THE WISH Roald Dahl  (1916-1990) was a British poet, novelist, short story writer, screenwriter and war time fighter. He was born in Wales of Norwegian immigrant parents. He spent his childhood in England and, at the age of eighteen, went to work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa. When the World War II broke out, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot.  The story  'The Wish'  is about a young boy and his imaginative game of carpet. He fantasies that his carpet is alive with snakes and fire. Using imagery and metaphor, Dahl uses the character of a curiously imaginative young boy to help us reflect on the delicacy of our childhood innocence. This story goes inside the mind of a young child to explore his imagination. This is about a  young boy  who had a  frightening event in his childhood .  SUMMARY :   This story is completely based on the imagination of the main character who is a child. This story has presented imaginati...

Please Click HERE to Get Summary of Cause and Effect The Case against Air Conditioning Stan Cox S tan Cox was born in 1955. Most of his writings are about sustainability, ecology and agriculture. He obtained his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He works as a geneticist for the U.S Department of Agriculture.   The essay  The Case against Air Conditioning  by Stan Cox talks about Washington D.C. in particular and to the whole world in general. This essay talks about why Washington/America should stop using air conditioners in everyday life with the exception of hospitals, archives (stores), and cooling centres. The author supports his argument by providing examples of what Washington would like without air conditioners at work, at home, and around town.   Stan Cox wants us not to use A.C. unnecessarily or eliminate it completely. He urges that eliminating A.C. makes neighbourhoods have more socializing, laws laxer (softer), and it will lessen the climate change issues...

  THE HIDDEN LIFE OF GARBAGE Heather Rogers Journalist Heather Rogers has written articles on the environmental effects of mass production and consumption for the  New York Times Magazine,  the  Utne Reader, Architecture,  and a variety of other publications.    Her 2002 documentary film  Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage  has been screened at festivals around the world and served as the basis for a book of the same title. Named an Editor’s Choice by the  New York Times  and the  Guardian,  the book, published in 2005, traces the history and politics of household garbage in the United States, drawing connections between modern industrial production, consumer culture, and our contemporary throwaway lifestyle. Americans produce the most waste of any people on Earth, says Rogers, but few of us ever think about where all that trash goes. Rogers endeavours to show the inner workings of the waste stream, from the garbage...

RICE Jhumpa Lahiri Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London in 1967. Later her family moved to the United States, where she attended Barnard College and received multiple graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in Renaissance studies from Boston University.    Lahiri has won several literary awards, including a Pulitzer Prize and a PEN/Hemingway Award. Her fiction often explores Indian and Indian-American life and culture — as does this personal essay, which originally appeared in the  New Yorker  magazine.    Along with corn and wheat, rice remains one of the most important crops in the world, especially in Asia, where it has been cultivated for thousands of years. Rice accounts for between 35 percent and 85 percent of the calories consumed by billions of people living in India, China, and other Asian countries.    The ancient Indian word for rice (“dhanya”) means “sustainer of the human race.” Rice can be symbolic as well: we throw rice at weddings because ...

  GOD SEES THE TRUTH BUT WAITS Leo Tolstoy  Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer and a master of realistic fiction.   He was born in a wealthy family in Russia. His parents died when he was a child. He was brought up by his elder brother and relatives. He studied languages and law at Kazan University for three years.  He was dissatisfied with the school and left Kazan without a degree. Then he returned to his estate and educated himself independently.  In 1848, he moved to the capital, St. Petersburg, where he passed two tests for a law degree. He took military training and became an army officer. He wrote his first novel  Childhood  (1852), which became a success. Tolstoy’s short story  “God Sees the Truth, but Waits ”   first published in 1872 is about the false conviction and imprisonment of a man for a murder he did not commit, and it takes the form of a parable for forgiveness. ABOUT THE STORY Leo N. Tolstoy's 'God Sees the Truth, But Waits,...

THE OVAL PORTRAIT Edgar Allan Poe Background of Writer   Name : Edgar Allen Poe Nationality : American Date of Birth : January 19, 1809 Death : October 7, 1849 (At the age of 40) He was a writer, poet, editor and Literary Critic best known for his poetry and short stories. About this Story Original Title : Life in Death Genre(s) : Gothic Horror Publisher : Graham’s Magazine Publication Date : April 1842   This story presents Relationship between Art and Life Power of Art Power of Love Aesthetic Beauty   Symbol and Setting Setting : A desolate chateau in the Apennines which is the mountain range in central Italy Symbol : Painting is a symbol of mortality of love and immortality of art   Vocabularies Gothic – go’-thik (belonging to Middle Ages; old-fashioned; nonmodern) Chateau – sha-tow (an impressive country house or castle in France) Apennines – a-pu, nInz (a mountain range extending the length of the Italia...

  THE SELFISH GAINT Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish wit, poet, novelist, and playwright. Wilde was born of professional and literary parents. His father, Sir William Wilde, was an ear and eye surgeon. His mother was a revolutionary poet and an authority on Celtic myth and folklore.  Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. He is best known for his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).   'The Selfish Giant' is a short fantasy story for children written by Oscar Wilde. It was first published in the anthology The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888. This story is about a giant who learned an important lesson about love and sharing and holds different meanings for people of different age.  The moral of the story is Happiness through true love and selflessness . Characters : Giant Cornish Ogre Children Linnet (...