Question -Answers of 'Tolerance'

 1.     How does Forster draw a comparison between ‘love’ and ‘tolerance’ as a desirable state of mind? What arguments does he put forth?

                                             Or

             What is the theme of the essay ‘Tolerance’?

Ans. Love, according to E.M. Forster, is a great force in private life. It is the greatest of all things. But it does not work in public affairs. It has been tried again and again and it has always failed. He believes that it is absurd, unreal, and even dangerous to suggest that nations, business concerns marketing boards or people of whom one has never even heard may love one another. It is indulging in vague sentimentalism to expect Germans and the British, who had been fighting during the war, to love each other. But, in the post-war world, they have to live with each other. They must learn to tolerate each other because one cannot exterminate the other. Forster further says that one can only love what one knows personally. The world is full of people. And one cannot know much. Tolerance, in Forster’s opinion, is ideal in public affairs, and in the rebuilding of civilization. It is much less dramatic and emotional. It may be called very dull, even boring. It merely means putting up with people and being able to stand things. But this, says Forster, is the quality most needed after the war, for it will enable different races, classes, and interests to settle down together to the work of reconstruction.

2.      What are the two solutions to the problem of living with people one doesn’t like? Is there a third solution? If so, why doesn’t the author accept it?

One solution is to segregate people one doesn’t like and kill them. The other solution is to put up with such people as well as one can. The first is what the Nazis did and the second is the way of the democracies. Forster’s own preference is for the second solution. He sees no other foundation for the post-war world. Most people will say that men and nations must start to love one another. Forster, however, strongly disagrees with this solution simply because it is not possible. It has been tried again and again and it has always failed. One can only love what one knows. And one cannot love what one knows and does not like.

 

3.      What kind of negative virtues are desirable? What positive phrases does the author find disgusting? Why?

                                         Or  

What does Forster say about Tolerance?

Tolerance is a very dull, boring, and negative virtue according to Forster. Yet this is the quality most needed after the war. The post-war world needs negative virtues like not being huffy, touchy, irritable, and revengeful. Forster finds positive militant phrases like ‘I will purge this nation’, and ‘I will clean up this city,’ terrifying and disgusting. He explains that when there were fewer people in this world, these phrases might not have mattered. However, when one nation is mixed up with another when one city cannot be organically separated from its neighbours, they have become horrifying. Today, if such militant ideals are sought to be put into practice, there will be tremendous damage both in terms of life and material.

Question-Answers of 'Great Books Born Out of Great Minds'

 

1. What is the culture of excellence, according to Dr Kalam?

Ans. Dr Kalam begins his speech by talking about the culture of excellence. According to the author, excellence does not come by accident. It is a process, where individuals (or an organization or a nation) continuously strive to better themselves. They set the performance standards themselves, they work on their dreams with focus are prepared to take calculated risks, and do not get deterred by failures as they move towards the realization of their dreams.

2. What are Dr Kalam’s findings on his interactions with youngsters?

Ans: Dr Kalam says that he has so far met 16 million young men. Interacting with the youngsters is like living in a world of stories. They want to become astronauts, pilots, soldiers, doctors, sailors, and so on. They live in their own world of imagination and fantasies. After growing up they read novels, watch films and play. Dr Kalam felt that there is an author in the mind of every person.

3. According to Dr Kalam, what influence does a story have on our mind?

Ans: According to Dr Kalam, stories help us navigate life’s complex social problems, just as flight simulators prepare pilots for difficult situations. Storytelling ensures our survival. Imagination is a remarkable component of storytelling that teleports human beings mentally into an alternative world. Imagination gives us, in other words, the near-magical ability to experience what we did not actually experience. A story is an 'a thing that does' rather than ‘a thing that is’. It is a tool with measurable utility rather than an object for aesthetic admiration. Attention is the reward that listeners bestow on the storyteller. This makes storytelling a central component of leadership.

4. Discuss the negative aspects of storytelling.

Ans: According to the author, storytelling has a negative side also. It exposes human beings to conspiracy theories, advertisements, and narratives about ourselves that are not completely true. Everything depends on the story reader. Thoughts like right, wrong, sin, good, duty, responsibility, love, hate, all of these depend on who is reading the story.

5. What are Dr Kalam’s views on Goethe, Shakespeare and Valmiki?

Ans.: Dr. Kalam praised Goethe, Shakespeare, and Valmiki. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, mind evolved Faust, the great German epic. Shakespeare could see the past, the present, and the future through his great musical plays. Whereas, the great Indian epic master Valmiki evolved the story of the Ramayana, which stands for the past, the present, and the future. In the biographies of Goethe and Shakespeare, they claimed that their minds were actuated by the Life Force. They claim that every human being has intellectual energy, this Life Force. Valmiki stated that a divine force helped him evolve the Ramayana.

6. What message does Dr Kalam give at the end of his speech?

Ans.: At the end of his speech Dr Kalam gave the example of three great writers, namely, Goethe, Shakespeare, and Valmiki. All these writers had a powerful energy of creation in their minds. This divine energy and Life force is present in human beings. He advised the young authors to realize this energy assemble it, concentrate and use it for imagination, and create great works.

Short Summary of the play 'Streetcar Named Desire'

 

The play begins as Blanche, a teacher from Mississippi, arrives in New Orleans to stay with her sister even though both sisters are different from each other. The reason for her arrival is nervousness impacting her ability to work and the loss of her ancestral home in the Old South, Belle Reve.

The conflict begins to arise between Blanche and her sister’s husband, Stanley, as she is critical of the couple’s living quarters and of his Polish heritage. On the other hand, Stanley immediately dislikes Blanche as he fears she has cheated him out of the family inheritance. Further conflict begins during a drunken poker game in which Stanley hits his wife. It is implied that this violence occurs regularly, but it is not seriously addressed because of their animalistic sexual desires.

The next day Blanche tries to convince Stella to leave her husband, but her sister dismisses the idea. Stanley, however, overhears the conversation and is enraged. He begins to taunt Blanche about her past and she begins to look increasingly upset. Blanche is left alone during the day and meets a young paperboy whom she kisses, although she is waiting for a man named Mitch to take her on a date. During her outing with Mitch, Blanche behaves strangely and uneasily, unnerved by Stanley’s threats. She reveals to Mitch the tragedy of her first love.

Time passes and it is finally Blanche’s birthday. While Stella prepares dinner for everyone, Stanley reveals elements of Blanche’s past to her, such as her numerous sexual relationships and the reason she lost her job (an affair with a student). Stanley has also told Mitch about Blanche and, for this reason; he refuses to attend her birthday celebration. Stanley then gives Blanche a one-way ticket back to Laurel as a birthday present.

Stella is shocked over such a cruel gift and looks like she might consider leaving Stanley. However, Stella's labour pain begins and interrupts their argument. When they have left Blanche alone, she starts to drink heavily but is interrupted by Mitch, who wants to confront the allegations about her. Mitch then tries to assault Blanche as the statements about her sexual habits are confirmed, but she shouts 'fire' in hopes of attracting attention.

Stanley returns home from the hospital and finds a very drunk Blanche. The pair confront each other until Blanche tries to escape from his presence by smashing a bottle, but he carries her to the bedroom and rapes her.

More time passes; Stella and her neighbour wait for Blanche to leave the bathroom. They discuss how Stella cannot accept Blanche's revelation about what Stanley did to her that night. As Blanche enters the room she seems fragile as she talks about her delusions and fantasies. A doctor and a nurse arrive to try and take Blanche to an institution but she struggles and fights back until she is finally subdued. As Blanche leaves, Stella cries with her newborn child in her arms.

 

Dream Children : A Reverie (Question-Answers)

 

Ø  Why the essay is entitled “Dream Children”?

Ans: Charles Lamb entitled the essay “Dream Children” because he never married and naturally never became the father of any children. The children he speaks of in the essay were actually the creations of his imagination or fancy.

Ø  Who was Field? How does Lamb present her before his dream children?

Ans: Field, a pseudonym for the actual person, was Lamb’s grandmother. Lamb presents her as an ideal grandmother in an imaginary and inflated way before his “dream children”—she was an extremely pious, fearless, and compassionate person besides being the best dancer in the area in her youth.

Ø  Why the essay is entitled “A Reverie”?

Ans: The essay is subtitled as a ‘reverie’ because Lamb never married and so he never had children. In the essay, he created an imaginary picture of a happy conjugal life—a picture that finally dissolves into nothing as he comes back to reality.

Ø  How does Lamb present his brother John L—?

Ans: Lamb’s elder brother, John L—in his youth was a handsome, high-spirited, strong, and fearless person. He loved Lamb very much. But subsequently, in his old age, he became lame-footed and spent the rest of his life in utter hopelessness, irritation, and pain.

Ø  Whom does Lamb refer to as “faithful Bridget” by side?

Ans: Lamb had a sister, Mary Lamb, who did not marry since she had attacks of insanity. She has been referred to here as “faithful Bridget” because she never married and was Lamb’s only companion in his life. At the sudden breakdown of his reverie, he finds her seated by his side.

Ø  What, according to you, is the most striking feature of the essay and why?

Ans: The chief characteristic feature of the essay is the author’s mingling of pathos and humour. Lamb begins the essay in a somewhat deceptive fashion, describing the incidents, full of humour. But gradually he reduces the tone towards the end describing the tragedies of his personal life.          

Ø  How does Lamb present the autobiographical elements in the essay?

Ans: Dream Children is a personal essay. Lamb presents the characters and incidents from his own life—the sketches of his grandmother, Field, his brother—John Lamb, his sister—Mary Lamb, and his tragic love affairs with Ann Simmons. But Lamb is always playing with facts and fiction and transforms the real into the literary.

Ø  How does Lamb show his knowledge of child psychology?

Ans: It is surprising that without ever having children Lamb had an acute sense of how children react to the happenings in the world of the adults. By deceptively referring to the meticulous reactions of his dream children, he succeeds in catching the reader immediately. The aesthetic impact of the essay becomes more effective for this reason.

Ø  “But John L—(or James Elia) was gone forever”—Who was James Elia? Why does the author say this?

Ans: At the end of his daydreaming Lamb coming back to reality finds his sister (Bridget) Mary Lamb by his side, but he realizes and remembers that his brother James Elia or John Lamb had died and would no more be with them. So he laments his loss thus.

Ø  How does Lamb record Alice’s reactions to his story-telling?

Ans: While listening to Lamb’s personal tale, Alice reacts first by spreading her hands when Lamb says how good, religious, and graceful person Field had been. Alice reacts to it either in great astonishment or by putting up some pious gesture. She also cries out When Lamb talks about his elder brother’s pain and death.

Ø  How does Lamb record John’s reactions to his story-telling?

Ans: At the information of the great house being stripped of its ornaments John smiled, which suggested the foolishness of the work. He was trying to look brave and impress upon his father that he would not have been afraid of the ghosts like his father. At the end of the story, when Lamb was talking of his elder brother’s pain and death, John, like Alice, began to cry.

Hindu Way of Life: Critical Summary

 

            S. Radhakrishnan was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He was the first Vice President of India and the second President of India. He is one of India's best and most influential twentieth-century scholars of comparative religion and philosophy. He had always defended Hindu culture against uninformed Western criticism and had symbolized the pride of Indians in their own intellectual traditions. He believed that Hinduism is a scientific religion based on facts apprehended via intuition or religious experience. His philosophical approach is marked by a range of thought and depth of perception. He does not think of Hinduism in isolation but in the modern context. He emphasizes the relevance of the value of Hinduism in a world that is by conflict of ideas.

            His work “The Hindu View of Life” is a relic in the world of philosophy and it is based on the Upton Lectures delivered at Manchester College, Oxford. It is his analysis of the basic concepts underlying the Hindu attitude to life. It is divided into four chapters.

            The first chapter “Religious Experience, Its Nature and Concept “gives us a vivid account of the essential characteristics of Hinduism. Actually the term 'Hindu' was geographical and did not refer to a religion. It is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, the historic local name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. It refers to the land of the aboriginal tribes and many other communities with different systems of worship and belief who live across the River Indus. By the end of the 12th century and early 13^th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name for India, meaning the "land of Hindus". As per Hinduism Religion is a felt inner experience of the entire personality. Religious experience is of a Self-certifying character. Religious faith is not a matter of blind acceptance religious experience is stated and confirmed in intellectual terms.

            Faith is a matter of spiritual conviction. Hinduism admits points of view other than its own. Devine relation is not the prerogative of any individual or community. It is available to all. This truth has been recognized in Hinduism. Hinduism does not characterize ideas about God as true or false. It recognizes the fact that mankind seeks god at different levels and in different directions. It is appreciative of human effort to seek God. Hinduism has graded different levels of worship. Hindu saints see God in the self and not in images. Temples and religious centers alone should not be counted to be the places of prayer and worship. They should become capable of providing spiritual direction to the Hindus.

            In the second chapter “Conflict of Religions: the Hindu Attitude” Radhakrishnan explains how every group within the Hindu fold is allowed to enjoy its freedom and preserve its individuality. It is not the group that we belong to that counts. What matters are we and our evolution. Hinduism calls upon everyone to think clearly and steadily about the ultimate purpose and mystery of life. It does not seek to interfere with the individual’s way of thinking .it makes allowances for errors of judgment and weakness of understanding. It does not lay down a single uniform method nor does it seek to establish a stereotyped system of belief and worship.

            A known fact of Hinduism is that it has no common creed and it has not prescribed a uniform system of worship. The early Aryans' worship consisted of the worship of forces of Nature. This gives a way to imagine worship. Hindu worship is primarily an individual act rather than a communal one, as it involves making personal offerings to the deity. Worshippers repeat the names of their favourite gods and goddesses and repeat mantras. Water, fruit, flowers, and incense are offered to god.

             The third chapter “Hindu Dharma” is a discussion of the two aspects of Hinduism, the philosophical and the practical. There are two sides to Hinduism, the philosophical and the practical. Some objections to the conceptions of Hindu epics are raised. Ethical system and relations are dismissed as irrelevant in view of the doctrine of Maya which repudiates the reality of the world. Radhakrishnan says that the Upanishads emphasize the relative reality of the phenomenal world. All things in the world are of value as they contribute to the realization of the self. Eswara (Lord Shiva) held the world as Maya. The real will qualify to be called real only when it is exempt from all change and is ever-enduring. The ultimate purpose of life is liberation from the cycles – birth –death – rebirth.

             Coming to the practical side of Hinduism, Radhakrishna says that Hinduism is merely a way of life rather than from a thought. Life according to Hinduism is regulated against a four-fold scale -Dharma, (righteousness), -Artha, (wealth)- Kaama (Desire)- and Moksha,(Spiritual Freedom). It will be seen that Artha and Kaamaare interposed between Dharma and Moksha, suggesting that the fulfillment of material needs is subject to Dharma and final goal of life is spiritual liberation.

            The fourth chapter Hindu Dharma-II focuses on the caste system in India. Though the caste system has been exploited and is a symbol of exclusiveness, it was originally designed to foster cooperation, tolerance, and trust. The institution of caste is man-made and has no divine sanction. It is meant to regulate social function. The caste system is based on the principle of division of function. Each caste has its social purpose, its code, and tradition. Each group enjoys freedom in matters of food, customs, marriage etc. The foster castes, –Bramhana, Kshathtiya Vaisya, and Sudhara were not meant to work at cross purposes. They were meant to form part of an organic whole. Thus the complementary character of the caste system was emphasized.