A LOOK INTO THE SLAYER SLAIN

The title of the novel is intriguing.This terse phase contains the essence of the story where the main antagonist KOSY CURIEN , who is guilty of unwittingly killing the grandson of his old slave POULOSA is  redeemed by the love and forgiveness that the old slave shows to his master.

Poulosa's action of saving Kosy's daughter from a watery grave fills the latter with so much regret that he repents and thus the slayer is slain by the weapon of love.It is possible to discern several themes in the novel like the preponderance of the caste system , the desire to convert people to the christian faith particularly people of the upper caste like the old Brahman ,the difference in attitude and behavior of the Syrian Christians of the ancient eastern Christian faith  as against  those who have taken up the western Protestant faith.

The slayer slain deals predominantly with the evolution of the character of Mariam , the daughter of kosy curian . Mariam is a young women of nearly fourteen who has received a good education at the mission school run by the wives of the missionaries. The mission school in question is undoubtedly THE MISS BAKER'S SCHOOL, which had started functioning under the supervision of Mrs.Amelia Dorothea Baker in 1820.

The liberal education that mariam received at the mission school not only taught her the three R's it also gave a broad outlook on life , an ability to understand and analyze men and matters and to make her own decisions without fear. She did not totally reject  established customs and practices but she did question attitudes that only serve to encourage such social evils like untouchability and casteism.She is the dutiful and obediant daughter of kosy but she has a will of her own which enables her to speak out her mind to her father.

She is not the militant and aggressive type but she is able to achieve her objective by her gentle and intelligent persuasiveness.When her father arranges to have her married to the son of the rich Syrian landowner Ummen Thoma ,she was able to convince him that marriage to a gross un educated widower would only serve to make to her unhappy and wicked.Her arguments were so intelligent and reasonable that her father breaks off the contract of marriage even though such a social solecism was unheard of at that time.

As the weather is not good i am stopping today's writing will continue tomorrow, here we have windy rain and what about there???????????????????????

INTO THE SLAYER SLAIN

In my last blog i gave you a picture of the novelist and from today we are getting into the novel,"THE SLAYER SLAIN".

This short novel has the distinction of being the first of its kind in missionary literature.It has all the characteristics of typical novel in that it has a well defined plot and characters  that grow in stature as the story progresses.The story line is one that fulfills the purpose for which it is crafted viz for the instruction of young . It adopts the style of the omniscient narrator who stands apart and watches the events unfolding.Set in the picturesque background of Kottayam and Meenachil river the chief characters are the Syrian Christians who consider themselves as belonging to the upper caste and their servants who belong to the lower caste and are considered untouchables.

The events that are described in the novel are imaginative renderings of real incidents that have taken place in central Travancore and which are described at length by the missionaries in their annual reports to the parent society .All these characteristics support the claim that The Slayer Slain is a typical novel .In fact it may even be considered that this novel is the first novel in English written and published in India by a colonial master about the colonized .Again it is indeed the first novel written by a women missionary even though she has to share this position with her husband but for whom this novel would not have been completed let alone published .As a matter of fact it was Rev.Collins who translated the novel into Malayalam and published it with title " Khadhaka Vadhom"  .One hundred and fifty years have been elapsed since the publication of "Khadhaka Vadhom".

These are some features seen in this book that i would like to share with you from my next blog we will be entering deep into the novel so after reading this blog you feel like you have read the whole novel .

"READING A BOOK MAKES US A GREAT HUMAN BEING IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD"

SLAYER SLAIN'S AUTHOR

The slayer slain is a novel in serial form , was one of the articles that found  place in the first issues of the vidhya sangrah (cms college magazine) .The novel was written by Frances Wright Collins , wife of Rev.Richard Collins.Very little is known about Frances Wright expect that she accompanied her young husband to tropical India in order to take her place as wife of a missionary.She was not of a robust constitution and the heat and rain of Travancore didn't agree with her.

Trough she tried to carry out her duties of teaching and managing the household to the best of her ability she could not hold out for long.She was taken to the relatively cooler area of Coonoor where she took her last breathe in 1862. A plaque to her memory was erected by a grateful people and is to be found in the chapel of the CMS college Kottayam, Kerala,India.Apart from this she remains a shadowy figure about whom nothing very substantial is known apart from the slim novel that she wrote The Slayer Slain.

The introductory note at the beginning of the novel speaks of it having come "from the pen of lady who has since gone to her rest". However the style of the novel in the last last chapters is different and so it can be safely concluded that the novel was completed by the Rev.Collins because death had claimed Frances before she could complete her work of art.

The slayer slain and its author Frances have long been wrapped up in the mists of oblivion , pushed into the margins of memory. Though published in serial form in the early sixties of the nineteenth century  , neither the author nor her work has got the recognition they deserved. The missionaries of the church referred to Frances as merely as the wife of their missionary. Not a word of acclaim has been accorded to this lady for her crafting of this novel with its emphasis on the simple and the commonplace along with matters of weight and significance.

On the other hand merely referring to her as Mrs.Collins has created and perpetuated the mistaken belief that the novel was written by Frances Sarah Collins whom Rev.Collins married after the untimely demise of France Wright. It was her husband ,who no doubt ,encouraged her impressions of central Travancore into papers. He also had the tenderness to finish her novel and to publish it.Though their is a marked difference in the perception of husband and wife ,the fact remains that this work would never have been the light of day If Rev.Collins had ignored it.

See this is the beauty of love and respect that everyone need to show to everyone in their life.Love comes from care , respect, protection and dedication to one another which can be seen fading in today's world. I think you guyz have understood how important is the place of a special person especially women in our world without them the world won't go on.........................

THE SLAYER SLAIN

Today i would like to introduce a book which influenced me a lot and brought a courage and proud in me that i am a GIRL.

This is the first work that has been made ready which took its shape in the beautiful campus of CMS college by the hand a-nd imagination of Mrs.Frances Wright Collins from 1856-1865.It is a matter of great gratification that the whole background of the campus has compelled her to write about the strength of the greatest potential in human kind-LOVE .The novel depicts the society of that time and vividly reports the scenes of those days.

The contribution of the missionaries who were keen to impart knowledge and wisdom in the lives of many who were unexposed to the arena of literacy.

The Slayer Slain has several unique features to its credit.It is a book on men and women who lived in Kottayam ,Kerala ,India and its environs.The setting is typically 19th  century Kottayam and Thazhathagadi , the meenachil river which was clear and sparkling and in a sudden spate ,the paddy fields on either side of the river are green carpets for as long as the eye can see isn't this a beautiful sight which enriches our eyes. I wish i could see all these.......

Canoes were the chief means of transport ,cultivation is done chiefly by the slaves , the western Anglican faith which is slowly influencing the attitude of both Syrian Christain and the slaves.It was written by a white women who represents the colonizer even

though  it shows the human side of colonialism that is seen.  i think it is the fate of WOMEN either white \coloured  ,the author has been hidden for years.

Education has been the means of liberating women from the strange hold of patriarchy  as can be seen in the life of Mariam ,the heroine of the novel.The mission school established by the wives of the CMS missionaries was the first institution that gave young girls the rudiments of liberal education that would enable them to be responsible and capable women.It is also the first typical novel in missionary literature and it lays emphasis on the power of LOVE and forgiveness in Slaying the Slayer.

As literature holds  a mirror to history it is hoped that this novel will shed light on the social conditions that prevailed in central Travancore in the 19th century.It is a record of the way women has been able to progress after receiving the benefit of education and also serves to unveil the figure of the women author who has remained on the margins of memory for more than a century and half .This is great and beautiful work which is to be read by every women and bring changes in life in a beautifull manner.

DID YOU KNOW????????????????

Why do you yawn when you get sleepy??????????? To keep yourself up! A yawn is a show of deep breath that brings more  oxygen to the brain.It's a little like splashing cold water on your face.The oxygen gives your brain cells a little wake-up call.

Thomas Edison , the inventor of light bulb was afraid of the dark

Alexander Graham bell never phoned his wife and mother because they were deaf.

In space ,astronauts can't cry properly because there is no gravity.So their tears can't flow down their faces.

Coffee was discovered by goats !

it was about 850 AD that coffee was first discovered . There is a legend that an Araba goat herd Kaldi who lived in Ethiopia first noticed the strange effect of coffee plant when his goats were fed on it .He made a beverage out of it which had a stimulating effect.

The shortest complete sentence in English language is "GO" !

Aegilops 8 letters song , is the longest word with its letter arranged in alphabetical order.

In 1883 , the explosion of the volcano Krakatoka  , put so much dust into the earth's atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost two year.

How reindeer's survive in the extreme cold??????

By eating MOSS !

The moss contain a special chemical that help reindeer keep their body fluids warm when the reindeer make their yearly journey across the icy arctic region ,the chemical keep them from freezing !

 

CUMULATIVE RECORD 

AND GUIDANCE

The cumulative record is a confidential and systematic accumulation of significant factual information about an individual student while at school.It is a readily available permanent data about a child.

It is progressively developed and maintained over a sufficient period of time a give a summarized growth record indicating the direction and rate of development .The information written in  cumulative record is collected from different sources over a period of time.It contain useful and reliable information about the student   that may enable providing education ,vocational ,personal guidance and assistance to the student during the period of his stay in the school.

 

uses of cumulative record for a teacher as well as a guide

• Helpful in student classification
• Provides complete school history of the student
• Helpful in making certificates
• Helps in problem solving
• Helps in proving personal guidance 
• Helps in providing vocational guidance
• Helpful in self-assessment
• Helpful for employers
• Helpful for giving individual attention
• Helps in preparing progress report

 These are some of the benefits of saving a record for children but these thing does't happen in most of the schools' i think it's because both teacher and students have a tight schedule teacher won't get enough time to spend with every   

 child and other duties come in their way............ any way if teacher doesn't keep record is ok................ but she surely should find time to spend with students because its the beauty of teaching lies... 

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE (V.G)

The provision of VG in our educational has been necessitated by great changes in our society and this large world is becoming

more and more complex.Unemployment and underemployment are not necessarily due to lack of opportunities but i think it is due to the lack of information and support to find right job to right person. Students' are not been able to know what all opportunities are waiting for them because of their limited knowledge of occupations and of the narrow range of alternatives available to them.

This ignorance lead to unrealistic aspirations. Therefore i think we should assist our students to have more realistic career expectations through systematically organized VG programs in our schools and colleges.

NEED FOR VG  

1. VG is needed to assist the students to choose the best career of their choice
2. To strengthen educational system by providing motivation and meaning to education
3. To help students understand problem and causes for unemployment
4. Needed to provide information about occupational opportunities
5. To help youngsters to prepare for and entering into desired profession
6. To explore different information sources
7. For vocational adjustment
8. To ensure efficient use of man power 
9. To stop wastage and misutilization of time , money,labor and brings economic prosperity to individual as well as nation
10. To develop potentialities of youngsters to an optimum level

A country's economic stability depends on the working people and man power of nation for its development so if we raise our children with a correct value and definition for career we could be part our nations development.There will be a time when everyone will be satisfied with their jobs and life and thus prosperity runs through our life and we will be able to live a beautiful in peace , harmony and love for each others.