Sula By Toni Morrison Summary, Themes, Characters, and Analysis

Introduction

Sula is Tony Morrison’s second novel which deals with the life experiences of two African American friends, Sula and Nel, from their childhood to Sula’s death. It is the story of a small black community in Ohio, which takes place after World War 1. By depicting the lives of Sula and Nel, the author describes racial and gender relationships in postwar segregated America of the 20^th century. Morrison began writing Sula in 1969 and first published it in 1973.

The book addresses issues of racism, bigotry, and suppression of African Americans, it depicts the despair people feel when they can’t get decent jobs. For example, Eva, One of the characters of the novel cuts off her legs to get money to raise her family. Some people had to grovel to whites simply to get by, as Helene does on a train heading through the South. However, others fought back, as Sula does when she threatens some white boys who are harassing her.

The book was nominated for a National Book Award in 1947.

About Toni Morrison

Chole Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison was an American novelist. Her first novel The Bluest Eye was published in 1978. She was born in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She studied English at Howard University. She was the author of 11 novels as well as children’s books and essay collections. Among them were celebrated works like Song Of Soloman, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977, and Beloved which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933.

Character Analysis Of Sula Novel

Shadrack

Founder of National Suicide Day, Shardrak is a veteran of War.

Sula

The daughter of Hannah Peace and granddaughter of Eva Peace. She is a close childhood friend of Net Weight. Suja has a birthmark on her eyelid.

Nel Wright

Nel is the daughter of Wiley and Helene Wright. She was friends with Sula in childhood. After graduation from school, Nel marries Jude Greene.

Helen Wright

Helen is taken away from her birth mother Rochelle a Creole prostitute, by her grandmother Cecil Sabat. She marries Wiley Wright and gives birth to daughter Nel after 9 years of marriage.

Wiley Wright

Wiley Wright is the great-nephew of Cecile Sabat. He is also Helene Sabat’s husband and Nel’s father. Wiley spends a lot of time away from home as a chef at a shipping company called the First Lakes Line.

Cecile Sabat

Cecile is the great-aunt of Wiley and the Grandmother of Helen. She raises Helene in a religious way.

Hannah Peace

Hannah is Sula’s mother and Eva’s eldest child. Hannah is known at the bottom for sleeping with many men, married or unmarried. She dies in a tragic fire accident.

Eva Peace

Eva is the mother of three – Hannah, Pearl, and Ralph. She mysteriously loses one of her legs after she is left by her husband BoyBoy.

Pearl Pece

Eva’s youngest daughter Pearl is the only daughter of Eva’s children who moves away from Medallion permanently. Pearl moves to flint Michigan at age 14 with her husband.

The Suggs

Mr. and Mrs. Suggs are neighbors of the Peace family. They assist Eva after she is abandoned by BoyBoy.

BoyBoy

BoyBoy was Eva’s womanizing and abusive husband. He abandons Eva and the children without money or food.

Rochelle

Rochelle is Helene’s Creole-speaking mother from New Orleans. She is a former prostitute and smells like gardenias.

Jude Greene

Jude marries Nel at 20 years of age. He is a waiter. Jude abandons Nel and his children.

Rekus

Rekus is Sula’s further. He dies when she is three years old.

The Deweys, Tar Baby, Henri Martin, Ajax, Pasty and Valentine, Chicken Litte, and Teapot.

Theme Of the Novel

There are several themes in Toni Morrison’s novel Sula including – Friendship, Racism, Love, Sex, Motherhood, and Death.

Friendship

Nel and Sula’s friendship is the central theme of Sula. Nel and Sula spend all of their time together, playing by the rivers, fighting off bullies, and weathering tragedies. When Sula accidentally drowns Chicken Little in the water Nel confronts her, insisting that it isn’t her fault.

When Sula returns as a young woman after 10 years away, Nel accepts her immediately and the two friends laugh in Nel’s kitchen as if they had never been apart. However, their meeting would soon turn from sweet to sour. Friendship is shattered by Jude’s infidelity with Sula and this is one wrong that Nel cannot forgive. After three years Nel decides to visit Sula after she falls ill. When Sula dies, at first Nel is not sure how she feels. Much later, Nel cries for the death of Sula. Sula and Nel’s friendship has gone togetherness, betrayal, and then forgiveness.

Racism

The Racism experienced by the people of Bottom is pervasive and absolutely central to everything that occurs in the story. Early in the story, the two young girls are harassed by a group of white bullies Nel realizes this will be an unavoidable part of her life. But Sula decides enough is enough. As a young, powerless black girl, the only way she can retaliate is to scare them.

Later in the novel, according to the people of the Bottom, the most intolerable act Sula commits is sleeping with white men. Morrison here wants readers to know that because white people were viewed as the devil, any interaction Sula has with white men on a sexual level is also perceived as thoroughly evil.

By the end of the novel in 1965. Nel notes that black people have moved from the Bottom and are now living in Medallion, Some even work at cash registers handling money, an unthinkable situation when she was a child. Racism hasn’t left, though segregation is loosening a bit, attitudes are just the same in most cases, and economic prosperity is still reserved only for white.

Love

One of the main themes revealed in The Sula by Toni Morrison is Love. The main characters revealing their of Love are Sula and Nel, who have been dependent on each other ever since the beginning of their relationship. Sul and Nel, two friends have starkly contrasting ideas, even then they love one another as friends, but they were reluctant to express their feelings due to their inability to recognize their emotional bonding.

Sex

In the novel, Nel and Sula are twelve years old when they start waking past the men and they are experiencing the first stage of sexual awakening. They know they do not like the stares and Comment they get. Nel and Jude have just gotten married and they can’t wait to have sex. This scene represent a more traditional view of sex. Sula and Nel view sex differently. Nel feels that once Sula has slept with Jude, he’s no longer hers, he’s gone from her life together. But Sula doesn’t see it that way. Sula has slept with many men.

Motherhood

The novel describes the various stress and sacrifice of motherhood and offers a varied examples of Motherhood. Rochelle, Helene and Nel, Sula and Hannah, and Nel and Helene all experienced their moments where things got tense Rochelle and Helene always had tense moments because Helene does not like the fact that Rochelle is Care free prostitute. Things got tense between Hannah and Sula when Sula hears that her mother does not like her but she claims that she loves her. Just as Cecile raises Helene in a disciplined and strict home, so too does Helene raise her own daughter, Nel, Stifling her imagination.

Death

In her novel Sula, Toni Morrison addresses many different themes. However, one of the themes that really grabbed my attention was the theme of death. Each character in this novel has a different way of coping with or accepting death emotionally. The first death in the book is witnessed by Shadrack on the battlefield during World War 1. Shadrack sees a soldier having his head blown off during battle and running without mostly affected by this soldier’s control and his fear of death, Shadrack creates a holiday called National Suicide Day on January 3, 1920.

On 3 January 1942, Shadrack decides to celebrate National Suicide Day one more time. While he is marching through town, people start to join him to celebrate this day, but at the end of the road, the town’s people start to smash and destroy the tunnel. During all his chaos, the tunnel collapse and kills everyone who is behind Shadrack.

Another important death in this novel is accidental. Sula was playing with Chicken Little when he lost his grip and landed in the river and drowned. Chicken Little death leaves a permanent impact on Nel and Sula’s lives.

Analysis Of The Novel

Sula opens with a description of “The Bottom” the African American section of a town called Medallion in Ohio. In the first section of the novel, the origin story of the Bottom is revealed as well as how it got its name. A white farmer promised freedom and a piece of Bottomland to his slave if he would perform some difficult chores for him. Upon completion, the farmer regrets his end of the bargain. He did not want to give up the land. He gave the hilly land, convincing the slave the land was worthwhile by claiming that because it was hilly, it was closer to heaven.

The bottom is a black community in Ohio, situated in the hills above the mostly white, wealthier community of Medallion. In the 1910s there is a man living in the Bottom named Shadrack. In 1917 he goes off to fight in world war 1. He witnesses great violence in Europe and returns to Bottom a broken man suffering from a shell shack. Shadrack then proposes a holiday for the people of Bottom National Suicide Day. On this holiday, people who don’t want to continue living with the fear of death are invited to bill themselves.

Another resident of the Bottom is Helene Wright. She is the daughter of a prostitute but was raised by her grandmother in a strict environment. Helene marries Wiley Wright and moves to Bottom. They had a daughter named Nel. She raised her daughter as a respectable woman. When Nel is a young girl, Helene takes her back to New Orleans to visit her grandmother Cecile. On the train, a white train conductor harasses Helene Nel and Helene arrives too late Cecile is already dead. They meet Rochelle, Helene’s mother, who is a prostitute and shows no affection and concern for Helene or Nel.

Another resident of the Bottom is Sula Peace, a girl with a strange birthmark, shaped as a stemmed rose on her face. Sula is raised by her grandmother. Eva Peace and her mother Hannah Pearl. Eva was married to a man named BoyBoy, who left her after she’d given birth to three children – Hannah Pearl, and Plum. Eva devoted herself to raising her children.

She cut off her leg in order to collect the insurance money. Eva’s youngest child plum, went off to fight in World War 1 and when he returned home, he become addicted to drugs. Eva doused Plum with Kerosene, while he was sleeping and set him on fire, burning him alive, Hannah Eva’s eldest daughter sensed that Eva was responsible for Plum’s death.

Sula and Nel are twelve years old and have become good friends. Sula protects Nel from bullies in the city. One day Sula and Nel go down to the Ohio River where they find Chicken Little, a young boy. Sula dares Chicken Little to climb a high tree. Suddenly Chicken Little flies into the river. Terrified that they have killed a chicken Little Sula and Nel run for help and to see if anyone witnessed the accident.

The nearest house is a shack that belongs to Shadrack. Sula thinks that he did witness the accident. Sula and Nel run out. During these years Hannah Pearl is burned alive, for reasons that nobody can understand. When Nel turns 17, she marries local boy Jude Greene and has three children with him. During his time Sula goes to college and travels to the American cities looking for love but only ever finding men who want to sleep with her.

Sula returns to Medallion and reunites with her old friend Nel. When Sula greets Jude, Jude is immediately fascinated by her shortly thereafter Jude begins an affair with Sula. One afternoon, Nel comes home to find Jude and Sula in bed. Jude leaves Nel and his Children to be with Sula. After Sula discards him, he buys a bus ticket to Detroit and is never again seen. Meanwhile, Sula starts a romance with Ajax, a local man.

Several years later Sula falls ill and Nel visits her. Unable to get a clear answer from Sula about why she slept with her husband, Nel leaves her friend and never sees her again. Sula dies shortly thereafter.

After Sula’s death, a frost comes to the Bottom, followed by a wave of disease. In January 1941, Shadrack walks through the streets, celebrating his annual National Suicide Day. Dozen of people walk behind him, yelling and cheering for National Suicide Day. Disgusted with the hypocrisy of white businessmen, the people of the Bottom hurl stones at the road. Suddenly, a piece of the Cliff breaks off, and dozens of people fall to their deaths.

In the end, Nel is a middle-aged woman. She goes to visit Eva Peace. Eva asks Nel why she killed Chicken Little. Nel shocked, insists that it was Sula, not she, who killed the boy. Nel realizes that she’s missed Sula all these years. She cries out for her old friend, but no one can hear her.

Conclusion

Thus, the Novel Toni Morrison‘s “Sula” shows us the harsh realities of poverty, race, and class. Further, this story is mostly about female friendship among African American women. Although Sula was written over a decade ago, many of its themes and settings such as poverty, class, violence, and fear as well as social, racial, and religious status still surround African American Society.

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The Old Man And The Sea By Earnest Hemingway | The Old Man and The Sea Summary

Literature, English Literature, Novel

Introduction

The Old Man and The Sea is a novel nicely written by Earnest Hemingway. The Old Man and The Sea were written in 1951 and published in 1952. The Old Man and The Sea is the story of an epic struggle between an old fisherman Santiago and a big fish Marlin.

About Author

Earnest Hemingway is popularly known as one of the greatest American novelists, short story writers, and journalists. Hemingway started his literary career with his first novel The Sun Also Rises. He wrote approximately 7 novels, 6 short stories, collections, and 2 non-fiction works. A lot of his works were published posthumously.

Among his novels The Old Man and The Sea, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises, A Movable Feast, are world famous. For his contribution to American Literature, he was awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He was awarded Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and The Sea novel and it was the last major work of fiction that was published during his lifetime.

The Old Man And The Sea Summary

The Old Fisherman Santiago was a seasoned fisherman. He fished in the Gulf Stream near the coast of Cuba. He failed to catch any fish for the last Sundays. He was declared unlucky by other fishermen of the locality, A young boy Manolin used to work with him as an apprentice. His continuous failure in catching a fish influenced the mind of the parents of Manolin although Manolin continues to help Santiago launch and retrieve his boat from the ocean each day.

Manolin cares for Santiago, bringing him food and clothing, and in return, Santiago tells. Manolin stories about baseball legends and his younger day fishing in a boat off of Africa. Every night, Santiago dreams of lions on the beaches of Africa. Early each morning Santiago walks up the road to the Manolin family’s home to wake him up for work.

On the morning of the 85th day, Manolin helps Santiago launch his boat into the sea. Santiago dropped four baits of different depths in the Sea. The first bait was at the depth of fifty fathoms, the second was at the depth of seventy-five fathoms, the third at a hundred fathoms, and the fourth was held at one hundred and twenty-five fathoms.

Finally, in the early afternoon, he catches a ten-pound “Tuna”, which he decides will be his meal for the day. Afterward, Santiago feels a hard pull on his line and realizes that a huge marlin has caught his hook. Because the marlin is so big Santiago cannot pull it in. Santiago wished that the boy would have been with him to help in publishing the fish.

On the Second dog, the old man had a chance to look at the fish which jumped out of the water for air. The old man was standing at his place in the boat and he was profusely sweating. During his contest with the fish, his right hand was injured and his left hand was cramped. He felt lonely.

Santiago was not so religious but at this time he prays and said:
“I will say ten our fathers
and ten Hail Marys that
I Should catch this fish,
and I promise to make a
pilgrimage to the Virgin
de cobre if I catch him.”

He wonders what his hero ‘Joe DI Maggio’ would do if he were in Santago’s situation.

On the third day at sea, he lets out a small line and catches a dolphin fish to eat. He rests for a few hours but is woken by the marlin jumping frantically. Santiago continues holding the line, although it has been cutting into his hand at the same time. The mariner tries and begins circling the boat as Santiago grows weaker from lack of sleep and exhaustion. Finally, Santiago used all his strength to harpoon and kill the marlin.

Santiago ties the marlin to the side of his boat and begins sailing back toward Cuba. During the homeward journey, Sharks attack the boat, tearing the flesh from the marlin. The Shark attacked the tail of the big fish and ate at least forty pounds of flesh. The old Man drove his harpoon into the brain of the shark. The Shark died at once and went into the sea. In this fight, The Old Man was deprived of his harpoon along with the rope. At this point, the old man said: “A Man can be destroyed but not be defeated.”

The Old Man had to face the attack of two more sharks. He killed these sharks with the knife and tied it to the end at the oar. In this attack, they seemed to have eaten one-fourth meat of the dead Marlin. Before sunset, more sharks attacked the big fish. The old Man beat their head with his club and injured them seriously. They also ate the Old Man’s large amount of fish the Marlin.

At midnight, he saw the brilliant lights of Havana. He was near his destination. Then again a pack of sharks attacked the fish. He took up his club and beat them mercilessly. The old Man succeeded in killing them but at that time, only the skeleton of the fish was left. Leaving Marlin’s skeleton still tied to his boat in the harbor, Santiago goes to sleep in his hut.

The next day, Manolin finds Satiago asleep in his shack. Manolin is overjoyed to see him but cries when he sees the cuts on Santiago’s hand. He brings Santiago coffee, passing the crowd of fishermen who are marveling at the marlin’s giant skeleton. When Santiago wakes up, Manolin tells him he does not care what his parent says: He is going to start fishing with Santiago again.

Conclusion

Thus, Life and Death are prominent themes in this novel teaching us lessons about patience, Santiago’s courage, and friendship. So now we can say that The Old Man and The Sea is one of the best novels by Earnest Hemingway.

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The Sellout By Paul Beatty | The Sellout Summary

Literature, English Literature, Novel

The Novel “The Sellout”

Introduction

The Sellout is an African-American novel written by Paul Beatty. It is a satire on racism in the United State. It explores modern issues of race and racism through a shocking and often comical premise. The novel takes place in and around Los Angeles, California. The Sellout is Paul Beatty’s fourth novel as well as the most well-received. It was first published in 2015 and in 2016, it won the Booker Prize making Beatty the first US writer to win that award. The novel was released during a time of racial reckoning surrounding multiple instances of police brutality and the Ferguson Missouri protests.

Beatty stated his motivation for writing the novel was that “He was Broke”. He utilizes stereotypes and parody throughout the story to inject Social commentary.

Character Sketch

The Narrator

Referred to only as a narrator or sometimes, “Me”. The narrator is a normal person at first, living in the town of Dickens outside of Los Angeles.

Marpessa Dawson

Marpessa is the childhood sweetheart of the narrator. Three years older than the narrator.

Hominy Jenkins

An elderly man, Hominy used to be an African American cast member for the old TV show, The Little Rascals. He is grown up in a racist environment. Hominy tries to hand himself in, but the narrator saves him from death.

Foy Cheshire

A wise man, For dislikes the narrator. Foy doesn’t like the idea of discrimination against people because of their race. He is one of the most reasonable people in the novel.

The Black Justice, Laurel (The Narrator’s Mother), Lescook, Hampton Fiske (The Narrator’s Lawyer), Charisma Molina, and many more (Marpessa’s best friend and assistant principal of Chaff Middle School).

About Paul Beatty

Paul Beatty is an African-American writer who won the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout. He is considered the first American writer that won such a prize Beatty prefers to be called a Black than to be called an African-American writer. He was born in West Los Angeles, where he faced many troubles and hardships in his neighborhood as Whites were nearly, about 80% of its population.

The Sellout is both his last book and his fourth novel. His previous three novels are – The White Boy Shuffle (1996), Tuff (2000), and Slumberland (2008). In addition, he has authored two books of poetry – Big Bank Take Little Bank and Jaker, Joker, and Deuce.

The Themes Of The Sellout

Identity
Law and Race
Degradation Of Progress
Stereotypes and Absurdity
Gender, Sex, and Hypersexualization.

About Title

The title of the novel The Sellout refers to Black people. It is a disparaging term that knowingly or with gross negligence action against the interest of Blacks as a whole.

Analysis of “The Sellout”

The novel starts with a prologue in which the narrator claims he has never stolen anything, which he believes might surprise the readers because he is a black man. Nonetheless, he now finds himself handcuffed inside the supreme court of the United States.

“This may be hard to believe, coming from a
black man, but I’ve never stolen anything.
Never cheated on my taxes or at cords.”

He spent the previous day walking around Washington DC. Now, sitting in the supreme court. Then he mentions that his case is Me Vs The United States of America because his last name is me. He has been charged with holding slaves and attempting to bring back racial segregation. He tells the story of how he ended up here. He lives in Dickens, California. His father was a social scientist and the founder of something he called Liberation Psychology.

The Narrator’s father was known as The Nigger Whisperer because of his habit of spending time on the streets. His father home-schooled the narrator, believing the whole world is racist. However, despite this upbringing, the narrator does not believe racism is much of a problem in the modern world. He does remember one incident where he believed he was charged a different price for a Soda simply because of his skin color.

The narrator’s father is shot and killed by a police officer as he confronts them shouting during an arrest. The narrator is granted a $2 million settlement after the wrongful death of his father at the hand of the police. As a result, the narrator inherits the house and land that his father owned. The narrator takes over his father’s role as Nigger Whisperer. He is not excited about doing this but does it anyway.

One day, the narrator discovers that Dickens has been removed from maps as part of an effort to raise property values in surrounding areas. He campaigns to get his town put back on the map. Attending a meeting of his father’s old friends to announce his plan and gains their support. He gets into an argument with their leader, Foy Chesire. Foy angrily calls him a Sellout.

The narrator is also having an affair with a woman named Marpessa Dawson, who he has known since childhood. He also encounters one of his neighbours elderly named Hominy Jenkins. She is also upset about Dickens being removed from the maps. Hominy tries to hand himself, but the narrator saves her. Hominy wishes to become the narrator’s slave at first, the narrator laughs at this and tries to ignore it, but Hominy is surprisingly determined. Finally, the narrator agrees to take Hominy as a slave. The narrator decides to paint boundary lines around Dickens and as soon as his neighbors realize what he is doing, they all start to help.

To celebrate Hominy’s birthday the narrator arranges to hold a party for him on Marpessa’s bus. Marpessa tells the narrator she dumped him because he is a “Sellout”. Later, they talk about why they first fell in love Two of them begin going on dates again. The narrator goes to chaff Middle School to teach students about agriculture giving them a lesson on castration. He suggests to his friend Charisma, who is a teacher there, that the school be racially segregated. The result was to orientate block kids to learning and getting ahead.

Foy arrives at the middle school to protest Charisma’s refusal to let white students inside. The narrator arrives and confronts Foy. Foy shoots him. The subsequent investigation exposes the narrator’s plans to segregate the city and school as well as his holding Homing as a Slave and he is arrested.

Back to the present, in the court, Foy is found innocent of attempted murder, but the narrator wins his civil suits against him. Hominy kisses the narrator and tells him that he’s quitting slavery. He continues his relationship with Marpessa. Marpessa and the narrator watch TV and during the weather report, Dickens is included along with the other cities in the area. The narrator is so happy.

Conclusion

Thus, the novel “The Sellout” presents the idea of the slavery system and racism. It focuses on how African-American people still suffer from an inferiority complex in society. Through which the role of the narrator he shows us, how black are treated even in the Richest Country USA. Paul Beauty argues that America is a white people’s land so that all white people have a comfortable life but not Black people.

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Five Point Someone: What Not to do at IIT | Five Point Someone By Chetan Bhagat

Literature, English Literature, Indian Literature, Novel

Introduction

“Five Point someone is a story about wonders
years of college – of friendship, love, and grades.”

Five Point Someone is a novel written by Chetan Bhagat. It is the debut novel of Chetan Bhagat, set in the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in the period of 1991 to 1995. Through the novel author describes various facets of IIT life – the Academics, The Professors, Campus Life, and The Rat Race to get better grades.

This novel narrates the story of three IIT graduates and about their friendship and differences, study and enjoyment career and ambition, parental pressure and peer pressure and love. As the subtitle of the novel what not to do at IIT – suggests “This is not a book to teach you how to get into IIT or even how to live in college. In fact, it describes how screwed up things can get if you don’t think straight.” Chetan Bhagat points all that getting into IIT is not all that difficult as is made out to be. As he put it,

“If you can lock yourself in a room with books for two years and throws away the key, you can probably make it here”.

It was published in 2004 and this book story was made into two films 3 Idiots in Bollywood and Nanban in Tamil.

Characters of Five Point Someone

Hari Kumar

Hari Kumar is the narrator of the story. He loves Neha Samir Cherian who is Mr. Cherian’s daughter. He is average in his study and seems confused but he keeps all three friends together.

Ryan Oberoi

Ryan Oberoi is the son of rich parents. He hates his parents as he feels neglected by them. He wants to be an innovator. He likes science and discoveries and new ideas. He is an extremely friendly, caring, and loving person, he also loves making friends.

Alok Gupta

Alok Gupta belongs to a typical lower Indian middle-class family, burdened with lots of expectations and responsibilities. His father is paralyzed and his mother teaches school as a biology teacher. He wants to get a good GPA so he can get a job and support his family.

MR. Cherian

Mr. Cherian is the head of the IIT department. He is very strict and possessive about his daughter. He imposes his dreams on his son’s shoulder. Samir is his son and he commits suicide due to the pressure created by him.

Neha & Samir Cherian

Neha Samir Cherian is Mr. Cherian’s daughter. She loves her brother a lot but is not alive. Samir meets an accident on a railway track. She falls in love with Hari Kumar.

Mr. Vira

Mr. Vira works at the laboratory. He hires Ryan to work with him in the laboratory with just a salary of 2000 rupees.

Venkat

Venkat is the topper of the class. He is very good student.

About Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat is an Indian author, Columnist, and screenwriter. His novels are adapted into successful movies. Most of his views are focused on Youth and issues based on national development which occupies the most important part of society. He is one of the most successful authors and his novels awarded as best-selling novels. Chetan Bhagat has introduced some unique trends in Indian English Literature. He has focused on the interest of the youth and has written about their aspirations. He is also considered as a youth icon. Among his world-famous works included –

One Night the Call Centre
The Three Mistakes of My life
2 States
Revolution 2020
Half Girlfriend
One Indian Girl
What Young Lady Wants

About The Title

The novel gets its title from the GPA system used in IIT, to rank students, Students who get five points are considered average, and don’t usually get the choice of job offers.

Summary Of “Five Point Someone” Novel

The novel starts with three friends, Ryan, Hari, and Alok. Ryan belongs to an affluent family. He is very smart, innovative, and daring. He raises his voice against justice and he is also a blunt guy. Hari belongs to a mediocre family. He suffers from a lack of confidence. He wants to become an engineer and earn a lot of money. Whereas Alok is completely different from the other two. He belongs to a poor family. His mother is a biology teacher and his father is paralyzed. His family has a lot of expectations from him, and Alok does not want to disappoint them.

The book brings out the sheer brilliance of IIT students in a very subtle way. One professor mentions, “The Definition of A Machine”. It is anything that reduces human effort. Anything so, see the world around you and it is full of machines. A student Ryan asks: “Sir, what about a gym machine, like a bench press or something? That doesn’t reduce human effort. In fact, it increases it.” The professor does not know how to respond.

People who have studied in IITs know how students can pose fairly challenging questions based on their common sense and without any prior knowledge and unsettle teachers in the class. This example shows that many professors at the IITs are totally unequipped to handle the brilliant students who study these.

Ryan concludes that the IIT system is unfair because –

It suppresses talent and individual spirit.
It extracts the best years of one’s life from the country’s brightest minds.
It judges students with a draconian GPA system that destroys the relationship.
The Professor doesn’t care for the students.
IITs have hardly contributed to the country.

The College life

In college Har, Ryan, and Alok meet and best friends of each other. Alok studies all time and does not compromise on it. He wants to get a degree with good grades so that he gets a superb job and helps his family get prosperous. He can do anything to make his dreams true. He does not care about practical knowledge.

Ryan is completely contrary to him. He believes in acquiring knowledge and understanding about the concept behind everything he studies. Hari supports Ryan for having such a kind approach toward the purpose of acquiring knowledge. One night, they plan to go for a movie but Alok is bothered about the next day’s paper. But at last, he joins them. After a few days when the results come out and all of them get very poor marks. Alok gets super angry at Ryan, who decided to go to the movie on the previous day of the exam. Finally, they decide to study regularly for 2-3 hours every day.

Love Story

One morning, Hari was strolling on the college campus and met Neha. She was so aesthetic and gorgeous. Hari falls in love with her. She offers to drop him and Hari accepts it. She introduces herself as Neha who is Mr. Cherian’s daughter. Mr. Cherian is the head of the department.

One day, Ryan gets a piece of good news. He has been credited a hefty amount in his account. He pays the semester fee and the rest of the remained amount, he spends on buying a new scooter. Thereafter they do a lot of fun together. Alok would not participate in their every time. One day Alok’s father gets serious and was required to be hospitalized Ryan and Hari join Alok in his trouble and assures him to help him.

Alok Left the Group

Again some months of constant enjoyment the exam starts and again they get poor marks. Alok was again disappointed with himself this time and he decides to shift himself to Venkat. Venkat was the topper of his class. Alok getting improve due to his differences from Ryan and Hari.

But again, One day Alok’s father needed his help. Ryan forgets all the bitterness and helps him to get his father hospitalizes. Ryan’s nice gesture impress Alok and he again joins the group.

Neha Accepts Hari

One day Hari meets Neha and decides to talk to her. They move to an ice cream parlor where they start a casual talk. Neha tells Hari about her brother Samir, who was no more alive. She starts feeling comfortable with him.

Neha’s birthday is coming; hence Ryan decides to surprise her on his friend, Hari’s behalf. Hari, Alok, and Ryan visit there at night when she would be sleeping. Ryan gives a beautiful flower to Neha on the behalf of Hari. Neha thanks them to give her such a great surprise.

Semester drops

4^th Semester is nearby. Hari Ryan and Alok are also not preparing for it. Finally the exam starts and on the first, it was Viva. Hari is not prepared for the Viva. Ryan notices him there worrying about Viva. He suggests Hari have a small pack of Vodka. Hari does the same but during the Viva, Mr. Cherian senses the Odour of alcohol coming from his mouth and gives him zero marks in the viva. When Ryan gets to know about it, he plans to steal the question papers. Hari meets Neha and they get prepared a duplicate key to Mr. Cherian’s office.

But during the theft, a guard catches them and calls Mr. Cherian. While the investigation Ryan tells him about Neha’s involvement in it. Thereby Mr. Cherian does not investigate further but drops them from the 4^th sem.

The Realization Of the Mistakes

Hearing this Alok tries to suicide and jumps from the top floor of the terrace. Luckily, he was alive but maimed with some severe injuries. Ryan and Hari stood by him unless he recovered completely. A few days later Hari and Neha meet in a canteen. They were talking about Samir. Mr. Cherian sees them talking about the letter, he thinks that it was a love letter. Thereby he snatches the letter from Hari’s hand and starts reading the suicide note himself.

As he finished it, he could not resist crying. He then also realizes his mistake of imposing his fake expectations on someone who was not interested in fulfilling them. After college was over, Alok and Hari get a satisfying jobs. But Ryan does not get any job. Finally, Mr. Venu hires him as a lab assistant on a salary of just 2000 rupees per month.

Conclusion

Thus, Five Point Someone unearths the dark side of our education system. Indian education system emphasizes more on cramping more than understanding the concept behind the topic. Although there are plenty of good things about the Indian Education system too nonetheless it also has some major faults.

The story of this novel deals with the fears and insecurities of the students. The author Chetan Bhagat himself is the victim of this type of system. So he has tried to bring into the limelight the major issues related to the youth and his prime notion with regard to Education.

Are you struggling to keep up with your English Literature Coursework? Do you need detailed, customized notes to help you better understand the texts you’re studying? “Look no further! Our customized paid notes will help you achieve your study goals quickly.

Literature Notes

– Varsha Singh

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A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth | A Suitable Boy Summary & Analysis

Indian Literature, Literature, Novel, Summary

Introduction

A Suitable Boy is one of the famous Novels of English Literature. So far as ‘A Suitable Boy’ is concerned, it is written by a great Indian Novelist and poet Vikram Seth. It is a story of four families in India in the early 1950s after British occupation has ended and India and Pakistan partition has taken place. Over 1400 pages in length. It is a family saga. Critics praised ‘A suitable Boy’ for its panoramic look into India’s culture norms, as well as its combination of satire and romance. The novel took more than a decade to complete. Due to its length, social scrutiny, and realistic style. A suitable Boy, is often compared to George Eliot’s Middlemarch.

The novel is, in fact, the idea of arranged marriage that is implied in the title. A great effort is put forth on the part of a family to find a Suitable Boy for their unmarried daughters. The central character of the novel, Lata Mehra question how a woman could marry and live with a man she could not love because she knew nothing about him.

About Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth is among the most celebrated Indian novelists and poets. He was written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as – Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman’ and Crossword Book Award among his world-famous novel included – A Suitable Boy, An Equal Music, and Two lives. In addition to The Golden gate, Seth has written other works of poetry including – Mapping, The Humble Administrator’s Garder, All You Who Sleep, Tonight, and Three Chinese Poets. His children’s book, Beastly Tales from Here and There consists of 10 stories about animals.

Themes of A Suitable Boy

A Suitable Boy’s themes include the politics of personal prejudice and forgiveness, conflict amidst social groups and families, changing racial norms, unexpected violence, and inter-generational connectedness. The idea comes from the Indian tradition of arranging marriages for eligible young girls with several points that comprise the ideal math.

First, the boy must be of the same religion as the girl. This becomes the main hind race between Lata, a Hindu, and Kabir, a Muslim. The only way they could have married was to elope and marry without their parent’s permission.

Another consideration is the caste or social standing of the boy and his family. Much of that is based on appearances.

Central Character of A Suitable Boy

Lata is the central character of the novel. She is the younger daughter of Mrs. Rupa Mehra, a widow. She is first seen at the wedding of her sister Savita to Pran Kapoor. Lata is a student at university. She has a quick mind and is quite an idea of an arranged marriage like that of her sister where the couple knows nothing at all about each other. Her attitude is typical of the young Indian population after the separation of India and British. Although Lata is free to go to the university and shopping with friends unaccompanied, she recognizes that there is still limitations placed on girls that are not placed on boys.

The setting of The Novel

The novel is set in the early 1950s. This was an eventful period for independence from the Britishers in 1947 and resolved several massive Hindu-Muslim conflicts that resulted in the new country of Pakistan being established. It is set in Brahmpur, India, a fictional town.

Summary Of A Suitable Boy

A Suitable Boy concerns the fortunes and trials of four elite families over the course of 18 months: the Mehras, The Kapoors, The Chatterji, and The Khans. It especially focuses on the plight of 19-year-old Lata Mehra a talented student at the local Brahmpur University. Throughout the Saga, Lata must decide if she is willing to marry the young Muslim man Kabir Durrani. She loves and thus defies her stern, wealthy Hindu mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra. While arranged marriages have been the norm across India for dozen of generations, in the more secular and learned society led by Jawaharlal Nehru, Lata is starting to feel that she can choose for herself who her husband would be.

Lata recently saw her sister Savita, marry an up-and-coming professor at the local university. His name is Pran Kapoor and Rupa Mehra blessed the marriage only because Pran comes from a well–respected and wealthy family. Privately, Lata questions whether the two will ever be truly happy as they were forced into a marriage without ever getting to know one another.

Lata knows that Kabir, the Muslim man she loves, isn’t A Suitable Boy according to her mother and that the two will never be allowed to wed, still, she can’t stop feeling a great passion for Kabir. He is incredibly handsome and kind, and he has inherited great intelligence from his father Dr. Durrani, who is highly accomplished in mathematics at the university. Better still, Kabir is also a star on the university cricket team. Lata’s older brother Arun is married to Meenakshi, the daughter of a prosperous Muslim family, but Lata is all to aware that she is not afford the same privileges as a man, for a woman to choose to marry across religious lines is unprecedented.

Only one day, one of Rupa’s spies reports to her that Kabir and Lata have been walking around Brahmpur University in public. Rupa is scandalized at this news – if word got out that her daughter consorted with Muslims, no prominent Hindu family would want to talk with her. To keep Lata away from Kabir, Rupa hastily plans a trip to Calcutta which is a hundred miles southeast of Brahmpur.

In Calcutta, Rupa Mehra sets her daughter up with various Hindu boys who she deems worthy of their caste. Lata’s mother digs up are absolute duds. Not all of them are awful. Amit Chatterji, a well-known poet, and the writer gets along well with the worldly and cultured Lata but is probably gay. However, Amit’s father is a prominent judge and his mother is a polished socialite. Lata is also set up with Harsh a Hindu man who really likes her and whom she deems tolerable but slightly bring. He owns a thriving shoe company.

In the background of Lata’s marital decision is the foreground for the rest of the world politics. There is a great controversy throughout the country when a Mosque is to be built near a Hindu holy site. After several riots, the project is abandoned. Various family members are also caught up in different political happenings, including the movement for equal rights for the Untouchables and the ending of the Zamindar System. Within the Kapoor family, the main conflict is that the youngest son, Maan Kapoor, has fallen in love with an infamous prostitute name Saeeda Bai.

As the story concludes, Lata Mehra finally makes her decision. She will not marry Kabir. Instead, she marries another Suitable Boy – Someone who is good enough, but not someone she’s in love with Haresh.

Conclusion

Thus, the novel A Suitable Boy is a Satiral examination of national political issues during the years leading to the post-independence national elections of 1952. The Hindu-Muslim strife case discrimination land reforms, the decline of feudal princes and landlords, and many such prevalent social issues are dealt with in the novel.

Are you struggling to keep up with your English Literature Coursework? Do you need detailed, customized notes to help you better understand the texts you’re studying? “Look no further! Our customized paid notes will help you achieve your study goals quickly.

Literature Notes

– Varsha Singh

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