Uncle Tom's Cabin

Title: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Main Characters: Uncle Tom, Aunt Chloe, Eliza, Harry, George Harris, Haley, Mr. Shelby, Mrs. Shelby, George Shelby, Augustine St. Clare, Evangeline St. Clare, Marie St. Clare, Aunt Ophelia, Mammy, Topsy, Legree, Cassy, Emmeline, Madame de Thoux

Mr. Shelby, a generous Kentuckian who believes in the good treatment of his slaves and does treat them well, is forced to sell off his wife’s worthy slave girl’s son, Harry, and his most faithful pious servant Tom, fondly referred to as ‘Uncle Tom’. He signs the papers of their transfer to a man named Haley, a slave trader, with whom he had to settle debts. No amount of pleading from Mrs. Shelby could change Mr. Shelby’s decision to do so, however bitter his heart felt, as he had high debts with the cruel man which could be cleared only by complying to Haley’s demands of transfer of the beautiful Eliza’s son Harry and faithful Tom!

Eliza on overhearing the conversation between Haley and her Master Shelby, and getting to know that her only son Harry was going to be sold over to a trader and then put up in the general auctions for bidders to buy, takes extreme steps and decides to run away that same night. She writes a note  to her Mistress, Mrs. Shelby, thanking her for her generosity and stating that she was running off to save her child from inevitable cruelty. Then she picks up her dear son Harry, proceeds to Uncle Tom’s cabin, and informs him of his ill fate. Eliza offers Uncle Tom to run off with her but Uncle Tom refuses telling her that he would always be faithful to his master and would get sold if his master wanted him sold. And, so, Eliza proceeds on her journey all by herself, fueled by ‘maternal love’ and ‘wrought into a paroxysm of frenzy by the near approach of a fearful danger’.

From here, the story follows these two people separately, following two simultaneous storylines and finally threads them up together in the end.

Uncle Tom is bought by Haley and they, with several other slaves of Haley’s ‘band’, board a small ship bound to New Orleans. On the ship, Uncle Tom even wins the loyalty of a cruel man such as Haley by being faithful and religious. A beautiful little girl named Evangeline shortly called as ‘Eva’, travelling with her father Augustine St. Clare and her Aunt Ophelia, takes fancy to poor nice Uncle Tom and persuades her father to buy him. St. Clare buys Tom for a good price and takes him home. There Tom has a good time with the angel-like Eva and his lovely master St. Clare, and many years pass. The other slaves in the house are treated like masters themselves.

Meanwhile, Eliza and her little boy Harry, with the aid of many generous people along the way proceed with the aim of reaching Canada- the place where George Harris, her husband, had started running off to. She makes many good hearted friends who go to great lengths to help her get away from men who pursue her on the instructions of wicked Haley.

Coming back to Uncle Tom, a few sudden events change his fate. Evangeline dies. And a few weeks later, the poor heart broken man, St. Clare, who promised Uncle Tom his freedom, also dies in an accident. All the slaves of St. Clare are sold off in an auction. Uncle Tom is bought by a tyrant name Legree who is a plantation owner. He goes and works faithfully in the plantation. It is cruel, but Uncle Tom survives it, till one day Legree asks Tom to beat up a woman and Tom refuses to do anything that was cruel or a sin. This invokes the wrath of Legree and he beats up Tom for not obeying him. With many such instances and Tom’s complete faith in God, Legree is astonished by the determination of Uncle Tom. But this only makes Legree angrier and he resolves to change Uncle Tom and make slave not only of Tom’s body but also of his soul.

"Well, here's a pious dog, at last, let down among us sinners!—a saint, a gentleman, and no less, to talk to us sinners about our sins! Powerful holy critter, he must be! Here, you rascal, you make believe to be so pious,—didn't you never hear, out of yer Bible, 'Servants, obey yer masters'? An't I yer master? Didn't I pay down twelve hundred dollars, cash, for all there is inside yer old cussed black shell? An't yer mine, now, body and soul?" he said, giving Tom a violent kick with his heavy boot; "tell me!"

In the very depth of physical suffering, bowed by brutal oppression, this question shot a gleam of joy and triumph through Tom's soul. He suddenly stretched himself up, and, looking earnestly to heaven, while the tears and blood that flowed down his face mingled, he exclaimed,

"No! no! no! my soul an't yours, Mas'r! You haven't bought it,—ye can't buy it! It's been bought and paid for, by one that is able to keep it;—no matter, no matter, you can't harm me!"

This piece shows Uncle Tom’s unwavering faith in God which carried him through all his bitter experiences with amazing strength, and which influenced many to follow his method to retain hope and life in their melancholy heart.

Master George Shelby, who by this time had grown from a little boy to a young man, comes back in search of his loved Uncle Tom to redeem him and take him back to reunite with his wife and children in the Shelby estate. He traces all the bills of purchase of Uncle Tom and rides out to Legree’s plantation to claim back his Uncle Tom. But there, he finds Uncle Tom in a pathetic state- beaten up and in the doors of death. Uncle Tom recognizes his ‘little Master George’ and declares that he shall ‘die content now’ as he had seen and inquired about the wellness of his family. Uncle Tom rests forever. George, with a broken heart, takes the body of Uncle Tom with him and gives him a decent burial.

Meanwhile, Eliza and her child, on their way, reunite with her husband, George and they all escape, after a lot of dangerous adventures, to Canada- a free land!

George comes back to the Shelby estate and informs everyone of the sad turn of events. He prepares legal documents and frees every single slave of his estate. He vows to fight against the practice of slavery. While returning he meets two women- Cassy, a runaway from Legree’s estate, and another woman Madame de Thoux. He comes to know that Madame de Thoux is the sister of George Harris and Cassy was the mother of Eliza. He redirects them to Canada.

The story of Eliza and her Harry ends happily as they all reunite and reside in a free land as free humans. Uncle Tom’s story is sort of sad and touching! But the book tells us:

Pity him not! Such a life and death is not for pity!

I loved the book! It is such an amazing and touching book. It is simple yet strong! I loved many of those kind characters in the book and despised the cruel!

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was really nice.

#Chennai #Floods- When Essay Topics Became Reality!

It started like this

Varuna Varuna Varuna (Varuna is the rain god)

Varuvai Varuvai Varuuvai! (Come! Come! Come!)

Varuvai Varuvai Varam Arulvai (Come! Come! And give us a boon!)

Arulvai Arulvai Mazhai Pozhivai (Bless us! Bless us! Make it rain!)

Aruludan Maa Mazhai Pozhindiduvai (Bless and make it rain heavily!)

Manithar Thuyaram Theerave (So that worries of humans get over!)

Maa Mazhai Pozhindiduvai Arulvai! (Bless and make it rain heavily!)

Varuna Varuna Varuna…

We sang this song, written in Tamil, in Amritavarshini raga everyday in school! Why? Because two months before, all that anybody saw in Chennai streets was water lorries providing water to houses and people trying to manage the water scarcity! I think we were all a little too sincere while praying for rains!

Flooded street

What will you do when you don’t have internet for a week?

What will you do if there is no electricity for one whole week?

What activities will you engage in if there are no gadgets for a week?

I never saw any of these questions as anything more than common essay topics, especially living in a city! Yet in the past ten days many people of Chennai, including us, saw all of it come true. No gadgets. No electricity. No internet.

On the first of December, it rained heavily in Chennai. The intensity was very high. The streets were already inundated, and this made it only worse. But even then, we didn’t have any problem in our house though we were in the ground floor. Our house is raised a good four feet from the road, so no water came in. The next day, the rain stopped. We were already running two days without any power supply. They had shut it down for safety purposes due to water logging in our street. It was the third day.

A car parked on a
speed breaker:
It later submerged!

On December 2nd, it only drizzled but the water level kept increasing. Eleven thousand cusecs of water was being opened into the city from the Chembarambakkam reservoir. The water level in the street was quickly rising. It started climbing up the slope of our parking dangerously fast. Anytime a vehicle passed, the water surged into the parking lot with a swoosh.  We weren’t very sure as to what to do. Should we pack up all the books and other goods in the house? Will the water come in? Or will it stop rising and recede? We got the signal to pack up things to safety by 1.30 pm that day when the water had completely encroached our entire parking, and was slowly making its way up the house stairs to the entrance.

A brave man taking his chances!

We started clearing everything in the hallway of our house and dumping it in the bedroom upstairs (our house is a duplex model, thank God!). It took us just one and half hours to pack up everything! My dad asked us to imagine and think as to what would get spoiled if there was  hip-level water inside the house. Only our refrigerator couldn’t be shifted anywhere. We couldn’t do anything about it. We left it that way. When we checked again, the water was in the last step. It would be a matter of minutes before it would come in! So, we gobbled up our lunch, took the essentials, and shifted to our neighbour’s place in the first floor. And at three in the afternoon on December 2nd water entered the house. We looked down anxiously from the neighbour’s balcony as it started raining again. A transistor of our neighbour’s helped us know some news. But it was bad news! From eleven thousand cusecs, they had increased the flow to sixteen thousand cusecs!

Car parked on a
pavement

The water level kept rising! My mom was terrified. It rose from knee level to hip level to chest level to neck level! Water was flowing at a terrific speed. By the evening, it was pitch dark. We couldn’t communicate to anybody because we had very little saved battery. Even when the battery was there, there was no cellphone tower and the calls simply failed! By the night, the news from the transistor informed that 30,000 cusecs of water was being released! We just prayed and went to bed early after dinner. I fell asleep. My parents told me the next morning on December 3rd that the water had been flowing at its peak around 2 am that morning. But by the time I woke up, it had receded. It was still in the parking area but had receded from the house.   

My mom and dad went down to our house and started cleaning as our neighbour, who has experienced two earlier flood situations, advised them to clean the house while the water was receding and not let it go dry with dirt. It was a laborious job! The water had brought along with it fine mud and a all species of insects, both dead and alive! There was the smell to be taken care of too! They cleaned the house with salt and Dettol over and over again. It also took a long time to dry since there was no fan!

Not just Kundrathur plots
advertised...
Even the city was so!

In between all this, there was the shortage of milk! We couldn’t lay our hands on milk packets at all! Even if we managed to get a few packets, they got spoilt real quick and couldn’t be used. Amulya milk powder helped us a little. Also, bread packets and milk packets from Shree Mithai, delivered at our doorstep, helped us greatly! Drinking water that we had stored was also getting used up.

We shifted back to our house on 4th December. All of Chennai seemed to have got electricity but not us! We suffered for three more days, and finally, we got it today- December 7th- ninth day from when we last had power!

I never believed it could rain so much in Chennai as to bring water into my house! Most part of the  mornings were spent staring at the flood water and debating if it was receding or rising, or when we would get back power. The mornings passed quickly and easily. Only after five in the evening, time was difficult to while away. We would look at the clock at 5:40, and look at it again at 5:43! Evenings were the most difficult part.

Anyway, it’s all getting better now. Thanks to all those relief volunteers for their work! Thanks to all my friends who offered their help! Thanks to everybody!

Half the gate flooded was
just a start!

From water scarcity to not knowing what to do with so much water, it has taken nature barely two months to change Chennai from a parched water-scarce land into an island! Let us better be respectful to Mother Nature and not wag our naughty tails by polluting her! This is the important lesson that we have to take back from this experience.

Thanks to all, again, for their support to flood affected areas. Let us all #PrayForChennai!

Navratri 2015

Navratri 2015- A record of golu @Ayodhya Mandapam, West Mambalam

View it in Google photos or here

The Grapes Of Wrath

Title: The Grapes Of Wrath

Author: John Steinbeck

Main Characters: Ma, Pa, Rose Of Sharon, Tom Joad, Jim Casy, Al Joad, Uncle John, Connie, Noah Joad, Grandma, Grandpa

Set in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma and the bright city of California, ‘The Grapes Of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck goes back to the dirty thirties period.

‘You’ll have to go.’

But it’s our land, the tenant men cried. We-

‘No. The bank, the monster owns it. You’ll have to go.’

We’ll get our guns. What then?

‘You’ll be stealing if you try to stay, you’ll be murderers if you kill to stay.’

But if we go, where’ll we go? How’ll we go? We got no money.

‘We’re sorry,’ the owner men said. ‘The bank, the fifty-thousand acre owner can’t be responsible. You are on land that isn’t yours. Maybe you can go on relief. Why don’t you go west to California? There’s work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange. Why, there’s always some kind of crop to work in. Why don’t you go there?’ And the owner men started their cars and rolled away.

The corns had wilted under the dust storms and had become unfit. The tenants, the farmers, were displaced, almost without any notice. They asked the owners, “Where can we go?”, but the reply came to them just as fast as their questions: “That isn’t our problem.” 

So, all the farmers of Dust Bowl Oklahoma clear their land and move away.

Tom Joad, comes back to Sallisaw, Oklahoma, after getting a parole from McAlester. He had been put in prison, and had served a sentence of four years, for killing a man. He comes back to his town, in the hope of reuniting with his family. On the way he meets the ex- town- preacher, Rev. Jim Casy. They walk together over to Sallisaw. To their shock, they find the place empty, all huts and houses broken or destroyed, cotton plants cultivated, and the town deserted. They come across their friend, who enlightens them on the bad situation of the people. He tells Tom and Casy about how the owners asked the tenants to clear the land and get lost. And how everybody was planning to leave for the west.

Tom immediately inquires about his family, and the friend tells him how his family was huddled up at Uncle John’s place. So, Tom and Casy hurry to Uncle John’s house. There, a sweet family reunion takes place. They discuss plans to get packing and go to the west. To California, the land where they can extend a hand a pick an orange. Pa gets a handbill stating that 800 men are needed for work to pick peaches in California. So, they all load their truck with all they need, and start off on their journey. They all go- Ma, Pa, Al, Tom, Ruthie, Winfield, Rose Of Sharon, Connie, Grandma and Grandpa- the whole Joad family, and the ex-preacher Jim Casy.

They encounter lots of troubles. There isn’t enough money. The truck has just too much load for it to take. They run out of gas. Grandpa dies. And, then Grandma dies. Many migrant families mix up. They all become one big family because of their common sufferings. The poorer they become, the more they help each other. Also, a new problem arose, on top of all this- Tom wasn’t supposed to cross states since he is on parole.

Finally they reach California, crossing all hurdles. There they get down beside a river to refresh themselves. Noah Joad runs away, from there. The family is reduced by three members from when they started. They cross the desert, and reach the beautiful town of California. Just as they had heard, the town was full of apples and peaches and oranges. But unlike what they had been falsely promised, they couldn’t extend their hand and pluck them. Anybody, calling himself the owner, could shoot them, fixing them as trespassers. The situation for migrants in California was pathetic!

The handbill that Pa recieved- five thousand other men had also received it. It was a trick for cost-cutting used by the owners. The owners whose fruits had to be plucked called two thousand men where the job was for eight hundred, so that the work would get done faster and the wages will be cheaper. Every minute, more and more migrants piled into California from all over the Dust Bowl affected areas- Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New-Mexico and Nevada- and the wages of the workers went lower and lower.

So, the Joad family decides to pack and leave from California city, somewhere up north. Casy gets arrested when he kicks a cop for supporting the illegal contractors. At this juncture, Connie runs away from them. Now, the rest of family, continue on  their journey. The situation gets worse and worse. They struggle. Finally they go to a peach orchard and join as pickers. Here, Tom Joad finds that Casy has escaped and was leading a revolt. He gets excited to meet Casy again. But one of the cops kill Casy for revolting, and in a moment when anger grips him, Tom smashes the cop’s head and kills him. Now, he is deep trouble. So, he informs the family. They immediately hide him in the truck and they leave the place. They had to go away from one good work that they got.

They next go to a place to pick cotton. There, Tom goes into hiding away from the family, with the knowledge of the family members, so that he doesn’t bring them any trouble. But, Ruthie, his kid sister, in a fight with another kid, boasts that her brother would not spare anybody who hits her, and that he had already killed two people and was in hiding. Then, she realizes the mistake she had done. So, she admits it to Ma, who goes to Tom’s hideout with seven dollars, and asks him to run away with it. Tom is happy, and he says to his Ma, that he will always be there where there is revolt against the injustice. He goes off.

Now, the Joad family have only Pa, Ma, Ruthie, Winfield, Al, Uncle John and Rose Of Sharon. They continue picking cotton, and they earn a little. But the rains come down pouring, for many days together, and the crops are destroyed. Also, the place gets flooded. The men try to build a bank and keep off the water. They partially succeed. When the rain stops a little, the Joad family, except Al, go over to a dry barn that they see. There is no owner there. So, they decide to stay there. In the barn, they meet a young boy. The boy’s father is sick as he had given all his food to his boy, and had not eaten anything himself. The boy tells the Joads that his father needs milk. The family helps.

And the book ends there. The struggle continues.

It’s a very touching book. The character I liked best was Ma. She is such a  strong lady. She tries to hold the family together even when the situations are pathetic outside. She takes care of all the aspects of the family. She is bold and strong. She is very clever, and knows the practicalities. She is an amazing character- the best in the book. I also like Tom Joad and Jim Casy very much.  It was really nice. I liked it.

The Great Gatsby

Title: The Great Gatsby

Author: F Scott Fitzgerald

Main Characters: Nick Carraway, Jordan Baker, Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, George Wilson, Myrtle Wilson

‘The Great Gatsby’ is about how the wealthy Jay Gatsby follows his old love Daisy Buchanan, married to Tom Buchanan.

The narration is by Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate come to stay next door to Jay Gatsby in New York. He tries his hand at selling bonds, and works as a salesman. He goes, one day for lunch, to the house of his second cousin, Daisy Buchanan, whom he hadn’t been in touch with for many years. There he meets a girl named Jordan Baker, who while talking with him, mentions that she often goes to Gatsby’s great parties. Nick also finds out that there is a party almost every night at his wealthy neighbour’s place. He starts wondering if he can go to one of the parties. Then, he gets an invitation from Jay Gatsby to be part of his next party.

Nick goes happily and meets Jordan there. In that party, both of them meet Jay Gatsby himself. When he comes to know that Jordan lives with Daisy and Nick is Daisy’s cousin, he makes a very strange request to Nick. He requests Nick to call Daisy Buchanan over to tea someday so that he can meet her. Nick does not understand at first. Then Jordan enlightens him on the backstory.

Jay Gatsby and Daisy had been in love before the war, and when the war started Jay Gatsby went away on service. During that long period, Daisy had married Tom Buchanan. When Jay Gatsby came back from war and searched for his love, he found her married to another man. He learnt that the reason for her marriage was that he had no money with him, and she had to wait just too long. With a new aim, he became a very wealthy man, and got a house in town from where he could see the house of Daisy Buchanan. He had been holding extravagant parties to impress Daisy, and in the hope that she will come to one of those parties someday.

Jay Gatsby meets Daisy, when she answers the invitation of her cousin Nick. They get all sentimental about each other. Daisy invites Jay and Nick to her house for lunch some days after. Gatsby and Nick go. Gatsby, Nick, Jordan and Tom go to New York city just for fun. There, Tom and Gatsby get into a fight as to whom Daisy really loves. They fight for a long time. Then, Tom asks Daisy and Gatsby to drive home in Gatsby’s car, while he, Jordan and Nick would follow. Gatsby and Daisy leave. While following, Tom, Jordan and Nick come across an accident, and they find the victim to be Myrtle Wilson. They discover that it was Gatsby’s car that ran over and killed her. They hurry back home. There Gatsby admits to Nick alone that it was Daisy who was on the steering wheel and not himself. But he insists on taking the blame himself to save his love.

George Wilson, the husband of Myrtle, traces the car that ran over his wife. He finds it to be Gatsby’s. So, he goes over to Gatsby’s place one day and shoots both Gatsby and himself.

The story ends by Nick trying to gather people for Gatsby’s funeral. Then, he gets tired of the west, and goes back to East, where he came from.

The book was okay. It is a great Gatsby book. But it didn’t have anything other than just how the Gatsby tries to follow his OLD love! It was so tragic! :"(