come back for the sake of YOU want me to.
good fellowship; for you’ll get
nothing else. if you dare to set up your Liza: And live with my stepmother?
little dog’s tricks of fetching and Higgins: Yes, or sell flowers.
carrying slippers against my creation Liza: Oh! if I only COULD go back to
of a Duchess Eliza, I’ll slam the door my flower basket! I should be
in your silly face. independent of both you and father
Liza
Liza: What did you do it for if you and all the world! Why did you take
didn’t care for me? my independence from me? Why did
I give it up? I’m a slave now, for all
Higgins [heartily]: Why, because it my fine clothes.
was my job.
Higgins
Higgins: Not a bit. I’ll adopt you as
Liza: You never thought of the my daughter and settle money on you
trouble it would make for me. if you like. Or would you rather
Higgins
Higgins: Would the world ever have marry Pickering?
been made if its maker had been Liza [looking fiercely round at him]: I
afraid of making trouble? Making wouldn’t marry YOU if you asked me;
life means making trouble. and you’re nearer my age than what
Liza: I’m no preacher, I don’t notice he is.
things like that. I notice that you don’t Higgins [gently]: Than he is: not “than
notice me. what he is.”
Higgins [ jumping up and walking Liza [losing her temper and rising]:
about intolerantly]: Eliza, you’re an I’ll talk as I like. You’re not my
idiot. I waste the treasures of my teacher now.

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Pygmalion Drama
Higgins [reflectively]: I don’t suppose will, as soon as he’s able to support
Pickering would, though. He’s as me.
confirmed an old bachelor as I am. Higgins [sitting down beside her] :
Liza: That’s not what I want; and Rubbish! You shall marry an
don’t you think it. I’ve always had ambassador. You shall marry the
chaps enough wanting me that way. Governor-General of India or the
Freddy Hill writes to me twice and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, or
three times a day, sheets and sheets. somebody who wants a deputy-queen.
Higgins [getting off the ottoman]: You I’m not going to have my masterpiece
have no right to encourage him. thrown away on Freddy.
Liza: Every girl has a right to be Liza: You think I like you to say that.
loved. But I haven’t forgot what you said a
minute ago; and I won’t be coaxed
Higgins
Higgins: Can he MAKE anything of round as if I was a baby or a puppy. If
you? That’s the point. I can’t have kindness, I’ll have
Liza: Perhaps I could make independence.
something of him. But I never thought Higgins
Higgins: Independence? That’s
of us making anything of one another; middle class blasphemy. We are all
and you never think of anything else. dependent on one another, every soul
I only want to be natural. of us on earth.
Higgins
Higgins: It’s all you’ll get until you Liza [rising determinedly]: I’ll let you
stop being a common idiot. If you’re see whether I’m dependent on you. If
going to be a lady, you’ll have to give you can preach, I can teach. I’ll go and
up feeling neglected if the men you be a teacher.
know don’t spend half their time
snivelling over you and the other half Higgins: What’ll you teach, in
giving you black eyes. heaven’s name?
Liza [desperate]: Oh, you are a cruel Liza: What you taught me. I’ll teach
tyrant. I can’t talk to you: you turn phonetics.
everything against me, I’m always in Higgins: Ha! Ha! Ha!
the wrong. But you know very well
all the time that you’re nothing but a Liza: I’ll offer myself as an assistant
bully. You know I can’t go back to the to Professor Nepean.
gutter, as you call it, and that I have Higgins [rising in a fury]: What! That
no real friends in the world but you impostor! that humbug! That
and the Colonel. I’ll marry Freddy, I toadying ignoramus! Teach him my
blasphemy: language that insults or shows a lack of respect ignoramus: fool, idiot

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Pygmalion Drama
methods! my discoveries! You take one waiting, Eliza. Are you ready?
step in his direction and I’ll wring Liza
Liza: Quite. Is the Professor coming?
your neck. [He lays hands on her]. Do
you hear? Mrs. Higgins
Higgins: Certainly not. He can’t
behave himself in church. He makes
Liza [defiantly non-resistant]: Wring
remarks out loud all the time on the
away. What do I care? I knew you’d
strike me some day. clergyman’s pronunciation.

[He lets her go, stamping with rage at

Liza
Liza: Then I shall not see you again,
having forgotten himself, and recoils so Professor. Good bye.
hastily that he stumbles back into his [She goes to the door.]
seat on the ottoman.] Mrs. Higgins [coming to Higgins] :
Aha! Now I know how to deal with Good-bye, dear.
you. What a fool I was not to think of
Higgins
Higgins: Good-bye, mother.
it before! You can’t take away the
knowledge you gave me. [ He is about to kiss her, when he
recollects something.] Oh, by the way,
Higgins [ wondering at her ] : You
damned impudent slut, you! But it’s Eliza, order a ham and a Stilton
better than snivelling; better than cheese, will you? And buy me a pair
fetching slippers and finding of reindeer gloves, number eights, and
spectacles, isn’t it? [Rising] By George, a tie to match that new suit of mine.
Eliza, I said I’d make a woman of you; You can choose the color.
and I have. I like you like this. [His cheerful, careless, vigorous voice
Liza : Yes, you turn round and make shows that he is incorrigible.]
up to me now that I’m not afraid of Liza [disdainfully]: Buy them yourself.
you, and can do without you.
[She sweeps out.]
Higgins: Of course I do, you little fool.
Higgins
Five minutes ago you were like a Mrs. Higgins: I’m afraid you’ve
millstone round my neck. Now you’re spoiled that girl, Henry. But never
a tower of strength, a consort mind, dear, I’ll buy you the tie and
battleship. You and I and Pickering gloves.
will be three old bachelors together Higgins [sunnily]: Oh, don’t bother.
instead of only two men and a silly She’ll buy em all right enough. Good-
girl. bye.
[Mrs. Higgins returns, dressed for the [They kiss. Mrs. Higgins runs out. Higgins,
wedding. Eliza instantly becomes cool left alone, rattles his cash in his pocket;
and elegant.] chuckles; and disports himself in a highly
Mrs. Higgins: The carriage is self-satisfied manner.]

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Pygmalion Drama
1. Why wasn’t Mrs. Higgins surprised at Mr. Higgins’ condition when Liza left his
house?
2. Why did Higgins and Pickering go to the police?
3. Whom did Doolittle accuse of for his change?
4. What did Higgins do to Mr. Doolittle?
5. What makes Doolittle ‘worried; tied neck and heels’?
6. Why does Liza address Higgins as ‘Prof. Higgins’?
7. Who is the ‘squashed cabbage leaves of Covent Garden’ according to Higgins?
8. Whom did Liza learn good manners from?
9. When did Liza feel self-respect for herself ?
10. Why doesn’t Liza want to go to Wimpole Street?
11. What does Eliza mean when she said ‘I won’t be passed over’?
12. How does Higgins treat Mrs. Pearce?
13. What is Higgins’ objection against Liza marrying Freddy?
Understanding the Text
1. Pygmalion is a sculptor who creates the sculpture of a woman so perfectly
carved that he falls in love with her. Aphrodite is moved by his love and she
endows the statue with life. The statue becomes Galatea, a beautiful woman,
whom he marries. How does Shaw transform this myth in his play?
2. Can Pygmalion be set in the modern day, when there are, generally, more options
and opportunities for women?
3. Higgins claims that he treats everyone equally, that he does not change his
behaviour under different circumstances. Does Higgins himself change in the
course of the play?
4. At Mrs. Higgins’ party, Freddy and Clara confuse Eliza’s normal way of speaking
for “the new small talk.” What does this indicate about the way language works
in different contexts?
5. Why is it that the play’s poorest characters, Eliza and her father, are also two of
the most gifted characters?

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Pygmalion Drama
7. Higgins and Pickering tell Mrs. Higgins that Eliza is an incredibly quick learner.
They even call her a genius. Who deserves more credit for Eliza’s transformation:
Eliza herself, because of her potential intelligence, or Higgins, for bringing it
out?
8. Eliza tells Higgins that she wants to be independent. Does she achieve that
independence by the end of the play?
Writing about the Text
1. It has been said that Pygmalion is not a play about the transformation of an
immature and unrefined girl into a confident woman. Justify?
2. At the beginning of the play, Higgins sets out to teach Eliza Doolittle. Don’t
you think that, in the process, it is Higgins himself who benefits the most by
the ‘teaching’? Apart from ‘fetching slippers and finding spectacles’, what more,
of enduring value, does Higgins earn?
3. Can Pygamlion be called ‘a romantic in five acts’? How does the play conform
(or not) to the traditional form of a romance? (for example: a boy meets a girl,
the boy likes her, he meets the girl’s father, faces disapproval, marriage, living
happily ever after)
4. While Eliza Doolittle is being remade, Victorian society itself can be said to be
unmade. How does Shaw reveal the pruderies, hypocrisies and inconsistencies
of this higher society to which the Kerbstone flower girl aspires to be a part of ?
Whom does he sympathise?
5. Attempt character sketches of:
1. Professor Henry Higgins
2. Mrs. Pearce
3. Alfred Doolittle
4. Mrs. Higgins

References
Berst, Charles A. Bernard Shaw and the Art of Drama.Chicago: University of Illinois Press,
1973.
Deacon Rene M. Bernard Shaw: As Artist-Philosopher, an Exposition of Shavianism.
Montana: Kessinger publishing, 2010.
Jain.s. Women in the plays of Geroge Bernard Shaw. New Delhi: Dicovery Publishing
House, 2006.

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Section 5
Novella

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The Metamorphosis Novella

Preface
The novel as a genre can be regarded as a recent literary invention when
compared to poetry and drama which can be traced back to the ancient literary
works such as the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh (2150-1400 BC) and the Greek
play Oresteia (458 BC) written by Aeschylus. A novel is a long narrative, normally
in prose which describes fictional characters and events usually in the form of a
sequential story. Some scholars date the birth of modern novel to the publication
of the eighteenth century novel Pamela or Virtue Rewarded (1740) authored by
Samuel Richardson.
The English novel has come a long way from allegory and romanticism with
vigorous attempts at verisimilitude and associations with middle class pragmatism
and morality. Within the broader framework, the novel encompasses various
subgenres such as picaresque, epistolary, Gothic romance, social realist, political,
historical and so on.
Like a novel, a novella is a long narrative, much longer than a short story and
slightly shorter than a novel. Hence it bears the attributes of both the novel and
the short story.

Lear ning Outcomes

Learning
The learner will be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of the literary form ‘novella’.
• identify the major concept of ‘absurd literature’.
• demonstrate an understanding of the literary device ‘magical realism’ in fiction.
• understand and critically review the trends in modern post-war fiction.
• analyse the theme and plot of a work of fiction.
• demonstrate an awareness of various aspects of first person narrative.
• compare and contrast different types of characters like flat and round.
• critically analyse and study the characters.
• develop a taste for reading fiction.

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The Metamorphosis Novella

Franz Kaf
Kaf ka (1883-1924)
afka

Franz Kafka, one of the most acclaimed and influential

German writers of the 20 th century is renowned for his
prophetic and profoundly enigmatic stories that often portray
human degradation and cruelty. The term ‘Kafkaesque’ is
often used to relate to his writings characterised by a senseless, disorienting
and menacing complexity. Most of his works deal with the theme of absurdity
of life, human alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent-child
conflict and mystical transformations. His works include The Metamorphosis,
In the Penal Colony (1914), The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka published
in 1915. The story revolves around a travelling sales man, Gregor Samsa who
finds himself transformed overnight in to a large monstrous insect, becoming
an object of disgrace to his family. The cause of Samsa’s transformation is not
revealed by the writer. After Samsa’s metamorphosis, his family members
struggle with feelings of both sympathy and revulsion towards him. Samsa
becomes an outsider, an alienated man in his own house. Kafka shows the
difficulties of living in a modern society and how ordinary people can become
as cruel as the Samsas who are able to turn their backs on their own family
members. The novella is a comic meditation on the human feelings of
inadequacy, guilt and isolation.

The Metamorphosis
I
One morning, as Gregor Samsa was this height the blanket, just about
waking up from anxious dreams, he ready to slide off completely, could
discovered that in bed he had been hardly stay in place. His numerous
changed into a monstrous verminous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to
bug. He lay on his armour-hard back the rest of his circumference, flickered
and saw, as he lifted his head up a little, helplessly before his eyes.
his brown, arched abdomen divided 'What's happened to me,' he thought.
up into rigid bow-like sections. From It was no dream. His room, a proper

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room for a human being, only day out on the road. The stresses of
somewhat too small, lay quietly trade are much greater than the work
between the four well-known walls. going on at head office, and, in
Above the table, on which an addition to that, I have to deal with
unpacked collection of sample cloth the problems of traveling, the worries
goods was spread out (Samsa was a about train connections, irregular
traveling salesman) hung the picture bad food, temporary and constantly
which he had cut out of an illustrated changing human relationships which
magazine a little while ago and set in never come from the heart. To hell
a pretty gilt frame. It was a picture of with it all!' He felt a slight itching on
a woman with a fur hat and a fur boa. the top of his abdomen. He slowly
She sat erect there, lifting up in the pushed himself on his back closer to
direction of the viewer a solid fur the bed post so that he could lift his
muff into which her entire forearm head more easily, found the itchy part,
disappeared. which was entirely covered with
Gregor's glance then turned to the small white spots (he did not know
window. The dreary weather (the rain what to make of them), and wanted
drops were falling audibly down on to feel the place with a leg. But here
the metal window ledge) made him tracted it immediately, for the contact
quite melancholy. 'Why don't I keep felt like a cold shower all over him.
sleeping for a little while longer and He slid back again into his earlier
forget all this foolishness,' he thought. position. 'This getting up early,' he
But this was entirely impractical, for
thought, 'makes a man quite idiotic.
he was used to sleeping on his right
A man must have his sleep. Other
side, and in his present state he
traveling salesmen live like harem
couldn't get himself into this position.
women. For instance, when I come
No matter how hard he threw himself
back to the inn during the course of
onto his right side, he always rolled
again onto his back. He must have the morning to write up the necessary
tried it a hundred times, closing his orders, these gentlemen are just sitting
eyes, so that he would not have to see down to breakfast. If I were to try that
the wriggling legs, and gave up only with my boss, I'd be thrown out on the
when he began to feel a light, dull pain spot. Still, who knows whether that
in his side which he had never felt mightn't be really good for me. If I
before. didn't hold back for my parents' sake,
I would've quit ages ago. I would've
'O God,' he thought, 'what a gone to the boss and told him just
demanding job I've chosen! Day in, what I think from the bottom of my

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The Metamorphosis Novella

heart. He would've fallen right off his train and reported the news of his
desk! How weird it is to sit up at the absence long ago. He was the boss's
desk and talk down to the employee minion, without backbone or
from way up there. The boss has intelligence. Well then, what if he
trouble hearing, so the employee has reported in sick? But that would be
to step up quite close to him. Anyway, extremely embarrassing and
I haven't completely given up that suspicious, because during his five
hope yet. Once I've got together the years' service Gregor hadn't been sick
money to pay off the parents' debt to even once. The boss would certainly
him-that should take another five or come with the doctor from the health
six years-I'll do it for sure. Then I'll insurance company and would
make the big break. In any case, right reproach his parents for their lazy son
now I have to get up. My train leaves and cut short all objections with the
at five o'clock.' insurance doctor's comments; for him
And he looked over at the alarm clock everyone was completely healthy but
ticking away by the chest of drawers. really lazy about work. And besides,
'Good God,' he thought. It was half past would the doctor in this case be
six and the hands were going quietly totally wrong? Apart from a really
on. It was past the half hour, already excessive drowsiness after the long
nearly quarter to. Could the alarm sleep, Gregor in fact felt quite well
have failed to ring? One saw from the and even had a really strong appetite.
bed that it was properly set for four As he was thinking all this over in the
o'clock. Certainly it had rung. Yes, but greatest haste, without being able to
was it possible to sleep through this make the decision to get out of bed
noise that made the furniture shake? (the alarm clock was indicating
Now, it's true he'd not slept quietly, exactly quarter to seven) there was a
but evidently he'd slept all the more cautious knock on the door by the
deeply. Still, what should he do now? head of the bed. 'Gregor,' a voice
The next train left at seven o'clock. To called (it was his mother!) 'it's quarter
catch that one, he would have to go to seven. Don't you want to be on your
in a mad rush. The sample collection way?' The soft voice! Gregor was
wasn't packed up yet, and he really startled when he heard his voice
didn't feel particularly fresh and answering. It was clearly and
active. And even if he caught the train, unmistakably his earlier voice, but in
there was no avoiding a blow up with it was intermingled, as if from below,
the boss, because the firm's errand boy an irrepressibly painful squeaking
would've waited for the five o'clock which left the words positively

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distinct only in the first moment and opening the door, but congratulated
distorted them in the reverberation, himself on his precaution, acquired
so that one didn't know if one had from traveling, of locking all doors
heard correctly. Gregor wanted to during the night, even at home.
answer in detail and explain First he wanted to stand up quietly and
everything, but in these circumstances undisturbed, get dressed, above all
he confined himself to saying, 'Yes, have breakfast, and only then consider
yes, thank you mother. I'm getting up further action, for (he noticed this
right away.' Because of the wooden clearly) by thinking things over in
door the change in Gregor's voice was bed he would not reach a reasonable
not really noticeable outside, so his conclusion. He remembered that he
mother calmed down with this had already often felt a light pain or
explanation and shuffled off. other in bed, perhaps the result of an
However, as a result of the short awkward lying position, which later
conversation the other family turned out to be purely imaginary
members became aware of the fact when he stood up, and he was eager
that Gregor was unexpectedly still at to see how his present fantasies would
home, and already his father was gradually dissipate. That the change
knocking on one side door, weakly but in his voice was nothing other than
with his fist. 'Gregor, Gregor,' he the onset of a real chill, an
called out, 'what's going on?' And occupational illness of commercial
after a short while he urged him on travelers, of that he had not the
again in a deeper voice. 'Gregor!' slightest doubt.
Gregor!' At the other side door,
however, his sister knocked lightly. It was very easy to throw aside the
'Gregor? Are you all right? Do you blanket. He needed only to push
need anything?' Gregor directed himself up a little, and it fell by itself.
answers in both directions, 'I'll be But to continue was difficult,
ready right away.' He made an effort particularly because he was so
with the most careful articulation and unusually wide. He needed arms and
by inserting long pauses between the hands to push himself upright. Instead
individual words to remove of these, however, he had only many
everything remarkable from his small limbs which were incessantly
voice. His father turned back to his moving with very different motions
breakfast. However, the sister and which, in addition, he was unable
whispered, 'Gregor, open the door, I to control. If he wanted to bend one of
beg you.' Gregor had no intention of them, then it was the first to extend

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itself, and if he finally succeeded right now. He preferred to remain in

doing with this limb what he wanted, bed.
in the meantime all the others, as if However, after a similar effort, while
left free, moved around in an he lay there again sighing as before
excessively painful agitation. 'But I and once again saw his small limbs
must not stay in bed uselessly,' said fighting one another, if anything
Gregor to himself. worse than before, and didn't see any
At first he wanted to get of the bed chance of imposing quiet and order
with the lower part of his body, but on this arbitrary movement, he told
this lower part (which he incidentally himself again that he couldn't possibly
had not yet looked at and which he remain in bed and that it might be
also couldn't picture clearly) proved the most reasonable thing to sacrifice
itself too difficult to move. The attempt everything if there was even the
went so slowly. When, having become slightest hope of getting himself out
almost frantic, he finally hurled of bed in the process. At the same
himself forward with all his force and moment, however, he didn't forget to
without thinking, he chose his remind himself from time to time of
direction incorrectly, and he hit the the fact that calm (indeed the calmest)
lower bedpost hard. The violent pain reflection might be better than the
he felt revealed to him that the lower most confused decisions. At such
part of his body was at the moment moments, he directed his gaze as
probably the most sensitive. precisely as he could toward the
window, but unfortunately there was
Thus, he tried to get his upper body little confident cheer to be had from
out of the bed first and turned his head a glance at the morning mist, which
carefully toward the edge of the bed. concealed even the other side of the
He managed to do this easily, and in narrow street. 'It's already seven
spite of its width and weight his body o'clock' he told himself at the latest
mass at last slowly followed the striking of the alarm clock, 'already
turning of his head. But as he finally seven o'clock and still such a fog.' And
raised his head outside the bed in the for a little while longer he lay quietly
open air, he became anxious about with weak breathing, as if perhaps
moving forward any further in this waiting for normal and natural
manner, for if he allowed himself conditions to re-emerge out of the
eventually to fall by this process, it complete stillness.
would take a miracle to prevent his
But then he said to himself, 'Before it
head from getting injured. And at all
strikes a quarter past seven, whatever
costs he must not lose consciousness

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The Metamorphosis Novella

happens I must be completely out of purpose. Now, quite apart from the
bed. Besides, by then someone from the fact that the doors were locked, should
office will arrive to inquire about me, he really call out for help? In spite of
because the office will open before all his distress, he was unable to
seven o'clock.' And he made an effort suppress a smile at this idea.
then to rock his entire body length out He had already got to the point where,
of the bed with a uniform motion. If with a stronger rocking, he
he let himself fall out of the bed in this maintained his equilibrium with
way, his head, which in the course of difficulty, and very soon he would
the fall he intended to lift up sharply, finally have to decide, for in five
would probably remain uninjured. minutes it would be a quarter past
His back seemed to be hard; nothing seven. Then there was a ring at the
would really happen to that as a door of the apartment. 'That's
result of the fall. His greatest someone from the office' he told
reservation was a worry about the himself, and he almost froze while his
loud noise which the fall must create small limbs only danced around all
and which presumably would arouse, the faster. For one moment everything
if not fright, then at least concern on remained still. 'They aren't opening,'
the other side of all the doors. Gregor said to himself, caught up in
However, it had to be tried. some absurd hope. But of course then,
As Gregor was in the process of lifting as usual, the servant girl with her firm
himself half out of bed (the new tread went to the door and opened it.
method was more of a game than an Gregor needed to hear only the
effort; he needed only to rock with a visitor's first word of greeting to
constant rhythm) it struck him how recognize immediately who it was,
easy all this would be if someone were the manager himself. Why was
to come to his aid. Two strong people Gregor the only one condemned to
(he thought of his father and the work in a firm where at the slightest
servant girl) would have been quite lapse someone immediately attracted
sufficient. They would have only had the greatest suspicion? Were all the
to push their arms under his arched employees then collectively, one and
back to get him out of the bed, to bend all, scoundrels? Was there then
down with their load, and then among them no truly devoted person
merely to exercise patience and care who, if he failed to use just a couple of
that he completed the flip onto the hours in the morning for office work,
floor, where his diminutive legs would become abnormal from pangs
would then, he hoped, acquire a of conscience and really be in no state

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The Metamorphosis Novella

to get out of bed? Was it really not polished boots. From the
enough to let an apprentice make neighbouring room on the right the
inquiries, if such questioning was even sister was whispering to inform
necessary? Must the manager himself Gregor: 'Gregor, the manager is here.'
come, and in the process must it be 'I know,' said Gregor to himself. But
demonstrated to the entire innocent he did not dare make his voice loud
family that the investigation of this enough so that his sister could hear.
suspicious circumstance could only 'Gregor,' his father now said from the
be entrusted to the intelligence of the neighbouring room on the left, 'Mr.
manager? And more as a Manager has come and is asking why
consequence of the excited state in you have not left on the early train.
which this idea put Gregor than as a We don't know what we should tell
result of an actual decision, he swung him. Besides, he also wants to speak
himself with all his might out of the to you personally. So please open the
bed. There was a loud thud, but not a door. He will good enough to forgive
real crash. The fall was absorbed the mess in your room.'
somewhat by the carpet and, in In the middle of all this, the manager
addition, his back was more elastic called out in a friendly way, 'Good
than Gregor had thought. For that morning, Mr. Samsa.' 'He is not well,'
reason the dull noise was not quite so said his mother to the manager, while
conspicuous. But he had not held his his father was still talking at the door,
head up with sufficient care and had 'He is not well, believe me, Mr.
hit it. He turned his head, irritated Manager. Otherwise how would
and in pain, and rubbed it on the Gregor miss a train! The young man
carpet. has nothing in his head except
'Something has fallen in there,' said business. I'm almost angry that he
the manager in the next room on the never goes out at night. Right now he's
left. Gregor tried to imagine to been in the city eight days, but he's
himself whether anything similar to been at home every evening. He sits
what was happening to him today there with us at the table and reads
could have also happened at some the newspaper quietly or studies his
point to the manager. At least one had travel schedules. It's quite a diversion
to concede the possibility of such a for him if he busies himself with
thing. However, as if to give a rough fretwork. For instance, he cut out a
answer to this question, the manager small frame over the course of two or
now took a few determined steps in three evenings. You'd be amazed how
the next room, with a squeak of his pretty it is. It's hanging right inside

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The Metamorphosis Novella

the room. You'll see it immediately, as probably unnecessary worries right

soon as Gregor opens the door. now. Gregor was still here and wasn't
Anyway, I'm happy that you're here, thinking at all about abandoning his
Mr. Manager. By ourselves, we would family. At the moment he was lying
never have made Gregor open the right there on the carpet, and no one
door. He's so stubborn, and he's who knew about his condition
certainly not well, although he denied would've seriously demanded that he
that this morning.' 'I'm coming right let the manager in. But Gregor
away,' said Gregor slowly and wouldn't be casually dismissed right
deliberately and didn't move, so as not way because of this small discourtesy,
to lose one word of the conversation. for which he would find an easy and
'My dear lady, I cannot explain it to suitable excuse later on. It seemed to
myself in any other way,' said the Gregor that it might be far more
manager; 'I hope it is nothing serious. reasonable to leave him in peace at
On the other hand, I must also say that the moment, instead of disturbing him
we business people, luckily or with crying and conversation. But it
unluckily, however one looks at it, was the very uncertainty which
very often simply have to overcome a distressed the others and excused their
slight indisposition for business behaviour.
reasons.' 'So can Mr. Manager come 'Mr. Samsa,' the manager was now
in to see you now' asked his father shouting, his voice raised, 'what's the
impatiently and knocked once again matter? You are barricading yourself
on the door. 'No,' said Gregor. In the in your room, answer with only a yes
neighbouring room on the left a and a no, are making serious and
painful stillness descended. In the unnecessary troubles for your parents,
neighbouring room on the right the and neglecting (I mention this only
sister began to sob. incidentally) your commercial duties
Why didn't his sister go to the others? in a truly unheard of manner. I am
She'd probably just gotten up out of speaking here in the name of your
bed now and hadn't even started to get parents and your employer, and I am
dressed yet. Then why was she requesting you in all seriousness for
crying? Because he wasn't getting up an immediate and clear explanation.
and wasn't letting the manager in; I am amazed. I am amazed. I thought
because he was in danger of losing his I knew you as a calm, reasonable
position, and because then his boss person, and now you appear suddenly
would badger his parents once again to want to start parading around in
with the old demands? Those were weird moods. The Chief indicated to

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The Metamorphosis Novella

me earlier this very day a possible right. How suddenly this can
explanation for your neglect-it overcome someone! Just yesterday
concerned the collection of cash evening everything was fine with me.
entrusted to you a short while ago- My parents certainly know that.
but in truth I almost gave him my Actually just yesterday evening I had
word of honour that this explanation a small premonition. People must
could not be correct. However, now I have seen that in me. Why have I not
see here your unimaginable pig reported that to the office! But people
headedness, and I am totally losing always think that they'll get over
any desire to speak up for you in the sickness without having to stay at
slightest. And your position is not at home. Mr. Manager! Take it easy on
all the most secure. Originally I my parents! There is really no basis
intended to mention all this to you for the criticisms which you are now
privately, but since you are letting me making against me, and really
waste my time here uselessly, I don't nobody has said a word to me about
know why the matter shouldn't come that. Perhaps you have not read the
to the attention of your parents. Your latest orders which I shipped. Besides,
productivity has also been very now I'm setting out on my trip on the
unsatisfactory recently. Of course, it's eight o'clock train; the few hours' rest
not the time of year to conduct have made me stronger. Mr.
exceptional business, we recognize Manager, do not stay. I will be at the
that, but a time of year for conducting office in person right away. Please
no business, there is no such thing at have the goodness to say that and to
all, Mr. Samsa, and such a thing must convey my respects to the Chief.'
never be.' While Gregor was quickly blurting
'But Mr. Manager,' called Gregor, all this out, hardly aware of what he
beside himself and in his agitation was saying, he had moved close to the
forgetting everything else, 'I'm chest of drawers without effort,
opening the door immediately, this probably as a result of the practice he
very moment. A slight indisposition, had already had in bed, and now he
a dizzy spell, has prevented me from was trying to raise himself up on it.
getting up. I'm still lying in bed right Actually, he wanted to open the door;
now. But now I'm quite refreshed he really wanted to let himself be seen
once again. I'm in the midst of getting by and to speak with the manager. He
out of bed. Just have patience for a was keen to witness what the others
short moment! Things are not going now asking after him would say at the
so well as I thought. But things are all sight of him. If they were startled, then

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The Metamorphosis Novella

Gregor had no more responsibility young women were already running

and could be calm. But if they through the hall with swishing skirts
accepted everything quietly, then he (how had his sister dressed herself so
would have no reason to get excited quickly?) and yanked open the doors
and, if he got a move on, could really of the apartment. One couldn't hear
be at the station around eight o'clock. the doors closing at all. They probably
At first he slid down a few times from had left them open, as is customary
the smooth chest of drawers. But at last in an apartment in which a huge
he gave himself a final swing and misfortune has taken place.
stood upright there. He was no longer However, Gregor had become much
at all aware of the pains in his lower calmer. All right, people did not
body, no matter how they might still understand his words any more,
sting. Now he let himself fall against although they seemed clear enough to
the back of a nearby chair, on the edge him, clearer than previously, perhaps
of which he braced himself with his because his ears had gotten used to
thin limbs. By doing this he gained them. But at least people now thought
control over himself and kept quiet, that things were not all right with
for he could now hear the manager. him and were prepared to help him.
'Did you understood a single word?' The confidence and assurance with
the manager asked the parents, 'Is he which the first arrangements had
playing the fool with us?' 'For God's been carried out made him feel good.
sake,' cried the mother already in He felt himself included once again
tears, 'perhaps he's very ill and we're in the circle of humanity and was
upsetting him. Grete! Grete!' she yelled expecting from both the doctor and
at that point. 'Mother?' called the the locksmith, without differentiating
sister from the other side. They were between them with any real
making themselves understood precision, splendid and surprising
through Gregor's room. 'You must go results. In order to get as clear a voice
to the doctor right away. Gregor is as possible for the critical
sick. Hurry to the doctor. Have you conversation which was imminent,
heard Gregor speak yet?' 'That was an he coughed a little, and certainly took
animal's voice,' said the manager, the trouble to do this in a really
remarkably quietly in comparison to subdued way, since it was possible
the mother's cries. 'Anna! Anna!' yelled that even this noise sounded like
the father through the hall into the something different from a human
kitchen, clapping his hands, 'fetch a cough. He no longer trusted himself
locksmith right away!' The two to decide any more. Meanwhile in the

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next room it had become really quiet. danced around the lock. Now he was
Perhaps his parents were sitting with holding himself upright only with his
the manager at the table and were mouth, and he had to hang onto the
whispering; perhaps they were all key or then press it down again with
leaning against the door and listening. the whole weight of his body, as
Gregor pushed himself slowly necessary. The quite distinct click of
towards the door, with the help of the the lock as it finally snapped really
easy chair, let go of it there, threw woke Gregor up. Breathing heavily he
himself against the door, held himself said to himself, 'So I didn't need the
upright against it (the balls of his tiny locksmith,' and he set his head against
limbs had a little sticky stuff on them), the door handle to open the door
and rested there momentarily from his completely.
exertion. Then he made an effort to Because he had to open the door in
turn the key in the lock with his this way, it was already open very
mouth. Unfortunately it seemed that wide without him yet being really
he had no real teeth. How then was visible. He first had to turn himself
he to grab hold of the key? But to slowly around the edge of the door,
make up for that his jaws were very carefully, of course, if he did not
naturally very strong; with their help want to fall awkwardly on his back
he managed to get the key really right at the entrance into the room.
moving, and he did not notice that he He was still preoccupied with this
was obviously inflicting some damage difficult movement and had no time
on himself, for a brown fluid came out to pay attention to anything else, when
of his mouth, flowed over the key, and he heard the manager exclaim a loud
dripped onto the floor. 'Just listen for 'Oh!' (it sounded like the wind
a moment,' said the manager in the whistling), and now he saw him,
next room, 'he's turning the key.' For nearest to the door, pressing his hand
Gregor that was a great encourage against his open mouth and moving
ment. But they all should've called out slowly back, as if an invisible constant
to him, including his father and force was pushing him away. His
mother, 'Come on, Gregor,' they mother (in spite of the presence of the
should've shouted, 'keep going, keep manager she was standing here with
working on the lock.' Imagining that her hair sticking up on end, still a mess
all his efforts were being followed from the night) with her hands
with suspense, he bit down frantically clasped was looking at his father; she
on the key with all the force he could then went two steps towards Gregor
muster. As the key turned more, he and collapsed right in the middle of

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her skirts spreading out all around and worry free, with his hand on his
her, her face sunk on her breast, sword, demanded respect for his
completely concealed. His father bearing and uniform. The door to the
clenched his fist with a hostile hall was ajar, and since the door to
expression, as if he wished to push the apartment was also open, one saw
Gregor back into his room, then out into the landing of the apartment
looked uncertainly around the living and the start of the staircase going
room, covered his eyes with his hands, down.
and cried so that his mighty breast
shook.
At this point Gregor did not take one
step into the room, but leaned his body
from the inside against the firmly
bolted wing of the door, so that only
half his body was visible, as well as
his head, titled sideways, with which
he peeped over at the others.
Meanwhile it had become much
brighter. Standing out clearly from
the other side of the street was a part
of the endless gray-black house
situated opposite (it was a hospital)
with its severe regular windows
breaking up the facade. The rain was
still coming down, but only in large
individual drops visibly and firmly
thrown down one by one onto the
ground. The breakfast dishes were
standing piled around on the table,
because for his father breakfast was 'Now,' said Gregor, well aware that
the most important meal time in the he was the only one who had kept his
day, which he prolonged for hours by composure. 'I'll get dressed right
reading various newspapers. Directly away, pack up the collection of
across on the opposite wall hung a samples, and set off. You'll allow me
photograph of Gregor from the time to set out on my way, will you not?
of his military service; it was a picture You see, Mr. Manager, I am not pig-
of him as a lieutenant, as he, smiling headed, and I am happy to work.

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The Metamorphosis Novella

Traveling is exhausting, but I couldn't and groundless complaints, against

live without it. Where are you going, which it's impossible for him to
Mr. Manager? To the office? Really? defend himself, since for the most part
Will you report everything truthfully? he doesn't hear about them at all and
A person can be incapable of work only then when he's exhausted after
momentarily, but that is precisely the finishing a trip, and gets to feel in his
best time to remember the earlier own body at home the nasty
achievements and to consider that consequences, which can't be
later, after the obstacles have been thoroughly explored back to their
shoved aside, the person will work all origins. Mr. Manager, don't leave
the more keenly and intensely. I am without speaking a word telling me
really so indebted to Mr. Chief-you that you'll at least concede that I'm a
know that perfectly well. On the other little in the right!'
hand, I am concerned about my But at Gregor's first words the
parents and my sister. I'm in a fix, but manager had already turned away,
I'll work myself out of it again. Don't and now he looked back at Gregor
make things more difficult for me over his twitching shoulders with
than they already are. Speak up on my pursed lips. During Gregor's speech
behalf in the office! People don't like he was not still for a moment, but was
traveling salesmen. I know that. moving away towards the door,
People think they earn pots of money without taking his eyes off Gregor, but
and thus lead a fine life. People don't really gradually, as if there was a
even have any special reason to think secret ban on leaving the room. He
through this judgment more clearly. was already in the hall, and after the
But you, Mr. Manager, you have a sudden movement with which he
better perspective on the finally pulled his foot out of the living
interconnections than the other room, one could have believed that he
people, even, I tell you in total had just burned the sole of his foot. In
confidence, a better perspective than the hall, however, he stretched out his
Mr. Chairman himself, who in his right hand away from his body
capacity as the employer may let his towards the staircase, as if some truly
judgment make casual mistakes at the supernatural relief was waiting for
expense of an employee. You also him there.
know well enough that the traveling Gregor realized that he must not
salesman who is outside the office under any circumstances allow the
almost the entire year can become so manager to go away in this frame of
easily a victim of gossip, coincidences, mind, especially if his position in the

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The Metamorphosis Novella

firm was not to be placed in the Gregor immediately fell down onto his
greatest danger. His parents did not numerous little legs. Scarcely had this
understand all this very well. Over the happened, when he felt for the first
long years, they had developed the time that morning a general physical
conviction that Gregor was set up for well being. The small limbs had firm
life in his firm and, in addition, they floor under them; they obeyed
had so much to do nowadays with perfectly, as he noticed to his joy, and
their present troubles that all strove to carry him forward in the
foresight was foreign to them. But direction he wanted. Right away he
Gregor had this foresight. The believed that the final amelioration of
manager must be held back, calmed all his suffering was immediately at
down, convinced, and finally won hand. But at the very moment when
over. The future of Gregor and his he lay on the floor rocking in a
family really depended on it! If only restrained manner quite close and
the sister had been there! She was directly across from his mother
clever. She had already cried while (apparently totally sunk into herself)
Gregor was still lying quietly on his she suddenly sprang right up with her
back. And the manager, this friend of arms spread far apart and her fingers
the ladies, would certainly let himself extended and cried out, 'Help, for
be guided by her. She would have God's sake, help!' She held her head
closed the door to the apartment and bowed down, as if she wanted to view
talked him out of his fright in the hall. Gregor better, but ran senselessly
But the sister was not even there. back, contradicting that gesture,
Gregor must deal with it himself. forgetting that behind her stood the
Without thinking that as yet he didn't table with all the dishes on it. When
know anything about his present she reached the table, she sat down
ability to move and without thinking heavily on it, as if absent-mindedly,
that his speech possibly (indeed and did not appear to notice at all that
probably) had once again not been next to her coffee was pouring out
understood, he left the wing of the onto the carpet in a full stream from
door, pushed himself through the the large overturned container.
opening, and wanted to go over to the 'Mother, mother,' said Gregor quietly,
manager, who was already holding and looked over towards her. The
tight onto the handrail with both manager momentarily had disappear
hands on the landing in a ridiculous ed completely from his mind; by
way. But as he looked for something contrast, at the sight of the flowing
to hold onto, with a small scream coffee he couldn't stop himself

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snapping his jaws in the air a few room from him his mother had pulled
times . At that his mother screamed open a window, in spite of the cool
all over again, hurried from the table, weather, and leaning out with her
and collapsed into the arms of his hands on her cheeks, she pushed her
father, who was rushing towards her. face far outside the window. Between
But Gregor had no time right now for the alley and the stair well a strong
his parents: the manager was already draught came up, the curtains on the
on the staircase. His chin level with window flew around, the newspapers
the banister, the manager looked back on the table swished, and individual
for the last time. Gregor took an initial sheets fluttered down over the floor.
movement to catch up to him if The father relentlessly pressed
possible. But the manager must have forward pushing out sibilants, like a
suspected something, because he wild man. Now, Gregor had no
made a leap down over a few stairs practice at all in going backwards; it
and disappeared, still shouting 'Huh!' was really going very slowly. If
The sound echoed throughout the Gregor only had been allowed to turn
entire stairwell. himself around, he would have been
Now, unfortunately this flight of the in his room right away, but he was
manager also seemed completely to afraid to make his father impatient by
bewilder his father, who earlier had the time-consuming process of
been relatively calm, for instead of turning around, and each moment he
running after the manager himself or faced the threat of a mortal blow on
at least not hindering Gregor from his his back or his head from the cane in
pursuit, with his right hand he his father's hand. Finally Gregor had
grabbed hold of the manager's cane, no other option, for he noticed with
which he had left behind with his hat horror that he did not understand yet
and overcoat on a chair. With his left how to maintain his direction going
hand, his father picked up a large backwards. And so he began, amid
newspaper from the table and, constantly anxious sideways glances
stamping his feet on the floor, he set in his father's direction, to turn
out to drive Gregor back into his room himself around as quickly as possible
by waving the cane and the (although in truth this was only very
newspaper. No request of Gregor's slowly). Perhaps his father noticed his
was of any use; no request would even good intentions, for he did not disrupt
be understood. No matter how Gregor in this motion, but with the
willing he was to turn his head tip of the cane from a distance he even
respectfully, his father just stomped directed here and there Gregor's
all the harder with his feet. Across the rotating movement.

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The Metamorphosis Novella

If only there hadn't been his father's and with a peculiar noise, he now
unbearable hissing! Because of that drove Gregor forwards. Behind
Gregor totally lost his head. He was Gregor the sound was at this point no
already almost totally turned around, longer like the voice of only a single
when, always with this hissing in his father. Now it was really no longer a
ear, he just made a mistake and joke, and Gregor forced himself, come
turned himself back a little. But when what might, into the door. One side
he finally was successful in getting his of his body was lifted up. He lay at an
head in front of the door opening, it angle in the door opening. His one
became clear that his body was too flank was sore with the scraping. On
wide to go through any further. the white door ugly blotches were left.
Naturally his father, in his present Soon he was stuck fast and would
mental state, had no idea of opening have not been able to move any more
the other wing of the door a bit to on his own. The tiny legs on one side
create a suitable passage for Gregor hung twitching in the air above, the
to get through. His single fixed ones on the other side were pushed
thought was that Gregor must get into painfully into the floor. Then his father
his room as quickly as possible. He gave him one really strong liberating
would never have allowed the push from behind, and he scurried,
elaborate preparations that Gregor bleeding severely, far into the interior
required to orient himself and thus of his room. The door was slammed
perhaps get through the door. On the shut with the cane, and finally it was
contrary, as if there were no obstacle quiet.

1. What were the physical changes Gregor felt as he woke up from his sleep?
2. Describe the changes in Gregor’s voice at the beginning of his transformation?
3. How did Gregor manage to get himself out of the bed?
4. Why did the manager visit Gregor’s home?
5. Why did the chief suggest to the manager to seek an explanation from Gregor?
6. How did Gregor reject the charges levelled against him by the manager?
7. How did Gregor manage to open the door of his room?
8. How did each member of the family react, seeing him transformed to a vermin?

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II
Gregor first woke up from his heavy immediately dipped his head almost
swoon-like sleep in the evening up to and over his eyes down into the
twilight. He would certainly have milk. But he soon drew it back again
woken up soon afterwards without in disappointment, not just because it
any disturbance, for he felt himself was difficult for him to eat on account
sufficiently rested and wide awake, of his delicate left side (he could eat
although it appeared to him as if a only if his entire panting body worked
hurried step and a cautious closing in a coordinated way), but also
of the door to the hall had aroused because the milk, which otherwise
him. The shine of the electric was his favorite drink and which his
streetlights lay pale here and there on sister had certainly placed there for
the ceiling and on the higher parts of that reason, did not appeal to him at
the furniture, but underneath around all. He turned away from the bowl
Gregor it was dark. He pushed almost with aversion and crept back
himself slowly toward the door, still into the middle of the room.
groping awkwardly with his feelers, In the living room, as Gregor saw
which he now learned to value for the through the crack in the door, the gas
first time, to check what was was lit, but where on other occasions
happening there. His left side seemed at this time of day the father was
one single long unpleasantly stretched accustomed to read the afternoon
scar, and he really had to hobble on newspaper in a loud voice to his
his two rows of legs. In addition, one mother and sometimes also to his
small leg had been seriously wounded sister, at the moment not a sound was
in the course of the morning incident audible. Now, perhaps this reading
(it was almost a miracle that only one aloud, about which his sister always
had been hurt) and dragged lifelessly spoken and written to him, had
behind. recently fallen out of their general
By the door he first noticed what had routine. But it was so still all around,
really lured him there: it was the smell in spite of the fact that the apartment
of something to eat. For there stood a was certainly not empty. 'What a quiet
bowl filled with sweetened milk, in life the family leads', said Gregor to
which swam tiny pieces of white himself and, as he stared fixedly out
bread. He almost laughed with joy, for in front of him into the darkness, he
he now had a much greater hunger felt a great pride that he had been able
than in the morning, and he to provide such a life in a beautiful

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The Metamorphosis Novella

apartment like this for his parents and think undisturbed about how he
his sister. But how would things go if should reorganize his life from
now all tranquility, all prosperity, all scratch. But the high, open room, in
contentment should come to a which he was compelled to lie flat on
horrible end? In order not to lose the floor, made him anxious, without
himself in such thoughts, Gregor his being able to figure out the reason,
preferred to set himself moving and for he had lived in the room for five
crawled up and down in his room. years. With a half unconscious turn
Once during the long evening one and not without a slight shame he
side door and then the other door was scurried under the couch, where, in
opened just a tiny crack and quickly spite of the fact that his back was a
closed again. Someone presumably little cramped and he could no longer
needed to come in but had then lift up his head, he felt very
thought better of it. Gregor comfortable and was sorry only that
immediately took up a position by the his body was too wide to fit completely
living room door, determined to under it.
bring in the hesitant visitor somehow There he remained the entire night,
or other or at least to find out who it which he spent partly in a state of
might be. But now the door was not semi-sleep, out of which his hunger
opened any more, and Gregor waited constantly woke him with a start, but
in vain. Earlier, when the door had partly in a state of worry and murky
been barred, they had all wanted to hopes, which all led to the conclusion
come in to him; now, when he had that for the time being he would have
opened one door and when the others to keep calm and with patience and
had obviously been opened during the the greatest consideration for his
day, no one came any more, and the family tolerate the troubles which in
keys were stuck in the locks on the his present condition he was now
outside. forced to cause them.
The light in the living room was Already early in the morning (it was
turned off only late at night, and now still almost night) Gregor had an
it was easy to establish that his parents opportunity to test the power of the
and his sister had stayed awake all this decisions he had just made, for his
time, for one could hear clearly as all sister, almost fully dressed, opened the
three moved away on tiptoe. Now it door from the hall into his room and
was certain that no one would come looked eagerly inside. She did not find
into Gregor any more until the him immediately, but when she
morning. Thus, he had a long time to noticed him under the couch (God, he

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had to be somewhere or other; for he test his taste, an entire selection, all
could hardly fly away) she got such a spread out on an old newspaper. There
shock that, without being able to were old half-rotten vegetables, bones
control herself, she slammed the door from the evening meal, covered with
shut once again from the outside. a white sauce which had almost
However, as if she was sorry for her solidified, some raisins and almonds,
behaviour, she immediately opened cheese, which Gregor had declared
the door again and walked in on her inedible two days earlier, a slice of
tiptoes, as if she was in the presence dry bread, a slice of salted bread
of a serious invalid or a total stranger. smeared with butter. In addition to all
Gregor had pushed his head forward this, she put down a bowl (probably
just to the edge of the couch and was designated once and for all as
observing her. Would she really Gregor's) into which she had poured
notice that he had left the milk some water. And out of her delicacy
standing, not indeed from any lack of of feeling, since she knew that Gregor
hunger, and would she bring in would not eat in front of her, she went
something else to eat more suitable for away very quickly and even turned
him? If she did not do it on her own, the key in the lock, so that Gregor
he would sooner starve to death than could now observe that he could
call her attention to the fact, although make himself as comfortable as he
he had a really powerful urge to move wished. Gregor's small limbs buzzed
beyond the couch, throw himself at as the time for eating had come. His
his sister's feet, and beg her for wounds must, in any case, have
something or other good to eat. But already healed completely. He felt no
his sister noticed right away with handicap on that score. He was
astonishment that the bowl was still astonished at that and thought about
full, with only a little milk spilled it, how more than a month ago he had
around it. She picked it up cut his finger slightly with a knife and
immediately (although not with her how this wound had hurt enough even
bare hands but with a rag), and took the day before yesterday.
it out of the room. Gregor was 'Am I now going to be less sensitive,'
extremely curious what she would he thought, already sucking greedily
bring as a substitute, and he pictured on the cheese, which had strongly
to himself different ideas about that. attracted him right away, more than
But he never could have guessed what all the other foods. Quickly and with
his sister out of the goodness of her his eyes watering with satisfaction, he
heart in fact did. She brought him, to ate one after the other the cheese, the

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vegetables, and the sauce; the fresh common noon meal, for his parents
food, by contrast, didn't taste good to were, as before, asleep then for a little
him. He couldn't bear the smell and while, and the servant girl was sent
even carried the things he wanted to off by his sister on some errand or
eat a little distance away. By the time other. Certainly they would not have
his sister slowly turned the key as a wanted Gregor to starve to death, but
sign that he should withdraw, he was perhaps they could not have endured
long finished and now lay lazily in finding out what he ate other than by
the same spot. The noise immediately hearsay. Perhaps his sister wanted to
startled him, in spite of the fact that spare them what was possibly only a
he was already almost asleep, and he small grief, for they were really
scurried back again under the couch. suffering quite enough already.
But it cost him great self-control to What sorts of excuses people had used
remain under the couch, even for the on that first morning to get the doctor
short time his sister was in the room, and the locksmith out of the house
because his body had filled out Gregor was completely unable to
somewhat on account of the rich meal ascertain. Since he was not
and in the narrow space there he comprehensible, no one, not even his
could scarcely breathe. In the midst sister, thought that he might be able
of minor attacks of asphyxiation, he to understand others, and thus, when
looked at her with somewhat his sister was in her room, he had to
protruding eyes, as his unsuspecting be content with listening now and
sister swept up with a broom, not just then to her sighs and invocations to
the remnants, but even the foods the saints. Only later, when she had
which Gregor had not touched at all, grown somewhat accustomed to
as if these were also now useless, and everything (naturally there could
as she dumped everything quickly never be any talk of her growing
into a bucket, which she closed with completely accustomed to it) Gregor
a wooden lid, and then carried all of sometimes caught a comment which
it out of the room. She had hardly was intended to be friendly or could
turned around before Gregor had be interpreted as such. 'Well, today it
already dragged himself out from the tasted good to him,' she said, if Gregor
couch, stretched out, and let his body had really cleaned up what he had to
expand. eat; whereas, in the reverse situation,
In this way Gregor got his food every which gradually repeated itself more
day, once in the morning, when his and more frequently, she used to say
parents and the servant girl were still sadly, 'Now everything has stopped
asleep, and a second time after the again.'

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But while Gregor could get no new that didn't create much trouble
information directly, he did hear a because people were eating almost
good deal from the room next door, nothing. Again and again Gregor
and as soon as he heard voices, he listened as one of them vainly invited
scurried right away to the relevant another one to eat and received no
door and pressed his entire body answer other than 'Thank you. I have
against it. In the early days especially, enough' or something like that. And
there was no conversation which was perhaps they had stopped having
not concerned with him in some way anything to drink, too. His sister often
or other, even if only in secret. For two asked his father whether he wanted
days at all meal times discussions on to have a beer and gladly offered to
that subject could be heard on how fetch it herself, and when his father
people should now behave; but they was silent, she said, in order to remove
also talked about the same subject in any reservations he might have, that
the times between meals, for there she could send the caretaker's wife to
were always at least two family get it. But then his father finally said
members at home, since no one really a resounding 'No,' and nothing more
wanted to remain in the house alone would be spoken about it.
and people could not under any Already during the first day his father
circumstances leave the apartment laid out all the financial circum
completely empty. In addition, on the stances and prospects to his mother
very first day the servant girl (it was and to his sister as well. From time to
not completely clear what and how time he stood up from the table and
much she knew about what had pulled out of the small lockbox
happened) on her knees had begged salvaged from his business, which had
his mother to let her go immediately, collapsed five years previously, some
and when she said good bye about document or other or some notebook.
fifteen minutes later, she thanked The sound was audible as he opened
them for the dismissal with tears in up the complicated lock and, after
her eyes, as if she was receiving the removing what he was looking for,
greatest favour which people had locked it up again. These explanations
shown her there, and, without anyone by his father were, in part, the first
demanding it from her, she swore a enjoyable thing that Gregor had the
fearful oath not to betray anyone, not chance to listen to since his
even the slightest bit. imprisonment. He had thought that
Now his sister had to team up with nothing at all was left over for his
his mother to do the cooking, although father from that business; at least his

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father had told him nothing to the violin charmingly) next year to the
contradict that view, and Gregor in conservatory, regardless of the great
any case hadn't asked him about it. expense which that must necessitate
At the time Gregor's only concern had and which would be made up in other
been to devote everything he had in ways. Now and then during Gregor's
order to allow his family to forget as short stays in the city the conservatory
quickly as possible the business was mentioned in conversations with
misfortune which had brought them his sister, but always only as a
all into a state of complete hopeless beautiful dream, whose realization
ness. And so at that point he'd started was unimaginable, and their parents
to work with a special intensity and never listened to these innocent
from an assistant had become, almost expectations with pleasure. But
overnight, a traveling salesman, who Gregor thought about them with
naturally had entirely different scrupulous consideration and
possibilities for earning money and intended to explain the matter
whose successes at work at once were ceremoniously on Christmas Eve.
converted into the form of cash In his present situation, such futile
commissions, which could be set out ideas went through his head, while he
on the table at home in front of his pushed himself right up against the
astonished and delighted family. door and listened. Sometimes in his
Those had been beautiful days, and general exhaustion he couldn't listen
they had never come back afterwards, any more and let his head bang
at least not with the same splendour, listlessly against the door, but he
in spite of the fact that Gregor later immediately pulled himself together,
earned so much money that he was for even the small sound which he
in a position to bear the expenses of made by this motion was heard near
the entire family, expenses which he, by and silenced everyone. ' There he
in fact, did bear. They had become goes on again,' said his father after a
quite accustomed to it, both the family while, clearly turning towards the
and Gregor as well. They took the door, and only then would the
money with thanks, and he happily interrupted conversation gradually
surrendered it, but the special warmth be resumed again. Gregor found out
was no longer present. Only the sister clearly enough (for his father tended
had remained still close to Gregor, to repeat himself often in his
and it was his secret plan to send her explanations, partly because he had
(in contrast to Gregor she loved music not personally concerned himself
very much and knew how to play the with these matters for a long time

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now, and partly also because his not worked at all for five years now
mother did not understand and thus could not be counted on for
everything right away the first time) very much. He had in these five years,
that, in spite all bad luck, a fortune, the first holidays of his trouble-filled
although a very small one, was but unsuccessful life, put on a good
available from the old times, which deal of fat and thus had become really
the interest (which had not been heavy. And should his old mother
touched) had in the intervening time now maybe work for money, a
gradually allowed to increase a little. woman who suffered from asthma, for
Furthermore, in addition to this, the whom wandering through the
money which Gregor had brought apartment even now was a great
home every month (he had kept only strain and who spent every second day
a few florins for himself) had not been on the sofa by the open window
completely spent and had grown into labouring for breath? Should his
a small capital amount. Gregor, sister earn money, a girl who was still
behind his door, nodded eagerly, a seventeen-year-old child, whose
rejoicing over this unanticipated earlier life style had been so very
foresight and frugality. True, with this delightful that it had consisted of
excess money, he could have paid off dressing herself nicely, sleeping in
more of his father's debt to his late, helping around the house, taking
employer and the day on which he part in a few modest enjoyments and,
could be rid of this position would above all, playing the violin? When
have been a lot closer, but now things it came to talking about this need to
were doubtless better the way his earn money, at first Gregor went
father had arranged them. away from the door and threw himself
At the moment, however, this money on the cool leather sofa beside the
was nowhere near sufficient to permit door, for he was quite hot from shame
the family to live on the interest and sorrow.
payments. Perhaps it would be Often he lay there all night long. He
enough to maintain the family for one didn't sleep a moment and just
or at most two years, that's all. Thus it scratched on the leather for hours at
came only to an amount which one a time. He undertook the very difficult
should not really take out and which task of shoving a chair over to the
must be set aside for an emergency. window. Then he crept up on the
But the money to live on must be window sill and, braced in the chair,
earned. Now, his father was a healthy leaned against the window to look out,
man, although he was old, who had obviously with some memory or other

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of the satisfaction which that used to window, without taking the time to
bring him in earlier times. Actually shut the door (in spite of the fact that
from day to day he perceived things she was otherwise very considerate in
with less and less clarity, even those a sparing anyone the sight of Gregor's
short distance away: the hospital room), and yanked the window open
across the street, the all too frequent with eager hands, as if she was almost
sight of which he had previously suffocating, and remained for a while
cursed, was not visible at all any more, by the window breathing deeply, even
and if he had not been precisely aware when it was still so cold. With this
that he lived in the quiet but running and noise she frightened
completely urban Charlotte Street, he Gregor twice every day. The entire
could have believed that from his time he trembled under the couch,
window he was peering out at a and yet he knew very well that she
featureless wasteland, in which the would certainly have spared him
gray heaven and the gray earth had gladly if it had only been possible to
merged and were indistinguishable. remain with the window closed in a
His attentive sister must have observed
room where Gregor lived.
a couple of times that the chair stood
by the window; then, after cleaning On one occasion (about one month
up the room, each time she pushed the had already gone by since Gregor's
chair back right against the window transformation, and there was now no
and from now on she even left the particular reason any more for his
inner casement open. sister to be startled at Gregor's
If Gregor had only been able to speak appearance) she came a little earlier
to his sister and thank her for than usual and came upon Gregor as
everything that she had to do for him, he was still looking out the window,
he would have tolerated her service immobile and well positioned to
more easily. As it was he suffered frighten someone. It would not have
under it. The sister admittedly sought come as a surprise to Gregor if she had
to cover up the awkwardness of not come in, since his position was
everything as much as possible, and, preventing her from opening the
as time went by, she naturally got window immediately. But she not
more successful at it. But with the only did not step inside; she even
passing of time Gregor also came to retreated and shut the door. A stranger
understand everything more really could have concluded from
precisely. Even her entrance was this that Gregor had been lying in
terrible for him. As soon as she wait for her and wanted to bite her.
entered, she ran straight to the Of course, Gregor immediately

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concealed himself under the couch, somewhat useless young woman.

but he had to wait until the noon meal However, now both his father and his
before his sister returned, and she mother often waited in front of
seemed much less calm than usual. Gregor's door while his sister cleaned
From this he realized that his up inside, and as soon as she came out
appearance was still constantly she had to explain in detail how things
intolerable to her and must remain looked in the room, what Gregor had
intolerable in future, and that she eaten, how he had behaved this time,
really had to exert a lot of self-control and whether perhaps a slight
not to run away from a glimpse of improvement was perceptible. In any
only the small part of his body which event, his mother comparatively soon
stuck out from under the couch. In wanted to visit Gregor, but his father
order to spare her even this sight, one and his sister restrained her, at first
day he dragged the sheet on his back with reasons which Gregor listened
onto the couch (this task took him four to very attentively and which he
hours) and arranged it in such a way completely endorsed. Later, however,
that he was now completely they had to hold her back forcefully,
concealed and his sister, even if she and when she then cried 'Let me go to
bent down, could not see him. If this Gregor. He's my unlucky son! Don't
sheet was not necessary as far as she you understand that I have to go to
was concerned, then she could remove him?' Gregor then thought that
it, for it was clear enough that Gregor perhaps it would be a good thing if
could not derive any pleasure from his mother came in, not every day, of
isolating himself away so completely. course, but maybe once a week. She
But she left the sheet just as it was, and understood everything much better
Gregor believed he even caught a look than his sister, who in spite of all her
of gratitude when on one occasion he courage was still a child and, in the
carefully lifted up the sheet a little last analysis, had perhaps undertaken
with his head to check as his sister such a difficult task only out of
took stock of the new arrangement. childish recklessness.
In the first two weeks his parents Gregor's wish to see his mother was
could not bring themselves to visit soon realized. While during the day
him, and he often heard how they Gregor, out of consideration for his
fully acknowledged his sister's parents, did not want to show himself
present work; whereas, earlier they by the window, he couldn't crawl
had often got annoyed at his sister around very much on the few square
because she had seemed to them a metres of the floor. He found it

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difficult to bear lying quietly during confined to the kitchen and of having
the night, and soon eating no longer to open the door only in answer to a
gave him the slightest pleasure. So for special summons. Thus, his sister had
diversion he acquired the habit of no other choice but to involve his
crawling back and forth across the mother while his father was absent.
walls and ceiling. He was especially His mother approached Gregor's
fond of hanging from the ceiling. The room with cries of excited joy, but she
experience was quite different from fell silent at the door. Of course, his
lying on the floor. It was easier to sister first checked whether every
breathe, a slight vibration went thing in the room was in order. Only
through his body, and in the midst of then did she let his mother walk in.
the almost happy amusement which In great haste Gregor had drawn the
Gregor found up there, it could sheet down even further and wrinkled
happen that, to his own surprise, he it more. The whole thing really looked
let go and hit the floor. However, now just like a coverlet thrown carelessly
he naturally controlled his body quite over the couch. On this occasion,
differently, and he did not injure Gregor held back from spying out
himself in such a great fall. His sister from under the sheet. Thus, he
noticed immediately the new refrained from looking at his mother
amusement which Gregor had found this time and was just happy that she
for himself (for as he crept around he had come. 'Come on; he is not visible,'
left behind here and there traces of his said his sister, and evidently led his
sticky stuff), and so she got the idea of mother by the hand. Now Gregor
making Gregor's creeping around as listened as these two weak women
easy as possible and thus of removing shifted the still heavy old chest of
the furniture which got in the way, drawers from its position, and as his
especially the chest of drawers and the sister constantly took on herself the
writing desk. greatest part of the work, without
But she was in no position to do this listening to the warnings of his
by herself. She did not dare to ask her mother who was afraid that she
father to help, and the servant girl would strain herself. The work lasted
would certainly not have assisted her, a long time. After about a quarter of
for although this girl, about sixteen an hour had already gone by his
years old, had courageously remained mother said that it would be better if
since the dismissal of the previous they left the chest of drawers where it
cook, she had begged for the privilege was, because, in the first place, it was
of being allowed to stay permanently too heavy: they would not be finished

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before his father's arrival, and with by the family over the course of these
the chest of drawers in the middle of two months must have confused his
the room it would block all Gregor's understanding, because otherwise he
pathways, but, in the second place, it couldn't explain to himself that he in
might not be certain that Gregor all seriousness could've been so keen
would be pleased with the removal of to have his room emptied. Was he
the furniture. To her the reverse really eager to let the warm room,
seemed to be true; the sight of the comfortably furnished with pieces he
empty walls pierced her right to the had inherited, be turned into a cavern
heart, and why should Gregor not feel in which he would, of course, then be
the same, since he had been able to crawl about in all directions
accustomed to the room furnishings without disturbance, but at the same
for a long time and in an empty room time with a quick and complete
would thus feel himself abandoned. forgetting of his human past as well?
'And is it not the case,' his mother Was he then at this point already on
concluded very quietly, almost the verge of forgetting and was it only
whispering as if she wished to prevent the voice of his mother, which he had
Gregor, whose exact location she not heard for a long time, that had
really didn't know, from hearing even aroused him? Nothing was to be
the sound of her voice (for she was removed; everything must remain. In
convinced that he did not understand his condition he couldn't function
her words), 'and isn't it a fact that by without the beneficial influences of
removing the furniture we're his furniture. And if the furniture
showing that we're giving up all hope prevented him from carrying out his
of an improvement and are leaving senseless crawling about all over the
him to his own resources without any place, then there was no harm in that,
consideration? I think it would be but rather a great benefit.
best if we tried to keep the room But his sister unfortunately thought
exactly in the condition in which it otherwise. She had grown
was before, so that, when Gregor accustomed, certainly not without
returns to us, he finds everything justification, so far as the discussion
unchanged and can forget the of matters concerning Gregor was
intervening time all the more easily.' concerned, to act as an special expert
As he heard his mother's words with respect to their parents, and so
Gregor realized that the lack of all now the mother's advice was for his
immediate human contact, together sister sufficient reason to insist on the
with the monotonous life surrounded removal, not only of the chest of

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The Metamorphosis Novella

drawers and the writing desk, which groaning as they pushed it, when
were the only items she had thought Gregor stuck his head out from under
about at first, but also of all the the sofa to take a look how he could
furniture, with the exception of the intervene cautiously and with as
indispensable couch. Of course, it was much consideration as possible. But
not only childish defiance and her unfortunately it was his mother who
recent very unexpected and hard won came back into the room first, while
self-confidence which led her to this Grete had her arms wrapped around
demand. She had also actually the chest of drawers in the next room
observed that Gregor needed a great and was rocking it back and forth by
deal of room to creep about; the herself, without moving it from its
furniture, on the other hand, as far as position. His mother was not used to
one could see, was not of the slightest the sight of Gregor; he could have
use. But perhaps the enthusiastic made her ill, and so, frightened,
sensibility of young women of her age Gregor scurried backwards right to
also played a role. This feeling sought the other end of the sofa, but he could
release at every opportunity, and with no longer prevent the sheet from
it Grete now felt tempted to want to moving forward a little. That was
make Gregor's situation even more enough to catch his mother's attention.
terrifying, so that then she would be She came to a halt, stood still for a
able to do even more for him than moment, and then went back to Grete.
now. For surely no one except Grete Although Gregor kept repeating to
would ever trust themselves to enter himself over and over that really
a room in which Gregor ruled the nothing unusual was going on, that
empty walls all by himself. only a few pieces of furniture were
And so she did not let herself be being rearranged, he soon had to
dissuaded from her decision by her admit to himself that the movements
mother, who in this room seemed of the women to and fro, their quiet
uncertain of herself in her sheer conversations, the scratching of the
agitation and soon kept quiet, helping furniture on the floor affected him
his sister with all her energy to get like a great swollen commotion on all
the chest of drawers out of the room. sides, and, so firmly was he pulling
Now, Gregor could still do without in his head and legs and pressing his
the chest of drawers if need be, but body into the floor, he had to tell
the writing desk really had to stay. himself unequivocally that he
And scarcely had the women left the wouldn't be able to endure all this
room with the chest of drawers, much longer. They were cleaning out

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The Metamorphosis Novella

his room, taking away from him room to observe the women as they
everything he cherished; they had came back in.
already dragged out the chest of They had not allowed themselves very
drawers in which the fret saw and much rest and were coming back
other tools were kept, and they were right away. Grete had placed her arm
now loosening the writing desk around her mother and held her
which was fixed tight to the floor, the tightly. 'So what shall we take now?'
desk on which he, as a business said Grete and looked around her.
student, a school student, indeed even Then her glance crossed with Gregor's
as an elementary school student, had from the wall. She kept her composure
written out his assignments. At that only because her mother was there.
moment he really didn't have any She bent her face towards her mother
more time to check the good in order to prevent her from looking
intentions of the two women, whose around, and said, although in a
existence he had in any case almost trembling voice and too quickly,
forgotten, because in their exhaustion 'Come, wouldn't it be better to go back
they were working really silently, and to the living room for just another
the heavy stumbling of their feet was moment?' Grete's purpose was clear
the only sound to be heard. to Gregor: she wanted to bring his
And so he scuttled out (the women mother to a safe place and then chase
were just propping themselves up on him down from the wall. Well, let her
the writing desk in the next room in just attempt that! He squatted on his
order to take a breather) changing the picture and did not hand it over. He
direction of his path four times. He would sooner spring into Grete's face.
really didn't know what he should But Grete's words had immediately
rescue first. Then he saw hanging made the mother very uneasy. She
conspicuously on the wall, which was walked to the side, caught sight of the
otherwise already empty, the picture enormous brown splotch on the
of the woman dressed in nothing but flowered wallpaper, and, before she
fur. He quickly scurried up over it became truly aware that what she was
and pressed himself against the glass looking at was Gregor, screamed out
that held it in place and which made in a high pitched raw voice 'Oh God,
his hot abdomen feel good. At least this oh God' and fell with outstretched
picture, which Gregor at the moment arms, as if she was surrendering
completely concealed, surely no one everything, down onto the couch and
would now take away. He twisted his lay there motionless. 'Gregor, you…,'
head towards the door of the living cried out his sister with a raised fist

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and an urgent glare. Since his despair, as the entire room started to
transformation those were the first spin around him, he fell onto the
words which she had directed right middle of the large table.
at him. She ran into the room next A short time elapsed. Gregor lay there
door to bring some spirits or other limply. All around was still. Perhaps
with which she could revive her that was a good sign. Then there was
mother from her fainting spell. ring at the door. The servant girl was
Gregor wanted to help as well (there naturally shut up in her kitchen, and
was time enough to save the picture), Grete must therefore go to open the
but he was stuck fast on the glass and door. The father had arrived. 'What's
had to tear himself loose forcefully. happened,' were his first words.
Then he also scurried into the next Grete's appearance had told him
room, as if he could give his sister everything. Grete replied with a dull
some advice, as in earlier times, but voice; evidently she was pressing her
then he had to stand there idly behind face into her father's chest: 'Mother
her, while she rummaged about fainted, but she's getting better now.
among various small bottles. Still, she Gregor has broken loose.' 'Yes, I have
was frightened when she turned expected that,' said his father, 'I
around. A bottle fell onto the floor and always told you that, but you women
shattered. A splinter of glass wounded don't want to listen.' It was clear to
Gregor in the face, some corrosive Gregor that his father had badly
medicine or other dripped over him. misunderstood Grete's short message
Now, without lingering any longer, and was assuming that Gregor had
Grete took as many small bottles as committed some violent crime or
she could hold and ran with them into other. Thus, Gregor now had to find
her mother. She slammed the door his father to calm him down, for he
shut with her foot. Gregor was now had neither the time nor the
shut off from his mother, who was opportunity to clarify things for him.
perhaps near death, thanks to him. He And so he rushed away to the door of
could not open the door, and he did his room and pushed himself against
not want to chase away his sister who it, so that his father could see right
had to remain with her mother. At this away as he entered from the hall that
point he had nothing to do but wait, Gregor fully intended to return at
and overwhelmed with self-reproach once to his room, that it was not
and worry, he began to creep and necessary to drive him back, but that
crawl over everything: walls, one only needed to open the door and
furniture, and ceiling,. Finally, in his he would disappear immediately.

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But his father was not in the mood to straight, dressed in a tight fitting blue
observe such niceties. 'Ah,' he yelled uniform with gold buttons, like the
as soon as he entered, with a tone as if ones servants wear in a banking
he were all at once angry and pleased. company. Above the high stiff collar
Gregor pulled his head back from the of his jacket his firm double chin
door and raised it in the direction of stuck out prominently, beneath his
his father. He had not really pictured bushy eyebrows the glance of his
his father as he now stood there. Of black eyes was freshly penetrating
course, what with his new style of and alert, his otherwise disheveled
creeping all around, he had in the past white hair was combed down into a
while neglected to pay attention to carefully exact shining part. He threw
what was going on in the rest of the his cap, on which a gold monogram
apartment, as he had done before, and (apparently the symbol of the bank)
really should have grasped the fact was affixed, in an arc across the entire
that he would encounter different room onto the sofa and moved,
conditions. Nevertheless, nevertheless, throwing back the edge of the long
was that still his father? Was that the coat of his uniform, with his hands in
same man who had lain exhausted his trouser pockets and a grim face,
and buried in bed in earlier days when right up to Gregor.
Gregor was setting out on a business He really didn't know what he had in
trip, who had received him on the mind, but he raised his foot
evenings of his return in a sleeping uncommonly high anyway, and
gown and arm chair, totally unable Gregor was astonished at the gigantic
of standing up, who had only lifted size of his sole of his boot. However,
his arm as a sign of happiness, and he did not linger on that point. For he
who in their rare strolls together a knew from the first day of his new life
few Sundays a year and on the that as far as he was concerned his
important holidays made his way father considered the greatest force
slowly forwards between Gregor and the only appropriate response. And so
his mother, always a bit more slowly he scurried away from his father,
than them, bundled up in his old coat, stopped when his father remained
all the time setting down his walking standing, and scampered forward
stick carefully, and who, when he had again when his father merely stirred.
wanted to say something, almost In this way they made their way
always stood still and gathered his around the room repeatedly, without
entourage around him? anything decisive taking place;
But now he was standing up really indeed because of the slow pace it

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didn't look like a chase. Gregor accurate aim, was throwing apple
remained on the floor for the time after apple. These small red apples
being, especially as he was afraid that rolled as if electrified around on the
his father could take a flight up onto floor and collided with each other. A
the wall or the ceiling as an act of real weakly thrown apple grazed Gregor's
malice. At any event Gregor had to tell back but skidded off harmlessly.
himself that he couldn't keep up this However another thrown
running around for a long time, immediately after that one drove into
because whenever his father took a Gregor's back really hard. Gregor
single step, he had to go through an wanted to drag himself off, as if the
enormous number of movements. unexpected and incredible pain
Already he was starting to suffer from would go away if he changed his
a shortage of breath, just as in his position. But he felt as if he was nailed
earlier days his lungs had been quite in place and lay stretched out
unreliable. As he now staggered completely confused in all his senses.
around in this way, hardly keeping Only with his final glance did he
his eyes open, in his listlessness he had notice how the door of his room was
no notion at all of any escape other pulled open and how, right in front
than by running and had almost of his sister (who was yelling), his
already forgotten that the walls were mother ran out in her undergarments,
available to him, although they were for his sister had undressed her in
obstructed by carefully carved order to give her some freedom to
furniture full of sharp points and breathe in her fainting spell, and how
spikes-at that moment something or his mother then ran up to his father,
other thrown casually flew down on the way her tied up skirts one after
close by and rolled in front of him. It the other slipped toward the floor, and
was an apple; immediately a second how, tripping over her skirts, she
one flew after it. Gregor stood still in hurled herself onto his father and,
fright. Further flight was useless, for throwing her arms around him, in
his father had decided to bombard complete union with him-but at this
him. moment Gregor's powers of sight
From the fruit bowl on the sideboard gave way-as her hands reached to the
his father had filled his pockets, and back of his father's head and she
now, without for the moment taking begged him to spare Gregor's life.

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1. How did Gregor’s taste for food change during his transformation?
2. How did Grete respond on seeing him hide under the sofa? Why?
3. How did Grete test Gregor’s taste for food after the transformation?
4. Why did Gregor’s family members prefer not to be alone in the house?
6. How did Gregor’s transformation affect the family economically?
7. What are the services rendered by Grete to Gregor?
8. Why did Grete decide to shift the furniture from Gregor’s room?
9. Why did the mother disagree with Grete’s plan to shift the furniture?
10. How did Gregor respond to the shifting of furniture?
11. Why did Gregor crawl over the picture of the lady in fur?
12. What happened to the mother when she saw Gregor, as a vermin?
13. Why did Samsa hit Gregor with an apple?

III
Gregor's serious wound, from which (so far as creeping up high was
he suffered for over a month (since no concerned, that was unimaginable),
one ventured to remove the apple, it nevertheless for this worsening of his
remained in his flesh as a visible condition, in his opinion, he did get
reminder), seemed by itself to have completely satisfactory compen
reminded the father that, in spite of sation, because every day towards
his present unhappy and hateful evening the door to the living room,
appearance, Gregor was a member of which he was in the habit of keeping
the family, something one should not a sharp eye on even one or two hours
treat as an enemy, and that it was, on beforehand, was opened, so that he,
the contrary, a requirement of family lying down in the darkness of his
duty to suppress one's aversion and to room, invisible from the living room,
endure-nothing else, just endure. And could see the entire family at the
if through his wound Gregor had illuminated table and listen to their
now apparently lost for good his conversation, to acertain extent with
ability to move and for the time being their common permission, a situation
needed many many minutes to crawl quite different from what happened
across this room, like an aged invalid before.

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Of course, it was no longer the dirty, and Gregor looked, often for the
animated social interaction of former entire evening, at this clothing, with
times, about which Gregor in small stains all over it and with its gold
hotel rooms had always thought buttons always polished, in which the
about with a certain longing, when, old man, although very uncomfort
tired out, he had to throw himself in able, slept peacefully nonetheless.
the damp bedclothes. For the most part As soon as the clock struck ten, the
what went on now was very quiet. mother tried encouraging the father
After the evening meal the father fell gently to wake up and then
asleep quickly in his arm chair; the persuading him to go to bed, on the
mother and sister talked guardedly to ground that he couldn't get a proper
each other in the stillness. Bent far sleep here and the father, who had to
over, the mother sewed fine under report for service at six o'clock, really
garments for a fashion shop. The needed a good sleep. But in his
sister, who had taken on a job as a stubbornness, which had gripped him
salesgirl, in the evening studied since he had become a servant, he
stenography and French, so as perhaps insisted always on staying even longer
later to obtain a better position. by the table, although he regularly fell
Sometimes the father woke up and, as asleep and then could only be
if he was quite ignorant that he had prevailed upon with the greatest
been asleep, said to the mother 'How difficulty to trade his chair for the bed.
long you have been sewing today!' and No matter how much the mother and
went right back to sleep, while the sister might at that point work on him
mother and the sister smiled tiredly with small admonitions, for a quarter
to each other. of an hour he would remain shaking
With a sort of stubbornness the father his head slowly, his eyes closed,
refused to take off his servant's without standing up. The mother
uniform even at home, and while his would pull him by the sleeve and
sleeping gown hung unused on the speak flattering words into his ear;
coat hook, the father dozed the sister would leave her work to
completely dressed in his place, as if help her mother, but that would not
he was always ready for his have the desired effect on the father.
responsibility and even here was He would settle himself even more
waiting for the voice of his superior. deeply in his arm chair. Only when
As result, in spite of all the care of the the two women grabbed him under
mother and sister, his uniform, which the armpits would he throw his eyes
even at the start was not new, grew open, look back and forth at the

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mother and sister, and habitually say moved. But Gregor fully recognized
'This is a life. This is the peace and that it was not just consideration for
quiet of my old age.' And propped up him which was preventing a move
by both women, he would heave (for he could have been transported
himself up, elaborately, as if for him easily in a suitable box with a few air
it was the greatest travail, allow holes); the main thing holding the
himself to be led to the door by the family back from a change in living
women, wave them away there, and quarters was far more their complete
proceed on his own from there, while hopelessness and the idea that they
the mother quickly threw down her had been struck by a misfortune like
sewing implements and the sister her no one else in their entire circle of
pen in order to run after the father and relatives and acquaintances.
help him some more. What the world demands of poor
In this overworked and exhausted people they now carried out to an
family who had time to worry any extreme degree. The father bought
longer about Gregor more than was breakfast to the petty officials at the
absolutely necessary? The household bank, the mother sacrificed herself for
was constantly getting smaller. The the undergarments of strangers, the
servant girl was now let go. A huge sister behind her desk was at the beck
bony cleaning woman with white and call of customers, but the family's
hair flapping all over her head came energies did not extend any further.
in the morning and the evening to do And the wound in his back began to
the heaviest work. The mother took pain Gregor all over again, when now
care of everything else in addition to mother and sister, after they had
her considerable sewing work. It even escorted the father to bed, came back,
happened that various pieces of family let their work lie, moved close
jewelery, which previously the mother together, and sat cheek to cheek and
and sister had been overjoyed to wear when his mother would now say,
on social and festive occasions, were pointing to Gregor's room, 'Close the
sold, as Gregor found out in the door, Grete,' and when Gregor was
evening from the general discussion again in the darkness, while close by
of the prices they had fetched. But the the women mingled their tears or,
greatest complaint was always that quite dry eyed, stared at the table.
they could not leave this apartment, Gregor spent his nights and days with
which was too big for their present hardly any sleep. Sometimes he
means, since it was impossible to thought that the next time the door
imagine how Gregor might be opened he would take over the family

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arrangements just as he had earlier. task of cleaning his room, which she
In his imagination appeared again, now always carried out in the
after a long time, his employer and evening, could not be done any more
supervisor and the apprentices, the quickly. Streaks of dirt ran along the
excessively gormless custodian, two walls; here and there lay tangles of
or three friends from other businesses, dust and garbage. At first, when his
a chambermaid from a hotel in the sister arrived, Gregor positioned
provinces, a loving fleeting memory, himself in a particularly filthy corner
a female cashier from a hat shop, in order with this posture to make
whom he had seriously, but too something of a protest. But he could
slowly courted-they all appeared have well stayed there for weeks
mixed in with strangers or people he without his sister's changing her
had already forgotten, but instead of ways. Indeed, she perceived the dirt
helping him and his family, they as much as he did, but she had
were all unapproachable, and he was decided just to let it stay.
happy to see them disappear. In this business, with a touchiness
But then he was in no mood to worry which was quite new to her and
about his family. He was filled with which had generally taken over the
sheer anger over the wretched care entire family, she kept watch to see
he was getting, even though he that the cleaning of Gregor's room
couldn't imagine anything for which remained reserved for her. Once his
he might have an appetite. Still, he mother had undertaken a major
made plans about how he could take cleaning of Gregor's room, which she
from the larder what he at all account had only completed successfully after
deserved, even if he wasn't hungry. using a few buckets of water. But the
Without thinking any more about extensive dampness made Gregor sick
how one might be able to give Gregor and he lay supine, embittered and
special pleasure, the sister now immobile on the couch. However, the
kicked some food or other very mother's punishment was not delayed
quickly into his room in the morning for long. For in the evening the sister
and at noon, before she ran off to her had hardly observed the change in
shop, and in the evening, quite Gregor's room before she ran into the
indifferent about whether the food living room mightily offended and, in
had perhaps only been tasted or, what spite of her mother's hand lifted high
happened most frequently, remained in entreaty, broke out in a fit of
entirely undisturbed, she whisked it crying. Her parents (the father had,
out with one sweep of her broom. The of course, woken up with a start in

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his arm chair) at first looked at her fail to open the door furtively a little
astonished and helpless; until they every morning and evening to look in
started to get agitated. Turning to his on Gregor. At first, she also called him
right, the father heaped reproaches on to her with words which she
the mother that she was not to take presumably thought were friendly,
over the cleaning of Gregor's room like 'Come here for a bit, old dung
from the sister and, turning to his left, beetle!' or 'Hey, look at the old dung
he shouted at the sister that she would beetle!' Addressed in such a manner,
no longer be allowed to clean Gregor answered nothing, but
Gregor's room ever again, while the remained motionless in his place, as
mother tried to pull the father, beside if the door had not been opened at all.
himself in his excitement, into the bed If only, instead of allowing this
room; the sister, shaken by her crying cleaning woman to disturb him
fit, pounded on the table with her tiny
uselessly whenever she felt like it, they
fists, and Gregor hissed at all this,
had instead given her orders to clean
angry that no one thought about
up his room every day! One day in the
shutting the door and sparing him the
early morning (a hard downpour,
sight of this commotion.
perhaps already a sign of the coming
But even when the sister, exhausted spring, struck the window panes)
from her daily work, had grown tired when the cleaning woman started up
of caring for Gregor as she had before, once again with her usual conver
even then the mother did not have to sation, Gregor was so bitter that he
come at all on her behalf. And Gregor turned towards her, as if for an attack,
did not have to be neglected. For now although slowly and weakly. But
the cleaning woman was there. This
instead of being afraid of him, the
old widow, who in her long life must
cleaning woman merely lifted up a
have managed to survive the worst
chair standing close by the door and,
with the help of her bony frame, had
as she stood there with her mouth
no real horror of Gregor. Without
being in the least curious, she had wide open, her intention was clear: she
once by chance opened Gregor's door. would close her mouth only when the
At the sight of Gregor, who, totally chair in her hand had been thrown
surprised, began to scamper here and down on Gregor's back. 'This goes no
there, although no one was chasing further, all right?' she asked, as
him, she remained standing with her Gregor turned himself around again,
hands folded across her stomach and she placed the chair calmly back
staring at him. Since then she did not in the corner.

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Gregor ate hardly anything any more. momentarily useless into Gregor's
Only when he chanced to move past room. Fortunately Gregor generally
the food which had been prepared did saw only the relevant object and the
he, as a game, take a bit into his mouth, hand which held it. The cleaning
hold it there for hours, and generally woman perhaps was intending, when
spit it out again. At first he thought it time and opportunity allowed, to take
might be his sadness over the the stuff out again or to throw
condition of his room which kept everything out all at once, but in fact
him from eating, but he very soon the things remained lying there,
became reconciled to the alterations wherever they had ended up at the first
in his room. People had grown throw, unless Gregor squirmed his
accustomed to put into storage in his way through the accumulation of
room things which they couldn't put junk and moved it. At first he was
anywhere else, and at this point there forced to do this because otherwise
were many such things, now that they there was no room for him to creep
had rented one room of the apartment around, but later he did it with a with
to three lodgers. These solemn a growing pleasure, although after
gentlemen (all three had full beards, such movements, tired to death and
as Gregor once found out through a feeling wretched, he didn't budge for
crack in the door) were meticulously hours.
intent on tidiness, not only in their Because the lodgers sometimes also
own room but (since they had now took their evening meal at home in
rented a room here) in the entire the common living room, the door to
household, and particularly in the the living room stayed shut on many
kitchen. They simply did not tolerate evenings. But Gregor had no trouble
any useless or shoddy stuff. Moreover, at all going without the open door.
for the most part they had brought Already on many evenings when it
with them their own pieces of was open he had not availed himself
furniture. Thus, many items had of it, but, without the family noticing,
become superfluous, and these were was stretched out in the darkest
not really things one could sell or corner of his room. However, once the
things people wanted to throw out. All cleaning woman had left the door to
these items ended up in Gregor's the living room slightly ajar, and it
room, even the box of ashes and the remained open even when the lodgers
garbage pail from the kitchen. The came in in the evening and the lights
cleaning woman, always in a hurry, were put on. They sat down at the head
simply flung anything that was of the table, where in earlier days the

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mother, the father, and Gregor had handsome toothless jawbone. 'I really
eaten, unfolded their serviettes, and do have an appetite,' Gregor said to
picked up their knives and forks. The himself sorrowfully, 'but not for these
mother immediately appeared in the things. How these lodgers stuff
door with a dish of meat and right themselves, and I am dying.'
behind her the sister with a dish piled On this very evening (Gregor didn't
high with potatoes. The food gave off remember hearing the violin all
a lot of steam. The gentlemen lodgers through this period) it sounded from
bent over the plate set before them, as the kitchen. The lodgers had already
if they wanted to check it before ended their night meal, the middle
eating, and in fact the one who sat in one had pulled out a newspaper and
the middle (for the other two he had given each of the other two a
seemed to serve as the authority) cut page, and they were now leaning
off a piece of meat still on the plate back, reading and smoking. When the
obviously to establish whether it was violin started playing, they became
sufficiently tender and whether or not attentive, got up, and went on tiptoe
something should be shipped back to to the hall door, at which they
the kitchen. He was satisfied, and remained standing pressed up against
mother and sister, who had looked on one another. They must have been
in suspense, began to breathe easily audible from the kitchen, because the
and to smile. father called out 'Perhaps the
The family itself ate in the kitchen. In gentlemen don't like the playing? It
spite of that, before the father went can be stopped at once.' 'On the
into the kitchen, he came into the contrary,' stated the lodger in the
room and with a single bow, cap in middle, 'might the young woman not
hand, made a tour of the table. The come into us and play in the room
lodgers rose up collectively and here where it is really much more
murmured something in their beards. comfortable and cheerful?' 'Oh, thank
Then, when they were alone, they ate you,' cried out the father, as if he were
almost in complete silence. It seemed the one playing the violin. The men
odd to Gregor that out of all the many stepped back into the room and
different sorts of sounds of eating, waited. Soon the father came with the
what was always audible was their music stand, the mother with the sheet
chewing teeth, as if by that Gregor music, and the sister with the violin.
should be shown that people needed The sister calmly prepared everything
their teeth to eat and that nothing for the recital. The parents, who had
could be done even with the most never previously rented a room and

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therefore exaggerated their politeness

to the lodgers, dared not sit on their
own chairs. The father leaned against
the door, his right hand stuck between
two buttons of his buttoned up
uniform. The mother, however,
accepted a chair offered by one
lodger. Since she left the chair sit
where the gentleman had chanced to
put it, she sat to one side in a corner.
The sister began to play. The father
and mother, followed attentively, one
on each side, the movements of her
hands. Attracted by the playing, In any case, no one paid him any
Gregor had ventured to advance a attention. The family was all caught
little further forward and his head up in the violin playing. The lodgers,
was already in the living room. He by contrast, who for the moment had
scarcely wondered about the fact that placed themselves, their hands in their
recently he had had so little trouser pockets, behind the music
consideration for the others; earlier
stand much too close to the sister, so
this consideration had been
that they could all see the sheet music,
something he was proud of. And for
something that must certainly bother
that very reason he would've had at
the sister, soon drew back to the
this moment more reason to hide
window conversing in low voices
away, because as a result of the dust
with bowed heads, where they then
which lay all over his room and flew
around with the slightest movement, remained, worriedly observed by the
he was totally covered in dirt. On his father. It now seemed really clear that,
back and his sides he carted around having assumed they were to hear a
with him dust, threads, hair, and beautiful or entertaining violin
remnants of food. His indifference to recital, they were disappointed, and
everything was much too great for were allowing their peace and quiet
him to lie on his back and scour to be disturbed only out of politeness.
himself on the carpet, as he often had The way in which they all blew the
done earlier during the day. In spite smoke from their cigars out of their
of his condition he had no timidity noses and mouths in particular led
about inching forward a bit on the one to conclude that they were very
spotless floor of the living room. irritated. And yet his sister was

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playing so beautifully. Her face was emotion, and Gregor would lift
turned to the side, her gaze followed himself up to her armpit and kiss her
the score intently and sadly. Gregor throat, which she, from the time she
crept forward still a little further and started going to work, had left
kept his head close against the floor exposed without a band or a collar.
in order to be able to catch her gaze 'Mr. Samsa,' called out the middle
if possible. Was he an animal that lodger to the father, and pointed his
music so seized him? For him it was index finger, without uttering a
as if the way to the unknown further word, at Gregor as he was
nourishment he craved was revealing moving slowly forward. The violin fell
itself to him. He was determined to silent. The middle lodger smiled, first
press forward right to his sister, to tug shaking his head once at his friends,
at her dress and to indicate to her in and then looked down at Gregor once
this way that she might still come with more. Rather than driving Gregor
her violin into his room, because here back again, the father seemed to
no one valued the recital as he wanted consider it of prime importance to
to value it. He did not wish to let her calm down the lodgers, although they
go from his room any more, at least were not at all upset and Gregor
not as long as he lived. His frightening seemed to entertain them more than
appearance would for the first time the violin recital. The father hurried
become useful for him. He wanted to over to them and with outstretched
be at all the doors of his room arms tried to push them into their own
simultaneously and snarl back at the room and simultaneously to block
attackers. However, his sister should their view of Gregor with his own
not be compelled but would remain body. At this point they became really
with him voluntarily; she would sit somewhat irritated, although one no
next to him on the sofa, bend down longer knew whether that was
her ear to him, and he would then because of the father's behaviour or
confide in her that he firmly intended because of knowledge they had just
to send her to the conservatory and acquired that they had had, without
that, if his misfortune had not arrived knowing it, a neighbour like Gregor.
in the interim, he would have They demanded explanations from his
declared all this last Christmas (had father, raised their arms to make their
Christmas really already come and points, tugged agitatedly at their
gone?), and would have brooked no beards, and moved back towards
argument. After this explanation his their room quite slowly. In the
sister would break out in tears of meantime, the isolation which had

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suddenly fallen upon his sister after of course, pay nothing at all for the
the sudden breaking off of the recital days which I have lived here; on the
had overwhelmed her. She had held contrary I shall think about whether
onto the violin and bow in her limp or not I will initiate some sort of
hands for a little while and had action against you, something which-
continued to look at the sheet music believe me- will be very easy to
as if she was still playing. All at once establish.' He fell silent and looked
she pulled herself together, placed the directly in front of him, as if he was
instrument in her mother's lap (the waiting for something. In fact, his two
mother was still sitting in her chair friends immediately joined in with
having trouble breathing and with their opinions, 'We also give
her lungs labouring) and had run into immediate notice.' At that he seized
the next room, which the lodgers, the door handle, banged the door shut,
pressured by the father, were already and locked it.
approaching more rapidly. One could
The father groped his way tottering
observe how under the sister's
to his chair and let himself fall in it. It
practiced hands the sheets and
looked as if he was stretching out for
pillows on the beds were thrown on
his usual evening snooze, but the
high and arranged. Even before the
heavy nodding of his head (which
lodgers had reached the room, she
looked as if it was without support)
was finished fixing the beds and was
showed that he was not sleeping at all.
slipping out. The father seemed so
Gregor had lain motionless the entire
gripped once again with his
time in the spot where the lodgers had
stubbornness that he forgot about the
caught him. Disappointment with the
respect which he always owed to his
collapse of his plan and perhaps also
renters. He pressed on and on, until at
his weakness brought on his severe
the door of the room the middle
hunger made it impossible for him to
gentleman stamped loudly with his
foot and thus brought the father to a move. He was certainly afraid that a
standstill. 'I hereby declare,' the general disaster would break over
middle lodger said, raising his hand him at any moment, and he waited.
and casting his glance both on the He was not even startled when the
mother and the sister, 'that violin fell from the mother's lap, out
considering the disgraceful from under her trembling fingers,
conditions prevailing in this and gave off a reverberating tone.
apartment and family,' with this he 'My dear parents,' said the sister
spat decisively on the floor, 'I banging her hand on the table by way
immediately cancel my room. I will, of an introduction, 'things cannot go

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on any longer in this way. Maybe if 'Child,' said the father sympathetically
you don't understand that, well, I do. I and with obvious appreciation, 'then
will not utter my brother's name in what should we do?'
front of this monster, and thus I say The sister only shrugged her shoulders
only that we must try to get rid of it. as a sign of the perplexity which, in
We have tried what is humanly contrast to her previous confidence,
possible to take care of it and to be had come over her while she was crying.
patient. I believe that no one can
criticize us in the slightest.' 'She is If only he understood us,' said the
right in a thousand ways,' said the father in a semi-questioning tone. The
sister, in the midst of her sobbing,
father to himself. The mother, who
shook her hand energetically as a sign
was still incapable of breathing
that there was no point thinking of
properly, began to cough numbly
that.
with her hand held up over her mouth
and a manic expression in her eyes. 'If he only understood us,' repeated the
father and by shutting his eyes he
The sister hurried over to her mother absorbed the sister's conviction of the
and held her forehead. The sister's impossibility of this point, 'then
words seemed to have led the father perhaps some compromise would be
to certain reflections. He sat upright, possible with him. But as it is…'
played with his hat among the plates,
which still lay on the table from the 'It must be gotten rid of,' cried the
lodgers' evening meal and looked sister; 'That is the only way, father. You
now and then at the motionless Gregor. must try to get rid of the idea that this
is Gregor. The fact that we have
'We must try to get rid of it,' the sister believed for so long, that is truly our
now said decisively to the father, for real misfortune. But how can it be
the mother, in her coughing fit, wasn't Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would
listening to anything, 'it is killing you have long ago realized that a
both. I see it coming. When people communal life among human beings
have to work as hard as we all do, they is not possible with such an animal
cannot also tolerate this endless and would have gone away
torment at home. I just can't go on any voluntarily. Then we would not have
more.' And she broke out into such a a brother, but we could go on living
crying fit that her tears flowed out and honour his memory. But this
down onto her mother's face. She animal plagues us. It drives away the
wiped them off her mother with lodgers, will obviously take over the
mechanical motions of her hands. entire apartment, and leave us to

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spend the night in the alley. Just look, began the task again. He couldn't stop
father,' she suddenly cried out, 'he's puffing at the effort and had to rest
already starting up again.' With a now and then.
fright which was incomprehensible Besides no on was urging him on. It
to Gregor, the sister even left the
was all left to him on his own. When
mother, pushed herself away from
he had completed turning around, he
her chair, as if she would sooner
immediately began to wander
sacrifice her mother than remain in
straight back. He was astonished at
Gregor's vicinity, and rushed behind
the great distance which separated
her father who, excited merely by her
him from his room and did not
behaviour, also stood up and half
understand in the least how in his
raised his arms in front of the sister
weakness he had covered the same
as though to protect her.
distance a short time before, almost
But Gregor did not have any notion without noticing it. Constantly intent
of wishing to create problems for only on creeping along quickly, he
anyone and certainly not for his sister. hardly paid any attention to the fact
He had just started to turn himself that no word or cry from his family
around in order to creep back into his interrupted him.
room, quite a startling sight, since, as
Only when he was already in the door
a result of his suffering condition, he
did he turn his head, not completely,
had to guide himself through the
because he felt his neck growing stiff.
difficulty of turning around with his
At any rate he still saw that behind
head, in this process lifting and
him nothing had changed. Only the
banging it against the floor several
sister was standing up. His last
times. He paused and looked around.
glimpse brushed over the mother who
His good intentions seem to have been
was now completely asleep. Hardly
recognized. The fright had only lasted
was he inside his room when the door
for a moment. Now they looked at
was pushed shut very quickly, bolted
him in silence and sorrow. His mother
fast, and barred. Gregor was startled
lay in her chair, with her legs
by the sudden commotion behind
stretched out and pressed together;
him, so much so that his little limbs
her eyes were almost shut from
bent double under him. It was his
weariness. The father and sister sat
sister who had been in such a hurry.
next to one another. The sister had set
She had stood up right away, had
her hands around the father's neck.
waited, and had then sprung forward
' Now perhaps I can actually turn nimbly. Gregor had not heard
myself around,' thought Gregor and anything of her approach. She cried

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out 'Finally!' to her parents, as she asked her to avoid), so much so that
turned the key in the lock. once she arrived a quiet sleep was no
'What now?' Gregor asked himself longer possible anywhere in the entire
and looked around him in the apartment. In her customarily brief
darkness. He soon made the discovery visit to Gregor she at first found
that he could no longer move at all. nothing special. She thought he lay so
He was not surprised at that. On the immobile there intending to play the
contrary, it struck him as unnatural offended party. She gave him credit
that he had really been able up to this for as complete an understanding as
point to move around with these thin possible. Because she happened to
little legs. Besides he felt relatively hold the long broom in her hand, she
content. True, he had pains tried to tickle Gregor with it from the
throughout his entire body, but it door. When that was quite unsuccess
seemed to him that they were ful, she became irritated and poked
gradually becoming weaker and Gregor a little, and only when she had
weaker and would finally go away shoved him from his place without
completely. The rotten apple in his any resistance did she become
back and the inflamed surrounding attentive. When she quickly realized
area, entirely covered with white dust, the true state of affairs, her eyes grew
he hardly noticed. He remembered large, she whistled to herself, but
his family with deep feeling and love. didn't restrain herself for long. She
In this business, his own thought that pulled open the door of the bedroom
he had to disappear was, if possible, and yelled in a loud voice into the
even more decisive than his sister's. He darkness, 'Come and look. It's kicked
remained in this state of empty and the bucket. It's lying there, totally
peaceful reflection until the tower snuffed!'
clock struck three o'clock in the The Samsa married couple sat upright
morning. From the window he in their marriage bed and had to get
witnessed the beginning of the general over their fright at the cleaning
dawning outside. Then without woman before they managed to grasp
willing it, his head sank all the way her message. But then Mr. and Mrs.
down, and from his nostrils flowed Samsa climbed very quickly out of
out weakly out his last breath. bed, one on either side. Mr. Samsa
Early in the morning the cleaning threw the bedspread over his
woman came. In her sheer energy and shoulders, Mrs. Samsa came out only
haste she banged all the doors (in in her night-shirt, and like this they
precisely the way people had already stepped into Gregor's room.

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Meanwhile the door of the living opened the window wide. In spite of
room (in which Grete had slept since the early morning, the fresh air was
the lodgers had arrived on the scene) partly tinged with warmth. It was
had also opened. She was fully clothed, already the end of March. The three
as if she had not slept at all; her white lodgers stepped out of their room and
face also seem to indicate that. 'Dead?' looked around for their breakfast,
said Mrs. Samsa and looked astonished that they had been
questioningly at the cleaning woman, forgotten. 'Where is the breakfast?'
although she could check everything asked the middle one of the gentlemen
on her own and even understand grumpily to the cleaning woman.
without a check. 'I should say so,' said However, she laid her finger to her
the cleaning woman and, by way of lips and then quickly and silently
proof, poked Gregor's body with the indicated to the lodgers that they
broom a considerable distance more could come into Gregor's room. So
to the side. Mrs. Samsa made a they came and stood around Gregor's
movement as if she wished to restrain corpse, their hands in the pockets of
the broom, but didn't do it. 'Well,' said their somewhat worn jackets, in the
Mr. Samsa, 'now we can give thanks room, which was already quite
to God.' He crossed himself, and the bright.
three women followed his example. Then the door of the bed room opened,
Grete, who did not take her eyes off and Mr. Samsa appeared in his
the corpse, said, 'Look how thin he uniform, with his wife on one arm and
was. He had eaten nothing for such a his daughter on the other. All were a
long time. The meals which came in little tear stained. Now and then Grete
here came out again exactly the same.' pressed her face onto her father's arm.
In fact, Gregor's body was completely 'Get out of my apartment immediately,'
flat and dry. That was apparent really said Mr. Samsa and pulled open the
for the first time, now that he was no door, without letting go of the women.
longer raised on his small limbs and, 'What do you mean?' said the middle
moreover, now that nothing else lodger, somewhat dismayed and with
distracted one's gaze. a sugary smile. The two others kept
'Grete, come into us for a moment,' their hands behind them and
said Mrs. Samsa with a melancholy constantly rubbed them against each
smile, and Grete went, not without other, as if in joyful anticipation of a
looking back at the corpse, behind great squabble which must end up in
her parents into the bed room. The their favour. 'I mean exactly what I
cleaning woman shut the door and say,' replied Mr. Samsa and went

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directly with his two female his head come to meet them and then
companions up to the lodger. The with a proud bearing ascended the
latter at first stood there motionless stairs high above them, Mr. Samsa.,
and looked at the floor, as if matters together with the women, left the
were arranging themselves in a new banister, and they all returned, as if
way in his head. 'All right, then we'll relieved, back into their apartment.
go,' he said and looked up at Mr. They decided to pass that day resting
Samsa as if, suddenly overcome by and going for a stroll. Not only had
humility, he was asking fresh they earned this break from work, but
permission for this decision. Mr. there was no question that they really
Samsa merely nodded to him needed it. And so they sat down at the
repeatedly with his eyes open wide. table and wrote three letters of
Following that, the lodger actually apology: Mr. Samsa to his supervisor,
went immediately with long strides Mrs. Samsa to her client, and Grete to
into the hall. His two friends had her proprietor. During the writing the
already been listening for a while cleaning woman came in to say that
with their hands quite still, and now she was going off, for her morning
they hopped smartly after him, as if work was finished. The three people
afraid that Mr. Samsa could step into writing at first merely nodded,
the hall ahead of them and disturb without glancing up. Only when the
their reunion with their leader. In the cleaning woman was still unwilling
hall all three of them took their hats to depart, did they look up angrily.
from the coat rack, pulled their canes 'Well?' asked Mr. Samsa. The cleaning
from the cane holder, bowed silently, woman stood smiling in the doorway,
and left the apartment. In what turned as if she had a great stroke of luck to
out to be an entirely groundless report to the family but would only
mistrust, Mr. Samsa stepped with the do it if she was asked directly. The
two women out onto the landing, almost upright small ostrich feather
leaned against the railing, and looked in her hat, which had irritated Mr.
down as the three lodgers slowly but Samsa during her entire service,
steadily made their way down the swayed lightly in all directions. 'All
long staircase, disappeared on each right then, what do you really want?'
floor in a certain turn of the stairwell asked Mrs. Samsa, whom the
and in a few seconds came out again. cleaning lady still usually respected.
The deeper they proceeded, the more 'Well,' answered the cleaning woman
the Samsa family lost interest in them, (smiling so happily she couldn't go on
and when a butcher with a tray on speaking right away), 'about how that

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rubbish from the next room should The car in which they were sitting by
be thrown out, you mustn't worry themselves was totally engulfed by the
about it. It's all taken care of.' Mrs. warm sun. They talked to each other,
Samsa and Grete bent down to their leaning back comfortably in their
letters, as though they wanted to go seats, about future prospects, and they
on writing; Mr. Samsa, who noticed discovered that on closer observation
that the cleaning woman wanted to these were not at all bad, for all three
start describing everything in detail, had employment, about which they
decisively prevented her with an had not really questioned each other
outstretched hand. But since she was at all, which was extremely favorable
not allowed to explain, she and with especially promising
remembered the great hurry she was prospects. The greatest improvement
in, and called out, clearly insulted, 'Ta in their situation at this moment, of
ta, everyone,' turned around furiously course, had to come from a change of
and left the apartment with a fearful dwelling. Now they wanted to rent an
slamming of the door. apartment smaller and cheaper but
'This evening she'll be let go,' said Mr. better situated and generally more
Samsa, but he got no answer from practical than the present one, which
either his wife or from his daughter, Gregor had found. While they amused
because the cleaning woman seemed themselves in this way, it struck Mr.
to have upset once again the and Mrs. Samsa almost at the same
tranquility they had just attained. moment how their daughter, who was
They got up, went to the window and getting more animated all the time,
remained there, with their arms about had blossomed recently, in spite of all
each other. Mr. Samsa turned around the troubles which had made her
in his chair in their direction and cheeks pale, into a beautiful and
observed them quietly for a while. voluptuous young woman. Growing
Then he called out, 'All right, come more silent and almost unconsciously
here then. Let's finally get rid of old understanding each other in their
things. And have a little consideration glances, they thought that the time
for me.' The women attended to him was now at hand to seek out a good
at once. They rushed to him, caressed honest man for her. And it was
him, and quickly ended their letters. something of a confirmation of their
new dreams and good intentions
Then all three left the apartment
when at the end of their journey the
together, something they had not done
daughter first lifted herself up and
for months now, and took the electric
stretched her young body.
tram into the open air outside the city.

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The Metamorphosis Novella

1. Describe the impact of the injury Gregor sustained on his back?

2. Did Grete’s attitude to Gregor change? Why?
3. Why did the Samsas decide to entertain lodgers in the house?
4. Why did Gregor stop Grete from playing violin for the lodgers?
5. How did Grete react when Gregor interrupted her playing the violin?
6. What was the lodger’s reaction on seeing Gregor?
7. Why did Samsa decide to shift the house?
8. Why did the sister desire to get rid of Gregor?
9. What are the reasons Grete put forth for avoiding Gregor?

Understanding the Text

1. How does Gregor react to his transformation at the beginning of the novella?
2. What are the difficulties faced by Gregor in being an insect with a human mind?
3. How did the Samsas react when they came to know about Gregor’s
transformation?
4. What behavioural changes did Gregor undergo in the course of his life as a
vermin?
5. How did Gregor feel when Grete and his mother moved the furniture out of his
room?
6. Why did the mother oppose the idea of shifting furniture from Gregor’s room?
7. Why did Gregor cling to the picture of the woman in fur as the furniture was
shifted?
8. What changes occured in Gregor’s taste for food? Why?
9. Did the sympathetic attitude of the Samsas towards Gregor change in the course
of the story? How?
10. Comment on the theme of alienation in The Metamorphosis.
11. How does food represent the feelings of the Samsas towards Gregor?
12. How does Gregor’s lingering humanity get revealed in the novella?
13. Describe how money shapes human relationships as depicted in the novella.
14. Comment on the significance of sleep and rest in The Metamorphosis.

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15. Can the financial constraints of the Samas be considered as one of the
reasons for Gregor’s metamorphosis and his death?
16. Describe the symbolic significance of the picture of the woman in fur.
Writing about the Text
1. Gregor’s metamorphosis is not merely physical. Justify.
2. Do you think Gregor’s metamorphosis into a vermin is the result of his job as a
travelling salesman which involves a lot of physical and mental weariness?
3. Describe the death of Gregor in a paragraph.
4. Do you think Gregor willingly embraced death by starving?
5. If the Samsas had accepted Gregor’s human-insect hybridity, do you think, they
would have been able to live with him for long?
6. What happened to Gregor’s corpse? Why does the author end the novella so
ambiguously?
7. How would have the story been if Gregor had been transformed in to a less
repulsive animal?
8. Comment on the symbols used in the novella.
9. Write the character sketch of
a. Gregor b. Grete
c. Samsa d. The manager
e. The mother
10. Comment on the change in the attitude of Grete as the story moves on.
11. How does the theme of absurdity of human relations reflect in the novella?
12. Do you think the transformation of Gregor Samsa is symbolic of the
transformation of the people around him? If so, why?
References
Bloom, Harold. Franz Kafka. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010.
Bridgwater, Patrick. Kafka's novels: An Interpretation. New York: RodopiBV, 2003.
Rollston, James. A Companion to the Work of Franz Kafka. New York: Camden House,
2003.
Vagenbach, Klaus. Kafka. London: Haus Publishins Ltd., 2003.

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