Short-Answer Questions from The Country Without a Post Office

Short-Answer Questions from The Country Without a Post Office

1.    What is the significance of the "entombed minaret" in the poem's opening stanza?

2.    How do the "paisleys" function as a form of communication or currency within the poem?

3.    Describe the state of the post offices and what this signifies for communication in the "country."

4.    What role does fire play as a destructive force in the poem, and what is its symbolic implication?

5.    Who is the "keeper of the minaret," and what is his primary activity in the absence of traditional communication?

6.    Explain the meaning behind the phrase "Everything is finished, nothing remains," which is a recurring "ash-refrain."

7.    How does the poem suggest that love and connection persist despite the widespread desolation?

8.    What is the speaker's emotional state as they search for the "him" who never wrote?

9.    Discuss the symbolism of rain throughout the poem.

10. What is the "archive for letters with doomed addresses," and what does it represent?

Answers

1.    The "entombed minaret" signifies a place of spiritual and cultural burial, suggesting that traditional practices and faith have been suppressed or destroyed. It sets a tone of desolation and loss from the very beginning of the poem.

2.    Paisleys in the poem function as both a literal and symbolic currency, used to "buy new stamps" and as a medium for messages, "parchment cut in paisleys." They represent a unique, perhaps desperate, method of continuing communication in a world where conventional means have failed.

3.    The post offices in the poem are "boarded up," symbolizing the complete breakdown of formal communication channels and infrastructure. This highlights the isolation and inability to connect, forcing characters to find alternative, often futile, ways to send messages.

4.    Fire is depicted as a relentless, destructive force that "burns our world to sudden papier-maché" and sweeps houses away. Symbolically, it represents the violence and conflict that have ravaged the country, turning life and culture into ash.

5.    The "keeper of the minaret" is a figure who, since the muezzin died, continues to perform a vital, albeit altered, role in the community. He reads messages scratched on planets and is responsible for issuing new, rare stamps, representing a defiant continuation of communication in a desolate landscape.

6.    The "ash-refrain": "Everything is finished, nothing remains," encapsulates the profound sense of desolation and finality that permeates the country. It expresses the overwhelming loss and destruction, suggesting that little hope or substance is left in the wake of the pervasive conflict.

7.    Despite the widespread desolation, the poem suggests that love and connection persist through the enduring act of writing and searching for lost voices. The discovery of an "archive" of letters and the speaker's relentless quest for "him" demonstrate the human need to transcend barriers and maintain bonds.

8.    The speaker's emotional state is one of profound grief, desperation, and a relentless, almost obsessive, need to find the lost person and understand why they never wrote. Phrases like "Phantom heart, pray he's alive" and "mad heart, be brave" convey this intense emotional turmoil.

9.    Rain throughout the poem serves as a powerful, melancholic backdrop, mirroring the pervasive sorrow and loss ("dark rain"). It also facilitates new forms of communication, turning into "ink" for messages and symbolizing a cleansing yet persistent grief.

10. The "archive for letters with doomed addresses" refers to the collection of unread or undeliverable letters found in the minaret. It represents the countless voices silenced by conflict and displacement, a repository of unfulfilled longings and lost connections in a world where communication has ceased.

Summary of the Poem 'The Child' by Rabindranath Tagore

The poem, "The Child" by Rabindranath Tagore, chronicles a journey from darkness and chaos through doubt, murder, repentance, and eventual spiritual revelation.

I. The Setting of Darkness and Chaos

The poem begins with a description of profound confusion and dread. When asked, ‘What of the night?’, no answer comes, as "blind Time gropes in a maze and knows not its path or purpose". The darkness is overwhelming, compared to the dead eye-sockets of a giant, while the clouds oppress the sky and shadows resemble torn limbs. A lurid glow suggests an elemental hunger or an ultimate threat.

The environment is "deliriously wild", filled with noise, groans, and words that are "smothered out of shape and sense". The physical world is characterized by ruins, fragments, "fruitless failures of life," and "godless shrines that shelter reptiles". Tumults and fanatic storms rise in the sky, mingling with a "stealthy hum" of sinister whispers, rumours, slanders, and derision.

The people gathered are vague, and their torchlight creates terrifying patterns on their faces. They are violent, with maniacs striking neighbours, leading to indiscriminate fights. Women weep, fearing their children are lost in a "wilderness of contrary paths". Conversely, others defiantly shake their "lascivious limbs," laughing raucously because they believe "nothing matters".

II. The Man of Faith and Doubt

Amidst this tumult, the "Man of faith" stands on a hill crest in "snow-white silence". He scans the sky for light, and when the night is worst, he cries, "Brothers, despair not, for Man is great". The people do not listen, convinced that the "elemental brute is eternal" and goodness is merely deceptive.

Though beaten, they cry out for a brother, and the answer, "I am by your side," comes, but they cannot see the speaker in the dark. They dismiss this voice as merely their own desperate desire, arguing that they are perpetually condemned to fight for phantoms in a desert of mutual menace.

III. The Call to Pilgrimage

The clouds eventually part, revealing the morning star. A "breath of rebel" rises from the earth, accompanied by the murmur of leaves and the song of an early bird. The Man of faith proclaims, "The time has come... For the pilgrimage".

The people, though initially confused, begin to understand according to their individual desires. A small, anonymous voice whispers, "To the pilgrimage of fulfilment," which the crowd amplifies into a powerful meaning. The early sun shines like a "golden garland" on the leader’s forehead, and they salute him.

IV. The Gathering of Pilgrims

The pilgrims gather from all corners of the world, including the Nile, the Ganges, Thibet, high-walled cities, and savage wilderness. They arrive by various means: walking, riding camels, horses, and elephants, and in chariots.

The crowd is incredibly diverse, encompassing priests burning incense, monarchs leading armies, ragged beggars, decorated courtiers, young scholars, and aged teachers. Women—mothers, maidens, and brides—bring offerings, accompanied by the shrill, gaudy harlot. Also present are the gossip, the maimed, the cripple, the blind, the sick, the dissolute, the thief, and the man who mimics the saint for profit.

While they speak publicly of "The fulfilment!" their private desires are darker: they magnify their greed and dream of "boundless power," unlimited impunity for "pilfering and plunder," and an "eternity of feast for their unclean gluttonous flesh".

V. Weariness and Rising Anger

The Man of faith leads them along difficult, "pitiless paths" strewn with flints, over scorching sands and steep mountainous tracks. The diverse following grows weary, suspicious, and angry. They repeatedly ask, "How much further is the end?". The leader only "sings in answer". Though they scowl, the sheer pressure of the moving mass and "indefinite hope" push them forward.

They shorten their rest and vie with each other, afraid of missing their chance. The days pass, and the "ever-receding horizon" makes them sick, causing their faces to harden and their curses to grow louder.

VI. The Murder

The journey culminates one night under a banyan tree. After a gust of wind extinguishes the lamp, deepening the darkness, someone points a "merciless finger" at the leader and cries, "False prophet, thou hast deceived us!". The crowd echoes the sentiment, with women hissing and men growling.

One person strikes a blow, leading the others to fall upon him in a "fury of destruction," beating him until he lies dead and "his life extinct". The night is then still, broken only by the muffled sound of a distant waterfall and the scent of jasmine.

VII. Acceptance of the Victim

The pilgrims are immediately seized by fear and wretchedness. They begin to wrangle about who was to blame. Just as they are about to fight again, the morning light appears, and they gasp as they gaze at the dead figure. Their crime keeps them "chained to their victim".

Bewildered, they ask, "Who will show us the path?". An "old man from the East" replies simply: "The Victim". He explains that they rejected him in doubt and killed him in anger, but must now accept him in love, "for in his death he lives in the life of us all, the great Victim". The pilgrims stand up and sing, "Victory to the Victim".

VIII. The Renewed Journey

The young call for the pilgrimage to continue—to "love, to power, to knowledge, to wealth overflowing". They cry out to conquer the world and the world beyond. Though the "meaning is not the same to them all," the unified impulse pushes them on.

They are no longer burdened by doubts or weariness. The spirit of the Leader, who has surpassed death, is now within and beyond them. They travel through varied landscapes, including fertile fields, granaries, barren soil where famine dwells, populous cities, desolation, and hovels for the homeless.

When evening comes, they ask the man who reads the sky if a distant tower is their "final hope and peace". The wise man replies that it is only "the last vanishing cloud of the sunset". Exhorted by the young, they continue through the dark toward the "Kingdom of living light". The road seems to know its own meaning, and the dust speaks direction, while the stars sing, "Move on, comrades!". The Leader’s voice assures them, "The goal is nigh".

IX. Arrival and Search

The pilgrimage ends as dawn breaks. The sky reader proclaims, "Friends, we have come". They look around and see ripe corn stretching to the horizon—the earth's "glad golden answer". They see the quiet, daily life of the surrounding villages: the potter's wheel turning, the woodcutter bringing fuel, the cow-herd, and the woman walking to the well.

The pilgrims search for the physical rewards they expected: the King’s castle, the mine of gold, the book of magic, or the sage of love’s wisdom. The star reader, certain the signal cannot be wrong, points to a wayside spring. He walks reverently toward it, watching water well up like a "liquid light," resembling morning melting into tears and laughter. He sings, "Mother, open the gate!".

X. The Revelation

A ray of morning sun strikes the door, and the assembled crowd feels the "primaeval chant of creation". The gate opens, revealing the mother seated on a straw bed with the babe on her lap, described as "the dawn with the morning star". The waiting sun’s ray falls upon the head of the child.

The poet strikes his lute and sings, "Victory to Man, the new-born, the ever-living.". All kneel—the king, the beggar, the saint, and the sinner—and echo the cry. The old man from the East murmurs, "I have seen!".

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Glossary of Key Terms

The Child

The newborn babe revealed at the end of the pilgrimage, seated on his mother's lap. He is the ultimate symbol of fulfilment, representing the "new-born, the ever-living" potential of humanity and renewal.

The Man of faith

The initial leader of the pilgrimage. He stands apart from the despairing crowd, preaches that "Man is great," and guides the people until they turn on him and kill him.

The Victim

The title given to the Man of faith after his death by the old man from the East. In this role, his spirit becomes the inner guide for the pilgrims, as his death allows him to live on "in the life of us all."

The old man from the East

A wise figure among the pilgrims who provides a new spiritual interpretation of events. He recasts the murdered leader as "the great Victim" and is the first to understand the final revelation, murmuring, "I have seen!"

The reader of the sky

A wise man among the pilgrims who interprets celestial signs to navigate the journey. He confirms their arrival at the correct destination and leads the call for the "Mother" to open the gate.

Pilgrimage

The central journey of the poem. It begins as a desperate escape from a chaotic world, fuelled by selfish desires for power and wealth, but transforms into a spiritual quest that culminates in a collective reverence for new life.

Fulfilment

The stated goal of the pilgrimage. Initially misinterpreted by the crowd as material gain ("boundless power," "unlimited impunity for pilfering"), it is ultimately revealed to be the spiritual renewal symbolized by The Child.

Elemental brute

The force that the cynical crowd believes is eternal and true. They see the Man of faith's message of goodness as a "darkly cunning" deception that hides the reality of this brute force.

Godless shrines

An image from the poem's opening that represents spiritual decay and corruption in the world before the pilgrimage. These ruined shrines are described as places that now "shelter reptiles."

Deliriously wild

A phrase used to describe the state of the world at the poem's outset. It signifies a condition of absolute chaos, confusion, and senselessness where "words [are] smothered out of shape and sense."

Outline of The Man Who Turned into a Stick by Kobo Abe

The play The Man Who Turned into a Stick is written by the Japanese dramatist Kobo Abe. It is a dark, philosophical exploration set on a hot, sticky Sunday afternoon in June on a main thoroughfare near a department store. It details the aftermath of a man's transformation into an inanimate object and the administrative process conducted by agents from Hell.

The Inciting Incident and Characters

The action begins with a young man (HIPPIE BOY) and a young woman (HIPPIE GIRL) sitting on a sidewalk curb, appearing withdrawn and indifferent to their surroundings. They may be sniffing glue. Suddenly, an ordinary stick, about four feet long, falls hurtling down from the sky. It lands in the gutter near the hippies. The HIPPIE BOY picks up the stick, using it to bang a rhythm on the pavement. The hippies treat the incident with withdrawn cynicism, wondering if hitting them or missing them would have been the true "accident".

The stick is in fact THE MAN WHO TURNED INTO A STICK. The Man, through internal monologue, coordinates his movements with the stick being held by the HIPPIE BOY. He recalls that he was leaning against a railing on the roof, looking down at the crowds below, when his boy called him for a dime to look through a telescope. He transformed and fell off the roof at that second, insisting he had no intention of running away from his child.

The Arrival of the Earth Duty Squad

The two central figures driving the plot are MAN FROM HELL, a supervisor, and WOMAN FROM HELL, who is recently appointed to the Earth Duty Squad. They arrive, noting that "Today, once again, a man Has changed his shape and become a stick". They are on a mission to retrieve the stick, which they believe is "a valuable item of evidence relating to a certain person".

The agents identify the setting as Ward B, thirty-two stroke four on the grid, and note the time of the incident was precisely "twenty-two minutes and ten seconds before" the hour. They are looking for the stick to verify its certification number, decide on punishment, and register its disposition.

Conflict and Negotiation

The Hell agents demand the stick, but the hippies refuse to hand it over. The hippies are characterized by their nihilism: they state that "Aims are out-of-date" and they don't understand anything anymore, claiming "Everything is wrapped in riddles". The HIPPIE GIRL suggests the stick looks like the HIPPIE BOY.

The conflict intensifies when the WOMAN FROM HELL hurries off and confirms a complication: the man's son is coming. The boy is causing a disturbance in the department store, insisting he saw his father turn into a stick and fall. The Stick can hear the child's footsteps.

Alarmed by the child's approach, the HIPPIE BOY decides to sell the stick, setting the price at five dollars. He justifies the sale as a "contradiction of circumstances"—he is selling it because he doesn't want to. The MAN FROM HELL pays, but warns the boy, "It wasn't just a stick you sold, but yourself". The hippies quickly exit.

The Nature of the Stick and Final Disposition

After retrieving the stick, the MAN FROM HELL gingerly picks up the dirty object. The agents then discuss the nature of the transformation and the deceased:

The Man's Life: The stick is covered in scars, indicating harsh treatment, yet the MAN FROM HELL calls it "capable and faithful". He argues that a stick is the "root and source of all tools" and that its faithfulness lies in the fact that it remains a stick, "no matter how it is used".

The Rarity of Sticks: The WOMAN FROM HELL is perplexed because she cannot recall any stick specimens in the specimen room. The MAN FROM HELL clarifies that this is because sticks are so common. He reveals that during the last twenty or thirty years, the percentage of sticks has steadily increased, reaching 98.4 percent of all those who die in a given month in extreme cases.

Judgment: The MAN FROM HELL references the textbook, which says: "They who come up for judgment, but were not judged, have turned into sticks and filled the earth". He concludes that the deceased, having been a "living stick" who turned into a "dead stick," requires "No punishment" and "Registration unnecessary" (Certification number Me 621). The Man From Hell asserts that the stick was created because the person was "satisfied with himself", a claim the STICK furiously rejects.

Before departing for their next assignment, the MAN FROM HELL stands the stick up in a hole in the gutter. The WOMAN FROM HELL suggests they give the stick to the child so he might use it as a "mirror" to ensure he doesn't become a stick like his father, but the supervisor dismisses this idea.

The play ends with the MAN FROM HELL addressing the audience, stating that they are surrounded by a "whole forest of sticks," representing "All those innocent people, each one determined to turn into a stick slightly different from everybody else, but nobody once thinking of turning into anything besides a stick". The STICK remains frozen between "fury and despair", wondering what would be better to turn into than the one thing "somebody in the world is sure to pick up".