PPT Night of the Scorpion

1. NIGHT OF THE SCORPION std:X Mamatha Krishnan English optional

2. B orn in Bombay to Jewish parents in 1924. He won the Akademi Award for a volume called Latter Day palms . He is credited with beginning the modernist movement in india . His first book, THE BAD DAY, appeared in1952 . Some of his poems are in india , Enterprise,Goodbye party for Miss Pushpa T.S., The railway clerk, Case S tudy ,The Doctor Nissim Ezekiel

3. Theme The poem opens with the poet’s reminiscence of a childhood experience. One night his mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours of steady rain had driven the scorpion to hide beneath a sack of rice. After inflicting unbearable pain upon the mother with a flash of its diabolic tail, the scorpion risked the rain again. The peasant folk of the village came like swarms of flies and express their sympathy. They believed that with every movement the scorpion made, the poison would move in mother’s blood. So, with lighted candles and lanterns, they searched for him, but in vain. The villagers further opened the bundle of superstitions. They expressed that the mother’s suffering and pain will burn away the sins of her past and decrease the misfortunes of future .

4. Characteristics of the Devil, which is disgracefully bad or unpleasant vocabulary DIABOLIC

5. A large or dense group of flying insects SWARMS

6. DISCOURSE CONSTRUCTION SUPERSTITION MEANING Smashing a mirror Bring seven years of bad luck

7. TEACHER’S VERSION SUPERSTITION MEANING Smashing a mirror Bring seven years of bad luck Cat crossing your path Considers as a bad omen Bathing in river Ganges Leads one to heaven

8. SCAFFOLDING QUESTION How is the scorpion portrayed in the poem by the villagers? The scorpion does not seem to be portrayed as any type of villain at first. It probably just stung the mother instinctively when it tried to hide beneath a sack of rice inorder to save itself from ten hours of steady rain. According to the villagers, the sting of the scorpion would burn away the sins of her past and decrease the misfortunes of future . Identify the theme of the poem and summarize your views on the environment created by the poet. The theme of the poem is an experience of a scorpion bite that was inflicted on the poet’s mother. The poem depicts the superstitions and beliefs and thereby a superstition ridden India where an insect is given monstrous image. It also carries Ezekiel’s satires against the many maladies affecting the Indian society.

9. Revise the entire poem at your home and compare the way in which the poet presents the different characters in Night of he Scorpion. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY