Ode on a Gracian Urn by John Keats

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

                             -John Keats

                   A man is whispering sweet nothings to a Grecian urn, an ancient Greek pot that is covered in illustrations. He thinks the pot is married to a guy named "Quietness," but they haven’t had sex yet, so the marriage isn’t official. He also thinks that the urn is the adopted child of "Silence" and "Slow Time."
                   Then the speaker gives us the urn’s profession: it’s a "historian," and it does a much better job of telling stories than the speaker possibly could. The speaker looks closer at the urn and tries to figure out what’s going on in the pictures that are painted on it. Illustrated on the urn is some kind of story that might involve gods, men, or both. It looks like a bunch of guys are chasing beautiful women through the forest. People are playing pipes and beating on drums. Everyone looks happy. The scene is chaotic and the speaker doesn’t know quite what’s happening.
                   Not only is the urn a better storyteller than the poet, but the musicians in the illustration have sweeter melodies than the poet. The poet then tries to listen to the music played by the people in the image. That’s right: even though he can’t hear the music with his ears, he’s trying to listen to it with his "spirit." He looks at the illustration of a young guy who is playing a song under a tree. Because pictures don’t change, the man will be playing his song as long as the urn survives, and the tree will always be full and green.
                   Then the speaker addresses one of the guys who are chasing a maiden, and he offers some advice: "You’re never going to make out with that girl, because you’re in a picture, and pictures don’t change, but don’t worry – at least you’ll always be in love with her, because you’re in a picture, and pictures don’t change."
                   The speaker thinks about how happy the trees must be to keep all their leaves forever. It’s always springtime in the world of the urn, and every song sounds fresh and new. Then he starts talking about love and repeats the word "happy" a bunch of times. He is jealous of the lovers on the urn, because they will always be lusting after each other. He thinks the best part of being in love is trying to get your lover to hook up with you, and not the part that follows. We’re starting to think that the speaker needs a cold shower. The word "panting" threatens to send the poem careening into X-rated territory.
                   Things were getting a bit steamy, but now the speaker has moved to a different section of the urn. He’s looking at an illustration of an animal sacrifice. This is pretty much the cold shower he needed. A priest is leading a cow to be sacrificed. People have come from a nearby town to watch. The speaker imagines that it’s a holy day, so the town has been emptied out for the sacrifice. The town will always be empty, because it’s a picture, and pictures don’t change.
                   The speaker starts freaking out a bit. He’s basically yelling at the urn now. Whereas before he was really excited about the idea of living in the eternal world of the illustrations, now he’s not so sure. Something about it seems "cold" to him. He thinks about how, when everyone he knows is dead, the urn will still be around, telling its story to future generations. The urn is a teacher and friend to mankind. It repeats the same lesson to every generation: that truth and beauty are the same thing, and this knowledge is all we need to make it through life.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

SENSE and SESIBILITY

                             -Jane Austen

                   Sense and Sensibility was Austen's first published novel; its first edition came out in three volumes in 1811, and the novel was reasonably well-liked and successful. The novel was initially attributed to "A Lady"; her later novels also neglected to mention Austen's name as author, and instead are credited to "the author of Sense and Sensibility," or another one of Austen's several successful books.

                   The Dashwood family is introduced; Mr. and Mrs. Dashwood and their three daughters neither live at nor land Park, an estate in Sussex. Unfortunately, Mr. Dash wood’s wife and daughters are left with very little when he dies and the estate goes to his son, John Dashwood. John and his wife Fanny have a great deal of money, yet refuse to help his half-sisters and their mother.

                   Elinor, one of the Dashwood girls, is entirely sensible and prudent; her sister, Marianne, is very emotional and never moderate. Margaret, the youngest sister, is young and good-natured. Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters neither stay at nor land for a few months, mostly because of the promising friendship developing between Elinor and Edward Ferrars, Fanny's shy, but very kind, brother. Elinor likes Edward, but is not convinced her feelings are mutual; Fanny is especially displeased by their apparent regard, as Edward's mother wants him to marry very well. The Dashwood meet Mrs. Jennings, Sir John's mother-in-law, a merry, somewhat vulgar older woman, and Colonel Brandon, a gentleman and a bachelor. The Colonel is soon taken with Marianne, but Marianne objects to Mrs. Jennings attempts to get them together, and to the "advanced" age (35) and serious demeanor of the Colonel.

                   Marianne falls and twists her ankle while walking; she is lucky enough to be found and carried home by a dashing man named Willoughby. Marianne and Willoughby have a similar romantic temperament, and Marianne is much pleased to find that Willoughby has a passion for art, poetry, and music. Willoughby and Marianne's attachment develops steadily, though Elinor believes that they should be more restrained in showing their regard publicly.

                   One day, the Middleton, the Dashwood, and Willoughby are supposed to go on a picnic with the Colonel, but their plans are ditched when Colonel Brandon is forced to leave because of distressing news. Willoughby becomes an even more attentive guest at the cottage, spending a great deal more time there than Allenham with his aunt. Willoughby openly confesses his affections for Marianne and for all of them, and hopes they will always think of him as fondly as he does of them; this leaves Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor convinced that if Marianne and Willoughby are not engaged, they soon will be.

                   One morning, Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, and Margaret leave the couple, hoping for a proposal; when they return, they find Marianne crying, and Willoughby saying that he must immediately go to London. Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor are completely unsettled by this hasty departure, and Elinor fears that they might have had a falling-out. Marianne is torn up by Willoughby's departure, and Elinor begins to question whether Willoughby's intentions were honorable. But, whether Willoughby and Marianne are engaged remains a mystery, as Marianne will not speak of it.

                   Edward comes to visit them at Barton, and is welcomed very warmly as their guest. It is soon apparent that Edward is unhappy, and doesn't show as much affection for Elinor; when they spot a ring he is wearing, with a lock of hair suspiciously similar to Elinor's, even Elinor is baffled. Edward finally forces himself to leave, still seeming distressed.

Sir John and Mrs. Jennings soon introduce Mrs. Jennings' other daughter, Mrs. Palmer, and her husband to the family. Mrs. Palmer says that people in town believe that Willoughby and Marianne will soon be married, which puzzles Elinor, as she knows of no such arrangements herself. Elinor and Marianne meet the Middleton’s' new guests, the Miss Steels, apparently cousins; they find Miss Steele to be nothing remarkable, while Lucy is very pretty but not much better company. However, the Miss Steels instantly gain Lady Middleton's admiration by paying endless attention to her obnoxious children.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

OLIVER TWIST

                   -Charles Dickens

                   Oliver Twist was first published in 1837 in serial format, in Bentley’s Miscellany, which Dickens was editing at the time. Oliver Twist was Dickens’s second novel and his first real social novel, critiquing the harm public institutions inflicted on the poor. Dickens would come to be known as the master of this form, and would continue it in Nicholas Nickel, which he would write while still working on Oliver Twist. The novel tells the story of Oliver, a young orphan raised in a workhouse seventy miles outside of London, who runs away and finds himself taken in by thieves. It was written partially in reaction to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which, among other things, essentially took the rights of citizenship away from paupers, who were interred in workhouses and forfeited their political rights in order to receive aid.

                   Oliver Twist was well-received, and spawned many other orphan tales, although it was not as big a success as The Pickwick Papers. Many also criticized Dickens for his portrayal of criminals and prostitutes in the novel, which at the time was controversial. Oliver Twist has also become one of the most dramatized of Dickens’s works—it was produced in multiple theaters before the serialization was even complete.

                   Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan, Oliver, and his attempts to stay good in a society that refuses to help. Oliver is born in a workhouse, to a mother not known to anyone in the town. She dies right after giving birth to him, and he is sent to the parochial orphanage, where he and the other orphans are treated terribly and fed very little. When he turns nine, he is sent to the workhouse, where again he and the others are treated badly and practically starved. The other boys, unable to stand their hunger any longer, decide to draw straws to choose who will have to go up and ask for more food. Oliver loses. On the appointed day, after finishing his first serving of gruel, he goes up and asks for more. Mr. Bumble, the beadle, and the board are outraged, and decide they must get rid of Oliver, apprenticing him to the parochial undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. It is not great there either, and after an attack on his mother’s memory, Oliver runs away.

                   Oliver walks towards London. When he is close, he is so weak he can barely continue, and he meets another boy named Jack Dawkins, or the artful Dodger. The Dodger tells Oliver he can come with him to a place where a gentleman will give him a place to sleep and food, for no rent. Oliver follows, and the Dodger takes him to an apartment in London where he meets Fagin, the aforementioned gentleman, and Oliver is offered a place to stay. Oliver eventually learns that Fagin’s boys are all pickpockets and thieves, but not until he is wrongfully accused of their crime of stealing an old gentleman’s handkerchief. He is arrested, but the bookseller comes just in time to the court and says that he saw that Oliver did not do it.

                    The gentleman, whose handkerchief was taken, Mr. Brownlow, feels bad for Oliver, and takes Oliver is very happy with Mr. Brownlow, but Fagin and his co-conspirators are not happy to have lost Oliver, who may give away their hiding place. So one day, when Mr. Brownlow entrusts Oliver to return some books to the bookseller for him, Nancy spots Oliver, and kidnaps him, taking him back to Fagin.

                   Oliver is forced to go on a house-breaking excursion with the intimidating Bill Sikes. At gun point Oliver enters the house, with the plan to wake those within, but before he can, he is shot by one of the servants. Sikes and his partner escape, leaving Oliver in a ditch. The next morning Oliver makes it back to the house, where the kind owner, Mrs. Maylie, and her beautiful niece Rose, decide to protect him from the police and nurse him back to health.

                   Oliver slowly recovers, and is extremely happy and grateful to be with such kind and generous people, who in turn are ecstatic to find that Oliver is such a good-natured boy. When he is well enough, they take him to see Mr. Brownlow, but they find his house empty—he has moved to the West Indies. Meanwhile, Fagin and his mysterious partner Monks have not given up on finding Oliver, and one day Oliver wakens from a nightmare to find them staring at him through his window. He raises the alarm, but they escape. Nancy, overhearing Fagin and Monks, decides that she must go to Rose Maylie to tell her what she knows. She does so, telling Rose that Monks is Oliver’s half-brother, who has been trying to destroy Oliver so that he can keep his whole inheritance, but that she will not betray Fagin or Sikes. Rose tells Mr. Brownlow, who tells Oliver’s other caretakers, and they decide that they must meet Nancy again to find out how to find Monks.

                   They meet her on London Bridge at a prearranged time, but Fagin has become suspicious, and has sent his new boy, Noah Claypole, to spy on Nancy. Nancy tells Rose and Mr. Brownlow how to find Monks, but still refuses to betray Fagin and Sikes, or to go with them. Noah reports everything to Fagin, who tells Sikes, knowing full well that Sikes will kill Nancy. He does. Mr. Brownlow has in the meantime found Monks, who finally admits everything that he has done, and the true case of Oliver’s birth. Sikes is on the run, but all of London is in an uproar, and he eventually hangs himself accidentally in falling off a roof, while trying to escape from the mob surrounding him. Fagin is arrested and tried, and, after a visit from Oliver, is executed. Oliver, Mr. Brownlow, and the Maylies end up living in peace and comfort in a small village in the English countryside.

Middle March by George Eliot

MIDDLE MARCH

                   -George Eliot

                   George Eliot was an English novelist writing in the mid-19th century. Eliot was a woman. It’s a novel about social and political reform. But it's also a novel about love and marriage. And about trying and failing. It is, in other words, a huge and wide-ranging novel. Middlemarch is a huge book. In fact, it's of the longest novels ever written in English. But the reason that it was – and is – so popular is that there's something in it for everyone. Yes, it's about marriage, but it's also about science, politics, reform, and second chances.

                   Dorothea Brooke is a young woman living with her uncle and sister in the small-but-growing town of Middlemarch, England in around 1830. She's got all the makings of a Victorian heroine: she's beautiful, intelligent, and generous. But she's also so idealistic, it's almost laughable. Her main ambition in life is to take on a noble project – so she marries a dried-up old scholar named Casaubon, thinking that helping him in his research will be the project she's after. Not so much. Dorothea quickly discovers that he cares more for his own scholarly pursuits than he does for her, but she can't do much about it (this is in the days before divorce was allowed for anything other than adultery or physical abuse). Meanwhile, an idealistic young doctor named Tertius Lydgate moves to Middlemarch to set up a practice with his new-fangled ideas about medicine and science. But he encounters a lot of obstacles. First of all, most of the residents of Middlemarch have lived in the town for their whole lives, and they don't trust newcomers. Second, they don't trust new ideas, and Lydgate is all about scientific progress. Lydgate falls in love with Rosamond Vinci, the sister of one his patients, and marries her.

                   More unhappiness in marriage! Lydgate discovers that Rosamond is a superficial and selfish, and Rosamond learns that Lydgate will always be "married" to his work as a doctor. And then they run out of money because neither of them knows how to stick to a budget.
                   These two unhappy couples (the Lydgates and the Casaubon’s) are connected by Mr. Casaubon's young cousin, Will Ladislaw. Will is a handsome, young artist with a sparkling wit. Seriously, he sparkles. Lydgate finds Will to be sympathetic to his ideas about science and medicine, and since Will is an outsider in Middlemarch, too, they quickly become friends. Everyone seems to like Will. Especially Dorothea, who finds that he understands her in a way her husband doesn't. But don't worry – Dorothea's halfway to sainthood, and she's not about to cheat on her husband. The thing about marrying a much older man, though, is that they pass away and leave you free to remarry. But there's a catch: Mr. Casaubon was always jealous of the friendly bond between his cousin, Will, and his wife. So Mr. Casaubon leaves a codicil in his will (basically a postscript) saying that Dorothea will lose all the money she's supposed to inherit from him if she remarries Will Ladislaw. Dorothea hadn't even thought about marrying Will until she reads the codicil. She thought they were just friends!
                   After some serious thinking, and some misunderstandings (Dorothea thinks that Will likes Rosamond), Dorothea and Will decide to get married. They live happily ever after, despite the fact that they forfeit the large inheritance from dead Mr. Casaubon. And Rosamond and Lydgate live unhappily ever after – or, until Lydgate dies at a tragically early age, leaving Rosamond free to marry someone who's more willing to cater to her whims.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

FRANKENSTEIN

                   -Mary Shelly

                   Frankenstein is a unique novel in the canon of English literature. The novel seeks to find the answers to questions that no doubt perplexed Mary Shelley and the readers of her time.

                   Shelley presents a unique character in Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. It is as though there are two distinct halves to one character. Each half competes for attention from the other and for the chance to be the ruler of the other half. In the end, this competition reduces both men to ruins.

                   Shelley also is keenly aware of the concern that technology was advancing at a rate that dizzied the mind of early eighteenth century readers. Perhaps this novel is addressing that issue of advances created by men, but which fly in the face of "natural" elements and divine plans.

                   Frankenstein has three separate plot lines that circulate through the novel. The first is the Robert Walton plot line that introduces and closes the novel. Walton exhibits all of the emotions that we would expect from a person hearing such a fantastic tale. This plot line is like a picture frame, in which the accompanying story line is the virtual frame that surrounds the novel's main story. The second plot line, and most important, is the Victor Frankenstein plot line. This plot line takes up much of the novel's volume. Perhaps the most overlooked plot line, in terms of importance, is the monster's story. Mary Shelley gives the monster a voice, and the reader can sympathize with his pain and suffering at the hands of mankind. The portion of the tale dedicated to the story of the De Lacey family is part of the monster's story.

                   Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, writes a letter to his sister, Margaret Seville, in which he says that his crew members recently discovered a man adrift at sea. The man, Victor Frankenstein, offered to tell Walton his story.

                   Frankenstein has a perfect childhood in Switzerland, with a loving family that even adopted orphans in need, including the beautiful Elizabeth, who soon becomes Victor's closest friend, confidante, and love. Victor also has a caring and wonderful best friend, Henry Chervil. Just before Victor turns seventeen and goes to study at the University at Ingolstadt, his mother dies of scarlet fever.                  At Ingolstadt, Victor dives into "natural philosophy" with a passion, studying the secrets of life with such zeal that he even loses touch with his family. He soon rises to the top of his field, and suddenly, one night, discovers the secret of life. With visions of creating a new and noble race, Victor puts his knowledge to work. But when he animates his first creature, its appearance is so horrifying he abandons it. Victor hopes the monster has disappeared forever, but some months later he receives word that his youngest brother, William, has been murdered. Though Victor sees the monster lingering at the site of the murder and is sure it did the deed, he fears no one will believe him and keeps silent. Justine Moritz, another adoptee in his family, has been falsely accused based of the crime. She is convict To escape its tragedy, the Frankenstein’s go on vacation. Victor often hikes in the mountains, hoping to alleviate his suffering with the beauty of nature. One day the monster appears, and despite Victor's curses begs him incredibly eloquently to listen to its story. The monster describes his wretched life, full of suffering and rejection solely because of his horrifying appearance. (The monster also explains how he learned to read and speak so well.) The monster blames his rage on humanity's inability to perceive his inner goodness and his resulting total isolation. It demands that Victor, its creator who brought it into this wretched life, create a female monster to give it the love that no human ever will. Victor refuses at first, but then agrees.

                   Back in Geneva, Victor's father expresses his wish that Victor marry Elizabeth. Victor says he first must travel to England. On the way to England, Victor meets up with Chervil. Soon, though, Victor leaves Chervil at the house of a friend in Scotland and moves to a remote island to make his second, female, monster. But one night Victor begins to worry that the female monster might turn out more destructive than the first. At the same moment, Victor sees the first monster watching him work through a window. The horrifying sight pushes Victor to destroy the female monster. The monster vows revenge, warning Victor that it will "be with him on wedding night." Victor takes the remains of the female monster and dumps them in the ocean. But when he returns to shore, he is accused of a murder that was committed that same night. When Victor discovers that the victim is Chervil, he collapses and remains delusional for two months. When he wakes his father has arrived, and he is cleared of the criminal charges against him.

                   Victor returns with his father to Geneva, and marries Elizabeth. But on his wedding night, the monster instead kills Elizabeth. Victor's father dies of grief soon thereafter. Now, all alone in the world, Victor dedicates himself solely to seeking revenge against the monster. He tracks the monster to the Arctic, but becomes trapped on breaking ice and is rescued by Walton's crew.

                   Walton writes another series of letters to his sister. He tells her about his failure to reach the North Pole and to restore Victor, who died soon after his rescue. Walton's final letter describes his discovery of the monster grieving over Victor's corpse. He accuses the monster of having no remorse, but the monster says it has suffered more than anyone. With Victor dead, the monster has its revenge and plans to end its own life.

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

TOM JONES

                   -Henry Fielding

                   Henry Fielding presented the novel in three main sections with action taking place in the first half of the eighteenth century. The first section centers on life in the country at the estates of Squire Allworthy and Squire Western in Somersetshire (Somerset County) in southwestern England. In this section, the protagonist, Tom Jones, grows from infant foundling into a teenager who falls in love with the beautiful daughter of Squire Western. 
                   The second part of the novel takes place along roads, at inns, and in other locales between Somersetshire and London in the middle and late 1740s, when the Jacobite rebellion was under way and English soldiers were bracing for battles with their enemies (Jacobites), who were seeking to restore the House of Stuart to the English throne. In this section, the protagonist experiences many episodic adventures involving a diverse cast of characters that include a woman in distress, soldiers on the march, gypsies, untrustworthy lawyers, puppeteers, women admirers of the title character, and an impoverished robber. 
                   The action in the third part takes place mainly in London, where the title character searches for his beloved, fights a duel, has encounters with a possessive seductress, goes to jail, gains his freedom, and reunites with his beloved. This section ends when the principal characters return to Somersetshire.

                   The novel was innovative in its clear description and characterization, which offered more authentic representations of people and situations than texts of the time. Fielding's ambition in crafting the work was great. He was aware of the depth and breadth of Shakespeare's work, and endeavored to capture such complexity in his own writing. His purpose, to present human nature to the reader, is expertly managed, and those who criticize the novel are perhaps as blind to the realities of human behavior as they are to great literature. Fielding wanted Tom Jones to be a realistic hero – a man with appetites, strengths, failings and feelings whose transition into virtue took time and struggle, rather than being accepted as fact. Tom Jones is a process of character development, a comedy narrative, and an exploration of writing. The endeavor was bold, ambitious, dramatic and ultimately successful in forever changing the course of literature. Tom Jones might not have been responsible for any earthquakes, but it did bring a new freshness and stylistic diversity which was to entertain and challenge readers and writers for decades to come.

                   The narrator provides that his purpose in the text will be to explore "human nature." As such, his story veers between several extremes - comedy and tragedy, low and high society, moral and base.

                   Squire Allworthy, a man defined by his interminable kindness, returns to his Somersetshire estate to find a child abandoned in his bed. He gives the child to his sister Bridget to look after, and they investigate to determine that the child's mother is a young woman named Jenny Jones. She leaves the area, and Allworthy decides to raise the boy, Tom Jones. Tom is brought up alongside Allworthy’s nephew Blifil, Bridget's son. They are educated by two men of differing outlook, Thwackum and Square. Blifil is a miserable and jealous boy. Tom is an impetuous character who supports his friend, the poor gamekeeper Black George Seagram, even when that support causes him trouble. Meanwhile, through his relationship with Squire Western, All worthy’s boorish but affable neighbor, Tom slowly falls in love with the squire's daughter Sophia, who also comes to love him.

                   However, Tom cannot pursue Sophia because his girlfriend Molly, daughter to Black George, grows pregnant with what he believes to be his son. When he is revealed not to be the father of Molly’s child, Tom is free to pursue his emerging love for Sophia. Blifil conspires against Tom, and he is unjustly turned out of Allworthy’s house and away from Sophia. Further, because Tom is a bastard child, Squire Western refuses to support Tom's suit for Sophia, and instead wishes her to marry Blifil so that he can consolidate their lands. Sophia hates Blifil, and is tortured by her father's cruel insistence.

                   Allworthy gives Tom a fair sum of money to support himself, but it is stolen by Black George. Tom considers joining the military. He meets up with Partridge, a teacher-cum-barber whose reputation was ruined when he was believed to be Tom’s father years before. Partridge initially believes that he can return to Allworthy’s favor if he reunites the man with Tom, but Partridge ultimately becomes a devoted companion along the way. Tom frequently shows his benevolent spirit by helping an unsuccessful highwayman, a beggar and a lady in distress - all gestures which are richly repaid later in the novel.

                   Sophia is locked up for refusing to marry Blifil. She flees, and both Tom and Sophia try to locate each other on their respective journeys to London. She discovers he has slept with Mrs. Waters (a woman he rescues) and that he is mentioning her name to strangers, and she decides he must not love her. She then heads to London, and Tom follows her.

                   While in London, Tom takes up with the promiscuous and wily Lady Ballston, with whom Sophia is staying. She promises to help him but endeavors to keep the lovers apart. Sophia is also roughly courted by Lord Fellamar. Her aunt, Lady Western, is anxious for her to marry him, whereas her father is still adamant that she will marry Blifil. Sophia decides she will marry no-one without her father’s consent, but will also not be told whom to marry.

                   Tom is innocently caught up in a duel and imprisoned. His friend Nightingale, loyal companion Partridge, and devoted landlady Mrs. Miller investigate the course of Tom’s imprisonment and sustain his contact with Sophia. There is tension when it is initially believed that Mrs. Waters is Tom’s mother, but this is revealed to be untrue. Allworthy is shocked to discover that Tom is his nephew, Bridget’s illegitimate but first-born son, and that Blifil has known about this since his mother’s death. It is discovered that Blifil engineered Tom's imprisonment to get him out of the way.

                   The charges against Tom are dropped and his marriage to Sophia is blessed by both Allworthy and Squire Western. Blifil is banished but has an annuity from Allworthy and Tom. Sophia and Tom live happily, close to Nightingale and Mrs. Miller’s daughter Nancy, whose union Tom facilitated. Partridge is given an annuity to start a new school and marries Tom’s first girl, Molly Seagrim.

The Purpose by T.P. Kailasam

THE PURPOSE

                   -T.P. Kailasam

                    T.P.Kailasam is remembered as the father of modern Kannada drama, the man of genius whose plays revolutionized the Kannada stage. He gave refreshing realism and modernity and freed it once for all from the literary unrealities that possessed it.

                     Kailasam focused tradition on contemporary social problems, a deeply compassionate vision of the human struggle, an almost Shakespearian power to evoke sympathetic laughter and an amazing grasp of the living language of men, combined with the gift of using it artistically for dramatic purpose.

                   The story deals with lower caste student who is eager to lower to learn archery to protect the fawns from the attack of wolves’ .A small boy called Eklavya’s mother shows him the right path. She tells him to go to a teacher Drona. Drona taught the princes only so he refused to teach a “Nishada”. Before seeing Drona, Ekalavya was worried that he may not fit with the princes and so Drona might not accept him.

                    The motive of Ekalavya was good. In order to save innocent animals he wanted to be an archer. There was no pride in him. He was humble. When he was not accepted he did not lose courage. He went back to his abode. The second act violates the rule of action given by Aristotle. Drona and Arjun are seen on a path. While they were talking both of them suddenly heard the high-pitched yell of a wild beast. They saw a continuous line of arrows pierce through the head of the fleeing beast wolf. The bowman was none other than Ekalavya. He comes to Dronacharya and Arjun. If one has desire to learn something even mountainous obstacles seem to be a small hill. Making the mud statue of Dronacharya he started practicing archery and it is said-

  “PRACTICE MAKES MAN PERFECT”.

                    He becomes a perfect archer and achieved his goal. Ekalavya had no hunger of fame but his aim was the warfare of helpless fawns residing in the form. Arjun reminds Drona about the promise he had made to him to make him the world’s best archer. Arjun saw his dream shattered into pieces. Dronacharya’s pain as a teacher is universalized by the playwright.

                   Drona further highlights Arjun’s aim for being an archer. Ekalavya felt guilty as he thought that because of him his Guru’s promise is broken. He takes a firm decision to give his ‘Right Hand THUMB’ in “GURU DAXINA”. He walks up to the clay image of Drona and lays his right hand on the plinth; with an unflinching look on his face with one deft sharp stroke of his left arm, severs his right thumb; unheeding the gush of blood, picks up his severed thumb and walking back to Guru’s feet and stands mute! The other two have been to spell-bound to either follow or arrest Eklavya’s movements. After serving thumb he repents for his fawn. He is worried about the lives of those creatures-

“God! My Fawns in Distress! And I Too Helpless Myself to Help Them”.

                      T.P.Kailasam has skillfully depicted the main characters as minor and the minor as main. Ekalavya could excel even Drona in the knowledge of archery. The influence of the mother, similarly, is demonstrated to be a great force in shaping character, as we see in the case of Ekalavya and Karna.

                          “A person of no pride always remembers that no one can be perfect”. Over confidence is always dangerous. And “TO ERR IS HUMAN’ should be remembered. Here a minor character of Mahabharata, the great epic, is made a hero. T.P. Kailasam drew out a giant and capable character. His mythical characters are very powerful.