THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

              "The Six Million Dollar Man" is a memorable essay written by Harold J. Morowitz, who is also a scientist. In this essay, he tries to make the specialized knowledge of science clear and engaging to non-specialist. Through this essay, the author reveals the complexity of the human body and amazing aspects of its creation. He seems to suggest that the human being is priceless.

               He makes us draw a philosophical conclusion in the infinite preciousness of each person. The explanations given to have such conclusion are highly convincing. The author moves step by step, preparing the readers for the grand philosophical conclusion. He shifts his subject. He starts the essay by talking about the human body and ends up by talking about the human being.

              The essay begins with a greeting sent to him by his daughter and son-in-law. It is found to have a caption with the information about the worth of the human body according to biochemists. The author becomes eager to read that its worth is only 97 cents. In order to verify the truth, he lists all the ingredients of the human body such as hemoglobin, human DNA etc. with the prices per gram.

“ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS”

“ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS”

               “On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness” is a modern poem written by an American poet, Arthur Guiteman. It is a flawless poem, which shows the remorselessness of time and the vanity of human greatness.

              Through this poem, the poem announces his philosophy of life or outlook that all those entities that symbolize earthly grandeur, greatness and power such as the tusks of mastodons, the sword of Charlemagne the Just, the Grizzly bear, Great Caesar etc will be reduced in course of time into things of non-entity.

              The presentation of subject matter is quite ironical. Without using the negative words, the poet turns the things of earthly greatness into mere showpiece and nothingness. Each sentence is well balanced with splendid things in place of subject being linked up with worthless objects at the other end. Each sentence of the poem brings out the image of balance with a grand figure on the side and cipher on the other side. The irony is obvious when the readers notice the tusks transformed into billiard balls, the sword of Charlemagne into rust, the grizzly bear into rug etc.

              One can trace out the signs of vanity in the last couplet where the poet admits that he does not feel so well himself in the presence of Great Caesar’s bust on the shelf. This implies that even the poet is not a exception because to some extent he also seems to suffer from vanity complex of greatness.

“THE GARDENER”

“THE GARDENER”

- By Kipling

              The Gardener is the story to be read in between lines. It is written by Rudyard Kipling. It is a well-written story with such a great craftsmanship and surprise ending that the readers find it necessary to go through the second reading and make readjustment in the relation between one and the other character. In other words, the end of the story acts as a switch back to the beginning of the story of the re-reading.

              The story deals with the life of Michael who is said to have been the child of unmarried couple George Turell, an Inspector of Indian police and the daughter of retired non-commissioned officer. It is said that George Turell died of a fall from a horse in India a few weeks before Michael was born. After that, s admitted by George’s sister Miss Helen Turell, who had been to south of France for her lung trouble took the charge of the child. The baby was brought to her hometown from India. Later she took the whole responsibility on her shoulders by cutting all the connection with the mother and the non-scandals would only increase if one tried to hush them up. She vowed that the boy resembled his father George all over. She also explained to the public that the boy could cal her ‘Mummy’ if it delighted him. Michael was provoked to see the things made public and declared that he would dies soon. However they were instantly reconciled with tears as their attachment was not skin-deep.

              Although he was disturbed to know that his status was not regular due to his birth, he recovered that balance. He decided not to talk of it with Helen any more for it would make her cry. Later the war began and he was directly enlisted in the army, which was a great shock to Helen. In the battle-field while writing a letter to Helen, he was killed by a Shell-Splinter and his body lay covered by a barn wall that was laid down by another shell. With his death, her world stood still having no concern to her. Later she got an official intimation about Michael’s body being found, identified and re-interred in Hagenzeele third Military cemetery.

              She set for the cemetery, on the way a stolid, plain-feature English woman volunteered to come with her. The woman, Mrs. Scars forth, was visiting the place for the ninth time. She would visit may graves, which were commissions. Yet she confessed to Helen that she had come there to visit a particular grave. After that Helen looked for the tomb of Michael. A gardener came to help for while looking at her with infinite compassion. To the surprise of the readers, he told her that she would show her where her son was lying.

              The mysterious presence of the gardener in the graveyard reminds readers of Jesus Christ and makes them feel that it was Him. His words induce the readers for the second reading and help them find out that a great deal of information about Michael was supplied by Helen for which there was no evidence. Her so-called visit to France, death of her brother with a son being born in India, her deep attachment with Michael and above all, her attempts to over-expose their relation throw the light on the hidden aspect of the story. In the end, readers find Helen emerging as another Madonna, the mother of Jesus Christ.

“ESSAY ON THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN OUR SOCIETY”

“ESSAY ON THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN OUR SOCIETY”

              The position of women in Nepal is found to have differed from one generation to another. In days of yore, they were given the subordinate treatment in spite of the respect given to mothers and sisters. The ruling class regarded them as a mere thing to yield pleasure to men. They were deprived of education because the guardians did not think it necessary. they were considered as the machines to serve the man and bear children to him. There used to be Sati System in which the wives of the dead husbands had to burn alive on the same funeral pyres where the dead-bodies were placed. Gradually with every decade that passed away, the outlook towards women changed bringing about the improvement in their situation.

              As a result, presently they are equal to men in every walk of life. In the field of education, they have proved that they can be second to none. They have been successful as men in every profession. One can cite thousands of examples of women being the lead as doctors, engineers, lecturers, etc. The new constitution of Nepal has granted equal status to them. If they are given unfair treatment on account of their sex, they can invoke the law of the country for justice. The Government is supposed to preserve their fundamental rights. Like men, they can have property in their names. Gone are the days when they were treated as slaves.

              Unfortunately, they are still victimized in the conservative circles. In respect of their right for legal inheritance, they are found lagging behind. The representative-body of parliament has not yet suggested any solution to this achievement. Undoubtedly, the day will come in Neal when parents count their daughters on the same footing as their Sons.