Friends of Words

Author: Swati

  • The Five Boons of Life By Mark Twain: Summary, Analysis and Review

    The Five Boons of Life By Mark Twain: Summary, Analysis and Review

    The Five Boons of Life is a short story by Mark Twain published as part of his collection, The 30000 Bequest and Other Stories.

    It’s different from his other stories in that it does not have our humorous Mark Twain saying things that make us grin like idiots in awe of his wit, but something to mull over, something to reflect.

    The Five Boons of Life: Summary and Plot Analysis

    The fable, as the title suggests, is about the five boons of life. It features a fairy and a man over the span of a man’s lifetime. It is divided into five chapters.

    Chapter 1

    Enter Fairy who has arrived with gifts.

    ‘Take one, leave the others ’- she says.

    The five options on offer are – Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure and Death.

    Without a second thought, the young man chooses pleasure. It does not take him long to realize that it was not a good choice – as each of those pleasures were short-lived, vain and empty.

    He regrets his choice and resolves to choose wisely if the opportunity ever presents itself again.

    Chapter 2

    Man has aged a bit now, Fairy makes an appearance again and grants him another wish. He has the option to choose from the rest of the four.

    The man chooses love this time thinking that it had to be the right decision.

    Years have passed since that visit from the fairy – every loved one the man ever had, either left him or the world. He is pained with grief and curses love from the bottom of his heart.

    He lost way more than he gained, trading with the monstrous Love.

    Chapter 3

    Fairy reappears and now offers the man to pick one from the remaining three.

    Man chooses fame this time. The fairy grants the wish and leaves.

    The man enjoys fame, but that experience of enjoyment does not last long either. Fame is quickly followed by envy, persecution, derision and pity. He sits there alone, marinating in hopeless self-loathing.

    Chapter 4

    The man being given the choice between Wealth and Death this time, chooses Wealth, considering himself utterly foolish for not having done that before.

    Wealth, he thought, was the answer to everything.

    The result of this one was worse if not better than ones from his previous choices. Three years after choosing wealth, the man sat in rags, cursing wealth and coming to realize the most precious wish of them all – Death.

    Chapter 5

    Man is ready to embrace death when Fairy appears and offers him to choose again, but there is a twist.

    The man can only choose from the four options that he had used before. Death was not an option anymore for the man.

    What lay ahead of him was something worse – and in Mark Twain’s words – The Wanton Insult of Old Age.

    Want to read The Five Boons of Life by Mark Twain?

    The Five Boons of Life is a short story which is published in a novel alongwith other short stories written by Mark Twain. You can use the links given below to buy this short story collection on Amazon:

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    The Five Boons of Life: Review and My Thoughts

    ‘If you were granted one wish, what would you ask for?’

    Growing up, someone must have asked you this question at least once. It is not just something that children marvel at, but is also a good conversation starter for adults.

    Now, I do not know about you, but I have been asked that question many times in my life, so much so that it’d  be a miracle if it does not make a monthly appearance at some conversation or the other.

    What’s more intriguing is how the answer to that question changed for me as I grew older.

    I distinctly remember the first time I was asked this question. And I answered like any ice-cream loving kid would,  ‘An Ice cream truck’.

    Of course, I couldn’t have the satisfaction of having my imaginary ice-cream truck, because I was immediately told what a stupid choice that was.

    If I were you, I would have asked for ‘I wish for every wish of mine coming true’

    That was the Big revelation. How smart! How Intelligent! Why didn’t I think of it?

    Of course I couldn’t, because I was stupid. And my neighbor was smart.

    And then Life happened. (It’s still happening by the way; I am not that old)

    Like the man in Twain’s story, I have craved for some of those things. But with a growing stack of life experiences, I’ve come to realize that there is no end to desire.  Getting one is always followed by an immediate craving for the other and then another and so on and so forth. 

    The fable is not new. You have some version of this in every culture and even if you are not familiar with this particular story, you are not new to the idea.

    Equipped with whatever you took from the story, if I were to ask you, for the n-th time..

    If you were to be granted one wish, what would you ask for?

  • The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde: Summary and Analysis

    The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde: Summary and Analysis

    The Canterville Ghost is a short story written by Oscar Wilde. It was first published in 1887. Unknown to many, this was his first published prose fiction work.

    Contrary to what the title of the story may suggest, this is a humorous story at the core of which lies the differences in the American and British culture.

    The Canterville Ghost: Plot Summary and Analysis

    Mr. Otis , an American minister, was looking to buy Canterville Chase, a castle that  belonged to Sir Canterville. The castle was not inhabited by the Canterville family for decades now, the reason being that it was believed to be haunted.

    Sir Canterville declared this upfront to Mr Otis, who discarding the haunted castle rumors offered to buy both the castle and ghost – at valuation.

    Mr. Otis moved into the castle with his wife, his son (Washington), his daughter (Virginia) and his two younger twins and were greeted by the castle housekeeper, Mrs. Umney.

    They noticed the blood stain in the hall and Mrs. Umney let them know that it was from when Sir Canterville brutally murdered his wife.

    The family was far from spooked by this – rather proceeding to grab their cleaning supplies to scrub that spot right off the floor.

    The stain came right off.

    The following days, the blood stain re-appeared – although what was noticeable was that blood stain had different hues each time.

    The family finally accepted there might be some truth to the rumors, but still went about their business as usual.

    The ghost finally made an appearance one night and Mr Otis was the one to see him, but instead of being scared – he requested  that he put some oil into the chains so that he didn’t make so much noise while walking around in the night.

    The ghost was surprised, as this was not the normal reaction he was accustomed to. Never in a brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he been so grossly insulted.

    Taking this as an insult to his natural scaring power, he took it upon himself to make even bigger spectacles – what went on in the following days was actually opposite to what he imagined.

    The kids attacked him pea shooters, and played elaborate pranks on him – on one occasion even scaring with a replica skeleton. Insulted and tired, the ghost eventually retired to his own room – feeling even more depressed.

    Viriginia, Mr Otis’ daughter found him one day and was pained to see the ghost, visibly sad and distraught – who told her that he was very tired and had not slept in three hundred years.

    He asked for her help – knowing that she had a compassionate heart – unlike the rest of her treacherous family.

    She agreed to help him, although she was terrified of what lied ahead. They disappeared into a garden of death. 

    Desperate search ensued to find Virginia – who was nowhere to be found. The family was distraught, as was the Duke of Cheshire, who had been courting Virginia for quite some time now.

    Her mother was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, when Virginia finally came back to the house. She let the family know that Sir Simon Canterville, the ghost, was now at rest.

    The ghost, in turn, had left her a box of rare jewels as a gift for her help.

    Although Virginia never told anyone what happened in the garden of death, she always remembered Sir Simon with love and was thankful for sharing the wisdom:

    Love is stronger than life and death.

    Want to read The Canterville Ghost?

    The Canterville Ghost is a short story which is published in a collection of short stories. You are welcome to use the links given below to check the price of this book:

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    The Canterville Ghost: Review and My Thoughts

    The story is a delightful read – more so because it did not turn out to be a tale of horror – which if truth be told, I do not have a stomach for.

    Although the story still had a very profound message at the end, it was the characteristic humor that stood out for me.

    So, you are buying a house and the first thing someone told you was that it was haunted.

    What would your reaction be?

    Mr Otis’ reaction on hearing this news was priceless.

    I will take the furniture and the ghost at a valuation, answered the minister.

    I wonder what Sir Canterville would have thought in his head, when he listened to that.

    Not only that, he made it plainly clear that an incident or a commodity of that nature, if known in America, would be a rage.

    I reckoned if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we’d have it home in a very short time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show.

    Thinking that Mr Otis was not able to fully understand the gravity of situation at his hand, Sir Canterville made another attempt to explain.

    The ghost has been well known for three centuries and always makes an appearance before the death of any member of the family, 

    To which Mr Otis, quickly remarked – So does the family doctor for that matter

    One hell of a lesson in lateral thinking, isn’t it?

    There is no such thing as a ghost and I guess the laws of nature are not going to be suspended for the British Aristocracy.

    Quite a jab at the British aristocracy there! 

    British never seem to have seen eye to eye on their language:

    … We really have everything in common with America nowadays, except of course, the language.

    The story is replete with differences in the British and American culture, a product, I suppose, of Wilde’s experiences in America on his lecture tours there. He pays a little homage to H.W. Longfellow as well, a celebrated American poet.

    Consider this –

    He had hoped that even Modern Americans would be thrilled by the sight of a spectre in armour, if for no more sensible reason , at least out of respect for their national poet Longfellow, over whose graceful and attractive poetry he himself had whiled away many a weary hour when the Canterville were up in town.

    Although this was a ghost story, I was still surprised to know that our ghost had actually killed his wife (I know people can be stupid, right?) for a reason that was even more surprising than the act itself – she was plain looking and didn’t cook well.

    But having been rebuked by Virginia for that, he simply responds with-

    Oh, I hate the cheap severity of abstract ethics. 

    Made me think.

    That is after picked myself up from the floor laughing.

  • Sweet and Low by Nick White: Summary, Analysis and Review

    Sweet and Low by Nick White: Summary, Analysis and Review

    Sweet and Low is a short story written by Nick White. The story revolves around the life of a young boy Forney, who, having recently lost his father, is coming to terms with a life with his mother – a mother he doesn’t especially feel close to.

    With the feeling of love comes the dread. When you love someone, you give them the power to destroy you with something as little as a look. Or a song.

    This is an excerpt from a short story by Nick White, an American author noted for his debut novel How to Survive a Summer. The story Sweet and Low is one of the stories in his short story collection of the same name.

    Sweet and Low: Summary and Plot Analysis

    The story opens with Felicia (Forney’s mother) cleaning the house meticulously, something that was not very characteristically her, having announced to her son that she was expecting someone for dinner that day.

    Forney, who hasn’t still come to terms with the fact that his mother is seeing other men, feels disgusted but resolves to make sure he knows who that man is.

    The man doesn’t arrive on time and Forney is secretly happy when he tries to console his mother about being stood up.

    The man, whose name is Buck, however, pulls up shortly after, apologizing profusely over his tardiness.

    Dreading to see another man with his mom, he prepares for the worst but looking at the tiny and frail frame of this man, he is secretly relieved. He is convinced that his mother seems to be in this arrangement strictly for his connections.

    Over the course of the evening, Forney comes to know that Buck met his mother at Country Music Palace where her rendition of Sleeping Single in a double bed bewitched him.

    Buck is very appreciative of Felicia’s talents which Forney finds very hard to understand – having never experienced them first hand.

    Buck continues to regale them for most of the night. Forney comes to know that Buck is a DJ, and hosts a show Buck Wild in the Morning – second most-listened program in the  Delta. He confesses to having a soft spot for happy songs.

    Buck, a self confessed sweet tooth, asks them for a dessert. Felicia asks Forney to get some for him from the freezer.

    Dreading the sight of his mother and Buck using it as their moment of privacy, Forney, to his relief, sees them in the driveway where Buck and his mother were sharing a cigarette.

    His mother sees him off and wards off Forney’s question about the nature of the relationship between the two.

    Buck’s visit to the family becomes a regular Friday occurrence – and more and more focused on Felicia’s talents.

    Forney is impressed with Buck’s talent on the piano and even more so, when he listens to his mom singing for the first time. He now realizes what his father and Buck meant when they said they were enchanted by her voice.

    Buck and his mom practice, often till late in the night, but Buck never stays the night. They continue to maintain a strict business-like relationship – at least in Forney’s presence.

    Buck and his mother start going to small open mic gigs and on those occasions Forney is left to live with his uncle and his aunt.

    Although both his uncle and his aunt pretend to not care for information about Felicia, Forney knows that they secretly wish for as much as they can get out of him. He tells them about Buck and how he is teaching her country music.

    Buck drives up into the front yard one afternoon and announces to Forney that the opportunity for his mom had now come. They would be going on a trip to Memphis and this time his mother is going to take him along with them.

    In preparation for the trip, both his mother and Forney shop for something classic that suits the occasion. His mother is in a very jolly mood and kisses Forney on the forehead.

    This, in Forney’s words, is an atomic bomb for his senses.

    Buck drives them to Memphis in his crown vic, entertains a few questions from Forney on his way there before they arrive at the Little Tina. Felicia, nervous about her upcoming performance, touches the statue of W.C Candy for luck.

    The three of them get in a booth at the back, where Forney and Buck order sweet tea and Felicia goes straight for her gin and tonic. They see a performer playing quite well, only to be booed.

    Felicia performs shortly after and the crowd does not even notice her presence. This breaks Forney’s heart who wanted her mother’s performance to be immensely successful. He breaks into sobs.

    Buck’s friend Bishop visits shortly after, missing Felicia’s performance. Felicia and Bishop get drunk and perform again, with her mother slurring through most of the song.

    Forney is disturbed by this drunkenness, and Bishop’s behavior towards his mother.

    In a fit of rage, he splashes his tea on Bishop’s face. He is about to retaliate but he’s stopped by Buck.

    Felicia, in an attempt to repair the damage done by Forney, announces that she will join them later and that they could go on without her.

    Buck and Forney both disagree but Felicia insists that she needed to talk to Bishop to smoothen things as she feels that this will help her career.

    Buck drives Forney back to stay at a motel where both of them share a cinnamon bun brought by a waitress and Buck tells him where his son was, answering a question that Forney had asked him months ago.

    Both of them know that Felicia was not going to return. Forney is sure that she thinks – this is the saddest room in the universe.

    Want to read Sweet and Low?

    Sweet and Low is available on Amazon if you want to get yourself a copy. You can use the links given below to check the price or buy this book:

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    Sweet and Low: Review and My Thoughts

    I find the evolution of the relationship between the mother and son endearing. Both of them were grappling with the loss of a dearly loved one; it came as a salvation to see Forney progressing from an emotionally distant son to one that breaks into sobs when his mother did not get the applause he so desperately wanted for her.

    Her response does not alarm or frustrate Forney. That is their way with each other: distant with an air of suspicion.

    He recognizes the feeling inside him and shudders. With the feeling of love comes the dread. When you love someone, you give them the power to destroy you with something as little as a look. Or a Song.

    I loved how Nick White took a loving jab at deep South here and there. And on his road trip to Memphis:

    Forney has this notion that they will see Memphis glittering in the distance, a good mile or two before they reach it. So far, however, there has been nothing but a vast stretch of nothingness in front of and behind them: a hazy wall of humidity,a diminishing wall of trees. Like they are headed away from civilization, not towards it.

    I almost found myself rooting for Buck when he confesses to liking happy love songs:

    The kind where it ends the way it should.

    Although Nick White didn’t end the story that way, he made the journey worth the while.

  • A Helpless Situation by Mark Twain: Summary and Plot Analysis

    A Helpless Situation by Mark Twain: Summary and Plot Analysis

    Have you ever been in a situation when you were approached by a distant relative of a friend of a friend’s friend, whom you don’t know and have never heard of before, and they asked you for a favor?

    If so, A Helpless Situation by Mark Twain is sure to take you for a stroll down the memory lane with the added bonus of his wit and humor.

    A Helpless Situation: A Brief Summary

    In this short story, published as part of his collection The 30000 Bequest, he recounts his past experience of dealing with people asking him for favors just because he knew their relatives at some point in his life – whom he doesn’t clearly even remember now.

    He responds to the request via a letter, a letter wherein he mentions a hypothetical conversation with his publisher about a recommendation for the ‘seeker’ (for the sake of simplicity, let’s call this person a seeker)

    He refers to the letters that he receives asking for favors, talking to them in complete disbelief, clearly mocking the senders of those artifacts.

    “I have seen you a thousand times, you always look the same way, yet you are always a wonder, and you are always impossible; to contrive you is clearly beyond human genius – you can’t exist, you don’t exist, yet here you are!”

    Mark Twain is amazed by the extent these distant relatives of friends go to seek favors, knowing fully well that there is no way for the ‘influential’ person to actually know anything about them to provide a recommendation. The criterion for them to reach out is simply that the person should be influential.

    “In a word, to every person who is supposed to have influence. It always follows the one pattern : “You do not know me, BUT YOU ONCE KNEW A RELATIVE OF MINE.”

    He expresses helplessness in this situation also indicating that someone keen and talented would not be resorting to such means.

    Well, there is not a thing we can do that would be a help, for not in any instance does the latter ever come from anyone who CAN be helped.

    His logical stance to describe his helplessness is no less humorous than it is eye-opening (for all of us seekers out there!)

    The tribute to Mr Twain’s funny take cannot be over without reproducing at least a portion from the letter he sends to the seeker eventually hypothesizing the conversation that might have happened if he decided to send the recommendation.

    So, here goes:

    Publisher: She must have thought that you knew her literature and could speak for it. Is that it?

    Twain: No, she knew I didn’t.

    Publisher: Well, what then? She had a reason of some sort for believing you competent to recommend her literature, and also under obligations to do it?

    Twain: Yes, I knew her uncle

    Publisher: Knew her uncle?

    Twain: That isn’t all, there are other ties. I know the cabin her uncle lived in, in the mines, I knew his partners, too; also I came near knowing her husband before she married him.

    The comedy doesn’t end here though. 

    Publisher: How can you know it when you don’t remember it?

    Twain : I don’t know. That is, I don’t know the process, but I do know a lot of things that I don’t remember and remember a lot of things that I don’t know. It’s so with every educated person.

    Publisher: Is your time valuable?

    Twain: No. Well, not very.

    Publisher: Mine is.

    Not all of us have the wit to reply to a distant relative of a barely known friend asking us favors the same way as Mark Twain, but now thanks to A Helpless Situation, we do know how to tell them where to go, without actually saying the words.

  • The Loudest Voice by Grace Paley: Summary, Analysis and Review

    The Loudest Voice by Grace Paley: Summary, Analysis and Review

    The Loudest Voice is a short story by Grace Paley, published as part of her short story collection – Little Disturbances of Man, back in 1959. The story captures the world of a young Jewish girl living and learning about a life of balance between her roots and the world that she currently lives in.

    The Loudest Voice: Summary and Plot Analysis

    The story opens at a grocery store where Shirley’s mom and the grocer are having a conversation where the grocer is advising her to not be scared of her child. Her mother laments about her loud husband and daughter.

    Shirley goes to school nearby, where she holds a reputation for being a loud and clear speaker.

    Shirley, upon being asked by the monitor of her class, speaks with Mr Hilton, who wants to have her narrate the school Christmas play.

    Having received high recommendation from her teacher Mrs.Jordan, Mr Hilton gives her the part after making her swear that she will work harder than ever before.

    In a backdrop of festivities, a recently concluded Thanksgiving and soon to be up Christmas, Shirley and her family live in a culture very different from their own.

    Bright as Shirley is, she performs splendidly in all rehearsals and has the teachers fully impressed with her abilities.

    Her mother, on the other hand, finds the Christmas festivities and her Jew neighbors involvement in them unsettling. She has a conversation with Misha (Shirley’s dad) about it. He simply discards this as one of her tantrums pointing to the fact that other places in the world had bigger problems than Christmas for her.

    Shirley with her brilliant performances and her booming voice becomes a favorite of teachers.

    Despite lack of approval from her mother about her booming voice and her Christmas performance, Misha defends his daughter. He says he knows his daughter is not a fool. He wishes her good luck for her performance.

    The day of the performance arrives and Shirley delivers splendidly. A Mrs Kornbluh visits them for tea and they have a conversation about it. Misha finds the play beautiful considering that it introduces them to the belief of a different culture.

    Mrs Kornbluh however points that Jews got very limited parts in the play.

    Shirley retires to bed, but before falling asleep she prays for everyone hoping to be heard as her voice was the loudest.

    Want to read The Loudest Voice?

    The Loudest Voice is a short story which is published in a collection of short stories called Little Disturbances of Man. You can use the links given below to check the price of this book:

    Check Price on Amazon US
    Check Price on Amazon India

    The Loudest Voice: Review and My Thoughts

    The story is feel good on so many accounts – the amazing father and daughter relationship, a loving family, tolerance on cultural differences, the practice of yelling that the family used to silence each other and the warmth with which Shirley recalls her past. How her father’s tolerant and open minded views impressed upon the mind of a young Shirley.

    Some notable quotes from The Loudest Voice

    There are a few quotes from the book that brought a smile to my face as I envisioned a simple Jew household that Paley has effortlessly created.

    Consider Shirley’s mother’s view when Mrs Kornbluh points to her the meagre parts that Christian children got in the Christmas play.

    They got very small voices;after all, why should they holler? The English language they know from the beginning by heart. They are blond like angels. You think it’s so important they should get in the play? Christmas..the whole piece of goods-they own it.

    And then her fathers when faced with his wife’s incessant banter about Christians 

    You wanted to come here. You would be eaten alive in Palestine. Here you got Christmas, Some joke,ha?

    His level headedness and support for his daughter is heartwarming 

    What belongs to history belongs to all men. 

    Does it hurt Shirley to learn to speak up? It does not. So one day, maybe she will not live between the kitchen and the shop. 

    (to which Shirley quickly reminisces) Thank you Papa, it’s true about me to this day, I am foolish but I am not a fool.

    A little friendly banter is again a pleasant addition to the mix, when Mrs Kornblun speaks with Shirley’s father after the play.

    How’s the virgin? Asked my father with a look of concern.

    For a man with a daughter, you got a fresh mouth Abramovitch

    Here, have some lemon, my father said kindly. It will sweeten your disposition.

    Despite the struggles of an immigrant family, I found the family and community a very closely knit and functional one. A child being brought up by loving parents, a level headed father supporting her and tolerant, rather appreciative, of other cultures.

    I could not help but imagine a world with a lot more of such fathers and a lot more Shirleys – one spreading the message of tolerance while the other the message of love.

    Grace Paley had a lot of foresight highlighting the importance of differences leading to a wonderful mosaic of life, where differences are at least tolerated if not celebrated.

    In the world that we live in right now, the message is as relevant as ever.