A Mongoloid Child Handling Shells on the Beach

                                         -          Richard Snyder (b. 1916)

(This poem, taken from A Keeping in Touch (1971), presents a beautiful contrast between the normal and the mongoloid children by an economic use of metaphor.)

The child, who is suffering from the Down’s Syndrome, slowly moves her hands. There are seashells in her hands. They look like broken pieces of the blue deep sea. The sea gently sent the shells to the child. They are the most peaceful things on the sand.

There are some normal children nearby. They jump into water and express their pleasure shouting. They are as active as the sea-waves and as happy as the brightness of the towels they are wearing around their waist. But the child plays calmly on the bank of the sea. She produces a kind of humming sound as if in reply to the sea’s noise.

Improvement of government schools

              There is no dearth of trained and experienced teachers in the government schools. Perhaps many of them are better trained than their counterparts in private schools. They also get better remuneration. Even after they quit the service, their hands will not be empty. So, they have a far more secure future than their counterparts in the private schools. But the teachers in government schools are often blamed of being lazy and irresponsible. Many people believe that they have started to become less sensitive to their professional duties and are more active in political activities. They have converted themselves into cadres of different political parties and their corrupt leaders. So, they are no more worried about the future of the children they are teaching.  

            On the other hand, the private school teachers have to perform Herculean task to earn money just enough to solve their hand to mouth problem. They are usually exploited. Nevertheless, their teamwork often seems to be yielding good results. The private schools also try to maintain proper sanitation along with English medium in teaching and learning, regularity of classes, variety of extra and co-curricular activities and regular monthly and terminal examinations. Therefore, most of the parents who are sincere to their children’s education are attracted to private schools.

            Recently, the government schools have started to imitate private schools. They have made tie, belt and shoes compulsory in school uniform. It has helped to boost up, though a little, confidence, dignity and enthusiasm among the students of government schools. It has also given the parents the government schools’ promise to improve the quality of education in an effort to save many going-to-be-closed schools due to the lack of students. Yet, majority of the parents choose the private schools because they see them safer than the government schools for their investment in their children’s future.

            Only the imitation of the uniform of private schools doesn’t help to improve the quality of education in government schools. For this, the teachers must be more committed to their professional duties. They must not be lazy in utilizing their experiences and skills in the classroom. The teachers must regularly keep in touch with the parents so that they can make them bear more responsibilities for their children’s education. They must be regular and punctual in the class. The school management must practice impartiality in teacher selection process. They must get rid of sycophancy, favoritism and corrupted politics so that the right persons get the job.        

(Published in The Kathmandu Post on 9 December 2010)                             

Travelling third class

I always have several questions in my mind when travelling by public vehicle. Should I leave my seat for a disabled, a woman, a suckling mother, a grandfather or a grandmother? Why does the conductor keep squeezing more and more people into bus or microbus even when he knows that there is no more space? Does he not have any responsibility towards these people?

Previously, I used to offer my seat as soon as I saw such people. But nowadays, I hesitate. I help only those people with genuine need for my help. It does not mean that I have been uncivilized and unwilling to understand other people’s problems. There are some reasons for that.

First, the conductor does not stop cramming people into the vehicle as long as there is a little space. Therefore, he will naturally be encouraged to do so if I vacate my place. Second, the passengers are quite tolerant. They never complain about their discomfort they are made to suffer even though they have to pay the full fare. They are satisfied with the little space so that they can stand on. The bus and micro bus conductors and helpers never stop saying, “Come, I’ll manage a seat for you” to every new passenger. They frequently yell at their passengers, “Move to the back. There is space.” This is because the consumers in Nepal are not conscious about their rights.

Nevertheless, the plight of the disabled, sick and senior citizens in public vehicles cannot be undermined. There are still many good-hearted people in our society who are ready to offer their seats to such people. But their generosity should not be a punishment for themselves. The bus conductors should be made able to understand the value of generosity. For this, they need some education. They need to be taught to be less greedy.

This can be possible only when the passengers themselves become conscious. The passengers often come to compromise because they need to get some place and they are in a rush. Taking advantage of their situation, the conductors always push them around. So, their attention is always to fill the bus up to its full capacity. We don’t have proper management of seat reservation for disabled and elderly people. Even on some vehicles where such seats are marked as being reserved for such travelers, they are often occupied by people other than those who need them.

Until we show respect and care to such people with our help, we cannot be called human beings; and our society cannot be regarded as being civilized. Modernity does not mean selfishness. It means being more sensitive towards humanity and equality in the society. Can we put this principle into practice?

( Published in The Kathmandu Post, 27.12.2011)      

Hansel and Gretel

                                                   -          Bruno Bettelheim

           

This essay tries to interpret the hidden meanings of Hansel and Gretel by Grimm Brothers with psychological point of view. It expects on the part of students that they have a good knowledge of western psychology.

            The story “Hansel and Gretel” begins realistically. It presents the message that poverty makes people selfish.

            The fairy tale also expresses the things that go on in children’s minds. The mother represents the source of all food to the children. So, they are worried when they know about their parents’ plan to abandon them. They return home after being deserted in the jungle for the first time because they desperately need their parents. The parents are not happy at the children’s successful return.

            The children are left in the forest the second time. They try to solve their problem, but they lose their ability to do so because of regression and denial of their parents. So, they concentrate themselves only on food while trying to solve their problem. The children act like hungry animals. They eat the gingerbread house which represents oral greediness, instead of using it for shelter.

            The gingerbread house is also a symbol for the mother. So, it gives food to the children.

            The story also tells us that excessive greed leads to the destruction. The children fall into the trap of the witch because of their greed. The witch wants to eat them. The children can come out of this danger only when they think and act reasonably.

            The witch is also a symbol of mother. At first, she provides the children with good food and care like a perfect mother. But when the children start showing maturity they feel dissatisfied. So, a child imagines his own mother as the witch of the story when she no longer serves him unquestioningly.

            The white dove in the story is the symbol of superior benevolent (kind, helpful and generous) power. Hansel claims to be looking at a white dove that is sitting on the roof wanting to say goodbye to him. The snow-white bird singing happily leads the children to the gingerbread house and then sits on its roof. Another white bird, the duck, helps the children to cross the big body of water and return to their house safely. So, the behaviour of the birds symbolizes that the entire adventure was arranged for the children’s benefit.

            The big body of water represents a transition, and a new beginning on a higher level of existence (as in baptism). After having crossed the water, the children arrive at the other shore as more mature children. They also cross it separately. It shows that a child should know about his or her personal uniqueness. S/he cannot share everything with others.

            At the end of the story, the inner attitudes of the characters are changed. When Hansel and Gretel return home, they have grown up. They can now help their father. The jewels are the symbol of their help.
Watch the story animation

Hansel and Gretel

-          Jack Zipes

           

This story should be read in the historical context of the transition from feudalism to early capitalism. So, this is a political story.

            Zipes presents this story with the perspective of the poor. So, it presents the class conflict in the light of the social condition of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Germany.

            The parents of this story are poor. Their poverty forces them to do bad things. So, they leave the children in the jungle. The peasants of that time were forced to go to extremes to survive. The children have understood their parents’ compulsion, so they are not angry with them. They return home with jewels after killing the witch who tries to eat them. Here, the witch represents the entire feudal system or the greed and brutality of the aristocracy. Therefore, the killing of the witch is the symbol of the hatred of the peasantry for the aristocracy as hoarders and oppressors.

            Women of that time died young due to frequent child-bearing and lack of sanitation. So, step mothers were common in households.  Even though the step mother in the story is cruel, the children do not want to harm her. It is because they have understood her cruelty as a result of social forces.

            The story gives the poor the hope that change is possible if they act for it. Hansel and Gretel act and kill the witch.  

Gretel

                                        -          Garrison Keillor   

           

(Keillor has written this essay in a comic way. This adaptation of Grimm Brothers’ story Hansel and Gretel takes the form of a statement made by Gretel.)

            Hansel and Gretel had made a decision to sell the book-right to Grimm Brothers. They had the right to approve the final manuscript. They had also agreed to split the profit into fifty-fifty. But Hansel’s lawyers tricked Gretel and deprived her of a large amount of the profit. The story was also written in a quite distorted way. She was shown as a weak sister, whereas Hansel was a strong brother. Her father was shown as a loving figure, but her step mother was very cruel. The reality was quite different from accounts in the story published by the Grimm Brothers.

            In fact, Hansel was incapable of doing anything. Gretel had to slap him twice to make him walk. Gretel cried because she was tired of carrying him on her back.

            The father was not a loving man. In fact, he was a drunkard and cruel person. Like many other parents of that time, he was also in favour of leaving his children in the jungle.

            People left their children in the jungle not only because of famine but also for their belief that the children would be taken care by wild animals and birds or persons. So, Gretel was not afraid to be left in the jungle.

            Although it was a bitter experience, no child suffered permanently. Those children have become better people. But Hansel has got no effect of it. Now Hansel and his father live comfortably in a great building. Gretel has no house of her own. Gladys, her step mother, and the witch suffered very much. Her step mother didn’t get even the half of their hut.

            Now Gretel is remorseful. She feels sorry to have given the witch a push. The witch was not after her.

            If only Gretel had understood the witch’s strategy. Gretel couldn’t see that the witch was fattening up Hansel in order to make a very radical statement. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have killed her.