Book review of "The Old Curiosity Shop" by Charles Dickens

Here I have shared my views about “The Old Curicity Shop” by Charles Dickens, I have issued this book from the central library of University during our monthly library visit arranged by library committee.

Here are the photographs of visit: Click here

The Old Curiosity Shop

-          Charles Dickens

              “The Old Curiosity Shop” is written by Charles Dickens, the famous novelist of Victorian era. Dickens has wrote his most of works as a series in magazines and this “The Old Curiosity Shop” was also serialized in Master Humphrey’s Clock between 1840 to 1841 and as a novel it was published in 1841. His suffering in his childhood is mostly reflacted in his works, in Oliver Twist also there is a journey and suffering of a child.

         

             The plot is full of adventures like all the novels of Dickens, we can read the adventures journey of the protagonist Nell, a fourteen year old girl who stays with her grandfather, the owner of ‘The Old Curiosity Shop”. Grandfather wants to give the good lifestyle to Nell and for this he chooses the wrong way of gambling and lost his everything. Nell and her Grandfather both were started their journey from London to west England and they met many kind-hearted people, but because of grandfather’s habit of gambling, they were not able to settle anywhere and at the end, because of all these suffering and pain Nell died and soon after that her grandfather also died.

          

             The characters in the novel are having different psyches; readers can sense the mindset of characters. Nell is only fourteen years old but with enough maturity. Grandfather is worried about the future of Nell and starts gambling to come out of poverty, here Dickens focused upon two major social evils, poverty and gambling. The character like Quilp, a wicked and hunchbacked dwarf, he described ugly, which represents his inner qualities. He was interested in the shop of Grandfather and by financing money for gambling, he took the shop from them.

        

            The reference of river Thames comes in novel as Quilp falls into the river at night because of fogg and he died, but it also believed that it was suicide. The connection of Quilp’s death can be connected with Narcissus, in Ovid’s version of Narcissus’s myth he committed suicide. Quilp was also self obsessed and having hatred for every person around him, he used to beat his wife and tourtured her, he was also having hatred towards Kit and grandfather of Nell. At the end Nell died, which obviously suggests the tragic end of the novel and social reality also. The death of a child during suffering effects the readers because she was the only innocent character in the novel and she has paid the price of everyone’s sins. The villain and the protagonist both have died at the end, Dickens has shown the reality by the death; if novel would have been ended happily it would not create much effect upon the readers.

“Heaven be thanked, I love its light and feel the cheerfulness

it sheds upon the earth, as much as any creature living”

Review of a Documentary “Rivers and Tides” by Andy Goldsworthy

“Rivers and Tides” by Andy Goldsworthy

        

           On 22^nd August 2016, all the students of Department of English have attended a movie screening of “Rivers and Tide”.

Here I have shared my views regarding this film.

         

         In this documentary, Andy Goldsworthy makes different shapes by natural elements and creates his art works. The documentary is directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer and released in 2001. It very much connected with life and our nature that how we imitates the nature in different way. When we watch this documentary, it goes monotonously and the artist is doing the same work repeatedly until he gets the perfection.

  

        The very first artwork was shaping ice in the design of river, and we can observe that when he has completed his work the sun rises and ice started melting which shows the transience nature of human life. We always try to find something from nothingness and though if we get something it is not permanent, but the process of finding gives pleasure. Goldsworthy has said in his documentary that,

“My all efforts are trying to make something that is effortless”

  

        His another work was from stones, he was arranging stones in a shape of a big egg, four times it happened that when he is very near to complete it has collapsed he got disappointed too but on next day he started again and he has completed it. He has expressed his feelings that an artist is connected with his art piece, he said that,

“I am very much connected with the stones”

    

       He has used earth, air and water for his art work. He has used nature as canvas as well as colours and brush to express his ideas. 

"To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf - blog task

This blog is a part of my blog task activity for the novel "To The Light house" by Virginia Woolf in Modernist literature

Here is the given task : click here

Here is my response :

2) Do you agree: "The novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay"? Can we read Mrs. R in context of the idea of Ideal Indian Woman - ( Karyeshu dasi, Karaneshu manthri; Bhojeshu mata, Shayaneshu rambha; Kshamayeshu dharithri, Roopeshu lakshmi; Satkarma yukta, Kuladharma pathni. )

> Yes, we can say that the novel is a tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay, because from the very beginning of the novel we can observe her character that she is very caring and kind hearted housewife and mother but when we see Mrs Ramsay with the perspective of Lily Brisco we can say that her good behaviour is not natural. She has considered as an ideal woman because she fits in frame of patriarchal mindset. In the painting of Lily we can see that Mrs Ramsay is at the centre of the painting and summer house but she is knitting (ideal housewife) and guiding her child (ideal mother), Mrs Ramsay's character goes downward from controlling position to a mere housewife.
Yes we can read Mrs. R in context of the idea of Ideal Indian Woman as she follows all the rules of wife which has designed by patriarchy.

7) comparison of the 'beginning' and the 'ending' of the novel and the film adaptation of the novel.
 Do you think that the novel is more poignant than the movie? If yes, do you ascribe the fact that the power of words is much greater than that of the screen / visuals?

> When we read the beginning of the novel it has effective start like we enter in the mind of characters one by one and in the film it has differently begun with the introduction of the characters. At the end, the confusion of Brisco has very well described by the narration and in the film it has described by the visual effects of light and sound. Both are effective but we can say that novel has long narration of Lily's dilemma and her vision.

8) How do you interpret the last line of the novel with reference to the ending of the film?

 > The ending of the novel is connected with the title of the novel, finally all characters reached to the light house. In the novel Lily Brisco said :

" she looked at her canvas; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision"

In the novel Lily saw the painting of Mrs Ramsay, she saw an ideal housewife and mother and her confusion of being ideal woman has solved, her blurred vision (Mrs Ramsay as an ideal woman) was clear.

In the film :
 "Closed doors, open windows" - lies on the bed and with some sort of satisfaction utters: "Dearest Briscoe, you are a fool"

In the film we can observe Lily's confusion that she was trying to think like Mrs Ramsay but when she completed painting she thought that the way Mrs Ramsay is in painting (sitting on chair and knitting and guiding James) she cannot do that, she uttered the dialogue of Mrs Ramsay 'Closed doors, open windows" and considered herself fool to think on a perticular way.

If we connect both the dialogue, we can understand it more clearly:
"Dearest Briscoe, you are a fool, I have had my vision"

10) Why did Virginia give such prominence to the tale of the “Fisherman’s Wife”? 

> The tale of "Fisherman’s Wife is connected with the character of Mrs. Ramsay as well as Mr. Ramsay, because Woolf is subverting the misogyny of fairytale for example the male characters are behaving like fisherman's wife, they have wishes which are not fulfilled in a way they wants and that unsatisfied desires leads them towards failure. Mrs Ramsay is more successful in her work than Mr. Ramsay and Lily Brisco is better in her profession than Charles Tansley. Fairytale shows the dangers of male willfulness and desires.