THe ELEPHANT VANISHES

  THE ELEPHANT VANISHES

INTRODUCTION:

 The Elephant Vanishes  is a collection of 17 short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The stories were written between 1980 and 1991. There Original title is  象の消滅 (Zō no shōmetsu).

Like other stories in this collection, “

The Elephant Vanishes” focuses on a strange incident that leaves its protagonist disoriented. An unnamed narrator tells the story of how an aged elephant and its keeper mysteriously disappear one night from his town's elephant house. 

  The narrator, who is the protagonist of the story, recalls the events leading up to the elephant's sudden vanishing, the news coverage of the incident, and the futile efforts of the townspeople to find the elephant and the keeper.

  He also discusses the strange circumstances of the elephant's disappearance, which indicate that the elephant apparently vanished into thin air. After meeting a magazine editor who is a potential love interest, the narrator ends up talking about how he witnessed the elephant shrinking or the keeper becoming bigger or both on the night of their disappearance.

THEME :

Imbalance-

 One of the major themes of the story is the idea of things being out of balance. This theme is introduced when the narrator tells the editor about the importance of unity in kitchen design,  Even the most beautifully designed item dies if it is out of balance with its surroundings. The narrator later emphasizes the importance of balance between a creature and its environment when he talks about witnessing the change in the elephant's size in relation to the keeper's size. He states that the balance in size between the two has become more equal, because the elephant has shrunk or the keeper has gotten bigger, or both.

  Following the disappearance of the elephant and the keeper, the narrator again expresses the idea that things around me have lost their proper balance.

THE POINT OF VIEW :

The story is told from the first-person point of view, with an unnamed narrator  and also they relating the events.

CONFLICT:

 The primary conflict in the story is internal, with the narrator trying to make sense of the events immediately preceding the elephant's disappearance…

The Plague - Epidemic Literature

The Plague : Epidemic Literature

 In now situation We all are passing through the toughest time of CORONA(covid 19) pandemic.The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two. We have now reached the tragic milestone of one million deaths, and the human family is suffering under an almost intolerable burden of loss. Most of us have never lived through a pandemic like the coronavirus before, but we have heard or learned about them, from the Spanish flu to, more notoriously, the plague, like the Black Death ..so now we discuss about plegue …

The Plegue by Albert Camus 

The Plague (French: La Peste) is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story from the point of view of a narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. The narrator remains unknown until the start of the last chapter, chapter 5 of part 5. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view.  

According to an academic study, Oran was decimated by the bubonic plague in 1556 and 1678, but all later outbreaks (in 1921: 185 cases; 1931: 76 cases; and 1944: 95 cases) were very far from the scale of the epidemic described in the novel. 

Now there are some points that we discuss…..

(1) Huminity- Human self-centeredness vs Human Sacrifice

After reading this novel and also see this panadamic situation this question coming to my mind so let's discuss about that...Humans are a social species where survival and wellbeing depend upon cohesion with the social group. People are programmed from a young age to see that when they do bad or are bad according to the social group, their survival and needs are threatened. The only way to survive and to get one’s needs met is to do and be good according to the social group. These opinions about rightness and goodness become morals and ethics we all are also self centred .

(2) Power Politics- Fascist forces of 1940s vs Surveillance society of 2020s  

One charismatic leader has absolute authority. Often the symbol of the state. Advisers to Government are generally picked by merit rather than election. Cronyism common and this is the fascism 

Can coexist with different political systems. Most socialists advocate participatory democracy, some Social Democrats advocate parliamentary democracy, and Marxist-Leninists advocate "Democratic centralism this is the socialism 

(3) Science vs Religion - the question of God 

Both science and religion are complex social and cultural endeavors that vary across cultures and change over time.Most scientific and technical innovations priority to the scientific revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions.

Public acceptance of scientific facts may sometimes be influenced by religious beliefs such as in the United States, where some reject the concept of evolution by natural selection, especially regarding human beings. Nevertheless, the American National Academy of Sciences has written that "the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith" a view endorsed by many religious denominations.