ZEITGEIST
Zeitgeist means the general spirit
of a period in history, shown in the beliefs and ideas. It is a common course
teaching material for first year graduate students of Calicut University. It
has 4 modules namely Indian constitution and secularism, Sustainable
environment, Gender, Human rights. Every module has 3 to 4 chapters in it. I am
here to help you to remember the main ideas discussed there.
1. 1. Indian Constitution and Secularism
– the 1st module. In this module we have four chapters. The very first one is
'Should
the assassin of Gandhi be killed?' By Pearl .S. Buck
Pearl. S. Buck, who won Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1938, says that the people believed in Gandhi because he did
what he taught. Considering Godse, the
man who was in prison having killed Gandhi, she says that he should not die by
violence. Because, Gandhiji was a man
who refused to use violence. So, if
India decides not to kill the man who killed Gandhi, it can be worthy of
India’s Gandhi.
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The preamble to the constitution
of India is considered as the identity card of the constitution. It had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8
schedules when it came into force on 26 January 1950. Now it has a preamble, 25 parts with 448
articles, 12 schedules, 5 appendices and 101 amendments. As India is a Sovereign, Socialist Secular
Democratic Republic, its objective is to secure to all its citizens social,
economic and political justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief faith
and worship, equality of status and opportunity, fraternity for the unity and
integrity of the nation. Toba Tek Singh is a satirical short
story of Saadat Hasan Manto. It talks
about a social and psychological territory in which ‘madness’ is the reigning
norm. Through Bishan Singh’s refusal
to move either to India or to Pakistan at the end, the author satirises on
the absurdity of partition. Through
Fazal Din’s visiting Bishan Singh with a bag of sweets the author shows the
presence of secularism and its need. Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Freedom’ is a
fine poem where he says that Real freedom constitutes the freedom from
religious, political, moral and intellectual oppressions. So, freedom from fear, freedom from the
burden of all ages, freedom from the anarchy of destiny and freedom from the
insult of dwelling in a puppet’s world are necessary. MODULE
II – SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT ‘The End of living and the beginning
of Survival’ is the speech of chief Seattle that delivered on March 11,
1854. It is a powerful, bitter sweet
request to respect the rights of native Americans and the environmental
values. He reminds that the earth does
not belong to the man; the man belongs to the earth. So, he needs kindness to our brother rivers. Similarly he asks all white men should treat
beasts as their brothers. He also says
as the earth is precious to God, if the earth is harmed it will invite God’s
contempt. The damage that has been done
to the earth so far is not small. That
is why it seems that the living has come to an end and the survival has begun,
he says.
Gieve Patel’s ‘Killing a tree’ is a
poem with irony and detachment that describes man’s cruelty to trees. The poem focuses on the resilience nature of
tree against human violence. The poet
sarcastically conveys his anger against environmental destruction. A simple jab won’t kill a tree. The root is to be pulled out entirely from
the earth-cave. It should be exposed to
air and sun. Then only scorching,
twisting and withering will cause its death.
Through the step by step process of killing a tree the poet has
effectively used irony as a poetic device in the poem. https://youtu.be/UAjH8V5grX8 |
------Thulasidharan V
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