Theme Of Uncertainty in Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot is one of the most prominent plays in the genre of Theatre of the Absurd. It was written by Samuel Beckett in 1952. The play is often referred to as a tragic comedy in two acts. It is about two tramps Vladimir and Estragon who are waiting for a character named Godot with whom they think they might have an appointment. Waiting for Godot portrays the absurdity of human life in a comic form. Uncertainty is one of the most prominent themes in this play. It can be seen in the play’s setting, plot, characters, time and action.

Waiting for Godot is set in an unknown location. The setting is described merely as a country road with a bare tree in the background. The uncertainty of location is also not resolved by the characters who are as much at a loss about their location as the audience. They are not sure where they are and whether it is the place where they are supposed to be.

            “Estragon :- You’re sure, it was here?

            Vladimir :- What?

            Est:- That we were to wait?

            Vl :- He said by the tree. Do you see any others?”

This problem remains unsolved throughout the play, maintaining the theme of uncertainty.

The plot of the play is non consequential. The events that take place and the actions performed by the characters do not lead to any proper consequence. Vladimir and Estragon engage themselves in various activities such as tugging at boots, eating carrots or even contemplating to hang themselves without any definite purpose. They perform these activities merely to relieve boredom and pass the time while they wait for Godot. Their words often do not correspond to their actions. Several times during the play, they say – “Let us go” but nobody moves. The uncertainty about what they are supposed to do is clearly stated by Estragon at the very beginning of the play- “Nothing to be done.” Such a statement at the beginning of a play no doubt intrigues the audience or the reader who becomes aware that several unknown incidents may take place in the course of the play. But Waiting for Godot is unique because of the fact that the characters actually do nothing throughout the play. Thus, it is not only the audience or the reader but also the characters themselves who remain unsure about the actions that may have taken place or should have taken place, thus maintaining the theme of uncertainty in the play through its plot and actions.

The characters of the play and their conversations also contribute to the theme of uncertainty in the play. The two tramps Vladimir and Estragon remain unsure about their actions, why and for whom they are waiting. Vladimir mentions several times that they are waiting for Godot. But neither of them has ever seen him. They are unaware of who he is or what he looks like. The character of Godot itself is undetermined as he does not appear in the play and it remains uncertain if he will ever come or if he exists at  all. Two other characters, Pozzo and Lucky, also appear in the play. However the purpose of their appearance and their contribution to the plot remains unclear. Vladimir and estragon merely continue to wait after Pozzo and Lucky leave. Towards the end of both acts another character appears – a boy who carries a message from Godot. Although the same boy appears in both the scenes, he insists that he never saw Vladimir or Estragon before. This further heightens the uncertain nature of his identity.

The dialogues in this play are extremely incoherent, bordering on meaningless. The conversations between the characters do not follow any logical sequence. They begin with one topic and drift off to another without realizing. There is the use of a lot of repetitions giving the impression that they come back to the same point where they began, only to drift off towards another topic. This reflects the uncertainty in their state of being. They are unsure if they are doing the right thing or not, whether they should continue to wait or leave. But at the same time they are unable to leave as they are constantly reminded of the fact that they have to wait for Godot.

Finally, the theme of uncertainty is seen in the representation of time in the play. Vladimir and estragon do not know when and how long they are supposed to wait.

Vladimir:- He said Saturday. I think.

Estragon:- You think.

Vladimir :- I must have made a note of it.

Estragon:- But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? It is not rather Sunday? Or Monday? Or Friday?

The continuity of time is also uncertain in the play. In the second act, Vladimir insists that it is the next day. But the tree has four or five leaves indicating a change of season. Therefore, how much time has actually passed between the two acts remains unclear.

Thus it is seen that the theme of uncertainty runs throughout the play and is manifested through the setting and plot, the characters and their actions, the language of the play and the time. The uncertain nature of the play has successfully captured the absurdity of human life that Beckett has endeavoured to portray in Waiting for Godot.

English in India and Indian Literature in English : The Early History, 1579-1834 | Vinay Dharwadker | Summary

In this essay the author is trying to trace the roots of the English language in India and the beginnings of Indian writing in the English language. The author focuses on the factors which influenced the literate bilingual Indians to adopt the language and start writing in English. He identifies the social zones of interracial contact which were the catalysts in the process of acculturation of Indians to the British and their language.

The history of English in India begins two decades before the initiation of the East India Company. Father Thomas Stephens, a Roman Catholic escapee, studied Indian languages. He wrote the Christian Purana, a mixed Marathi-Konkani version of the Gospel. It was published posthumously in Goa in 1640. Stephens however did not produce any English text with the intention of publication. A letter written by Father Estavam (as Stephens came to be known locally) was found by Richard Hakluyt and published in The Principal Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589) which is the first representation of an Englishman’s actual experience in India. Ralph Fitch was a British merchant whose collection of letters and journals were also published in Hakluyt’s extended version The principal navigations: voyages, traffiques and discoveries of the English nation (1599-1600) and this is the first account of an Englishman’s personal experience which was produced for a reading public. Stephens and Fitch represent the two important classes of historical agents- the missionary and the merchant, whose influence continues throughout the period of development of English in India. Between 1580’s and 1780s, a substantial amount of literature containing the Englishman’s experience in the Indian subcontinent was recorded in manuscript or in print. These were written predominantly in three genres – the personal letter, the epistolary eyewitness account and the formal travel narrative.

Around the year 1660, the East India Company began to prosper and a large number of British people came to live and work in India. The resultant interaction between the British and Indians gave rise to four primary zones of interracial contact and acculturation. These are – the zone of employment, the zone of marriage and family, the zone of religious conversion, and the zone of friendship and social relations. These zones facilitated the flow of English language from its native speakers to a group of potential Indian users whom the author refers to as the literate Indian multi-linguals.

Starting in the 1660s hundreds of Indians sought employment in the British factories as record keepers, translators etc. There was a section of literate multilingual Indians in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries known as dubhashis. They were learned in Portuguese, Dutch, French and English as a result of interactions with the European traders. The East India Company employed these dubhashis as intermediaries between company officials and local markets. By the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the dubhashis occupied two types of position- first, as multilingual interpreters between the Englishmen and common Indians as well as Mughal bureaucrats, and second, as personal agents and managers to individual company officials. The personal agents were called baniyas. Moreover the dubhashis trained as scholars were hired as assistants and native informants for colonial administrators – scholars and Orientalist scholars. Historically, the dubhashis can be considered as the first Indians to be literate in English. From the early eighteenth century, Indians found employment as domestic servants for British households and soldiers in the company’s army. However after 1835 the dubhashis gave way to modern Indian middle class professionals who were formally educated in English. The earliest Indian writers in English – Din Muhammad, C.V. Boriah, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy were products of the zone of employment.

Although English women started travelling to the Indian subcontinent as early as 1617, the number of English men exceeded that of the women. Due to the church’s prohibition against Englishmen marrying non Christians, they sought alternative means. They married the daughters or widows of men of Portuguese or other nationalities, Indian women converted to Christianity etc., and, a few took Indian mistresses. The children of these marriages were brought up as Christians and they experienced a mix of both European and Indian cultures. Therefore they learned English as well as native Indian languages. The zone of marriage and family is responsible for the production of a number of significant Indian writers in English including Henry Derozio, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Anita Desai, Dom Moraes etc.

The influence of Christian missionaries in the Indian society and the conversion of Indians to Christianity is defined by the zone of religious conversion. This zone appeared in the early sixteenth century with Catholic missions in Portuguese India and Protestant missions in other parts of the subcontinent. However the east India Company prohibited missionary activities in its territory until 1813 due to the disturbances it caused in the Indian society. However after its removal British missionaries flourished in colonial India. The Indians who converted to Christianity acquired literacy in European languages and became accultured to western lifestyles. The zone of religious conversion combined with the zone of marriage and family produced the major Indian writers of the nineteenth century including Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Govin Chunder Dutt, and his brother Girish, his daughters Toru and Aru, and Pandita Ramabai Saraswati.

In the second quarter of the eighteenth century, there emerged the zone of friendship and social relations where British and Indian men developed closed relations based on mutual dependence and indebtedness. These relations include the close ties between young company officials and their dubhashis and the European scholars and their Indian assistants and collaborators. This zone was helpful for the Indian writers in achieving a deeper acculturation to European ways which influenced their writing and is reflected in their works. However it is important to note that these four zones of acculturation benefitted only those sections of Indians who were already learned in multiple Indian languages which helped them to acquire European languages including English at a faster pace.

Din Muhammad, C.V. Boriah and Ram Mohun Roy are considered to be the first Indian writers in English. The lives of these writers were greatly affected by the four zones of acculturation. Din Muhammad belonged to a family with diverse religious and cultural history which served the Mughal rulers before the British. Din Muhammad himself became a camp follower to Godfrey Evan Baker at the age of eleven. With this kind of close association he was able to learn to speak, read and write in English. This level of acculturation also helped him when he moved to Ireland and published his book The Travels of Dean Mahomet in 1794 which is the first text written in English by a man of Indian origin. Similarly, Boriah and Roy’s lives were also influenced by close relations with the British. Boriah was a dubhashi and later became a field assistant to Colonel Colin Mackenzie. Ram Mohan Roy was born in a Bengali Brahmin family. In 1804 he joined the company’s Revenue department. He acquired most of his knowledge about the English language and European culture while working with the company.

The multi-lingual efficiency that these writers possessed allowed the interaction of several pre colonial as well as non colonial elements within the zones of contact. This phenomenon is reflected in their writings as well as in all other Indian writing in English, and this is what differentiates this genre from British literature about India. After analyzing these various socio cultural factors the author comes to the conclusion that Indian writing is not a homogeneous entity and that colonialism cannot be asserted as the only origin of Indian writing in English. 

Social mobility in Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge

England in the later part of the eighteenth century underwent the social effects of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution opened up several possibilities to the lower classes of society to earn money in the form of technical or clerical jobs that required education and training thus enabling them to rise in social standing. This resulted in a surge of upward mobility in the society as the middle and upper middle classes rose to power mostly through education and occupation.  Family lineage was no longer a requirement to belong to the genteel class and along with this the necessity of strong moral character in a gentleman became questionable. Thomas Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge is set in such a time. The events in the novel take place in a small town called Casterbridge in the Wessex region of England. The town is chiefly agricultural but is slowly beginning to show the signs of industrialization such as the use of machinery and scientific methods. As such it provides prospects of upward social mobility in the form of business and administration. The novel is a poignant account of the tragic life of Michael Henchard. The concept of social mobility is constantly intertwined with the tragic events of Henchard’s life. Apart from Henchard several other characters in the novel also display the desire or aptitude to move up the social ladder either through money, skill, or education.

The Mayor of Casterbridge is the highest social position that is accessible to the characters in the novel and we see two characters- Michael Henchard and Thomas Farfrae rise to the post through different means and circumstances. The novel begins with twenty one year old hay trusser Michael Henchard walking along a dusty road with his tool basket in his arm and his wife Susan and baby daughter Elizabeth Jane walking alongside him. They go to a fair where in a drunken state Henchard ends up selling his wife and daughter to a Sailor named Newson for a sum of five guineas. The next morning he realizes his mistake and swears never to drink alcohol for twenty one years. He then goes to the town of Casterbridge in search of a job. He takes up a corn dealing business which gradually grows into a successful one and along with this his respect and position in society also move upwards. He becomes a member of the town council and eventually rises to the position of the Mayor. Henchard used “his one talent of energy to create a position of affluence out of absolutely nothing”. As a Mayor he is very aware of his position and the respect he commands. All through these years he has carefully kept the incidents of his past life a secret so that it does not interfere with his present rise in situation. He is also very conscious of the mannerisms of the people he is associated with. After he remarries Susan, he realizes that Elizabeth Jane, having been brought up in a seaside cottage, is not up to date with the kind of genteel behavior expected from the daughter of a Mayor.  He reproaches her in anger and she leaves the house. The downfall of Henchard begins when he starts growing jealous of his more talented and educated manager Thomas Farfrae. His jealousy mounts to such an extent that he fires Farfrae. Farfrae then starts his own business and the rivalry intensifies. Henchard’s term as Mayor being over he still held the position of a magistrate in the town council. But his endeavors to beat Farfrae in business leave him bankrupt. His business and property is auctioned and Farfrae buys it and employs Henchard as a laborer in his business.  Meanwhile his past sins are also revealed. Thus Henchard loses not only his higher social status but also the dignity and respect associated with it or with his personality itself. Henchard’s journey beginning from a hay trusser, rising to a Mayor and falling to a common laborer is captured by Hardy in the following words. “Then he had worn clean, suitable clothes, light and cheerful in hue; leggings yellow as marigolds, corduroys immaculate as new flax, and a neckerchief like a flower-garden. Now he wore the remains of an old blue cloth suit of his gentlemanly times, a rusty silk hat, and a once black satin stock, soiled and shabby.” “And thus the once flourishing merchant and Mayor and what not stood as a day laborer in the barns and granaries he formerly had owned.” In the end of the novel Henchard leaves Casterbridge and takes up the profession of a hay trusser once again, thus going back to the point where he began.

Donald Farfrae’s journey reflects upward social mobility through education, skill and hard work. In the beginning of the novel he is an enthusiastic young man educated and trained in the latest scientific developments and on his way to America to try his fortune. He meets Henchard in Casterbridge who is impressed by the young man’s talent and employs him as the manager of his business which at that point of time was going through a difficult phase. With his advanced knowledge he implements newer scientific methods and recover’s Henchard’s business. His management skills and charming personality soon make him the talk of the town. After Henchard fires him he starts his own business and succeeds tremendously. For all of Henchard’s jealously Farfrae never bears any ill will towards him and always treats him with the respect he deserves. Eventually his respect in society increases and he becomes a member of the town council. Finally he is appointed the Mayor of Casterbridge, a position that he truly deserves. Thus Farfrae climbs the social ladder with the help of skill and maintains his position with his strong moral character.

In case of women, social mobility solely depends on inheritance of money or higher position in society acquired through marriage. However in order to be married to ‘gentlemen’ they must also belong to a certain level of gentility. This is seen in the three important female characters in Mayor of Casterbrige- Susan Henchard, Elizabeth Jane and Luccetta Templeman. After Susan Henchard comes back to Casterbridge she takes up lodging in The Three Mariners inn which is the most that she can afford. But after meeting Henchard and deciding to marry, he sets her up in a cottage to give her the image of a gentlewoman before he can actually proceed to marry her. Meanwhile he pays off his erstwhile mistress Luccetta. But after Susan’s death Luccetta arrives in Casterbridge as a gentlewoman. She has inherited a sum of money from a dead aunt, and now calls herself Miss Templeman, and takes up residence in High Place Hall. She also conceals her past social position and her relationship with Henchard. Her newly acquired inheritance is the sole factor that makes her an interesting prospect for marriage with attracts not only Henchard but also Farfrae lending another cause to their already existing rivalry. Eventually Luccetta marries Farfrae and rises to the genteel position of the Mayor’s wife. However her past relationship with Henchard is exposed in a public display of effigies and she dies of shock.

Elizabeth Jane is the only character in the novel who displays a conscious effort to gain better social standing through education and by refining her manners. As her newly achieved position as the step daughter of the Mayor she is aware of her expectations. She tries to increase her knowledge by reading lots of books on various subjects and improve her appearance by wearing clothes of the latest style. However she cannot help but utter colloquial language in her conversations which irritates Henchard. She is also not capable of writing in a long hand as is expected of genteel ladies. That is why she leaves her house to stay with Miss Templeman in hopes of better exposure to a genteel lifestyle. Initially she is courted by Farfrae but Henchard forbids it. Farfrae’s subsequent rise in fortune and the arrival of Miss Templeman completely negates this prospect from Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s prospects for a genteel marriage are also negated by the declined social position of Henchard. However after Mrs. Farfrae’s death Elizabeth does end up marrying Farfrae and thus rises to her well deserved position as the wife of the Mayor of Casterbridge.

This novel highlights the fact that social mobility in case of the lower and middle classes comes with its associated expectations. The aristocracy commands respect regardless of its skills or morals. The lower and middle classes on the other hand have to earn this respect through perseverance or rise to a respectable status by earning or inheriting large sums of money. Through Mayor of Casterbridge Hardy shows that social mobility for the progressive classes is ephemeral. It is very difficult to climb the social ladder but at the same time it is also very easy to slide down the ladder at the slightest misfortune.

Of Truth | Francis Bacon | Summary

Bacon begins this essay by quoting Pilate who questions what is truth. Bacon says that truth is a belief that affixes the mind and hinders free will in thinking and acting. The Greek philosophers who questioned the possibilities of human knowledge are no longer there, but there are still some people who question the same. Men undergo various difficulties to learn the truth but once he does so it imposes a restriction on his thought and he wants to revert to lies. Bacon says that the love is a corrupt yet natural tendency in human beings. Like the Greek philosopher Lucian, Bacon wonders what makes a man love lies for it does not give delight as it does in poetry or does not allow profit as in business.

Truth is like daylight but it throws only as much light on the fallacies of the world as a candle light. Truth is like a pearl which shows best in daylight but it cannot be like a diamond or carbuncle that can shine in the dark. That means truth is unable to show itself in the face of a lie just as a pearl cannot be seen in the dark.

A mixture of lie with truth adds pleasure. Here Bacon speaks about imagination. If a man hangs on to the absolute truth and does not allow fancy, hopes or even doubt, he will be a melancholy person. Poetry has often been accused of being false as it is filled with imagination. But it is only a shadow of a lie, a reflection of reality which in itself is a reflection of the ideal. But it is not the lie that passes over the mind but the lie that deeply sinks into the mind that hurts.

In spite of man’s efforts and judgements it is only truth that can truly define itself. The quest for truth, the love of truth and the belief in truth is the only free will of human nature. Bacon compares truth to light and brings in the biblical example of the god’s creation of light. On the first day God created light and on the sixth day he created man whom he gifted the “light of reason”. Bacon quotes a poet who said “no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of Truth, and to see the errors and wanderings ….in the vale below.” Bacon adds that such a man would looks upon the “errors and wanderings” with pity and not with pride. If a man’s mind can “move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth” he will certainly find heaven on earth.

Truth is of utmost importance in civil life and in business. A bit of lie mixed with the truth is like making an alloy of copper and gold or silver. It makes it easier to work with these metals but at the same time makes it impure. Bacon compares falsehood to a snake crawling on its belly rather than walking on its feet. There is no activity more shameful than being false and treacherous. In this context Bacon quotes Montaigne who said that a liar is a man who is brave towards God and a coward towards men. Bacon emphasizes on the wickedness of falsehood and treachery by saying that these are the qualities that will be the cause of calling upon the judgement of God upon mankind.

Of Marriage and Single Life | Francis Bacon | Summary

In this essay Bacon speaks about the differences that mark a married man from a single one and the advantages and disadvantages of a married or single life. A man who is married and has wife and children is unable to risk his money for noble purposes. They are obstacles to any endeavour either good or bad. The best works which are the best for the public have often come from unmarried men. These are the men who have “married” the public, that is, devoted their lives entirely to a public cause. Men who have children care a great deal about the future and make various important pledges and promises regarding the future. However there are also some single men who think only about themselves and they too account for the future. Some people consider wives and children as items of expense. Some foolish and greedy men take pride in having no children. They believe that they will remain richer if they do not have any children because they might have heard people say that so and so is a great, rich man but he has the burden of children suggesting that children are a hindrance on the growth of fortunes. However, most men choose to remain single for the sake of liberty that a single life allows. These people think of marriage as imprisonment.

Bacon enlists the positive and negative qualities of a single man. Unmarried men make the best friends, the best masters, and the best servants. But they do not make the best citizens as they have so great a sense of freedom that they tend to run away from responsibilities. The single life is better suited for a clergyman because he can be more charitable as he does not have any needs to satisfy. For judges and magistrates the situation is indifferent because if they are corrupt it makes them servants who are worse than wives. For soldier it is often an emotional support to think of wives and children before going into battle. That is why Bacon says that the dislike of marriage among the Turks makes the vulgar soldiers even more so. Single men are often more charitable because they have less expenses. But at the same time they also tend to be cruel and hard hearted as they do not have a wife or children to invoke the tenderness within them.

A grave man with traditional beliefs is often a loving husband. Women are often proud of their chastity and a wife will always remain chaste and obedient if she thinks that her husband is wise and not jealous. For a young man a wife serves the purpose of a mistress, in the middle age she is a companion and to the old man she is a nurse. Therefore a man can reasonably decide when he would like to get married. Bacon here quotes a philosopher and mathematician who answered the question of when a man should marry and said – “a young man not yet, an elder man not at all”.

Bacon observes that bad husbands often have good wives. He says that this may be because it makes the husband’s kindness more valuable or because the wife takes pride in her patience in dealing with him. Bacon however says that given the chance these bad husbands would make sure to correct their own mistake. 

Of Studies | Francis Bacon | Summary

In this essay Bacon describes the importance of studies in human life. Bacon begins the essay by enlisting three purposes of studies – “to delight, for ornament and for ability.” Studies delight most when one is secluded and reposed. Knowledge acquired through studies serve as ornament in a conversation. A well read man will have a good vocabulary and greater knowledge which will increase the worth of a conversation. Studies improve one’s judgmental and authoritative abilities. Ordinary men can no doubt go about their daily business without difficulty but a learned man will do so with higher efficiency. Bacon however says that studying too much is a sign of laziness and using too many ornaments while conversing makes one look pretentious. To make judgments only on the basis of rules is the eccentricity of a scholar.

Studies make a man perfect. Studying is not an inborn talent; it is acquired. The natural abilities of man are to be enhanced by studies just like the growth of plants is enhanced by trimming. Studies provide both direction and experience. Practical men often condemn studies but wise men use it. Studies teach man to learn from observation. One must not use knowledge as a means of contradiction or confutation. Studies must also not be used to believe or to take for granted, or to talk and discourse but “to weigh and consider”.

Then Bacon speaks about the different ways in which different books are to be read. He says – “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” This means some books are to be perused lightly, that is, tasted while some other books are to be understood and enjoyed, that is, swallowed. On the other hand certain books are to be digested, that it, to fully extract their meaning and implemented in one’s life. Therefore some books are to be read only in parts, others are to be read with less curiosity, and some books are to be read with attention and diligence. Bacon however also says that sometimes it may be enough to read extracts or reviews of books made by others instead of reading the whole book by oneself. But according to Bacon this is to be done only in case of books of less importance. He considers these “distilled books” to distilled waters which he calls “flashy things”.

Reading makes a man complete, conversation makes a man quick and witty, and writing improves the memory. If a man writes less he will lack a good memory, if he speaks little he will lack wit and presence of mind, and if he reads less he will not have much knowledge.

A study of history makes a man wise while a study of poetry makes him witty. Mathematics makes a man exact and precise and natural philosophy increases the depth of the mind. Morals make a man grave whereas a study of logic and rhetoric makes him more comprehensive. Studies pass into character. A man’s character is influenced and defined by the type of books he reads.

There is no disease of the mind that cannot be cured by proper study. Bowling is good for the bladder and the kidneys, shooting for the lungs and breast, walking for the stomach and riding is good for the head. Similarly mathematics is the remedy for a wandering mind because if a man’s mind wanders while solving a problem he will have to begin again. If a man is unable to make distinctions he must study schoolmen and if he is not quick in passing through matters he should study the law. Thus Bacon concludes the essay by establishing that for every deficit of the mind a remedy is to be found in studies.

Why The Novel Matters| D.H. Lawrence | Summary and Analysis

D. H. Lawrence’s critical essay ‘Why the novel matters’ was published in the collection titled Phoenix in the year 1936. In this essay Lawrence speaks about the importance of the novel and tries to establish the superiority of the novelist above other professions.

In an attempt to illustrate the importance of the novel Lawrence explains the importance of life and the living man. He says that the whole living man, the man alive, is more important than his thoughts, ideas, his mind, or his stomach or liver or kidney or any other parts of his body. Lawrence says that this is what scientists and philosophers fail to understand. According to Lawrence a novel shows life and its characters are nothing but man alive. The novelist understands the importance of life and the man alive. Therefore the novelist is better than the scientist or the philosopher.

Lawrence begins the essay by commenting upon the saying ‘a sound mind in a sound body’. He calls it a funny superstition that people think of themselves as a body with a soul in it. He questions why one thinks of one’s hand as something subordinate to the mind that operates it. The hand has a life of its own. It has knowledge and can think and act for itself. The hand is as much a part of the living man as the mind. The pen held by the hand however is not alive. A man alive extends only to his fingertips. Lawrence says that whatever in a man is alive constitutes the man alive. The hand, skin, freckles, blood and bones are very much alive and part of the man alive. The living body therefore must not be compared to inanimate objects like tin cans or clay vessels.

Lawrence in this essay tries to explain why the novelist is better than the philosopher or the scientist and in order to do so he explains the importance of the man alive. According to Lawrence the novelist possesses an intricate understanding of the man alive more fully than a parson, a philosopher, or a scientist. The parson speaks about souls in heaven and the afterlife. But for the novelist heaven is in the palm of his hand and the tip of his nose which are alive. The novelist is not concerned about life after death. He is wholly concerned about life at present and with the man alive. The philosopher speaks about infinite knowledge possessed by the pure spirit.  But for the novelist there is no knowledge beyond what the living body can perceive. For philosophers nothing but thoughts is important. These thoughts Lawrence says are nothing but ‘tremulations on the ether’. They are not alive. They are like radio signals floating in the air which are meaningless until they reach the receiver – a radio device that decodes the signals into a meaningful message. Similarly when thoughts are received by a man alive they become meaningful and can alter the man’s life. But the thoughts nevertheless are not alive. It is only because the man alive receives them that they become alive. Only a man alive can be stimulated by thoughts. Thus the living body is more important than the message conveyed by thoughts.

According to Lawrence nothing is more important than life. Living things are more valuable than dead objects. A living dog is better than a dead lion but a living lion is better than a living dog. Lawrence says that scientists and philosophers find it difficult to accept the value of the living. For the philosopher nothing but thoughts matter. For the scientist a living man is of no use. He only wants a dead man whom he dissects and observes under the microscope. For a scientist a man is a heart, a liver, a kidney, a gland or a tissue. But for the novelist the only thing that matters is a whole living man. Lawrence refuses to believe that he is a body or a soul or a brain or a nervous system. He considers himself to be a complete whole made up of all these parts, a whole that is greater and more significant than the individual parts. And for this reason he is a novelist and he considers himself superior to the saint, the scientist or the philosopher.   

Having established the importance of the man alive and the novelist Lawrence proceeds to explain the significance of the novel. Lawrence calls the novel a book of life. According to him books are like thoughts - nothing but ‘tremulations on the ether’. They are meaningful only when a man alive receives them. But he says that the tremulations of a novel are more powerful than any other book and it can make a whole man alive tremble. This means that the novel has the capacity to influence a man more effectively than any other book.  For example the ideals of Plato makes the ideal being in a man tremble. Similarly the sermons or the Ten Commandments affect only a part of a man alive. But a novel is capable of shaking the whole of a man alive. This is because a novel deals in nothing else but man alive. In this regard Lawrence calls the Bible a ‘great confused novel’.  All its characters – Adam, Eve, Sarai, Abraham, Isaac – including God are nothing but man alive. For Lawrence, the Bible, Homer and Shakespeare are all great novels because they communicate to the reader. Their wholeness affects the whole of man alive. They do not stimulate growth in a particular direction but shake the whole man alive into new life.

According to Lawrence the strength and appeal of a novel lies in the dynamic nature of its characters which reflects the importance of constant change in the life of a man alive. Nothing is constant and if something is forced to remain constant it loses its value and power along with the passing of time. There are no absolutes. There is only a constant flow and change and even change is not absolute. A man today is different from what he was yesterday and tomorrow he will be different from what he is today. A man loves a woman because of the constant change in her. It is the change that startles and defies and keeps a man and woman in love with each other. Loving an unchanging person is like loving an inanimate object like a pepper pot. But even amidst change one needs to maintain one’s integrity. However Lawrence says that putting a finger on one individual trait makes one as fixed as a lamp post. It seems as if a man has made up an idea about himself and is trying to trim himself down to fit into it. Lawrence says that one can learn about the importance of change from a novel. In a novel the characters do nothing but live. But if they begin to act according to a fixed pattern – always remaining good or bad – the novel loses its life force. Similarly a man in his life must live and not try to follow a pattern or else he becomes a dead man in life. Lawrence however says that it is difficult to define what is living. Different men have different ideas about what they mean by living in life. Some go to seek God while others seek money, wine, and women, yet others seek votes and political reforms. In this Lawrence says that the novel is a guide which helps to differentiate between a man alive and a man who is dead in life. A man may eat his dinner like a man alive or merely chew his dinner as a dead man in life. A man alive shoots his enemy but a dead man in life throws bombs at people who are neither his friends nor foes.

Finally Lawrence says that the most important thing is to be a whole man alive and the novel provides guidance in this matter. A novel helps a man to see when a man is alive and when he is dead in life. The novel helps to develop an instinct for life. This is because the novel does not advocate a right path or a wrong path. The concept of right and wrong vary according to circumstances. A novel portrays this unpredictable and varying nature of life making the reader realize that life itself is the reason for living. The end result of the novel is the whole man alive.  Thus Lawrence asserts that the novel is a book that can touch the life of a whole man alive and that is why the novel matters.