A Pinch of Snuff has been written by Manohar Malgaonkar and an outstanding Indo-Anglian writer. It is a very interesting and entertaining story. In this story, the writer explained the character of his maternal uncle Nanukaka, who always tell a lie and cheats on others in his own way.
Nanukaka arrives at the house of the writer who is a deputy secretary on probation under a ministry. Though he does not like Nanukaka, he accompanies him to please his mother. Nanukaka wanted to meet a minister. So, he went to see the minister but he did not get an appointment to get in touch with the minister while he is called for a meeting with the minister after three days.
At last, Nanukaka plays a trick to fulfil his aim of seeing a minister and he really succeeded in doing so. Nanukaka had a Royal car that is driven by the writer himself. Nanukaka himself dressed like an Astrologer and reaches the residence of the minister. In the visitor’s book he writes his false address showing himself as the “Hereditary Astrologer to the Maharaja of Ninnore”. As soon as the minister sees that address, he becomes very restless to see that address, he becomes very restless to see the Astrologer.
The writer wonders at Nanukaka’s art of lying and winning the trust of the powerful the story is humorous and highly amusing.
2. Ideas That Have Helped Mankind’ is a most i
mpressive essay written by British Philosopher and Mathematician Bertrand Russell. He was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950.
In this essay, Bertrand Russell has carefully expressed his ideas about the different stages of civilization and the role of mankind. There are two broad categories of ideas that have helped mankind. The idea which helped human beings with knowledge and skills and secondary with their moral and politics. These ideas played a vital role in the growth of our civilization that made our life more secure. It resulted in the population of exposition and starvation. We still fight with one another in the name of religion, caste and nation due to our emotional feelings. The invention of fire proved a milestone. The domestication of animals, the development of language, the cultivation and art of writing made us rise from wild state to our civilized state. However, we have to get victory over fear, worry and starvation to make the people happier, peaceful and fearless.
Thus ‘The Idea That Has Helped Mankind’ is about the growth of our thoughts. At last we can say that skill is the source of development.
3. A Child is Born” has been written by the world famous feminist Australian writer Germaine Greer. In this prose, Germaine Greer describes many differences between a traditional and modern society in the matters of pregnancy and how to celebrate the birth of the child in both societies? She has explained the birth of a child.
According to Germaine Greer, a pregnant woman of the traditional society in the west does not feed herself alone when she is pregnant because in western society the pregnant mother gets too much respect from her family members and other people. In traditional society, mother is called by the name of her first childbirth. The new born infant is taken care of by all the members of society.
There is a good example of Bangladesh. If a women’s parents are alive, then she goes to her mother’s house for the last few months of pregnancy and remains there. She gets a lot of love and care. In traditional society, childbirth is celebrated as a ceremony while in modern western society pregnant woman has to take care of herself under the guidance of nurses and doctors. In the west child is born to fulfil the needs of parents.
Thus, we can say that western traditional society is far better than western modern society in the matter of childbirth and child care.
4. “How Free is The Press’ is an essay written by Dorothy L. Sayers.
She was the first woman to graduate from Oxford University. In this essay she expresses her news against the misuse of the freedom of the press. It is believed that there can not be free people without the freedom of the press.
The freedom of the press generally refers to the freedom from the direction or censorship of the government. The British press, in this sense, is singularly free in normal times, only during wartime, some sort of censorship is imposed.
The press is not as free as it is supposed to be. The editorial policy of a popular daily is controlled by two chief factors. The interest of the advertisers and the interest of its owner No newspaper can go against them. The press also assumes that an average reader is not intelligent enough to distinguish truth from falsehood. No press always expresses a public opinion. They do not always publish the right news. They try to make it rather than garner news speaking to the ideal case, the press should be completely independent in normal times and censorship only during an emergency and war periods.
Through this essay ‘How Free is The Press’, Dorothy L. Sayers tries to convey the message that we should not blindly trust any news. Before making any kind of opinion one must examine the fact and support those newspapers and agencies only which operate independently.
5. The Earth is a short story written by a well known short story writer, H.E. Bates.
This story is about a farmer Johnson and his son Benjy. who appears to be a simple minded person. Johnson believed more in luck than work. He was always very concerned for his only son Benjy. Johnson was dutiful towards him and his wife and very affectionate.
Benjy was a simple minded son. After the advice of a doctor, engaged him in the business of poultry farm. In course of time, his senses developed. He became a perfect businessman and earned a lot. Benjy’s parents had saved a lot of money for him. When they gave him the passbook, he did not say a word of gratitude he opened the passbook looked at the amount and put it in his pocket. Benjy’s parents did not feel good when he silently put the passbook in his pocket.
When Benjy knew the trick of the trade, he begin to earn money. Benjy deposited a lot of money in his account. When he started earning money, he forget his parents. He purchased the land from sanders that his father had rented.
When he was about 40, he married Florence against the wishes of his parents. Florence was one of Benjy’s employees. He did not treat his parents well.
Thus, in this story, we find that a selfish and cunning son deceived his parents and too much trust becomes the reason of tragedy of the parents.
