Thinking Activity : Sense of an Ending

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                              Here I am going to wrote about the famous novel The sense of an Ending is written by Julian Barnes. This blog is my academic task given by Dr Dilip barad sir from Department of English Bhavnagar University. Click here

   1. How do we understand the concept of suicide with reference to your reading of literature ranging from Renaissance play Hamlet, 20th century Existentialist philosophy and this 21st century novel Sense of an Ending?

Ans :-  "Once suicide was accepted as a common fact of society not as a noble Roman alternative, nor as the mortal sin it had been in the Middle Ages, nor as a special cause to be pleaded or warned against but simply as something people did, often and without much hesitation, like committing adultery, then it automatically became a common property of art" - Duaz 1971

                 People have different concept about suicide, rational thinkers like literary writers look suicide as an art and religious people look as a sin. Suicide is very interesting element in literature, for other people like doctors and businessman suicide is like failure of life and escaping from terrible experiences. While for literary writers suicide is Philosophical answer of life. If we see the Saussure's sign, signifier and signified then we come to know that it is all about language which create different meaning of death and suicide. 

            Suicide is beyond the death, it is transcendental idea of writers. From the age of enlightenment the idea of suicide came into the canon of literary work. There are many suicidal events in the work of William Shakespeare, for instance 'Hamlet' in which Prince Hamlet's soliloquy "To be or not to be" was very significant about suicide. He did not committed suicide because he had faith in the divinity but somehow Hamlet also thought about philosophical answer of the life. In twentieth Century After the world wars and scientific theories cause of spiritual degradation in people's life.

                     In addition, theory of Existentialism asked the question about existence and meaning of life. Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, the theorists of Existentialism gave the philosophical idea of suicide and said that suicide is beyond the death, it is not about failure in the life and escaping but it is all about transcendental idea of death, meaninglessness of life and absurdism. Further, in 21st century's 'Sense of an Ending' by Julian Barnes also have two episodes of suicide. There are two characters who committed suicide but it is not reliable facts that why they done suicide because it is said by other people, so we can say that Adrian's suicide is somehow seems philosophical but not reliable. However, psychologists say that it is all about Thanatos and Eros which are drive us into the life and death. 

2. How do you understand memory and history with reference to your reading of this novel

Ans :- At the end we come to know that memory has record something which is good or which we think it's a good and its preserved by us and when we think it's good about us then we preserve but one more thing is that memory is not perfect memory is in perfect so we cannot rely on some of the thing is perfectly clear in our mind in our memory also but something is not clear and after letter on its mixing so we cannot rely that what exactly happened in past

Same way we find in history that history is written by historian and its base on the someone's memory and its deal with the evidence but we can find that history is always problematic just because whenever that accident or event happened at that time how we remember then give interpretation or language used its depend upon that if that accident or event is good for us then we preserve different way but when that event or accident husband memory then we will do different kind of interpretation.

                       

Thinking Activity :- Harry Potter

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   Here I am going to wrote about the Harry Potter Series. We know that the Harry Potter is famous book series worldwide written by J. K. Rowling. This book takes us into a world full of fantasy, horror, mystery, magic. This book is not limited to children only but it goes beyond that if we study this book from the lens of literature. This blog is part of my classroom Activity that is given by Dilip barad sir from Department of English Bhavnagar University. This is the blog link of Activity Click here.

Feminist reading of Harmione’s character in Harry Potter

                Hermione Granger, a good, loyal friend of Harry Potter. She is a manifestation of the author herself within the text. “Hermione is me,” Rowling has said in several interviews, “A caricature of me when I was younger”. She is not only as a strong female character, an essential part of Harry's life, but also as a feminist protagonist in her own right. Hermione represents the bookish knowledge, she knows the spells very well and also knows how to apply it. In the first and second part she represents the good virtues like, friendship, loyalty. In any kind of situation she stands for Harry.  

Hermione is the perfect example when examining the feminist principles in the novels. Throughout the series she has many strengths and weaknesses, but she is mostly criticized about her weaknesses as a character. At some time she becomes concious about her look, which becomes very problematic from feminine perspective. Other female characters like Mrs. Weasley, who represents motherhood, caring nature. Ginny, Luna, ProMcGonagall, all has significant role, though they remains shallow under the patriarchal power.

Sometimes common patriarchal gender roles have been reversed and Hermione is given the power to take control of the situation, while harry just follows her. McGonagall holds powerful position in Hogwarts against professor . Tom Riddle uses Ginny for power , Rowling criticising the immorality of society where men feel free to victimize women. nowadays fight against patriarchy in real world for own identities and empowerment.

Discourse on the purity of Blood and Harry Potter

Pure blood for Wizards and Witches who have no muggle blood or muggle born They are supremacists, weasly, potter and lang bottoms.Half-blood for those Wizards and Witches who have magical and muggle ancestors in their family trees.Half-blood inferior to pure blood.The malfoy family, Voldemort and Severus snape belong to it. Harry is himself a Half-blood, his father married to Muggle born Lily.Muggle is born Malfoy used the term Murdoch to insult Hermione.

Confronting reality by reading fantasy

            We know that the Fantasy story could be the reality of our own world. In this series we can find author tells many problems of racism, class conflict, in the form of fantasy. But the characters are very much realistic which represents the universal emotions, moral values and so on. Through the fantasy author shows the reality of contemporary time. May be it speaks of, the racial issues, class discrimination. As the issue of blood described in the series. Harry Potter is a fantasy story, but it is not stereotype. Harry who is protagonist, he is presented as a orphan, wearing glasses, which breaks the stereotype of great hero. Writer presented 21st century’s mind, modern ideas, Rationality well though it is fantasy.

Self - help culture and Harry Potter 

        A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. It can also called 'self improvement'. In the novel Harry himself find his own way. In the whole novel he and his friends do self learning in Philosopher's Stone, chamber of secrets, and in order of phoenix they chooses practical education and practice with great effort. Hermione, leaps and bounds ahead of her classmates in wizard knowledge, potions and spells. This great intellect was both gifted to her, but also the result of hard work and intense studying. At times her skills  was off-putting to others, but she never felt she needed to hide just how capable she was. So, characters finds their own way.

The Discourse of power and politics in Harry Potter 

          Harry Potter very deeply making statement on power and politics Foucault's power and knowledge Knowledge is always a power of power and power is always a function of knowledge and knowledge created by those who are in power position. In Harry Potter the Ministry of Magic is the power and rules over the Hogwarts school. Prof. Dolores Umbridge declares theoretical education rather than practical Voldemort and his death eaters have the ultimate power and practices on the mudbloods and Muggles. Role of Ministry of magic, considered as the power, ministers like Dolores Umbridge who seeks the power of their own rules. Author very well observed the talk of power and apply in the novel.

Children's literature and Harry Potter 

                 Harry Potter was written as children literature because it deals with fantasy world, mystery story, school story, adventure novel, humorous story, and epic after four books it does not remain as a children's literature. Along with children's literature It includes some aspect of adolescent literature as well. It takes children to the reality that if you know magic then also After fifth and sixth part it does not stay as much of it. Harry deals with power and politics, the dark lord The different perspective of this novel like racism, ministry, politics, which is more than children's literature.

Speculative literature and Harry Potter

                  Speculative writing is defined as a photo or reading a short scenario and then writing a fictional story about what will happen next This novel has aspects of speculative fiction. Speculative means do not exist in real world, often in the context of the supernatural, futuristic or other imaginative themes. It includes science fiction, fantasy, superhero, horror and supernatural fiction. 'Harry Potter' is also considered as speculative fiction, it has the supernatural powers, the magical world, horror, mystery. The novel refers to the imaginative kind of animals, places, which we never listen. Like, Basilisk, nicknamed the King of Snakes by wizards, fluffy- three headed dog. 

The Theme of love and Death 

                   Love and death are the major themes in J. k. Rowling's fantasy novel and she also said that these series all about death and love. She justifies her point by presenting the characters of Ron and Hermione who are in love from the very beginning even they are fighting with each other. Further, the love between Harry and Dumbledore, Lily's love for Harry, harry's love for his friends, etc. In the other death also a crucial element in the novel. At the very beginning of the story we heart that Harry's parents have died, and in due course both we and Harry learn that they were murdered. The Shadow of death hangs over Harry; he learns that he, too, was intended to be a victim, but spared in a way no-one can explain. He narrowly escapes death again at the close of the first two books, and third is concerned with his pursuit by an escaped murderer. At the end of the fourth book, a school friend is killed before his eyes, and he himself barely escapes again. In the fifth book he loses his newly regained godfather, and in the sixth even his great and seemingly indestructible mentor, Dumbledore. Yes, death is a constant visitor to Harry's world.

The Theme of choice and chance 

                     Harry Potter novel says that in life chances and our choices both are important. First, it was only chance that Harry lived. When he needed help, help is always there. He gets invisibility cloak when needed. In Chamber of Secret Phoenix comes to hlep Harry. There are fortune portion alos. When Harry can't find way the fortune potion works. But choices have given same importance. Sorting hat puts Harry in Gryffinder because he wanted. Harry doubts that sorting hat may have put him in wrong house but in answer Dumbledore tells him that it is not our abilities that make us, it is our abilities who define us. Sirius Black also says same things. There are good and bad inside us but what path we choose determine us. In the final part, king cross station chapter when harry meet Dumbledore, Dumbledore says Harry that it is your choice to return or not. So both choice and chance are important in life. 

Moral and philosophical reading of Harry Potter 

           Harry and Voldemort, different morality values. Harry's moral values ​​becomes the Voldemort In his acceptance of his mortality, "the boy who lived" is able to be more fully and wholly to live. Voldemort in the quest to be immortal he loses his morals. In the end of many books Dumbuldore give love, choices, friendship Throughout the Harry Potter series there are two distinct types of characters, morally good and bad. On the good side there are characters such as, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore. While on the bad side Draco, Umbridge, Voldemort Who are in the favour of good moral values. 

Christianity and Harry Potter Series 

                        Harry Potter series directly have no relation with Christianity. Many critics say that the novel is anti-christianity because there are many thing in the fiction are ant Christian like magic. Magic js abondon in Christianity so Rowling written an anti christian work. In addition, there is not any kind of church for prayer even the good fights with powerful evil force though they do not pray to God for survival. All the characters fights and save themselves without any divinity power. But there are couple of scenes which somehow connected with Christianity like Christmas celebration and after the death of Albus Dambledor we see the view like heaven. So, at last we can say that Harry Potter is ant Christian fiction.

What is your Opinion on this 

          As per the Mitchel Foucault's theory "Power and Knowledge. J. K. Rowling similarly conveys the message that question the power because what is written is not always true in the post truth era. These lines by Rowling is also relevant in the present era, we see in many political leaders and media who keep on speaking lies for remaining in the power and also there are many speeches or write fake history. So, we have to cross check everything rather than follow blindly.Harry Potter, the novel conveys the message which is not liked by reader and many who watched the movie. Because the protagonist, the half blood wins over the pure blood, which can not digest And what can be assume about media and press.

      

                               Thank you...