Chapter two of “Vendor of Sweets” starts with Jagan walking back home from his sweet shop. He passes by the Krishna dispensary and observes that the doctor is still busy with a patient. The lights at the Truth Printing shop are on, though the shop is closed. He resists the temptation to stop by Truth Printing to chat with Nataraj and walks on home. While walking, his thoughts flit through various things. He thinks about “problems of national improvement,” for instance, the benefits of using plates instead of leaves to dine. He passes by the statue of Lawley and stops to look at his son Mali, who is standing on the “other side of the statue” with a group of students. He spots Mali and walks away soon after so as not to “embarrass the boy.” Thoughts of his son occupy his mind for the remaining part of the walk to his house. When he gets home, he stops for a moment at the backyard to admire the stars in the sky before proceeding to the bathroom. The bathroom is described as “a shack, with a roof made out of corrugated sheets, and a door consisting of beaten-out tin fixed anyhow on a wooden frame.” The text states that “everything in the home has the sanctity of usage so that any improvement is not possible.”
The rest of the chapter talks about Jagan’s theories of “sound living” and how he practices them in his daily life. For instance, instead of using a regular toothbrush to brush his teeth, Jagan uses a twig “from a margosa tree” in his backyard. Also, he believes that the margosa flowers are even better than aspirin at relieving pain. It is stated, however, that his wife “lived her own life,” refusing to follow any of his “health-giving activities.”
Thursday, December 1, 2011
What is a summary for chapter two of The Vendor of Sweets?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
"Mistaken Identity" is an amusing anecdote recounted by the famous author Mark Twain about an experience he once had while traveli...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
De Gouges's Declaration of the Rights of Woman was enormously influential. We can see its influences on early English feminist Mary Woll...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed refle...
No comments:
Post a Comment