Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

 

Hello everyone!

I am Nidhi Jethava and I am a student of English Literature. In this blog, I am going to write about one African novel ‘Patels of Blood’. We have a paper on African Literature and in this, we have a thinking activity, in this activity, I am going to write about the first chapter of this book. 

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, original name James Thiong’o Ngugi, (born January 5, 1938, Limuru, Kenya), Kenyan writer who was considered East Africa’s leading novelist. His popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African. As he became sensitized to the effects of colonialism in Africa, Ngugi adopted his traditional name and wrote in the Bantu language of Kenya’s Kikuyu people.

Petals of Blood

Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and first published in 1977. Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.

The novel largely deals with the skepticism of change after Kenya's independence from colonial rule, questioning to what extent free Kenya merely emulates, and subsequently perpetuates, the oppression found during its time as a colony. Other themes include the challenges of capitalism, politics, and the effects of westernization. Education, schools, and the Mau Mau rebellion are also used to unite the characters, who share a common history with one another.

Write a note on the first chapter of the novel (Interrogation of all characters)

 

Answer:-

The first chapter of the novel is opening with two constables. 

They came to Munira’s place to take him to the police station. There is little talk among them. Police asked some of their questions to him and ordered him to come police station for a routine inquiry about the order in Illmorog.  In this same way, police went to Wanja who is admitted to the hospital and the doctor said that her situation is not well because she was burned badly. In the same way, police went to Abdulla and Karega about Murder history in where three rich people have died. 

At the end of the novel, there is a very interesting note. 

Thank you…

TO THE NEGRO-AMERICAN SOLDIERS

 

Hello!

I am Nidhi Jethava and Student of MK Bhavanagar University. It is our group task for African Literature. After completing any particular unit we have to do #Thinking Activity on that unit. In this blog, I am going to write about talk about the poem ‘ TO THE NEGRO-AMERICAN SOLDIERS’  by Léopold Sedar Senghor. 

About Sedar Senghor:-

Scholar, African traditionalist poet, and Senegal’s first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor was born on October 9, 1906 in Joal, Senegal. His father, Basie Diogoye Senghor, was a Malinké landowner. His mother, Gnilane Bakhoum, came from a Christian Fulani family. They gave Senghor a European name to reflect both the noble Serer culture they identified with, as well as their Catholic faith. Senghor grew up with his father’s four wives and his twenty-four siblings.

At the age of seven, Senghor was sent to a Catholic mission school, where he first learned French. At 13, he decided to enter the Catholic priesthood. He attended Libermann seminary in Dakar but in 1926, dissuaded by the seminary, switched to the secondary school Lycée Van Vollenhoven. He graduated from high school with honors and his classical languages teacher persuaded the colonial administration to grant Senghor a scholarship to pursue literary studies in France. (Anna Micklin)

https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/senghor-leopold-sedar-1906-2001/

Poem:-

TO THE NEGRO-AMERICAN SOLDIERS

………………………………………………………………For Mercer Cook

I did not recognize you in prison under your

………..sad-colored uniform

I did not recognize you under the calabash helmet

………..without style

I did not recognize the whining sound of your

………..iron horses, who drink but do not eat.

And it is no longer the nobility of elephants, it is the

………..the barbaric weight of the prehistoric

………..monsters of the world.

Under your closed face, I did not recognize you.

I only touched the warmth of your brown hand,

………..I called myself “Afrika! ”

And I found once again the lost laughter, I hailed the ancient voices

………..and the roar of Congo waterfalls.

Brothers, I do not know whether you bombed the

………..cathedrals, the pride of Europe,

If you are the lightning of God’s hand that burned

………..Sodom and Gomorrah.

No, you are the messengers of his mercy, the

………..Spring after Winter.

To those who had forgotten how to laugh-only

………..smile obliquely

Who knew nothing but the savory flavor of

………..tears and the vexing stench of blood

You bring the Season of Peace and hope to

………..end of the delay.

And their night is filled with milky sweetness, the blue

………..fields of the sky are covered with flowers, silence sings

………..soothingly.

You bring them the sun. The air beats with whispers

………..liquids and crystalline chirping and beating

………..silky wings

The aerial cities are tepid with nests.

Through the streets joy streamed, the boys play with

………..their dreams

Men dance before of their machines and

………..surprised themselves singing.

Schoolgirls’s eyelids are rose petals, and

………..fruits ripen in the virgins’ breasts

And the women’s hips—Oh, sweetness—

………..grow generously heavy.

Black brothers, warriors whose mouths are flowers that

………..sing

—Oh! the delight to live after Winter—I salute you

………..like messengers of peace.

 

Thank you....  

Revolution Twenty20

 

Hello!

I am Nidhi Jethava and I am a student at MK Bhavnagar University, department of English. In our syllabus, we have a paper on contemporary English literature and we have a paper on ‘Revolution Twenty20’ by Chetan Bhagat in the context of popular literature. 

Here I am putting sir's blog link:

https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/12/revolution2020.html

About Chetan Bhagat:

Chetan Bhagat, IITian and IIMian. He was included in Time magazine's list of World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010.

About ‘Revolution Twnety20’

Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition is a 2011 novel by Chetan Bhagat. Its story is concerned with a love triangle, corruption, and a journey of self-discovery. R2020 has addressed the issue of how private coaching institutions exploit aspiring engineering students and how parents put their lifetime earnings at stake for these classes so that their children can crack engineering exams and change the fortune of the family. While a handful accomplishes their dreams, others sink into disaster. The book is available as an Audiobook on Amazon.

The author stated that the novel is based on the "rampant corruption" apparent in the Indian educational system, with the choice of Varanasi as a setting emerging through "a special connection to the city" following his visit. He further said "it is one of our oldest cities, and people there now have modern aspirations. I thought the contrast would be interesting. The city also has a lot of character."

Questions to ponder:-

1)If you were to adapt this novel for the screen, what sort of changes you would make in the story and characters to make it better than the novel?

Answer:- 

If I was adapted ‘Revolution 2020’ for the screen, I would like do some changes in both story and Character. As per the title, I would like to do more focus on the theme of revolution rather than love.

There in the movie, Raghav’s character would be more strong than Gopal’s character.

And specifically beginning of the movie, my story will start with the introduction of the author and Raghav as CM. The author would meet Raghav for ‘Revolution in Varanasi’. 

Aarti’s character might be more strong and static. In the novel, Aarti’s character from the feminine point of view is very weak but in the movie, she might be strong and passionate for career and politics. 

The end would be totally different, Raghav will be the CM and he will bring ‘Revolution’ in India especially in Varanasi.

2) 'For a feminist reader, Aarti is a sheer disappointing character.' Do you agree with this statement? If yes, what sort of characteristics you would like to see in Aarti. If you disagree with this statement, why? What is it in Aarti that you are satisfied with this character?

Answer:- 

Yes, I agree with this statement, 'For a feminist reader, Aarti is a sheer disappointing character.' Aarti belongs to a family which has an educationalist and political background but while reading we can not find any characteristic like that. Aarti is very weak from the perspective of feminism. She has no ambition, vision, or passion for her career. 

As a reader, I would like to see some of the specific characteristics in Aarti

Like, her family background is educationalist and politics so that thing might be in her like she has some dream some passion for her career as well as politics. 

Another thing is that she is not strong from her own mind like she was attracted toward Raghav when he has power and wealth and he got a high Rank in exams but when Gopla become wealthy she was ready to sleep with him.  In the novel, Aarti is considered as a winning reward which Gopal and Raghav want to achieve, in this sense somewhere her character is sheer. 

3)'For a true revolutionist, the novel is terribly disappointing.' Do you agree? If yes, what sort of changes would you make in character or situation to make it a perfect revolutionary novel? If you disagree, what is in the novel that you are satisfied with?

Answer:-

Yes, I agree that for a true revolutionist this novel is terribly disappointing because the title and the concept of the story are totally different. The novel mostly focuses on a love story. 

Changes:

The first change I would like to do in the story is that it was more focusing on revolution rather than love. The plot might be changed and the story was told by Raghav as a revolutionist. He would be CM and change the phenomenon of the scenario. 

The end of the novel is very terrible because it was marriage and Raghav and Aarti got married there is no such revolution anywhere, so the end would be different like the story runs with Raghav’s revolutionary attitude. After Mary Aarti Raghav would join politics and stay there and work with the political ideas and bring revolution in India. Not everywhere but at possible places for example Ganga Action Plan, Raghav would be the raising star in new India. 

Corruption and Society in 'The White Tiger' and 'Revolution 2020'

 

Corruption and Society in 'The White Tiger' and 'Revolution 2020' 

Abstract:- 

The Word corruption is very fascinating as an overview of politics, society, and especially nowadays education. Corruption, politics, education, poverty, society, career, and power all might be connected. So here are some important points which depict the reality of society, education, and corruption in Arvind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’ and Chetan Bhagat’s “Revolution 2020’.  While talking about the text someone found it very interesting and never seen facts. ‘Revolution 2020’ is widely known as a love story or love triangle. ‘The White Tiger’ is widely known for Indian corruption in education and the caste system. 

Keywords:- corruption, education, society, caste, and depiction 

Introduction:-

 

‘The White Tiger’ and ‘Revolution 202’ are the most known novels written by contemporary Indian English Writer. Both the work depicted the reality of India in various context and here are some point and arguments which discusses that particular situation of India where people living in poverty, casteism, corru[ption in education and so many things. People like Shukla-ji, Gopal, and dean are the best examples of ‘Revolution 2020’ while on another side in ‘The White Tiger’ Balram is the character who suffered from this casteism and corruption. 

Characters play a very important role in corruption. 

So many questions arise while talking about corruption in ‘Revolution 2020’ i.s. Which character and which incident mention it? In the Indian education system, politics play a very hypothetical role. From the first day to establishing the Gang Tech institution Gopla and Shukla-Ji give money to everyone who is connected whether it is open or officer. Gopal was initially wasn’t aware of it that’s why Shukla first deny working with him. 

“Bedi continued speaking till I interrupted him, 'Wait a minute, aren't these illegal methods?' Everyone fell silent, Shukla-Ji spoke after a while. 1 don't think this boy can do it. You have wasted my time.'’ REVOLUTION 2020 (126)

 The novel talks about how the basic inception of corruption in modern times can be traced to opportunistic leaders, who are consumed by ambition and use corruption as a means to fuel their ambitions. (M. RakeshBabu).

Another character is the dean, in private institution faculties and dean’s attitude towards students and the mentality of students and teachers are visible through this conversation between the dean and Bedi. 

 will come to campus three days a week'

'I am the dean, that is why three days. Else, once a week is enough'

"Which faculty goes to teach every day in private colleges? Don t worry, I will tell the AICTE inspectors I am there every day  REVOLUTION 2020 (157).

Indian education corruption. Especially in the race of IIT, IIM this kind of institution and the students who won’t be able to join these institutions they went for private institutions and The Ganga Tech, represented as one of the biggest institutions and predictably to be a well-reputed university, is founded on corruption and disputed land. Besides this, it talks about politician Babus. Who is not much educated but yet they are joining politics and they established an education institute and also it’s talking about revolution in true sense. (Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma)

‘The White Tiger’ somewhere depicted the reality of India and society where everywhere is corruption. Here the question arises is it so like who are these men and is that happening? “In ‘The White Tiger’ Arvind Adiga describes the root of corruption. It is about one poor man named Balram who comes from the Halwai Caste, a Caste that indicates Sweet-Makers. Balram’s mind has been corrupted since childhood and his struggle for survival. This novel talks about corruption from poor Balram to his school teacher, Doctors, politicians, and at the end we can see there is no place where there is no corruption. Balram’s life changed when he met an accident done by Pinky. It’s one kind of corruption when Balram’s “Malik” ordered him to sign a paper that describes that accident done by Balram.  

The character of Pinky is very important, she is the only person who enlightens Balram. 

"Sometimes I wonder, Balram. I wonder what's the point of living. I really wonder…" “The point of living ? My heart pounded. The point of your living is that if you die, who's going to pay me three and a half thousand rupees a month ?." (TWT 186)

Balram’s character speaks the truth about reality how some castes are treated and their situation of people. 

“If the Indian village is a paradise, then the school is a paradise within a paradise. There was supposed to be free food at my school - a government program gave every boy three Rotis yellow Daal, and pickles at lunchtime. But we never ever saw Rotis, or yellow Daal, or pickles, and everyone knew why: the schoolteacher had stolen our lunch money. The teacher had a legitimate excuse to steal the money - he said he hadn’t been paid his salary in six months”  (TWT, 33)

So, both the novels are trying to depict corruption and how it creates an impact on society. In ‘The White Tiger’ Balram himself says that this is the story that how one common man was corrupted and how he started this all. 

" The sorrowful tale of how I was corrupted from a sweet , innocent village fool into a citified fellow full of debauchery , depravity , and wickedness." (TWT 197)

In ‘Revolution 2020’ Gopal is that person who at last understands that this corruption is a very horrible thing for society. Raghav is a journalist and he also tries to depict the naked reality of Shukla-Ji but as always happens who is the power that Gundas destroyed everything about Raghav. He works on ‘Revolution 2020’ and he strongly believes that only Indian youth can bring revolution in India. Besides this, there are some people in politics who are not corrupted but they are not stopping anyone from doing all the things. In ‘Revolution 2020’ Pradhan is this kind of character. 

' The DM has to bless it too. But Padhan is honest. However* If it is for a college, and VNN recommends it, he will approve it,' Bedi said.

 'How honest?'Shukla-ji said "Honest enough to not take money, But not so honest that he will stop others from taking it! 

'That's good, If you are honest, keep it to yourself? Sunil said, speaking for the first time that evening, Revolution 2020 (134-35) 

Compare and contrast ‘Revolution 2020’ and ‘The White Tiger’:- 

Chetan Bhagat had started writing in 2004 and Arvind Adiga in 2008. ‘The White Tiger’ was published in 2008 while ‘Revolution 2020’ was published in 2011. So, how are both novels different from each other ? are they both depicted in the same situation? So here are some of the reasons which answered the reality.

Here is information about writing style and general topics upon which both the writers talk a lot. There are some aspects related to them. Somewhere they talk about the youth, the idea of corruption. As research paper mention 

-“Revolution 2020” is about Corruption, Education, and Privatization.

-'' The White Tiger '' details Dark Indian and White India where the villages and lesser towns that don’t fall under Focus and the growing and developed cities come under White India. (Dr N. Ganga Vidya Mr. S. Stanley Gerald)

Conclusion:- 

To sum up ‘The White Tiger’ and ‘Revolution 2020’ both are novels that try to depict the real situation of India. Chetan Bhagat is widely known for his writing about love, education, and politics but this ‘Revolution 2020’ is one kind of different work of him. People might be talking less about this work, while ‘The White Tiger’ is widely known for depicting the reality of Indian politics and corruption. 

References: 

1. Adiga, Arvind. The White Tiger. 2008.

2. Bhagat, Chetan. Revolution 2020. Rupa Publication, 2011.

3. RakeshBabu, M. "Societal Evils in Contemporary India from Chetan Bhagat's Perspective in Revolution 2020." International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) (2019): 2.

4. Sharma, Dr. Arvind Kumar. "Corruption in Education System in Chetan Bhagat’s Revolution 2020, Love, Ambition, Corruption." International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL) (2015): 5.

5. Vidya, Dr. N. Ganga. "Convergence in Styles of Chetan Bhagat and Aravind." International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) (2020): 2.