Reflections on The Re-Awakening East (Summary)

Introduction (writer and the Text): 

Bertrand Russell one of the most outstanding writers and thinkers of time, an eminent mathematician and philosopher; comes out with the historical discussion of the power struggle between the' East and the West. The writer attaches great hopes to Asia, which he thinks has suffered- much under the White man imperialism.
The writer attaches great importance to Asia, which has a profound cultural heritage and has suffered much under the insolence of the White man. He admonishes Asia to be aware of the Russian Communism, which he considers a great menace to it and emphasizes the importance of science and industrialism, as the prerequisites for the survival.

History of Power struggle between the East and the West:

The author mentions the power alteration between the East and the 'Nest occurring for the last two thousand years and more. The more civilized and powerful East predominated in the earliest history. However with the rise of Greece and the conquests of Alexander, the west acquired the lead in the power. The West loses its seven, eight centuries held power after the wars between Romans and Germans, and the enfeebled West shifts power to the East and the Muslims. The Islamic Empire in the golden days of Caliphate was considerably larger than that of Rome in its greatest days. The supremacy of the East this time is not military might only, but it mastered in arts, science, philosophy, and poetry in the times when the west was sunk into barbarism. The west, however, takes the turn in the leader ship of Columbus and Vasco da Gama-, taking science as their weapon, outdistancing the East.

Asia: victim of the white man insolence: 

Asia has suffered the white man insolence in the ways arousing fury. This has roused the mood of fury and resultant resistance among the Asians destroying the western power in Asia.

Russian Imperialism a looming menace to Asia:

A new danger that looms Asia is Russian Imperialism. The writer considers communism the most modern and most virulent form of western Imperialism, because of its German philosophy and military regime, therefore he suggests that it should not be welcomed by any friend of humanity. 

Industrialism, regrettable yet necessary:

Bertrand Russell considers industrialism indispensable and a prerequisite for the development of Asia. The author attributes the development of England in the Nineteenth Century and that of Russia and America presently to the development in industrialism. Despite its harmful effect on the natural beauty, the writer considers the development of industrialism inevitable. However, he condemns the industry for the production of the weapons of war and considers the application of science in this regard the most sinister one. 

Asia having heritage of three distinct civilizations: 

The writer opposes the idea to treat Asia as a unity; on the contrary he considers it a composition of three distinct, unmixable civilizations, the civilization of Islam, India and that of China. The author is alarmed of the danger of too much cultural uniformity, he maintains No great civilization has ever been cosmopolitan." However he bases modern cosmopolitanism upon science and machinery. 

Love and poetry, safeguard mechanization of life: 

Admitted the importance of science and technology, the author preaches the right and due place for love and poetry to make the life tolerable. To avoid the wholly mechanization of life, it should contain poetry and music and art and love and the simple joys of life, things usually forgotten in a Machine Age. 

Conclusion:

 The writer concludes that all the human labour to bring happiness to humans, to explore the secrets of atoms and stars, is vitiated by an evil instinct of love of power over other human beings. Humans should learn to respect and coexist with each other; the East being in power is expected to avoid the use of its power in the exploitation of those who are less in power. 

Twenty Minutes With Mrs.Oakentubb (Summary)

Introduction:

 The play is a masterpiece of a widely known and highly held London born, civil servant, novelist, and playwright Frank Arthur. His famous publications include, Who killed Netta Maul , The Suva Harbour Mystery, Time's a Thief(French) and She would Not Dance. The play is rationally divisible into two parts, the background of the play and the present story. The play is a melodrama (a short play with intervals of tension and relaxation) with a tragic plot about 'He' who loses his happy family, due to careless and reckless driving of a lady Mrs. Oakentubb. In a fit of drunken mischief and having a betting with her friends, she takes two innocent lives, the whole family of 'He'.

Characters:

 The play consists of a precise number of three characters, 'He', She' (Mrs.Oakentubb) and 'Porter'.

The scene and setting: 

The scene of the play is a remote, rarely used railway station waiting room. It is an extremely chill winter season accompanied with raining cats and dogs, and fast wind.

Background:

 In the back ground Mrs. Oakentubb a prosperous wife, fond of wine and parties is drunk and has wagered betting of five pounds with her friends to drive from Stainthorpe Cross to the Coast in under fifteen minutes. It makes a long distance, apart from bends, blind corners and heavy traffic, worth covering in half an hour. In a reckless and rash drive, eventually, she comes to a blind turn, a lorry a head of her, while two pedestrians, a mother and her daughter, altogether unaware of their tragic end, on the pavement. She has two options either to collide against the lorry in front of her and lose her life or to run over pavement and crush two innocent lives. She opts for the latter and saves self. She is convicted eighteen month imprisonment, while 'He' loses her family, with no purpose to live.

The revived motive to live: 

`He' desperately desires to die, for having no purpose and courage to bear with the grief. He, resultantly joins Korean army,. so that he may die fighting. Once 'He' is seriously wounded and lying unconscious on the battle ground, when he comes to finds a Korean smiling girl bending over him, offering water. The smiling girl reminds him of his lost family including daughter. It inspires him to keep up with the life, to live and above all to take the revenge of mercilessly killed family.

A coincidence at Railway waiting Room: 

In a fit of vengeance, he is out to find the merciless killer of his family. One cold winter evening, while going to Stainthorpe, the residence of the killer, he has to wait for belated train in an old and rarely used railway waiting room. On entering the room, the person finds a lady already sitting in the waiting room, waiting for belated train. As a coincidence , as if it had been a good luck of one and the bad one of the other, after ice breaking, 'He' comes to know that the lady waiting together for the same train and same destination is no one but the lady he is looking for the killer of his family. 

His Argument for Capital Punishment

'He', argues that it was almost impossible to cover a distance of half an hour into fifteen minutes on a road with so many bends and blind turns besides a heavy traffic. He accuses her of driving so criminally fast. He renounces the court's conviction for a mere accident, on the contrary he calls it a plain deliberate heartless cruel murder, deserving a punishment not less than death.

The Killer plays Fox: 

Finding the person entirely determined to kill the lady, she plays fox. She starts imploring her not to spare her. She claims death an escape from the anguish that the scene of the murder of those lives stings her. She implores him to kill her, instead of sparing her life. He thinks sparing her life and leaving her into constant anguish as the most appropriate revenge. 

The Tragic End: 

He leaves the room leaving her weeping and bending on her knees, thinking sparing her life to be the most appropriate   revenge. He has the chance to peep into the room, but to his utter surprise he   finds the lady making fun of him. Feeling befooled, he enters  into the room and hurriedly leaves it with a bullet fired at her, resulting in her death.