HSEB NOTES

‘Gretel’ by Garrison Keillor is an interpretation of the story "Hansel and Gretel" from the perspective of a female. The interpreter is Gretel who denies her cowardice in the original story. She claims that the depiction is distorted one. Gretel says that there was an understanding between her and her brother to sell their story to Grimm brothers. They had signed in a contract paper with an agreement to share fifty-fifty of the profit. But unexpectedly, Gretel found the story published the other day totally different order. The story depicts her as coward and her brother as a brave person. She claims the brother was, in reality, a coward not vice versa. It was her brother who wept time and again, and she had to carry him. The portrayal of he father and mother is also distorted. Father was not so kind hearted; he was a drunkard; he liked to watch bull fight. Mother was not cruel in any sense of the word. Gretel describes their parents leaving them in the forest as a na

This story Hansel and Gretel written by Jack Zipes from political point of view tells us about the struggle between the poor and rich group of people. The woodcutter and his family represent the poor class people who are forced to commit deeds because of their poverty. The witch represents the aristocratic class of people and also symbolizes as the entire feudal system. She is also symbolized as the greed brutality of the aristocracy which is responsible for the difficult condition of the poorer class of people. The killing of the witch is symbolical realization of the hatred felt by the poor people because of the oppression and exploitation on them by the aristocratic people. The writer depicts the class conflict and exposes the prejudice and injustice of feudal ideology. The writer emphasizes that the poor people must be optimistic and should react appropriately against the oppressors for the transition of the situation in their favor. 

The writer in his adapted story Hansel and Gretel presents the psychological analysis of the story. In this story, he expresses a unique truth of life that poverty and deprivation make human beings selfish and less sensitive to others sufferings. The writer tells us that when the children grow up, they must learn to live separately from their parents. Hansel and Gretel have left in the forest in order to give them a chance to learn to live independently. However, they have come back as they have not been able enough to live apart from their parents. The children have again been left in the forest for the second time and they’ve tried to solve the problem by concentrating on fool only. As they’ve acted like hungry animals rather than human beings, they have been the captive of witch. The house and the old witch being the source of food are symbolized as mother. This story gives us message that greed leads to destruction. Hansel and Gretel manages to get rid of the witch when they

Summary: A poor woodcutter used to live with his second wife and two children called Hansel and Gretel. Once, when the country was in famine father was really in trouble to maintain the family. His wife wasn’t worried even a little about the children. She rather insisted her husband to desert them into the dense forest. The woodcutter didn’t like the idea but he had to accept his wife’s proposal. The children overheard their parents and Hansel collected jacket full of shiny pebbles. The next morning, he dropped the pebbles on the way while going to the forest. When they reached the middle of the forest, the parents collected firewood, kindled fire and left the children promising to return soon with firewood. The children soon fell asleep. When they woke up, it was already dark. Gretel began to cry and Hansel consoled her. As the moon shone in the sky, they saw the pebbles shining brightly. Following the trail of pebbles they finally reached their home. After a few months,

Summary: After a difficult marriage with a drunken husband that ends in separation, Mrs. Mooney opens a boarding house to make a living. Jack, her son and Polly, her daughter live with her in the house, which is occupied by clerks from the city, as well as occasional tourists and musicians. Mrs. Mooney runs a strict and tight business and is known by the lodgers as “The Madam.” Polly, who used to work in an office, now stays at home at her mother’s request, to amuse the lodgers and help with the cleaning. Surrounded by so many young men, Polly ultimately develops a relationship with a rich thirty five years old Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney knows about the relationship, but instead of sending Polly back to work in the city, she monitors its developments. Polly becomes increasingly uncomfortable with her mother’s lack of intervention, but Mrs. Mooney waits until “the right moment” to intercede. First she speaks awkwardly with Polly, then arranges to speak with Mr. Doran on a Sunday mornin

In the short drama Purgatory , the writer WB Yeats expresses the following things: a. The crime of the father will be repeated by his son to an endless cycle of violence. b. Living beings can render help to the departed soul which suffers in purgatory. c. The living beings have to suffer the consequences of the sin committed by the dead while alive. Summary The old man was born in the ruined house. His mother was an aristocratic woman who fell in love with a groom and married him despite the opposition from her family. The old man’s mother died while giving birth to him. She didn’t know that her husband wasted all her money on alcohol, women and playing cards. The old man’s father destroyed the spirit of the house by doing wrong things. The old man wasn’t sent to school but was taught by a priest and by the wife of a servant. On being complained by his son that he had not sent him to school, he told him that he didn’t deserve to go to school because he was the son of an

Theme: Edgar Allan Poe's story The Tell – Tale Heart presents murderous act done by a man and confessions done later. The story shows how guilt forces a person to confess his crime. Summary: Edgar Alan Poe in his story The Tell‐Tale Heart shows the mystery of murder keeping the readers in great suspense up to end of the story. The narrator is very sensitive to hearing and denies the allegation of being as he is capable of telling his own story beautifully. The narrator was sharing a house with an old man keeping a very good relationship with him. He badly disliked the pale blue vulture like eyes of the old man which disturbed him very much. To get rid of the eye of the old man, finally he decided to kill him. He entered into the room of the old man with an aim to kill him for 7 nights. However, he came back each time without killing him because he found the vulture like eyes of old man closed. Since only the eye of the old man stimulates his anger, he couldn’t kill t

Theme: A child is born by Germaine Greer discusses on the matter of childbirth and childcare. She shows the differences in between the western society and the eastern society on the subject of the, pregnancy childcare and child rearing. She is of the opinion that the eastern society is better in comparison to western society. In the eastern society, the pregnant woman feels secure in pre-natal as well as post natal activities. This is hardly found in the western society. Summary: Germaine Geer in her essay A child is born discusses the state of pregnant women, different methods of having babies and compares the parents‐children relationship in modern west and traditional east societies. In traditional societies, there are different methods of having babies. These methods are extremely useful because they make having baby less frightening for the pregnant mothers. The traditional behaviors make the pregnant women forget their worries because they are helped by their husba

Summary Marsha Traugot, a social worker who worked for the prevention of cruelty against children in her essay, The Children Who Wait describes the state of parentless children in America prior to 1960, only healthy  white infants (babies) were considered to be suitable for adoption by wealthy childless white families. A non-white family, bi‐racial and single families were not considered adoptive. Handicapped, black and bi‐racial children were never considered adoptable even by the social organizations working in this field. However, after 1960, a great change came in adoption scene in America which upgraded the human value. Various factors like black civil rights moments, women’s movement , legalization abortion , birth control , changing social values, social science research and harsh economic realities of the foster homes contributed to bring the drastic change in the field of adoption and change in people’s attitude towards marriage, there was a scarcity of white babies i

Theme: Illene Kantrov's essay Women's Business depicts the business activities performed by women. She presents her logic that Women's business was related with cosmetic items and the techniques applied for the production of goods by them were traditional. She presents Lydia Pinkham as the precursor of women's business. Other women entrepreneurs also followed the path she showed. Though they followed her path, they could hardly become as successful as Lydia. Summary: Ilene Kandrov in her essay Women’s Business paints the portraits of Lydia E. Pinkham and other business women who have been successful in American business world. The women discussed in the essay were not only business women but also involved in social service particularly in educating people about issues and problems related to women. However it was clear that their interest in making money was more important than their interest in improving society. Most of the business women used lavish an

This historical and unforgettable speech was delivered by Martin Luther King Junior, a civil rights campaigner to a large crowd on 28th August 1963 in Lincoln’s Memorial Park, Washington DC. This speech was made on the occasion of 100 years of Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation which set the Negro slaves free from their slavery in America. In this speech king expresses that the people shouldn’t be judged based on the colour of skin but they should be judge on the basis of their intellectual capacity, wisdom and knowledge. The proclamation had brought a great hope to millions of Negro slaves living in America. They hoped that there would be no more injustice based on colour of the skin and they wouldn’t be captive as slaves anymore. But despite the declaration after 100 years, the Negro’s are still victim of social segregation and discrimination and deprived from enjoying the equal rights promised to them by American constitution, America hasn’t kept its promises made to Negro p

Theme: God’s Grandeur by an English poet G.M. Hopkins describes the majestic deeds of God. He claims that God is omnipresent (present everywhere) and omnipotent (the most powerful). The good deeds on earth are also the results of these qualities of God. Thought human beings continuously destroy nature, it is never spent. Summary: The world is full of the greatness of God. Due to His greatness, the world shines like ‘a shook foil’. It gathers to greatness, as it is full of resources. Despite this fact, human beings act adversely. They don’t follow the commands of God; rather they function to destroy the world. Earlier generations destroyed the earth and so is the case with the present generation. They act as if they are not rational creatures. As a result of their deeds, the earth and so is the case with the present generation, they act as if they are not rational creatures. As a result of their deed, the earth has become dry; it has the smell of human beings instead of its n

Theme: The last voyage of ghost ship by Gabriel Garcia Marquez a Colombia novelist presents the development of a boy to a young man. The events depicted however are not in chronological order: the writer has used stream of consciousness technique in the presentation of story. Summary: Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his story The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship which is written in Stream of consciousness style of writing describes the growth of an ordinary boy to an assertive (strong and confident) young man. Many years ago, at night in the month of March the boy saw very large ship without light and sound while moving towards sandy beach near the village the boy saw the ship breaking and sinking into the sea but he didn’t hear any sound. The boy thought that he had a bad dream in the previous night as he didn’t see any wreckage at the place where the ship broke into pieces. The boy saw the same ship appearing at the same place and destroying like previous year and he was sure t

Theme: “A Story” written by an Irish poet and short writer Dylan Thomas presents events from the perspective of a small boy. The boy narrates those happenings which he came across in his childhood. His description is full of humor and satire. The age people are shown as if they are stupid stuff. The writer has created the world of absurd people through a boy’s narration. Summary: This humorous story is narrated by a very young who is living with his uncle and aunt. In this story, the boy presents adults world from a child’s point of view. This story is about a day’s outline to Porthcawl by motor coach. In the first part of the story, the boy describes his uncle and aunt using metaphors and similes. The uncle was big and noisy whereas his wife was small and quiet who used to move on padded paws. The boy compares his uncle with a buffalo and a dismantle ship. He compared his aunt with her cat because of her quick and quiet movement and with a mouse because of her nibbling habi

Theme: “ Traveling through the Dark ” composed by William Stafford presents dual responsibilities of any person has possibility of facing: one self-entered and another community-centered. By the end, he moralizes that one has to make choice between the two, and such choice is also ways self-centered. Summary: American poet William Stafford in his poem “ Travelling through the Dark ” presents the conflicts between physical action and emotion and responsibility to take appropriate course of action even in critical situation. The poet also satires the self proclaimed nature lovers who are responsible for the difficult state of wild animals and environmental degradation. While driving on the edge of Wilson river road, once the poet saw a dead deer lying on the road. He stopped there to clear the road by pushing the deer off the road into the river as the road wasn’t wide enough. It was difficult to drive past the deer because the car might collide with the possible danger of