Journal of English Language and Literature (JELL)
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Feminine Angst in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath
No full textWomen have been struggling to liberate themselves from subjugation by their male counterparts from times immemorial. The various factors responsible for their suppression were misogyny, romantic glorification and patriarchy. Illogically romanticized, they are not permitted to play a significant role as independent, self-assured individuals and this was compounded by other unfair social, political and biological factors. As a result, they did not enjoy a contented position in society. History inclined to link man to wisdom and biological dominance and women were associated with confined concerns of household chores and childcare. This provoked some prominent women in America and England to launch a movement called feminism demanding equivalent rights and equal status for themselves. They also resisted the menacing power of the literature that portrayed a woman as a subordinate to patriarchy. To end this suppression and exploitation they set out to create a literature of their own. As such, most of the feminists got entangled in a twofold approach. On the one hand, they wanted an authentic voice to assert its sovereignty, and, on the other, to make their mark felt along gender defined lines, so as to mend laws governing their social, psychological and biological behaviour. Still, some of the women writers felt the brunt of male dominance and oppression so enormously that they developed the feelings of resentment and vengeance against them. In this, Sylvia Plath, a vigorous and highly competitive and self-centered woman of the fifties was no exception. The aim of the paper is to highlight that Sylvia Plath who at first relished the domination of her male counterparts, at the later stage of her life became a sworn enemy of male dominance and aggressively challenged the patriarchy. Her feminine angst transformed her from a lamb to a lioness hunting for men’s head
Howard Brenton’s Transliteration of Macbeth
No full textEver since the dawn of human civilization, incomparable Shakespeare shines with his incandescent luminosity through every word he wrote. The Bard of Avon is the most quoted writer in history. His plays have been translated into 50 languages. In the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations containing about 20,000 quotations, Shakespeare alone monopolises a staggering 60 pages (10 percent). The unique dramatist, with his insight into every aspect of human behaviour and emotion, packed his plays with nearly one million words, out of which 27, 870 are different words, the highest vocabulary in history. Many words and phrases – Shakespeare’s encyclopedic knowledge of science, history, mathematics, classical literature, sociology, psychology, law, politics, music-reveal the vastness of his vocabulary in relation to various discipline, habits and style of the different sections of the people
The effect of instruction on learning refusals in EFL learners
No full textThe major aim of learning a second or foreign language is communication. In order to be a competent communicator, we must get familiar with the ingredients of speech and language. Speech acts are one of the principal elements and functional units of communication. In this realm, refusals play a key role. Due to their inherently face threatening nature, refusals are of an especially sensitive nature, and a pragmatic breakdown in this act may easily lead to unintended offence or breakdowns in communication. Refusals are also of interest due to their typically complex constructions. They are often negotiated over several terms and involve some degree of indirectness. While there are a great number of studies which examine certain speech acts, the amount of research on refusals is much more limited. The aim of this study is to investigate whether either of the instruction types, explicit vs. implicit, proves more efficient in improving pragmatic performance of Iranian EFL learners. For this reason, 45 male, military intermediate EFL learners all between19-25 years of age in a military language institute, in Tehran, Iran, were selected to participate in the study. A pretest/posttest design was adopted in this study. Having formed the three groups under investigation, (explicit, implicit and explicit-implicit) I measured all subjects’ pragmatic performance of L2 refusals through Discourse Completion Tests, DCTs. All groups were exposed to conversations from 'spectrum' English books which embody refusals. The findings proved the efficiency of explicit instruction over implicit one in increasing Iranian EFL learners' pragmatic performance
African Literature and Orality: A Reading of Ngugi wa Thiango’s Wizard of the Crow (2007)
No full textThis paper explores the relationship between orality and written literature in Africa. The paper interrogates the transformation of oral narrative into written texts and vice-versa. The paper specifically focuses on how Ngugi appropriates oral-narrative techniques commonly employed in African traditional societies in shaping the narration of events in this monumental novel. In this regard, the paper focuses on how the oral tradition in Africa influences the plot structure of Wizard of the Crow. The paper also looks at how Ngugi uses multiple narrators some of whom are observers as well as participants in unfolding the drama in the novel. These narrators, some of whom are categorically defined and the not well-defined, recount and render events happening in the novel orally in the presence of a live audience and in the process also embellish the story as they deem fit thereby rendering different versions of the same event The paper concludes with the observation that in spite of its being presented in the written medium of the novel, Wizard of the Crow indeed has generic resemblance to an extended oral narrative
Synchronizing the Primary Language Skills for Effective Communication
No full textThe primary language skills; listening and speaking skills are interrelated and unique language activities embedded in communication.The basic need for humans to engage in communication involves having a comprehensive knowledge and command of the language skills; listeneing, speaking, reading and writing. The processes of listening and speaking form the major focus of attention in this research. It require the individuals involved to speak eloquently and listen attentively. It makes them think critically, react confidently and respond appropriately to a communication programme. This paper therfore aims at highlighting listening and speaking skills as language skills that promote proficiency in English language communicaiton. Thus study discovered that the combinations of these skills consolidates the meaning in syllabications, stress and intonation in a communication program and as well reduce the complexities of effective communication
A Pip Into The Gulag: A Comparative Study of Incarceration In Alex La Guma’s The Stone Country And Zeleza’s Smouldering Charcoal
No full textThis paper is a comparative study of incarceration in two African novels. The concept of the modern prison as a form of deterrence and rehabilitation can be traced to 18th century Europe. With the passage of time however, many authoritarian leaders have come to regard prison houses as veritable places to forcibly confine their political opponents in their bid to desperately remove them from the socio-political space. Apart from a few criminals in the two novels many of the prisoners are prisoners of conscience. Ironically, as observed in the two works, while the unforgiving circumstance in the prison and the brutality of the prison guards have conspired to deepen the depravity of the criminal elements in the prison, the political prisoners have become even tougher in their conviction to fight the evil regimes that confine them there. The paper contends that rehabilitation and deterrence can hardly take place for the genuine criminals in the two novels because these items seem to have vanished from the administrative guidelines of the prison officials. The way forward therefore, the paper concludes, lies in good governance which will not only prevent the need for political repression or imprisonment but also see prison as a genuine instrument of reform
Tomorrow Words Today: A Spiritual Awakening
No full textSchizophrenia is an enabling disease that is caused by ailing factors that controls the way people think and behave. Some of the factors that are disabling are factors of having the disease. The causes of the disease may make an individual unable to sustain a normal life. It is where they are not able to function daily due to circumstance that they encounter. One must understand the challenges we face. Empathy towards others is a moral power that is a concern. Having schizophrenia is a painful experience to having to heal from the regret, the hurt and the loss. This book is about how to understand mental illness and it includes the relationships and values on how to live a healthy life. Spirituality is a given
Iranian Students’ Attitudes towards English as a Bilingual Language in Iran
No full textThe current study examined Iranian students’ attitudes towards English language in social and academic domains, and their attitudes toward English as part of a bilingual system in Iran. A 5-point likert scale questionnaire was used to investigate the extent for which students use English in their daily lives, its significance, students general attitude towards using English and their attitudes towards a bilingual system. The results indicate that a large number of participants (n=200), whom were selected among undergraduate students in Iran, reacted positively towards English language in general and having English as part of a bilingual system in particular. Data from the questionnaire indicates that students are interested in learning English for both social and professional reasons. Additionally, the results of this study highlight the greater preference of students in bilingual education which is statistically significant. Finally, some pedagogical implications related to the use of English are presented
A Comparative study of Shakespeare and Hafiz’s sonnets, based on the Horace’s motif of Carpe Diem
No full textCarpe Diem which means “enjoy, seize, use, and make use of” is a term taken from ode I. XI of Horace and has become a very common motif in literature ever since. Many poets throughout history have used this motif. But what are the main tenets of the motif in Horace’s odes? This article tries to show the main tenets of Carpe Diem according to Horace. These tenets are: tomorrow, living in the present and drinking wine; we try to apply the discussed elements on two sonnets of the greatest sonneteers of all times in two different countries. That of England’s William Shakespeare’s sonnet 73 and that of Persia’s Hafiz’s sonnet 473; we strive to see to what extent time has affected the concept of Carpe Diem in the poems; and to what extent the sonnets of Shakespeare and Hafiz followed the pattern of Horace’s Carpe Diem
The Man Who Never Returned From War: Considerations on Trauma Theory and History in Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier
No full textThis paper aims at analyzing the effects of trauma and history in Rebecca West’s novel The Return of The Soldier (1918) and, more specifically, how men and women got equally affected by trauma in the First War. Chris Baldry returns from the battlegrounds affected by shell-shock disorder and his traumatic amnesia prevents him from recollecting what his life was like before the War. The three women living in his house (his wife, whom he no longer recognizes; Chris’s ex-lover, Margaret, who still loves him, and his cousin, Jenny). In fact, Chris’s debilitated mental health comes as a shock to the three women in his life. The drama lived by these three women grows out of proportion as the psychiatrist, Dr. Anderson, intervenes in favor of recovering his patient’s “complete case of amnesia” and leads a trial-like interrogation of Baldry’s pre-war life. Their confessions generate hostility, but, rather than dividing the group of women, they promote reflection on the frailty and vulnerability of men.In symbolic terms, the house where the three women live represents a kind of “laboratory” from which they observe war and formulate their views of it. Through the complex psychological interplay among the women living under the same roof, war is shown from the “home front.” It may also be said that the three women act as listeners and, in so doing, they may offer considerable help towards Chris’s possible recovery