Write the explanation of the essay entitled " A Farewell Party".

Write the explanation of the essay entitled ” A Farewell Party”.

Ans.

EXPLANATIONS

(1) There was about it exactly that kind of sentimental euphoria that is generated at a ship board party, the one given on the last night be fore the end of the voyage. Everyone draws together with an intimacy, a lack of inhibition not displayed or gassed at before, knowing this is the last time. tomorrow they will be dispersed, it will be over. They will not meet, be reminded of it required to repeat it.

Reference: These lines have been taken from the essay ‘A Farewell Party’ written Anita Desai.

Context: The Farewell party arranged by the Raman family was attended by a large number of reputed and aristocratic persons. Most of them had met him only once or twice but here they were showing as if they had been intimate for a long time.

Explanation: The author has presented the general atmosphere of the party and the artificiality in the behaviour of the people, particularly the ladies, through a comparison with the farewell party at ship board, when the long voyage is coming to an end. She tells that most of the men and women present in the party were not much acquainted with one another, very few were really intimate. Still they showed that they were very much pleased to meet here and express regret that they will now lose the company of the Raman Family. This was nothing but a pure affectation as we often see at the farewell party at the ship board when the voyage is just going to end.

Everybody displays great deep affection for the other and they meet together without any obstructions, which certainly are present but are not ex pressed. It is because all of them are very well aware of the fact that this is the last time that they are meeting. After journey is over the net day, everything will come to an end. They will never more see one another, not even remember that there was somebody with them. This will never be repeated in their life. Similarly, the gathering in Raman’s farewell party also knows that this is their last meeting with the family and they will never see one another in future in their life.

(2) Never had they been so vociferous in her company, so easy, so warm They were women to whom the most awful thing that had ever happened was the screw of a golden ear ring disappearing down the bathroom sink or a mother-in-law’s visit or an ayah Deserting just before the arrival of guests.

Reference: This passage has been taken from the essay ‘A Farewell Party written by Anita Desai’.

Context: Anita Desai’ anger and dislike for the false pride of these aristocratic woman has been disclosed in this story from time to time.

Explanation: The writer says that when Bina went to the group of these fashionable women to welcome them, they greeted her very warmly as if they all have been very intimate with her. In fact, they had no feelings for each other, and seeing them talking to her so affectionately and warmly for the first time, Bina was naturally very much surprised. Before this moment, these women had never been so loudly enthusiastic in their behaviour with her. Now they were very kind and loving. In their real life, they never cared for anything. They were most confused and so much excited when they lost the screw of their golden ear ring in the bathroom sink. they made a loud hue and cry in their home for such a worthless thing. They were also restless to get the information that their mother-in-law was coming to stay with them for some time. It was also awful when they expected some guests and the ayah left the work in their homes. It was because they never did any domestic work, nor they had any affection for any member other than their own family. This is a clear satire on such women.

(3) These women she had always encountered in just such a ring as they formed now, the kind that garden babblers form under a hedge where they sit gabbling and whirring with social bitchiness, and she had always stood outside it, smiling stiffly, not wanting to join and refusing their effusively nodded invitation. They were the wives of men who represented various mercantile companies in the town.

Reference: This passage has been taken from the essay ‘A Farewell Party’ by Anita Desai’.

Context: Raman worked in a local company and in his farewell party, all the families of these executives had been invited. These women were present there in a group, sitting in a circle and talking loudly.

Explanation: The author says that Bina did not belong to the higher circles of the wives of aristocratic men whose husbands were great officers in the big companies but in her party, she had invited all of them but here also she realized that she was not recognized much. In the garden, she noticed a group of women talking uselessly together. They were generally seen in a group and were sitting now in the garden under a hedge. They were talking so loudly that their voices could be heard from a distance and for the sake of courtesy, it was the duty that Bina should attend them also. But she did not like them much and never participated in their gathering because probably she was not free from her family responsibilities. The writer has also a great hatred from them be cause they behaved in a degraded manner an, in her opinion, they are no better than the bitches in their unmannered ways, so Bina always tried to maintain a distance from them. Whenever they invited her, she delicately refused on one or the other pretext.

(4) The five years had been so hard that sometimes, at night, she did not know how she had crawled through the day and if she would crawl through another, her back almost literally broken by the weight of the totally dependent child and of the three smaller ones who seemed perpetually to clamour for their share of attention, which they fell they never got. Yet now these fives years had telescoped. They were over.

Reference: These lines have been taken form the essay ‘A Farewell Party’ written by ‘Anita Desai’.

Context: When Bina welcomed her, she complained that she had stayed in that city only for two years but Bina reminded her that it was not period of two but actually five years have passed.

Explanation: The author describes the difficult life of Bina during the period of past five years. She was always burdened with one or the other family responsibility and, in a way, she was anyhow dragging her life. One of her children was continuously sick and she had pay particular attention to her all the time. They day’s work was too heavy to bear for her and by night she was extremely tired. After working in this way for regular two days, she felt herself almost broken. They day seemed to be crawling slowly and not actually passing. Her back pained and was turned down with responsibility. Naturally in this type of life, she unknowingly neglected the other three smaller children. They also cried from time to time that their mother should take care of their needs also which was impossible for Bina. But anyhow all these five years of drudgery have been left behind. Those days are over now and she was a bit relieved.

(5) All the lights on the veranda, in the portico and indoors were on, like so many lanterns, richly copper and glowing, with extra ordinary beauty as though aware that the house would soon be empty and these were the last few days of illumination and family life, but they did very little to light the lawn which was vast, a still lacks of inky grass.

Reference: These lines have been taken from the story The Fare well Party written by Anita Desai.

Context- Here she has attacked on the artificiality and show of close intimacy among the so called aristocrats.

Explanation: The author told that Raman and Bina have arranged a farewell party since they have been transferred to Bombay and will leave soon. Bind has prepared the list of all the things necessary for the party very care fully but she forgot to make arrangements of proper lighting since the party will be held at night in the lawn. This was realized when the party actually started. The lights in the veranda were very decorative and they were switched on. The portico and indoors were also lighted beautifully. The lights were looking like bright lamps hanging all around, made of copper. The whole scene was particularly charming leaving the impression as if even they were aware of the fact that, very shortly. the home is going to be empty. The life of the family there is coming to an end. But these lights were insufficient for the lawn. It was a very large ground but there was darkness all around and even the grass looked as black as if the black ink has been spread over it. The whole scene has been graphically described and the impression of the farewell has been created through inanimate things.