Reading Packet Unit 8

Transcription

1 Reading Packet Unit 8 excerpt from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto Owing to their historical position, it became the vocation of the aristocracies of France and England to write pamphlets against modern bourgeois society. In the French revolution of July 1830, and in the English reform agitation, these aristocracies again succumbed to the hateful upstart. Thenceforth, a serious political contest was altogether out of question. A literary battle alone remained possible. But even in the domain of literature the old cries of the restoration period had become impossible. In order to arouse sympathy, the aristocracy were obliged to lose sight, apparently, of their own interests, and to formulate their indictment against the bourgeoisie in the interest of the exploited working class alone. Thus the aristocracy took their revenge by singing lampoons on their new master, and whispering in his ears sinister prophecies of coming catastrophe. In this way arose feudal Socialism: half lamentation, half lampoon; half echo of the past, half menace of the future; at times, by its bitter, witty and incisive criticism, striking the bourgeoisie to the very heart s core; but always ludicrous in its effect, through total incapacity to comprehend the march of modern history. The aristocracy, in order to rally the people to them, waved the proletarian alms-bag in front for a banner. But the people, so often as it joined them, saw on their hindquarters the old feudal coats of arms, and deserted with loud and irreverent laughter. One section of the French Legitimists and Young England' exhibited this spectacle. In pointing out that their mode of exploitation was different to that of the bourgeoisie, the feudalists forget that they exploited under circumstances and conditions that were quite different, and that are now antiquated. In showing that, under their rule, the modern proletariat never existed, they forget that the modern bourgeoisie is the necessary offspring of their own form of society. For the rest, so little do they conceal the reactionary character of their criticism that their chief accusation against the bourgeoisie amounts to this, that under the bourgeois régime a class is being developed, which is destined to cut up root and branch the old order of society. What they upbraid the bourgeoisie with is not so much that it creates a proletariat, as that it creates a revolutionary proletariat. In political practice, therefore, they join in all coercive measures against the working class; and in ordinary life, despite their high-falutin phrases, they stoop to pick up the golden apples dropped from the tree of industry, and to barter truth, love, and honour for traffic in wool, beetroot-sugar, and potato spirits. As the parson has ever gone hand in hand with the landlord, so has Clerical Socialism with Feudal Socialism. Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against marriage, against the State? Has it not preached in the place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church? Christian Socialism is but the holy water with which the priest consecrates the heart-burnings of the aristocrat.

2 excerpt from Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son Dombey, exulting in the long-looked-for event, jingled and jingled the heavy gold watchchain that depended from below his trim blue coat, whereof the buttons sparkled phosphorescently in the feeble rays of the distant fire. Son, with his little fists curled up and clenched, seemed, in his feeble way, to be squaring at existence for having come upon him so unexpectedly. `The house will once again, Mrs. Dombey,' said Mr. Dombey, `be not only in name but in fact Dombey and Son; Dom-bey and Son!' The words had such a softening influence, that he appended a term of endearment to Mrs. Dombey's name (though not without some hesitation, as being a man but little used to that form of address): and said, `Mrs. Dombey, my--my dear.' A transient flush of faint surprise overspread the sick lady's face as she raised her eyes towards him. `He will be christened Paul, my--mrs. Dombey--of course.' She feebly echoed, `Of course,' or rather expressed it by the motion of her lips, and closed her eyes again. `His father's name, Mrs. Dombey, and his grandfather's! I wish his grandfather were alive this day!' And again he said `Dom-bey and Son,' in exactly the same tone as before. Those three words conveyed the one idea of Mr. Dombey's life. The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbows gave them promise of fair weather; winds blew for or against their enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits, to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the centre. Common abbreviations took new meanings in his eyes, and had sole reference to them: A.D. had no concern with anno Domini, but stood for anno Dombei--and Son. from Mrs. Humphry's A Word to Women Are Woman Cowards? The old, old story. 1 Has any one ever met, in real life, the woman who screams and jumps on a chair at the sight of a mouse? I have never 2 heard of her out of the servants hall, where ladies maids appear to carry on the traditions of sensibility kept up by their 3 betters two or three generations since, when nerves, swoonings, and burnt feathers played a prominent part in the lives 4 of fashionable women. A little mouse has nothing terrible about it, vermin though it be in strict classification. Now, if it 5had been a rat! Or a blackbeetle! A large, long-legged, rattling cockroach! Truly, these are awesome things, and even 6the strongest-minded of women hate the sight of them. Very few women, I take it, are afraid of mice. And yet, as the 7world rolls on, that little story of a small grey mouse and screeching women will reappear again and again, dressed up in

3 8 fresh fancy costumes, when news is scarce and a corner of the paper has to be filled up. One need not fear to be brave. 9But though we can watch with interest and amusement, and a sort of kindly feeling, the actions of a mouse, we are sad 10cowards all the same. Some of us are physically cowardly, though by no means all; but very few of us are morally 11brave. I heard a sermon not long ago on moral cowardice as shown in the home. And who shall deny that it is very, 12very difficult to obey the old dictum: Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra, and to deal faithfully with the members of 13the home circle, from pater-familias himself down to the little maid in the basement territory? The responsibility of the 14whole matter lies with the wife and mother, involving many a hard task, many a battle fought against the secret 15shrinking from giving pain, or causing disappointment, or rousing temper. How difficult it is to refuse some pleasure to 16the children we love, because it is injudicious for them, and how fatally easy to give in weakly, and prove ourselves 17cowardly! And sometimes the punishment comes quickly: Oh, if I had only been firm, all this might have been 18prevented! we cry in pain and sorrow when all the evil consequences we had dimly foreseen have become actual fact. 19Some of us are so afraid that the children will love us less if we interfere with their childish joys and pleasures. But, after 20all, this need not be taken into account, for the youngsters possess a divining crystal in their own clear thoughts, and 21know well when Love is at the helm. They can discern in a moment whether an arbitrary selfwill dictates the course of 22things or that single-minded affection that seeks the truest good of those who are in its charge. They will not love us 23less, but more, as time goes on. 24Besides, it is ignoble to be influenced by consequences that may result to ourselves, even possible loss of affection, the 25only earthly thing that is worth living for. Advienne que pourra are the grand old words. A difficult task. 26A friend of mine, whose husband became a drunkard, told me that the most difficult thing she had ever done in her life 27was to remonstrate with him when he first began to drink too much. It was a clear duty, and she did it, but it required the 28summoning up of all her fortitude, as some who read these words may know but too well from their own experience. 29 When I began, she told me, my knees trembled, and at last I shook as if I had been in an ague. It was quite dreadful 30to me to speak to him, and yet he took it as though I were out of temper, and merely shrewish. And did it do any

4 31good? I asked, and she told me that he was better for a few weeks, and seemed to be struggling against the love of 32drink, but that after a couple of months things were as bad as ever again. excerpt from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Christabel They passed the hall, that echoes still, Pass as lightly as you will. The brands were flat, the brands were dying, Amid their own white ashes lying; But when the lady passed, there came A tongue of light, a fit of flame; And Christabel saw the lady's eye, And nothing else saw she thereby, Save the boss of the shield of Sir Leoline tall, Which hung in a murky old niche in the wall. 'O softly tread,' said Christabel, 'My father seldom sleepeth well.' Sweet Christabel her feet doth bare, And, jealous of the listening air, They steal their way from stair to stair, Now in glimmer, and now in gloom, And now they pass the Baron's room, As still as death, with stifled breath! And now have reached her chamber door; And now doth Geraldine press down The rushes of the chamber floor. Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay. Cottontail by George Bogin A couple of kids, we went hunting for woodchucks fifty years ago in a farmer's field. No woodchucks

5 but we cornered a terrified little cottontail rabbit in the angle of two stone fences. He was sitting up, Front paws together, supplicating, trembling while we were deciding whether to shoot him or spare him. I shot first but missed, thank god. Then my friend fired and killed him and burst into tears. I did too. A little cottontail. A Haunter. excerpt from Samuel Pepy's Diary 1663/64 January 1st, At the Coffee-house, where much talking about a very rich widow, young and handsome, of one Sir Nicholas Gold s, a merchant, lately fallen, and of great courtiers that already look after her her husband not dead a week yet She is reckoned worth 80,000 Went to the Duke s house, the first play I have been at these six months, according to my last vowe, and here saw the so much cried-up play of Henry the Eighth, which, though I went with resolution to like it, is so simple a thing made up of a great many patches, that, besides the shows and processions in it, there is nothing in the world good or well done. 4th I to my Lord Sandwich s lodgings, but he not being up, I to the Duke s chamber, and there by and by to his closet, where since his lady was ill, a little red bed of velvet is brought for him to lie alone, which is a very pretty one After doing business here, I to my Lord s again, and there spoke with him, and he seems now almost friends again as he used to be Here meeting Mr Pierce, the surgeon, he told me among other Court news, how the Queene is very well again, and that she speaks now very pretty English, and makes her sense out now and then with pretty phrazes as among others this is mightily cried up, that, meaning to say that she did not like such a horse so well as the rest, he being too prancing and full of tricks, she said he did make too much vanity To the Tennis Court, and there saw the King play at Tennis and others but to see how the King s play was extolled without any cause at all, was a loathsome sight, though sometimes, indeed, he did play very well and deserved to be commended, but such open flattery is beastly Afterwards to St James s Park, seeing people play at Pell Mell, where it pleased me mightily to hear a gallant, lately come from France, swear at one of his companions for suffering

6 his man (a spruce blade) to be so saucy as to strike a ball while his master was playing on the Mall. 6th This morning I began a practice which I find by the ease I do it with that I shall continue, it saving me money and time, that is, to trimme myself with a razor, which pleases me mightily. 8th We had great pleasure this afternoon among other things to talk our old passages together in Cromwell s time, and how W Symons did make me laugh and wonder to-day when he told me how he had made shift to keep in, in good esteem and employment, through eight governments in one year, (the year 1659, which were indeed, and he did name them all) and then failed unhappy in the ninth, viz that of the King s coming in He made good to me the story which Luellin did tell me the other day, of his wife upon her death-bed, how she dreamt of her uncle Scobell, and did foretell, from some discourse she had with him, that she should die four days thence, and not sooner, and did all along say so, and did so Upon the Change a great talk there was of one Mr Tryan, an old man, a merchant in Lyme Streete, robbed last night, (his man and maid being gone out after he was a-bed) and gagged and robbed of 1050 in money and about 4000 in jewells, which he had in his house as secunty for money It is believed that his man is guilty of confederacy, by their ready going to his secret till in the desk, wherein the key of his cash-chest lay. 9th By discourse with my wife thought upon inviting my Lord Sandwich to a dinner shortly It will cost me at least ten or twelve pounds, but, however, some arguments of prudence I have, which I shall think again upon before I proceed to that expence. 10th All our discourse to-night was about Mr Tryan s late being robbed, and that Colonel Turner, (a mad, swearing, confident fellow, well known by all, and by me,) one much indebted to this man for his very livelihood, was the man that either did or plotted it, and the money and things are found in his hand, and he and his wife now in Newgate for it of which we are all glad, so very a known rogue he was. Bibliomania.com from Clausewitz On War The country must be conquered, for out of the country a new military force may be formed. But even when both these things are done, still the war, that is, the hostile feeling and action of hostile agencies, cannot be considered as at an end as long as the will of the enemy is not subdued also; that is, its government and its allies must be forced into signing a peace, or the people into submission; for whilst we are in full occupation of the country, the war may break out afresh, either in the interior or through assistance given by allies. No doubt, this may also take place after a peace, but that shows nothing more than that every war does not carry in itself the elements for a complete decision and final settlement. But even if this is the case, still with the conclusion of peace a number of sparks are always extinguished which would have smouldered on quietly, and the excitement of the passions abates, because all those whose minds are disposed to peace, of which in all nations and under all circumstances there is always a great number, turn themselves away completely from the road to

7 resistance. Whatever may take place subsequently, we must always look upon the object as attained, and the business of war as ended, by a peace. As protection of the country is the primary object for which the military force exists, therefore the natural order is, that first of all this force should be destroyed, then the country subdued; and through the effect of these two results, as well as the position we then hold, the enemy should be forced to make peace. Generally the destruction of the enemy s force is done by degrees, and in just the same measure the conquest of the country follows immediately. The two likewise usually react upon each other, because the loss of provinces occasions a diminution of military force. But this order is by no means necessary, and on that account it also does not always take place. The enemy s army, before it is sensibly weakened, may retreat to the opposite side of the country, or even quite outside of it. In this case, therefore, the greater part or the whole of the country is conquered. But this object of war in the abstract, this final means of attaining the political object in which all others are combined, the disarming the enemy, is rarely attained in practice and is not a condition necessary to peace. Therefore it can in no wise be set up in theory as a law. There are innumerable instances of treaties in which peace has been settled before either party could be looked upon as disarmed; indeed, even before the balance of power had undergone any sensible alteration. Paragraph 1 1 As protection of the country is the primary object for which the military force exists, therefore the natural order is, that first of all this force should be destroyed, then the country subdued; and through the effect of these two results, as well as the position we then hold, the enemy should be forced to make peace. 2 Generally the destruction of the enemy s force is done by degrees, and in just the same measure the conquest of the country follows immediately. 3 The two likewise usually react upon each other, because the loss of provinces occasions a diminution of military force. But this order is by no means necessary, and on that account it also does not always take place. 4 The enemy s army, before it is sensibly weakened, may retreat to the opposite side of the country, or even quite outside of it. In this case, therefore, the greater part or the whole of the country is conquered. excerpt from Mrs. Humphry's Manners for Men is subtitled : A Man's Brain Should Be As Fine As His Heart. Like every other woman, I have my ideal of manhood. The difficulty is to describe it. First of all, he must be a gentleman; but that means so much that it, in its turn, requires explanation. Gentleness and moral strength combined must be the salient characteristics of the gentleman, together with that polish that is never acquired but in one way: constant association with those so happily-placed that they have enjoyed the influences of education and refinement all through their lives. He must be thoughtful for others, kind to women and children and all helpless things, tender-hearted to the old and the poor and the unhappy, but never foolishly weak in giving where gifts do harm instead of good his brain must be as fine as his heart, in fact. There are few such men; but they do exist. I know one or two. Reliable as rocks, judicious in every action,

8 dependable in trifles as well as the large affairs of life, full of mercy and kindness to others, affectionate and well-loved in their homes, their lives are pure and kindly. Piranhas Paragraph 2 The piranha is a much-maligned fish. Most people think that this is a deadly creature that swarms through rivers and creeks of the Amazon rainforest looking for victims to tear apart. And woes betide anyone unlucky enough to be in the same water as a shoal of piranhas. It takes only a few minutes for the vicious piranhas to reduce someone to a mere skeleton. The truth is that the piranha is really a much more nuanced animal than the mindless killer depicted in the media. In fact, piranhas are a group made up of approximately twelve different species. Each piranha species occupies its own ecological niche. One type of piranha takes chunks out of the fins of other fish. Another type eats fruit falling from trees into the river. Each piranha species plays a unique role in the ecology of the rainforest floodplains. So what should you do next time you hear someone talking about the deadly piranha? You can remind them that the piranha is not always the notorious killer fish that the tough, muscular heroes of popular nature television shows would have us believe.