Fiza Pathan's Blog - Posts Tagged "review"

Saki is the true master of witty & macabre storytelling. He proves himself to be a person who does not analyse situations at their face value & gets into the minds of people professing certain ideas. For H.H. Munro, also well known as Saki, the world of simplicity is a world full of weird possibilities. He advances this theory of his, in his story ‘The Stalled Ox’ which appears in the 1914 collection ‘Beasts & Super-Beasts’.

In the story like in most of Saki’s witty stories, especially in this collection of short stories, he presents to the reader an almost ideal set up, where suddenly an unusual problem arises where absurdity begins leading to an anti-climax of a conclusion which at times shocks a person or makes the reader grin wisely. In the story, the main character is an artist named Theophil  Eshley who paints cattle for a living, not because he is obsessed with the theme of dairy farming but because as Saki states, it has become his trademark. This trademark has been linked to him to such an extent that even his two attempts to break away from his own tradition leads him to failure. In the first paragraph of the story itself, one gets an idea of  the hum-drum life of a simple painter who to us on the face of it, will never amount to anything in life but a cattle painter. Saki however, points to us an alternate philosophy to our prejudiced theorization in the form of his ‘problematic situation’.

Most of Saki’s problematic situations are life changing. In this narrative as well, the issue brought to the notice of the artist Eshley by his neighbour Adela Pingsford changes the artist’s life forever. The situation is urgent & absurd to a logical thinker, but simple enough as it goes where probabilities are rampant. Eshley is faced with a situation in which an animal….an ox holds a prominent position. Saki I have observed enjoys to use animals of all kinds, as miscreants of the human world of so called ‘order’. Infact wherever there is a slight trace of order going on, an animal like a piglet, a cock, an elk etc.., play the role of the tutor of humility.

In the story, an ox has entered the garden of the artist’s neighbour which she definitely objects to, as the alleged ox was upsetting her chrysanthemums. The neighbour implores the artist to drive the wayward ox away from her garden. She is of the opinion that since Eshley the artist was a cattle painter, he would be having a sort of ‘extra’ knowledge about how to get an ox off her land. There issues forth a cacophony of crazy dialogues which is hilarious in its simplicity & forwardness.

An avid Saki reader would definitely be aware of the fact that dialogues are of the utmost importance in the author’s short stories. Dialogues are the tools which Saki uses to dish out to the voracious reader of satire a hilarious stream of wacky possibilities which seem so real & yet so fantastic. The dialogues between the artist Eshley & his neighbour Adela are ingenious. The absurdness of human thought & action is presented by Saki very vividly.

Eshley in the story asks rather odd questions to his flushed neighbour that increase the flame of her rage. Eshley also is so indifferent to the whole situation that makes the reader want to chuckle out loud. Sarcasm is used by Saki to the fullest especially through the person of Adela. When Eshley quaintly asks whether the ox won’t just go out on its own, Adela angrily retorts that if it was the beasts initial intention she would not have taken the trouble to meet the artist in the first place & ask for help. Also, when Eshley very feebly tries to drive the stalled ox away with cries of ‘Hish’ & ‘Shoo’, Adela indignantly states that the next time a hen sets foot into her garden, she would definitely call the artist for his assistance in the form of his useless bird calls like ‘Hish’ & ‘Shoo’.

I've noticed also where this story is concerned (as well all of Saki’s short stories) Saki has been able in single sentences even to satirise a lot of events, institutions, ideologies & people. Example is when Eshley mocks the cinema when he states that the oxen that are rounded up on screen may be fake even though they contain a lot of horses to help along with many ‘accessories’. He also picks on The Royal Academy stating that they prefer ‘orderly & methodical habits in its children’.

Another part of the story that amuses me is the almost human side that is given to the ox which seems quite devoid in the artist or the artist’s neighbour. The ox is the one who understands that he is not welcome in the garden after a pea-stick is thrown at him & thus drags himself into Adela’s morning room. Adela on the other hand is flabbergasted when she sees the ox entering her morning room & makes the hilarious statement that where personal preference was concerned, she preferred the ox to stay in the garden rather than in her house. She is also the one who induces the novel idea into the artist to paint the picture of the ox in her morning room which he undertakes to do immediately after it was suggested. The situation seems absurd & nonsensical  but Eshley’s painting of, ‘Ox In A Morning Room Late Autumn’ makes him a real success at last although it does not improve his equation with his neighbour. The story is an anti-climax typical of Saki where the ox that caused a lot of trouble becomes a sensation in the world of art.

In all, the story of ‘The Stalled Ox’ appealed a lot to my taste in subtle humour as well as my love for macabre literature.

 

Fiza Pathan

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


EMILY OF NEW MOON : CLASSIC

Where books are concerned these days, we notice that the ‘series style’ is in vogue which right now does not seem to want to go. Where L.M.Montgomery is concerned however, she wrote her series way back in the early part of the 20th century……& her works are classics. L.M.Montgomery’s book ‘Emily Of New Moon’ has always according to me been a source of inspiration where writing has been concerned. The book revolves around the character of Emily who loses her father by age seven & is by lot adopted by the spinster clan of her mother’s family at New Moon. The storyline is gentle & careful where details are concerned, making the book a wonderful read.
However, children & teenagers these days don’t fancy the innocent Emily of New Moon……,they prefer action packed dramas between people & creatures that are not real. The modern day fiction characters have dug the grave of many real life characters & Emily is sadly one of them. However, Emily in her sort of coma stage is still quite immortal as her life story is as real as ours…even though she is just a character in a book. Her story is constantly being repeated in society & so she though not remembered today…..can never really be forgotten.

The drama of Emily’s life is unfurled very tenderly by the pen strokes of Montgomery ; Emily’s dreams, wishes, imagination, friends, teachers etc., are the planets which revolve around a true classic story. The author goes also to the extreme of indirectly indicating Emily’s spelling mistakes & how they improve as the years go by………as we turn the page & get mature just like little Emily. Compared to ‘Anne Shirley’ who is a popular character among Montgomery books , Emily is very impulsive but also very secretive like all artists are. Her child like emotions are at times not so child like if the reader sinks deeper into the storyline.

Many situations in the book are quite similar to ‘Anne Of Green Gables’ but the personalities of both the protagonists are different & this difference has been maintained by the author throughout the book which still can capture the readers attention. It is a profound work which captivates a reader where dialogues & emotions are concerned. There are also many ironical parts in the book, none greater than the last chapter where Mr. Carpenter (Emily’s school master) actually mocks Emily’s poems which when WE read them seem outstanding. Indirectly, Montgomery indicates to the reader that poetry is quite a subjective concept which can only be understood by tuning in on the emotional side of the verse.

Many other short stories or tales are carefully introduced into the manuscript by the author like the tale of Isle’s mother, Cousin Jimmy’s sad accident, Teddy’s peculiar mother etc., all which add on to the central theme & not diverting our attention. These short incidents are wholesome which digests into the reader’s system. These characters are shadowy however, & much of their descriptions portray them to be people who have been hurt physically, mentally & even emotionally in the past. Emily’s ‘descriptions’ throughout the narrative at times makes us laugh & at other times makes us ponder over our own hidden phantoms. Like Anne of Green Gables, Emily too makes quite a few mistakes but…they are fewer in comparison.
All in all however I must conclude that ‘Emily Of New Moon’ is a classic which can live on as we grow up…day by day…minute by minute……second by second.




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CLASSICS: Why we should encourage children to read them