Transcendentalism

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Vaidehi ma'am, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the concept of ‘Transcendentalism’. For further information Click Here.

Transcendentalism

Transcend means to go above, beyond something, here it means to go beyond our senses and understand the true nature of ourselves. Transcendentalism is a 19th century movement of writers and philosophers in New England. It is an American version of English romanticism. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker and Henry David Thoreau are pioneers of the movement. There are three major transcendentalist values: Individualism, Idealism and Divinity of Nature.

Q-1: Transcendentalists talk about the Individual’s relation with Nature. What is Nature for you? Share your views.

Answer:

In Transcendentalism ‘Nature’ is connected with two different concepts. First is the nature that can be considered as the nature in general in outer world trees, mountains, rivers, soil etc. The human being is also the part of nature it is not apart from it, instead we can say human is made out of the five elements: Prithvi(Earth), Jal (Water), Agni (Fire), Vayu (Air), Aakasha(Space) so we can't see the human as a different entity. And human beings are connected with nature in every way. For millions of years humans have been living in nature, so humans became a part of nature. When we go into nature we find peace there. So one should always be connected with nature. One very good Bollywood song ‘Sadda Haq Aithe Rakh’ that is based on this concept is from the movie ‘Rockstar’(2011). Here are a few lines from the song. The lyrics are by Irsad Kamil and it was sung by Mohit Chauhan.

“ओ इको फ्रेंडली, नेचर के रक्स मै भी हु नेचर

रिवाजो से समाँझो से क्यों

तू काटे मुझे क्यों बांटे मुझसे इस तरह

क्यों सच का सबक सिखाए जब सच सुन भी ना पाया

सच कोई बोले तो तू नियम कानून बताये

तेरा डर. तेरा प्यार. तेरी वाह. तू ही रख रख साले

सद्दा हक़, एथे रख सद्दा हक़, एथे रख.”

Second meaning of nature can be taken as the nature of oneself, soul or conscience of the human. It is quite a difficult idea to understand. Transcendentalism is more about individualism. So it also gives the idea about understanding oneself, our own behaviour and thought process about ourselves matters more than the society. The concept is against the traditional ideas and blind following of that. Humans should have their own true idea of idealism and one should follow one's intuition rather than the societal values that are imposed by the society.

Q-2: Transcendentalism is an American Philosophy that influenced American Literature at length. Can you find any Indian/Regional literature or Philosophy that came up with such similar thoughts?

Answer:

In Indian philosophy there are so many references to this philosophy. For example “Aham Brahmasmi” means I am the God. That is the concept of the soul that is in the every living being there is God. Another concept is “Tatvamasi” means that I am that. It conveys that I am that means God. These concepts are from upanishads where there is a detailed analysis of oneseld as an individual. In Indian philosophy it was a long time where we thought of these type of philosophies, that gives more importance to the individual self. 

There is one book also has been written on this concept in Gujarati language called “Tattvamasi” that talks about the journey of a man who becomes believer out of atheist. One movie adaptations is also made on that novel named ‘Reva’ in Gujarati cinema. Same philosophy one can find like individualism and the relation between human and nature.

Q-3: Write in short about your understanding of the following essays according to the topics given:"The Great Lawsuit" by Margaret Fuller.

Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. In her essay ‘The Great Lawsuit’ she talks about equality in reference to women's rights. The essay was published in 1843, during that period in America there was discrimination between men and women. So on that topic she wrote an essay.

In the essay we find the early way of feminism. Fuller argues that men and women should have the same rights, including the rights to own property and vote, she also speaks about the slavery. She talks about empowering women through inner strength. She says that women should get out of societal norms and traditional expectations. She talks about familial relationships, especially about the relationship of father and daughter and when the daughter gets married, she has to sacrifice her education then nobody supports her. She says women should become independent from men's influences.

In the discussion she gives examples of Johann Wolfgang Goethe's female characters like Mariana, Macaria, and Mignon, who are really strong individually and represent unique aspects of femininity. In the essay she also talks about Queen Victoria, after whom the whole age is named. In conclusion we can say that through this essay Fuller wants to send a message to the society that women and men are equal and women should fight for their rights.

Words: 833

Photos: 04

References:

Black, Brian. “The Character of the Self in Ancient India.” Google Books, Google, 2007. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024. 

Fuller, Margaret. “The Great Lawsuit.” Margaret Fuller--The Great Lawsuit, archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/fuller/debate.html. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024. 

Kamil, Irshad. “Sadda Haq Lyrics साड्डा हक़ -Rockstar-Mohit Chauhan.” LyricsMama, 20 May 2023, lyricsmama.com/sadda-haq-lyrics-rockstar-mohit-chauhan/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2024. 

Film Review: 12th Fail

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about a film review on a movie "12th Fail".

Introduction: 

The movie "12th Fail" is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama. Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced, wrote, and directed the film, which is based on Anurag Pathak's 2019 non-fiction book of the same name. The story revolves around the real-life journey of Manoj Kumar Sharma, who triumphed over severe poverty to achieve the rank of an Indian Police Service officer. Vikrant Massey plays the lead role, supported by a cast including Medha Shankar, Anant V Joshi, Anshumaan Pushkar, and Priyanshu Chatterjee.

Plot of the movie:

Manoj Kumar Sharma, born in Chambal, faces hardships as his father, an honest clerk, is suspended. Despite early attempts at cheating in exams, a twist by DSP Dushyant Singh changes the course. His dreams of becoming a DSP face setbacks, but with support from unexpected quarters, he redirects his efforts towards UPSC. Along the way, he overcomes personal and academic challenges, including a turbulent relationship. Manoj's determination prevails as he becomes an IPS officer, marries Shraddha, and supports his friend Pritam's pursuit of a career in reporting.

Theoretical Framework:

Caste Dynamics : 

Here in the movie we find that the main character belongs to the “Sharma”. Which is considered as a role model in the Indian good grading system. In many contexts we find the “Sharma ji ka beta” doing a great work compared to any other children in the school. In the very first scene we find the teaching about honesty by the father of Manoj Sharma. He has a government job and his father was also a soldier. So it still can't be considered as a backward class in India. But in social norms without money it is hard to survive.

In backward villages the education system is too bad. One can also observe the power of local politicians in the movie, how they run the illegal business legally in the local area. Fighting against the wrong things seems to develop in heritage. But if a person would have belonged to a tribal or social backward class the scene would be different, the journey would be different. 

Feminist Reading:

When we look at the movie applying feminist approach, there is very less importance given to the female character. The female protagonist asks permission from her father to meet the person she loves and asks permission of leaving the town when she already had cracked IRS exams. When we put any male character there, it would be a different picture. Men never have to ask permission for doing something. The expectation of society towards ideal women can be observed in the movie. When Shraddha says “If you become IPS officer or flour mill worker I will marry you” shows that society wants to make women like this. The woman who takes care of her husband in every situation. But Shraddha also proves herself by cracking the exam, becoming independent that shows the positive side of the story.

Contextualization:

In the very first scene in the movie the protagonist is shown making chits for the exam. And at the school teachers write paper on the board that shows the education system of backward villages in India. And the sad reality is that these types of schools are run by politicians who are in power so it becomes difficult to take actions against them. Even in several scenes the local transport system is also in the hands of that politician. This shows the harsh reality of India. And it is quite true that in many villages even in the cities these types of activities are still happening. Nowadays education has become a business where private universities are selling degrees. For example in our Gujarat there are several colleges that give the degree certificate of B.Ed without caring for the training or regular classes. As we know it is a training and if these types of teachers come into the classes of the next generation where would the next generation go? So it shows the reality of the education system of India.

Nowadays there is a trend of saying that I am preparing for government exams. There are lacs of coaching institutes that run only on these exams. But the question is: Can government recruit these many people ? If not then what about those who fail. India is a country of young people but are we producing students who can get jobs in the market? No then where the youth is going. And in the exams like IAS and IPS, it is rare that someone can clear it, because they are the toughest exams in India. But still there are too many people who are preparing for these exams.

There is one dialogue in the movie that says “ If I can't become a sun who shines the whole earth I will become a lamp and shine the street.” But these types of mentality can be rarely seen in aspirations. Most of the people want to be an officer because of the power, uniform and facilities. Their inspiration is to be powerful, not serving the country. When these types of people become an officer what change will they make in the society because they themselves are corrupted.

Thematic Study:

In the movie the main theme we find is education and struggle. Second, we can observe love and relationships. As the title of the movie suggests, the journey from 12th fail to IPS officer. From the beginning we observe the school system and then the competition in getting government jobs too. We observe the education system, students don't know that they are cheating. Teachers themselves write a paper on the board to maintain a good result for the school. This shows the reality of the real world and getting out of that system is too difficult for people like Manoj, who belongs to a lower-middle class family. But still he struggles and proves his true calibre.

There is another theme like a relationship. How mutual understanding can help people to grow. Not only the live but friendships also can have its own level that is shown in the movie. In the family, We can also observe that they support Manoj even in very difficult situations. Hardship and struggle make him go all the way towards success.

Comparative Analysis:

If we compare the film with the film ‘Super 30’ by Vikas Bahl we can observe many similarities and differences. In both of the movies we find the same theme education, same struggle and same background. This film is rather contemporary to us and “Super 30” is the story of the late 20th century. 

In “Super 30” there is a close discourse of the class system that we don't observe in this movie. In “Super 30” there is a fight of several castes too that even the clever students are not able to study because of poetry as well as the caste conflict but in “12th Fail” there is only a fight to the corruption and poverty. In both the films, there is a reference to the privatisation of the educational institutions and the people who have money can get better education or coaching compared to the poor people. In both the movies there is a family support. 

Conclusion:

Overall the movie is quite good. It is a story of a common man becoming an IPS officer, journey to zero to the hero. Comparatively the movie has an impact to take society forward. It highly criticised the educational system and it also throws light on bad usage of political power. The movie gives a good message and also gives a realistic touch of Manoj Sharma’s struggle. I would give 7.5 out of 10 stars to the movie.

Words: 1307

Photos: 07

Refrences:

Super 30. Directed by Vikas Bahl, 12 July 2019.

12th Fail. Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 27 Oct. 2023.

Practical Criticism - I.A. Richards

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the 'Practical Criticism' by I.A. Richards. Click here for more details.

In this blog I am going to problematize the poem finding its literal meaning and then try to justify the poem. Through doing such activities one can learn how can a artistic work be criticized without any biasness and prejudices about the writer.

The Poem: Operation Equality by Nirav Patel

Questions that arise in the first reading:

1. For whom does the poet use "ભોળા ભાઈ" ?

2.What does poet want to say through બેફામ અરાજકતાવાદી બનીને ?

3. What does poet want to convey by saying that "playing with a tribal boys in the school" ?

4. In this lines "સ્વતંત્રતા - સમાનતા - બંધુતાના આદર્શોના ધજાગરા ફરકાવતાં હતાં અંજારનાં ભોળાં ભૂલકાં" word "ધજાગરા" has two meaning; first is ruining or hosting flag.

5. "તું પાવન પ્રકોપથી એટલો પાગલ કે સાચું એપિસેન્ટર પણ ના ગોઠવી શક્યો" through these poet asks earthquake that it can't make even an epicenter. How can earthquake non-living thing arrange epicenter ?

6. What does poet mean by saying "અમે એક આંખ રાતી તો એક આંખ રોતી રાખીએ છીએ" ?

Now let's try to justify the above problems in literal reading.

In the first stanza poet says "ભોળા ભાઈ" to the earthquake because it can not change the people's mindset through the disaster. Poet says to the earthquake through satire that this easily people will not learn the lesson of equality.

By saying "બેફામ અરાજકતાવાદી બનીને'' poet says that by being a dictator, earthquake can't teach a lesson of equality to the people. By killing innocents with culprits, the earthquake is not bringing any justice, rather it is making it worse. 

The third question one can justify is that even school boys of tribal cast know what is wrong in the society, what type of injustice and discrimination they have to face. So the poet says that earthquake can learn those things from tribal school boys.

Finding the epicentre of an earthquake is a work of humans but by criticising that it occurred in Kutch, instead it should occurred in Gandhinagar or Delhi where all the political leaders are and it should affect them instead of innocent people of Kutch, earthquake made a mistake that poet wants to convey through these lines. 

Fourth question about the word "ધજાગરા" means here in the context that young students are singing the songs of independence, brotherhood and equality while hoisting the flag. But it also can be read that these words are just written in the constitution but in reality still people have to face discrimination.

Last question poet says "અમે એક આંખ રાતી તો એક આંખ રોતી રાખીએ છીએ" can be justified as that poet and people of his community are angry with people who discriminate on the basis of casteism and they are also unhappy because so many innocent people died in the earthquake.

The Aim of the Poem:

It is written to the reference to the 26th January 2001 in Bhuj. As the title suggests, ‘Operation Equality’ poet talks about equality. But the tone of the poem is rather satirical on the social structure. Through scolding the earthquake poet talks about the sad reality of tribal and scheduled caste. How they faced discrimination for many years. He says that it is not easy to change the mentality of the people, they still have the same views that they had a century before.

T.S. Eliot - Tradition and Individual Talent

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the T.S. Eliot's essay 'Tradition and Individual Talent'. Click here for more details.

"Tradition and the Individual Talent" (1919) is an essay written by poet and literary critic T. S. Eliot. The essay was first published in The Egoist (1919) and later in Eliot's first book of criticism, The Sacred Wood (1920). The essay is also available in Eliot's "Selected Prose" and "Selected Essays".

Question 1:

How would you like to explain Eliot's concept of Tradition? Do you agree with it? What do you understand by Historical Sense?

(Use these quotes to explain your understanding.) "The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past but of its presence." This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal, and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional.

Answer:

T.S. Eliot has given a new definition of the word 'Tradition'. when we look at the word 'tradition' it reflects a negative tone. When we comment something that is tradition people we consider it as a bad or old beliefs or old way of looking, but Eliot says that though we use the word in negative context most but still we preserve our traditional values.

In this essay he says that having a tradition means a type of historical sense, looking back from the writings of Homer and other Greek writers to our contemporary world. He says that one should not follow anything blindly but one should know the history and major writings as a inspiration. He adds that any writer or poet can contribute a very little amount his writings to the huge pile of best works of all time. According to him poet should forget his individuality for the art sake.

By saying that "not only of the pastness of the past but of its presence" he implies that past is not a mere past but it has its significance to cotemporary world too, when one look at the past one should look at it with the context to the present. One should develop a perception which can look at the past with its significance in the present. Eliot argues that whatever any writer writes, it is related to historical or contemporary sense only it can' be out of that. He says that whatever literature is produced can be evaluate with comparative study of the traditional literature or any major writer of the past.

In the essay he also talks about the "historical sense" which is temporal and timeless. Through this he tries to give the quality of the historical sense, he says there are two major time that exist one present and second is when any historical event occurred, when we read any history we should look at its significance today's world by that historical sense exists in the past as well as in the present. For that he gives an example of WW1 and its effects on the people of Europe, so when one read the literature or history one should study the whole history and its effect on the European society.

Question 2 :

What is the relationship between “tradition” and "individual talent,” according to the poet T. S. Eliot?

Explain: "Some can absorb knowledge; the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum".

Explain: "Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry."

Answer :

According to T.S Eliot, tradition has more significance than individual talent. For that he seems against the romantics like Wordsworth and Coleridge. He says that any writer must study history with great efforts. One should know all the major literary writer from "Homer" to the contemporaries of the present age. Then one writer would be able to produce any literary work.

He argues that individual has a very less significance in front of the literary works that are produced by successful writers, he says that, to create any work of art, artist must loose his personal identity. Any writer can only contribute few drops to the ocean of the literature. By tradition he means that the history and world literature, one must acquire that knowledge first then one can produce any work of art.

By saying that "Some can absorb knowledge...." he argues that the scholarly or gifted people can absorb the knowledge but a slow leaner must work hard to learn the history or literary work. He gives example of Shakespeare that although he was not a scholar nor he was well educated, he produced quality of literature. Eliot say that Shakespeare has observed his own age and that is the reason behind his success. But every individual is not that talented who can observe the surrounding, so one must work hard to study the literature and historical sense.

"Honest criticism and sensitive...." By saying that Eliot gives importance to the work of art not the artist. He argues that the traditional writers have already contributed so many autistic works to the literature so any new write can contribute very less amount of work to it. He gives a new way to looking into the literature that any work of art should be evaluated alone without any information about the author. When any poet writes his poem he should forget about his individual entity. And any poem should be evaluated without any biasness about the poet.

Question 3 :

How would you like to explain Eliot's theory of depersonalization? You can explain this with the help of a chemical reaction in the presence of a catalyst agent, platinum.

Explain: "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality."

Answer:

T.S. Eliot has given more importance to the poem than the poet, who has written it. While any artist produce create any new art he/she must forget about himself, then he can produce qualitative literature. For that he gives an example of the equation of sulfuric acid. When the sulfuric acid is made there is a catalyst named platinum that does not seen in the sulfuric acid. Same thing he compare with the artistic mind. When any literary writer produce the work one must be unbothered by the feelings and emotions. Like platinum becomes poet's mind should be unaffected from his creation.

"Poetry is not a turning..." By saying this Eliot tries to explain that poetry is not your first emotions that arises but when poet analyses those emotions and look deep into that and detatch himself from that emotions, then one can write poetry in a real sense. He says that this understanding of emotions that is escaping from what real person is and then one can express himself wholly.

Question: 4 

Write two points in which one can write a critique of T.S. Eliot as a critic.

Answer:

1. T.S. Eliot gives more significamce to the traditional writer or well reader of them. He denies the Romantics' point of view. While one can question that Can't lay man produce any literature, who wants to just express his genuine feelings towards any emotions or experience.

2. Eliot does not give any importance to the individualism. While one does not care for individual then one tends to follow the mass, and we may become biased on certain idea when one reads few things. Then one may he not able to express his genuine feelings because already there is some definitely of that already exist.

Words: 1291

photo: 1

Videos: 4

The Great Dictator

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the movie 'The Great Dictator'. Click here for more information.

'The Great Dictator' is a movie, released on October 15, 1940.  It was an American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin. In this movie Chaplin satirizes the dictators of his contemporary time, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. In the movie Chaplin plays both leading roles: a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber.

The movie became very popular among the audience and also became Chaplin's highest grossing film commercially. Modern critics praised the movie, the film is considered as a best example of satirical work. When movie was released, the dark side of the Hitler was not seen by the common people, but somehow Chaplin saw the reality behind the curtain, and tried to show it through the cinema. 

Let us discuss some of the frames in the movie and try to understand the concept behind the scenes.

In this scene, Chaplin imitates the Hitler's ways of delivering the speeches. In this scene he also tried to show that how he controls the audience through his hand gestures. In the background in the street, the speech is going on throughout the movie. During those days they used to distribute free radios to common people so they can easily spread their propaganda.

In two frames above there is a clear image that Chaplin wants to show that how politicians and public figures are too much camera conscious. There was a fake smile on his face and then as soon as the photo was clicked the behaviors is changed. In the movie he cleans his hands after carrying a baby in his hands. This shows the fakeness of these type of propaganda. In the same way we find our contemporary politicians clicks photos in such ways to show their fake innocence to the people.

Throughout the movie whoever meets Hynkel, one would speak "Hail Hynkle" and raise one's hand like the statue in the above picture is shown. It shows the that how these type of people want to make people slaves. This statue satirizes that even the statue has to respect the dictator. And if you want to think, do the hand gesture first. There is also a cross symbols which represent the symbol of Nazi party.

This pictures show how the Jews were being treated by the soldiers.  Jews have to live out of the society which is called 'Ghetto', where these type of soldiers would come and do whatever they want. In above images taking fruits and vegetables from the shop forcefully, and when a woman protests against them, they throw tomatoes on her. We find similar type of situation in Indian context as well that how people have to face such consequences, people are considered as 'untouchables' and have to leave outside the society.

Soldiers write 'Jew' on the shop of people belong to that community, when a barber, the protagonist tries to erase it a soldier beats him brutally. This show the discrimination between different community and different behavior towards them. In contemporary society one can observe that how politicians used discrimination of caste, creed and religion to gain the vote. This fake propaganda still goes on in the 21st century as well and common people suffer through it. 

Dictators and few politicians do not treat others in a right way, they believe that they are the slaves and they use them as a tool. As one can observe in the above frame that for gluing the letter he does not use his own tongue, he takes help of the soldiers. This also showcase the mentality of such dictators.

In above picture on can observe that painter and sculptor are making a portrait of Hynkle, but he does not have to time for that so these artist have to sit there waiting for him to come then he remains there for some time and then he would leave and again they have to wait. This shows the disrespect for art. This shows that when one gain enough power, one would stop thinking about the others, not even the artist.

This is a time in the movie, when soldiers come to arrest the barber to his home and he and the female protagonist hide in the room and then camera focuses on to the cage where two birds are there in the cage. These show that when this type of dictator would gain the power, people would have to leave in the cages.

A comic scene at the railway station when Napaloni arrives, and others were preparing for it. When camera men come, they tried to look more confident and they wear fake smiles on their faces. In the camera they seem very friendly but after that they tried to look bigger and better then each other like the children. And just to satisfy their ego they could kill thousands of soldiers in the battle. This show the reality of these type of the people.

This is the last scene of the movie, when the "great" Hynkle is exchanged with the Jew barber and barber delivers a speech. In the speech Chaplin tries to give his message directly to the society about equality, peace and freedom. This speech is the essence of the whole movie and after this movie this speech has become very famous.

Literary writers have the x-ray vision that they can see what is happening behind the curtain. Chaplin was one of them and he wonderfully shows the power of the true artist, who can show real path to the society. Even after his death his message remains alive in his literature which shows the reality to the people.

Words: 970

Images: 15

Modern Times

This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the movie ‘Modern Times’. Click here for more information.

The Modern Times is a movie by Charlie Chaplin. It was released in 1936. It was directed, written and produced by Charlie Chaplin. This movie satirizes the impact of industrialization, capitalization and its impact on common peoples lives. It is a story of a factory worker Tramp, who suffers a lot in a capitalistic society. The movie shows the harsh reality of the common people of 20th century America.

The setting in the movie is a great depression period of USA. There is a huge difference between the rich and the poor. As we know during 20th century the power lies in the hands of the people who have the money. In the movie it is shown that how rich factory owners and politicians exploit the common man, they use them in a mechanical way. In the eyes of the rich people there was no value of a poor men's lives.

In the 20th century there were leaders who were described as dictators like, Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; Adolf Hitler, Führer of Germany; Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile; Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party; Benito Mussolini, Duce and Prime Minister of Italy; Kim Il Sung, Supreme Leader of North Korea. These dictators have influenced many people during their contemporary time in a way that people started to believe that they we their ultimate savior and without them world would be very bad place. Those incidents alarm us to inquire that may be we are also going into the same direction where, there is no way out and once such people acquire the power and made people their blind followers then history will be repeated and many innocent lives would suffer.

Let us discuss some of the frames in the movie which show the mirror of the their contemporary society.

In the very first frame Charlie tried to cover the importance of the time in the 20th century. It has become tool, which controls the human being. Time is the very entity that forces people to do certain thing. Time is the thing that makes human mechanical and inhuman. All the factory workers has certain time to complete their work and even for the sake of time they can not eat properly.

In the second frame we see that the herd of sheep is moving towards something and in the very next frame where the humans are also going in the same way, this shows that how in the 20th century people had to work. They had to reach at certain time and have to perform certain duty at the factory.

 

This frame is seems rather futuristic at that time, but now in the contemporary time it is true. A man sitting in his office controls the whole factory and make people work. At that time it is also shown that how the owner of the factory passes his time. He reads newspaper, he play a puzzle game and then he controls human being as a piece of the puzzle and he arrange them in the right order.

In this frame one can observe how workers had to work in an assembly line and how monotonous work they had to do in their contemporary time. It shows the dehumanizing effect of the 20th century world.

To save a time, companies try to make a new type of machine that save time of the workers, which they waste during lunch time. Now through this type of machine workers can eat while working continuously. This shows the the very little value of a human being, that one should not spend time even in eating.

This scene shows the very basic idea a whole movie that how industrialization affected the human lives, especially the working class people's lives. The humans are squashed through this type of advancement and lack of  human value.

Due to some misunderstanding Tramp ends up in the jail where he does a good work by helping the policeman to catch the escaping prisoners. In the jail he enjoys, there he does not have to find new job or work monotonously. When the policeman says that now he is free to go, he says "Can't I stay a little longer? I am so happy here." This shows that even the situation in the prison was good compare to the outer world in America in the 20th century for poor people.

It is the time in the movie when they see a dream of their own house, where they seem more focused on the food rather than any other things. So even the dream of the poor people are all about the basic human need : food, shelter and clothes, which government was not able to provide at that time.

This last frame of the movie shows that how they are tired of the struggles of life and running for jobs and escaping from the police. There is the the mountains and that is all about the hope that they still carry with themselves after all that suffering. This gives the motivation to the people to fight with the situation even if that get out of their hands.

Charlie Chaplin was courageous film maker who showed the reality of the America during that time, when everyone was singing good songs about the country. The movie shows the insights of the country which is famous for its advancement.

Words: 929

Pictures: 11