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=Class Summary= For anyone reading this Wiki, below I have incorporated some reading sections. If you have a comment to make about a specific poem, you can put it in the corresponding "Summary" section. The "Reading" section will take you to the poem itself.

Written From Class

 * First we had a reward quiz


 * A lot of people asked about their answers


 * Took fiveish minutes


 * We forgot last class about 3 poems


 * Buttoo


 * Lakshman


 * Jogadhya Uma


 * We first go over Buttoo and Sindhu


 * Because they both end in oo


 * Buttoo


 * Humiliated by Drona first


 * Goes out on his own


 * Goes to the forest


 * Creates statue of Drona


 * Self-instructs in archery and magic


 * Becomes better than Drona's star pupil


 * Drona asks him to cut off his thumb


 * Sindhu


 * King goes hunting


 * Accidently kills Sindhu, thinking he's a deer


 * Sindhu forgives him


 * King brings Sindhu back to blind parents


 * Parents say that king will die with them in grief


 * What are the morals?


 * Don't stir up trouble in the here and now, so that you can have a nice afterlife.


 * Buttoo


 * Allows one to see that one's ability is not limited by one's cast


 * Powerful person (Drona) is cruel


 * Sindhu


 * King dies of heartache along with parents


 * Poems are about power


 * No one is mad at the king in Sindhu


 * Reflects on politics


 * King gives Sindhu a royal funeral


 * Elevates above their station


 * possible that it brings religion in


 * Acknowledgment from the king


 * She might have imagined that she would have british readers


 * Affects how she would write about the east


 * Will british readers change their minds by reading about India from an Indian's perspective?


 * There is pride there


 * She makes India beautiful


 * British would want to read the Ramayan (as suggested at the end of Sindhu)


 * Then again, they might not know enough about it


 * Indian writer teaching English about those the English believe that they are teaching.


 * No footnotes


 * Next we discussed "fire drill"


 * Royal Aesthetic and the Hind and Jogadhya Uma


 * Lakshman and Sita


 * The Legend of Dhruva and Prehlad

Group Work


 * I only know what my group talked about, so I'm sorry to the other groups


 * We started with Royal Aesthetic and the Hind


 * A hind is a deer


 * The deer was placed in the kings life to teach him how to love


 * Love of God is wonderful, but while we're here we have a need to work in the world and do good deeds and not hide or bury responsibility


 * Line 100 explains her interpretation


 * King had the right kind of love when he broke his devotion to God to help the deer


 * Was the king just being a coward?


 * What is the Brahmin view?


 * He should not have broken his vigil


 * Never went back to the vigil


 * Deer gave him a purpose


 * Christian themes pop up again


 * Next was Jogadhya Uma


 * We like how she uses Hindu beliefs to bring out christian themes


 * Shell bracelets


 * Nothing much of Gender or Empire in this


 * Changing to The Legend of Dhruva and Prehlad


 * The Legend of Dhruva


 * More Buddhist than Prehlad


 * Can also be seen as Christian


 * Budhists were not allowed to discuss other religions


 * Is the King now in service of Buddhism or Christianity?


 * She wasn't intentionally writing as Buddhist


 * Prehlad


 * More Christian than Dhruva


 * Monotheistic idea


 * Line 7


 * Kings forcing his own religion on others


 * Switched to Lakshman and Sita


 * Interesting how a mother is telling her children these poems


 * Lakshman


 * Role of Sita as a Woman


 * Possibly raped when kidnapped


 * why she was exiled


 * Kicked while down


 * Women were under men on the social ladder


 * Sita


 * Written after her sibling died


 * Grieving, possibly an elegy for them


 * Next we came back together as a class


 * One more poem left: Svitri


 * We'll approach that poem similarly next time


 * Activity, weakness, gender, etc.


 * Empire, east/west, England, politics


 * Strengths and weaknesses


 * Religion maybe primary focus point of her writing


 * She twists everything to christian viewpoint


 * Connecting with both cultures that she cares about


 * Maybe not her whole goal to convert everyone to Christianity, but probably wants some people to.


 * Her father converted the family to Christianity when she was young


 * the mother was less enthusiastic about it.

A Classy Class
Class on February seventeenth began as so many of our classes do: with a five-question reward quiz on the poems that we were supposed to read for homework. The quiz was five questions long, and lasted, according to the clock, all of five minutes. The required poems, for those who for whatever reason cannot read Professor Foss' calendar (and if that's the case then how in the world are you reading this?), were "The Royal Ascetic and the Hind," "The Legend of Dhruva," "Sindhu," "Prehlad," and "Sita," all by Toru Dutt.

Once the quiz was over, Professor Foss pointed out that there were three of Dutt's poems that we had forgotten from the previous class. These were “Buttoo,” “Lakshman,” and “Jogadhya Uma.” We killed two birds with one stone by comparing these to three of today's readings. What better way to start than with the two that end in “oo,” “Sindhu” and “Buttoo”?

After a brief overview of the two poems, we started talking about them as a class. We seemed to agree that they both shared the theme: don't go looking for trouble. In “Sindhu,” the king accidently kills Sindhu, thinking that he's a deer. Sindhu forgives him, but Sindhu's blind parents tell the king that he will die of grief like them. In “Buttoo,” Buttoo is humiliated by Drona, who refuses to teach him archery. He goes off on his own to learn, and comes back better than Drona's star pupil. Drona asks Buttoo to cut off his thumb as a show of loyalty, because Drona had promised his star pupil to be the best.

These two poems had some other interesting qualities to them. Namely, it showed that a person's ability is not limited by their cast (station in life). It is interesting to note that the powerful person in “Buttoo” is the cruel villain. In “Sindhu,” the king gives Sindhu a royal funeral, elevating him above his former station. We agreed that both poems were about power: No one gets mad at the king in “Sindhu,” even though he killed a child, and Buttoo still admires Drona, even after he had been humiliated.

Dutt might have imagined that she would have British readers. This would affect how she would write about the east. Will British readers change their minds by reading about India from an Indian's perspective? Dutt may have British tendancies, but she did have a lot of pride for her own country. She paints India as a beautiful place in her poems. Britain had a lot of interest in India, trying to “enlighten” the natives. These poems were an Indian writer teaching the British about those the British were trying to teach.

Once we were done with these poems, we broke off into a “fire drill,” where three groups passed around notes on the poems. With six poems left to us, we took them in pairs. I apologize to other groups, but I only know what my own group discussed. We looked at “Royal Aesthetic and the Hind” and “Jogadhya Uma,” saying the the former was a Christian view and the latter a Brahmin view of religion. “The Legend of Dhruva” and “Prehlad” were another two that had religious views. My group agreed that “Dhruva” had a Buddhist view and “Prehlad” had a Christian view. Next were “Lakshman” and “Sita,” which were two poems about the same event. “Lakshman” told about why Sita was exiled, while “Sita” told it from her own point of view after she was exiled. It is interesting to note that these two poems are both told as a mother to her child.

We then came back together as a class and discussed some common themes in Dutt's writing. First was religion, being possibly a primary focus of her writing. Then was politics, and also gender roles (specifically women's gender role). These were the big three that came out in all of her poems (or some combination thereof). Dutt connected to both cultures that she cared about; it did not seem like her whole goal to convert everyone to Christianity, but probably wanted some people to convert.

We ended class right on time, with the promise of Dutt's final poem “Savitri” for next class.

Reading
The Royal Ascetic and the Hind

Reading
The Legend of Dhruva

Reading
Sindhu

Reading
Prehlad

Reading
Sita