DENNES SEBASTIAN

  Amigo Brothers   Amigo Brothers is a short story written by Piri Thomas. It is about two seventeen years old boys who want to be world light weight champions in boxing. Antonio and Felix are not just friends but they care each other as brothers. They grew up at the Lower East side of Manhattan in the same building. Antonio was fair, lean and lanky. Felix was dark, short and husky. They work a lot for their dream, and one day, they have to fight each other to be a representative of their club. They sense a wall rising between them, and they promise that the competition isn’t going to get in the way of their friendship. They promise to be strangers in the boxing ring. The day finally comes, they fight very hard. The spectators and the judges are stunned by the ferocity and savagery of the fight. They really hurt each other. When the judges are ready to announce the winner, they notice that the two brothers have already walked out of the ring, arm in arm. The pr...

His First Flight Liam O’ Flaherty What is the theme of the story? “The Young seagull was afraid to make his first flight. Though his parents encouraged him, threatened to starve him, he would not fly. He thought his wing would not support him and the fall from the ledge would kill him. Though he had the inborn ability and skill to fly and swim, he would not dare to do it. He lacked self-confidence. At the end it took a bit of deception from his mother who coaxed him with a piece of fish, to make him leap into the air. Though we are born with wing, and born to fly, we often lack the will, courage, self-confidence and motivation to fly. Often, it is necessity that makes us achieve our potential. What is your impression of the reaction of the parents in the story? Parents have a major role in the growth of their children. They are the ones who foster, nurture and train their children grow up and become independent. They provide for physical and financial protection as well as me...

 

 

  Horegallu Sudha Murthy Horegallu is a stone bench, placed on road sides. Travellers and farmers working in nearby fields could take a little rest on the horegallu. They were usually placed under trees like banyan which provide much needed shade and relief. Cool water would also be made available in earthen pots for the weary travellers. They could put down the burden they carry, rest for a while, refresh themselves, exchange the news of the road with fellow travellers, share their worries and difficulties, and later continue their journey. Character Sketches of Grandfather and Ratna Grandfather was retired schoolteacher. He used to sit under the banyan tree, in the village and talk to those resting there. They were mostly farmers working in the field nearby or long distance travellers. He used to listen to their worries and hardships patiently. Talking to him used to refresh the travellers and they would pick up their burden once again and continue their journey. Ratna ...

Theme of the Poem. Robert Frost's Mending Wall is symbolic. Walls are constructed for protection and safety. To keep away dangers and strangers. But it also stands for separation and segregation. Mending wall presents two types of people. The Wall Makers and The Wall Breakers. The Traditionalists and those who wishes for change in the Society (The Radicals or Revolutionaries). The haves and the have - nots. The Natural forces and the Supernatural forces. It is a fight man verses nature and divine elements. The man wants the wall but natural and supernatural forces breaks the wall. Walls are against the natural order of things. The very Nature conspires against the wall. Nature does not like walls. Walls stands for discrimination – walls of racial, religious, casteist, cultural, political, economic, geographical walls exist in the society. Time and Place Produces people who pull down these walls. Wall builders would try rebuilding the wall. It is a Sisyphean ta...

  Analysis of the Poem. A stone wall separates the speaker’s property from his neighbour’s. In every spring season the poet finds the wall broken. He informs his neighbour who lives across the hill. The two meets on a day to walk on either side of the wall and jointly make repairs. So Spring is a mending time. The poet does not know what bring the wall down. He says that there is something that doesn’t love the wall. He believes that it may be the work of the rabbit hunters or tremors of frozen ground. Every year they find the wall damaged and together they make repairs. In some places the speaker sees no reason for the wall to be kept—there are no cows to be contained, just apple and pine trees. He does not believe in walls for the sake of walls.  The neighbour resorts to an old adage: “Good fences make good neighbors.” The speaker remains unconvinced and mischievously presses the neighbor to look beyond the old-fashioned folly of such reasoning. His neighbour will not be...

 

 

 

Character Sketch of Nomita   Nomita in the story  Matchbox   written by Ashapurna Debi is a typical Indian housewife who is bound to sacrifice many of her ambitions and hopes and be enslaved in the kitchen. Ashapurna Debi portrays her colorless – without the hues of a happy life. Her widowed mother thinks that she is successful in consigning her daughter to a rich family which is not on the merit of finance but by looks alone. Nomita expects a minimum freedom of reading the letters addressed to her. Her husband seems to be dubious about the letters when he tries to read it without her consent.  It is true what Ashapurna Debi says about Nomita and women in general that they are like matchboxes settled at the corners of the house with their hidden power to explode at any time. Nomita follows the example of a matchbox and she burns with anger when she is helpless. To break the shackles of marital slavery she is rea...

Matchbox Ashapurna Debi “Matchbox”, is written by Ashapurna Debi, a Bengali Novelist. It tells the story of Ajit and Nomita , young married couple. The story narrates the unhealthy man-woman relationship existing in most Indian families. Ashapurna Debi, in the beginning of the story compares women to matchboxes. Matchboxes have the potential to light up everything into fire. The tiny bit of gunpowder in it can burn down a hundred Lankas, she says. But in appearance, they are meek and harmless. You can place the matchbox in the kitchen, pantry, bedroom, in pocket or anywhere without fear. We know that it won’t cause a fire by itself. It is the same with women. They also appear to be meek and harmless. Men treat the like matchboxes. Men don’t fear women and take them lightly. But Ashapurna Debi tells us that if they want, they can set everything into fire within no time. The central character of the story is Nomita. Her husband Ajit has the habit of opening his wife’s letters a...

The 3 Ls of Women Empowerment Christine Lagarde   Women and Economy The global economy is struggling to generate the growth that can provide a better life for all, and all can contribute, yet women remain blocked from contributing their true potential. This has a huge cost: In some countries, per-capita incomes lag significantly because women are denied equal opportunity. They represent half the world’s population, but contribute far less than 50 percent of economic activity. What is needed to change this picture is a concerted effort to open the door to opportunity with what I call the “3 L’s” of women’s empowerment: learning, labor and leadership. First, learning: Education is the foundation upon which change is built.   Education is both an elevator and a springboard.  Learning helps women to help themselves and break the shackles of exclusion. There is an African adage that goes: “If you educate a boy, you train a man. If you educate a girl, you ...

Any Woman Katherine Tynan I am the pillars of the house; The keystone of the arch am I. Take me away, and roof and wall Would fall to ruin me utterly. I am the fire upon the hearth, I am the light of the good sun, I am the heat that warms the earth, Which else were colder than a stone.   At me the children warm their hands; I am their light of love alive. Without me cold the hearthstone stands, Nor could the precious children thrive.   I am the twist that holds together The children in its sacred ring, Their knot of love, from whose close tether No lost child goes a-wandering.   I am the house from floor to roof, I deck the walls, the board I spread; I spin the curtains, warp and woof, And shake the down to be their bed. I am their wall against all danger, Their door against the wind and snow, Thou Whom a woman laid in a manger, Take me not till the children grow!     About the Poet: Katherine Tynan Katharin...

Analysis: “Dusts of Snow” is a simple and beautiful poem by Robert Frost. The poet regretted the better part of   the day for reasons known only to him. Naturally he was quite sad and unhappy. It was then, a crow shook off the dusts of snow, from its feathers sitting on hemlock tree. We have very few images in this short poem, namely “the man”, “the crow”, “the hemlock tree”, and “the dusts of snow”. x x Naturally it is the season of winter. A crow is perching on an ever green pine called the hemlock tree and the poet stands under the tree. The crow is shaking off the snow from its wings. It too might have been very cold and wanted to save itself from the biting cold. The tree on which the crow rests is hemlock. It is quite a majestic and beautiful tree native to America . In some pagan religions hemlock tree is associated with protection and healing. Do not confuse hemlock tree with hemlock plant which is poisonous and grows only three to five feats. Greek p...