Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet' and Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour'

The Prophet’s ‘On Marriage’ and Life of Mrs. Mallard in 'The Story of an Hour'

                                          Kahlil Gibran, a famous Lebanese writer, philosopher and a visual artist; in his well-known prose poetry ‘The Prophet”, had written spiritual and philosophical verse under twenty-six topics. In this work, he is literally prophesizing on ideal friendship, marriage, love, work, etc. When Almitra requests her Master Almustafa speak on Marriage he says,

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. 

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. 

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

                         In the first four, the author emphasizes that in a marital bond a man and a woman should be together, until death with its “white wings”, scatter “their days”, that they wanted to live for themselves. But then, the main essence that the author emphasizes on marriage in these lines on marriage is that; though the couples are united in their body, mind and soul; there should be some space in their ‘togetherness’. This space that Gibran demands may denote the private space that both the husband and wife should have for themselves, to assert their individuality. This space may also denote the real identity, which an individual should have for himself or herself, in spite of being united in marriage. The author then says that, they should love each other but should not make a ‘bond of love’. The literal meaning of ‘making a bond’ is a deed by which a person is ‘committed’ to make payment to another. Here the author means to say, either a husband from his wife or a wife from her husband must not ‘demand’ each other, to reciprocate the unconditional love that one shows on another. Because, this may lead to lack of self-assertion and self-identity, due to the unconscious possessiveness of either of the couple.

                                            By emphasizing this attitude of having a private space between for themselves, the author have slightly hinted at the term ‘life-partner’; a soul-mate with whom one lives his/her life together, but with their own way of living it, which is accepted by both of them. To emphasize this, the author gives the instance of the ‘strings of the lute’ that are ‘alone’ producing a single harmonious music.

                                 

                                In the short story ‘The Story of an Hour’ by Kate Chopin, the character of Mrs. Mallard’s married life contradicts this view of Gibran. In the story, Mrs. Mallard, on hearing the news of her husband, Brently Mallard’s death in a railroad disaster, burst into tears with grief. But then, in her room, being alone, she experiences a kind of ‘monstrous joy’, for which she is scared initially, but then believes that it gets hold of her mind and soul. She senses a kind of freedom and happiness, on her husband’s death, believing that she would live the rest of her years for herself. This ‘monstrous joy’ is the sweet fruit of freedom and joy that doesn’t get hold of her but the thing that she wishes to taste. This sounds to be deviant from the typical temperament, which a society demands from a wife at the death of her husband. But this conforms to the psychological attitude of a woman, whose real identity and individuality is lost, at the cost of her husband’s suffocating love and care on her. This attitude is evident with the words,

                       “Free! Body and soul free!”

                            This lack of self-assertion and self-identity shows that there is this lack of private space between them in their ‘togetherness’, that Gibran emphasizes as the important element that adds harmony to the music of life. This makes her to repress all her passion and desires, to live for someone who is said to be united in marriage with her. She does not explicitly hate her husband because she is aware that, he would have, had this unconditional love for her perceiving that it would make her feel good. But it only provoked a sense of suffocation in her; that pushed her to the unconscious state of despair, to get away, not from him, but from his possessiveness; to live her life to the fullest. It is very much symbolic in the story; initially she is addressed as Mrs. Mallard by the author but as the story unfolds her inner sense of freedom, she is addressed as Louise by her sister, Josephine; thereby emphasizing her individuality, with which she would continue to exist in the remaining years. 

                                                This despair need for freedom to live life, leads to the tragic end of Mrs. Mallard’s death at shock, when she sees her husband back at the threshold; unaware of the railroad disaster as well as the psychotic disaster that would put his wife to death. But I would say, that the soul of Louise had broken the bondage of imposed upon her as Mrs. Mallard; releases itself for the search of unconditional love with a private space, at least in in Eternity, with the help of Omniscient Power.  

I am Sorry, This is not the Speech by Martin Luther King

I HAVE A DREAM…

           The term ‘Dream’, as a child, for me was something that I thought as a one, with mere images of things that I liked and of things that I longed for. Now, as a young and enthusiastic individual, craving for endless liveliness and wisdom, I tend to have a progressive vision, the so-called ‘Dream Vision’ for my life. I wish and I hope that the ‘Dream Vision’ would not go as a mere, dreamt vision of the past. I have dreams for myself initially as a daughter; then as a student and finally my great dream as a mature twenty year-old individual in the society.

                                   Initially, I love to pen down my dreams, as a lovable daughter to my parents. Though I am not interested to fulfil my parents’ dream of my marriage, I am worthy enough to be a dutiful daughter. I confess this because, I have a great dream to financially develop myself, to satisfy my parents’ needs and wants, which is deviant in my culture, because it is inferior for parents to get their needs or wants satisfied, with the help of their daughter. But, I wish to be deviant in trying to find out their wants or needs and satisfy it for them like a ‘son’. I think I have enhanced my moral self to the extent, that they believed me to be their trustworthy, caring, responsible and courageous daughter.

                                 Secondly, there is an interest in me, for curiosity to know, unknown things around me, kindled my dreams as a student. Though I had ideal and raw dreams to become a Doctor to inject others or to become a teacher to instruct students with a ruler as a school student, I now have dreams to proceed with research projects to arrive at solution, for certain established crisis as a collegiate student, inspired of my college and literature. Dreaming about certain thing seems to be false, when we dream detached from that thing. This is purely true to me, in my every dream. Initially, I dreamt of, or to say frankly, to me the college was portrayed (by Media) to be a place where girls go for updating themselves on fashion trends and a place where boys go for mate-selection, with no burden of learning by heart lessons. But it is my college, which completely changed my perspective of a college, from the shade of love and fashion to its own shade of friendly competition with creative talents of cooperative friendship.

                                    A College, which I hated with all my heart but with which I fell in love with later. I was provisionally selected as a student for English Literature, which was there a great deal. I was inspired at, and I admired every aspect of the college, which was, as if, it was shaped brick by brick, exclusively for the holistic development of a student into a matured individual. Perhaps, now I again dream to talk about my college in succeeding essays. Back to my dream, this college kindled my dream to proceed my masters in English Literature and of course, to complete my doctorate. It kindled my endless curiosity, which led to unfulfilled thirst of intellectual curiosity. This is because, my college emphasized that learning would happen, only when our hearts wish to learn, perceive and understand complex ideas.

                                   The dreams that I so far spoke of, is confined to my own comfort zone, about the higher studies and career, there are also certain dreams, that is beyond my comfort zone; that tests my real capability, to face challenges and obstacles. According to me, dreams that are beyond a person’s comfort zone; that disturbs him/her every time, when he/she feels contented to be within their comfort zones; that is ready to shape his/her real stardom, if he/she dare to step into it; then it is said to be the only real dream that a person possess in his/her life. Such real dreams are the ones that I possess as a twenty year-old mature individual woman.

                              As per my view of real dream, they are, (I will not claim them to be ideal, because the use of the term ‘ideal’ will make it unattainable), like the little water in a huge jug, for the thirsty Crow. Only when it detached itself from its own place and used its wisdom, it was able to get that water, to fulfil its thirst. My aspiring dream is to enter a job in Airport Cabin Crew and to learn to drive a bike. I also have plans, to start a totally digitalized center for students to improve their efficiency in English language and in technological usage. From my childhood, I wanted to ‘shape’ my life for me, that was however proven impossible, without the help of my parents. The latent aspiration in me is to become an eloquent speaker, to address young-adults, on necessity of shaping their own lives in a valuable manner, thereby, indirectly shaping the society in which they live. Though there are number of planets that function together in the Universe, in a planet like Earth, the night with the moon should disappear for the arrival of Bright Day with the sun. Similarly, though there are number of dreams like bubbles, in a life of a young modern aspiring individual, some bubbly dreams should disappear, for the emergence of clear and bright way to pursue the real dreams. Again, the night and day occurs under one Sky, unfolds a secret that; Dream that constitutes a successful Life of an individual, are both fixed by the graceful hands of the Omniscient Being, with a great purpose.

                                        Finally, I aspire for that great Purpose, to make my way flexible, to achieve my real dreams in the light of Divinity. 

Does Social Media isolate People?

                   

                     Does Social Media isolate People?

                                                                    Recently, there was an article in The Hindu newspaper under a title called "The Technological Ordeal that human beings take" written by a person called Sreelekha. In her article, she emphasizes the main essence of the two antithetical terms called social and isolation, with regard to social media. She says that social media, which people believe to be a common platform for socializing themselves, with people of different cultures and countries, lead to isolation for people who spend all there precious time in it. This very title and the essence of the article sounded ironical to me, to the extent that it kindled my desire to expatiate on her point in dual process of supporting and criticizing her view of social media. 

                                                                    I tend to completely agree her perspective of social media's role in isolating people,  as the Moon accepts its defeat to the Sun at the end of every night. In spite of blaming the youngsters, whom the society generally criticize for being exploiting their time in Social Media, I was able to feel that, people of any age group who are addictively involved in this social media, tend to behave like the so-called, "frenzy irresponsible youths indifferent to the societal problems that are taking place around them".  And I think the isolation, that she talks about is taking place at this time, when the people, who use social media, think that they update themselves with international issues, thereby being indifferent to the present problem, which they face in their own place. This leads to the unconscious isolation, between them and their family, friends and finally their society.  When these users of the Great Social Media, start to realize this unconscious process of getting isolated from others, with a single tap of their media icon, they will cease to be indifferent to the current issues around them and become responsible in the way they use the social media.

                                                             This conclusion, made me deviate from supporting her point that, the social media isolates people. Because, this realization, that I spoke of  had already happened among the common people, that made itself evident in the efficient usage of the social media, for a common cause. This great awakening led me to the thought that, people are capable of using the social media for a noble cause, to conserve the tradition of Tamilnadu and are also very well aware of the isolation that social media entwines them from the society and the family, that they are in. I am forced to give the anecdote of the Genie and Allaudin, to conclude this essay. It is in the hands of Allaudin to use Genie for a fair purpose or for a worse purpose. Similarly, it is in the hands of the Social Media Users to use it for 'the greater common good' rather than for jest and likes. Time, as said by our ancestors, is precious, but, instead of demanding people to spend it a valuable manner, I like to provide a hint, to spend it with their dear family, because spending time with a person is like giving a small portion of our Life to them. Apart from the isolation, that this Media tries to impose on its lovers, people must not hesitate, to spend time with their dear ones, who accept them as they are.