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प्रश्न
This essay frequently uses the non-periodic or loose sentence structure: the component members are continuous, but so loosely joined, that the sentence could have easily been broken without damage to or break in thought. Locate a few such sentences, and discuss how they contribute to the relaxed and conversational effect of the narration.
उत्तर
The following set of sentences drawn from the text is a perfect example of the continuous loosely joined sentence structure. This sentence formation technique is used to give the story a relaxed tone. The narrator is sitting on her chair, smoking her cigarette, and trying to solve the mystery behind the mark on the wall but is too lazy to stand up and solve the mystery in less than a minute. This tone depicts a sort of confusion and flood thoughts that the mark provokes in the mind of the narrator. At the same time the broken tone is adding up a conversational effect to the text, so the reader is totally involved in it and knows that the narrator is actually talking to him/her. This tone adds a sort of curiosity in the mind of the readers to know about the mysterious mark on the wall.
“I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts. To steady me, let me catch hold of the first idea that passes... Shakespeare... Well, he will do as well as another. A man who sat solidly in an armchair, and looked into the fire, so— A shower of ideas fell perpetually from some very high Heaven down through his mind. He leaned his forehead on his hand, and people, looking in through the open door,—for this scene is supposed to take place on a summer’s evening—But how dull this is this historical fiction! It doesn’t interest me at all.”
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संबंधित प्रश्न
What is the string of varied thoughts that the mark on the wall stimulates in the author’s mind?
What change in the depiction of reality does the author foresee for future novelists?
What is the author’s perception of the limitations of knowledge and learning?
Describe the unbroken flow of thoughts and perceptions of the narrator’s mind, using the example of the colonel and the clergy.
An account of reflections is more important than a description of reality according to the author. Why?
Looking back at objects and habits of a bygone era can give one a feeling of phantom-like unreality. What examples does the author give to bring out this idea?
How does the imagery of
(i) the fish
(ii) the tree
used almost poetically by the author, emphasize the idea of stillness of living, breathing thought?
How does the author pin her reflections on a variety of subjects on the ‘mark on the wall’? What does this tell us about the way the human mind functions?
Not seeing the obvious could lead a perceptive mind to reflect upon more philosophical issues. Discuss this with reference to the ‘snail on the wall’.
‘In order to fix a date, it is necessary to remember what one saw’. Have you experienced this at any time? Describe one such incident and the non-chronological details that helped you remember a particular date.
‘Tablecloths of a different kind were not real tablecloths. Does this sentence embody the idea of blind adherence to rules and tradition? Discuss with reference to ‘Understanding Freedom and Discipline’ by J. Krishnamurti that you’ve already read.
According to the author, nature prompts action as a way of ending thought. Do we tacitly assume that ‘men of action are men who don’t think?
Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of narration: one, where the reader would remain aware of some outside voice telling him/her what’s going on; two, a narration that seeks to reproduce, without the narrator’s intervention, the full spectrum and continuous flow of a character’s mental process. Which of these is exemplified in this essay? Illustrate.
(i) Can you say which words are content words in the examples below, and which are function words? All the examples are from the text in this unit.
(ii) Can you name the kind of word (its category as a noun, pronoun, etc.?). A dictionary may help you to do this. You can work in pairs or groups, discussing the reasons for your analysis.
- Ants carry a blade of straw so feverishly and then leave it.
- They wanted to leave this house because they wanted to change their style of furniture.
- I don’t believe it was made by a nail after all; it’s too big, too round, for that.
- There was a rule for everything.
- The tree outside the window taps very gently on the pane.
