English For Today chapter 11: Peace and Conflict

Unit Eleven: Peace and Conflict

Lesson 1

Situations of Conflict

A. Look at the pictures. What do they show?

Figure

Description: Black-and-white photograph of a crowd of people, many carrying bundles and sacks on their heads, walking through shallow water; women and children are among them.

Figure

Description: Black-and-white photograph of people sitting inside a row of large concrete pipes; a man crouches in front of a large cooking pot over a fire, with a woman and other people nearby.

Figure

Description: Black-and-white photograph of people lying on and around a bicycle-rickshaw; the bodies appear limp and the rickshaw's wheels and frame are visible.

Figure

Description: Black-and-white photograph of a helmeted soldier kneeling on a dirt road and looking through binoculars; a second soldier crouches beside him, and more armed men are visible further along the road.

B. Cruelties of conflict affect people in different ways. As it has economic impacts, it has psychological, sociological, or geographical impacts too. Read here two poems on the cruelties of conflict and do the activities that follow.

Poem 1

Alone by Maya Angelou

[Maya Angelou, an American poet, songwriter, playwright, film director and autobiographer was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on 4 April, 1928. She spent much of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, with her paternal grandmother. When she was eight, she became a victim of abuse by someone close to her mother. The experience left her traumatised, and for several years, she could not speak. In 1940, Angelou moved to San Francisco, and then to New York, where she began her literary career.

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Maya Angelou had a remarkable range of interests and careers. She was a dancer, a singer and an editor. In addition, she also acted on stage and in the film. But writing was what she enjoyed most. She was a popular poet praised for the way she incorporated social and political themes in her poems without compromising their poetic and stylistic qualities. She wrote her poems in a language that is known as the Black vernacular, a language the Black People in America use in their everyday life. Her poems often deal with serious matters but they also use humour and give out hope. Angelou's experience of racial discrimination in her childhood and her involvement in civil right movement in the 1960s made her a committed campaigner for human rights, social justice and peace. She died on 28 may, 2014 at the age of 86.

Here is a poem Angelou wrote about human relationship, more particularly, togetherness, without which our lives become meaningless, no matter how wealthy or well-connected we are. Read the poem and try to find out why she stressed the words ‘alone’ and ‘nobody’. You will see that she has used these words ironically to bring home the message that no one should be alone, that human society depends on healthy relationships among its members.]

[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: poem "Alone" by Maya Angelou, stanzas on printed pages 194-195]

[¹to make out: to deal with a situation; make progress]

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[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: remainder of poem "Alone" by Maya Angelou, stanzas on printed pages 195]

[²banshee: In Irish legend, a female spirit who whose wails or shrieks herald the death of a family member]

[³sing the blues: feeling depressed or discouraged] [⁴to have a heart of stone: to be unkind, uncaring or cruel]

[⁵gonna: informal use, means ‘going to’]

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C. Now briefly answer the following questions.

a. What does the word ‘here’ in line 10 mean? b. The poet believes that ‘nobody can make it out here alone.’ Why does she say she believes she is not wrong? c. What does the poet mean when she says ‘The race of man is suffering’? Suffering from what? d. Expensive doctors, according to the poet, cannot cure hearts of stone. Why? e. Is the poem one of hope or despair?

D. Find a synonym each of 'moan', 'cure' and 'expensive' and make sentences with them.

E. What type of conflict do you find in this poem? Justify your statement.

F. Read the first stanza of another poem on conflict and write a paragraph (about 100 words) on how war 'darkens' the lands where it rages.

From 'September 1, 1939' by W. H. Auden

[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: stanza from "September 1, 1939" by W. H. Auden, printed on page 196]

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Lesson 2

“The Old Man at the Bridge” by Ernest Hemingway

A. Warm up activity

❏ Think and note down the kind of problems a war can create for human beings and other living things.

B. Read the story below for a clear and critical understanding of what it is really about and then answer the questions that follow:

[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: short story "The Old Man at the Bridge" by Ernest Hemingway, text of the story printed on pages 197-198]

Figure

Labels: peacebuilding, peace, conflict, revolution, collaboration, compromise, war, peacekeeping, peacemaking, compassion, nonviolence, violence, escalation, failed states, ADR, win, sexism, partisanship, inequality, arbitration, assessment, Democrat, Afghanistan, misunderstanding, war crimes, Catholic, UNHCR Description: A word cloud of words related to peace and conflict, in varied sizes and colours; the largest words are 'peacebuilding', 'peace', 'conflict', 'revolution' and 'collaboration'.

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[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: third-party short story text, untitled on this page (story continues from the previous page; author not printed on this page), printed pp. 198–199]

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[COPYRIGHTED EXCERPT OMITTED: third-party short story text (author not printed on this page; story continues from printed page 198), printed p. 199]

C. The table below has some words used in the story in Column A with their meaning in Column B. match the words with their contextual meaning.

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D. Here are some multiple answer questions with one correct and there incorrect answers for each. Choose the correct answers based on your reading of the story.

1. What is San Carlos? a. a road b. a bridge c. a town d. a wheel
2. What is the old man's occupation? a. solder b. shepherd c. herdsman d. traveller
3. What was the man worried about? a. animal b. destination c. artillery d. politics
4. How was the man's voice by the end of the story? a. dull b. tired c. blank d. worried
5. What is the story about? a. love for war b. love for nature c. love for animal c. love for a village

E. Critically examine the theme of the story and how it has been developed in the text.

F. Read the text below and fill in the gaps using the words in the box. Some words need to be given in their past tense forms.

screaming, blankly, shatter, flash, appear, impatiently, unquiet, smile, pause, sway, sadly, artillary

Suddenly the peaceful setting turned ______________ . Birds started ______________. Trees started to ______________ from one side to another. The roaring sound of the helicopters ______________ the silence. A searchlight ______________ suddenly. A soldier ______________ from the nearby bushes and asked the old man 'Who are you?' The old man answered ______________ – 'I'm not a soldier'. The soldier laughed. 'What do you do?' he asked ______________. The old man ______________ and said, 'I look after animals'. Then he ______________ for a moment and said ______________ 'I had to leave because of ______________.'

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G. Read below the text which is the beginning of a story. Complete the story in your own language.

It was 1971. The Pakistani army had begun a reign of terror against the Bengalees. Thousands of innocent people were killed each day. None was safe – students, politicians, businessmen, small traders, the rich, the poor – none. Everybody was worried about survival. People were fleeing for safe places. Doctor Saha had the same worry for his family. But he had one more anxiety – anxiety for his pet hen that had been a part of his family for nearly a year. In the meantime, the village had been looted and torched a couple of times. Some of his neighbours had been killed. People were leaving the village. Dr. Saha too decided to leave the next morning. But… how could he leave behind the youngest member of the family, the hen?

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