'Kya Kehna' in the context of 'The Scarlet Letter'

• Directed by: Kundan Shah
• Produced by: Kumar S. Taurani
• Written by: Honey Irani
• Release date: 19 May 2000
• Country: India
• Language: Hindi

• Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Genre: Romantic, Historical
• Publication date: 1850

1.     What are the name of the protagonist in both the works?

        In movie the protagonist is Priya and in the novel its Hester.


2.     Write their story in brief.

        In the movie character named Priya is a teenage and takes an admission in collage after her schooling is completed. In the collage she is attracted by one guy named Rahul and she feels that they both are in love. As its represented in the movie that Rahul is a flirty guy, but a childhood friend of Priya named Ajay loves her and due to the situation he couldn't express his feelings towards her. As the story moves on Priya gets pregnant with the child of Rahul out of wed-log. In this situation her family doesn't accepts her nor Rahul or his family, even not the society. As time goes her family accepts her and stand with her in her fight. At the end Ajay expresses his feelings to her but she couldn't give the answer by that time Rahul has also changed after listening the speech if Priya in annual function of her collage. In the end Priya decides to marry Ajay and not Rahul.

        The novel opens with the Hester caring her girl child as her protection when she comes out of the prison. Hester has been married to the person named Chillingworth, but he was out of town for a long time and everybody felt that he was dead and so did Hester. She likes to read books and that way she meat person named Dimmesdale who was an priest. This way they meet daily and started loving each other and Hester gets pregnant with his child. This is counted as a sin and so she was given punishment to wear an 'A' on her dress. After many years her husband has also come to the town and does not accepts her nor the society. At the end of the novel Dimmesdale accepts his sin that Pearls is her daughter and he dies. After that Pearl marries to a man out of her town and after that Hester also dies.


3.     What is the role played by society in Hester's life?

        As the setting of the novel is Victorian society its very much rigid mindset. As Hester was pregnant out of the wed-log it was seen as a sin in ones life. For this she was even imprisoned for three months and society has decided that her punishment will be to wear an 'A' carved on her dress so that everyone could come to know about her sin and she would fell shame for it. Letter 'A' is an reminder to her and also to others that what would be the punishment for this type of sin. She was also told to stand on scaffold for three hours and to face the public. She was also asked many times about the name child's father but she didn't told. As the mindset of the society was very much rigid she couldn't get much help from anywhere and she is also facing many problems in bringing up the child. Though she tries to give best to Pearl and fights alone with the society.


4.     What is the role played by society in Priya's life?

        If she see the situation of Hester and Priya then its almost same. As Priya was pregnant out of wed-log so firstly her family doesn't accepts her and tells her to leave the house. Same way her friends, society, Rahul no one accepts her she was fighting all alone till some time after that her family accepts her and be with her. After her speech at annul function suddenly the heart of people changes and accepts her. As society accepts her she doesn't have to fight longer as Hester did in novel.


5.     Compare and contrast the male characters, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, Rahul and Ajay.

        The character of Chillingworth is not much satisfying because it seems that he is not loving her wife much. As he has gone out of town in order to earn money for them though he didn't took her and left her alone in the town. After leaving the town he didn't kept any contact with Hester. When he returned back at that time he did accepts her and he is also a very jealous guy. He couldn't see her happy with someone else. He runs from his duties every time. 
     
        If we take look on the character of Dimmesdale then it seems that because of his power position he couldn't confess that the child was his. He wasn't having the courage to accept it as he was priest and society would not accept it and he would have to leave his position. He wishes to live with Hester and the child but here the society is barrier so comes at night to meet them. He was too taking punishment more though then Hester, but it was known by non.

        If we see the character of Rahul then it seems like he is the typical son of an upper class family. He does not have respect for anyone and believes that whatever he does is the only thing and all others are nothing in front of him. He flirts with the every beautiful girl he sees. He is also not ready to take his responsibility towards his family and Priya and his child.

      If we see the character of Ajay then he is the childhood friend of Priya and also loves her and he is also faithful to her till the end. He is ready to sacrifices his love if Priya is happy. He stands with her in every situation like a best friend does. When Priya is taking wrong decision then also he is with her or try to stop her. He is afraid that if he goes against her decision then he would lost her and the friendship. He is the very ideal person that every parents wish for her daughter to marry.


6.     Compare and contrast 'The scaffold scene in The Scarlet Letter' and 'a year end performance in Kya Kehna in which a group of students performs a play on Priya and her pregnancy'.

        If we see the situation in movie and novel then it is almost one as one have to face the crowd and there insult. It is a situation were in both it tries to make them realize that they have given birth to a child out of wed-log and it was wrong and seen as a sin in eyes of society. During the scaffold the crowd wanted to know the name of the father and in the play they try to make her realize that she should not live anymore as she was the shame for her family and for the society. In Hester her child was her shield while for Priya she has to fight to make space for her and child. Hester was not having any one to support her while Priya was having her family to support her in facing society.


7.     What are the reasons that Arthur Dimmesdale and Rahul do not come forward to accept their fatherhood? How do they differ and what are the similarities?

        If we see in the novel then its seems the first reason would be that he is on high position as a priest and society would not accept him once he has accepted his love for Hester and tells that the child is of his. It seems that he likes his position more then his love and child. For him what society thinks is also important. Its not that he does not love them, he loves both of them only in dark and secret. He has also taken the punishment and pain but he could not help Hester when she needed him the most in her life.

        In the movie the hero is also from the upper class and for him his standard is more important then the child. He has not loved Priya firstly he was only attracted by her beauty and innocence. For him Priya was like his other girlfriends not any special. He even tells that he is not ready to marry any girl in life.

        If see the difference then its that Dimmesdale was taking pain as much as Hester is facing while Rahul was not having any kind of guilt. Both were afraid of insult and what society will think of them. Dimmesdale was loving Hester and wishing to be with them and was also taking care of the child in secret while Rahul was not loving Priya and he did not care what situation she faced after he left her. In both male dominating ego was overpowering them in accepting their child.


8.     What is the role played by Chillingworth in Hester's life? Why do you think he wanted to take revenge on Hester and Dimmesdale?

        If we see Chillingworth then he is the one who has always run from his responsibility. When he comes back to the town at that time he was working there as a doctor or was giving medicine according to the sickness. At that time some one told Dimmesdale that he was being sick from long time so suggested him to take medicine from Chillingworth. When Chillingworth came to know that he was the one who was having relation with his wife then he decided that he would tell in town that Dimmesdale was the father of the child. It seems that he couldn't see his wife happy.


9.     What is the role played by Rahul's mother in Priya's life? Why do you think she wants to take revenge on Priya?

        In the movie we see that the Rahul's family belong to upper class and her mother doesn't want Priya as she belongs to a lower class. In starting scenes we saw that Priya's brother had fight with Rahul and he was injured and that was the insult of Rahul so this thing has taken very seriously by Rahul's mother and so she wants to take revenge of that thing from Priya and her family.


10.   Write a note on class difference in Kya Kehna.

        In movie its shown that Rahul belongs from the upper class family while Priya was not from same class. If we see the habits of Rahul then his behavior is very much arrogant towards everyone even to his mother he is not giving respect. He believes that he flirts with girls is normal because it was accepted by the society. He thinks that whatever he does is the only right thing as he believes from upper class. He also believes that he could have any girl he wish for because for him girls were only to take pleasure from her. Rahul's mother also insults Priya and her family all the time.


11.   Why do you think the director has lifted the character of Ajay to the ideal state? Is it possible in real life? What are the reasons of your YES or NO?

        I believe that in real life its not possible that someone would be this much ideal even when most of the things are going wrong with him and most of the sacrifice has done by him for Priya just to see her happy. I think that to give a poetic justices in the end and to make the ending happy as our Indian audience are habituated of it the director has lifted the character of Ajay in the movie.


12.   How do you see Hester and Priya as individuals?

        I see Hester and Priya both correct at their place. If we see the life of Hester then she was the only one fighting against the society and was keeping her child safe. As her husband didn't came for many years and then she takes decision to move on so she is correct. Hester has changed the meaning of the 'A' letter completely. She fights bravely with the society and herself because to give a birth to a child out of wed-log is a very brave decision which many women can't take. So I think that in taking this decision she has to fight with herself also to a certain extent.

        If we see the character of Priya then she has to not face much difficult situation as Hester because she was having her family support to much extent. She hasn't got any kind of punishment as Hester has got. Priya has tough situation before the child birth while Hester has in both condition.  In the movie child gets the name of the father and everything ends very happily.


13.   Write a critical note on the end of the movie and the novel. Why do you think the novelist has not given happy ending?

        As I mentioned earlier that in the movie its give an poetic justices or a happy ending as we are habituated to it mostly. while the novel ends completely different here the novelist has not given happy ending to make it more effective and making an impression on readers mind. In the end of the novel all the three characters die except Perl and they also die by suffering one or the other kind of illness. So it might be that all have got their punishment according to their deeds.
         
       
             

                   

Thinking Activity on 'Wasteland' by T.S. Eliot

         

         The Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot which is modern epic poem. It is divided in five parts.

1. The Burial of the Dead
2. A Game of Chess
3. The Fire Sermon
4. Death by Water
5. What the Thunder Said

          Here are my views on the following questions.


1) What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzsche’s views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling myths historical answer to the contemporary malaise?

          The growth of any society is always like climbing the mountain. If you want to reach at top you have to keep moving forward. At middle way you can't decide to go back and start again it is better to go ahead as going back is also same difficult and unrewarding.

          Yes I believe that Eliot’s idea of going back to Holy scriptures for finding solution of present malaise's is regressive. As he himself has given many examples of past myths and we have seen that what the problems we are facing in contemporary time same problems were existed in past and if there is permanent solution for these problems in scriptures, the problems would have been solved, but as the problems are still alive we should look for another way to solve it rather going back to the past.

          In this matter I find Nietzsche’s concept of “Ubermensch” appropriate. As this concept talking about to have our own morality for the betterment of humanity and our self. The morality which generally accepted and not harmful for society. To have faith in our self make us more powerful to fight against the problems around us and to control our self. So as per my thinking it is better to find new solution rather than going back to the old ones as they will not work for contemporary time same as they didn’t work for old time.

2) Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellström of the Swedish Academy made these remarks:

What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' lead us to happy and satisfied life? or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?

          I am disagree with Eliot. By suppressing the desire or by controlling it the desire get more strong and it also affect at psychological level. It is better to give free vent to primitive instincts as Freud suggest to do. Sometimes suppressing the feelings may be good for a period of time in eyes of people, but at longer run when the desires aren't under control at that time something very wrong happens by one that the regret is for lifelong. I believe that by giving freedom one can find thy self and thy self in much more better way. So the desires which all normal human beings naturally have should not be suppressed. It is better to give free vent to the desires which leads to the happy and satisfactory life.

3) Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred?)

          There are many reference to Indian spirituality in “The wasteland”.  Some of them are here.

1) The Fire Sermon

          “The Fire Sermon” is also the name of one of sermon given by Buddha. Gayasisa or Brahmayoni hill, is the place where Buddha taught the fire sermon, in which Buddha preaches about achieving liberation from suffering through detachment from the five senses and mind.

          Here Eliot gave same name to the third part of his poem. The whole poem describe the theme of sexual perversion and by referring to this sermon of Buddha because he also wants to convey a message to stay detached.

2) River Ganga and Himalaya

"Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves
Waited for rain, while the black clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant."

          River Ganga is known for its purity and also for purification. While Himalaya is known for spirituality and peace. Eliot finds the solution of all contemporary problems in spirituality. That is the reason he referrers Ganga and Himalaya here.

3) The Thunder

          In Upanishad the Prajapati spoke the message of salvation through thunder which called “Akashvani”. Here Eliot also give reference to Thunder to convey that now the solution of all problems will be given by Thunder, that is the reason he gave name to his 5th part of poem “What the Thunder Said”.

4) Three Da

1) Datta
2) Dayadhvam
3) Damyata

          These three Da is spoken by Thunder. Which means this is the way of salvation. The first Da “Datta” means to give. Give sacrifice for others, and help each other. The second Da “Dayadhvam” means sympathies and empathies with others. Third Da “Damyata” means self control, control over the senses. According to Eliot this is the way one could get salvation.


5) Shantih mantra

          The Shantih mantra is for inner peace, peace that passes understanding. Eliot ends his poem with this mantra and with hope. The hope of re-birth, end of modern malaise's, and growth of spirituality. To show the hope he ends this poem with Shantih mantra.

Online discussion on Oneness of Literature

         
                   The literature is connected with each other. Or we can say,the literature is produced from the literature.. To understand a work of creativity in literature,we must have an understanding the continuity of literature.In short all literature are connected with each other .

                    Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Literature is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific work but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, poetry, drama, fiction and non fiction.

● Northrop Frye

                    He developed the theory of "Archetypal Criticism" based on the idea that whole of the literature has oneness of its existence. All literature's shares common DNA or skeleton. There is parallel structure in writing.
● T.S.Eliot

                        T.S.Eliot said in his "Tradition and Individual Talent", that the best individual part of poet's work is the maximum influence,which is reflection of writers of past.He covers various topics, myths in his long poem "The Wasteland". This poem carried very deep meaning inside it.

                       We find oneness of literature in T.S.Eliot's ''The Waste Land'' and Anton Chekhov's ''A Joke''.In Waste land we find this lines which is connected with Chekhov's short story.


"And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened.  He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight.  And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free."

                        In Wasteland,She(Marie) recalls this event from childhood, sledding with her cousin the archduke, which was frightening at the time.The statement, “in the mountains, there you feel free.”  Has the memory of the fear become a sort of nostalgia for the adult who acknowledges the fear but recognizes it as a childish thing. All the time Marie need courage and then only she did coasting with cousin.

●  "A Joke" by Anton Chekhov

                       The story of Anton Chekhov's  A Joke was printed in the column of Gujarat Samachar.  The Original title in English is ''A Joke'', but in Gujarati it's printed as a 'small joke' (નાનકડી મજાક).

                        "A joke" by Anton Chekhov is also showing the same structure of story, only the character name has changed. It is Nadia instead of Marie.In this short story, we find same incident with the girl Nadia.
                                      She also has that feelings which Marie felt and also frightened from the sled. But after that she has interest for sled and she is doing it again and again. Everyday both the character were coasting.Every time he silently speaks,"I love you" and One day Nadia decided to do coasting alone, just to make sure that who is speaking. Or it's true or illusion.. But when she go alone,she didn't listens anything because she was too much frightened on that day because her friend was not with her to give her courage.
So,here we can find the oneness between the poem and short story.

● Theme of Sexual Perversion

                       In the Wasteland we can find sexual perversion,He has done with Nadia is just a kind of lustful act  and after it both went to their different paths in life. The girl married and boy went to Pitsburg. The main thing for human is to have the sexual pleasure and in this way the land turns into the 'Wasteland' with full of waste (mindset) people, but in the short story. He loved Nadia and even, at the end of the story she marry with other man and having children also but  he still loves her. He don't have any kind of lust for her.

                       In the poem we find Sexual perversion as theme. It describe the lustful desire and attraction. But in the Short story of Chekhov I have not found any kind of lustful desire of man directly, but indirectly it is present in it. So we can compare both the literary genre and find oneness in literature, but,the theme is different.

Movie review - The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin

• Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
• Produced by: Charlie Chaplin
• Written by: Charlie Chaplin
• Music by: Charlie Chaplin
• Edited by: Willard Nico, Harold Rice
• Release date: October 15, 1940 (New York), March 7, 1941 (London)
• Language: English

          

 

         

          The Great Dictator is a 1940 American political satire comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, scored by and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin's first true sound film.

          The Great Dictator was popular with audiences, becoming Chaplin's most commercially successful film. Modern critics have also praised it as a historically significant film and an important work of satire, and in 1997, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United State National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". The Great Dictator was nominated for five Academy Awards - Outstanding Production, Best Actor, Best Writing, Best Supporting Actor for Jack Oakie and Best Music.

          The Great Dictator was Chaplin’s first film with dialogue. Chaplin plays both a little Jewish barber, living in the ghetto, and Hynkel, the dictator ruler of Tomainia. In his autobiography Chaplin quotes himself as having said: “One doesn’t have to be a Jew to be anti Nazi. All one has to be is a normal decent human being.”

          Chaplin and Hitler were born within a week of one another. “There was something uncanny in the resemblance between the Little Tramp and Adolf Hitler, representing opposite poles of humanity, ” writes Chaplin biographer David Robinson, reproducing an unsigned article from The Spectator dated 21st April 1939: “Providence was in an ironical mood when, fifty years ago this week, it was ordained that Charles Chaplin and Adolf Hitler should make their entry into the world within four days of each other….Each in his own way has expressed the ideas, sentiments, aspirations of the millions of struggling citizens ground between the upper and the lower millstone of society. Each has mirrored the same reality – the predicament of the “little man” in modern society. Each is a distorting mirror, the one for good, the other for untold evil.”

          Chaplin spent many months drafting and re-writing the speech for the end of the film, a call for peace from the barber who has been mistaken for Hynkel. Many people criticized the speech, and thought it was superfluous to the film. Others found it uplifting. Regrettably Chaplin’s words are as relevant today as they were in 1940.

Movie review - Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin

• Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
• Produced by: Charlie Chaplin
• Written by: Charlie Chaplin
• Music by: Charlie Chaplin
• Edited by: Willard Nico
• Release date: February 5, 1936
• Language: English

           Modern Times is a 1936 American comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the great depression, conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization. The movie stars Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford and Chester Conklin.

          Modern Times, American silent film, that starred Charlie Chaplin as a man at odds with modern technology. It is regarded as the last great silent film. The film, which was set during the Great Depression, centres on a luckless factory worker who finds himself to unnerved by trying to cope with the modern equipment he must operate that he suffers a breakdown.

          Modern Times was Charlie's first film after five years of hibernation in the 1930s. He didn't much like talkies and despite the introduction of sound in 1927, his "City Lights" (1931) was defiantly silent.

         With Modern Times a fable about automation, assembly lines and the effective way to introduce sound without disturbing his comedy of pantomime: The voices in the movie are channeled through other media. The ruthless steel tycoon talks over closed-circuit television, a crackpot inventor brings in a sound is Charlie's famous tryout as a singing waiter; perhaps after Garbo spoke, the only thing left was for Charlie to sing.

          He set out to transform his observation and anxieties into comedy. The little Tramp - described in the film credits as a "Factory Worker" - is now one of the millions coping with the problems of the 1930s, which are not so very different from anxieties of the 21st century - poverty, unemployment, strikes and strike breakers, political intolerance, economic inequalities, the tyranny of the machine, narcotics. The film's portentous opening - "The story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness" - is followed by a symbolic juxtaposition of shots of sheep being herded and of workers streaming out of a factory. Chaplin's character is first seen as a worker being driven crazy by his monotonous, inhuman work on a conveyor belt to test and being used as a guinea pig to test a machine to feed workers as they work.  In this movie there are sequences of frame which constantly moves between hope and despair. It is also shown that if they dream they dream for their basic needs like food, clothes, shelter, farm, animals etc. It was a time were people has to struggle a lot to complete there and family's basic needs. The movie ends with positivity and hope as it was the morning time not an evening or fogy morning.

          Modern Times is regarded as one of the Charlie's most lighthearted films. There is certainly plenty of social criticism, but he plays the story mostly for laughs. the sight gag of Chaplin haplessly trying to keep pace with the assembly line in the factory is regarded as a classic comedy sequence. 

          

Modernist Poems

          Modernism is a literary and cultural international movement which flourished in the first decades of the 20th century. Modernism is not a term to which a single meaning can be ascribed. It may be applied both to the content and to the form of a work, or to either in isolation. It reflects a sense of cultural crisis which was both exciting and disquieting, in that it opened up a whole new vista of human possibilities at the same time as putting into question any previously accepted means of grounding and evaluating new ideas. Modernism is marked by experimentation, particularly manipulation of form and by the realization that knowledge is not absolute.

          Modernism as a movement cab be recognized not only in literature but also in

• The Science
• Philosophy
• Psychology
•  Anthropology
• Painting
• Music
• Sculpture
• Architecture

Modernist Poets:

• W.B. Yeats
• Ezra Pound
• T.S. Eliot
• E.M. Rilke
• T.E. Hulme
• Joseph Campbell
• Richard Aldington
• Carlos Williams

Following are my observation in identifying modernist metaphors in the following short poems:

1.   'The Embankment' - T.E. Hulme

               (The fantasia of a fallen gentleman on a cold, bitter night.)

Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy, 

In the flash of gold heels on the hard pavement. 

Now see I 

That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy. 

Oh, God, make small 

The old star-eaten blanket of the sky, 

That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.

          A short paraphrase of the poem on London's Embankment is an area well-known for homeless people sleeping rough. It means that people aren't having their home which is one of their basic need. They even don't have the blanket to cover their body at night and at that time poet feels that warmth is more important than any fancy things.

 2.   'Darkness' - Joseph Campbell

           

Darkness.
I stop to watch a star shine in the boghole –
A star no longer, but a silver ribbon of light.
I look at it, and pass on.

          The title itself reflects the dark shade which gives the negative feeling. Darkness also symbolizes the downfall. If we read further poem then poet tells that it's night time and the sky is without the stars. The star are the symbol of goodness, positivity, light and hope. Here poet tries to portrait the decayed condition of the civilization.


3.   'Image'- Edward Storer

Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon 
Upon strange Pyres loneliness and drought.

          The 'Forsaken lovers' means people of civilization are burning. Here burning in which sense I'm not sure about, but I think with loneliness and drought. This brokenness of civilization is of the situation after the world wars. We can also connect this poem with one of the Universal Human Laws: 'Fatal love and Inevitable Death.'


4.   'In a Station of the Metro'- Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the 
Crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

          The title of the poem itself gives the image of how the life of people have became like machine. It shows that people of the civilization has one scheduled life. If we try to see this image form top view than we can feel that peoples are also working like machines to complete their basic needs in life. Here 'petals' means people and 'black bough' means culture of living dead.


5.   'The Pool'- Hilda Doolittle

Are you alive?
I touch you
You quiver trembling like a sea-fish
I cover you with my net
What are you- banded one?

          The title of the poem gives us an image of stored water. Water is a symbol of purity and rebirth but here the water is stored in a pool. Which symbolize the lifelessness and monotones life like a 'fish caught in net'.


6.   'Insouciance'- Richard Aldington

In and out of the dreary trenches 
Trudging cheerily under the stars
I make for myself little poems 
Delicate as a flock of doves
They fly away like white-winged 
doves.

          'Dreary trenches' is used as a metaphor for the ups and downs of the life. In this poem we have many contrasting images like 'Trudging' and 'cheerily'. In the last lines it shows that poet is not willing to live in the atmosphere around him but he has to. Thus he becomes a small poem which shows the so-called brightness and his aggressiveness to be free from the hypocrite society.


7.   'Morning at the Window'- T.S. Eliot

They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaid
Sprouting despondently at ares gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.

          In this poem we get the images and symbols of the dead spirit in people, who are doing everything aimlessly. Death of spirit can be seen here. Here their soul has became 'Damp' means lifeless. 'Fog' is also a negative word as it doesn't give the clear view. 'Twisted faces', 'tears', 'muddy skirts', 'aimless smile' are the words in poem which gives us negative feelings.