T A 17 (382)

On Tuesday April 17th, Dr. Foss’s British Literature from 1800 – present class, conveyed once more to enlighten each other on the thrilling stories and themes of some of the greatest British works ever written. This particular day focused on a number of short stories that were written during the time of the 20th century and beyond, with a slightly less emphasis on the beyond. Yet, it was not in fact the tantalizing tales we read that were cited by Dr. Foss as the most exciting part of the class period, no, the most exciting part came early on when Dr. Foss gave us the exam three preview. This preview really stuck out from the two prior, with changing the phrase “second exam,” to “third exam,” as well as bolding the date. I felt overwhelmed. This was followed by, of course, one of Dr. Foss’s always entertaining, always painful, reward quizzes. After that we started off in large group. Dr. Foss prefaced our discussion with an anecdote he remembered upon reading the full name of our first author, Edward “Bunny” Morgan Forster. It seems that Michael Field’s, who was really two sisters using a pen name, chow killed Kipling’s pet rabbit. Once everyone was done chuckling to themselves, the large group discussion launched into talking of how Forster’s story, “The Life to Come”, exemplifies some of the major themes in the 20th century and beyond period. The one consistent focus not only in this particular work, but in the majority of all Forster’s work is the feeling that human beings have lost connection; connection with each other and connection with society. It was even Forster who in the Longman book is acclaimed for his quote “only connect.” It was first said by the class that Forster writes to describe when people do not connect there is a supreme price for suppressing oneself, which is especially emphasized by the fact that Mr. Pinmay is suppressing loving feelings towards another man. It is then brought up how Pinmay is this righteous religious man who is supposed to convert the indigenous people of the unknown country, the setting is not explicitly mentioned, to Christianity. Yet, as pointed out by the group, his methods of bringing the people to Christ are unethical and unconventional. He has confused the tribe’s chief, Vithobai (later named Barnabas) into thinking that “coming to Christ” meant having sexual relations with him. Thus, the chief willingly converts, thinking that God has destined him to love Pinmay, and together they will come to Christ. This is not only a failure of connection in communication, but a warping of connection in the physical realm. It was then discussed how the relationship between the two men represent the relationship between the colonizer and the colony. Pinmay tries to change and control Barnabas, but he never considers the effect of his actions on Barnabas’s feelings, as demonstrated by Pinmay’s confusion over Barnabas’s agonizing reaction to Pinmay’s rejection of what little love connection they had. The concept of religion then became the topic of discussion, and how Pinmay fails to have the true pure connection to Christianity. Though he is revered as this great missionary, he is depressed and feels no strong emotional response to his “missionary” work. In fact, it is also stated in the story that he gained high levels of anxiety whenever he did his missionary work, because he knew that he was not truly fulfilling the doctrine of Christ. He knew he had achieved this acclaim only from a great sin, in his mind, and it would torture him till the end. The ending was also discussed in depth during large group, for it was pointed out that in a way the two men finally connected, since they both died together, Barnabas by illness, and Pinmay by Barnabas stabbing him. This theory is further supported when mentioned that they die and enter the “life to come” after they have both confessed having resonating feelings of affection towards each other. However, a counter argument was presented, that interpreted the ending as Barnabas reaching the ultimate failure of connecting with Christianity because he is taking Pinmay with him into the next life; a life he believed to exist based on his previous religious ideals. Therefore, his last act is abandoning Christianity. It was added by Dr. Foss that perhaps Barnabas was taking Pinmay with him to have as a slave in the next life, as well, because he killed Pinmay just after he declared his long lasting feelings for Barnabas. Though the ending will always be up for interpretation, what is concrete is that the story does exemplify what is at stake when connection fails, as declared by Dr. Foss. Briefly, before closing discussion on Forster, the chapter titles were debated over. The titles go; night, evening, day, and then morning. It was first theorized that they possibly meant that Pinmay starts off in the darkness of night with his sin, and then he progressively realizes his wrong doing, when finally at the end he confesses his true nature towards Barnabas, hence morning. Dr. Foss then contributed the thought that they could follow the rhetoric of empirical talk of progression, and Barnabas is progressing away from Christianity and going back to his original beliefs. On that note large group discussion switched focus to the second short story we had to read, “A Chance for Mr. Lever” by Graham Greene. After giving us some brief background on Greene as a writer, Dr. Foss began discussion with an interesting perspective on the end of the story, in that the mosquito who gave Mr. Lever yellow fever actually represented the only amount of connection present. The one mosquito infected an African man, Davidson who was the man Mr. Lever was looking for, and of course Mr. Lever himself. One student supported Dr. Foss’s interpretation with the example that Mr. Lever complains throughout the whole story that he cannot communicate with the tribesmen, and his lack of being able to connect to them ultimately results in his downfall because they tried to warn him of Davidson’s illness, and the danger of going after him. The conversation then diverged into a debate on whether or not the ending of the story shows Lever’s actions in a positive light or not. Some made the point that he achieves his goal through unconventional means, disregarding all that he learned from society, therefore breaking away from it as a whole. Yet, it is still immoral what he did in the end, forging a letter, as well as forcing his tribal guides go on such a dangerous journey for a half dead man. Therefore did his gruesome death act as a warning? Did Mr. Lever get what he deserved? With those questions still buzzing in our heads, Dr. Foss had us break off into small groups. My small group, when looking at the short stories “What Were You Dreaming?” and “Chekov and Zulu”, we focused on the theme of human connection. In “What Were You Dreaming?” by Nadine Gordimer, we said that the main issue illustrated was the poor cross-culture connection that plagues society. For instance, it was said that the old white woman was the only one who connected at all with the South African boy she and her husband pick up from the side of the road. Yet, even she does not fully understand what the boy’s life is like and she still give into stereotypes, such as in the end when they mention the money they gave the boy, with the reassurance that the bars are closed, implying that he would only use it for alcohol. The husband, however, represents the complete loss of connection between cultures in society because he constantly asks skeptical questions about the boy’s life, not wanting to believe that his life is as bad as he says it is without there being a reason. It was also brought up how the suffering of the boy and the hardships his family faced, such as having to move out of their own neighborhood to make way for white housing and development, shows how the empire has no connection or understanding about those it conquers. Since time was running low, we decided to quickly move on from there to “Chekov and Zulu” by Salman Rushdie. After one group member’s eloquent comment on his picture, “this dude looks like a Treky,” it was discovered that the story also had thematic undertones about human connection. The group discussed how the main character of the story, Chekov, lives in an alternate world, and only connects with the characters of pop culture fantasies. He tries to connect to the world through what he watches and reads about, but is ultimately rejected by society for his connection because it is deemed unreal, and silly. He sees the magic in having strong connections with other people, real or not, but society has yet to accept it fully. Dr. Foss then ends the class by questioning the time period as a whole. It is apparent that the writers of the 20th century and beyond have doubts about the progress of humanity emotionally, and that having a healthy connection with other people, as well as oneself is of the utmost importance. Yet, we should consider when reading these works, what is left? What is left of the postcolonial world?