Your assignment for Monday has four steps. Please be sure to read through it carefully, so that you complete all the steps and earn full credit.
1. Read “Modernity and Modernism, 1900 -1945”, the introduction to Volume F of The Norton Anthology of World Literature.
2. Read the introductory materials about T.S. Eliot (pp.537-541) as well as Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (pp.541-544).
3. Prepare a blog post in which you do the following:
–Describe the character of Prufrock, being sure to base your description on evidence gleaned from the poem.
–Much of the poem can be difficult to comprehend. Choose a line, pair of lines, or section of the poem that you feel you DO have a handle on, and explain it on the blog, being sure to include the lines you are discussing.
–Conclude your blog post with three questions that you have about the poem. They could be very small, specific questions about particular details within the poem or more general questions about its overall meaning.
4. Return to the blog and read your classmates’ posts. Choose two questions to respond to and post your responses (as comments) on the blog no later than Monday, November 28th at 12:00pm. You may NOT respond to a question someone else has already answered!! Nor can you answer your own questions. (Yes, this assignment favors the early bird….)

Chidam covers his brother by lying to the landlord saying that Chandara is the one who committed the murder. This is a lie, but he tells it because he thinks it will be easier to save his wife than his brother from trouble. The police came and questioned the family. Chidam had asked Chandara to take the blame for the murder. Chandara is silent, and because Chidam and she had been fighting, she agrees. When the police question her, she tells them she murdered Radha. Chandara is instructed to speak a certain way to the police but she opposes that and takes the complete blame. Her husband tries to interfere but the police stop him. What Chandara tells the police is not what she was instructed to do she makes herself look like she had no reason to attack Radha, and she plays the part as if she deserves to be jailed and hanged.

I can compare “Punishment” to “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”. I say this because both passages show how women are not really taken into consideration, hence more very invaluable. Just like Du Tenth Chandara willingly takes the blame of committing a murder even though she did not do anything. I believe she takes the blame in exchange for freedom. Dhukiram kills his wife unintentionally, which I believe doesn’t have anything to do with the next couple. When two people are in love they are usually willing to sacrifice to make the other person happy, however in both passages the men want their wives to sacrifice no only for them but their families as well. Not realizing that the women are married to them alone. However culture helps play large impact on this, in many Asian societies the systems are patriarchal, and that is what makes the men very dominant in a relationship. Furthermore Du Tenth and Chandara both face a struggle where they believe the only way out is for the termination of their lives.

First of all, I think the protagonists of these two stories are very similar. They were both women and betrayed by their lover. In the story of punishment, Chandara loves her husband, and she knows she is different than her sister in law. Also, her husband is not like Dukhiram. She knows her husband is charming, and there has a lot of eyes on her husband. From chapter 2, ” They quarreled sometimes, but there was  mutual respect too:neither could defeat the other.” I can know they love each other. When Chidam tells her to admit murder, she is dumbfounded. She can’t believe her husband could ask her to do this thing.  She feels betray, and from the ending, I can know she lose her trust on her husband, even though, Chidam tries to save her, there is no one would believe him. Chidam should know that murder is not an easy thing to get avoid, and he put his wife’s life in danger. After all, I can know the result of Chandara is death by the hanging. The other side, Du Tenth, she loves Li Jia, but in the end, she finds out Li Jia has betrayed her. Li Jia wants to sell her to get money and back to home to see his father. And Du Tenth can’t afford this betray, so she jumps into the river, and dead. Li Jia and Chidam betray their wives for the family, but Du Tenth and Chandara choose a wrong way to end the thing they have to face. I think Du Tenth and Chandara have similar destinies. They can’t choose their own lives, they have to listen to their husband’s arrangement. These two stories can reflect the social status of women. Their husband helps them to make the decision, no matter it would hurt them or not.

The Lengths We Will Go to Please Friends and Loved Ones

     It is a natural tendency of humans that as they approach adulthood and develop the ability to become full-fledged members of society, they hope to satisfy or impress their loved ones and friends that have always been there for them. Perhaps the single greatest fear individuals have is becoming a failure to not only themselves, but also to everyone who sacrificed for them while they were growing up. The unconditional love and gratitude we feel towards those that have taken care of us when we were unable to do so inspires us to go out and make something of ourselves. We can see just how strong the motivation is to please those closest to from Lu Xun’s piece entitled In the Wine Shop and Feng Menglong’s story dubbed Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger. Xun’s work details an individual’s return to a town in which he worked in the past where he encounters an old acquaintance that feels he has amounted to nothing. Menglong writes of a dastardly tale involving a prostitute whose freedom is purchased by a lover, only to be re-sold at a profit in order to please his disapproving parents. Both cases provide evidence that people are deeply concerned about how influential figures in their lives view them in adulthood.

The acquaintance that becomes the center of In the Wine Shop seems to be down on his luck and has questioned his place in the world. As is written in Lu Xun’s work, “Naturally I am much more obtuse than before, but there are still some things I realize. This makes me grateful to you, at the same time rather uneasy. I am afraid I am only letting down the old friends who even now still have some hope for me (Xun).” It is clear from these words that this character worries about being viewed as a disappointment by people in his past. Rather than amount to nothing, he hoped to show them all that he was not a waste of time and effort, but is nervous that this is not the case. The male character who resells the prostitute in Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger states, “With the thousand taels I will have a pretext on which to call on my parents,” a statement that indicates he will abandon something as strong as love just to impress his parents.

“Punishment” by Rabindranath Tagore takes place in the late 19th century in the Bengal countryside. The text that I chose to compare this short story to is Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler”. Chidam, from “Punishment,” and Hedda Gabler, from “Hedda Gabler” are two characters that I saw similarities between. They are both characters that capture the eyes of others and power figures that influence their spouse. However, while Hedda does not love her husband and only married him because she was getting old and got caught in a “trap,” Chidam genuinely loves his wife, Chandara.
Chandara could also be compared to Hedda where they are both headstrong. While she used to be an obedient, loving wife, after learning that Chidam wanted her to take the blame for the murder of her sister-in-law, she decided that she would not follow Chidam’s instructions. She would still take the blame, while “confessing” to different events and motives. “She seemed absolutely bent on going to the gallows; nothing would stop her. Such fierce, passionate pride!” (897). This quote shows that she was determined to take control of her life and no longer be swayed by her husband who betrayed her by imposing the blame onto her. This part of the short story reminds me of the end of “Hedda Gabler” when she kills herself with her gun. Hedda was ready to end her life just as Chandara was ready for her future. Hedda was able to see life for what it was in her own twisted way when she says, “… there is beauty… Eliert Lovborg has come to terms with himself. He’s had the courage to do what has to be done” (833). They were both able to see life for what it was and gain courage to take action within their own lives, whether it be death or detachment was their own decision.

At first, I was having trouble with this open-ended prompt as I could not think of any direct link between Punishment and any of our other stories. As I was thinking, I kept getting hung up on the idea that in her culture, Chandara should have been by her husbands side, even through this terrible act that he has committed, as he should have been by hers.  I believe that her defiance of her husband’s wishes would have been severely frowned upon by the community. This idea led to my epiphany that Orgon’s family in Moliere’s Tartuffe should have also been subordinate and submitted to Tartuffe’s influence over Orgon’s household, but they didn’t. Based on contextual evidence, I believe that Chandara and Chidam from Punishment are Hindu. The Hindu concept of marriage gives the duty of supporting one another, through thick and thin, to both the husband and wife. Chandara was so taken back by her husband’s request to lie to authority to protect him that she distanced herself from him indefinitely. “In gaol, just before the hanging, a kindly Civil Surgeon asked Chandara, “Do you want to see anyone?” “I’d like to see my mother,” she replied. “Your husband wants to see you,” said the doctor. “Shall I call him?” “To hell with him,” Said Chandara.” This disgust that she shows for her husband is in clear defiance of the Hindu principles of marriage. A similar disloyalty occurs in Tartuffe when his children flat out refuse to allow Tartuffe’s influence over their father’s household affect them. To this effect, Dorine says, “When he came here he wasn’t wearing shoes. But he’s no village saint – it’s all a ruse. There was no vow of poverty – he’s poor! And he was just some beggar at the door Whom we should have tossed. He’s a disaster! To think this street bum now plays the master.” The culture at the time of Tartuffe would have the kids completely subordinate to their father as he is their sole provider, but just like Chandara, they have thoughts of their own.

“Punishment” by Tagore and “Du Tenth sinks the Jewel box in anger” are two stories that have similarities in the lifestyles of some characters and the events that occur in their lives. In “Punishment”, Chidam and Dhuki live very humble lifestyles, where they work in the fields with minimal pay, but rather mockery by their landlords and employers. Their wives are constantly arguing about petty matters, especially since the family is not wealthy. Similarly, Du Tenth does not live a prominent lifestyle, where she is a courtesan in order to earn a living. On the other hand, Li is a scholarly man who eventually spends his money on Du Tenth and when he wants to marry her, he does not have the money to start a new life with her. Both stories encompass the wife sacrificing for her husband in one way or another. Chandara lies to the police about the murder of her sister in law, admitting that she did it, only on the command of her husband, Chidam. “When her husband asked her to admit to the murder, Chandara stared at him, stunned; her black eyes burnt him like fire. Then she shrank back, as if to escape his devilish clutches. She turned her heart and soul away from him. ‘You’ve nothing to fear,’ said Chidam” (896). This shows how hurt and deceived Chandara felt from her husband’s request, even though he constantly told her that he would be able to save her and that she didn’t need to be scared. She realized how selfish her husband was with his request and in turn accepted the punishment as a way to get herself away from him, since she did not want to be with a man like him anymore. Du Tenth is also told by Li to go and live with the poet in the other boat, so that he could go arrange some more money for their new life. She felt so hurt by this request after all they have been through. “You have abandoned me at midjourney and betrayed my earnest heart. Today, before these many eyes, I open this box to reveal its contents, so that you may learn that a thousand taels is no great thing. In my jewel case there is a true jade; I regret that you lack eyes in your head to see it. Born in an ill-fated hour, I fell into the bonds of a shameful life. And just as I made good my escape, I have been cast aside once more. Today every person who has ears and eyes can witness that it is not I who have betrayed you, but rather you who have betrayed me!” Du Tenth believed that Li had betrayed their relationship and her trust in order to just get more money, when she actually had all that they needed all along. She believed that he valued the money more than their relationship. In the end, both women felt like their husbands chose something over them and voluntarily accepted not being with them after that problem.

The story “Punishment” by Rabindranath Tagore made me think of the play that we just read, “Hedda Gabler” by Henrick Ibsen. It could be because it was the most recent in my mind, but the character of Chandara in “Punishment” reminded me so much of Hedda in “Hedda Gabler.” I saw similar qualities in the two of them, as well as their tragic situations. In “Punishment”, Chandara is the wife of Chidam, a “compact and sturdy” woman who was “trim in her movements” with “restless, deep black eyes that missed nothing.” She was more put together than Radha, who was described as more “unkempt, sloppy”. She had a very strong willed personality – during one instance, her husband threatened to break every bone in her body if she went to the ghat by herself, yet she carelessly replied “The bones will mend.” In the story, Chandara’s husband asks her to take the blame for the murder of Radha, his brother’s wife, even though his brother was the one who did it. When Chandara is on trial, her husband tells her to say that it was an accident, that Radha attacked her first and it was self-defense. Instead, Chandara reacts bluntly to all of it, answering “No” to whether she was ill-treated or attacked first. “She seemed absolutely bent on going to the gallows…such fierce, passionate pride!”. Up to the very end she remains defiant, even when the doctor comes in and tells her that her husband wants to see her, she replies “To hell with him.”

Chandara’s strong-willed character reminded me so much of Hedda in “Hedda Gabler.” Like Chandara, Hedda had a more put together appearance, with an “aristocratic and elegant” figure, and eyes that were “steel-grey, cold and clear.” She too was restless in the story, restless of her settled down life with George Tesman. Like Chandara, Hedda was stubborn to the end, her defiance resonating even in how she died. After it was discovered that Eilert was killed by one of Hedda’s pistols, Judge Barack made it seem as though he was doing Hedda a favor by not saying anything. However, it came at a cost. Even Hedda realized, “So I’m in your power now, Judge. You have a hold over me from now on…Totally subject to your demands – and your will. Not free. Not free at all.” In the end, as her husband and Mrs. Elvsted got closer and the judge tried to exercise his control over her – saying “Oh, we’re going to have some good times together, the two of us” – Hedda took one of her pistols and shot herself in the temple, in her greatest act of defiance yet.

Both the women protagonists in “Punishment” and “Hedda Gabler” were strong willed and stubborn, even up to their own death. And while Chandara was executed, she still made the conscious decision (through her answers to the police) to die, as did Hedda when she directly killed herself. Both seemed to struggle with feeling restless on the inside, and trapped under the control of men. They were defiant in their words and actions, but more than that they had a true desire for freedom. Tragically, they found that freedom through death, both using their deaths as one last act of defiance.

Alec Schonfeld

“Punishment” written by Rabindaranath Tagore is an exciting short story enlightening the reader on the hardships of women. After reading this short story the first connection I made was to a short story we read earlier in the year, Feng Menglong’s “Du Tenth Sinks The Jewel Box in Anger”. In both stories we see a central theme taking place revolving around the women dynamic characters and their behavior, oppose to that of the men in these stories which happen to be their husbands. “Punishment” gives us the point of view of a young wife named Chandara living in Bengladesh. Through her view we are described the patriarchal society Bangladesh is, and how Chandara is constantly being influenced and even controlled by her husband. According to “Punishment”, “If I lose my wife I can get another, but if my brother is hanged, how can I replace him?” (895 Tagore). This quote perfectly embodies the society which Chandara lived in and the type of man her husband is. In this story Chidam asked Chandara a seemingly ludicrous question, If she would take the blame of a murder in which she wasn’t even associated with? After a little convincing Chandara agrees to do this for her husband.  Similarly, in “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” we see women portrayed and treated in an unfair manner. Du tenth is a prostitute with  low status in the society, even she is a courtesan with a heavenly beautiful face. But she was straight, brave, intelligent and had an undoubtedly sensation for love. When her husband was asked about her services from another man for a thousand “taels” we see just what her husband thinks of her. If Du Tenth’s husband was willing to entertain an offer for her for monetary value, we as readers understand that she was more property to him than his wife. “In my jewel case there is true jade; I regret that you lack eyes in your head to see it” (Menglong 516). Both these short stories show similarities in the setting and society in which they took place. Women were thought of and treated as second class citizens.

“Punishment” and “Hedda Gabler” written by Rabindranath Tagore and Henrik Ibsen, respectively, are similarly realistic in style. In both texts readers can easily see that death seems to be the prominent theme of literary realism. Whereas Ibsen ends his story with the protagonist Hedda “shooting herself in the temple”, Tagore applies a different approach as he starts off by describing the death of Dukhiram’s wife. The extent to which death is described in “Punishment” is more horrifying than it is in “Hedda Gabler”.
“What? He roared, like a furious tiger and then, without thinking, plunged his knife into her head. Radha collapsed into her sister-in-law’s lap, and in minutes she was dead.” (Tagore 894)
In this scene Tagore describes thoroughly the struggle between Dukhiram and his wife Radha, which paves ways for Radha’s petrifying death. On the other hand, the realistic presence in “Hedda Gabler” is subdued as Hedda died beautifully and peacefully with a shot in the temple. More important, through these characteristics of realism literature, both authors are able to reflect the image of women living in the late 19th century. Hedda and Chandara come from two different societies, one is American capitalism and the other is the Hindu socialism. Chandara symbolizes the conventionality of Hindu society whereas Hedda embodies the liberal Western women. In “Punishment” Chandara repeatedly admitted she killed her sister-in-law in her first and second time facing the police, despite the fact that she was innocent. Had it not been for her husband’s suggestion and Chandara’s endless love for him, she would never have had to die. “To hell with him”, said she before the hanging – this manifested not only Chandara’s love for her husband as a wife but also the magnitude of her unselfishness as a woman. On the other hand, in spite of her wealthy background, Hedda obviously let her pride, selfishness and jealousy take over her happiness. As a result, even though Chandara died in jail and suffered great pains, her death is unquestionably beautiful as her admirable scarification shines through.