On killing a tree by Gieve Patel

On Killing a Tree

Lines 1-8

It is not very easy to kill a tree with a sharp knife. The poet finds the growth of the tree very interesting. It has grown out of the earth gradually. It has been rooted in the earth. It has been eating the nutrients inside the earth. It has got its food from the soil. It has been brought up with sunlight, air, and water. The colour of the bark of the tree is not so good and pleasant. It is unpleasant and dull brown. Green shining leaves come out of the dark brown bark. Thus, the tree is very strong and it is not so easy to kill it with a single piercing strike of the knife.

Lines 9-17

In the previous passage the poet has described that the tree is deeprooted in earth. Only outside or surface cutting and removing of the bark will not kill it. The tree feller will have to put in hard labour to kill it. The roots of the tree are deep in earth. The injured or cut portions of the bark of the tree will become normal in due course of time. Green leaves will come, twigs will multiply and it will become a huge and vigour tree. It is like a human being recovering his lost health and vigour.

Lines 18-24

If someone wants to kill a tree, he has to pull out the deep roots. These roots are gripped fast by earth. He has to use long and strong ropes to tie the tree and give it strong jerks and pulls so as to seprate it from its roots. It is possible to kill a tree if someone manages to pull it out fully off from its deep roots. The tree is safe in the cave of earth and it is not easy to pull it out from there. No one can easily move a ship well anchored in the harbor. It is not easy to remove someone lying in a deep cave.

Lines 25-34

The strength of the tree lies hidden deep in earth. Those who want to kill the tree, will have to uproot its most sensitive part which lies inside the earth. This wet and white portion of roots inside the earth is the would-be and end-be of a tree. That portion has to be brought out of the earth and exposed to adverse effects of sun and air. Once the roots are out from inside the earth, the tree become dull brown and hard. It will lose its freshness. It will decay and dry. This is the only process through which a tree can be destroyed.

A simple Philosophy (Cheif Seathel) Contemporary English

THE LETTER OF CHIEF SEATHL OF THE SUWAMISH TRIBE

To the President, Franklin Pierce, 1854

The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer. For we know that if we do not sell, the white man may come with guns and take our land. How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us... Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my people. We will live apart, and in peace. It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. Our children have seen their fathers humbled in defeat. Our warriors have felt shame, and after defeat they turn their days in idleness and contaminate their bodies with sweet foods and strong drinks. It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. They are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the great tribes that once lived on this earth or that roam now in small bands in the woods will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours. But why should I mourn the passing of my people: Tribes are made of men, nothing more. Men come and go, like the waves of the sea. Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover­ our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man; and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughered, the wild horses are all tamed, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will consider your offer to buy the land. If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from this earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as a new­ borne loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart, preserve it for your children, and love it...as God loves us all. One thing we know, Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see...

1.      Who is the ‘Great Chief in Washington? Why does Chief Seathl address him in this way?

President Franklin Pierce of the United States is the Great Chief in Washington. Seathl addresses Franklin in this way because he wants to show the smallness of the great chief. He is sarcastic of the people of America who are bent upon disturbing Nature’s balance.

2.      What offer does the President of the United States make to Seathl?

President Franklin Pierce of the United States wishes to buy the land belonging to the Red Indian people.

3.      Why is the Chief puzzled about someone ‘buying’ land?

Red Indian Chief Seathl is puzzled at the very idea of buying land. Every part of the earth is sacred, holy and precious to them. Moreover, they are not the owners of the land. God alone is its owner. So, the idea of buying land is new to him.

4.      What are the ways of the white man that Chief Seathl does not understand?

The Red Indian Chief Seathl does not understand the white man’s unlimited hunger for earth. The white man lacks all fine emotions. He treats the earth as his enemy. Seathl does not appreciate this view.

5.      What do ‘fathers’ graves’ and children’s birthright’ represent?

‘fathers’ graves’ stands for the graves which contain the fore-fathers of the white man. They want to demolish (destroy, rksM+uk) those graves for their expansion programmes. They are equally insensitive to their children’s future. They are destroying their ‘children’s birthright’ to live in a beautiful world. If they spoil nature’s balance, how will their children enjoy their life? They will leave their children a barren and colourless earth.

6.      What does Chief Seathl mean by the word ‘savage’? Why does he use the word here?

The Red Indian Chief uses the word’ savage’ ironically. The white man calls the Red Indian race uncultured, uncivilized and unrefined. The Red Indians are savages from their point of view. The Red Indians, in turn call the whites savages because they don’t have fine human feelings towards Nature, the forefathers and the children’s future. Throughout his letter, he condemns the white man’s excessive hunger for land.

7.      What does Chief Seathl mean by saying, ‘All things are connected?’

Seathl makes a profound (meaningful) statement. All things – men, birds, beasts, trees etc. are made by the same God. Loss of one category is the loss of others. Their joys and sorrows are inter-dependent. Loneliness will kill us if all birds, beasts and objects of Nature were destroyed. So, he is right when he says that all things, living and non-living are inter-connected.

8.      Why will the white man also pass away, according to Chief Seathl?

Seathl feels that the same God has given life to all creatures. There is essential oneness amongst all men, birds, and beasts. If the white man slaughters all birds and beasts, tame the living animals, then he will meet the same fate one day. He cannot live in peace in a world where there is no other species. He warns the white man to leave his mad lust for land otherwise he will be wiped out from the face of the earth.

9.      Why does the Chief surrender?

The Chief says that the redmen will agree to sell their land only to secure the reservation the government has promised them. They have no other reason to sell their land.

10.  What is the Chief’s message or advice to the new owners of America?

The Chief advises the new owners of America to preserve the land, to love it, to respect it, to maintain its beauty, and to treat it as their mother and brother. He tells them to keep the land’s beauty for the sake of their children’s happiness. He tells them to remember that God lives in all the objects – men, birds, and beasts.

11.  Chief Seathl uses the phrase ‘Our God is the same God’ in two places. Where? What does the phrase means?

The Red Indian Seathl uses the phrase ‘Our God is the same God’ in paragraph seven and in paragraph eight. The phrase means that God has made all men, birds, beasts equal. Man has no right to kill animals and birds. The white man has no right to dismiss redmen as savages. The earth is dear to God. Those who disturb earth’s balance and beauty are God’s enemies. Those who love God, never disturb Nature’s balance. They never kill birds, beasts and men. The phrase establishes that men are equal. No man is better than the other. Seathl repeats the phrase to impress upon the white man that they are no way superior to redmen. If they destroy Nature’s and her creatures, they will themselves be wiped out one day. The phrase is a warning, a message, and an advice for the white man.

AURANGZEB TO HIS TEACHER (POLITICAL SCIENCE(H) (ENGLISH)

LETTER: AURANGZEB TO HIS TEACHER

Aurangzeb would have given his teacher the highest position in his empire had the latter taught him properly. He asks a straightforward and embarrassing question. He wants to know from his teacher what reward he wants from the emperor. He makes it clear that he could have jolly well appointed him his couriter or in a higher post had he taught him well in his childhood. A father who teaches properly is more respectable than a father. This feeling of Aurangzeb should be accepted as true. It shows that he honours good teachers. This teacher had given him false information about various kings of the world. He was taught that the kings of European states, Holland, England, Spain were very small and weak. He was taught that kings of China, Burma and Russia were also petty. This misinformation (wrong facts) was given to him with the view to make him feel that Indian kings were the most powerful in the whole world. Thus, the teacher fed wrong information (taught wrong facts) into the young brain of the prince. What was the purpose of this education – this false way of teaching? It was only to make the prince vain about his position. The teacher filled him with false vanity and pride.

The teacher failed miserably to motivate the prince to objectively (impartially) read various histories to assess his own strength. It was the duty of the teacher to first understand and then teach Aurangzeb various states along with their strength, their war strategy (ways of fighting) their customs, their religions, their political and administrative set-ups, their public welfare programmes, their progress in various fields, their fall and the reasons for such falls. A teacher teaching a prince must teach him to avoid the mistakes committed by other kings so as to rule smoothly. A good teacher teaching a prince should prepare him to successfully discharge his duty as a king in the later years. This is possible only if he gives him a comparative analysis of kings and their administration. Forget the history of other people, the teacher has not cared to teach him the history of his own forefathers, the founders of the Moghul empire in India. The teacher did not care to teach him the means and ways his fore-fathers adopted to establish a powerful empire in India. Thus, the teacher failed on the home front (history of his own family, as well. Kingdoms will crumble if such princes were to rule after their such teachings.

Aurangzeb blames his teacher for fixing wrong priorities (subject) to teach. The teacher had planned to make Aurangzeb a great scholar of Arabic language and literature. The teacher conviently forgot that the prince was not to become a Arabic grammarian or a poet but the king after his father’s death. It is a sheer waste of time for a they don’t concern his job. A king has to deal with very grave and serious issues and he needs much commonsense for that. Learning of words does not stand him in good stead in this direction. Aurangzeb rightly condemns his former teacher for having mistaught him. A teacher must know what his pupil needs. Once he chooses a wrong direction knowingly or otherwise, he is to blame for ruining the career of the child. A prince should not be given the details of words but the details of the world he has to deal with. Don’t teach him grammar in detail but the ways to run the administration. The views expressed by Aurangzeb are perfectly valid even today.

Aurangzeb pinpoints (make a special mention) the lapses of his former teacher. He is of the confirmed (sure) view that the child must be taught in his mother tongue. Education through mother tongue is always better than through any other language. The child learns fast and remembers for all his life the things taught to him in his childhood days if the teaching is done through his mother tongue. Aurangzeb feels he was wasted his childhood in learning science, law language through the medium of Arabic. He feels so sorry for his teacher who taught him philosophical abstractions (only ideas) which were very hard to understand and were useless in real life. He felt how he confused him with very big and difficult philosophic concepts (ideas). Those words would confuse even the best of scholars. Even the best scholars would not know their actual meaning. His teachers taught him hard philosophical concepts as if he were the most competent (able) man to teach philosophy. The fact is that all incompetent and ignorant men use high words to conceal (hide) their incompetence (inability). Aurangzeb speaks out of disgust and despair and bitterness (anger). His bitterness against his teacher is greatly justified. He wishes that his teacher would have taught him the way to build fortitude and unshakable self-confidence. He should have been taught to remain calm both in prosperity and adversity. He should have taught him about human life, about the universe and all noble thins. Had he ennobled (made better) his mind and soul, given him spiritual and moral strength to face the world like a hero, he would have been more devoted to him than was Alexander to Aristotle. He should have taught him the duty of the king to his people, and the people’s duty to their king. He should have taught him the ability to run the administration in a good manner. He should have been taught how to lead his army to war successfully and defeat the enemy. He tells his former teacher or flatterer to go and live in his obscure village so that he does not ruin the career of other people. Let others not know through the king or through his bad teaching what a bad man he is. No one knows whether his former tutor left for his village. But it is a fact no one respects him in the history of the Moghul empire.

Question and Answers

1.     What sort of philosophy teaching would have helped Aurangzeb?

Philosophy teaches us how to think rightly, freely and methodically. This type of philosophy teaching would have helped Aurangzeb in the running of his administration.

2.     How could the teacher teach him to be a better and efficient king?

The teacher would have done a good job had he taught him his duties towards the people, people’s duties towards him, the use of power to be successful in his kingdom, the art of besieging a town and raising the army.

3.     What is Aurangzeb’s attitude towards his former teacher?

Aurangzeb is critical of his way of teaching, the subjects that he taught and the desire for money. He is angry with him but requests him politely to go back to the village where he came from and live unknown.

4.     What should Mullah Sahe have taught Aurangzeb?

It was the professional duty very comprehensively the war strategies, customs, religions, administrative set-ups, rise and fall, mistakes done by heads of states rebellions and other such things of the states of the world. He should have taught him an objective and true history of his own forefathers who founded the Moghul empire in India. It is sad that his teacher failed him in all fields.

5.     Why was learning Arabic a waste of time as far as Aurangzeb was concerned?

Aurangzeb was a prince. He had to take his father’s throne after some time. He was not to teach Arabic language, grammar and literature in a school. He was not interested to become a linguist or a grammarian. He had a different field altogether. He is right when he says that learning Arabic was a sheer waste of time for him. He should have been taught war craft, administration, public welfare schemes, comparative world history, fate of those kings who did not discharge their duties and such issues.

6.     Why is learning any foreign language unpleasant?

Learning any foreign language is unpleasant and tedious because the learner is not culturally associated with it. He is always reluctant to learn a foreign language because he does not like its longsome words, expressions and many other things.

7.     Why is childhood a good period for learning? To what use could it have been put?

Childhood is a good period of learning because a well-taught child remember all the good things taught him then all his life. These things prepare him to be good and noble in life. It is useless to teach a child the law, religion and sciences in a foreign language. A child taught well in his childhood is surely a good and noble man.

8.     What is Aurangzeb’s parting advice to his teacher?

Aurangzeb’s last advice to his former tutor is to go back to his village from where he had come to teach him. He tells him to hide himself in a remote village. Nobody should know about his position as a teacher. Nobody should about his position as a teacher. Nobody should also know that he has been censored by the emperor for teaching him in a wrong way. This is some sort of punishment to the bad teacher.