Critical Appreciation of the Story The Blue Bead
Introduction
The story The Blue Bead presents to us a graphic picture of the life of the country folk residing in the village which is small backward village and is completely untouched by the influence of urbanisation. In the village which is surrounded with hills and forests, the villagers lead a hard and strugglesome life. They have to strive not only for their living but also to save their existence in the world. In their routine life, they have to face many challenges. Every day a new challenge stands before them. Moreover there is no bridge on the river and the people cross the river by jumping from stone to stone and making- noises so as to frighten the crocodiles and other ferocious animals.
The story also shows that though the villagers live a hard life in the lap of nature, they grow up quite sturdy with a strong will and unwavering determination. The presence of mind and courage that Sibia shows is part of her life.
Plot of The Story:
Exposition: The story begins with the detailed description of the crocodile and then shifts to Sibia, twelve years old child woman. She lived in a mud house. She came out of her mud house after eating her last meal. She was dressed in an earthen-coloured rag. She was bom to toil. She was poor and had never owned anything but a rag. She was going with her mother and other women to get paper grass from above the river.
Rising Action : When evening approached, it was time for the women to return to their animals and the evening meal. The women, loaded with their bundles of paper grass, set out to cross the river. Sibia hung back, wanting to check on the clay cups, if they were dry enough to be painted and used. Moving satisfied herself, she stepped onto the first stone. Half way through, she was tired and put down her load on a big boulder to rest.
Climax: When she was having rest, a Gujar woman came with two brass pitchers to fetch water unsuspecting the mortal danger that lay lurking nearby. In order to get the good clear water, she walked on to the stepping stones. She was within a yard of the crocodile when it lunged at her. The woman screamed, dropped pitchers with a clatter on the boulder. The Gujar women recoiled from the crocodile, but its jaws closed on her leg at the same moment as she slipped and fell on the bone-breaking stone. She clutched one of the timber logs to save herself.
Falling Action: As soon as, Sibia heard her scream, she flew towards her with her hayfork and in one moment, she was beside the shrieking woman. She aimed at the crocodile’s eyes with the force of her little body. She drove the hayfork at the eyes. The crocodile reared up in convulsion and then disappeared. Sibia, wrapping her arms round the fainting woman, dragged her from the water. She stopped her bleeding with sand and helped her reach the Gujar encampment.
Resolution : Then, Sibia came back for her grass, sickle and fork, but found a blue bleed there. Sibia was overjoyed. On her way back home when her mother said that she thought something had happened to her, Sibia burst with her story and cried, ‘Something did! I found a blue bead for my necklace, look!’
Moral of the Story:
The story shows extraordinary power of human will. If we are keenly determined to achieve something we can always find a way. Though Sibia is a weak and undernourished girl, she has high spirit. It is her will power and determination which provoke her to take immediate action to save the Gujar woman from the grip of the ferocious animal crocodile. With all her strength she drives the hayfork into the reptile’s eyes. While doing so she does not care of her life. In the end she comes out as a victorious. Moreover, she is also rewarded with a blue bead for which she has been yearning for a long time. Hence, the story also brings a moral that good things come from bad situations. For instance when Sibia saves the woman from the crocodile, she finds a nice blue bead that makes her happy.
Setting of the Story:
The setting of the story ‘The Blue Bead’ takes place somewhere in India where deep in a wild forest lies a great Indian river. The story takes place during the day time when the sun shines brightly as well as during the evening as the sun sets and Sibia can see the pink ultraviolet shadows as she comes down to the stepping-stones. The story begins with the depiction of the wild ferocious crocodile in the dense forest which is above the great Indian river, the home to the mugger crocodiles, where the shrill noisy village is set up. The writer makes us travel through the forest with Sibia. The forest is filled with risks and dangers from the wild animals and the river is infested with crocodiles. In the midst of dangers, the villagers live a life of object poverty and encounter dangers in their routine life.
Appropriateness of the Title:
The title of the story is significant and appropriate. The entire story revolves around the craving of Sibia for having a necklace of beads. Sibia passes her life in utter poverty with her family and toils with her mother. She has never owned anything but a rag.
She wishes to make a bead necklace for herself that would rattle around her neck. She collects the shiny scarlet seed for making a necklace for herself. But each seed is as hard as stone and thus needs to be drilled with a red-hot needle. The family needle has snapped, so she has to wait till they will be able to buy another needle. One day when she is left alone on the way back to her home, she sees a Gujar woman who becomes an easy prey of the ferocious crocodile. She at once comes into action and rushes to save her.
She pierces the eyes of the crocodile with her hayfork. Then she drags the woman out of water and leaves her to her encampment. When she comes back to pick up the bundle of grass, sickle and hayfork, she finds a blue bead in the water. The title is appropriate because the blue bead is one of the unattainable wonders for her that she manages to attain at the end. She tells her mother that she has found a blue bead of her necklace.
Irony in the Story:
In the story there is an example of dramatic irony :
‘And Sibia bursting with her story cried ‘Something did ! I found a blue bead for my necklace, look !’
There is another example of situational irony in the story :
‘With all the force of her little body. She drove the hayfork at the eyes and with one prong went in—right in—while it’s pair scratched past on the horny cheek He would die.’
The Use of Symbol and Imagery:
Symbol is found in the story when at the end of the story Sibia’s mother asked her what had happened to her and Sibia responds by telling her about the blue bead she had found and not of her acts of saving a Gujar woman’s life. This shows that Sibia is selfless, modest and humble girl. This also shows that heroism alike what Sibia has done, is somewhat normal where she is from.
The writer has used a number of images which enhance the beauty of the description.
‘He came to rest in the glassy shallows, among logs, and balanced there on tiptoe on the rippled sand, with only his raised eyes out of water, and raised nostrils breathing the clean sunny air.’
(This conveys to the sight and smell.)
‘Now nothing could pierce the inch-thick armoured hide. Not even rifle bullets, which would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms offered a place.’
(This conveys touch.)
‘In the shrill noisy village above the ford, out of a mud house the same colour as the ground came a little girl, a thin starveling child dressed in an earth-coloured rag.’
(This conveys sight and sound.)
‘Sibia was eating the last of her meal, chapatti wrapped round a smear of green chili and rancid butter.
(This conveys taste.)
The Use of Figures of Speech:
Figure of speech simile has been used in the following :
- ‘The sunset shuffled about it like gold dust.’
- ‘Where the river coursed through like a bulge of glass.’
- ‘Heroism of the jungle is as common as a thorn tree.’
Figure of speech alliteration has been used in the following :
- ‘the Soiling feloody water.’
- ‘Sone-Sreaking stones.’
- ‘Sun-whitened stepping-stones.’
Figure of speech personification has been used in the following :
- ‘Even their voices died away.’
- ‘By chance, it was perforated right through the neck of a bottle perhaps a blue bead. ’
In the following, the figure of speech metaphor has been used :
- ‘But now she came on wings, choosing her footing in mid air without even thinking about it and in one moment she was beside the shrieking woman.’
- ‘Although, she did not dare stop for moment under her mother’s eye, her imagination took her is swooping flight over the bright water and golden air to the banks where she had played as a child.
- ‘All her heart went up in flames of joy.’
- ‘All her little golden body decorated !’
The Main Conflict of the Story:
The conflict of this story is man against nature, because Sibia had to face the crocodile who is the antogonist in the story and who is a part of nature, and man against society because Sibia had to struggle to survive each day due to the fact that she was a poor and lived in a poor area. The internal conflict in this story was basically how Sibia really wanted to own jewellery, but could not afford it. The theme of the story includes a life style of poverty and this relates to the internal conflict because of how Sibia is facing the struggle of poverty as she works hard to take care of herself. The theme of this story also shows heroism and this relates to the external conflict as how Sibia bravely saves the Gujar woman when the crocodile attacked her.
The Use of Foreshadowing:
At the beginning of the story, the crocodile gets two pages of mention. The reason for this is because, the writer has used a technique called ‘foreshadowing’. This is used to provide information about one subject that will play a role in a later part of the story. The crocodile does not come into the picture again until the main incident occurs : the attack made by crocodile on a Gujar woman. This is the major portion that keeps the reader in suspense.
Narration:
The point of view coming from the narrator is omniscient. This means that the writer knows the feelings or desires of characters and can see all. For instance the writer in this story knows the background of Sibia and also that she wanted something of value. The narrator does not withhold any important information but he uses foreshadowing.
The Use of Local Dialect:
The story has been written in simple English, but the wirter has chosen to retain some of the Hindi words from the local dialect and has not used their English Equivalents. A few examples of such words are : ghats, sari, lal-lal- heeges, gurrahs, junglis, etc.
Treasure Trove Poems and Short Stories Workbook Answers