Remembering Chinua Achebe

Name: Vishva Gajjar

Roll no.: 31

Paper: The African Literature

Submit to: English Department (MKBU)

Remembering Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the first centers of Anglican missionary work in Eastern Nigeria, and is a graduate of University College, Ibadan.

Chinua Achebe wrote more than 20 books - novels, short stories, essays and collections of poetry - including Things Fall Apart (1958), which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages; Arrow of God (1964); Beware, Soul Brother and Other Poems (1971), winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize; Anthills of the Savannah (1987), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction; Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays (1988); and Home and Exile (2000).

Chinua Achebe received numerous honors from around the world, including the Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as honorary doctorates from more than 30 colleges and universities. He was also the recipient of Nigeria's highest award for intellectual achievement, the Nigerian National Merit Award. In 2007, he won the Man Booker International Prize. He died on 22nd March 2013.

Achebe is not just a hero in his native land, that is, Nigeria, not just well-known throughout the world as a major writer of political, social and historical conscience but he is one among those few writers who reach out far beyond the imaginable and attempts to address life at its widest and of course, best possible manner. All his works, be it, his novels, his essays, his stories and poems, the same holds good. It is Achebe's profound thinking on the role of the writer in Africa that earned him the titles of 'the founding father of modern African literature' and 'the progenitor of the modern African novel.'

The humaneness of Achebe is revealed when he admits that his beginnings are clearly influenced by religion. In fact, his whole artistic career is probably sparked off by this tension between the Christian religion of his parents, which they followed in their home, and the retreating, older religion of his ancestors. It seems he is still in a state of uncertainty, as we hear him saying that he is not worried anymore and that he is not looking for the answers, because he believes that it is never known. He firmly believes that what one has to do is to make one's passage through life as meaningful and as useful as possible, and one's contribution to the creation of the world is much more important.

A keen observer of history Achebe does not think that there is any time in our history when things were perfect. He does not expect such times in the future either. But he thinks every generation has to examine what needs to be done, what belongs to its peace and proceed. And so what needs to be done will change with time depending on the conditions, whatever the conditions happen to be. And they will not be the same for generation after generation. Every generation must find its mission and fulfill it. So it is not something that one can write up on the wall, saying this is what has to be done. Every generation has to discover what it needs to do.

In his essay "The Truth of Fiction", Achebe draws our attention to the difference between fiction and what he names beneficent fiction. In doing so, it seems he equalizes fiction with superstition and keeps for literary fiction the term beneficent. According to him, the notion of beneficent fiction is simply one of defining storytelling as a creative component of human experience, human life, as something we have always done which has positive purpose and use. Achebe feels that the story of the world is complex and one should not try to put everything into one neat definition or into a box. As such he attempts to include as much as possible in his work and declares that his purpose is not to exclude.

Much has been written about his “Things Fall Apart”. In one of his interviews Achebe narrates how it came to write the novel, how he had studied the books that were part of his education, he had encountered many stories told about himself by Europeans. At first he did not realize that these rather unpleasant characters he was reading about were supposed to be him. And as he grew older and becoming more aware, he began to see the vision that was being projected into the world, by some of these stories about the civilized world and about the savage, about the white man and others. He then began to realize that the world was not as straightforward as he had assumed as a child. When he became aware that the stories had been used to set one people against another, and that the depiction of himself and his color and his people and his race has been less than just, he then realized that he had a task. Not necessarily to confront other people, but to save hin1self because he was aware that there was a story, that there was another story about him this was not being told. And so all he was doing really was to bring that other story that was not being told, bring it into being, put it among the stories and let it interact. That's it, nothing more. The rest is history. It is considered that Achebe's novel is the benchmark. Everybody who wants to know anything about African literature has to read it. But Achebe has his feet firmly on ground as he says that he is proud that it is his book that did that. But he would not feel that no other book will come and replace it.

Achebe admits that the huge reception of the novel astonished him. It was not actually clear to him at that time what he was doing. He was simply putting down his story. He realizes that it is not just colonized people whose stories have been suppressed or unheard, but a whole range of people across the globe who has not spoken. It is not because they do not have something to say, it simply has to do with the division of power, because storytelling has to do with power. Those who win tell the story; those who are defeated are not heard. But it needs to change. It is in the interest of all, even the winners, to know that there is another story. If we know only one side of the story, we have no understanding at all.

Achebe thinks not just Nigeria but the whole of Africa and for that matter the whole of the world has to turn back to the rural areas and that is where the majority of the citizens are and that is where the engine of development has to be found. Also because it is right and just. Development resources and energy should be directed where the people live. He comes close to Mahatma Gandhi in this regard.

Speaking on the role of women Achebe feels women are extremely important in our culture, whenever things really got out of control, when things are damaged beyond repair, the culture seems to call on the women to move in and repair the damage. Historically, this has had happened a number of times in African history. Women come in when things seem to be completely hopeless. Somehow in our idea of creation, women are very close to the creator. It is very important to them that our world continues. And so they have this last resort responsibility. It may well be that today; we do not want women to be in the background until things get out of control. It may well be that they should be in the action all the time so that things do not get out of control.

In his work Home and Exile Achebe dreams of the idea of universal civilization. He says that what the universal civilization he dreams about will be, he really does not know, but he knows for sure what it is not. It is not what is being presented today, which is clearly just European and American. A universal civilization is something that we will create. If we accept the thesis that it is desirable to do, then we will go and work on it and talk about it. And when it appears, he thinks we will know, because it will be different from anything we have as of now. 

Perhaps the following lines culminate the philosophy of Achebe: "Imaginative literature ... does not enslave; it liberates the mind of man. Its truth is not like the canons of orthodoxy or the irrationality of prejudice and superstition. It begins as an adventure in self-discovery and ends in wisdom and humane conscience." Achebe received numerous awards and more than thirty honorary doctorates, but among the tributes he may have valued most was Nelson Mandela's: "There was a writer named Chinua Achebe", Mandela wrote, "in whose company the prison walls fell down".

We are often disappointed expecting to find simple answers in Achebe's work, it is so because he is a writer who embraces honesty and ambiguity and who complicates every situation. It may be worth mentioned here that one of the characters of his own novel says, "Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches." In fact, Achebe disturbs us like anything and perhaps it is his quality that makes him unforgettable.

(Franklin)

(Garner)

(Achebe)

(Achebe)

(Guthrie)

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. "The Truth of Fiction." n.d. squarespace.com. Web. 5 3 2020. <https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51734e04e4b08db710716119/t/53f0d531e4b086379f97bf79/1408292145745/The+Truth+of+Fiction+Achebe.pdf>.

—. Things Fall Apart. n.d. Web. 5 3 2020. <http://online.fliphtml5.com/kdji/bjgk/#p=1>.

Franklin, Ruth. "After Empire Chinua Achebe and the great African novel." 19 5 2008. newyorker.com. Web. 5 3 2020. <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/05/26/after-empire>.

Garner, Dwight. "Chinua Achebe's Encounters With Many Heart of Darkness." 15 12 2009. nytimes.com. Web. 5 3 2020. <https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/books/16book.html>.

Guthrie, Abigail K. "Language and Identity in Postcolonial African Literature: A Case Study of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart." 1 4 2011. core.ac.uk. Web. 5 3 2020. <https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/58825051.pdf>.

Children's Books in the Multimedia Era

Name: Vishva Gajjar

Roll no.: 31

Paper: Mass Communication and Media Studies

Submit to: English Department (MKBU)

Children’s Books in the Multimedia Era

·       Introduction Books and Children:

Books are called the sweet blossoms of the human culture and civilization. These are the rich fruits of human endeavor for self-expression and accomplishment through ages. These are the products of human thoughts and feelings. These are, in fact tangible outcomes of man's intellectual achievements. All that were thought best over years have found place in books. That is why, these are the valuable treasures and accumulated assets of mankind for the present and future generations.

Human resources are the most important of all kinds of assets and children constitute an important segment of human resources. The early years of human life are more crucial than the remaining years, in the sense that this period is formative and impressionable for the future growth and development. In fact, the foundation of future life is laid during childhood. William Wordsworth therefore said, 'Child is the father of man and comes to this world with trailing clouds of glory and Rabindranath Tagore has rightly observed that child comes from God with the message of love, peace and prosperity. The United Nations Organization long since issued a “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” for his/her all-round development and envisaged these rights to make him/her useful member of the society by bringing him/her up in a spirit of peace and Universal brotherhood.

·       Special Significance of Children’s Books:

Most of us still labor under the impression that a child is a man in miniature the same interests and attitudes, likes and dislikes, knowledge and ignorance in a smaller quantity. But the child has different psychological, emotional and intellectual needs and problems and he has to be provided with special physical, mental and emotional facilities. Children's literature is a healthy means of satisfying their mental, psychological and psychomotor needs. But in many societies, particularly in the developing world, the child is neglected and his basic needs are ignored or left unfulfilled thereby seriously affecting his normal growth and development.

·       Various Media – Their Strengths and Weaknesses:

As we all know, different media are used for making our communication, i.e. the teaching-learning process more effective and interesting. Teaching is no longer “Chalk and Talk”, it is supported with various media like books, journals, audio-visual aids, electronic media i.e. radio, TV, computers etc. Media are classified into seven categories such as:

1.     Graphic Media – books, pictures, photographs, maps, charts, posters, graphs, diagrams etc.

2.     Display Media – Chalkboard, bulletin, board, flannel boards, peg boards etc.

3.     Three-dimensional Media – models, objects, specimens, puppets etc.

4.     Projected Media – slides, film-strips, transparencies, films, video tapes, cassettes etc.

5.     Audio Media – radio, audio cassettes, gramophones, records etc.

6.     Video Media – TV, video cassettes, CD, computers etc.

7.     Activity Media – field trips, dramatization, demonstration, role-playing etc.

It is necessary here to discuss the advantages and limitations of each medium. But we should have a cursory view on the whole spectrum of media and try to discuss briefly on each category of media. Graphic media are mostly traditional and are regarded as the most powerful of all senses through which we see, perceive and visualize everything. This is by far a primary source of information. There is a very simple saying, but very meaningful, that is, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember". One picture is equal to hundreds of words. But graphic media should be clear, lively and meaningful. Still photographs, maps, charts, etc. are visual aids to communication. But among all the graphic media, books have occupied a central place of immense significance. Due to technological advancement, the book printing has undergone sea-change and in spite of vast electronic media, the book has its special place. The traditional shape, size and standard of the book is fast changing and in future it may take fantastic dimensions in production as well as utilization.  

Chalkboards are the old and traditional display boards which have taken various shapes now-a-days, such as flannel boards, bulletin board peg boards etc. These are used for displaying visuals. The three-dimensional media are realistic and de is called tangible. Slide is called “a headful in a handful” as it explains many things. But the slides are to be produced wit care and used with relevance. Activities like field trips, excursions, dramatization etc. should be properly planned and well-organized. Otherwise, time and resources are wasted and learning outcomes are found unsatisfactory. Films, filmstrips and video programs need to be properly used, but audience lacking in “Visual literacy” fail to gain satisfactory learning experiences. Radio or audio tape/cassette recording is very powerful and not so expensive. It demands ample indulgence from the audience as it is mainly aural and one-sided. All these media and materials need to be adequate and interactive with the audience and relevant to programs.

The National Policy on Education, 1986/1992 has rightly observed, "The media have a profound influence on the minds of children as well as adults; some of them tend to encourage consumerism, violence, etc., and have a deleterious effect. Radio and TV programs which clearly militate against proper educational objectives will be prevented. Steps will be taken to discourage such trends in films and other media also. An active movement will be started to promote the production of children's films of high quality and usefulness". At present, computers have immense influence in communication field and are playing an important role in literary, scientific and educational programs.

·        The Media Era:

This age of science and technology is better known as the Information Age where information is so rapid that various media in operation are felt inadequate. The electronic media-radio, TV, computer, internet and other audio-visual media along with traditional or conventional media constitute the present multimedia Era. The glamour of video media and materials is inevitable and are impinging heavily on all-children and adults, rural and urban tribal and non-tribal. However radio and TV programs are ephemeral and transient, there is no gain saying that the print media is one thing while the audio visual IS another. But both are media of communication. It said that "We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge”. We are also counteracted with “Computer madness” with its various parameters and implications.

Nancy Lareick has aptly said that modern printing techniques make it possible to print tens of thousands of copies of a book at much lower cost than the past. The paperback revolution in her country USA has introduced a whole new world to children and increased child readership accordingly. Similarly, one-sixth of all books printed in Russia are children’s books, with a minimum print order of half a million or more frequently a million. She was also told that an entire print order was exhausted in a few days. According to Chen Bo-Chui a Chinese proverb says, “A workman must first sharpen his tools if he wishes to accomplish his work well”. That is, we must make good preparation and lay a good foundation in order to succeed in our work. Children’s books are, in fact a kind of important educational medium.

In this age of electro media, computers and internets are used to collate, store and transmit millions of items of information in no time. The concepts like "the computerized society," "the video age", "Video civilization", "the global village", "deschooling"', "alternative schooling", are the expressions of the modern multimedia Era. In this Era children's books are emerged from their learning needs and learning needs also emerge from the today's education. Again today's education is said to be not good enough for tomorrow's needs. As science and technology develop, societal scenario change very fast and new problems emerge every now and then. Unless our learning needs are met adequately, there would be mismatch, maladjustment and cultural lag. Hence, the present Education can be replenished to a great extent with the help of suitable children's books. The eminent French Scholar Paul Hazard in his book, "Books, Children and Men" has rightly said that adults have oppressed the children by "robbing imagination of its rightful place and declaring a war on dreams". Children are actually deprived of their happy innocent childhood and perpetuating oppression in many forms. Hazard has therefor declared the cry of children "give us books, give us wings · Books should be good and useful to children and the wings are our relevant media that are ever multiplying and ever enchanting. 

(Schneider)

(Zsofia K. Takacs)

(Adriana G. Bus)

(Spacey)

(Freeman)

Works Cited

Adriana G. Bus, Zsofia K. Takacs, Cornelia A.T. Kegel. "Affordance and lilitations of electronic storybooks for young children's emergent literacy." 3 2015. sciencedirect.com. Web. 6 3 2020. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229714000501>.

Freeman, Bradley C. "Communication and Media: Types, Functions, and Key Concepts." 5 2018. researchgate.net. Web. 7 3 2020. <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324990776_Communication_and_Media_Types_Functions_and_Key_Concepts>.

Schneider, Jenifer Jasinski. "Chapter 02: What is Children's Literature?" 1 1 2016. scholarcommons.usf.edu. Web. 6 3 2020. <https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=childrens_lit_textbook>.

Spacey, John. "12 Types of Media." 27 4 2016. simplicable.com. Web. 7 3 2020. <https://simplicable.com/new/media>.

Zsofia K. Takacs, Adriana G. Bus. "Benefits of Motion Animated Storybooks for Children's Visual Attention and Story Comprehension. An Eye-Tracking Study." 13 10 2016. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Web. 6 3 2020. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5062825/>.

Harry Potter and Magic Realism

Name: Vishva Gajjar

Roll no.: 31

Paper: The New Literature

Submit to: English Department (MKBU)

Harry Potter and Magic Realism

·       About Writer:

Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near Bristol, and grew up in Gloucestershire in England and in Chepstow, Gwent, in south-east Wales.

Jo wanted to be a writer from an early age. She wrote her first book at the age of six – a story about a rabbit, called ‘Rabbit’. At just eleven, she wrote her first novel – about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.

Jo conceived the idea of Harry Potter in 1990 while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London King’s Cross. Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper.

Taking her notes with her, she moved to northern Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, married Jorge Arantes in 1992 and had a daughter, Jessica, in 1993. When the marriage ended later that year, she returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, with Jessica and a suitcase containing the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

·       Harry Potter:

This book have gained worldwide attention, and also won lots of awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. And her series have become the bestselling book series in history and this series is adapted in movie.

These series have 7 books like

1)    Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ stone

2)    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret

3)    Harry Potter and Prison of Azkaban

4)    Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire

5)    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6)    Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince

7)    Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows

This series is now a global brand and last 4 books have consecutively set records as the fastest selling books in history. The series totaling like 4,195 pages and has been translated in whole or in part into 65 languages.

·       Magic Realism:

Magical realism, or magic realism, is an approach to literature that weaves fantasy and myth into everyday life. What’s real? What’s imaginary? In the world of magical realism, the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the magical becomes commonplace.

Also known as “marvelous realism,” or “fantastic realism,” magical realism is not a style or a genre so much as a way of questioning the nature of reality. In books, stories, poetry, plays, and film, factual narrative and far-flung fantasies combine to reveal insights about society and human nature. The term "magic realism" is also associated with realistic and figurative artworks — paintings, drawings, and sculpture — that suggest hidden meanings. Lifelike images, such as the Frida Kahlo portrait shown above, take on an air of mystery and enchantment.

·       Characteristics of Magic Realism:

·Elements of the magical and the mundane are interwoven seamlessly, making it impossible to determine where reality ends and the extraordinary begins.

·The story is set in an otherwise ordinary world, with familiar historical and/or cultural realities. Story events are not always explained by universal laws or familiar logic.

·The ordinary aspects of the story are what produce the greatest magic.

·Objects and settings within the story may take on lives of their own in a way that is ordinary to the characters in the story.

·Constructs of time do not follow typical Western conventions. For instance, stories may be told in spiraling shapes rather than in straight lines.

·The story, as it unfolds, gives the reader a sense of being inside a puzzle or maze.

·Contradictions, inconsistencies and ambiguities color the point of view, making you question what you understand about the world at large, as well as what happens inside the story.

·A metamorphosis takes place in the story. It's treated not as a miracle, but as an everyday event.

·The story bears the influences of oral tradition: fables, myths, tall tales, urban legends, and a charmed storytelling narrator (who may or may not be reliable).

·The magical elements in the story may enhance a subversive message or personalized point of view. Often the point of view is revealed through voices, ideas, and places which exist outside the mainstream or majority perspective.

·Magic occurs without using devices typical to the fantasy genre unless the devices (i.e. ghosts, angels) are employed in a context that makes them ordinary. Ghosts or angels may exist in a magical realist story, for instance, but not in a way that is surprising or unusual to the characters in the book.

·         Elements of Magic Realism in Harry Potter Novels:

One of the foremost revenant themes within the “Harry Potter” series is the sacrificial love of Harry’s mother lily, who died to guard her kid son. On a less complex level, love also repeatedly motivates acts of self-sacrifice on the parts of the main characters. Primary characters are willing to (and do) suffer unbelievable loss for one another, even giving up their lives in order to do the right thing. The love between family members is celebrated as beautiful and noble, never something to be mocked and sneered at. The “Harry Potter” series is, in many ways, a parable about the danger of desiring immortality. Voldemort is obsessed with the concept of living forever, no matter what the cost. This dark desire leads him down the path of villainy, transforming him from a disturbed orphan boy into the living incarnation of evil.

Is it not because the fairy-tale conventions collapse themselves, when the boy-wizard, who has lived in the ordinary world until became eleven years old, and in the day of birth, despite the obstacles of Muggles-guardians, received an invitation to school of wizards, and at the same time suddenly learnt, as he is world famous and nice on the way to the magic shops for school accessories comes with his guide, a magician and a drunkard, naive, sensitive, and a giant-the supply manager of a, in some cafe, where the tables drink or smoke older single women; and know who they are? Maybe they are enchantress. The wizards have their own government (the Ministry of Magic), schools (English school of Hogwarts etc.), newspapers and magazines, “radio”, money, banks, etc. They have their own hospitals and its magical medicine. Wizards have their penitentiary system (referred to prison Azkaban). They have railway station. There is even own the game, spit-stones, magical chess and others. Wizards use their own shops, restaurants; they have their own interests, their own fashion. The wizards live, as a rule, in the same locations, as not wizards. They form small communities of the magicians, supporting each other. It is thus underlined, that there are some villages, inhabited only by wizards, in the other settlements wizards have to live next to the wizards. Ron’s father works in the department on struggle against illegal use of the inventions of muggles that already says a lot. Or wizards carefully preserve their way of life, or simply can’t cope with the rapidly becoming complicated technique. Mention of the locomotive, leading the Hogwarts express and three-story bus “Night knight” – this is perhaps, and all the technical things from the world of muggles, which are used magic world. For travel around London you can use the ministerial cars, although the wizards prefer to travel through fireplaces, using the volatile powder. Instead of ball pens or pens and ink, the letters are not written on paper, and on the parchment, instead of mail, telephone and telegraph messages deliver an owl, although it is possible to communicate and with the help of the fireplaces. In addition, a message can be communicated, asking about this ghost. Another way is through the portraits of one man, which are located in different places. It is possible to speak about a kind of “conservatism” in the world of magicians.

Magic is an essential part of the narration. This series is set in the world of wizards and witches where magic functions as everyday reality. Usually, the magicians and wizards are secondary characters or maybe villains and also the main ones are normal mortals who are either being victimized or helped by wizards. However, in The Harry Potter Series not only villains but also the hero Harry and most all of his friends are all witches and wizards. In Rowling’s magical world, wizards are not all evil. In fact, the series tells the reader many times that it is the choice one makes that defines them, not who or what they are; Harry and all other wizards are magic users, having the choice between the good and the bad. It shows that magic itself is not at all evil, the purpose only matters so that it can direct people to both sides which side they desire to be; that is in the hands of the individuals. Apart from the characters and the setting, Rowling uses magic as the significant element of the plot. It is considered as one of the characters because it is an essential part of Rowling’s reality. Nonetheless, Harry Potter Series is not stories about magic. Magic is what makes the story unreal though not untrue. However, it gives the realistic representation about life.

 So we can say that Harry Potter series have the elements of Magic Realism and we can feel it as a readers or audience when we read or saw the movie and we can feel it as well and when we read or saw the movie at some extent we can’t believe also that some kind of world can be there and we sometimes also can’t we think about this kind of world like Hogwarts and some magical things like time machine and all other things. 

(Santhosh)

(Biswas)

(Craven)

(Deefholts)

Works Cited

Biswas, Pritha. "Exploration of Magic Realism: Harry Potter Novels." International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities 02.06 (2014): 15. Web. 7 3 2020. <https://ijellh.com/papers/2014/October/28-291-305-october-2014.pdf?x72302>.

Craven, Jackie. "Introduction to Magical Realism." 10 8 2019. thoughtco.com. Web. 7 3 2020. <https://www.thoughtco.com/magical-realism-definition-and-examples-4153362>.

Deefholts, Tamara K. Sellman and Susan. "Magical Realism." 20 1 2004. ophra.com. Web. 8 3 2020. <https://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/magical-realism-distinguishing-features/all>.

Santhosh, Smitha. "Locating Magical Realism in Harry Potter Series." Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies 02.02 (2019): 06. Web. 7 3 2020. <https://www.johnfoundation.com/journals/sparkling/sijmrsv2i2-2019/s-14/>.

“Quality” By John Galsworthy

                     "Quality" is a short story about passion and art. When your work is your hobby and your hobby is your passion, it transforms into a thing of beauty, it becomes an art and you become the master. Mr. Gessler is the incarnation of this passion and his dedication to his craft of shoe making is a thing of beauty. 

                    I can just imagine how customers must've fallen in love with his boots, perhaps Gessler even made boots for dandified/dapper gentleman or two.  I can just imagine how customers must've fallen in love with his boots, perhaps Gessler even made boots for dandified/ dapper gentleman or two. 

                    When questioned about his craft by the Narrator… "Isn't it awfully hard to do, Mr. Gessler?" And his answer, given with a sudden smile from out of the sardonic redness of his beard: "Id is an Ardt"! Yes, art is hard! It's also painful, you'll experience many sorrow but the result is worth it. Just as long as you don't abandon yourself and the world while doing it. 

                    While reading I realized it is hard to separate Mr. Gessler from his work because it encompasses his personality. And if the saying is true that people look like their pets after a while, then Mr. Gessler is the embodiment of his craft...

'Himself, he was a little as if made from leather, with his yellow crinkly face, and crinkly reddish hair and beard; and neat folds slanting down his cheeks to the corners of his mouth, and his guttural and one-toned voice; for leather is a sardonic substance, and stiff and slow of purpose. And that was the character of his face, save that his eyes, which were grey-blue, had in them the simple gravity of one secretly possessed by the Ideal.'

                 He also takes quite pride in putting his heart and soul into his work, turning pieces of leather into pairs of boots fit for royalty, lovingly made and customized for each patron's feet as if it were its soul mate.

              'Those pairs could only have been made by one who saw before him the Soul of Boot--so truly were they prototypes incarnating the very spirit of all foot-gear.'

                         

                I also really love how the character's personality, quirks and accent jump out at you and there is a subtle humor in the story. The nuance of Mr Gessler's character is seen through, the description of his face, his shop, his boots, his work ethic and in his interaction with the narrator and also in his relationship with his older brother. For example, the older brother's answer to customer inquiry..."I will ask my brudder!"

               like a true artist, Mr Gessler has many strange and endearing quirks and one of them is that...

'He would never have tolerated in his house leather on which he had not worked himself.' 

                It is hard not to admire someone who is hard on himself, extremely disciplined, so dedicated to his work in order to produce something beautiful, useful, long lasting and admirable. Sadly, in 1911 he was becoming a relic in world desperate for modernization, mass production and quick satisfaction at the cost of quality. 

                This story appeals to the part of me that loves made to last quality items, it reminded me of the times I've railed against newly bought products that stopped working or fell apart quickly just after the guarantee ran out, as if the makers conspired in order for you to buy more. Which they probably did.

              This short story is so beautiful, deep and inspiring to me and with an economy of words (which I can only admire) the author paints an unforgettable character and makes a point about the importance and cost of taking pride in your work and making something of Quality , and I loved that.

"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs

"The Monkey's Paw" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in 1902.

                     The story, set in Britain, begins with Mr. White and his son, Herbert, playing a game of chess where Herbert puts his dad in checkmate. It shows that this is "an ordinary night." It doesn't remain "ordinary" for long, because a man by the name of Sergeant-Major Morris comes to the house with a monkey's paw, willing to give it to them. This paw provides the bearer with three wishes on anything they wish. Sergeant-Major inherited this paw from the man before him, who used his three wishes, the only one that was known was that his third wish was for death. This is a clear sign of trouble, provided that the first two wishes were more than likely intended for one thing but resulted in something so drastic and painful that his life became so unbearable and death was the only freedom. Sergeant-Major even mentions that it was created to assert the power of fate. The paw was a test in which the bearer would try to interfere with fate, but instead end up in a situation far worse than before. The overall moral is to not play with fate.

                    The White family tests out the paw's powers and wish for two hundred pounds, which should be enough to clear all of the payments that they have to put up with. They wonder where the money will pop up and Herbert finds it to be quite hysterical that this is a strange situation. The next day, Herbert heads off to work for the last time. Later on, someone is sent to inform Mr. and Mrs. White that Herbert was killed in a machinery accident. For compensation, the company provided them with... two hundred pounds. The first wish has been granted, but with a cost. The Whites expected the money to just pop up out of thin air, but instead, the money has come about as sympathy money from a company in which Herbert worked due to an accident that took his life. Things aren't going so well...

                    Full of sadness over Herbert's death, Mr. and Mrs. White bury him in the cemetery two miles from their home. One night Mrs. White gets a bright idea: use those other two wishes to bring Herbert back! She shares her plan with Mr. White. He thinks it's a bad idea – he could barely look at Herbert's mangled body when he went to identify it. His wife really turns up the heat, though, and he caves in. Mr. White pulls out the cursed monkey's paw and wishes Herbert back to life.

                   Nothing happens, so the Whites go back to bed. Soon after, someone – or something – starts pounding on the door.  Mrs. White is sure it's Herbert – it just took him a minute to get there from the cemetery. Mr. White is sure it's Herbert too, and he doesn't want his son to get in the house, so he makes his third wish on the monkey's paw. The knocking stops. Mr. White hears Mrs. White open the door. He hears her scream out in agony because Herbert is not there. He goes outside with her and sees that the road is completely empty.

                   The “Monkey's Paw” is a story about a mystical charm, a monkey's paw, that is brought into the home of the White family by Sergeant Major Morris, who has served in the Army. The monkey's paw has the ability to grant 3 wishes to 3 people, but it has a bad consequence that happens before the real wish comes true. S.M. Morris was the 2nd owner, the 1st owner's 3rd wish was for death. The White family still wants the monkey paw even though they know the 1st person’s last wish was death! Not a smart The “Monkey's Paw” is a story about a mystical charm, a monkey's paw, that is brought into the home of the White family by Sergeant Major Morris, who has served in the Army. The monkey's paw has the ability to grant 3 wishes to 3 people, but it has a bad consequence that happens before the real wish comes true. S.M. Morris was the 2nd owner, the 1st owner's 3rd wish was for death. The White family still wants the monkey paw even though they know the 1st person’s last wish was death! Not a smart move on the White’s family. There is a lot of stuff that the story does to make you intrigued and makes you want to read more of the story it’s a good story for people all ages and I really liked the short story.