Creative Saplings
Not a member yet
504 research outputs found
Sort by
Exploring Third Gender Presupposition in the Play Seven Steps around the Fire by Mahesh Dattani
Full text linkAbstract: The factive presupposition admits the presence of hijra in Indian society. On the other hand, the non factive presupposition is not to consider the hijra community as human. The assumptions about the transgender are discriminating like transgenders are useful only on the occasions like childbirth and marriage. They are supposed to beg by wearing sarees on the streets and at the traffic signals. They are filthy, beggars, homeless and worthless. They are easily subjected to violence and sexual exploitation. They are not males or females. Thus, the assumptions about the third gender have become part of the study. Hijra, eunuch, transgender or third gender marrying a male in Indian society is a taboo. The same theme has been put forward by Mahesh Dattani in his play Seven steps around the Fire. He calls the hijra community an invisible minority. That\u27s why they don\u27t matter to normal people. Mahesh Dattani is the writer who speaks for such dejected, poor common folks in his plays. In line with the theme, this research paper is an attempt to explore the presuppositions of Indian contemporary society about the transgenders. The study has been undertaken to see if the assumptions are always derogatory, insulting, full of disgust. The researchers have studied the utterances of normal male and female characters in light of the pragmatic assumptions made by the characters whenever they express themselves about third gender in general. After the study it\u27s been found vividly that the majority of the characters are having a biased, discriminating attitude towards the third gender except seeking the blessings from the third gender on the auspicious occasions that take place in the family. The study has fathomed the crisis of third gender identity in Indian society
Poetry and Body Positivity: Listening to Sonya Renee Taylor’s The Body is Not an Apology
Full text linkThe article highlights Sonya Renee Taylor’s performance of The Body is Not an Apology, a spoken word poem asserting radical self-love for the body, no matter how it looks or how ill it is. It is a reclamation of space and voice hitherto denied to certain types of bodies, which are the primary loci of people’s identities. Activists, artists and writers often find in electronic media an avenue for raising awareness, for creating alternative definitions of (women’s) beauty and generating body-positive content to promote self-love and radical self-acceptance. The body is central to control and oppression, hence, feminist discourses and activism must necessarily consider the body as a foundation of self-love and self-acceptance. The most potent way to reach the people with such messages is not through theory or jargon, but through art or entertainment. In this context, contemporary performance poetry is of significant relevance. Rooted in a history of resistance, modern performance poetry has found platforms in digital and electronic media, in ways such that it can reach thousands in just a click of a button. One such performance poet is Sonya Renee Taylor, an African American woman who has emancipated thousands of women through her movement ‘The Body is Not an Apology’. The objective of the close reading (or watching) of this spectacular work is to highlight Taylor’s feminist attempt at resistance through art, body-positivity and self-love using her own body, voice and ingenious creativity. The paper highlights how performing the poem is an act of resistance itself.
Prem Rog 1982, Directed by Raj Kapoor
Full text linkPrem Rog 1982, Directed by Raj Kapoor, Written by Jainendra Jain, R. K. Films, Time 172 Minutes, Language Hindi, India
When Words are Used against You: The Case of Varavara Rao and the Right to Expression
Full text linkThis research paper is a legal examination of the work Captive Imagination: Letters from Prison, a collection of letters by the poet Varavara Rao. Written while in prison, the letters not only tell the story of his imprisonment, they also serve as a critique of the legal and judicial apparatuses of the Indian state. The inquiry investigates the laws under which Rao was allowed to be imprisoned multiple times, particularly under preventive detention laws and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The broad and vague definitions of these laws have been a subject of criticism. These laws will be examined with reference to the constitutional rights to free speech and personal liberty and the presumption of innocence. The paper carries an analysis of the literary imaginings of Rao, alongside the legal processes that helped in his confinement, to understand how law can be unjust while being just and vice versa. The letters of Rao reveal how prolonged detention without the trial affected him psychologically as well as existentially. Even in darkness, they resist the erasure of political dissent through poetry and philosophy. Captive Imagination turns the prison into a site that challenges the ideological content of the state narrative, helping to re-establish the dignity of the imprisoned subject. This legal-literary analysis demands a humane legal system, which should provide accountability. The need for the same has been highlighted in the context of political prisoners and dissenters within democracy
Exploring Binaries: The Melding of Realistic and Gothic Elements in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Full text linkThis paper explores “binary oppositions” inherent in the nineteenth century English novel, as epitomised in Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, through subversion and embracing of duality. The recognition of the novel as a fictive narrative form separate from general prose narratives, coincided with the Enlightenment bringing in a strict divisioning between fact and fiction, on the heels of the rise of scientific method. Simultaneously, the Gothic emerged as a reactionary genre, navigating through this ‘scientific’ overreach into the literary. What resulted is a narrative in which the lines between the real and the fantastical blur, where the factual and the fictional cannot be easily distinguished and where one fails to differentiate between reality and imagination. Realism, as opposed to Gothic fiction, deals with the real, trying to expose or portray life as it is. Emily Bronte’s only published novel, Wuthering Heights, is a juxtaposition of the two. The paper aims to establish the premise that Bronte subverts ‘binary opposites ’ to erase the differences between the real and the fantastical. This study has applied I.A. Richard’s ‘close reading’ as an interpretive strategy and Derrida’s deconstructive method to probe beneath the surface of the apparant. In addition, the research aims to establish how Bronte utilises ‘binary opposites ’ to achieve both realistic and gothic modes of storytelling. In conclusion, the study also looks at Bronte’s adoption of the gothic to voice out social injustices, in another example of the deconstructive strategy
I Feel Covid
Full text linkThe poem was written during the second wave of the pandemic which was characterized by isolation and morbidity of the infection
Bleak For Love
Full text linkThe poem expresses deep emotional pain and longing after the loss of a loved one. It begins with a sense of joy and completeness brought by their presence, which soon turns into sorrow and emptiness after their departure. The speaker questions the beloved’s broken promises and the transformation of love into grief. Despite the hurt, the speaker admits to loving them fully—even for their lies—and finds solace only in cherished memories that bring both laughter and tears. Ultimately, the poem concludes that the beloved came into their life solely to leave behind unforgettable memories