Two Gentlemen of Verona

A.J. Cronin has very well carved the idea of 'selfless help' and explained the importance of
dedication towards relationships in the story Two Gentlemen of Verona. The story revolves
around the two boys named Nicola and Jacopo who do numerous things to earn money only to
pay for their sister's treatment who suffers from tuberculosis of the spine.
The story begins with the narrator driving down the foothills of the Alps. Here is when he first
encounters the two brothers selling wild strawberries. Even after the driver forbade the narrator
to buy the wild fruits, he bought the biggest basket and drove towards the town. This scene
emphasises on the first step of growing intimacy between the narrator and the two boys.
Next day, the boys were found shining shoes in the public square. This amazed the narrator. Here
is when they revealed the fact that they did numerous kinds of things to earn money. Here, the
narrator is shown to develop a soft corner for them in his heart. He finds them to be innocent,
serious, pleasant and earnest.
The boys are very useful for the narrator. They are very willing to satisfy all that the narrator
required. They were also found selling newspapers by the narrator one stormy night. One day,
when the narrator asked if he could help them in any way they said they would be very grateful if
they got a lift to the nearby village Poleta. Although it didn't come in the narrator's way he took
them there. The boys got down in a building and asked the author to wait in a nearby caf while
they would be back within an hour.
Eagerness led the narrator to follow the boys up to a place which was actually a hospital. On
peeping through a room led by a nurse, he realised that the boys were talking to a girl who
resembled them. He did not feel like intruding and thus asked the nurse the details about the
boys. This is when the nurse told him there heart rendering story about their father being killed in
a war and home being destroyed in a war and their sister suffering from tuberculosis. The
brothers lived in a shelter and literally starved only so that they could pay for their sister's
treatment. Them keeping a secret and helping their sister showed that war had not shaken their
spirit. They were noble and gentle and great human beings in their own special yet subtle way.
This story distinctly talks about how true the amplification says: All that glitters is not gold, in
turn explaining the fact that appearances are deceptive.





Mrs. Packletide's Tiger

Mrs. Packletide's Tiger is a humorous short story which focusses primarily on the lady character
Mrs. Packletide's fascination and obsession to hunt. It is an amusing narrative which transports
us to the era of the British Raj in India. This story was written at a time when campaigns
regarding awareness about saving tigers hadn't begun.
The story begins with the character sketch of Mrs. Packletide who was swayed away by her
dislike for Mrs. Loona Bimberton who recently got an Algerian Aviator and boasted about it.
The only thing that could counter such kind of a success story was a personally procured tiger
skin and a huge collection of photographs clicked by the press.
The story proceeds with favourable conditions to kill the tiger. It was so because the tiger had
become very old and confined his territory of hunting in villages for domestic animals. Mrs.
Packeltide has offered a thousand rupees for the opportunity to shoot a tiger without any risk.
The neighbouring village gets to know about the news and accepts the challenge as it had a large
number of tigers in it. The precious amount of a thousand rupees had spread all over the village.
Finally occurred a day when the villagers constructed a platform on a tree for Mrs. Packletide
and tethered a goat to act as a prey for the tiger. For this task, she had appointed Miss Mebbin to
accompany her so that the latter could be a witness to the entire incident. At last arrived the tiger
which lied down instead of attacking the goat. Mrs. Packletide fires instantly and by mistake the
goat is shot. The old tiger, being old and unable to bear the gun shot, dies of a heart attack.
This incident is the turning point in the story because Mrs. Packletide didn't achieve what she
desired and it was just a matter of chance that the tiger died. She was annoyed at the discovery
but never exposed the fact to anyone. Thus, she, in a very confident mood, convinced people that
she had actually shot the tiger.
The incident gains its popularity with Mrs. Packeltide's pictures released by the press far and
wide. In the meanwhile, we see Louissa Mebbin asking for some extra fund, partly because she
felt underpaid and not appreciated appropriately and partly because she needed to buy a small
cottage in Darking. She got the required amount of money because she was in possession of Mrs.
Packeltide's secret of not killing the tiger. The most surprising change occurred at the end of the
story where Mrs. Packletide gives up her newfound hobby, big-game hunting. "The initial
expenses are so heavy," she tells those who ask the reason for why she gave up big-game
shooting. This is how the story ends.



The Letter

Dhumaketu can be glorified as a prolific writer who has given a very vivid and wonderful
description of the village and its people, along with the nature and loneliness of human beings.
The story talks about coachman Ali who could not bear the pain of separation when his daughter
left after her marriage. His loneliness gained momentum with passage of time in which he
desperately waited for a letter from his daughter Miriam.
The story begins with a very vivid description of how silent the village was wrapped in deathly
silence. The description of it being early dawn and people fast asleep in a winter morning is
very well portrayed through various phrases such as early dawn stars, distant steps,
occasional bark of dogs, etc. The old man goes to the post-office everyday occupying a
particular seat with a fixed purpose- awaiting a letter from his daughter. People found him to be a
lunatic and laughed at him.
In the following lines of the story we find Ali missing from the post-office for several as he falls
sick terribly. At last, he reaches the place one day and asks for the much awaited letter. The
postmaster gets infuriated and chases him away. Although this angers Ali, he doesn't lose his
temper. He gives five golden guineas to Lakshmi Das to forward his letter to his grave as he
considers that very day to be his last day of survival. He was never seen again.
The turning point in the story comes when trouble knocks on the postmaster's door in the form of
a news about his own daughter who lay sick in another town. He was anxious about receiving a
letter from her, discussing her health. He searched in the pile of letters and to his shock, found
Ali's much awaited letter from his daughter. His anger disappeared in a whiff and he sent for the
postman to send it to Ali right away.
The story hear turns quite heart-rendering when the postmaster feels empathy towards Ali. He is
grieved because of his condition and is filled with sympathy for the old man. He then personally
went to the post office to give Ali the letter. To his amazement, Ali received the letter with
gratefulness and tears in his eyes. The postmaster shrunk back when he noticed a light of
kindness when Ali received the letter.
The postmaster narrated this entire story to the postman. When asked on whom he saw the
postmaster said he saw Ali. This is when he came to know that Ali had died three months before.
Here, the bewildered postmaster found at the doorway that Ali had disappeared. Imagination had
deceived him. That evening he went to Ali's grave and laid the letter there.
Empathy makes us understand each other and build strong relationships. One can feel the anxiety
of other when one finds himself in that particular situation. In the end of the story, tortured with
remorse and grief, the postmaster waits for news from her ill daughter, passing a restless night
besie the charcoal sigri.

The Frog and the Nightingale

The allegorical poem The Frog and the Nightingale by Vikram Seth conveys the thought that if
you want to succeed you must have self confidence in your abilities even if you are exceptionally
talented. It talks about how inspired and influenced by someone much unknown and strange is
indeed a foolish work. There is a dominance of iambic meter with a regular rhyme scheme of
aabb.
The poem begins with the introduction of the frog's croaking. Instances of alliteration like 'awn
and awn and awn' exemplify the unbearable behaviour of the frog who lived in the bog and
boasted about himself. He was a frog full of ego and joy because of which he was undaunted by
people's ways of persuasion to stop croaking. Nothing could diminish the determination with
which he croaked, neither insults nor complaints.
Next part of the poem introduces a nightingale and her melodious voice in the bog. She left the
frog awestruck and gaping with wonder. She received a lot of compliments from everyone
residing in the bog. Here we see the nightingale's flaw for the first time when she seems to be
quite easily influenced by everybody's compliments and sings till dawn without pause. This
weakness of her to be swayed away by what people said about her proved fatal.
Angered by the praises she received the frog told the bird that he owned the sumac tree. When
she asked reviews on her singing, the frog commented that it wasnt bad but was too long and
lacked force. Claiming himself to be the best singer in the Bog he asked the nightingale to take
lessons from him. The nightingale agreed to this as she was already greatly overwhelmed that
such a critic had discussed her song. This chapter also teaches us how innocence can be fatal.
Many people in the human society also try to take advantage of the innocence or ignorance of the
people. Thus, one should always be wise while judging the other. The frog misrepresented the
entire fact saying that alone the bird would remain just a mere beginner while under his
guidance she would become a winner for which he would charge her fees fairly modest.
All this inspired the nightingale a great deal and extremely pleased with confidence she started
singing for which the frog started charging money from the animals who flocked towards the bog
from far and wide. The frog keeps tempting her more and she, flattered by applause, goes on
dawn till dusk and beyond.
The frog kept provoking her to sing more, even when the weather was unsuitable. Even after the
denials of the nightingale the frog forced her to sing. For six hours she kept singing to sound
perfect after which she gave a very nice show to the very elite class animals. All this royalty was
observed and enjoyed by the frog with joy that was both sweet and bitter.
Even after all this success, merely to subdue and torture the nightingale the frog kept scolding
her on petty things and told her to practice more. He rebuked her for not earning good money,
especially when she still owed him sixty shillings.
Gradually, her voice started trilling. She became pale and sorrowful, sleep deprived and
uninspired. This, in turn, affected the audience who were no more interested to listen to her. Her
voice grew hoarse and she could sing no more. This infuriated the frog.
At last, the frog's anger gains momentum till the point he tortures her to puff out your lung with
your passion. This frightened the bird a lot and she trembled and puffed up till the point when
she burst a vein and died. Even after her death, the attitude of the frog didn't change. He
remained proud and rather rebuked the nightingale for being too nervous, stupid and prone to
prone to influence. He emphasises on how "one's beauty is one's own". Thus re-began his reign
in the bog as the unrivalled singer. The poem very well puts forth the idea on how misjudgement
could turn fatal.


















Mirror

The poem Mirror is all about the role, nature and importance of a mirror in our life. The theme of
the poem comes through the voice of the mirror itself. The mirror speaks about its truthful nature
in reflecting the reality. It never tampers with the reality while projecting it. It has no
preconception or prejudice in showing the truth. The mirror speaks out that its motive is to
portray truth rather than cruelty. The mirror compares itself to the eye of a little god which only
observes truth. When nobody is in front of the mirror, it meditates on the opposite wall keeping
itself always occupied. The mirror thinks that the opposite wall has become a part of it's life.
Except when it is dark or somebody is in front of the mirror, it is cut off from the opposite wall.
The mirror likens itself to a lake when a woman seeks to see her true identity as reflected in the
mirror. The mirror points out that it remains faithful and impartial in reflecting her true identity.
It never distorts the reality. It is the very nature of human beings to welcome compliments than
comments, complaints or sarcasm. The woman is searching for her true identity. However, the
harsh truth revealed by the mirror agitates her. When she sees herself ageing in the mirror, she
turns away to find her answers in the candles and the moon. She has tears in her eyes and her
agitated hands express distress. Despite that the mirror does not flatter the woman about her
beauty as is done by the candle or the moon. A woman appears different in moonlight as well as
in candlelight. However, when she comes in front of a mirror, the mirror shows her true identity.
The mirror regards itself to be very important to a woman as she daily appears before it to see
her face. From her youthful days to old age, she cannot but appear before a mirror.











Marble, Nor The Gilded Monuments

William Shakespeare's sonnet Not Marble, Nor The Gilded Monuments is all about the powerful impact
of time. In this poem, the poet reveals the stark reality that everything comes to an end gradually by the
impact of time. Nothing in this world is permanent, everything is momentary. Time is supreme.
However, the poem acknowledges the durability of the written word in comparison to other structures
like marble or gold-plated structures. He feels that a literary composition like a poem can touch the
hearts of many and can withstand the corrosive impact of time. The poet contrasts the power of poetry
with that of monuments built by princes and kings. Wars can destroy the monuments but even the god
of war cannot burn the impact of written words. The poet advises the person he loves to move forward
forgetting all fears and enmity. This will keep him alive in the minds of future generation. This is the best
way to live in peace till the world comes to an end.

















The Dear Departed

Stanley Houghton's The Dear Departed is a social play on the condition of the elderly people
who are being abandoned and neglected by their own children. The play is optimistic that even
elderly people may chose to live merrily, despite their old age. They can even opt to marry at old
age to lead a happy life .
In the beginning of the play Mrs.Slater goes to offer something to grandfather Abel
Merryweather and finds him quite cold, not responding at all. He is motionless. So, Mrs.Slater
declares that the grandfather is no more.
Accordingly, her sister and her husband, the Jordans are informed about the sudden demise of
the grandfather. Mrs.Slater and her husband are busy making arrangement for the mourning.
They are expecting the Jordans to join them. They start using the various materials used by the
grandfather. Victoria, daughter of Mrs.Slater does not like all these but reluctantly she is helping
her parents in these matters. Victoria is asked to keep a watch on the main door to inform her
mother about the arrival of the Jordans. Mrs.Slater is not willing to share everything of her
father's belongings with Mrs.Jordan. When all these arrangements are being done, the Jordans
arrive to join them.
The family members start detailed conversation on the deeds of the grandfather, planning the
details of the obituary announcement in the papers and the insurance premium payment. They
start discussion over the distribution of grandfather's belongings among them.
Surprisingly, at this point of time, the play witnesses a turn of events. Victoria who has been sent
to the grandfather's room, returns very scared. She tells everyone that grandfather is alive. To
everybody's surprise, grandfather is seen coming downstairs. He is surprised to find the Jordans.
No one dares to tell him that he has been declared 'dead'. While taking tea, the truth comes out
and the grandfather gets to know how his daughters have been in a hurry to divide his
possessions among them.
On knowing the harsh reality, the grandfather decides not to live with any of his daughters. He
even expresses his final intention to change his Will. He declares that he is going to give
everything to Mrs. Shorrocks whom he will marry. He feels that by marrying Mrs. Shorrocks he
will have someone to look after him wholeheartedly without considering him to be a burden.