Panorama 2 | Prose
R. C. Hutchinson
R. C. Hutchinson is a British Novelist. He has very nicely expressed his views about the society of his time, in his work. We find in his novels, extraordinary aptitude which touches sensitive topics along with the contrary statements. In “The Pace For Living” he expresses the sufferings of modem man. He remarkably narrates the fast movement of men, things, and objects which hurts regular movement causing undue pressure on men, women, and children.
The Pace For Living Written by Introduction. R. C. Hutchinson in his essay “The Pace For Living” has most beautifully described the fast movement of men. things and objects. He also expresses the problems arising out of undue pressure on men.- women and children. It causes much inconvenience to them.
The Pace for Living
R. C. Hutchinson, a British novelist, exhibits an exceptional flair for touching the sensitive issues of contemporary society with all its contradictions and paradoxes. In 'The peace for living', R.C. Hutchinson captures the agony of modern man. He brings out how the fast movement of men, things, and objects hurts the normal rhythm and exerts pressure on men, women, and children.
I saw a play in Dublin not long ago in which the chief character was an elderly corn-merchant in a small Irish country town. He was a man of much anxieties-his heart was dicky, his nephew was cheating him, his wife had the fantastic notion of spending $10 on a holiday. Altogether the pace of life was getting too much for him, and in a moment of despair, he uttered a great cry from the heart: “They tell me there’s an airplane now that goes at 1,000 miles an hour. Now that’s too fast!”
For me that was the most enchanting line in the play – the man’s complaint was so gloriously to his own situation. And besides being comic, it struck me as a perfect illustration of the way the Irish get at subtle truths by the most unlikely approaches. You saw what the old fool meant.
Not that I have any dislike of rapid movement myself. I enjoy going in a car at ninety miles an hour – so long as I am driving and so long as it is not my car. I adore the machines that hurl you about at Battersea. To dine in London and lunch in New York next day seems to me a most satisfactory experience: I admit it excludes all the real pleasures of travel – the sort of fun you get from a country bus in Somerset or Spain – but it gives you a superficial sense of drama; it was a sort of excitement our ancestors had to do without, and we might just as well accept it gratefully. No, where speed becomes something unfriendly to me is where the mental activities of our time tend – as they naturally do – to follow the pace of the machines.
I speak with prejudice because I belong to the tribe of slow thinkers, those who are cursed with l’esprit de l’escaliert: people who light on the most devastating repartee about four hours after the party’s over. I am one of those who are guaranteed to get the lowest marks in any intelligence test because those tests or all the ones I have some across seem to be designed to measure the speed of your mind more than anything else. Obviously, we slow thinkers are terribly handicapped in the business of getting a living. But what I am thinking about just now is not so much the practical use of one’s mind as its use for enjoyment.
As an example, when I go to the cinema, I find myself in a hopeless fog, and after two or three minutes I have to turn to my wife for enlightenment. I whisper: “Is this the same girl as the one we saw at the beginning?” And she whispers back: “No, there are three girls in this film a tall blonde, a short blonde, and a medium-sized brunette. Call them A, B, and C. The hero is that man who takes his hat off when he comes indoors. He is going to fall in love with girls B, C, A in that order.” And so, it proves to be. There you have a mind which has trained itself to work in high gear-though as a matter of fact is can work in other gears just as well. But my point is that most of my fellow-patients in the cinema do think fast enough to keep up comfortably with rapid changes of scene and action. They think much faster than people did thirty years ago: possibly because those who do not ting fast in the High street nowadays may not get another chance in the world to think at all.
Glossary & Notes:
- Chief character:
- Corn-merchant:
- Anxieties:
- Dicky:
- Holiday:
- Altogether:
- Despair:
- Moment:
- Enchant:
- Situation:
- Perfect:
- Illustration:
- Dore:
- Approach:
- Rapid:
- Movement:
- Satisfactory:
- Real pleasure:
- Excitement:
- Superficial:
- Prejudice:
- Devastating:
- Blonde:
- Brunette:
- Obviously:
- Handicapped:
- Whisper:
- Comfortably:
- At all:
- Hapless:
Summary in English
The author narrates the experience of a show he had recently seen in Dublin. The chief character was an elderly corn merchant residing in a small Irish country town. He had many anxieties. His heart was full of weaknesses. He was offended by his nephew. His wife was spending a holiday on her fantastic affair. They told him that it has become easier now to go by airplane at 1000 miles an hour. It was too fast for the corn-merchant.
The author became spellbound to see that scene. According to him the grievances of the corn-merchant were not to the point.
The author has no hesitation in rapid movement. He enjoys driving cars at ninety miles an hour. He pays honor to the machine which carries so fast to a distant place. He also appreciates the journey by airplane, which makes it easier to dine in London and lunch in New York the next day. But it cannot provide the sort of fun—the pleasure of travel one gets from a country bus.
So, the fast speed in our real life is also not always useful. Our ancestors were not accustomed to such fast movement because no such means of communication were available at that time and we might accept this fact gratefully. When the mental activities are directed in a particular direction, the fast speed becomes somewhat unfriendly, because they naturally do not do to follow the step of the machine.
The author thinks that he is a slow-thinker. He realizes that he would get the lowest marks on an intelligence test. As such slow-thinkers like him are awfully incapable of earning their livelihood. Though it is not so much required for the practical use of one’s mind to get enjoyment.
The author has confirmed the fact about his shortcomings related to his slow thinking through an example. Once, he went to a film sec with his wife. He had to take the assistance of his wife to know the difference between the female artists of the film because he did not find a difference in their figures and facial expression. He blames his slow thinking for this defect in him. So he thinks that to achieve the mission of life one must move faster with the pace of time.
Thus the author suggests a fast pace in life for a living. He also warns us not to be the slow-thinker like him. We must think faster to reach the goal.
Summary in Hindi
लेखक कुछ दिनों पूर्व डब्लिन में एक नाटक देखने गया था । वह अपने उस अनुभव का वर्णन कर रहा है। नाटक का प्रमुख पात्र एक प्रौढ़ अनाज का व्यापारी था जो एक छोटे से आयरिश ग्रामीण अंचल का निवासी था। वह अनेक उलझनों से ग्रस्त था तथा उसका हृदय कमजोरियों से पीड़ित था। वह अपने भतीजे से क्षुब्ध था । उसकी पत्नी अवकाश के दिनों में अनोखे कार्यों में अनावश्यक रूप से 10 पाउन्ड खर्च करती थी। उनलोगों ने उससे कहा कि अब विमान द्वारा एक घंटे में 1000 मील जाना अत्यन्त सरल हो गया है। अनाज के व्यापारी के लिए यह अत्यंत तेज गति थी।
लेखक उक्त दृश्य को देखकर मंत्र-मुग्ध हो गया। उसके अनुसार उक्त व्यापारी का क्षोभ अनुपयुक्त था।
लेखक को तेज गति से परहेज नहीं हैं । वह नब्बे मील प्रति घंटे की गति से कार चलाकर उसका आनन्द लेता है। वह उस मशीन के प्रति सम्मान का भाव रखता है, जो तीब्र गति में लम्बी दूरी तक पहुँचाती है। वह विमान यात्रा की भी प्रशंसा करता है, जिसके द्वारा लन्दन में भोजन तथा अगले दिन न्यूयार्क में जलपान करना संभव हो गया है। किन्तु एक बस का कौतुकपूर्ण मनोरंजन उससे प्राप्त नहीं हो सकता है।
अत: हमारे जीवन में तेज गति सदैव उपयोगी नहीं होती है। हमारे पूर्वज इस प्रकार की तेज चाल के अभ्यस्त नहीं थे, क्योंकि उस समय यातायात के इस प्रकार के साधन उपलब्ध नहीं थे। हम इस तथ्य को कृतज्ञतापूर्वक स्वीकार कर सकते हैं। जब मस्तिष्क की गतिविधियाँ किसी विशिष्ट दिशा की ओर संचालित हों, ऐसे समय में तेज गति एक हद तक विरोधी हो जाती है, क्योंकि वे स्वाभाविक रूप से मशीन की चाल का अनुसरण नहीं करतीं।
लेखक सोंचता है कि वह मन्द बुद्धि है। वह अनुभव करता है कि बौद्धिक जाँच परीक्षा.. में उसे न्यूनतम अंक प्राप्त होंगे । अत: उसके समान मन्दबुद्धि व्यक्ति अपनी आजीविका उपार्जित करने में असमर्थ होते हैं । यद्यपि मानोरंजन प्राप्त करने के उद्देश्य से बुद्धि के व्यावहारिक उपयोग .. के लिए उतना आवश्यक नहीं हैं।
लेखक ने मन्द बुद्धि से सम्बधित अपनी कमी (अक्षमता) को एक उदाहरन द्वारा स्वीकार किया है। एक बार वह अपनी पत्नी के साथ सिनेमा देखने गया । उसे फिल्म की अभिनेत्रियों में फर्क जानने के लिए अपनी पत्नी की सहायता लेनी पड़ी, क्योंकि उसे उन अभिनेत्रियों के चेहरे तथा हाव-भाव में कोई अन्तर नहीं दिखाई दिया । वह इस कमी के लिए अपनी मन्दबुद्धि को इसका कारण मानता है। अत: उसकी धारणा है कि प्रत्येक व्यक्ति को अपने जीवन के लक्ष्य की प्राप्ति के लिए समय की चाल के साथ तेज गति से कदम बढ़ाना चाहिए।
इस प्रकार लेखक जीवन में तेज कदम से चलने का सुझाव देता है । वह इस बात से सावध न भी करता है कि कोई व्यक्ति उसके समान मन्दबुद्धि न हो । तीब्र बुद्धि द्वारा ही लक्ष्य को प्राप्त किया जा सकता है।
Questions & Answer:
B.
Answer the following question briefly:
1. Where did the writer watch the play?
Ans: The writer watched the play in Dublin.
2. Who was the chief character?
Ans: The corn-merchant was the chief character in the
play.
3. Does the writer dislike rapid movement in every field?
Ans: Yes, the writer dislike repaid movement in every
field.
4. In which situation, does the writer find himself in the cinema?
Ans: The writer finds himself in the cinema in hapless
fog.
5. How does the writer classify himself as a thinker?
Ans: He says, my most follow patients in the cinema
think fast and comfortably understand scene and action so the writer classifies
himself as a thinker.
C. 1 Long Answer Questions:
1. Write a few sentences about the elderly corn-merchant.
Ans: The corn-merchant was the chief character in the play.
He was a man of anxieties. He was dicky man and he doesn’t like rapid movement.
2. “They tell me there’s an airplane now that goes at 1,000 miles
an hour now that’s too fast.” What light does the remark of the corn-merchant
throw on the fast life today?
Ans: This line shows the rapid movement in every field.
Because he thinks himself the world is changing rapidly when he listens, the
airplane goes 1,000 miles in an hour. He becomes restless.
3. What sort of excitement do we have today which our ancestors
lacked? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage?
And: I think, it is an advantage it all human beings.
Because, today we are using new technology such like a computer, mobile, etc.
these had not our ancestors but today these are helping very much.
4. Who are taken to be slow thinkers? How are the slow thinkers,
handicapped today?
Ans: the man who thinks slow in this world. That man is handicapped. Because this world can’t give chance them once again.
5. What enlightenment does the writer seek from his wife? What does
it suggests the plight of the modern man?
Ans: The writer enlightenment to his wife, is this the
same girl as the one we saw at the beginning? This question shows us the plight of
modern men that lack scene and power of thinking.
6. Summarise the central idea of this essay.
Ans: As we that this is a good essay and has written by
R. C. Hutchinson. The writer describes the fast living of man. He says, the
men who don’t think fast the world can’t give them another chance to think at
all. They become handicapped. According to the writer today, every man,
woman, and child has been living under pressure because the world is changing
rapidly. So, we will think fast.