The Etiquette of Freedom summary Gary Snyder

The Etiquette of Freedom by Gary Snyder

Summary

Etiquette: a “customary code of polite behavior in society.”, good manners

 

In Snyder’s view, what is often missing in human behavior is graceful conduct. The essay “The Etiquette of Freedom,” reminds us of our ethical (moral) obligation that we are indeed (truly) connected to everything else. Learning the birds and the flowers is local etiquette. It is rude not to know the creature near us. He concludes in this extract that ‘ The lessons we learn from the wild become the etiquette of freedom. To know the wild is to be truly free. Here wild means uncontrolled freedom. There is wildness in us everything comes from there. We need to manage and understand its nature to know the true meaning of freedom 

According to the writer, we are an animal because we are mammals. Our ancestors were animals. Our bodies are wild. Both animals and humans have the same features. Both quickly and automatically turn their head at a shout, feel fear of the danger, breathe, feel relaxed in the quiet moment, to survive both eat food. Therefore, he says our bodies are wild.

It would be a mistake to think that human beings as superior because of language and society.  Animals also communicate extensively (widely).  Language is learned in the house and in the fields, not at school. Without having ever been taught formal grammar we speak correct grammar. We learn vocabulary from the mind. The mind is also wild because the mind takes it automatically or freely.  Likewise, other creatures learn a language from their surroundings. In school, language is refined and grammar is taught. 

There is social order not only in society, it is found in nature too. In fact, it is in nature before the age of books and legal codes. Actually, we are followers of nature's rule. The lessons we learn from the wild become the etiquette of freedom. We human beings only are not present in this world within us other creatures also share equally this earth. They have similar features. The depth of mind, and the unconscious, are our inner wilderness areas. Memories, images, anger, and delights, arise spontaneously in the mind.  We balance it with the outer world. There is uncontrolled freedom in it.  We need to manage it to enjoy a true sense of freedom. Freedom doesn’t mean we harm other creatures. As we all share the same planet. We must live in harmony with each other and establish an etiquette relationship with nature.

 

Every reader has his/ her own understanding so to get the right understanding please read the text. 

Light My Lucky summary

Eveline summary (James Joyce) BBS 2nd Year English

Eveline summary (James Joyce)

Characters:

1)Eveline Hill - main character, an Irish girl of 19

2)Frank - a sailor with a house in Buenos Ayres, he loves Eveline

3)Eveline's father - drunkard and abusive

4)Eveline's mother - made a lot of sacrifices for her family, she died of an unspecified illness.

5)Earnest - Eveline's oldest brother and her favourite. He is also dead.

6)Harry - her another brother, works in church decorating business.

7)Miss Gavan - the owner of the store where Evenline works. 

The story is about Eveline Hill, a nineteen years old girl who fails to take action due to her lack of conscious will. She also fails to manage her life at both the social and economic levels. She lives in Dublin with her father. Her mother and oldest brother Earnest were dead. Her another brother Harry lives out of the house he works in the church- decorating business.

Eveline’s father was nice to her when her mother was alive but later on, he started threatening her. She has to work hard both in the house and shop. Her father takes all her earnings and gives her little money to run the house. In the shop also the owner of the store Miss Gavan single out her and scrutinize (check/spy) more heavily in front of customers. She is fed up with her life she wants to escape from her house in search of happiness. Then she meets Frank a sailor, a kind and open-hearted man with whom she plans to elope.

She is sitting at the window, watching outside, dusty cretonne’s odour is coming in her nostrils. She remembers her past and looks around her house. As being grown up in an Irish Catholic family she is confused about her plan to elope with Frank. On the one hand, she thinks Frank will provide her respect and happiness on the other hand she questions herself whether eloping is wise or not? She appreciates the familiarity and comfort of house. How will be her life after marrying is not sure. Somewhere she mistrusts Frank.  

She has to elope with Frank by the night boat to be his wife. Their passage has been booked. She writes two letters. One for her father another for her brother Harry. She thinks her father is becoming old and will miss her. The odour of dusty cretonne is coming. She remembers the same odour had come just before her mother’s death. It reminds her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could.  She recalls her mother’s voice saying “Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!” (it means maybe “the end of pleasure is pain!”)

She stands up in a sudden impulse of terror. She says she must escape to get happiness and to have a better life. Now she is in the station. She prays God to direct her. The boat arrives and Frank board the ship calling her to come again and again but she stands still. She is in dilemma: remain at home like a dutiful daughter or leave Dublin with Frank to get happiness. There is still conflict in her mind regarding her decision.  She becomes unable to take action due to her lack of conscious will. 

In the end, Frank boards the ship alone. It means she decides not to go with Frank remembering her promise to her mother and her responsibilities for her father and siblings. Moreover, she feels much safer in her own house. She cannot escape just to enjoy her happiness. Now there is no sign of love and recognition in her eyes for Frank. 

Summary in Short

 

 Eveline is the main character of the story. It surrounds around her thoughts, her past memory her present situation, and her desire to come out of her circumstances to have a better life. We know about other characters through her. She has an abusive father who used to be nice to her when her mother was alive. She has to run her house with little money and work in a shop too. She grows up in an Irish Catholic family where girls have strict rules. Her father takes all her earnings. Her brother Harry lives out of the house. Therefore, she lives with her father. Her life is full of hard work. Thus, she wants to escape from her house to get a better life.

She meets Frank, a sailor then she likes him. He tells her different stories. When her father comes to know it, he forbids her to meet him. According to him, he is not a nice man. She decides to elope with him. When the time comes to go in a night boat with Frank who is calling her again and again, there is no sign of love in Eveline’s eyes for Frank. She cannot go with him remembering her promise to her mother to keep the home together as long as she could. She cannot trust Frank at the last moment. In spite of her hard life, she feels comfortable staying at home rather than going to an unknown place.

(please read the original text for full details and for a better understanding.)

Advertise your Business summary Phineas T. Barnum BBS Second Year English

1)New Nepal summary

2)Looking for a Rain God summary

6)Augustus Does His Bit Summary

Summary - (8)Advertise your Business

This lecture written in 1882,  sets the tone for advertising which is relevant even today. In this lecture, Barnum assumed that a conventionally moral life is the best path to business success.

The writer has advised us what to do and not to do in business and life.  

Be polite and Kind to your Customers

He advises that businessmen should be polite and kind to their customers otherwise they will lose them. Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Who sells qualitative goods in lower profits will succeed best in the long run. Sharp bargaining will lose customers. The writer suggests us not to insult or whip costumer even if he insults you otherwise he and his friends never come again as a customer. Customers’ bad manners must be dealt respectfully.

Be Charitable (generous/ helpful)

He says be charitable because it is a duty and a pleasure. He means to say this is if we have money it is our responsibility to help needy people to make their life better similarly it provides happiness and relief. According to Soloman in Bible if you scatter money it will increase but if you hold it unnecessarily then it will set out to poverty. It means if you become greedy or miser, you will be poor. Miser people are poor in heart. Charity should be given to those who are struggling and willing to help themselves. Otherwise, it will be fruitless. He says instead of blessing give food to hungry.

 

Don’t Blab (talk)

He advises not to share business secrets because nothing is gained by this. Say nothing about your profits, your hopes, your expectations, your intentions, or your losses otherwise, you will lose your reputation.  And this should apply to letters as well as to conversation. While writing business letters must know what not to write.

 

Preserve Your Integrity (honesty)

Honesty is more precious than diamonds or rubies because if you lose diamonds or rubies you can buy them again but once honesty is lost you can not buy or get it again. Therefore, your politeness will be of no use if customers suspect your goods and weight. A strictly honest man may be poor, but people believe in him and are ready to help. Honesty person has peace and joy that no amount of money, or houses, or land s can purchase. Therefore, Dr. Benjamin Franklin said, “honesty is the best policy.”

To become rich does not always mean being successful. There are many rich poor men who are poor in heart and restless they hoard ( store) money. It is like storing dusk because it is not used wisely. Using money properly blesses us with prosperity and happiness. The money should not be gathered it must be used for benefit of mankind so that other people also make their life better. Therefore, he appeals to earn money honestly and utilize it properly.

Summary in short

speak and behave politely with customers even if they show bad manners handle them respectfully. Sell qualitative products at the best price. Never share your business secrets it will affect your business reputation. If you are earning money and becoming rich, use money wisely. Donate some money to needy and struggling people. Instead of blessing give food to the hungry.

“Honesty is the best policy” is a true maxim and applicable in both business and life. Everyone easily trusts an honest man. And in business customers believe in the honesty of your qualitative products, not in your talks. If you waste money or store money without proper use, you will be poor in heart. Similarly, if you utilize the money properly you will be blessed with happiness and joy. Not only an individual will be blessed but all the human race will be blessed with that utilized money.

Augustus Does His Bit Summary George Bernard Shaw (BBS 2nd Year) English

Augustus Does His Bit - George Bernard Shaw

Characters:

Lord Augustus Highcastle ( Augustus) - 45 years, colonel  in the English army

Mr. Horatio Floyd Beamish (The Clerk)

The Lady - spy woman

"Augustus Does His Bit: A True-to-Life Farce " (1916) is a comic play about a foolishly idealistic aristocrat who is deceived by a spy woman during the war between Britain and Germany. It is an anti-war play, which exposes the false notions of society about war and its heroes.

Here the playwright through the clerk's views shows the negative side of the war and its effect on common people.  Augustus represents an arrogant foolish character who takes war as a serious matter to strengthen the nation.

Augustus was sitting in the Mayor's parlor (room). He was in colonel dress and reading The Morning Post. The clerk came in. He requested Augustus to increase his salary because he didn't want to die of hunger. On the other hand, Augustus ignored it and said it was not suitable to increase salary in the time of war because many gallant armies were dying in the trench. In fact, to save money for war Augustus didn’t want to invest money to sweep the street and wanted to reduce the allowance of petrol by three quarters. He also wanted to replace the gas stove with a grate. 

Augustus had delivered recruiting speech. He told the clerk that it was his best speech which was made for army enrolment for world war first, and his town’s people needed such speech to wake up. However, the clerk showed negative aspects of war. As war is always destructive and fruitless, it brings only pain and misery to human life. It is senseless  and meaningless; therefore, the clerk said, "the country is going to the dogs."

As the clerk’s views were different than him he became furious and sent him out. Then he was informed that a female spy is after an important document in his possession. (control) A beautiful woman visited him. After flattering him by saying how important he was, she told him that she suspected her sister-in-law of being the spy. She told Augustus' brother, Blueloo, had made a bet that Augustus could be easily tricked, and intended to use this woman to prove it. If she became able to get the document, a list of British gun emplacements, and gave it to "Blueloo", Augustus's incompetence (stupidity) would be exposed.

The clerk entered holding the document, which Augustus had left on a coffee table in the hotel. It was the document that the lady wanted to steal. The lady very smartly exchanged the document with a fake one then she called "Blueloo" to tell that she easily outwitted Lord Augustus. Augustus then realized that she was the spy who made him a fool.

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 Looking for a Rain God summary

 New Nepal summary

 

Looking for a Rain God summary (Bessie Head) BBS 2nd year English

 Looking for a Rain God by Bessie Head

Summary

Characters:

Mokgobja- over seventy years old, head of the family
Ramadi - son of Mokgobja
Tiro - Ramadi's wife
Nesta - Tiro's unmarried sister
Neo and Boseyoung - Tiro's and Ramadi's daughters

This story is about an African villagers' miserable life without rain and the criminal outcomes of their frustration. An  African village that had all kinds of happiness changed into desert due to seven years of drought from 1958. Several men hung themselves at the beginning of the seventh year of drought. The majority of the people had lived without crops. Only the charlatans, incanters, and witch doctors were able to make money.

That year in November little rain fell and soften the earth. All villagers went to plough their fields. Mokgobja's family also went to plough their field. Mokgobja had a son, Ramadi, Ramadi's wife Tiro her unmarried sister Nesta and two granddaughters Neo and Boseyong. They ploughed land. But suddenly, by mid-November, the rain flew and the sun dried all moisture of the earth. It was impossible to plant anything in the dry earth. So they were disappointed.

The two girls, unknown from the effects of drought were quite happy in their little-girl world. They imitated the behaviour of their mother towards them and played. They scolded their rag dolls and then beat the dolls with severe expressions. This actually showed how they were mistreated in their home. Instead of loving and advising in their mistakes, their mother used to beat them. It showed they were valueless for their family.

Being frustrated with future starvation the two women started wailing each night. Mokgobja remembered an ancient ritual of sacrificing children's bodies to make rain god happy. He consulted it with his son and daughter-in-law and decided to sacrifice two girls. They spread the bodies of the two little girls across the land but the rain did not fall.

Soon people in the village noted the absence of the two little girls. Police came to investigate. The family told them that the girls had just died and burial at lands. As they didn't know what the children had died of, police asked to see the graves. At this, the mother of the children broke down and told everything. Ramadi and the old man were arrested and got the death penalty for ritual murder. 

Actually, it was the two women who caused the death of the little girls. Due to their nightly wailing, Mokgobja tried to find a solution to their problem which was a crime and Ramadi became irrational and ready to kill his own daughters.

summary in short.

This story is about an African village where there were all kinds of pleasure but from 1958, a seven-year drought fell upon them. Predicting next year's starvation several people hung themselves. 

In November little rain fell, people's hopes ran so high but soon again dryness covered the village. Mokgobja family to come out from coming starvation decided to follow their ancient ritual of sacrificing children's bodies. Mokgobja sacrificed his own two little granddaughters to make rain god happy and to make rainfall. 

The worst thing was that in Mokgobja's misdeed Ramadi, the girls' father, and Tiru, the girls' mother supported him. Soon villagers noticed the absence of the two girls and suspect the whole family. The two little girls' mother revealed everything to the police. Ramadi and Mokgobja got the death penalty for ritual murder.

New Nepal by Shiddicharan Shrestha summary

Augustus Does His Bit Summary