The Night of the Scorpion Presented by Shaila Islam

Lecturer, Department of English at Feni University

1. WELCOME TO OUR PRESENTATION WELCOME TO OUR PRESENTATION

2. Topic: Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion

3. Nissim Ezekiel (1924 – 2004)

4. Biography of Nissim Ezekiel Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, actor, playwright, edit and art-critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian writing in English. Ezekiel was born on 16 December 1924 in Mumbai (Maharashtra) His father was a professor of botany at Wilson College, and his mother was principal of her own school In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from WILSON College, Mumbai, University of Mumbai. In 1947-48, he taught English Literature and published literary articles. After dabbling in radical politics for a while, he sailed to England in November 1948. He studied Philosophy at Birkbek College, London. After three and a half years stay, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard a ship carrying arms to Indochina.

5. Ezekiel's first book, The Bad Day , appeared in 1952. He published another volume of poems, The deadly man in 1960. After working as an advertising copywriter and general manager of a picture frame company (1954–59), he co-founded the literary monthly Jumpo , in 1961. He became art critic of The Names of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry India (1966–67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the English department of Mithibai College, Bumbai . The Exact Name , his fifth book of poetry was published in 1965. During this period he held short-term tenure as visiting professor at University of Lees (1964) and University of Pondicherry (1967). In 1967, while in America, he used LSD. In 1969, Writers Workshop, Ezekiel published his The Damn Plays . A year later, he presented an art series of ten programmes for Indian television.

6. Books by Nissim Ezekiel 1952 : Time To Change 1953: Sixty nine poems 1956: The Discovery of India 1959: The Third 1960: The Unfinished Man 1965: The Exact Name 1974: Snakeskin and Other Poems , translations of the Marathi poet Indira Sant 1976: Hymns in Darkness 1982: Latter-Day Psalms 1989: Collected Poems 1952-88 OUP enterprise Night of the Scorpion In India In the Theatre The Couple A Time to Change Island For Elkana The Professor Soap Marriage In the country cottage Famous Poems of Nissim Ezekiel

7. He was honored with the Padmashri award by the President of India in in 1988 and the Sahitya akademi cultural award in 1983. Ezekiel is universally recognized and appreciated as being one of the most notable and accomplished Indian English language poets of the 20th century, applauded for his subtle, restrained and well crafted diction, dealing with common and mundane themes in a manner that manifests both cognitive profundity, as well as an unsentimental, realistic sensibility, that has been influential on the course of succeeding Indian English poetry. Ezekiel enriched and established Indian English language poetry through his modernist innovations and techniques, which enlarged Indian English literature, moving it beyond purely spiritual and oriental's themes, to include a wider range of concerns and interests, including mundane familial events, individual angst and skeptical societal introspection.

8. I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice. Parting with his poison - flash of diabolic tail in the dark room - he risked the rain again. The peasants came like swarms of flies and buzzed the name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One. With candles and with lanterns throwing giant scorpion shadows on the mud-baked walls they searched for him: he was not found. They clicked their tongues . May he sit still, they said May the sins of your previous birth be burned away tonight, they said. May your suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth, they said. Night of the Scorpion

9. May the sum of all evil balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good become diminished by your pain. May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition, they said, and they sat around on the floor with my mother in the centre, the peace of understanding on each face. More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours , more insects, and the endless rain. My mother twisted through and through, groaning on a mat. My father, sceptic , rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, powder, mixture, herb and hybrid. He even poured a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and put a match to it. I watched the flame feeding on my mother. I watched the holy man perform his rites to tame the poison with an incantation. After twenty hours it lost its sting. My mother only said Thank God the scorpion picked on me And spared my children.

10. Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion is a strong yet simple statement on the power of self-effacing love. Full to the brim with Indianness , it captures a well-detached black and white snapshot of Indian village life with all its superstitious simplicity. The poet dramatizes a battle of ideas fought at night in lamplight between good and evil; between darkness and light; between rationalism and blind faith. And out of this confusion, there arises an unexpected winner – the selfless love of a mother . 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 hiding 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 expressed 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 began to search for him, but in vain. To console the mother they opened the bundle of their superstitions. They told mother that the suffering and pain will burn away the sins of her previous birth. “May the suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth too”, they said. Mother twisted and groaned in mortifying pain. Her husband, who was sceptic and rationalist, tried every curse and blessing; powder, herb and hybrid. As a last resort he even poured a little paraffin on the bitten part and put a match t The painful night was long and the holy man came and played his part. He performed his rites and tried to tame the poison with an incantation. After twenty hours the poison lost its sting. The ironic twist in the poem comes when in the end the mother who suffered in silence opens her mouth. She says, “Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children.” Summary of Night of the Scorpion

11. Theme:   Images of the dark forces of evil abound in  Night of the Scorpion ; the diabolic tail of the scorpion, giant scorpion shadows on the sun-baked walls and the night itself point to evil. In fact, the poem is about the pertinent question as to what can conquer evil. Where superstition, rationalism and religion proved futile, the self-effacing love of a mother had its say. Once again it is “Amor vincit omnia .” Love conquers all, and that is all you need to know as The last part of the poem upholds the dignity of the Indian motherhood. The mother's comment:  "Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spread my children" is typical of an Indian mother.  She is relieved to find that the scorpion let her children alone and thanks God for it.  The entire poem may be taken as a tribute to the incomparable love of a mother.  Another important theme of the poem is the helplessness that loves ones feel when someone close to them is dying.  There is an overall sensation of helplessness when the mother gets stung by the scorpion.  The villagers come by and essentially are fairly worthless in alleviating the mother's pain.  The father, skeptical of all of this, can only watch to see his wife endure pain.  In a way, he is helpless as well because his skepticism and faith in Western medicine also does not necessarily help his wife.  The pain of this is the inescapable fact that she is dying and there is nothing he can do to stop it.  The ending of the poem reveals this helplessness when the mother says that she is glad it was her who took this and not the children.    Analysis of Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion

12. Indian Background In Night Of The Scorpion "Night of the scorpion" is typically an Indian poem by a typical Indian poet whose interest in the Indian soil and its ordinary human events of day-to-day Indian life is superb.  A good many Indians are illiterate and are blindly superstitious.  But they are simple, loving and lovable.  They attempt to save the victim by doing whatever they can.  But they do not succeed.  The father who is not superstitious and is educated tries his own scientific ways; he too, does not succeed.  There is the holy man who performs his rites with incantation.  He also fails to find a cure.  Finally the cue comes by itself.  This can be taken as a proof for the belief in 'fate'; everything in a man's life is pre-destined and man has no role in changing it. Ezekiel is known to be a detached observer of the Indian scenario and this stance often has the power of a double-edged sword that cuts both ways. On the one side Night of the Scorpion presents an Indian village through the eyes of an outsider and finds the deep-rooted strains of superstition and blind faith which may seem foolish to the western eye. But on the other, the poem never fails to highlight the positive side of Indian village life. The poet does not turn a blind eye to the fellow-feeling, sympathy and cooperation shown by the villagers. And in a poem that deals with the all-conquering power of love, the reader too should be well aware of it.

13. Clash of Ideas   There is a contrast between the world of irrationality represented by the villagers and the world of rationalism represented by the father who tries all rational means to save his wife from suffering. Religion too plays its role with the holy man saying his prayers. But all three become futile. Or do they? One cannot totally ignore the underlying current of love and fellow-feeling in their endeavors . ‘Night of the Scorpion’ is not a poem of a simple incident in the life of poet’s mother, rather a poem of Indian culture, belief, philosophy and superstition. In this short poem he has presented some Indian pictures with graphic truth. He presents vividly the inner relationship between individual families to the neighboring community.  Superstitious they may be but their fellow feeling is noticeable – “More candles more lanterns, more neighbors”. The neighbors came forward for help nowhere one can find such strong social relationship. What is most sweet in the poem is the affectionate concern of a mother for her children. It is universally acknowledged that a mother is ready to suffer all types of pain and tortures with a smiling face, but she will not bear any pain imposed on her children.             “My mother only said Thank God the scorpion picked on me And spend my children”

14. Throughout the poem Ezekiel has used simple, common language in exact place. Within the poem he uses parallelism and antithesis. Not only that the poet very consciously uses the sound effect of the word and for this he discards the traditional prosody and creates new rhymes for expressing a new mood The poem is interpreted as a symbolic juxtaposition of darkness and light.   The night, the scorpion, the poison and the suffering represent darkness.  The incessant rain stands for hope and regeneration.  Candles, lanterns,  neighbours and ultimately the recovery of the mother represent light.  The poem can also be thought of as symbolic of Good and Evil too. Taking such accounts, ‘ Night of the Scorpion ’ from the point of poetic expression, observation , Indian perception and experience is a brilliant poem It is Nissim Ezekiel who says in his “Poet, lover and Bird Watcher”, “ The Best Poets wait for the words ” remaining always alert because “ Eternal vigil is the price for the gift of poetry ”.