The word ‘Gothic’ originated from a music category with dark morbid lyrics. In literature, Gothic fiction refers to the one exploring the elements of fear (even horror – haunted castles/homes), death and gloom and the romantic elements of nature, individuality and high emotion.
The protagonists of such novels are usually Gothic heroes, who are hard-core romantics (Gothic and romance are intricately related)
Edgar Allen Poe’s poem ‘Annabel Lee’ or ‘The Black Cat’ and works of Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley’s Frenkenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray are other examples using Gothic symbolism.
It includes mystery and suspense, (burials, ghosts, flickering candles etc. Ann Radcliffe’s 1794 novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho is a suitable example.) foreshadowing – omens and curses, settings such as gloomy castles, mountain regions, graveyards etc.
Supernatural Elements
While apparitions are characterised in a story to evoke fear or suspense, Wuthering Heights, a 430-page read, except at three or four instances, uses supernatural elements to mostly convey the psychological suffering of Heathcliff through his loss of Catherine.
(Few instances of supernatural occurrence in the story – after dozing off to sleep dreaming about Joseph, Lockwood experiences the presence of a ghost in Wuthering heights and is woken up by the rubbing of a branch of fir-tree against the window lattice. Also, when Nelly receives Heathcliff in a ‘ghastly paleness’, few days before his death or when Heathcliff recounts his ghostly encounter with Catherine’s spirit, and when after his death, people strongly believe that Heathcliff haunts the moors and Wuthering Heights.)
The Moors or the open fields
A silent but powerful link between the two households.
The emphasis on the moors in the story – wide, wild expanses but yet infertile lands – symbolise a linkage between the two households – Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, while also separating them from the rest of the village to give a feel of exclusivity, epitomizing the two homes as two major leads of the story – one as the hero and the other in a strong supportive role. The moors also represent Heathcliff and Catherine’s wild and free-spirited love.
The two houses, more than anything else, represent the temperament of their owners – one, God-fearing, peaceful and calm, similar to the description of his residence (Edgar – owner of Thrushcross Grange) and the other – owners of Wuthering Heights – one, a child of open lands and wilderness (Heathcliff) and the other, the epitome of aggression (Hindley).
Through through certain props in the setting of the story, Bronte has bridged the gap between the presence and physical absence of the leading characters to strengthen the plot.
Like the oak-paneled bed is symbolic of Catherine’s childhood, it symbolized also the isolated and secret life of Catherine when she hid from Heathcliff and wrote her journals, the corner of the bed dearest to her and provided comfort to the small girl escaping violence and searching for her expression. Towards the end of the story, Heathcliff too dies in the same bed with the window open, symbolizing that his spirit has escaped to become one with Catherine’s.
When Lockwood sees Catherine’s ghost through the same window, desperately wanting to come inside, it symbolized the fact that nobody can be spared loneliness in a place that belonged to someone, who so passionately sought its company that it seemed to be possessed by her eternally, even beyond her death.
The windows and the lattice
The windows and the lattice pervade the story as symbols of enclosure and entry of the elements of the world outside, especially the weather – sometimes alien but mostly resonating with the world within Wuthering Heights.
Weather as a prominent symbol in the story also describes the tumult within the hearts of its inhabitants – the characters have been firmly rooted in the natural images of their environment. The elementary forces of nature have been aptly used by the storyteller to introduce the readers to the changing landscapes of the characters’ emotions by way of narration and dialoguing.
Taking Nelly’s narration as an example when she described the night of Heathcliff’s departure from Wuthering Heights, we have this –
‘About midnight, while we still sat up, the storm came rustling over the Heights in full fury. There was a violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or the other split a tree off at the corner of the building; a huge bough fell across the roof and knocked down a portion of the chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen fire.’
Wuthering Heights, during the time of its first release in 1847 was considered controversial on religious and moral grounds. But today it is one of the greatest classics in English literature. The symbolic devices the author uses to communicate the soulful love, wilderness and emotional turmoil of her lead characters, remain a subject of interest for many literature enthusiasts and language experts.
To me, the book, after three reads, has become a treasure to cherish and a tale to revisit, whenever the weather reminds me of Nelly narrating the intriguing story of Catherine and Heathcliff.
When I first heard the story of Ferdinand in one of the Read Aloud Sessions arranged by a friend, it took me back to my own childhood. During recess, when kids were set free to frolic in the sand pit, I would stand against the bricked plant enclosures, some distance from the pit and would relish in the fragrance of the roses, wafting through them. There was also a desire to join the crowd but many times hesitation took the better of me and the allure of this heavenly fragrance made me reject the idea outright.
With time and support I overcame the hesitation but the fragrance of peace and solitude still fascinates me. I still prefer spending most of the time of quiet mornings and calming nights to myself in the good company of my books and laptop. And I have never regretted it!
The story of Ferdinand written by Munro Leaf is about a bull who hates bullfights and ultimately decides to remain peaceful and never participate in violence, after an experience in the ring which does not excite him. Instead, the smell of his favourite flowers at the centerstage sweeps him off his feet and he chooses to sit and savour it, right inside the ring.
True to his nature, Ferdinand, through the support of his mother who works infallibly on her motherly instincts, eventually learns to cherish the gift of his authenticity.
But is the story also pointing to a darker layer of human psyche that allures us to stay in our comfort zones, devoid of challenges?
After a careful study of the theme, the story seems to reassert the premise – necessitating the effort on the part of parents and teachers, of assuring that their children and protégé stay true to the beauty of their uniqueness and learn to assert it without fear. Contrary to what many believe about the message the story is silently conveying of anti-growth mindset and not stepping out of our comfortability, the bull in fact is challenged for his peaceful way of living but stays determined on his committal of being non-violent.
The story plays on a bigger moral – the lesson Morrie taught his student in ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’–
‘Our culture does not make us feel good about ourselves. We are teaching the wrong things and you have to be strong enough to say that if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it. CREATE YOUR OWN. Most people can’t do it and so they remain unhappy.’
The very idea of a violent game with aggression as its fuel, worked fundamentally as a repellent to Ferdinand and so portrayed his authenticity and not cowardice.
Lesson 1 –
Lesson for kids –
Choosing to stand for your authenticity is truly liberating. (Authenticity – being legitimate and true to the self.)
Our men, since childhood, have been nurtured to believe that they should be tough. But how far does it take them towards the boundary, where toughness ends and aggression begins? Why have we forgotten that our young boys are after all children with a tender human heart and the fact that each has their own uniqueness; some being more sensitive than the others?
Lesson 2 –
Acceptance of variety and distinctiveness – as parents, as a society.
Ferdinand’s mother, initially apprehensive about her son’s distinct behavior and fearful that he might remain singled out, eventually discovers that he is happy and complacent, for he is being what he truly is – extension of his identity without being unethical or hurtful to someone else. She accepts him in his entirety. The story can question the capacity of a society as a unit to accept a distinct member, its inclusivity and integrity. It can question the member of a tribe about his sense of belongingness to his clan.
Lesson 3 –
The story also gives a perspective on an important underrated issue of animal oppression. The fact that being a member of a particular specie can obligate someone to perform a task a certain way, is questionable. The need to live and breathe freely applies to all.
Every year, thousands of bulls are killed within the deathly confines of the bullrings in the fights triggered by matadors and picadors. But for many of us, in love with this gentle bull hero, the good news is bullfights are now being banned in many nations and even former champion bullfighters are now speaking out against it.
Lesson 4 –
Dealing with Aggression
Ferdinand triggers a philosophical debate and questions the child reader about whether she would choose aggression as a response to an adversity or would adhere to ‘passive resistance’ or accommodate self-defense as a justified form of aggression?
Ahimsa has long been an identity of Indians. As Mahatma Gandhi’s pet weapon in driving Britishers out, as Martin Luther King’s philosophical motivation, it has taken hundreds of years for us to understand the significance of a non-violent settlement.
While most of our decisions can be driven by circumstance and can be intuitional, several studies and researches reveal the consequence of aggression, if unregulated – major mental disorders or poor social outcomes.
In the movie Ferdinand, taken from the story, the hero asks his father – “Is it possible to become a champion, without having to fight?’
In any case, we can easily imagine a regressive world – uncivilized and primitive, if we choose to live with aggression or teach our children to resort to it as a primary form of defense.
Ferdinand was BIG and STRONG but he did not let it equate to being AGGRESSIVE.
The story works on another important sub-theme of gender-stereotyping. Working on the same lines the story penned by Indian author Richa Jha, The ‘Unboy Boy’, features Gagan, considered ‘un-boy’ – ish for being peaceful and for not joining other boys in their violent pursuits. Ultimately his friends discover and applaud what he truly is – Brave, Adventurous and PEACEFUL.
The story of Ferdinand offers life lessons for adults more than children. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their child, the difference in facing a challenge and standing true to his identity for he might confuse the two. And for this reason, it is imperative to understand the difference ourselves first.
For kids although it offers the lesson of celebrating one’s identity in a truly light-hearted, serene narration that is enjoyed by children of all age groups.
Does the method of reading change, if we are a writer? Well, the answer is, it needs to, if we haven’t yet discovered the technique of RLW (Reading Like a Writer).
The first thing I try to teach in my writing workshops, to every new batch is the base point from where the journey of writing begins – and it has to be, by all means, the way we read!
My research and articles elaborating and analyzing this point, published in UGC approved journals and internal university periodicals, have put me in a position to elaborate on the main points of the techniques of reading.
Mike Bunn in one of his chapters in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing (Volume 2), explains the importance of RLW. He uses Allan Tate’s metaphor of writing, when one thinks of herself as an architect, understating like a student, the constructs of ‘building’ a story, so that one can build it for herself.
A writer is “a reader moved to emulation.”
In a Paris Review interview, when asked if his earlier work has been inspired by Virginia Woolf, author William Maxwell (Author of ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’ and ‘They came Like Swallows’) agreed that his earlier work indeed was a compendium of all of his favorite authors. He quoted another legend Saul Bellow as saying,
“A writer is a reader who is moved to emulation.”
(To strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation. Eventually we find our voice as we keep on writing.)
Robert Peake in his article – Emulation, Originality, and the Writing Tradition, elaborates on how emulation–as defined by a desire to imitate and transcend the spirit and tactical successes of works one admires–can actually enhance originality.
Talking of emulation, I also like Robert’s idea of reading widely and responding genuinely to our rich heritage of literary arts. Maybe reading a thousand authors and then narrowing the reading down to a select few who are your favorites and exercising through imitation of their style of writing till the time we find our own independent voice as writers.
Emulation teaches you to creatively rewrite and re-examine the mechanics of what was written
Emulation can be thought for thought (rewriting the thought conveyed in a passage in your own words)or it can be a word for word (replacing the adjectives and nouns, for example, with other synonymous adjectives and nouns)
Many times, reading too much of the same author can automatically lead to writing like him.
Read Slow –
Understanding the usage of a language as a medium and its sentence structure is the key to become an eloquent writer. That would happen when we read slow to grasp the power and CHOICE of words used in popular literature.
Language is to a writer what notes is to a musician and color to a painter. The wonder of every piece of art is its intricacies, what went into it.
“Every page was once a blank page just as every word that appears on it now was not always there, but instead reflects the final result of countless large and small deliberations. All the elements of good writing, depend on the writer’s skill in choosing one word instead of another. And what grabs and keeps our interest has everything to do with those choices. It’s surprising how easily we lose sight of the fact that words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted.” – Francine Prose – Fifty Shades of Grey.
My absolute favourite suggestion –
Reread your old favorites –
When you read a book for the first time, you are busy comprehending the story, grasping the language, journeying the symbolism, making notes but after you become familiar with these constructs and like what you read, it is a good idea to re-experience it. It’s like going back to your summer house in vacations time and again, to relive the comfort of the place you enjoy so much being into.
Consider asking yourself – what is that one or two things about the book that made me come back to it?
What makes the book special?
Who was my favorite character?
Is there anything to learn about the character arcs or kind of metaphorical references made for him/her?
For a passage you admire, you can choose to ask yourself –
What was the word choice of the author?
What was the rhythm?
Is the passage offering any new perspective that is changing what the story has meant to me until now?
Ruthanne Reid, author for ‘The Write Practice’ suggests – elaborating on the paragraph that you think is the game-changer of the story; something that made your perspective change about the character’s choices or emphasizes on the gravity of the problem or importance of the solution offered or why the character’s assumptions are such, maybe because she belongs to a different culture or locality. Talk about it.
Elaborate on these points in a notebook or a blog. Share with others or have a discussion group.
Also reading the same genre in which you are willing to write would help to evaluate which archetypes to avoid. Although reading across the genre helps boost creativity.
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature.
*1 – Ruthanne Reid writes in the blog ‘The Write Practice’ – ‘There is a rhythm to good prose writing. Read a beautiful passage out loud if you don’t believe me. If you were to swap words with synonyms of different syllable count, the rhythm would totally change.’
How to establish spiritual optimism or access the real power of spirit.
Healthiest response to life is laughter from the heart
Establishing a roadmap to happiness within.
The Characterization of Mickey Fellows –
The idea behind Mickey Fellows was to lead towards the discovery that the real laughter comes from a deep abyss of abundance and authentic joy coming from the foundational level of the soul.
Deepak Chopra’sWhy is God laughing is the first book amongst the various bestsellers I have read by the author. It comes at a time in my life when I would soon be reaching the age of the protagonist, Mickey Fellows, chosen to highlight the point of Spiritual Optimism.
Rushed and panting for ambition, craving to live up to the maximum potential of our existence we often find ourselves drowning in our work, without realizing that in the context of peace and spirituality we were all wrong to begin with.
Chopra has interconnected the concept of Spiritual optimism with intense internal communication, with INTUITION and CREATIVITY.
Through his story of a highly ambitious comedian, disconnected not only with his family but also with himself, he symbolizes the ironies of being human – even the one who has willfully chosen ‘laughing’ as a full-time profession, cannot possess ultimate happiness and peace, unless his laugh is resonant with the laugh of the Divine or has germinated from a deeper seat of joy within.
Claim –
There is a feeling of wonderment when we see from the eyes of a mystic. For us the reality ends at the physical existence of things. When we associate things with meanings more than their physical possession, we expand the life’s capability of experiencing joy and with practice we make this meaning the very foundation of our existence.
Evidence –
Chopra endorses creativity to be the soul sister of intuition. He supports his statement by considering Einstein’s example, when the great scientist confessed that the thing that separated him from the atheists was that unlike him “they cannot hear the music of the spheres.” He would rely on his inner intuitive voice that made him take creative leaps to greatest scientific discoveries, rather than trudging the linear path of established facts.
He supports the belief that both science and spirituality are based on humans’ intuitive powers. Through Einstein’s example and the spiritual discoveries of the hero of his story, Mickey Fellows, he explains elaborately how our stay at the destination of authentic and ultimate joy is intense and long lasting and can be trudged by making these powers more easily accessible.
Theme review –
The lack of this accessibility can lead to inexplicable ironies and confusions to the extent that even a comedian by profession, is unable to laugh at himself and abstract more joy from his life than the others! It was only when he is able to shed various layers of pessimism including his ego and ingratitude, that he discovers true joy that comes from a deeper place within and stays longer.
When we listen in quietude to the world around, we encounter hidden messages and extract their meanings in the context of our reality. And it is in this state of mindfulness that ensues, that we take the clues and connect better with our intuition.
Symbolism –
The laughing of God –
Chopra indirectly points at a secret understanding of an existential truth, through the laughing of God; the very tittle of the book.
We might in the first instance, think of God when we hear of His laughter from Mickey’s dead father, as a megalomaniac selfish presence in the universe overlooking the world gone berserk. But here the God is a representation of coming of age as a human when we are able to laugh at the paradoxes, ironies and mysteries of our being, when we too like God get the secret that we are who we are sans our ego and without any fear. When we realise that we can shed the rind of our self-image and our delusionary apprehensions, we can connect with our true self.
Just like when we internally laugh at the innocent mistakes of a child, we would laugh at our ego. In fact, the laughing of God takes us to the understanding of the root cause of the tumult of issues the world is facing today – lack of connectivity with the self.
(Ego here refers to the self-image camouflaging our true self by our own judgement and analysis. True self is the field of possibility and creativity and the field of power. Chopra refers to it as field because the true self, he considers, is not localized within a human. It is a part of this universe and therefore, infinite.
He preaches that through self-awareness of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, we can walk beyond the ego.)
The mentor – Francisco
How surreal it would be to have a mystical mentor like Mickey’s in one’s life; someone emerging maybe from an empty space between the stack of books in a library, or in the window behind while one combs her hair looking into the mirror?
Francisco is the exaggerated version of the role he plays, symbolizing the mystery of mentoring we all experience in bits and pieces, contributing to form a bigger meaning in the context of our individual life. He reminds us in milder patterns, the authentic coaching of values we might have received from someone known or anonymous, in the past, the teachings of whom have stayed with us in contingencies.
One day you find it difficult to trace the end of the thread. You can’t remember when you lost touch with them, like an old professor in college, but you might not need their guidance any more. The fact that they were ever present seems delusionary.
Coming back to the major takeaway of the story –
In Chopra’s own words –
“Intuition is a form of intelligence which is not based on logic or rationality. It is purely contextual, relational, holistic, eavesdrops into what’s happening in the universe that is relevant to you. It doesn’t have to do anything with winning or losing.”
Today we talk about the biggest issues in our society. We talk about terrorism and hatred. We try to figure out where we went wrong. But the matters keep intensifying, cutting into the social fabric like moths, not only affecting the intellectuals but also the young impressionable minds. How about going back to the basics, addressing the problem at the grass-root level, while the roots still emerge out of the ground and unify into individuality by way of something as simple as value education through storytelling?
The rustic character of Binya from Ruskin Bond’s ‘The Blue Umbrella’ with her adventurous pursuits and eventual triumph out of each predicament, narrated beautifully by the legendary author, makes it rich with values and bravery. This video talks about the character and her relationship with other elements in the story.
Transcript of the video –
How to Win Friends and Influence People like Binya
The Blue Umbrella – ByFriendsRuskin Bond.
Hi friends! Do you want to influence people and make friends just like our favourite character Binya from the story Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond?
I do.
Maybe we can take a leaf out of Binya’s character.
Binya is her cow’s favourite master, she is loved by everyone in the village, by her brother, and then eventually even by her biggest enemy Ram Bharosa!
Character Analysis – ‘Binya’ from Ruskin Bond’s The Blue Umbrella.
Children, it doesn’t matter what age you belong to, you may be this small or that big, but you can still influence people in your unique way.
Binya is a countryside girl living in the hills of Himachal Pradesh. She is 11 years old. She would feel nature closely, walk barefoot over the grass when she is out with her cows and feel the grass just as much as she would feel the rocky mountain path.
No matter how preoccupied she is with her daydreaming she would always keep an ear to the tinkling of the cow bells and would know their whereabouts.
Let’s analyze her character with every other element in the story.
Binya and her cows – She seems to take the responsibility of chaperoning the cows very seriously. She is empathetic towards the animals and the cows love their master as she would many times allow them to wander about in the open fields, and remain all by themselves. So the amazing relationship she has with her cows is that of trust, freedom, and empathy.
Binya’s relationship with the self – Children, our hero, Binya – finds happiness in her heart through simple acts of kindness and forgiveness. When she finds out that her flaunting of the pretty blue umbrella is making Ram Bharosa, the tea seller greedy enough to be wanting the umbrella at any cost she surrenders her treasured possession and allows Ram Bharosa to have it forever. Not because she is afraid of him, but because she pities him seeing that he is abandoned by the villagers for his wrong behavior and forgives him in her heart.
Everyone loves Binya, not because she wants everyone to love her, of course, we all do, but more than that because Binya is forgiving, compassionate and generous.
Binya ends her story with a beautiful note – ‘No possession is a bigger source of happiness than the beholding of a forgiving human heart!’
