The Fugitive, by John Galsworthy.

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The Fugitive, by John Galsworthy. 

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Here again Galsworthy goes into the theme of marital incompatibility that he began Forsyte Saga with, where stolid and prosaic has married sensitive without the former understanding the forthcoming disaster. 

Here, unlike in Forsyte Saga, the latter had no clue, either. But in Forsyte Saga, having a premonition and hesitation, leading to putting conditions asking for freedom if it didn't work, didn't work for Irene as she'd hoped, either - her then husband simply insisted on his rights, refused separation and even refused to respect separate rooms, and the wife had no legal or physical recourse if she had no financial independence. 

As in the previous play in the Complete Works of John Galsworthy, the tragic end here hurts deeply, the turn impressing on one just how inexorably helpless an innocent was rendered by the grinding of wheels that chose to go over anyone who stepped out of chains. 

And yet, this social setup wasn't about morals, as evident by the goings on in upper castes right up to the royals, from at least Henry VIII onwards till date - and especially during the times this play was written, as evident from history of the era, and exposed in at least Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw. 

So the victimisation of women took place when they chose to go against the supposed morality by demanding a separation from a husband, but only if they did so without first ensuring a more powerful protector of sorts, whether a blood relative or another lover. 

It's not that different from the setup depicted in the autobiographical work of Tehmina Durrani, at that. 

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"TWISDEN. Yes! Mrs. Dedmond! There's the bedrock difficulty. As you haven't money, you should never have been pretty. You're up against the world, and you'll get no mercy from it. We lawyers see too much of that. I'm putting it brutally, as a man of the world. 

"CLARE. Thank you. Do you think you quite grasp the alternative? 

"TWISDEN. [Taken aback] But, my dear young lady, there are two sides to every contract. After all, your husband's fulfilled his."

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"MALISE. [Twisting the card] Let there be no mistake, sir; I do nothing that will help give her back to her husband. She's out to save her soul alive, and I don't join the hue and cry that's after her. On the contrary—if I had the power. If your father wants to shelter her, that's another matter. But she'd her own ideas about that. 

"HUNTINGDON. Perhaps you don't realize how unfit my sister is for rough and tumble. She's not one of this new sort of woman. She's always been looked after, and had things done for her. Pluck she's got, but that's all, and she's bound to come to grief. 

"MALISE. Very likely—the first birds do. But if she drops half-way it's better than if she'd never flown. Your sister, sir, is trying the wings of her spirit, out of the old slave market. For women as for men, there's more than one kind of dishonour, Captain Huntingdon, and worse things than being dead, as you may know in your profession."

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"MALISE. Had a very bad time? 

"CLARE. [Nodding] I'm spoilt. It's a curse to be a lady when you have to earn your living. It's not really been so hard, I suppose; I've been selling things, and living about twice as well as most shop girls."

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Prevalent social atmosphere forced a change to the wordings of the play, one supposes! 

"CLARE. [Hardly above a whisper] Because—if you still wanted me— I do—now. 

"[Etext editors note: In the 1924 revision, 11 years after this 1913 edition: "I do—now" is changed to "I could—now"— a significant change in meaning. D.W.]"

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June 07, 2021 - June 08, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 101 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published February 1913) 

ASIN:- B0084B3S4W

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Plays: Second Series: The Eldest Son, the Little Dream, Justice; by John Galsworthy.

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Plays: Second Series: 

The Eldest Son 

The Little Dream 

Justice 

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The Eldest Son, by John Galsworthy. 

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This play in its theme is similar to another one, The Silver Box, by Galsworthy, in that there are two young men across caste lines whose crime is same, but result different due to status; the difference in the two plays is the nature of the crime, and every other circumstance and more. 

Here it's not about theft, but about marriage, or rather, refusal or inability to marry even when there's a baby coming, and how society looks at such conduct. The latter, while it should be, is far from independent of the social caste of the couple, and that's mostly the point. 

Galsworthy has solved it a tad close to convenient but attempting to save some grace, by the angry father of the girl giving her courage through his pride, to refuse the young master's "offer of marriage", which the young boy has made not only firmly but stuck to despite his almost whole family attempting to dissuade him; nevertheless, one has to wonder why the lot weren't amenable to the young boy's scheme of marrying and relocating to Canada, why they thought it was tragic, why they thought the marriage must fail. In the social setup of rigid castes in England or Britain, they could be predicting correctly; but in say, California, it wouldn't have mattered. Or even in the snobbish Southrn society, where the girl would be considered more of a lady than in Britain, while his antecedents would be serving him better than his ability to earn, the latter unproved as long as he lived in Britain. 

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June 04, 2021 - June 05, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 68 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published September 1st 1964) 

Original Title

The Eldest Son: A Domestic Drama in Three Acts 

ASIN:- B0084B3L1C

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The Little Dream, by John Galsworthy. 

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A charming play, not only reminding one of alpine air and snow clad peaks, wildflowers and streams, clear air much more. 

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May 26, 2021 - May 26, 2021.

Purchased August 12, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 31 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published September 26th 2004) 

ASIN:- B0084B3RZC

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Justice, by John Galsworthy. 

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Calder, a new junior clerk in the How law office, has changed a cheque from nine pounds to ninety pounds, expecting it to be blamed on the clerk he'd replaced, who's migrated to Australia. He's caught squarely because the cheque book was in pocket of How junior who was out of town, and the change from nine to ninety pounds was recorded on the stub as well, so the person who migrated coukdnt hsve done it. 

But the day he was caught was the night he expected to get out of town with Ruth Honeywell and her children, trying to save her from her abusive husband who's threatened to slit her throat. 

Galsworthy has a defence lawyer pleading, apart from circumstances, a weak character for the poòr young man; which makes one wonder. Would they portray him as a weak character in the rough West if, under same circumstances, he stole the money, to help the woman he loved so she could flee with him and escape the murderous husband? Or would he be seen as a hero, even, to be helped further by a stronger hero? 

Perhaps Galsworthy said it in a nutshell through the defence lawyer who says:- 

" ... Gentlemen, Justice is a machine that, when some one has once given it the starting push, rolls on of itself. Is this young man to be ground to pieces under this machine for an act which at the worst was one of weakness? Is he to become a member of the luckless crews that man those dark, ill-starred ships called prisons? ... "

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June 05, 2021 - June 07, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 97 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published 1910) 

Original Title Justice 

ASIN:- B0084B3U6I

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May 26, 2021 - June 07, 2021. 

Purchased June 08, 2021. 

Kindle Edition, 196 pages 

Published March 24th 2011 

(first published July 17th 2006) 

ASIN:- B004TP12PY

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Justice, by John Galsworthy.

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Justice, by John Galsworthy. 

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Calder, a new junior clerk in the How law office, has changed a cheque from nine pounds to ninety pounds, expecting it to be blamed on the clerk he'd replaced, who's migrated to Australia. He's caught squarely because the cheque book was in pocket of How junior who was out of town, and the change from nine to ninety pounds was recorded on the stub as well, so the person who migrated coukdnt hsve done it. 

But the day he was caught was the night he expected to get out of town with Ruth Honeywell and her children, trying to save her from her abusive husband who's threatened to slit her throat. 

Galsworthy has a defence lawyer pleading, apart from circumstances, a weak character for the poòr young man; which makes one wonder. Would they portray him as a weak character in the rough West if, under same circumstances, he stole the money, to help the woman he loved so she could flee with him and escape the murderous husband? Or would he be seen as a hero, even, to be helped further by a stronger hero? 

Perhaps Galsworthy said it in a nutshell through the defence lawyer who says:- 

" ... Gentlemen, Justice is a machine that, when some one has once given it the starting push, rolls on of itself. Is this young man to be ground to pieces under this machine for an act which at the worst was one of weakness? Is he to become a member of the luckless crews that man those dark, ill-starred ships called prisons? ... "

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June 05, 2021 - June 07, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 97 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published 1910) 

Original Title Justice 

ASIN:- B0084B3U6I

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The Eldest Son, by John Galsworthy.

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The Eldest Son, by John Galsworthy. 

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This play in its theme is similar to another one, The Silver Box, by Galsworthy, in that there are two young men across caste lines whose crime is same, but result different due to status; the difference in the two plays is the nature of the crime, and every other circumstance and more. 

Here it's not about theft, but about marriage, or rather, refusal or inability to marry even when there's a baby coming, and how society looks at such conduct. The latter, while it should be, is far from independent of the social caste of the couple, and that's mostly the point. 

Galsworthy has solved it a tad close to convenient but attempting to save some grace, by the angry father of the girl giving her courage through his pride, to refuse the young master's "offer of marriage", which the young boy has made not only firmly but stuck to despite his almost whole family attempting to dissuade him; nevertheless, one has to wonder why the lot weren't amenable to the young boy's scheme of marrying and relocating to Canada, why they thought it was tragic, why they thought the marriage must fail. In the social setup of rigid castes in England or Britain, they could be predicting correctly; but in say, California, it wouldn't have mattered. Or even in the snobbish Southrn society, where the girl would be considered more of a lady than in Britain, while his antecedents would be serving him better than his ability to earn, the latter unproved as long as he lived in Britain. 

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June 04, 2021 - June 05, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 68 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published September 1st 1964) 

Original Title

The Eldest Son: A Domestic Drama in Three Acts 

ASIN:- B0084B3L1C

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Gopya (गोप्या) (Marathi), by साने गुरुजी (Sane Guruji).

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Gopya (गोप्या) (Marathi), by साने गुरुजी (Sane Guruji). 

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Farmers, poverty, British rule, congress, Gandhi, August 1942 uprising of India, British brutal suppression and massacres suffered by people. Those are, in short, topics dealt with in this book. 

Apart from the heart rending depictions of sufferings of poor farmers, and of the British brutal suppression they suffered, one of the chief values of the book is the succinct description of the August 1942 people's uprising in India, when call was given by Gandhi. 

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Main detail in need of correction, on the Amazon goodreads page, is that the language of the book is Marathi, NOT English. 

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June 03, 2021 - June 04, 2021. 

Purchased February 13, 2021. 

Kindle Edition, 125 pages 

Published by Public Domain Books 

ASIN:- B01M3Z2R4U

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PLAYS - FIRST SERIES: THE SILVER BOX / JOY / STRIFE; by John Galsworthy.

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PLAYS - FIRST SERIES: 

THE SILVER BOX 

JOY 

STRIFE

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Theme of this first series, in first and last of the plays, seems to be depiction of how justice is skewed by prevalent caste systems of the ambient society, whether feudal or related to financial status in other ways, gender, and more. 

The middle one is more complex, along the lines developed in first part of the Forsyte Saga. 

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THE SILVER BOX 

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The Silver Box, by John Galsworthy. 

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Abusive husbands are horrible enough without added trials and travails their wives must face when they make a scene and make the wife lose face socially; but when such a man steals from home of his wife's employer, and suspicion falls on her, because people are unaware he was there, it's much too much. 

Galsworthy pairs the offenders across castes - Jones stole from young Barthwick after the latter had snatched a young woman's reticule, and latter has to face his father when the woman comes for her money, even as Mrs Jones is suspected of the theft her husband committed. 

And, as if her travails weren't enough, Barthwick senior the employer opines Mrs Jones ought not consider leaving her husband, despite being abused physically. To him, that would be immoral of her!  He claims being liberal, but only wishes to avoid prosecuting Jones when chances are his son would be implicated! 

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And if these injustices weren't enough, there are the lives children on street because their mother abandoned the family, the father being out of work. 

"BARTHWICK. [Speaking behind his hand.] A painful case, Roper; very distressing state of things. 

"ROPER. Hundreds like this in the Police Courts."

Galsworthy must have seen such circumstances around commonly, as must everyone of the era; few wrote about it. Most were busy singing paens of glory of the empire that looted India while millions starved to death there. 

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Jones catches young Barthwick out. 

"JONES. May I ask the gentleman a question? 

"MAGISTRATE. Yes—yes—you may ask him what questions you like. 

"JONES. Don't you remember you said you was a Liberal, same as your father, and you asked me wot I was? 

"JACK. [With his hand against his brow.] I seem to remember—— 

"JONES. And I said to you, "I'm a bloomin' Conservative," I said; an' you said to me, "You look more like one of these 'ere Socialists. Take wotever you like," you said."

But when Jones refers to Jack stealing the woman's reticule, which is brought out by the court officials, he's hushed. 

"JONES. [Stopping and twisting round.] Call this justice? What about 'im? 'E got drunk! 'E took the purse—'e took the purse but [in a muffled shout] it's 'is money got 'im off—JUSTICE!"

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And, Jack having gone scot free while Jones is imprisoned, Barthwick is too short of courage to do justice even to Mrs Jones and her children.  

"[The Court is in a stir. ROPER gets up and speaks to the reporter. JACK, throwing up his head, walks with a swagger to the corridor; BARTHWICK follows.] 

"MRS. JONES. [Turning to him zenith a humble gesture.] Oh! sir! 

"[BARTHWICK hesitates, then yielding to his nerves, he makes a shame-faced gesture of refusal, and hurries out of court. MRS. JONES stands looking after him.]"

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June 03, 2021 - June 04, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 121 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published 1911) 

ASIN:- B0084B3H16

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JOY 

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Joy, by John Galsworthy. 

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Here Galsworthy is close to the very first book in his Forsyte Saga and of Forsyte Chronicles, and in the last one of Forsyte Chronicles, with the exception that the young woman involved is the daughter, Joy, of the married woman here, instead of the niece by marriage that she was in first book of Forsyte Saga - Forsyte Chronicles; in the last one of Forsyte Chronicles, Galsworthy made it simpler with no younger woman involved in the situation. 

Joy is slightly more fortunate in being loved, unlike the niece June in Forsyte Saga - Forsyte Chronicles, who lost her fiance to her aunt, and remained single. 

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"DICK. But it does. The thing is to look at it as if it was n't yourself. If it had been you and me in love, Joy, and it was wrong, like them, of course [ruefully] I know you'd have decided right. [Fiercely.] But I swear I should have decided wrong. [Triumphantly.] That 's why I feel I understand your Mother."

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"JOY. [In a whisper.] Dick, is love always like this? 

"DICK. [Putting his arms around her, with conviction.] It's never been like this before. It's you and me!"

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June 04, 2021 - June 04, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 92 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published June 1st 2004) 

Original Title:- Joy 

ASIN:- B0084B3PUE

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Strife, by John Galsworthy. 

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The play, published in 1909, begins with a discussion amongst management about strikes, and the conversation begins by one asking for a screen for the fire, which, another points out, the strikers wouldn't need. Galsworthy might have written thus with experience of both worlds, in an era when industrial world was beginning to deal with labour consciousness about rights on the rise, at least right to survival. 

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"Wasn't the work o' my brains bought for seven hundred pounds, and has n't one hundred thousand pounds been gained them by that seven hundred without the stirring of a finger. It is a thing that will take as much and give you as little as it can. That's Capital! A thing that will say—"I'm very sorry for you, poor fellows—you have a cruel time of it, I know," but will not give one sixpence of its dividends to help you have a better time. That's Capital! ... I looked into his eyes and I saw he was afraid—afraid for himself and his dividends; afraid for his fees, afraid of the very shareholders he stands for; and all but one of them's afraid—like children that get into a wood at night, and start at every rustle of the leaves. I ask you, men—[he pauses, holding out his hand till there is utter silence]—give me a free hand to tell them: "Go you back to London. The men have nothing for you!" [A murmuring.] Give me that, an' I swear to you, within a week you shall have from London all you want."

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"There is only one way of treating "men"—with the iron hand. This half and half business, the half and half manners of this generation, has brought all this upon us. Sentiment and softness, and what this young man, no doubt, would call his social policy. You can't eat cake and have it! This middle-class sentiment, or socialism, or whatever it may be, is rotten. Masters are masters, men are men! Yield one demand, and they will make it six. They are [he smiles grimly] like Oliver Twist, asking for more. If I were in their place I should be the same. But I am not in their place. Mark my words: one fine morning, when you have given way here, and given way there—you will find you have parted with the ground beneath your feet, and are deep in the bog of bankruptcy; and with you, floundering in that bog, will be the very men you have given way to."

"A woman has died. I am told that her blood is on my hands; I am told that on my hands is the starvation and the suffering of other women and of children. 

"EDGAR. I said "on our hands," sir. 

"ANTHONY. It is the same. [His voice grows stronger and stronger, his feeling is more and more made manifest.] I am not aware that if my adversary suffer in a fair fight not sought by me, it is my fault. If I fall under his feet—as fall I may—I shall not complain. That will be my look-out—and this is—his. I cannot separate, as I would, these men from their women and children. A fair fight is a fair fight! Let them learn to think before they pick a quarrel!"

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"SCANTLEBURY. [Behind his hand to TENCH.] Look after the Chairman! He's not well; he's not well—he had no lunch. If there's any fund started for the women and children, put me down for—for twenty pounds."

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"ROBERTS. Then you're no longer Chairman of this Company! [Breaking into half-mad laughter.] Ah! ha-ah, ha, ha! They've thrown ye over thrown over their Chairman: Ah-ha-ha! [With a sudden dreadful calm.] So—they've done us both down, Mr. Anthony? 

"[ENID, hurrying through the double-doors, comes quickly to her father.]  

"ANTHONY. Both broken men, my friend Roberts!"

"[ANTHONY rises with an effort. He turns to ROBERTS who looks at him. They stand several seconds, gazing at each other fixedly; ANTHONY lifts his hand, as though to salute, but lets it fall. The expression of ROBERTS'S face changes from hostility to wonder. They bend their heads in token of respect. ANTHONY turns, and slowly walks towards the curtained door. Suddenly he sways as though about to fall, recovers himself, and is assisted out by EDGAR and ENID; UNDERWOOD follows, but stops at the door. ROBERTS remains motionless for several seconds, staring intently after ANTHONY, then goes out into the hall.]"

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May 24, 2021 - May 26, 2021.

Purchased August 12, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 84 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published 1909)

ASIN:- B0084B3MXO

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May 24, 2021 - May 26, 2021.

June 03, 2021 - June 04, 2021. 

June 04, 2021 - June 04, 2021. 

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Joy, by John Galsworthy.

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Joy, by John Galsworthy. 

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Here Galsworthy is close to the very first book in his Forsyte Saga and of Forsyte Chronicles, and in the last one of Forsyte Chronicles, with the exception that the young woman involved is the daughter, Joy, of the married woman here, instead of the niece by marriage that she was in first book of Forsyte Saga - Forsyte Chronicles; in the last one of Forsyte Chronicles, Galsworthy made it simpler with no younger woman involved in the situation. 

Joy is slightly more fortunate in being loved, unlike the niece June in Forsyte Saga - Forsyte Chronicles, who lost her fiance to her aunt, and remained single. 

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"DICK. But it does. The thing is to look at it as if it was n't yourself. If it had been you and me in love, Joy, and it was wrong, like them, of course [ruefully] I know you'd have decided right. [Fiercely.] But I swear I should have decided wrong. [Triumphantly.] That 's why I feel I understand your Mother."

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"JOY. [In a whisper.] Dick, is love always like this? 

"DICK. [Putting his arms around her, with conviction.] It's never been like this before. It's you and me!"

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June 04, 2021 - June 04, 2021. 

Purchased June 14, 2013. 

Kindle Edition, 92 pages 

Published May 17th 2012 

(first published June 1st 2004) 

Original Title:- Joy 

ASIN:- B0084B3PUE

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