English literature and linguistics with ASMA SHEIKH

 THE SEA BY Edward Bond

a) You must tell me .......... battery opening fire.

REFERENCE
(i) Drama: The Sea

(ii) Dramatist: Edward Bond

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Scene II

(ii) Content:

A tempestuous storm shakes a small East Anglian seaside village, and Willy is trying to save his friend, Colin. When he sees Evens and Hatch, he does his level best to call them of for help but they refuse. Mrs. Rafi is rehearsing the play she is to perform for raising coast guard fund. At this moment Willy comes to visit her. He tells her in detail what has happened at the sea. Colin's corpse is found eventually. Mrs. Rafi refuses to trade with Hatch, the draper. He, out of desperation, wounds her and runs away from to town believing that aliens from another planet have arrived to invade the city. Mrs. Rafi advises her niece, Colin's fiancee, to go away from the town with Willy. Willy accepts this and goes away with her from the town in search of change.

EXPLANATION

These lines are spoken by a main character, Mr. Rafi. She is in the shop of Hatch, the draper. Willy Carson enters the shop and Mrs. Rafi greets him. She condoles the death of Colin: "This is a terrible tragedy. Colin was engaged to my niece". Mrs. Rafi offers him to reside at her house till he is in the town. She wishes to know the details from Willy how has Colin drowned into the sea. She says to Willy that she was going to complain the chief-of-staff about the battery opening fire. Fire discipline is a system of communication in the military, primarily for directing artillery. By definition, fire discipline is the language of fire control. Battery is a fortified structure on which artillery is mounted. In naval context, battery is used to describe groups of guns on warships. Thus battery fire is the firing of a battery of weapons. Mrs. Rafi thinks that "battery opening fire" was the main reason which turned the boat of Colin turtle. That is why she was going to complain to the "chief-of-staff". In short, Mr. Rafi wants to do everything in the investigation of the accident of Colin's drowning. This also highlights her punitive and authoritarian role in the society she lives in.

(b) Such a night. ........... tormented by the vision of ---

REFERENCE

(i) Drama: The Sea
(ii) Dramatist: Edward Bond

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Scene II

(ii) Content:
A tempestuous storm shakes a small East Anglian seaside village, and Willy is trying to save his friend, Colin. When he sees Evens and Hatch, he does his level best to call them of for help but they refuse. Mrs. Rafi is rehearsing the play she is to perform for raising coast guard fund. At this moment Willy comes to visit her. He tells her in detail what has happened at the sea. Colin's corpse is found eventually. Mrs. Rafi refuses to trade with Hatch, the draper. He, out of desperation, wounds her and runs away from to town believing that aliens from another planet have arrived to invade the city. Mrs. Rafi advises her niece, Colin's fiancee, to go away from the town with Willy. Willy accepts this and goes away with her from the town in search of change.

EXPLANATION

These lines are spoken by Mr. Rafi's friend, Mrs. Jessica Tilehouse. In these lines Mr. Tilehouse is showing her concern for a young man, Willy Carson. Mrs. Tilehouse and Mrs. Rafi are in the shop of Hatch, the draper. Willy enters the shop and Mrs. Rafi greets him. She condoles the death of Colin: "This is a terrible tragedy. Colin was engaged to my niece." She offers him to reside at her house till he is in the town. She wishes to know the details from Willy how has Colin drowned into the sea. Willy says, "It was a small boat. The storm swept us off course. The guns didn't sink us. We'd already turned over." Mrs. Tilehouse says that yesterday's night was blustery and disastrous. She is pleased at her ignorance about Willy's outing the last night. She says that if she knew that Willy was out in the stormy weather yesterday, she would have had no rest and sleep. She would have been experiencing intense metal pain all the time by the vision of Willy's drowning and dying. She says to Willy, "Oh dear. This terrible sea, this terrible life." In short, these lines show Mrs. Tilehouse's infatuation, compassion and sympathy for Willy.

(c) Listen, where is .......... it's up to us.

REFERENCE

(i) Drama: The Sea
(ii) Dramatist: Edward Bond

CONTEXT

(i) Occurrence: Scene II

(ii) Content:

A tempestuous storm shakes a small East Anglian seaside village, and Willy is trying to save his friend, Colin. When he sees Evens and Hatch, he does his level best to call them of for help but they refuse. Mrs. Rafi is rehearsing the play she is to perform for raising coast guard fund. At this moment Willy comes to visit her. He tells her in detail what has happened at the sea. Colin's corpse is found eventually. Mrs. Rafi refuses to trade with Hatch, the draper. He, out of desperation, wounds her and runs away from to town believing that aliens from another planet have arrived to invade the city. Mrs. Rafi advises her niece, Colin's fiancee, to go away from the town with Willy. Willy accepts this and goes away with her from the town in search of change.

EXPLANATION

These lines are spoken by Hatch, the draper. These lines are a direct satire on the political and judicial system of the East Anglian seaside village. When Mrs. Rafi, Mrs. Tilehouse and Willy Carson leave the shop of Hatch, Carter and Thompson appear. They discuss the drowning of Colin. Hatch seems full of certain hallucinations because he considers it was some sort of devil that drowned the ship and not the storm: "They come from space. Beyond our world. Their world's threatened by disaster." He believes that the aliens have come to take control of this town because they know that there is no leadership, no authority and no discipline in this town. This town is the weakest spot for aliens to dominate. This belief reveals the reason why Hatch did not help Colin: "All these ships in distress are really secret landings from space. We won't go out to help them, we'll go and drive them off. Run them down." In short, Hatch's belief in aliens suggests two things; religion on the decline and the dissatisfaction of people with the worldly political and judicial system. Thus these lines trumpet the theme of change and reform.