Unit 6 The Mourners

1. Unit 6The Mourners Lecturer: Zhu Kunling 朱坤领 02/2008

2. V. S. Naipaul • A contemporary English writer; • Born in 1932 in Trinidad, a British colony in West Indies then, • His father was an Indian, or Naipaul was of Indian origin.

3. He immigrated to Britain to study literature at University College, Oxford in 1950. • In 1954, he decided to take up writing. • He recalled: “The ambition to be a writer was given to me by my father...I was 11, no more, when the wish came to me to be a writer, and then very soon it was a settled ambition.”

4. Since then he has lived permanently in London and started his career as a professional writer, finishing a lot of well-received novels, short stories, and essays. • He said that to be a writer was rewarding: “To become a writer, that noble thing, I had thought it necessary to leave. Actually to write. It was necessary to go back. It was the beginning of self knowledge.”

5. He came from a colony, always feeling marginalized; however, he accepted Western values, eager to find a centralized identity. • Still, he has been constantly puzzled and embarrassed by his identity. • As he wrote, “The Americans don’t want me because I am too British. The British don’t want me because I am too foreign.” The identity problem forms one of his major literary themes.

6. Naipaul has profound insight into man and society. • He has mainly written about poverty and other social problems of colonial India and West Indies, including Trinidad, and expresses his despair, homelessness and alienation.

7. Before winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, he had won almost all the major literary awards: • the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, • the Somerset Maugham Award, • the Hawthornden Prize, • the W.H. Smith Award, • the Booker Prize.

8. He is a controversial writer, criticized by some critics as a supporter of colonialism while praised by others for doing justly in describing the dark side of the Third World.

9. His works include: • A House for Mr Biswas, Mystic Masseur, The Mimic Man, A Flag on the Island, A Bend in the River, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey, to name a few out of many.

10. Naipaul has clear, long-focused insights and vision. • His enjoys a vivid, concise and powerful style. • He does not use extra words and usually prefers small words; but he also writes very long sentences which are clear and easy to understand.

11. For Naipaul, writing is not merely a profession; rather, it is a calling from the depth of his heart and is his way of living. • “The contemplation that goes with writing, and the clarity it requires, make for calm. It is for me the equivalent of religion.”

12. In 1990, he was knighted by the Queen. • In 2001, he was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, • “for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories.” • In any sense, Naipaul is a writer worth reading.

13. The Mourners • “The Mourners” is taken from Naipaul’s A Flag on the Island, a collection of eleven short stories.

14. In this story, the narrator “I”—Romesh—went to visit a relations’ family, a couple who had just lost their son Ravi. • They were extremely sad about Ravi’s death and missed him dearly. • They tried to divert themselves from their sadness by mentioning Ravi’s name frequently, by showing their care and consideration to Romesh, and by showing him Ravi’s pictures. • In short, the author described the couple’s intense sadness very vividly.

15. Warm-up questions: • Have you ever seen people who lost their loved ones? • How did they show their sadness and at the same time try to control it? • How did other people, including you, console them?

16. I walked up the back stairs into the veranda, which was white in the afternoon sun. I could never persuade myself to enter that house by the front stairs. We were poor relations, taught to respect the house and family. On the right of the veranda there was the kitchen, tiled and clean, fitted with everything anyone could want. An ugly Indian girl with a pockmarked face and long breasts was washing some dishes. She wore a dirty red dress. When she saw me she said, “Hello, Romesh.” She had started with a bright voice but ended on a serious tone that was more suitable. Pay attention to the description of the environment here. What message does the description convey? Why did the girl start with a bright voice but end on a serious tone?

17. “Hello,” I said softly. “Is she there?” I pointed towards the room that lay straight ahead. “Yes, Boy, she cries all day. And the baby was so cute too.” The servant girl was beginning to imitate the language of the house. The past tense “was” here implies that the baby had been dead.

18. “Can I go in now?” “Yes,” she whispered. Drying her hands on her dress, she led the way. Her kitchen was clean and pure, but all the impurities seemed to have stuck on her. She tiptoed to the door, opened it an inch or two, looked in respectfully and said in a louder voice, “Romesh here, Miss Sheila.” The girl’s prudence reflected the sorrowful atmosphere in the house.

19. There was a sigh inside. The girl opened the door and shut it behind me. Somebody had drawn the curtains all around. The room was full of hot darkness smelling of ammonia and oil. Some light came into the room; it was enough for me to see Sheila clearly. She was dressed in a loose yellow housecoat; she was half-sitting, half leaning backwards, on a pink sofa. This is a detailed description of the depressing environment in the house.

20. I pulled up a chair and sat down. I sat with my legs wide apart at first. But this struck me as being irreverent and too familiar. So I put my knees together and let my hands rest loosely on them. I sat upright. Then I looked at Sheila. She smiled.[1] Then she began to cry.[2] She reached for the damp handkerchief on the table. I got up and asked if she would like something to calm her down a little. Sobbing heavily, she shook her head, and told me to sit down. [1] This was a little boy’s way of showing his care for Sheila. [2] She smiled because Romesh was growing up; she began to cry because he reminded her of her dead son.

21. “You never knew my son, Romesh, did you?” “I only saw him once,” I lied; and instantly regretted the lie: she might ask me where I had seen him or when I had seen him. In fact, I never knew that Sheila’s baby was a boy until he died and the news spread. Why did Romesh lie to Sheila?

22. “Yes, Soomin,” Sheila said (and I noticed that she had shortened the girl’s name, a thing that was not ordinarily done). “Yes, I want the snapshots of Ravi.”[1] At the name she almost burst into tears, but threw her head back at the last moment and smiled.[2] [1] Sheila called the girl’s shortened name with affection, which reflected her love for her son. Snapshots: photographs. [2] Sheila managed to restrain her sadness.

23. When Soomintra left the room I looked at the walls. In the half-light I could distinguish a painting of the Princes in the Tower. I was looking at the walls to escape looking at Sheila. But her eyes followed mine and rested on the Princes in the Tower. Princes in the Tower: a true story in English history—the young princes Edward V and Richard were murdered in the Tower of London by their uncle Richard III. What does this story allude to here?

24. She brushed a tear from her eye and smiled once more. “But tell me, Romesh, how are you getting on with your studies?”[1] “As usual.” “Are you going away?”[2] “If I do well in the exams.” [1] She tried to forget her sorrow by showing her concern with Romesh. [2] Be going away: be a top student.

25. Soomintra brought the snapshot album. It was an expensive album, covered in leather. They had frequently photographed Ravi, from the time when he was first allowed into the open air until the month before his death. There were pictures of him bathing in the sea, digging sand on the east coast, the north coast, and the south coast; pictures of Ravi dressed up for Carnival[1], dressed up for tea parties; Ravi on bicycles, Ravi in motor-cars, real ones and toy ones; Ravi in the company of lots of people I didn’t know.[2] [1] Carnival: a public merry-making festival at a regular time of the year for people to have fun.狂欢节 [2] The detailed description of Ravi’s pictures, which reflected his parents’ deep love of him.

26. Soomintra did prepare something for me, and I ate in the kitchen – their food was always good. I got ready for the tears and smiles of saying good-bye. But just then the Doctor came. He was Sheila’s husband and everyone knew him as “The Doctor”. He was tall with a pale, handsome face that now looked drawn and tired. Just like Sheila, The Doctor was equally sad for the death of their boy.

27. “When he was four he used to sing, you know. All sorts of songs. In English and Hindi. Do you know that song – ‘I’ll be Seeing You’?” I nodded. “He used to sing that through and through. He had managed to learn all the words. Where from, I don’t know, but he had done it. And even now I don’t know half the words myself. He was like that. Quick. And do you know that the last words he said to me were ‘I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places’? When Sheila heard that he was dead she looked at me and began to cry. ‘I’ll be seeing you,’ she said.” Hindi: a language used in India. I’ll be Seeing You: a famous sentimental British song from World War II. What does this song imply here?

28. “It makes you think, doesn’t it? It makes you think about life. Here today. Gone tomorrow. It makes you think about life and death, doesn’t it? But here I go, philosophizing again.[1] Why don’t you start giving lessons to children?” he asked me, suddenly. “You could make lots of money that way. I know a boy who’s making fifty dollars a month by giving lessons one afternoon a week.” [1] This is The Doctor’s thinking about life and death. Philosophize: think or argue like a philosopher.

29. Questions for comprehension: • 1. Pay special attention to Naipaul’s vivid description of the couple’s sadness. What techniques did he use? How and why? • 2. How did Naipaul depict the couple’s love and affection for their son? • 3. Tears can demonstrate sorrow, but tears mixed with smile give more prominence to sorrow. Please use examples to prove how Naipaul achieved this effect in the story.

30. Brainstorming and discussion: • 1. Discuss with your partners: If you were to present a specific feeling of someone, such as joy, anger, or sorrow, what and how would you do? Why? • 2. Write a paper about your discussion with no less than 150 words.

31. Thank you!