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Some Influential Women Authors in the History of English Literature. 

Here is a short introduction about each author according to the photo.

1. Maya Angelou

She is arguably the most famous African-American autobiographer and poet in history. Angelou broke the mold when she wrote her six autobiographical volumes in a nontraditional structure that completely changed the genre. Angelou opened up to readers and shared her controversial life stories without shame or censorship. Her candidness and unique literary style pushed the boundaries for all female writers and changed the face of autobiographies forever.

2. JK Rowling

This British author is one of the most widely read female authors in history. Her popular Harry Potter series combined whimsical fantasy and inspired a generation of children to get excited about reading. Her books ahve also inspired readers on a social, moral, and political base. Even her personal story of rags to riches has influenced readers to never give up on their dreams.

3. Alice Walker

The author of “The Color Purple” holds the title of the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Walker’s writing career and personal life has mostly centered on race and gender ineqaulity. Her written work and political involvement have made her a respected figure amoung African-Americans and female readers around the world.

4. SE Hinton

American novelist S.E. Hinton is best known for her young adult books, most notably, “The Outsiders”. Hinton began writing “The Outsiders” at 15 years old and it was published when she was 18 years old. Hinton became a household name and instant success with “The Outsiders”, which still sells more than 500,000 copies each year. Hinton has made a lasting impression with her literary work that effectively connects readers to the emotions and experiences of teenagers.

5. Agatha Christie

British crime writer who produced popular novels, plays and short stories. Christie is the best-selling female author of all time and the most translated individual author. Christie’s commercial success and public appreciation came from her masterful writing skills and ability to build a suspenseful whodunit plot with well-developed characters. Not only did Christie pave the way for crime writers, but she also inspired female authors of all genres to follow suit.

6. Laura Ingalls Wilder

Most widely known for writing the Little House series of books, specifically the Little House on the Prairie. Wilder based these novels on her childhood and growing up in a pioneer family. Wilder’s compelling stories and mastery of literary techniques helped set the precedent for future children’s books.

7. Harper Lee

American writer best known for her 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It is Lee’s only published book, but the critically-acclaimed bestseller made quite an impact on its own. Much of the book is autobiographical and details what Lee saw as a child growing up in the South. The powerful story deals with racial inequality and injustice in the Deep South.

8. Jane Austen

Jane Austen is best known for her popular romantic fiction novels, such as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Austen’s work is the focus of academic study for scholars and critics because of its historical context and mastery of literary techniques. Austen greatly influenced English literature with her use of literary realism, social commentary and techniques that told the compelling stories of 18th century and 19th century women.

9. Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was an influential poet whose style was unlike anyone else’s. Dickinson was an innovator, who used unconventional techniques, such as short lines, slant rhyme and unusual capitalization and punctuation that garnered both attention and criticism. During the late 19th and early 20th century, critics denounced Dickinson’s individual style and literary prowess, but later praised her originality and talent as a pre-modernist poet.

10. Louisa May Alcott

American author Louisa May Alcott was best known for her novel Little Women. Alcott received critical acclaim for her literary work, as well as her involvement in various reform movements, including women’s rights and ending slavery. Through her professional and personal life, she has inspired and empowered women of all ages to be independent and follow their dreams regardless of what society says.

11. Mary Shelley

A British writer best known for the widely-read Gothic novel Frankenstein. Shelley pushed the boundaries of traditional Romanticism and Gothic fiction when she developed her own brand of the artistic movement that criticized individualism and challenged the traditional 18th century school of thought. Shelley’s work has been at the forefront of feminist literary criticism and academic study for decades.

12. George Eliot

Born Mary Anne Evans in 1819, she wrote Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, and Silas Marner, a threesome that must rank with any of the finer achievements of realism in fiction. Yet her breadth of character and theme took on so much more. This is a writer that had common sense, verve and intricate knowledge about the unfolding of human events. Eliot’s ouvre is astonishingly mature for its time, and remains readable today.

13. Emily Bronte

She wrote only one book during her short life, but it would forever change the landscape of English Literature, and capture women’s hearts across the world. Wuthering Heights.

14. Charlotte Bronte

Best known for her novel Jane Eyre, which was written under her pen name Currer Bell. Although she had a small number of published works, Bronte made a significant impact in both the literary world and society by highlighting the daily struggles of oppressed women in her written works.

15. Virginia Woolf

A literary genius who broke the mold for 20th century novelists. The modernist was known for her experimental fiction writing and influential feminist essays that enlightened readers on Britain’s class and gender differences. Woolf’s work has impacted readers, writers, historians, scholars and all those who’ve studied her innovative work and mastery of the English language.

16. Harriet Beecher Stowe

Stowe changed history with her influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Not only was Uncle Tom’s Cabin the best-selling novel of the 19th century, but it also played an important role in the development of the Civil War. Stowe was a progressive thinker and fierce abolitionist, who wrote about real life issues of inequality and stereotypes and had the power to open up millions of Americans’ hearts.

17. Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian writer who is most widely known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Rand’s written works were heavily based on her political views and emphasis on individual rights. Her books received vast amounts of praise and criticism, but were commercially successful, nonetheless. Rand’s eye-opening work has impacted various political, social and academic fields and encouraged readers to re-evaluate their political and ethical views.

18. Margaret Mitchell

Best known for writing the American classic Gone With the Wind. The novel was an instant success, selling more than a million copies in the first six months. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her wildly popular novel. Mitchell changed history when she wrote arguably the best romantic novel of all time. Not only did the story capture the hearts of millions of readers worldwide, but Mitchell’s masterful use of symbolism and treatment of archetypes made it truly original.

19. Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was an American novelist and short story writer, who is most famous for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Age of Innocence. Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature. She was fluent in French and several other languages, and many of her published works are printed in both French and English. Wharton is praised for achieving both social satire and criticism in her work, while mastering the art of humor.

20. Zora Neale Hurston

An American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston’s four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

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William Wordsworth Biography

William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, a small quiet market town in northwest England, on the edge of the Lake District. Thus from the very beginning he was associated with that region which he loved more than any other, and except for brief sojourns in Britain, Germany, and Italy, he never left his beloved Lake Country. He died in 1850 and was buried at Grasmere, Westmoreland, about twenty-five miles from his birthplace.

His personal history was just about as uneventful as his lack of movement would lead one to expect. The excitement in his life took place on the level of intellect; he found ideas more exciting than any other thing. Though he appreciated the intimacy of a small circle of friends, he consistently avoided any larger portion of society. Like the American Thoreau, his philosophy was one rooted in simplicity of living, and like Thoreau, he sought always to practice it. In fact, he preferred humble surroundings and a minimum of personal effects. From his childhood onward, he invariably strove for economy, frequently from necessity, but always because of principle.

He was born one of five children to a modest land lawyer. Wordsworth's only sister, Dorothy was one year his junior. She never married because she preferred to become the poet's lifelong companion and informal biographer. William reportedly demonstrated no childish precocity. He was self-willed and often displayed such a violent temper that his mother confided she was worried more about his future than the destinies of her other children. His mother died in 1779, evidently of a cold.

Soon afterward, the poet and his elder brother were sent to the small, free grammar school at Hawkshead, near Windermere. He was not an outstanding student, but among his more rustic classmates he seems to have shone somewhat. He lodged and boarded with a childless landlady, and she seems to have come in many ways to replace his lost mother in his affections. For years he regarded her cottage as home and considered it a welcome relief from the establishments of his stern relatives. The cottage was a mere stone's throw from the open fields.

In 1783, his father died, and the young Wordsworth became an orphan at thirteen. Before his death, the father named his own brother and his wife's elder brother as joint guardians of the children, and it was to the latter that the four orphaned boys were sent. Their uncle proved to be hostile and insensitive toward them, never ceased to remind them of their poverty, and seems even to have encouraged the servants to neglect and abuse his charges. William appears to have been particularly disliked by master and servant alike.

As Wordsworth grew older, he decided he might like to become a lawyer. Accordingly, in October 1787, he left his uncle's home in Penrith and went to attend St. John's College, Cambridge. His apparent early enthusiasm for Cambridge was not long in turning to apathy. He found teachers and students shallow and the course of study inconsequential; he openly proclaimed that he could not stand the regimentation. He did desire admission to the circles representing the gentry and intelligentsia at Cambridge, but they would have none of him because he was poor and quite common.

During his vacations, he spent his time visiting his former landlady at Hawkshead and, with his sister Dorothy, covering some of Derbyshire and Yorkshire on foot. At the end of his junior year, he abandoned his earlier idea of applying for a fellowship. He and a schoolmate left on a three-month walking tour through France and on into the Alps and got as far as Lakes Maggiore and Como. Here he gathered the impressions which were to crystallize in his first volume of poems.

He took his B.A. degree in 1791 and soon after made one of a series of visits to London. He next considered becoming a clergyman. However, after a year of postgraduate work, he decided to go to France, where he intended to learn more of the language and customs of France with the intention of becoming a tutor. He stayed only four days in Paris before he moved on to Orléans to live among the natives. He shared lodgings with several members of the cavalry and probably through them was introduced to Paul Vallon, a clerk, and then to the latter's sister, Marie Anne ("Annette"). She was nearly four years older than the poet; she was a Royalist, and he was a self-styled "democrat," she was a Catholic and he a non-practicing Protestant; but love seems to have leveled all things. When she returned to her family home at Blois, farther south along the Loire, Wordsworth went with her. In the spring, she announced that she was going to have a baby and that the poet was the father. He meantime had been planning to return to England that spring (1792) to engage in some kind of literary activity or finally to take orders. The natural thing would have been for the two young people to marry, and from all indications, they were perfectly willing. The poet acknowledged (by proxy) the baby — a girl, Caroline — as his own at her baptism. But there were serious parental objections to nuptials.

At Orléans and Blois, Wordsworth was plunged into the midst of the intrigue that surrounded the French Revolution (1789-99). He was at first completely indifferent to the Revolution and its ideals. Slowly, however, he began to fancy himself a patriot and spoke up for the revolutionary cause. While at Blois, he had the good fortune to meet Michel Beaupuy, a captain, whom he met possibly through the local revolutionary club which the young Englishman had just joined. No other man except Samuel Taylor Coleridge had as great an influence on Wordsworth.

When King Louis XVI was beheaded on January 21, 1793, Wordsworth was back in England. Though the poet was compelled to defend the French Reign of Terror outwardly, his inner convictions were slowly altering, and he underwent a serious spiritual malaise, during which he seemed to be finally and completely without desire or design. As one biographer says, "largely because of what he underwent between 1792 and 1795, he became one of the voices of his age."

His relatives would now have none of him; they considered him an anarchist, as well as a disbeliever and an idler. His first volumes of poems were unpopular with the critics, when they were noticed at all. There was one man, nevertheless, who was much struck by these early endeavors, and that was Coleridge.

In October 1793, Wordsworth managed once more to return to Paris, a feat that took much courage. He found Blois cut off from Paris and once again returned to England. For years after, he had nightmares about what he had seen of the Terror.

In September of 1795, William and Dorothy got one of their most ardent wishes fulfilled — that of living together — when they let a house at Racedown, in Dorset, in southwest England. Wordsworth and Cole-ridge met in Bristol late in 1795 and corresponded thereafter. They did not become close friends until 1797. Together they planned a revolutionary volume which they supposed would change the course of English literature. Lyrical Ballads appeared September 1, 1798. It was slow to win literary favor but gradually acquired its permanent significance as the turning point in English poetry.

In 1802, Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson, a friend from childhood. She bore him six children. In 1805, a favorite brother drowned at sea, and this event shocked the poet. In the spring, The Prelude, begun in 1799, was concluded. In 1812, two of his children died within months of each other. The first collected edition of his poems appeared in 1815; five more editions followed between then and 1850. A bequest enabled him to indulge his passion for travel, and he toured Europe. From about 1829, his sister, who had always been high-strung, began to be mentally ill; in 1835, she went completely mad.

The later years of his life were peaceful. He had been given a job in the civil service in 1813 and thereafter took the large house called Rydal Mount, near Grasmere, where he was to live the rest of his life. His youthful religious skepticism was resolved, and he embraced the established church. He veered toward conservatism from the very moment of Napoleon's rise to power, and later he vociferously opposed many of the beneficial liberal measures of the time. He received honorary degrees from Durham (1838) and Oxford (1839). In 1842, he resigned his civic post and was awarded a pension. The following year, on the death of Southey, he was appointed Poet Laureate.

Toward the end of his life, he knew much fame. He was welcomed everywhere as a celebrity. The critics were stilled by his laureateship, and his verse became quite popular with the burgeoning middle class. It was very fashionable among the early Victorians to gather for group readings of Wordsworth's poetry.

In 1850, the death of his beloved daughter Dora (Dorothy) brought a depression from which he could not recover. On April 23, he died at the age of eighty. Thus was silenced one of the noblest voices of Romantic times and of all times.

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 THE RESTORATION PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Introduction

It is one of the most important and interesting aspects of literature is the way that it both responds to and is inevitably shaped by the political context in which it is written. Some of the best examples of this can be found in the Restoration period, which lasted from 1660 to around 1688.The name 'Restoration' comes from the crowning of Charles II, which marks the restoring of the traditional English monarchical form of government following a short period of rule by a handful of republican governments. At the heart of this literature is the attempt to come to terms with the political events that had occurred in previous decades. The writings of this time are both innovative and varied; the style and subject matter of the literature produced during the Restoration period spanned the spectrum from definitively religious to satirical and risqué. In 1688, James II, Charles II's brother, was removed from the throne, which many scholars use to mark the end of Restoration literature.

Political Context

In addition to conveniently providing the title for the period, the restoration of Charles II has a particularly defining influence on the literature that was written in the second half of the 17th century. The political events of the previous decades resulted in tremendous turmoil for the English people.

The divisions between those who supported a more traditional form of government and those who wanted a more republican form of government led to strong tensions throughout England. These tensions led to the English Civil War, which lasted from 1642 to 1651 and was a particularly brutal experience for many British people. The war culminated with the beheading of Charles I in 1649, and from 1649 to 1659 various forms of republican government ruled Britain.

In 1660, Charles II became king, thereby restoring the English monarchy. After Charles II died in 1685, his brother, James II, took over the throne. Afraid of the policies James II might introduce, William III removed Charles II in 1688 and took over the English throne in 1689. This act is often referred to as the Glorious Revolution because, relative to the violence of the English Civil War, the transfer of power was not very bloody. Some scholars use the displacement of James II as one place to mark the end of the Restoration period. As with all periods of literature, this is a somewhat arbitrary date, and as we'll see in the rest of this lesson, not all of the styles and themes common to the Restoration era literature perfectly coincide with this date.

Philosophical Context

The start of the Restoration period roughly coincides with the beginning of what is known as the Enlightenment, which lasted until the end of the 18th century. The Enlightenment was defined by an emphasis on reason and logic; the thinkers of the period, moreover, helped develop the modern science that treats the natural world as a knowable and testable subject. Although the influence of the Enlightenment on the Restoration period is tremendous, it's important to note the humility towards human reason that is common to much Restoration literature. Many Restoration writers viewed the changes to their government, and the violence that these changes brought with them, as the direct result of those who dogmatically held to their ideology. In this sense, the political events that occurred in England provide insight into the skepticism that is at the heart of Restoration literature.

The Theatre

One of the most significant aspects of Restoration literature is the return of the theatre. As a result of the influence of religious and political leaders who believed it to be sinful, the theatre had been closed for 18 years. Charles II, however, was a big fan of drama and quickly allowed and encouraged the theatre's presence.This period saw many innovations in theatre, including the important new genre called Restoration comedy. In stark contrast to the humble spiritual themes that were common to the literature before 1660, Restoration comedy was frequently crass, largely sexual, and often focused on the interactions of the elite members of English society. Popular writers of Restoration comedy include John Dryden, George Etherege, and William Congreve. Although Restoration literature is commonly considered to end around 1688, Restoration comedy was written into the 1700s.

Poetry

Like the theatre, poetry was strongly influenced by the political context of the mid-17th century. In contrast to the poetry popular in the first half of the 17th century that emphasized religious truths, Restoration poetry focused more on the glory and powerful potential of human beings to understand and improve the world. Many poets attempted to outline ways to live and write and praised the importance of thinking for oneself. One form that this belief in human potential took was an emphasis on classical literature; many poets cited the importance of learning from Greek and Roman poets and some became famous for their translations of ancient poetry. Despite this trend of praising the potential of humans, Restoration literature is incredibly diverse and includes many poets who produced poetry that attempted to guide people back to traditional religion as well as stinging satire.

One of the most important formal aspects of Restoration poetry was the use ofheroic couplets, which are rhyming lines of iambic pentameter. In iambic pentameter, each line has five iambs, which are metrical feet made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, as in 'away'. This form allowed writers to produce lofty and philosophical poetry; in a famous poem titled Absalom and Achitophel, for example, John Dryden uses heroic couplets.

Like Restoration comedy, it's difficult to demonstrate exactly when many of the features that are common to this era's poetry ended. Heroic couplets, for example, continued to be popular for the next 100 years.

Prose and Fiction

One particularly important development during this period was the evolution of formal prose. Inspired by the optimism of the Enlightenment, writers began producing philosophical and religious texts. The Restoration also saw the beginning of formal journalism - people began learning about current events through large printed sheets.Similarly, prose fiction finds its roots in this period of literature. Previously, narratives had frequently been composed in verse, but with the help of a greater reading public and more advanced printing techniques, writers began to tell their stories in prose. Although critics inevitably disagree over when the actual first novel was written, many look to this period as a time when authors began to use many of the conventions that are central to novels.

Summary

The Restoration Period of English Literature roughly lasts from 1660 to 1688. It begins with Charles II returning to the throne following the rule of various republican governments that ruled England from 1649 to 1659 after Charles I was executed; it can be considered to end with the Glorious Revolution, which is the disposition of James II by William III. The period is very much influenced by the political events before it, as well as the Enlightenment philosophy that was coming out of the period. The literature of the period was incredibly diverse and included Restoration comedy, a sexually charged form of theatre, as well as the beginning of journalism. Much Restoration poetry uses heroic couplets, which are made of rhyming lines of iambic pentameter.

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ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES 

ARABIAN NIGHTS FAIRY TALES 

In a town in Persia there dwelt two brothers, one named Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Cassim was married to a rich wife and lived in plenty, while Ali Baba had to maintain his wife and children by cutting wood in a neighboring forest and selling it in the town.

One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, he saw a troop of men on horseback, coming toward him in a cloud of dust. He was afraid they were robbers, and climbed into a tree for safety. When they came up to him and dismounted, he counted forty of them. They unbridled their horses and tied them to trees.

The finest man among them, whom Ali Baba took to be their captain, went a little way among some bushes, and said, "Open, Sesame!" so plainly that Ali Baba heard him.

A door opened in the rocks, and having made the troop go in, he followed them, and the door shut again of itself. They stayed some time inside, and Ali Baba, fearing they might come out and catch him, was forced to sit patiently in the tree. At last the door opened again, and the Forty Thieves came out. As the Captain went in last he came out first, and made them all pass by him; he then closed the door, saying, "Shut, Sesame!"

Every man bridled his horse and mounted, the Captain put himself at their head, and they returned as they came.

Then Ali Baba climbed down and went to the door concealed among the bushes, and said, "Open, Sesame!" and it flew open.

Ali Baba, who expected a dull, dismal place, was greatly surprised to find it large and well lighted, hollowed by the hand of man in the form of a vault, which received the light from an opening in the ceiling. He saw rich bales of merchandise -- silk, stuff-brocades, all piled together, and gold and silver in heaps, and money in leather purses. He went in and the door shut behind him. He did not look at the silver, but brought out as many bags of gold as he thought his asses, which were browsing outside, could carry, loaded them with the bags, and hid it all with fagots.

Using the words, "Shut, Sesame!" he closed the door and went home.

Then he drove his asses into the yard, shut the gates, carried the money-bags to his wife, and emptied them out before her. He bade her keep the secret, and he would go and bury the gold.

"Let me first measure it," said his wife. "I will go borrow a measure of someone, while you dig the hole."

So she ran to the wife of Cassim and borrowed a measure. Knowing Ali Baba's poverty, the sister was curious to find out what sort of grain his wife wished to measure, and artfully put some suet at the bottom of the measure. Ali Baba's wife went home and set the measure on the heap of gold, and filled it and emptied it often, to her great content. She then carried it back to her sister, without noticing that a piece of gold was sticking to it, which Cassim's wife perceived directly her back was turned.

She grew very curious, and said to Cassim when he came home, "Cassim, your brother is richer than you. He does not count his money, he measures it."

He begged her to explain this riddle, which she did by showing him the piece of money and telling him where she found it. Then Cassim grew so envious that he could not sleep, and went to his brother in the morning before sunrise. "Ali Baba," he said, showing him the gold piece, "you pretend to be poor and yet you measure gold."

By this Ali Baba perceived that through his wife's folly Cassim and his wife knew their secret, so he confessed all and offered Cassim a share.

"That I expect," said Cassim; "but I must know where to find the treasure, otherwise I will discover all, and you will lose all."

Ali Baba, more out of kindness than fear, told him of the cave, and the very words to use. Cassim left Ali Baba, meaning to be beforehand with him and get the treasure for himself. He rose early next morning, and set out with ten mules loaded with great chests. He soon found the place, and the door in the rock.

He said, "Open, Sesame!" and the door opened and shut behind him. He could have feasted his eyes all day on the treasures, but he now hastened to gather together as much of it as possible; but when he was ready to go he could not remember what to say for thinking of his great riches. Instead of "Sesame," he said, "Open, Barley!" and the door remained fast. He named several different sorts of grain, all but the right one, and the door still stuck fast. He was so frightened at the danger he was in that he had as much forgotten the word as if he had never heard it.

About noon the robbers returned to their cave, and saw Cassim's mules roving about with great chests on their backs. This gave them the alarm; they drew their sabers, and went to the door, which opened on their Captain's saying, "Open, Sesame!"

Cassim, who had heard the trampling of their horses' feet, resolved to sell his life dearly, so when the door opened he leaped out and threw the Captain down. In vain, however, for the robbers with their sabers soon killed him. On entering the cave they saw all the bags laid ready, and could not imagine how anyone had got in without knowing their secret. They cut Cassim's body into four quarters, and nailed them up inside the cave, in order to frighten anyone who should venture in, and went away in search of more treasure.

As night drew on Cassim's wife grew very uneasy, and ran to her brother-in-law, and told him where her husband had gone. Ali Baba did his best to comfort her, and set out to the forest in search of Cassim. The first thing he saw on entering the cave was his dead brother. Full of horror, he put the body on one of his asses, and bags of gold on the other two, and, covering all with some fagots, returned home. He drove the two asses laden with gold into his own yard, and led the other to Cassim's house.

The door was opened by the slave Morgiana, whom he knew to be both brave and cunning. Unloading the ass, he said to her, "This is the body of your master, who has been murdered, but whom we must bury as though he had died in his bed. I will speak with you again, but now tell your mistress I am come."

The wife of Cassim, on learning the fate of her husband, broke out into cries and tears, but Ali Baba offered to take her to live with him and his wife if she would promise to keep his counsel and leave everything to Morgiana; whereupon she agreed, and dried her eyes.

Morgiana, meanwhile, sought an apothecary and asked him for some lozenges. "My poor master," she said, "can neither eat nor speak, and no one knows what his distemper is." She carried home the lozenges and returned next day weeping, and asked for an essence only given to those just about to die.

Thus, in the evening, no one was surprised to hear the wretched shrieks and cries of Cassim's wife and Morgiana, telling everyone that Cassim was dead.

The day after Morgiana went to an old cobbler near the gates of the town who opened his stall early, put a piece of gold in his hand, and bade him follow her with his needle and thread. Having bound his eyes with a handkerchief, she took him to the room where the body lay, pulled off the bandage, and bade him sew the quarters together, after which she covered his eyes again and led him home. Then they buried Cassim, and Morgiana his slave followed him to the grave, weeping and tearing her hair, while Cassim's wife stayed at home uttering lamentable cries. Next day she went to live with Ali Baba, who gave Cassim's shop to his eldest son.

The Forty Thieves, on their return to the cave, were much astonished to find Cassim's body gone and some of their money-bags.

"We are certainly discovered," said the Captain, "and shall be undone if we cannot find out who it is that knows our secret. Two men must have known it; we have killed one, we must now find the other. To this end one of you who is bold and artful must go into the city dressed as a traveler, and discover whom we have killed, and whether men talk of the strange manner of his death. If the messenger fails he must lose his life, lest we be betrayed."

One of the thieves started up and offered to do this, and after the rest had highly commended him for his bravery he disguised himself, and happened to enter the town at daybreak, just by Baba Mustapha's stall. The thief bade him good-day, saying, "Honest man, how can you possibly see to stitch at your age?"

"Old as I am," replied the cobbler, "I have very good eyes, and will you believe me when I tell you that I sewed a dead body together in a place where I had less light than I have now."

The robber was overjoyed at his good fortune, and, giving him a piece of gold, desired to be shown the house where he stitched up the dead body. At first Mustapha refused, saying that he had been blindfolded; but when the robber gave him another piece of gold he began to think he might remember the turnings if blindfolded as before. This means succeeded; the robber partly led him, and was partly guided by him, right in front of Cassim's house, the door of which the robber marked with a piece of chalk. Then, well pleased, he bade farewell to Baba Mustapha and returned to the forest. By and by Morgiana, going out, saw the mark the robber had made, quickly guessed that some mischief was brewing, and fetching a piece of chalk marked two or three doors on each side, without saying anything to her master or mistress.

The thief, meantime, told his comrades of his discovery. The Captain thanked him, and bade him show him the house he had marked. But when they came to it they saw that five or six of the houses were chalked in the same manner. The guide was so confounded that he knew not what answer to make, and when they returned he was at once beheaded for having failed.

Another robber was dispatched, and, having won over Baba Mustapha, marked the house in red chalk; but Morgiana being again too clever for them, the second messenger was put to death also.

The Captain now resolved to go himself, but, wiser than the others, he did not mark the house, but looked at it so closely that he could not fail to remember it. He returned, and ordered his men to go into the neighboring villages and buy nineteen mules, and thirty-eight leather jars, all empty except one, which was full of oil. The Captain put one of his men, fully armed, into each, rubbing the outside of the jars with oil from the full vessel. Then the nineteen mules were loaded with thirty-seven robbers in jars, and the jar of oil, and reached the town by dusk.

The Captain stopped his mules in front of Ali Baba's house, and said to Ali Baba, who was sitting outside for coolness, "I have brought some oil from a distance to sell at tomorrow's market, but it is now so late that I know not where to pass the night, unless you will do me the favor to take me in."

Though Ali Baba had seen the Captain of the robbers in the forest, he did not recognize him in the disguise of an oil merchant. He bade him welcome, opened his gates for the mules to enter, and went to Morgiana to bid her prepare a bed and supper for his guest. He brought the stranger into his hall, and after they had supped went again to speak to Morgiana in the kitchen, while the Captain went into the yard under pretense of seeing after his mules, but really to tell his men what to do.

Beginning at the first jar and ending at the last, he said to each man, "As soon as I throw some stones from the window of the chamber where I lie, cut the jars open with your knives and come out, and I will be with you in a trice."

He returned to the house, and Morgiana led him to his chamber. She then told Abdallah, her fellow slave, to set on the pot to make some broth for her master, who had gone to bed. Meanwhile her lamp went out, and she had no more oil in the house.

"Do not be uneasy," said Abdallah; "go into the yard and take some out of one of those jars."

Morgiana thanked him for his advice, took the oil pot, and went into the yard. When she came to the first jar the robber inside said softly, "Is it time?"

Any other slave but Morgiana, on finding a man in the jar instead of the oil she wanted, would have screamed and made a noise; but she, knowing the danger her master was in, bethought herself of a plan, and answered quietly, "Not yet, but presently."

She went to all the jars, giving the same answer, till she came to the jar of oil. She now saw that her master, thinking to entertain an oil merchant, had let thirty-eight robbers into his house. She filled her oil pot, went back to the kitchen, and, having lit her lamp, went again to the oil jar and filled a large kettle full of oil. When it boiled she went and poured enough oil into every jar to stifle and kill the robber inside. When this brave deed was done she went back to the kitchen, put out the fire and the lamp, and waited to see what would happen.

In a quarter of an hour the Captain of the robbers awoke, got up, and opened the window. As all seemed quiet, he threw down some little pebbles which hit the jars. He listened, and as none of his men seemed to stir he grew uneasy, and went down into the yard. On going to the first jar and saying, "Are you asleep?" he smelt the hot boiled oil, and knew at once that his plot to murder Ali Baba and his household had been discovered. He found all the gang was dead, and, missing the oil out of the last jar, became aware of the manner of their death. He then forced the lock of a door leading into a garden, and climbing over several walls made his escape. Morgiana heard and saw all this, and, rejoicing at her success, went to bed and fell asleep.

At daybreak Ali Baba arose, and, seeing the oil jars still there, asked why the merchant had not gone with his mules. Morgiana bade him look in the first jar and see if there was any oil. Seeing a man, he started back in terror. "Have no fear," said Morgiana; "the man cannot harm you; he is dead."

Ali Baba, when he had recovered somewhat from his astonishment, asked what had become of the merchant.

"Merchant!" said she, "he is no more a merchant than I am!" and she told him the whole story, assuring him that it was a plot of the robbers of the forest, of whom only three were left, and that the white and red chalk marks had something to do with it. Ali Baba at once gave Morgiana her freedom, saying that he owed her his life. They then buried the bodies in Ali Baba's garden, while the mules were sold in the market by his slaves.

The Captain returned to his lonely cave, which seemed frightful to him without his lost companions, and firmly resolved to avenge them by killing Ali Baba. He dressed himself carefully, and went into the town, where he took lodgings in an inn. In the course of a great many journeys to the forest he carried away many rich stuffs and much fine linen, and set up a shop opposite that of Ali Baba's son. He called himself Cogia Hassan, and as he was both civil and well dressed he soon made friends with Ali Baba's son, and through him with Ali Baba, whom he was continually asking to sup with him.

Ali Baba, wishing to return his kindness, invited him into his house and received him smiling, thanking him for his kindness to his son.

When the merchant was about to take his leave Ali Baba stopped him, saying, "Where are you going, sir, in such haste? Will you not stay and sup with me?"

The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason; and, on Ali Baba's asking him what that was, he replied, "It is, sir, that I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them."

"If that is all," said Ali Baba, "let me tell you that there shall be no salt in either the meat or the bread that we eat to-night."

He went to give this order to Morgiana, who was much surprised.

"Who is this man," she said, "who eats no salt with his meat?"

"He is an honest man, Morgiana," returned her master; "therefore do as I bid you."

But she could not withstand a desire to see this strange man, so she helped Abdallah to carry up the dishes, and saw in a moment that Cogia Hassan was the robber Captain, and carried a dagger under his garment.

"I am not surprised," she said to herself, "that this wicked man, who intends to kill my master, will eat no salt with him; but I will hinder his plans."

She sent up the supper by Abdallah, while she made ready for one of the boldest acts that could be thought on. When the dessert had been served, Cogia Hassan was left alone with Ali Baba and his son, whom he thought to make drunk and then to murder them. Morgiana, meanwhile, put on a headdress like a dancing-girl's, and clasped a girdle round her waist, from which hung a dagger with a silver hilt, and said to Abdallah, "Take your tabor, and let us go and divert our master and his guest."

Abdallah took his tabor and played before Morgiana until they came to the door, where Abdallah stopped playing and Morgiana made a low courtesy.

"Come in, Morgiana," said Ali Baba, "and let Cogia Hassan see what you can do"; and, turning to Cogia Hassan, he said, "She's my slave and my housekeeper."

Cogia Hassan was by no means pleased, for he feared that his chance of killing Ali Baba was gone for the present; but he pretended great eagerness to see Morgiana, and Abdallah began to play and Morgiana to dance. After she had performed several dances she drew her dagger and made passes with it, sometimes pointing it at her own breast, sometimes at her master's, as if it were part of the dance. Suddenly, out of breath, she snatched the tabor from Abdallah with her left hand, and, holding the dagger in her right hand, held out the tabor to her master. Ali Baba and his son put a piece of gold into it, and Cogia Hassan, seeing that she was coming to him, pulled out his purse to make her a present, but while he was putting his hand into it Morgiana plunged the dagger into his heart.

"Unhappy girl!" cried Ali Baba and his son, "what have you done to ruin us?"

"It was to preserve you, master, not to ruin you," answered Morgiana. "See here," opening the false merchant's garment and showing the dagger; "see what an enemy you have entertained! Remember, he would eat no salt with you, and what more would you have? Look at him! he is both the false oil merchant and the Captain of the Forty Thieves."

Ali Baba was so grateful to Morgiana for thus saving his life that he offered her to his son in marriage, who readily consented, and a few days after the wedding was celebrated with greatest splendor.

At the end of a year Ali Baba, hearing nothing of the two remaining robbers, judged they were dead, and set out to the cave. The door opened on his saying, "Open Sesame!" He went in, and saw that nobody had been there since the Captain left it. He brought away as much gold as he could carry, and returned to town. He told his son the secret of the cave, which his son handed down in his turn, so the children and grandchildren of Ali Baba were rich to the end of their lives.

***

 LITERATURA FEMINISTĂ

Literatura feministă, după cum sugerează și numele, se bazează pe principiile feminismului și se referă la orice operă literară care se centrează pe lupta unei femei pentru egalitate și pentru a fi acceptată ca ființă umană înainte de a fi aruncată într-un stereotip de gen. Nu toate aceste lucrări urmează o abordare directă către acest obiectiv al egalității. Doar prin intermediul unor astfel de mass-media femeile credeau că o schimbare este posibilă în felul în care sunt percepute în societate. Nu toată literatura feministă a fost scrisă de femei, ci și de bărbați care înțelegeau femeile dincolo de rolurile în care se așteptau să se încadreze și s-au băgat în psihicul lor pentru a le înțelege nevoile și dorințele. Unele lucrări pot fi fictive, în timp ce altele nu sunt fictive. Aici, aruncăm o privire asupra caracteristicilor literaturii feministe și vă dăm o listă cu câteva dintre multele lucrări ale acestui gen care fac o lectură bună dacă vă doriți cu adevărat să învățați pe larg despre această formă de scriere și despre ce reprezintă ea. Caracteristici. Literatura feministă este identificată după caracteristicile mișcării feministe. Autorii literaturii feministe sunt cunoscuți că înțeleg și explică diferența dintre sex și gen. Ei cred că, deși sexul unei persoane este predeterminat și natural, genul este creat de societate, împreună cu o anumită percepție despre rolurile de gen. Se crede că rolurile de gen pot fi modificate în timp. Predominanța unui gen față de celălalt este un concept comun în aproape toate societățile, iar faptul că nu este în favoarea femeilor este o caracteristică de bază, dar flagrantă a literaturii feministe sau feminine. Aici se argumentează că orice societate care nu oferă canale de învățare și cunoaștere ambelor genuri în mod egal nu este o societate completă și imparțială. Criticii susțin că nu era mare diferență între autorii bărbați și femei și că nu era nevoie să identifici o clasă separată de literatură numită feministă sau să caute urme de feminism în literatură. Totuși, dacă citiți o astfel de lucrare, veți realiza cum astfel de scriitori au criticat abordarea androcentrică (centrată pe bărbați) a societății și au încercat să înțeleagă convingerile și nevoile sexului opus cu o abordare subiectivă, și nu obiectivă. Luați, de exemplu, mândria și prejudecata lui Jane Austen. Protagonista, Elizabeth Bennett era o femeie a minții ei. In ciuda presiunii societatii (puse de mama ei) de a-si alege un partener si de a duce o viata decisa pentru toate femeile, ea a decis sa-si aleaga propriul drum spre ceea ce isi dorea. Și nimic din toate acestea nu a fost abordat ostentativ. Ea nu s-a luptat spre exterior pentru a-și alege cursul vieții. Întreaga lucrare este subtilă, iar singura caracteristică clară a protagonistei pe care o veți observa este asertivitatea ei. Și aceasta este o caracteristică clară a abordării feministe față de literatură. Femeile din literatură de natură feministă sunt întotdeauna prezentate ca protagoniste, care, de cele mai multe ori, nu acceptă cu ușurință rolul tradițional al femeilor așa cum este decis de societate. Sunt pregătiți să ia propriile decizii, să exprime această alegere a luării deciziilor personale și sunt pregătiți să facă față consecințelor acestor alegeri, acțiuni și decizii. Deși o fiică, o mamă, o soră sau o soție, orice piesă din literatura feministă se ocupă mai întâi de o femeie ca femeie. Nu aceste relații, roluri sau stereotipuri le dau identitatea acestor personaje feminine din literatură. Identitatea lor este definită de alegerile și convingerile lor, care sunt apoi asociate cu aceste roluri. Este important de remarcat că nu toate operele literaturii feministe au finaluri fericite, atât pentru caracter, cât și pentru autorul operei. Femeile au fost ostracizate de societate pentru că au cerut în mod deschis egalitate și au trebuit să se confrunte cu mai multe consecințe negative ale deciziei lor de a merge împotriva valurilor. Femeile au fost tratate ca subiecte importante chiar și în multe opere literare de către bărbați. De exemplu, Henrik Ibsen, un autor și dramaturg norvegian, s-a concentrat adesea pe femei, problemele femeilor, problemele lor cu care se confruntă societatea și deciziile luate în funcție de valorile și convingerile lor personale. Dacă aruncați o privire la piesa numită Casa Păpușilor de către acest autor, veți observa clar puterea și caracterul protagonistului. Nu toate, dar unele piese de literatură feministă (în special non-ficțiune) prezintă și accentuează voturile femeilor și cererii de egalitate în societate, de drepturi politice, sociale și economice. În literatura feministă modernă, atacul asupra unei societăți dominate de bărbați a devenit mai direct și mai direct, unde femeile au cerut o privire mai atentă asupra abordării patriarhale și capitaliste față de feminism. Lista de lecturăCu o oarecare claritate asupra naturii literaturii feministe, poți înțelege orice operă de această natură într-o manieră mai bună și mai clar. Iata o lista cu lucrari celebre ale acestui gen, dupa lectura care, va veti putea identifica cu caracteristicile mentionate mai sus ale acestui tip de scriere. Înainte să aruncăm o privire peste niște cărți bune și romane care prezintă literatura feministă, să aruncăm o privire la scriitoarele care s-au străduit să facă simțită această mișcare prin operele lor. Ei au scris lucrări fictive care aveau un principiu feminist fundamental.

Virginia Woolf

Margaret Atwood

Jane Austen

Audre Lorde

Phillis Reynolds

NaylorJeannette Winterson

Octavia Butler

Ursula Le Guin

Angela Carter

Grace Paley

Aimee Bender

Edwidge Danticat

Suzan Lori-Parks

Wendy Wasserstein

Câteva lucrări celebre ale literaturii feministe, care includ atât non-ficțiune, cât și scrisul ficțiune, au fost înscrise aici

Feminismul este pentru toată lumea: politică pasională - Bell Hooks

O cameră proprie - Virginia Woolf

Povestea slujitoarei - Margaret Atwood

Mistica feminină - Betty Friedan

Femei fără superstiții:

Fără zei, fără maeștri - Annie Laurie Gaylor

Basme feministe - Barbara G. Walker

Deși multe s-au schimbat în zilele noastre, încă există un val de feminism care stă la baza căreia se poate simți în toată lumea. În timp ce se află în mediul urban, femeilor aproape că li s-au dat datoriile, în mediul rural, femeile încă se așteaptă să trăiască după stereotipurile exprimate de societate. Chiar și în mediul urban, deși femeile au obținut mult mai mult decât le-a dat societatea, ele încă se așteaptă să îndeplinească anumite roluri și stereotipuri care au fost norma de secole. Literatura feministă din diferite perioade va descrie diferite dorințe și dorințe diferite sub sfera feminismului. Rolurile fiicelor, soțiilor și mamelor în literatură se vor schimba în continuare, la fel și cerințele și credințele lor. Conceptul de egalitate de gen care se concentrează în primul rând pe drepturile femeilor a parcurs un drum lung, iar literatura feministă a fost un mediu excelent pentru a aduce orice schimbări vizibile în atitudinea față de femei. Totuși, se poartă o luptă lungă și va mai trece ceva timp până când egalitatea de gen și rolul femeilor în societate va fi clar în sensul ideal. 

***

 

TYPES OF NOVEL:

Realistic Novel:

A fictional attempt to give the effect of realism. This sort of novel is sometimes called a novel of manner. A realistic novel can be characterized by its complex characters with mixed motives that are rooted in social class and operate according to highly developed social structure. The characters in realistic novel interact with other characters and undergo plausible and everyday experiences.

Examples: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Picaresque Novel:

A picaresque novel relates the adventures of an eccentric or disreputable hero in episodic form. The genre gets its name from the Spanish word picaro, or "rogue."

Examples: Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901), Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749),

Historical Novel:

A Historical novel is a novel set in a period earlier than that of the writing.

Examples: Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, George Eliot's Romola and Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho!

Epistolary Novel:

Epistolary fiction is a popular genre where the narrative is told via a series of documents. The word epistolary comes from Latin where ‘epistola’ means a letter. Letters are the most common basis for epistolary novels but diary entries are also popular

Examples: Samuel Richardson’s Pamela and Clarissa, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Bildungsroman:

German terms that indicates a growth. This fictional autobiography concerned with the development of the protagonist’s mind, spirit, and characters from childhood to adulthood.

Examples: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann etc.

Gothic Novel:

Gothic novel includes terror, mystery, horror, thriller, supernatural, doom, death, decay, old haunted buildings with ghosts and so on.

Examples: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, John William Polidori’s The Vampyre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole,

Autobiographical Novel:

An autobiographical novel is a novel based on the life of the author.

Examples: Charles Dickens’ David Coppefield, Great Expectations, D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Ralph Ellison ‘s Invisible Man, Maya Angelou’ s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , Virginia Wolfe’s The Light House etc.

Satirical Novel:

Satire is loosely defined as art that ridicules a specific topic in order to provoke readers into changing their opinion of it. By attacking what they see as human folly, satirists usually imply their own opinions on how the thing being attacked can be improved.

Examples: George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travel, Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, Mark Twin’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn,

Allegorical Novel:

An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning- surface meaning and symbolic meaning. The symbolic meaning of an allegory can be political or religious, historical or philosophical.

Examples: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress , William Golding's The Lord of the Flies, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene etc.

Regional Novel:

A religious novel is a novel that is set against the background of a particular area.

Examples: Novels of Charles Dickens George Eliot etc.

Novella:

A novella is a short, narrative, prose fiction. As a literary genre, the novella’s origin lay in the early Renaissance literary work of the Italians and the French. As the etymology suggests, novellas originally were news of town and country life worth repeating for amusement and edification.

Examples: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,

Detective Fiction:

Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—either professional or amateur—investigates a crime, often murder.

Examples: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’ A Study in Scarlet ( Sherlock Holmes), Satyajit Roy’s Sonar Kella (Feluda), G. K. Chesterton’s The Blue Cross (Father Brown), Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s Kalo Bhramar (Kiriti)

The Intellectual Novel

:

These sort of novelists attempted to explore the intellectual responses of the intelligentia to the world. Characteristically, their novel displays the clash of ideas and intellectual verification of knowledge., value and response, a diminishing faith on the cosmic significance of existence, argument and counter argument in discussion, separation of concept of love and sex, conversation without communication, and a dehumanizing effect of disillusionment in the 20th century.

Examples: Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, Elizabeth Bowen’s The Hotel, The House in Paris.

Stream of Consciousness Novel or Psychological Novel:

Psychological novels are works of fiction that treat the internal life of the protagonist (or several or all characters) as much as (if not more than) the external forces that make up the plot. The phrase “Stream of Consciousness” was coined by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890), to describe the flow of thought of the waking mind.

Examples: Virginia Wolfe’s To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dolloway, James Joyce’s Ulysses, D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow.

Roman á these/ Social Fiction/ Political Novel:

The genre focussed on possible development of societies, very often dominated by totalitarian governments. This type of novels must have social and political message. The term generally refers to fiction in Europe and the Soviet Union reacting to Communist rule.

Examples: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Huxley’s Brave New World etc.

Prose Romance:

This is a novel that is often set in the historical past with a plot that emphasizes adventure and an atmosphere removed from reality. The characters in a prose romance are either sharply drawn as villains or heroes, masters or victims; while the protagonist is isolated from the society.

Examples: The Story of the Pillow by Shen Jiji, and The Governor of the Southern Tributary State by LiGongzuo.

Novel of Incident:

In a novel of incident the narrative focuses on what the protagonist will do next and how the story will turn out.

Examples: The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars etc.

Novel of Character:

A novel of character focuses on the protagonist’s motives for what he/she does and how he/she turns out.

Examples: Jane Austen’s Emma.

Roman á clef:

French term for a novel with a key, imaginary events with real people disguised as fictional characters.

Examples: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Animal Farm by George Orwell, On the Road by Jack Kerouac etc.

Dime Novel:

Dime novels were short works of fiction, usually focused on the dramatic exploits of a single heroic character. As evidenced by their name, dime novels were sold for a dime (sometimes a nickel), and featured colourful cover illustrations. They were bound in paper, making them light, portable, and somewhat ephemeral.

Example: Dime novels are, at least in spirit, the antecedent of today's mass market paperbacks, comic books, and even television shows and movies based on the dime novel genres. Buffalo Ball.

Hypertext Novel:

Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links which provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a story from a deeper pool of potential stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction.

Examples: James Joyce's Ulysses (1922), Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves (2000), Enrique Jardiel Poncela's La Tournée de Dios (1932), Jorge Luis Borges' The Garden of Forking Paths (1941), Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire (1962) and Julio Cortázar's Rayuela (1963; translated as Hopscotch) etc.

Sentimental Novel:

The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th-century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility.

Examples: Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (1759–67), Sentimental Journey (1768), Henry Brooke's The Fool of Quality (1765–70), Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling (1771). Continental example is Jean-Jacques Rousseau's novel Julie.

Utopian Novel:

A utopia is a community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. It is a common literary theme, especially in speculative fiction and science fiction.

Examples: Utopia by Thomas Moore, Laws (360 BC) by Plato, New Atlantis (1627) by Sir Francis Bacon, Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe, Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift.

Graphic Novel:

Graphic novels are, simply defined, book-length comics. Sometimes they tell a single, continuous narrative from first page to last; sometimes they are collections of shorter stories or individual comic strips. Comics are sequential visual art, usually with text, that are often told in a series of rectangular panels.1 Despite the name, not all comics are funny. Many comics and graphic novels emphasize drama, adventure, character development, striking visuals, politics, or romance over laugh-out-loud comedy.

Examples: Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, The Fantastic Four and X-Men etc.

Science Fiction (Sci-Fi):

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations.

Examples: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.

Cult or Coterie Novel:

Cult novels often come from the fringes, they often represent countercultural perspectives, they often experiment with form.

Examples: Speedboat by Renata Adler, Sddhartha by Herman Hesse,

Pulp Fiction:

Term originated from the magazines of the first half of the 20th century which were printed on cheap "pulp" paper and published fantastic, escapist fiction for the general entertainment of the mass audiences. The pulp fiction era provided a breeding ground for creative talent which would influence all forms of entertainment for decades to come. The hardboiled detective and science fiction genres were created by the freedom that the pulp fiction magazines provided.

Examples: The Spider, Doc Savage, Blood N Thunder etc.

Erotic Novel:

Erotic romance novels have romance as the main focus of the plot line, and they are characterized by strong, often explicit, sexual content.[2] The books can contain elements of any of the other romance subgenres, such as paranormal elements, chick lit, hen lit, historical fiction, etc. Erotic romance is classed as pornography .

Examples: His To Possess by Opal Carew, On Dublin Street by Samantha Young.

Roman fleuve:

A novel sequence is a set or series of novels which share common themes, characters, or settings, but where each novel has its own title and free-standing storyline, and can thus be read independently or out of sequence.

Examples: Honoré de Balzac’s Comédie humaine and Émile Zola’s Rougon-Macquart,

Anti-Novel:

An antinovel is any experimental work of fiction that avoids the familiar conventions of the novel, and instead establishes its own conventions.

Examples: Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy.

Interactive Novel:

The interactive novel is a form of interactive web fiction. In an interactive novel, the reader chooses where to go next in the novel by clicking on a piece of hyperlinked text, such as a page number, a character, or a direction.

Examples: J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series.

Fantasy Novel:

Stories involving paranormal magic and terrible monsters have existed in spoken forms before the advent of printed literature.

Examples: J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.

Adventure Novel:

Adventure fiction is a genre of fiction in which an adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, forms the main storyline.

Examples: Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

Children’s Novel:

Children's novels are narrative fiction books written for children, distinct from collections of stories and picture books.

Examples: The Christmas Mystery, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

Dystopian Novel:

A dystopia is an unpleasant (typically repressive) society, often propagandized as being utopian.

Examples: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Giver by Lois Lowry etc.

Mystery Novel:

The mystery genre is a type of fiction in which a detective, or other professional, solves a crime or series of crimes. It can take the form of a novel or short story. This genre may also be called detective or crime novels.

***

 

For Whom the Bell Tolls

BY Earnest Hemingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia.

SUMMARY and Analysis 

 Chapter 1- 42

Hemingway develops several themes in the course of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Before we examine the themes which make their appearance in this section, certain facts about the bitterly fought Spanish Civil War should be explained. First, that the war was a completely undisguised war between communism and fascism. Within a month after its beginning, Russia on the one hand and Germany and Italy on the other were using it as a training and testing ground for their men, techniques, and equipment. Second, though in recent years communism has adopted a "soft" policy toward religion, in the communism of the Spanish Civil War religion was completely done away with.

The first theme which makes its appearance in the book is what might be called the theme of "mysticism-superstition." Robert Jordan thinks that it is a "bad sign" that he has forgotten Anselmo's name. This idea of "signs" and "luck" is simply introduced in this chapter, but it is developed to a much greater degree as the book moves on. Its importance in the psychological makeup of Robert Jordan will become more apparent in later chapters.

One of the major ideas in a large part of Hemingway's writing is the irony of life. In Chapter 1, it is tied in with the cynicism of the people involved in the war. We see it first in the scene between Jordan and Golz in which they discuss the proposed attack. The Russian general is interested in the offensive mainly as a military maneuver, and he is cynical because he knows that the Spanish will interfere.

The irony becomes obvious when this same cynicism is expressed by Pablo. The guerilla leader resents the fact that a foreigner has come to tell him what to do. This puts Pablo into a subservient position where he is no longer the spokesman or leader of the group. Consequently, one of the major conflicts in the novel involves Pablo's qualifications as a leader. From his point of view, he is interested only in the preservation of his band and himself. The military maneuvers of foreigners is of little importance to him. Also, Pablo has recently become the owner of a number of fine horses, making him a capitalist for the first time in his life. As a result, he is not nearly so interested in fighting for the cause as he once was, and this adds further to the ironic theme.

This theme of irony, of the relationship between the individuals — the "little people," for whose benefit wars are, ostensibly, fought — and the politico-military machine, is interwoven with other themes throughout the book, but it is the major theme of For Whom the Bell Tolls.

The first chapter, as might be expected, is largely introductory. It is to Hemingway's credit as an artist, however, that it is not blatantly so. This subtlety is accomplished primarily by virtue of the fact that he allows the reader to deduce the situation. For instance, within 500 words after the opening of the book, Robert Jordan has, through his dialog, told the reader that he is carrying explosives and that he is most interested in the bridge. Thus we already know, by the time we are told so specifically some 1,000 words later, that Jordan's mission is to destroy the bridge.

This same subtlety is apparent in Hemingway's introduction of his characters. In fact, rather than to say that he introduces his characters, the dramatic term make their entrance is more appropriate. Three of the most important characters do appear in this first chapter — the protagonist, Robert Jordan, his guide, Anselmo, and the guerilla leader, Pablo. Though we are given physical descriptions of these three men which range from merely adequate, as in the case of Anselmo, to vivid, as in the case of Pablo, most important is the fact that we are made acutely aware of their characters.

And so the stage is set. We know, almost from the beginning that the main dramatic situation is the problem of destroying the bridge. We know, from the flashback scene between Jordan and General Golz, that the manner in which the mission is to be accomplished is highly unorthodox and, therefore, highly dangerous. And we know that there is a dangerous conflict of personalities between Jordan and Pablo.

The main action in Chapter 3 is that Jordan and Anselmo go to look at the bridge, but it is a very important chapter because the moral problems of war are introduced in the conversation between Jordan and Anselmo. Jordan has considered himself an instrument of a war which is being fought for the good of the common people. Thus, while he was idealistic about the aims of the war, he had forced himself to ignore the damage war does to the individual.

So far, Robert Jordan has been pictured as being what any good fighter for a cause should be. He is developing into the Hemingway "code" hero. (See the section entitled "The Hemingway Code Hero.") He is skilled in his work, he is dedicated, he is determined to carry out his orders, since he knows that they are always for the good of the Cause, and he is willing to sacrifice himself as well as others for the Cause. In this chapter, however, we see the suggestion of a change coming over his character. When he sees how simple it would have been to destroy the bridge in the normal way, he resents the fact that he must do it in an unorthodox, dangerous way. He begins to have the first glimmerings of the idea that perhaps a cause is not always worth the lives of the individuals who die for it, but he brushes the idea aside, not wanting to think such thoughts.

Another underlying purpose of Chapter 3 is the characterization of the simple peasants who make up Pablo's band of guerillas. It is shown best in the scene of comic relief in which Jordan and Anselmo are stopped by the guard who has forgotten the password. Agustin is tired, hungry, uncomfortable, and bored; he would rather be almost any place than to be engaged in a war.

The ominous note on which the previous chapter ends reverberates with increasing volume in Chapter 4.

Pablo's announcement that he is against blowing up the bridge creates a crisis. When Pilar says that she is for destroying the bridge, the men side with her, not because they feel that it is their duty, but because Pablo has "gone bad" — another demonstration of the lack of interest of the individual in dying for a cause. The attitude of the men toward the bridge is obviously one of indifference. In fact, they would really rather blow up another train. There was looting at the train which they destroyed earlier, and they had taken a childish delight in the explosion and ensuing wreck. They would like to relive this moment of glory, the high point of their war career. Pablo tries to use this feeling in his argument against the bridge, assuming that the men are most interested in gaining material wealth, such as his own herd of horses.

The near-showdown in 

Chapter 4 has left Jordan with a problem. Should he have killed Pablo? As much as he dislikes the idea of assassination, he feels that he probably should have, especially when the gypsy tells him that the entire band was waiting for him to kill Pablo. Jordan loses the initiative in the situation when Pablo joins him outside the cave and tries to be friendly. To kill the guerilla leader now would simply be cold-blooded murder.

In Chapter 3, we first saw signs of a subtle change in Jordan's attitude toward this war. That change becomes evident again here. In former days, he would not have hesitated a moment before killing Pablo, but now he gives himself a whole series of excuses for not having done so. He feels that he should take no useless risks and he maintains that it was not clear to him that the gypsies expected him to kill Pablo. Mainly, he excuses himself by saying that he did not know how Pilar would have reacted to the slaying. When Pablo goes to see about the horses, Jordan hopes that one of the others will kill him, but he knows they will not.

As for poor Pablo, he is homesick and he is tired of the war and he does not want to be killed, either by his own people or in the battle of the bridge. He strokes his horse and talks to it gently, but even the horse is relieved when he finally moves the picket pin and stops bothering him.

The nature of the philosophy behind the Republican movement is revealed here in both positive and negative terms. Jordan objects to being called "Don Roberto" because only the ruling class were addressed as "Don" under the previous form of government. That the people for whom the war is supposedly being fought do not take the matter so seriously is a part of Hemingway's theme of ironic contrasts.

The scene of humor in which Jordan makes the most of the double meaning of "republican" leads Maria into a feeling of rapport with the American and makes her embryonic love for him begin to grow. The question of Pablo returns, also. Jordan brings up the matter of whether or not he should have killed him, but Pilar says that he was right in not doing so. She, unlike Jordan, understands the change that has begun to come over the guerilla leader.

In spite of all attempts to remain aloof from emotional involvements and to maintain a coldly critical attitude toward his work, Jordan finally finds himself falling in love. There is some contrast between his emotions and his surroundings, but the main item here is the contrast between Maria's rape at the hands of her fascist captors and the act of love between her and Jordan. 

The appearance of the unusually large number of enemy aircraft at the beginning of Chapter 8 serves two purposes. The fact that there are many enemy planes in the area indicates that the fascists either know about the planned communist offensive or are planning an attack of their own in the sector. The large number of planes serves, by contrast, to point out the fact that the fascists are being much better supplied with weapons than are the communists.

Whether the planes mean that a fascist offensive is coming or that the fascists know a communist offensive is coming, the situation has become critical. Fernando's arrival with rumors of a Loyalist attack is further proof that the fascists are expecting that attack. Jordan is appalled at this inexcusable leak in security. Jordan's thoughts about the lackadaisical way in which the Spaniards are running their war (and here we must remember that it is not really the Spaniards who are running it) are interrupted by Pilar's reminiscing about the "good old days" in Valencia. One gets the feeling in this scene that these people would almost prefer a more "usual" kind of existence, even under the fascists, to fighting in this war for their own liberation.

Several themes which have already made their appearance are brought back into view in Chapter 9. The fact that the enemy is better equipped is re-emphasized by Jordan's explanation that their side does not have enough planes to start an offensive. The religious theme is also reintroduced, though it is just barely touched upon as Pilar says that God still exists even though they have tried to abolish him.

Jordan's battle within himself has now passed the beginning stage. He speaks to Pilar of "duty," but he acknowledges that he cares very much for Maria, and he is still worried about what it was that Pilar saw when she read his palm.

Pablo's sudden deterioration is mentioned again, but we find that he may regain a great deal of his importance after all since he is the best equipped to get them away safely after the bridge has been blown.

Here, too, as in previous chapters and in the chapters to come, there is much lip service paid to the idea that "we must win." But it is hardly more than lip service. It is obvious that the enemy is better equipped. It is obvious that they cannot be defeated. It is obvious that the war is "an idiocy without bounds." And it is becoming less and less obvious to all of them that it is worth their lives and the lives of others like them.

Chapter 10 serves one major purpose in the book, and that is to demonstrate that the "good guys" display just as much cruelty in a war as do the "bad guys." In masterly fashion, Hemingway shows also, in this chapter, that both sides are made up of individual human beings with their individual hopes, fears, and desires. Among the Loyalists in Pilar's story are those who do not like what is going on and do not want any of the captives killed, but many of these are afraid not to participate for fear of being brought under suspicion themselves. There are those who succumb to the mob hysteria and become raving beasts out for blood, and there are those, like Pablo, who enjoy the massacre immensely. Among the Monarchists in Pilar's story are those who cringe before their captors and plead for mercy. There are those who, in a horror-induced catatonic state, do not seem to understand what has happened or why they are being so treated. And there are those who face their captors scornfully and defiantly shout insults at their executioners.

Nearly every possible human reaction to the situation described by Pilar is artfully brought out here by Hemingway. How better could he emphasize the fact that, whether Monarchist or Loyalist, it is those whom the Spanish themselves would call la gente (the people) who are involved in the struggle?

Chapter 11 is devoted to filling in some of the blank spaces left in earlier chapters. The reader learns more of the details of the rescue of Maria. He learns, too, the details of Kashkin's death. He also gets further information about the danger connected with blowing up the bridge. The reader, however, is not left for long to feel sorry for the poor fascists whose murders Pilar described in the previous chapter. Jordan's thoughts, upon hearing of the death of Joaquin's family, serve to enlighten the reader as to the cruel practices of the Monarchists.

The Kashkin theme, which, by comparing Jordan with his predecessor, carries a tone of premonition, makes another appearance here. In fact, Pilar brings Kashkin into the conversation because of this tone. She feels that Jordan has bragged too much about what he and his kind have done in the war, so she "takes him down a peg" by reminding him of the similarity between himself and Kashkin.

Chapter 12, by dramatizing Pilar's mood, "sets the reader up" for Jordan's thoughts in the first part of the next chapter.

The discussion with El Sordo has made Pilar realize the real seriousness and danger of the bridge operation; this is the reason for her sudden ill temper. Jordan knows that Pablo's sullenness upon hearing of the bridge operation was based on his immediate understanding of the danger involved. He also has seen that El Sordo, too, grasped the real nature of the problem very quickly. And now, he realizes, Pilar has come to understand.

The love theme, played mostly in little pianissimo snatches in earlier chapters, swells to a crescendo in Chapter 13. Jordan wants to live. He wants to live out a normal life with Maria as his wife. He does not want to die for a Cause. What are they fighting against, anyway? They are fighting against just exactly those things which they are doing themselves — things they were forced to do if they were to stand any chance of winning.

Jordan argues bitterly with himself. It is true that they are doing many of the things which they condemned in their enemies, but in this case the enemies were the leaders of Spain. Then he realizes that the phrase "enemies of the people" is one of the stock phrases of the communists. He has associated with the communists so closely and for so long that he has started using the clichés easily and uncritically. This disgusts him, for now he has no politics. His love for Maria (and he admits to himself now that, for the first time, he is truly in love) has made him see the situation clearly.

Besides revealing further details of Jordan's personal background, his lengthy consideration of his position brings out one of the two instances of irony in the chapter. When has he met the person whom he can truly love? Seventy-two hours before he must blow up a bridge in an unnecessarily dangerous manner and, probably, die. The other instance of irony comes at the end of the chapter when it becomes obvious that, even though it is May, it is going to snow. Not only must the guerillas retreat in daylight, but their tracks will be easily followed.

Though the main part of Chapter 14 is taken up by Pilar's story of the bullfighter, her tale is sandwiched between two important scenes. Pablo assumes that the blowing up of the bridge will be called off, and he tells Jordan that he need not go for the scouts because they will come in out of the snow even though they were ordered to wait for Jordan to come to them. Jordan curses his bad luck but indicates that the job will proceed as planned, anyhow. He is inclined to believe that Pablo is right about the scouts; the whole war is being fought in just such a lackadaisical way after all. The second scene comes at the end of the chapter when the gypsy does, indeed, leave his post and return to the cave. Nor, since he is cold and hungry, will he go with Jordan to show him where Anselmo is.

Pilar's story is itself important because it gives additional background material about life before the movement. Bullfighting is one of the few ways in which a man could raise himself above his station. Pilar's friend paid a dreadful price, however. Though almost dying of consumption, he feels that he must stay in the tavern to satisfy his fans. But when, at the climax of the evening, they unveil the mounted bull's head, the bullfighter is horror-stricken. His courage, drained away by his illness and injuries, has finally left him.

In Chapter 15, the reader finds Anselmo, who, uncharacteristically for most of the guerillas and soldiers, has stayed at his post waiting for Jordan. He thinks of all the people whose lives are disrupted or ended by the war. He does not want to kill. All day he has been watching the fascist guards and he feels a close identification with them. He feels that he could walk over to the mill where the guards are and that they would welcome him, except that they have orders to challenge all travelers. "It is only orders that come between us," he thinks. "Those men are not fascists. They are poor men as we are." Then Hemingway takes the reader across the road and into the mill to witness the conversation between the fascist soldiers. Indeed, they are just the kind of people that Anselmo has thought they were.

While Chapters 16 and 17 serve mainly to bring the serious problem of Pablo to a temporary head, they also furnish the reader additional information which he has not previously had. Primitivo's questions about America, for instance, demonstrate the nature of some of Spain's political problems. Jordan's answers, in turn, show his feeling that the fascistic ills of the world will someday have to be corrected.

The fact is also brought out that Jordan was an instructor of Spanish in America. And Fernando, who symbolizes the formality and prudishness of the lower-middle-class Spaniard of that time, provides comic relief to the scene when he complains at length that a foreigner should not be allowed to teach Spanish.

In Chapter 17, the decision to kill Pablo is made and abandoned when Pablo returns in a friendly and cooperative mood. Pilar indicates to Jordan that Pablo's change of heart has undoubtedly come about because he overheard the plans to kill him. But when Pablo points out that he is the only one who can lead them to safety after the bridge, the assassination is tacitly canceled. However, Pablo still remains a real threat to the success of the operation.

The student will probably have noticed by now that Hemingway seldom allows one of his scenes to have only a single purpose. This multiplicity of purpose is evident in Chapter 18, the basic ingredient of which is Jordan's thoughts about Gaylord's. The flashback reveals Jordan's disillusionment at finding so much cynicism in the meeting place of the communists. He discovers that the emotional appeal of the Cause is ridiculed by those whose job it is to make the appeal. He learns that the leaders of the movement, who were supposed to have been peasants who rose to command at the hour of need, were really members of an earlier revolution who had fled Spain and been trained in Russia for the next revolution. And he discovers that those who naively believe in the humanitarian doctrines of communism are laughed at, but that they are catered to so long as they are useful.

In the beginning, Jordan hates the lying and cynicism, but he comes to realize the necessity for it. He feels that he has progressed through the three Hegelian steps from "thesis" to "antithesis" to "synthesis," but this is not true. He is not fully aware, at this point in the book, that he is still what Pablo has called him a short time earlier, one of the "illusioned ones."

In addition to the main idea of this chapter, Hemingway gives the reader additional bits of information, some of which has been given before and is here simply being re-emphasized. We find, for instance, that Jordan is enough of a writer to have had a book published. We are told again that he was a college teacher, and that he may not be able to teach again because of his political sympathies. And, in the scene involving the armored car, we see again the unwillingness of the peasants to die for the Cause.

The primary purpose of Chapter 19 is, of course, obvious. The problem of Pablo has been temporarily resolved, and Hemingway does not want his reader to become too contented, so he reintroduces the theme of mysticism, which bears along with it the premonition of tragedy.

The theme of mysticism is one of the most fascinating of the minor (but important) themes which run through For Whom the Bell Tolls. It is first encountered on the second page of the text when Jordan feels that it is a "bad sign" that he has forgotten Anselmo's name. And it reappears again and again throughout the book, first as part of the "Kashkin theme" and again in relation to what Pilar has seen in Jordan's palm. In Chapter 19, the idea is brought out overtly by Hemingway and discussed openly by his characters.

The highly superstitious nature of gypsies is well known, of course, so the supernatural beliefs of Pilar and Rafael are understandable. But what of the others? None of the rest of the band, except Pablo, dismisses the idea of mysticism as summarily as does Jordan. Hemingway seems here to be emphasizing again the proneness of these people to mystical belief, especially at a time when the mysticism of their church has been denied them by the revolution.

The conversation in Chapter 19 has had its effect on Jordan. His momentary detour into homesickness and the urgency of his desire for Maria show that he is afraid that they have little time left. The fear is shown again when Jordan awakes in the night and holds her tightly, as though he were afraid of losing her.

Chapter 21 is devoted primarily to physical action; Jordan's fears seem to be turning into reality. But he is now the soldier, no longer the lover, as he dispatches the men and weapons strategically. Nevertheless, Hemingway takes another opportunity to bring in the mystical-religious theme again. He does this by having Maria ask about the medal worn by the cavalryman whom Jordan has just shot. Then Jordan has to take the time to assure her that he had not aimed at the Sacred Heart badge worn by the soldier.

Here begins the slow build-up of emotional tension which will have as its climax the battle at the bridge. Since the physical action over the next few chapters is restricted — the guerillas are simply manning their posts, waiting to see if anything happens — Hemingway takes the opportunity to refresh the reader's memory on several points.

First, he lets the reader see again how sloppily the war is being handled. Rafael deserts his post to chase a couple of rabbits, thereby letting the cavalryman slip through. Jordan finds that the machine gun has been sent to them with no instructions as to how to fire it or place it properly.

Later, the problem of Pablo is brought up again. Agustin tries to convince Jordan that Pablo is still a very smart guerilla leader. Jordan is already aware of this, but his personal dislike for Pablo has made him deny the man the credit he deserves for having successfully evaded capture for so long.

Then, Hemingway re-establishes the character of Anselmo. When Agustin says that they (the Loyalists) will have to kill many people after they have won the war, Anselmo disagrees. His conscience bothers him terribly about the killing he has done and will have to do. All he wants to do is win the war and then to govern justly and educate those who have fought against them so that they will see their error.

In Chapters 24 through 26, the tension continues to build, now based on the theme of irony. Agustin has told Jordan that El Sordo's band is much better than Pablo's but, almost immediately, they realize that El Sordo has been attacked and surrounded by the cavalry. The irony is continued in Jordan's thoughts about the soldier whom he has killed. Though he has thought, in the previous chapter, that he has grown to like the killing, he now admits to himself that of the twenty men he has killed only two of them were really fascists.

The reader also finds Jordan once again engaged in a struggle with his conscience. He questions again his political beliefs, acknowledging the fact that he has never believed in the purely materialistic conception of society held by the communists. He tells himself that he believes in "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," and in "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Though neither communism nor fascism offers these things, the main problem is to get rid of the present enemies of the people. Later, one can decide what not to believe in.

Chapter 27 involves the young and innocent Joaquin. He has been taught the stock communist phrases of La Pasionaria, he has believed them, and now he bravely tries to keep up the spirits of his comrades by repeating them. He refuses to believe that the peasant generals have been trained in Russia and that others like himself have been sent to the safety of Russia to study. But he adds, in his naively conventional concern for the Cause, that he hopes they study well and come back to help the people. At the end, though, he stops quoting the communist slogans and starts saying Hail Marys.

Hemingway has here another opportunity to show that the unwillingness to die for a Cause is not confined to the Loyalists. He does so by having the fascist captain unable to convince his men that the guerillas are dead and that they should go and investigate. The same scene indicates that the Loyalists are not alone in the idiotic manner in which they are running the war.

Irony, too, is present in this chapter. First, there is Joaquin's relapse into religion. Then there is El Sordo and his men, dying on the top of a useless "chancre of a hill." Finally, there is the irony that neither Lieutenant Berrendo and his men nor the guerillas really want to fight or die.

Hemingway, with characteristic irony, continues the religious theme which has been reintroduced in the previous chapter. As Lieutenant Berrendo rides down the hill in one direction, he is praying for the souls of the dead; as Anselmo walks down the hill in another direction, he too is praying — for the first time since the beginning of the movement.

Jordan's desire to remain alive continues to grow. Aware of this, he tries very hard to be sure that his message to Golz does not sound as if he wants the attack called off for personal reasons. He has little hope, though, that the offensive will be canceled. It is quite possible that the attack is not meant to succeed; it may be simply a holding action, or a diversionary movement to draw enemy troops away from another front. If this is the case, then the fact that the fascists are prepared for the attack will not make any difference to Golz.

In Chapter 30, Jordan's thoughts bring forth additional information for the reader. The courageous character of his grandfather is revealed, and we learn that his father had committed suicide — a shameful act of cowardice in Jordan's mind. Hemingway has shown in others of his works besides For Whom the Bell Tolls that his attitude toward suicide was the same as that of Robert Jordan. It was an ironic fate, indeed, that caused Hemingway, presumably, to take his own life.

In Chapter 31, though we have already been told that Maria is a "nice girl," we are now given additional specific details of her background. Her father was the mayor of the town, and her mother, though not a Republican, was loyal to her husband. Both died bravely, killed by a Falangist firing squad.

But the revelation of Maria's background is not the primary purpose of this chapter. Now, the intensity of a person's hopes and daydreams increases in proportion to the seriousness of his situation. The problem of the bridge has grown more and more hopeless up to this point, and Jordan's dream of taking Maria to Madrid is indicative of how little expectation he has of surviving the coming battle. Maria willingly joins Jordan in his dream, but there is desire on her part to "get everything said before it is too late." Jordan is also aware, from what Maria has said, that even Pilar has sought refuge, in reverie during the day.

Chapter 32, though very brief, is overflowing with significance — not that this quality is unusual in Hemingway's writing. And most of this significance is intensified by the contrast between it and the chapters immediately preceding. At the same time that Jordan and Maria are wishfully making plans for a future which they do not really believe they will live to see, other Loyalists are having a happy, sophisticated party in Madrid. This ironic juxtaposition of events is one of Hemingway's favorite tricks. In fact, he specifically mentions this type of irony in one of his short stories by referring to the lines from

W. H. Auden's poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts," which read, ". . . even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course / Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot / Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse / Scratches its innocent behind on a tree."

The fact that the party is being held at all, much less in the besieged capital city, indicates the lack of concern for the war effort on the part of the foreign interventionists. The military leaders are irritated to learn that the coming offensive is no longer a secret — another reflection on the haphazard way the war is being run — but they are not surprised and they do nothing about the leakage of information.

The irony is continued when the rumor that the fascists are fighting among themselves is circulated. The fighting referred to is, of course, the battle in which El Sordo's band was wiped out. The final touch, though the reader cannot fully appreciate the irony at this point, comes when the general says that they can expect a message from Jordan during the night. Jordan has, indeed, sent a message, but the irony is not complete until the reader has discovered the fate of that message.

From this point to the end of the book, Hemingway develops two stories at the same time. Chapter 33 and subsequent alternate chapters carry the story of Jordan (except that Chapters 37-39 are all focused on Jordan). Chapter 34 and its succeeding alternate ones (with the exception mentioned above) carry the story of Andres, who is trying to get Jordan's message through to Golz. This plot device is the same one of "proximity" which Hemingway has used in Chapters 31 and 32. Here, however, he is not using the juxtaposition simply for its ironic effect but has added the quality of suspense.

Jordan awakes, still in his hopeful frame of mind, thinking that it is Maria's hand which is shaking him. But he returns to reality rapidly when he learns that Pablo has vanished. The trusted Pilar has failed him. Jordan rebukes her, but then he comforts her by assuring her that he can find another way to set off the explosion.

In Chapter 34, we discover that Andres is aware of what it is that he is fighting for. But he is relieved that he has been given the message to carry and will probably not get back in time for the fighting. He compares his relief to that which he had felt in his boyhood when he had awakened on fiesta day to find that it was raining and that the bull-baiting would be canceled. Not that he was not brave at the bull-baiting. In fact, he had been nicknamed "Bulldog" because he always grabbed the bull's ear and bit it during the final rush on the bull.

Andres does not lack courage, but he is here exemplifying one of the major ideas which has been brought out again and again in the book. He does not wish to die for the Cause. He does not really care much about fighting for it. He realizes that his enemies are simply other men like himself and that they are his enemies only because of a trick of fate. He reminisces about the happy days with his brother during their youth, and he wishes he could return to them. Then he knows that he must try to get back in time to help his brother and the others.

In Chapter 35, Jordan is furious with himself for having forgotten what he had known back in the first chapter — that Pablo would only be friendly in order to betray him.

And he is furious with Spain and with every Spaniard on either side. They are selfish, egotistical, treacherous, cowardly, undisciplined. But as his rage becomes more and more exaggerated, he realizes that he is being unjust. He decides that the situation is not as bad as he had thought. They will be killed, but they will blow the bridge.

The final sentence of the chapter is another excellent example of Hemingway's use of irony. Jordan lies by the sleeping Maria, holding her lightly and feeling the life in her, but at the same time he is keeping track of the time on his wrist watch.

After reading Chapter 36, one might tend to think that Jordan had been somewhat hasty in the preceding chapter in deciding that his criticism of the Spaniards was unjust. The comic relief of the chapter is accomplished with typical Hemingway humor — there is a serious and very unfunny basis underlying it. While Andres is trying desperately to get Jordan's message to Golz in time for the attack to be canceled, the soldiers on guard waste time arguing about whether it would not be simpler to just go ahead and kill him.

Andres is accustomed to the ignorance of the soldiers because he had encountered it on his other trips through the lines. He is exasperated, however, when the officer displays the same ignorance. All of this, of course, is simply another example of the haphazard way in which the war is being run. If the soldiers were seriously interested in the war, instead of making a dramatic game of it, they would certainly not treat a courier in such a manner. Hemingway shows this ignorance and lack of seriousness most pointedly in the last scene of the chapter. For it is only after Andres has walked behind him for some distance that the officer remembers to take Andres' gun from him.

Chapter 37 shows Jordan's and Maria's last intimate moments together. Jordan feels that he has lived his entire life at this place.

The guerillas are his brothers, his oldest friends; Maria is his wife, his sister, his daughter. Maria, trying to act as a wife would act, tells Jordan that she would like to be by his side in the coming battle. She says, though, that she will help him in any way that he thinks is best.

The scene in the cave at the beginning of Chapter 38 is not a happy one. The men's nerves are taut in anticipation of the fight, and they are making jibing remarks and snapping at each other. Nor is Jordan very happy. The plan which he had concocted during the night does not seem so good now that morning approaches. He snaps angrily at Pilar when she tries to tell him that her palm reading is gypsy nonsense. Then he talks to some of the other men and agrees that he is as nervous as they are.

For the last several chapters, the situation has been growing progressively worse. And this is probably the darkest hour of the book. Jordan does not have enough men to overcome the enemy guard posts, he no longer has the equipment necessary to blow the bridge properly, and he has very little hope that Golz will cancel the attack even if Andres reaches him in time.

The reappearance of Pablo marks what seems to be a turning point in the book. Things immediately begin to look better. With the additional men and horses, the job does not look as impossible as it had seemed. And Pilar, for the first time, shows that Pablo's "going bad" had hurt her deeply. She loves him, and she is proud of him for having come back.

At the beginning of Chapter 39, we discover that Pablo has some pride left also. For he has told the new men that he is still leader of the band, and he asks Jordan not to say anything to "disillusion" them. Pablo's words have a curious effect on Jordan, however. He feels that Pablo's "conversion" is anything but complete. And he is reasonably sure that the man has some other trick up his sleeve.

Chapter 40 begins with the ironic observation that Andres had made his way comparatively rapidly through enemy territory, but had been slowed down once he was behind friendly lines. There, his progress is hampered by ignorance, stupidity, and lack of interest on the part of the soldiers he encounters. Nevertheless, the situation is still looking brighter. In spite of the lack of communication within the Loyalist army and the lack of interest in the war on the part of most of the soldiers — two problems with which the reader is already intimately familiar — Andres continues to make some progress. Finally, he finds two officers who do not fit the mold. They are sympathetic with Andres' problem, and they do everything in their power to aid him in the accomplishment of his mission.

In Chapter 41, everything is "organized confusion" as the pre-battle preparations are made. Jordan's nervousness is shown by his over-zealous repetition of the order that no one is to do anything until sounds of the offensive are heard. Pablo continues to present a problem, but Jordan washes his hands of the whole matter. He will leave on foot after the battle, he says, and the matter of the horses is Pablo's business. He thinks, though, that he is glad he does not know the five new men, whom Pablo will presumably kill for their horses after the battle.

Hemingway's planning is evident to the reader when he sees Jordan and Anselmo return to the spot from which they had earlier observed the bridge. Having already described the terrain, Hemingway does not now have to interrupt the reader's rising excitement with another description. All that he has to do to re-create the picture in the reader's mind is to insert a few reminders of the appearance of the position. At the same time, little by little, the reader is getting a clear idea of the manner in which the coming action will be handled by Jordan and the men.

Jordan temporarily forgets that Anselmo's conscience bothers him about the killing. Anselmo gives him a slight hint, however, and Jordan responds by "ordering" the old man to do what he has been told. Anselmo can thus, at least partially, excuse himself for the killing, since he will be acting under orders.

The next-to-last sentence of the chapter reminds the reader that even the fascists are human beings, living individuals. For Jordan, unable to see the firelight at times, realizes that this is because the man in the sentry box has moved and is standing in front of the brazier.

Irony is packed upon irony in Chapter 42. Despite brief delays, Andres is moving rapidly toward a meeting with Golz, and the reader's hopes continue to rise. When Andres and Gomez encounter another ignorant sentry who seems about to cause them further delay, they are relieved to see Comrade Marty drive up. Marty, a man who should be responsible as well as appreciative of the importance of Andres' mission, is instead a man driven insane by his own importance. He asserts this importance by having Andres and Gomez arrested, thereby causing enough delay so that the two men reach Golz' headquarters too late to see the general himself. Consequently, they have to give the dispatch to Golz' aide, Duval.

Though there is, possibly, still enough time to call off the offensive, Duval does not have enough information about the purpose of the attack to make him want to assume the responsibility for canceling it himself. By the time he reaches Golz on the telephone and discovers that the offensive is not simply a holding attack, it is too late to call it off.

So, here is the crowning irony of the book. Jordan must blow up a bridge, the destruction of which will be absolutely of no value. He must carry out his ineffectual assignment because of the ignorance, stupidity, indifference, and self-importance of people who should most logically have done all they could to help his courier get to his destination in time.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a tragedy, as are all of Hemingway's novels. However, it is interesting to note in the last chapter how Hemingway's philosophy has developed. At the end of A Farewell to Arms, after Catherine's death, Frederick Henry walks back to his hotel in the rain, helpless and hopeless. At the end of To Have and Have Not, there is at least the implied hope that man will heed Harry Morgan's dying cry, "A man alone ain't got no bloody chance."

The end of For Whom the Bell Tolls shows the reader a more thoughtful and mature Hemingway at his best. The importance of the individual, mentioned in the "Ideology" section of these Notes, is brought out most vividly in Chapter 42. First, Jordan looks through his field glasses at the sentry and sees a human being — a fact which makes him decide not to look at the man again until the fighting begins. Then, Anselmo cries over the killing of the sentry at his end of the bridge. Finally comes the ultimate irony of the book. Jordan has done everything that he should have done in the way that it ought to have been done, and his mission has been successful. So far as the Cause for which he has been fighting is concerned, his death will serve no useful purpose. Realizing this, Jordan starts to commit suicide as his father had done. But he waits and will die, not for the Cause, but for the protection of an individual, Maria, the symbol of Love.