Wet Nightmares

SR,

Ok, I fished out your HTML tag but in my post also it is not showing. Let me try once again:

<Saminasha</b>

In case above is is also not visible it is reproduced below with a space character separating each character just so that browser shows it:

& l t ; S a m i n a s h a & l t ; / b & g t ;

In effect it is ``less than`` folloed by ``Saminasha`` etc etc

Now let me post this and see if it works.

SR,

I fished out your HTML tag:



That explains why browser does not show it. I think so Chowk needs a preview feature like they have at some sites (like for example at The Motley Fool website). Also spell checker would be nice addition because after rework of Chowk font size too small for some people. Or why not let us set the size?

I think all writing is constructed by allowing free interplay of forces similar to what work on making a dream. Additionally all writing is somewhat a ``show off`` of a kind. Expression ``Look Ma, No Hands`` was probably coined by (or, to describe) a bicycle riding kid who mastered a cycling technique in which you do not use hand on steering handle. Like Shashank Lele weaved tales full of lies to tell his mother, all writing has the author playing to a gallery. Even though there are no watchful eyes a sense is always there of being scrutinised from something that is internalised and may be you are even not fully conscious of it. Also a writer will be highly unsatisfied if there is no substantial audience. It is like you want to have argument with a person and that person stands up and goes away leaving you in a huff. Such huff a writer also wants to avoid. Hence compromises.

OTOH a movie making is different. There are a lot of people already in it. Lot of money is also involved. After movie making is done and it flops royally, no-one will give job to same director again. This is why they go through testing with a test audience and so on. But writing as well as movie making are comparable because both activities in the end says: ``Look Ma, No Hands``.

SR Sahib,

``....Again, I am thrilled that you found hidden meaning in something that was little more than mindless mumbo jumbo....``

...so you say...but methinks otherwise....

Re: #29 by Saimasha [``...I dont understand what your response to my post was...if its imp., spell it out for me... ``]

This was the paragraph in the response that was addressed to you.

``Thank you for the support and accolades, undeserved and unearned though they were, but for your generosity. Again, I am thrilled that you found hidden meaning in something that was little more than mindless mumbo jumbo. There were a few one=lines there, though, that were meant to carry some weight. Temporal identified one of them. The other was the part about life being difficult when one saw things differently. ``

Unfortunately, your name did not appear (even though I wrote it) and used HTML tags to make it appear in visible bold font.


...SR

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

GZ,
re: ``...Great commentary upon the now rotting cadavers which crawled allover like monsoon-toads, post-Slam-rush`dick...``

Judging from your limp ramblings we can assume that you STILL don`t know what the play Ghosts is about...

Rabbani Sahib,
I dont understand what your response to my post was...if its imp., spell it out for me...

American Express:
Thanks for for the post which I am reproducing below. I am sure many, like myslelf, must have missed it.

Great commentary upon the now rotting cadavers which crawled allover like monsoon-toads, post-Slam-rush`dick.

Monsoon-toadys must be crushed & flattened before they start fancying themselves as englo-royalty.
____________________________________________________________
#11 by AmericanExpress on December 18, 2002 2:36pm PT
Shakespear or Sheikh peer Ali as we called him.
I thought the following article was interesting. Has anyone read it?

http://www.fieldworking.com/library/bohannan.html

``Just before I left Oxford for the Tiv in West Africa, conversation turned to the season at Stratford. ``You Americans,`` said a friend, ``often have difficulty with Shakespeare. He was, after all, a very English poet, and one can easily misinterpret the universal by misunderstanding the particular.``

I protested that human nature is pretty much the same the whole world over; at least the general plot and motivation of the greater tragedies would always be clear--everywhere--although some details of custom might have to be explained and difficulties of translation might produce other slight changes. To end an argument we could not conclude, my friend gave me a copy of Hamlet to study in the African bush: it would, he hoped, lift my mind above its primitive surroundings, and possibly I might, by prolonged meditation, achieve the grace of correct interpretation.

``What is a `ghost?` An omen?``

``No, a `ghost` is someone who is dead but who walks around and can talk, and people can hear him and see him but not touch him.``

They objected. ``One can touch zombis.``

``No, no! It was not a dead body the witches had animated to sacrifice and eat. No one else made Hamlet`s dead father walk. He did it himself.``

``Dead men can`t walk,`` protested my audience as one man.

I was quite willing to compromise. ``A `ghost` is the dead man`s shadow.``

But again they objected. ``Dead men cast no shadows.``

``They do in my country,`` I snapped.`` ``

erratum

in #26 the paragraph after sac and before was addressed to Saminasha but strangely, due to the vagaries of HTML tags, her name disappeared.

...SR

Dear ALL

First, let me assure you that I was not staging a ``disappearing act.`` I am travelling and internet access has not been convenient or cheap. At this time I am in Dubai, and the hotel provides free access so here I am. Only got here last night from Charles De Gaulle, but alas, without my luggage which, it turns out, the blasted frogs sent to Dublin. It will not get here till later toninght. In the mean time I have to re-cycle my underwear after having air-dired them over night.

Twenty five messages, `holy cow... Thanks for taking the time to read my nonsense and for all your comments.

temporal Thank you for the ``official welcome`` my friend. I notice that, as always, you are doing a wonderful job as the head of the Chowk reception committee. :)

Trust you to dredge `hidden meaning` in this frivilous piece. I hadm long ago, started this and then abandoned it as `dead`. Recently, after a hard disc ceash, I had my files retreived and as I was sifting through them, I stumbled upon the unfinished piece (which was originally going in a different direction that I didn`t know what to do with) and in an insomnic haze of a post christmass-party stupour I dispatched it to the Chowk editor. Then I had to take off and didn`t realize it would be up and getting responses while I was bunny hopping around places with unpronouncable names.

Ras Thank you for endorsing my ``other`` writings which, it just so happens, hardly anyone bothers with. The partial purpose of this piece was to get some cheap recognition so that my name is not forever associated with dry and boring stuff that no one takes any interest in. Religion and politics, as I`ve said before, are topics I`ve sworn off -- well, almost. Finance and economics, or science and technology (of which I know next to nothing) are the only remaining areas that are worthwhile to me. And as for humour, well, laughter is the best medicine.

sac You bet I sent the link to ``an ex or two`` as you put it. The answer was COLD SILENCE... Just the way I prefer it :)

Thank you for the support and accolades, undeserved and unearned though they were, but for your generosity. Again, I am thrilled that you found hidden meaning in something that was little more than mindless mumbo jumbo. There were a few one=lines there, though, that were meant to carry some weight. Temporal identified one of them. The other was the part about life being difficult when one saw things differently.

Urstruly First, I commend your sentiment about :Gobble and Engulf International, Inc.`` Did you also know that at the rate Nestle is going, before too long it will almost owns half of Pakistan. These are the modern day counter parts of the East India Company.

About your comments, I have to admit that I did NOT ``...deliberately tried to dumb it down ...`` It just was dumb to begin with. Or perhaps its the author who is the real dumb one.

Einsteinwallah The spirochete is very sensitive to penicillin and therefore not as great a threat. You should have endored Mr. Ghalib Z`s viral threat.

aicha, AmEx, afrasiyab, Tidbit, soldotna and Ghalib Z

Thank you all for taking the trouble to read the piece and provide your inputs. Soem more valuable then others, of course, but then all five fingers are not made equal.

Now one last, unrelated, comment. ``I love Dubai``. Don`t know why everyone is so down on this great city (as seen from the responses in the Dubai is Artificial piece). My experience before and in the last 24 hours is totally different. I have found the service to be very curteous (though a bit inefficient) and everything else is just such a breath of fresh air after the sterile coldness of North America and even Europe. Just an opinion.

Your roving correspondent with dirty underwear,

from Bar Dubai

...SR

PS: This monitor is set for awfully tiny fonts and I am sure to have made a ton of typos. so if inspector temporal will please pardon my errors... I am writing, sorry typing with ``andaaza``..

SR,
you have a knack for entertaining writing but if I may admit,
I prefer your other works thus far on CHOWK. Maybe if Godzilla was added to the scene....

Ras

[ #17 by Urstruly on December 19, 2002 7:34am PT
...
Never forget that a copmpromised art is not art, its business - the show business.]

All authors say: ``Look Ma, No Hands``. It cann`t be that author doesnot have any idea at all who he is writing to and what he is hiding from whom. Obviously somewhere you have to compromise to show intended audience, to encourage them to continue seeing it and not stand up in mid-course and come out of movie hall for good or to pee, and laugh where you wanted them to laugh, titillated where you wanted them to be titillated, shocked where you wanted them to be shocked etc. Also a written work becomes public property. Anyone can buy your book. You cannot say that okay this, this and this classes of paople cannot read my book. Author writes for an audience and no one turns up then what happens?

Also I wanted to direct you all to some material at following link:

http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/academia/sandman_psychoan%61lysis.html

-ew

Sohail:

an official welcome back…understandably with my reli-genetic imperviousness to economics your previous article did not count!…

this was worth the wait…see you were busy fine tuning…

some comments:

---interesting choice of names…specially enjoyed the obtuse tie in of the marquis with the peasant doctor:)…

---if we break therapist…after the third letter…that is what they do… er…become … to the un-suspect’s mind…that is what alycia is to kong and kong to her…and as the writer, you to the reader…(this last tie in is bereft of negative connotation –you’d know…just clarifying for others)

---when i came to this “Now you know how it feels to be powerless and scared,”…felt the whole story hovered around it…and then the blind spots erupted!…am ambivalent for now…could be both in varying degrees…

---the blind spots it must be…and it must be genetic…passed down the generations…the blindness flickering and debilitating…gawd… we see it here so often…king is afflicted with only a minor ailment…the major ones we see here…and disgustingly often…the blindness of misplaced nationalism, Kashmir, india/pakistan, jinnah/gandhi, hindu/muslim, sunni/shia, brahmin/dalit, …this mineisbiggeritis is the mother of all blind spots…but am digressing…back to your story….


---you had me under the spell till the new assistant showed up… felt that you looked at your non-existing watch and thought…let’s warp this up…

---one typo…in the third from last paragraph…coming from a meticulous person like you..this is gunah-e-sagheera…(get ready: 3 laps around the track with kid on your back)

and once that is out of the way, please keep indulging us!

rgds,

..t

SR:

That was very well done. Really enjoyed it. Do forward it on to an ex or two ;)

later
-sac

#17

Some critics variously argue that Frankenstein carried the real humanity of his inventor; that Frankenstein was the feminist who ``knew too much``, that the inventor was really Frankenstein...so there is no actual separation between creator and creation...

And do point out where this story is not well written...

re:``Never forget that a copmpromised art is not art, its business - the show business``

What does that mean?

GZ, Hydra,
Since I neither use nor would know how to access Cliff`s Notes, I found a critical essay on the plot lines of Ghosts. Put on your thinking caps my dried up little friends!


Ghosts: A Microcosm of Human Behavior

By Canova Henderson, Autumn Miller, and Amy Smith
Drama is a form of art in which the artist creates a story concerning people and their conflicts without personally describing, narrating, or explaining what is happening. In many parts of the world, there were ancient rituals that this may have developed from, but Greece is where true drama is believed to have originated. Tragedy was first introduced when Peisistratus reincorporated the festival of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, between 534 and 531 B.C. The festival came to consist of three types of plays: tragedy, a serious play with sad events; satyr, or satire; and comedy, a light-hearted and rather amusing play. Playwrights held competitions for which they would write three tragedies and one comedy. These were then performed and a winner was chosen.
The actual development of plays is somewhat vague. It is known that the earliest tragedies were largely just lyrical dances. Thespis was the first to separate one man from the chorus and create dialogue between the two. Aeschylus reduced the size of the chorus, minimizing its significance and giving greater weight to the actor. He also added a second actor. This greatly enhanced the opportunity for conflict to occur. Sophocles is believed to have developed ``the well-made play`` which was so admired by Aristotle. Euripides responded to demands to be enlightened. With thoughts stemming from Socrates, he returned to Aeschylus with grand choral effects.

The art of tragedy began to flourish. Plays were written and performed in large numbers throughout the fourth century. For a time there was even a school for tragic poets (Encyclopedia Britannica 626-632).

Since the earliest records of drama, man has sought to communicate the follies of his race using this art as a median. Henrik Johan Ibsen`s nineteenth century play Ghosts may be seen as a classic example of a superbly written tragedy portraying behaviors typical of mankind over the ages.

Henrik Johan Ibsen is the father of modern drama. He was born in Skien, Norway on March 20, 1828. He left home at the age of fifteen and moved to Grimstad where he became a druggist`s apprentice. He was exiled completely from respectable society when he fathered an illegitimate child (M Meyer 455).

This did not stop him, however. Ibsen became a medical student at the University of Oslo but quickly drifted into journalism and theater. He was soon appointed playwright, stage manager, and instructor of drama at Bergen National Theater. Six years later, in 1857, Henrik moved back to Oslo to take charge of another theater and stayed there until 1862 (M Meyer 456). Ibsen married Susannah Thoresen in 1858 and she bore him a son, Sigurd, one year later. They moved to Rome where Ibsen became increasingly involved in his work and family and, as a result, had few close friends. It was here that Ghosts was published in 1881.

The family returned to Norway ten years later. Shortly after the age of seventy, Henrik suffered several strokes. He died on May 23, 1906 at the age of seventy-eight. He had written twenty-eight dramas in his lifetime (M Meyer 457).

Henrik Ibsen`s influence on modern drama was both thematic and technical. His way of treating serious subjects drove plays of sentiment off the stage. Henrik`s technique of ``analytic expression`` became an addition to nearly every modern dramatist`s repertoire. His ideal of economical, uncluttered structure ``is not a particular influence on the contemporary playwright, it is the very air he breathes`` (M Meyer 458). Ibsen also contributed double-density dialogue through this play. This is when characters say one thing and mean another. It is very much like ``beating around the bush.`` It helps people say difficult things without stating them directly. Ghosts was also the first great tragedy about middle-class people written in plain prose (M Meyer 490-491).

On November 23, 1881, Henrik Ibsen wrote a letter to Jacob Hegel in which he stated, ``Ghosts will probably cause alarm in some circles; but that can`t be helped. If it didn`t there would have been no necessity for me to have written it`` (M Meyer 482).

The play was published in December of the same year. Unfortunately, Ghosts did not sell as well as was expected. People did not want it in their family libraries because of its content (M Meyer 483).

Ghosts is the story of a woman, Mrs. Alving, who leaves her husband but is persuaded by Pastor Manders, whom she loves, to return home to a man who cheats on her. Captain Alving has an affair with the maid and they produce a child, Regina. His wife bears a son, Oswald, who turns out to have inherited his father`s syphilis. Oswald is sent to boarding school at a very young age in hopes that he will not learn the truth about his father and maintain respect for both parents. However, when he returns from Paris, he has no love or respect for his mother, for he has never known her, and wishes to marry Regina, ignorant of the fact that she is truly Alving`s daughter. Mrs. Alving has built an orphanage to honor her dead husband. Yet, when it burns, the money ends up being used for a brothel which is to be called, most fittingly, Captain Alving`s Home. The past is finally brought to light at the conclusion but this does not ease the widow`s pain. She is still haunted by ``ghosts`` and her own indecisiveness.

This play attacked some of the most sacred principles of the age. It attacked the sanctity of marriage and the duty of a son to honor his father. It referred to venereal disease and defended free love. It also suggested that, under certain circumstances, incest may be justifiable. People did not want to buy or perform the play because it was, as Ludvig Josephson said, ``one of the filthiest things ever written.`` It was ``a repulsive pathological Ghosts 5 phenomenon which, by undermining the morality of our social order, threatens its very foundations`` according to Erik Bogh (M Meyer 484).

In 1882, Ibsen said, ``The play is not concerned with advocating anything. It merely points to the fact that nihilism is fermenting beneath the surface of Norway as everywhere else. A Pastor Manders will always incite some Mrs. Alving into being. And she, simply because she is a woman, will, once she has started, go to the ultimate extreme`` (M Meyer 486).

The world premiere of Ghosts was in Chicago on May 20, 1882 at Aurora Turner Hall with Helga von Bluhme playing Mrs. Alving. This is the first record of any Ibsen play being performed in the United States (M Meyer 487).

Ibsen`s contemporaries saw Ghosts as a play about physical illness and failed to see what it is really about. The play is truly about the ``devitalizing effect of a dumb acceptance of convention.`` It stressed the importance of waging war against the past, the need for each individual to find freedom, and the danger of renouncing love in the name of duty. It attacked the hollowness of great reputations, provincialism of outlook, the narrow and inhibiting effect of small-town life, the suppression of individual freedom from within as well as from the outside world, and the neglect of the significance of heredity (M Meyer 488). In fact, Oswald`s very illness could be a symbol of the dead customs and traditions which cripple us and lay waste to our lives (M Meyer 490).

There have been questions concerning the play`s authenticity as a tragedy. True tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, should be complete within itself. It should have unity of place, time, and manner. It should also inspire intense feelings of pity for the tragic hero and fear that their experiences may someday be your own. Henrik Ibsen`s Ghosts has these qualities. ``[It] has been described by many critics... as the most classically constructed of Ibsen`s plays, not merely in its obedience to the Aristotelian unities but in the economy of its construction`` (M Meyer 490).

One can safely say that there is unity in the play Ghosts. All three acts occur in Mrs. Alving`s house. Five people come to this house as a part of a closed society. ``Ibsen has cornered them in a situation in which the self is inexplorably brought to trial and convicted of bungling its past`` (H Meyer 57). The play takes place between one morning and the next, concentrated to a period of twenty-four hours. Through the night, the characters confess, deny, and defend until everything unravels and the truth can be seen. The morning breaks and, as the sun rises, the horrid truth is unveiled (H Meyer 57-58). Everything about the play leads up to a moment of truth at the conclusion. Every aspect of the plot and the actions and words of the characters focuses on achieving this end. ``Each act reflects in miniature the inner form of the play, whose basic purpose is to get at the truth`` (H Meyer 57).

All the characters in Ghosts are seeking some social or material advantage. Engstrand, Regina`s ``father,`` wants money, the Pastor would like respectability, and Mrs. Alving is searching for her true human condition. ``She tests everything... in the light of her extremely strict if unsophisticated moral sensibility: by direct perception and not by ideas at all... she is tragically seeking.`` Many critics notice a link between Mrs. Alving and the character Oedipus of Oedipus Rex. Both are searching for the truth about themselves and, when this is found and their past is revealed, it brings them to ruin (Fergusson 41). Mrs. Alving is haunted by her husband`s reckless past as she sees it relived through her son and maid. In the end, she faces the past, finds truth, and watches as her world crashes down around her.

One may find that Oswald was not actually Alving`s son. The possibility that he was Pastor Manders` son is quite likely. Early in the play, the pastor reminds Mrs. Alving of the time she ran away from her husband and sought refuge with him. He states, ``I dissuaded you from your wild designs`` (Ibsen 249). Throughout the play, the widow seems to be defensive about her son`s heredity. Such safeguarding could be denial of a past affair between herself and Manders which very well could have produced Oswald. One may recall a scene where Manders remarks in reference to Oswald, ``But there`s an expression about the corners of his mouth...something about the lips that reminds one exactly of Alving...`` and Mrs. Alving refutes, ``Not in the least. Oswald has rather a clerical curve about his mouth, I think`` (Ibsen 245). This scene may hint that Manders is trying to find something within Oswald that resembles the captain rather than himself, and Mrs. Alving tells him that if he is to resemble his father, he must resemble Manders. More evidence to support this theory is the time at which Oswald went to boarding school. He was sent away at the age of seven; this was to shelter him from the slanderous facts of his family history and keep people from noticing his resemblance to Manders (Ibsen 252). One may ask about the section where Oswald explains his disease as one he contracted through the sins of his father (Ibsen 267). This may be explained by his lack of moral training. Since he never really lived with his family, proper values were not instilled in him. Through this interpretation, one may gather that Ibsen is trying to suggest that lack of ethics and sexual misconduct, and the abortion of duty can only lead to sticky situations.

There are many symbols present throughout Ibsen`s work. The first is rain. Outside of Mrs. Alving`s home it remains stormy until the truth is faced and the sun begins to rise on a cloudless new day. In Ghosts, rain is used as a symbol of the cleansing of evil and impurities. It washes away the facades so that the truth may be seen and the ``ghosts`` may be finally put to rest. When this takes place the sun, another symbol, rises, revealing reality. Mrs. Alving said, ``And then we are, one and all, so pitifully afraid of the light`` (Ibsen 258). All the characters are afraid to face reality, especially Mrs. Alving who, upon seeing the detrimental effects of Oswald`s illness, cries ``I can`t bear it; I can`t bear it! Never!`` (Ibsen 285)

Fire is yet another symbol Ibsen uses. When Oswald comes downstairs with Alving`s pipe, he recalls an incident when he was given the pipe in his youth. Young Oswald smoked until he became sick. This is a foreshadowing of his illness, another sickness caused by careless actions (Ibsen 245). Another time when fire is seen is when the orphanage, built in honor of Alving, is burned (Ibsen 273). The truth, like the fire, is rising quickly, devouring the illusions. When it has extinguished, the fantasy world has gone up in smoke and all that remains are the painful ashes of the past.

Engstrand is also a symbol. He represents society as a whole. He has a crippled leg and yet says about his ethics, he has ``two good legs to stand on`` (Ibsen 262). Society is very much like this. It seems to be solid and stable but has weak foundations. It will never completely heal or lose its flaws. Oswald could be interpreted as a major symbol in the play. ``[Mrs. Alving] makes him the symbol of all she is seeking: freedom, innocence, joy, and truth`` (Fergusson 41). Oswald is ignorant of the truth, giving him a false sense of innocence. He seems to have some power to stand up for his own beliefs, something his mother lacks. She, as a wife and mother, is given Ghosts 10 the duty to uphold the moral structure of the home. However, ``Oswald is of course not only a symbol for his mother, but a person in his own right, with his own quest for freedom and release... Oswald is the hidden reality of the whole situation`` (Fergusson 41). His illness remains hidden in its origins along with his past, but within him lies the truth.

The orphanage and Captain Alving`s Home, a brothel, are both subtle symbols. The orphanage represents the illusion Mrs. Alving has created while the brothel is the reality of her husband`s life. In the end the truth is made known, the orphanage burned, and the brothel takes it place. This coincides with the awakening from illusion to reality.

Michael Meyer states, ``Ghosts has been described as the most classically constructed of Ibsen`s plays, not only for its coherence to Aristotle`s definition, but in the economy of its design.`` This is not exactly true. Manders is given quite a lot of superfluous dialogue. Some say he represents one of the very few examples of Ibsen allowing his personal feelings to get out of hand so much that it unbalances his composition. On the other hand, the author`s adherence to the Aristotelian aspects of tragedy greatly overshadows this discrepancy.

Aristotle defined a tragedy as a work uniform in time and place that is also highly realistic. Ghosts fits this definition. All scenes take place in the garden room. This satisfies the requirement of unity of place. In addition, all catalystic action occurs in this room. The play`s time span is about one day. It is just long enough for Oswald to come home, tell of his ailment and his plans to marry Regina, and learn the truth about his father. If this really happened, it would take approximately the same amount of time used in the play. The reality factor is also very prevalent. The scenario could happen. A woman leaves her promiscuous husband, and, at the persuasion of the pastor (whom she is in love with), ends up returning to the loveless humiliating marriage and helping to keep her husband`s reputation sparkling clean. It is also possible for a child to contract venereal diseases from his or her parents. The reality factor helps to put pity and fear into the audience, thus fulfilling another qualification of tragedy.

Of course, the most important criteria of a tragedy has yet to be discussed, the tragic flaw. Indecision appears to be the ultimate downfall of the tragic hero, Mrs. Alving. The first indication of this can be found in the opening act of Ghosts. Here, Pastor Manders and she try to decide if the orphanage should be insured. The Pastor argues that, since the orphanage is ``to a higher purpose,`` it would be scandalous to do so. Such a thing would send out a message that God could not be completely trusted. Mrs. Alving is torn but eventually gives in to the preacher`s wishes saying, ``No. We`ll leave it alone`` (Ibsen 242). As a result of this, when the orphanage burns to the ground it is unable to be rebuilt.

Even at the very end of the play, this hero cannot decide whether she should put Oswald out of his misery by giving him poison as he has requested or let him suffer through his last days in agony.

Mrs. Alving has another small fault. Her sense of duty stops her from doing what she feels is best. This is what returned her to her husband. This is what caused her to cover up his affair and illegitimate child.

The style of Ghosts is very simple. It is written in everyday prose, making it easy for nearly all to understand. The characters are ordinary, middle-class citizens. However, Ibsen uses much double-density dialogue, enhancing the style of his work. Manders and Mrs. Alving spend much of their time circling around issues they refuse to deal with directly. This literary device makes the play more realistic due to the fact that people tend to dodge embarrassing topics.

Henrik Ibsen`s Ghosts is a microcosm of human behavior. The scenario presented could occur, in his nineteenth century society or our twentieth century one. The characters are realistic. They can all be found in any town or family. We all know of a Mrs. Alving, the woman devoted to her family and concerned about their image; an Oswald, the detached son; and a Pastor Manders, a ``holy`` man hiding the truth. Ibsen has done a wonderful job of creating a miniature universe.

AN APPEAL FOR A BOYCOTT.

Dear People,

In the name of humanity and in the name of good conscience I would like to appeal to you to boycott Nestle products from now on. The multinational coffee corporation, Nestle, is demanding a $6m (£3.7m) payment from the government of the world`s poorest state, Ethiopia, as the country struggles to combat its worst famine for nearly 20 years.
The money is compensation for an Ethiopian business, which the previous military government nationalised in 1975. It could feed a million people for a month, according to Oxfam.

Dear People,

Let us not forget that humanity is starving in Africa for no other reason but ruthless loot and plunder of Europeans. People there suffer civil wars, death, hunger, torture, only because Europeans have and still are playing games and looting gold, diamonds and other natural resources without impunity. Let us also not forget the centuries of slavery, prejudice, and apartheid that Europeans have subjected Africans to. And now they have balls to ask for compensation? Only one who should be paying compensation here is the Europeans to the Africans for they are the one who committed crimes against humanity and inflicted inhuman indignity to the Africans.

Dear people!

Just imagine your children and loved ones in place of starving Africans. If you care for humanity; if you care for dignity of a human being you must boycott these capitalist corporate thugs.

Dear people.

Please keep in mind that Nestle is not the only one but 40 other multinational vultures are also hovering above the dying Africans.

Say No to Nestle. Say no to Capitalist Corporate Vultures

http://www.guardian.co.uk/famine/story/0,12128,862655,00.html