□ In a group
talk about the child labour situation in Bangladesh. You must have seen
children as young as 7 or 8 working in households, shops, rickshaw or motor
garages and in a number of other professions. Do you think they can exercise
any of their rights?
□ How do
employers treat child labourers? What human rights do the employers violate?
□ Write a
page on the plight of street children in our cities.
2. Now read
this poem and see what happens to a young boy who was doing a man's work. The
boy was working alone sawing wood in a yard in rural New England. There were no
adequate protections for him, and the inevitable happened towards sunset one
day when his sister announced the time for supper.
The poem has
been written by the American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963), who is known for
his poems-mostly set in New England, in the North-Eastern part of USA - which
depict the social realities and the philosophical concerns of his time.
'Out, Out-'
by Robert Frost
The buzz saw
snarled and rattled in the yard
And made
dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented
stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from
there those that lifted eyes could count
Five
mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the
sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw
snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran
light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing
happened: day was all but done.
Call it a
day, I wish they might have said
To please
the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy
counts so much when saved from work.
His sister
stood beside him in her apron
To tell them
'Supper.' At the word, the saw,
As if to
prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out
at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap
He must have
given the hand. However it was,
Neither
refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy's
first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung
toward them holding up the hand
Half in
appeal, but half as if to keep
The life
from spilling. Then the boy saw all
Since he was
old enough to know, big boy
Doing a
man's work, though a child at heart
He saw all
spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off
The doctor,
when he comes. Don't let him, sister!"
So. But the
hand was gone already.
The doctor
put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and
puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then-the
watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed.
They listened at his heart.
Little -
less - nothing! - and that ended it.
No more to
build on there. And they, since they
Were not the
one dead, turned to their affairs.
3. What
happens to the boy at the end? Why?
4. What does
the poet mean when he says "And they, since they/ Were not the one dead,
turned to their affairs?" Who are 'they'?
5. What
attitude of society to the tragic incident is reflected in the last two lines
of the poem?
6. Poets use
irony as a literary technique to convey a meaning or attitude which
differs from
or is opposed to the literal meaning. Find out how Frost employs irony in lines
14-18, and to what effect.
7. Is there
any significance in the way Frost arranges the background landscape
in the poem,
particularly the five mountain ranges?
8. Where is
the poem set? Who are at work and what kind of work do they do?
9. What is
the role of the boy's sister in the poem?
10. What
poetic effect do the words "Little - less - nothing!" produce?
11. What
effect does the repetition of the line "snarled and rattled, snarled and
rattled" produce?
12. Find out
the meanings of the following words:
a. buzz-saw
b. snarl
c. rattle
d. apron
e. spill
f. plight
13. Do you
think the boy should have been allowed to do the dangerous work? Who is
responsible for his death? Which of his rights have been violated?
If you want read the next unit please click the link below:
Unit Eight: Environment and Nature
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