Class 12 English — Chapter 21: Broken Images

Students should understand the public image Manjula projects during her television address. This includes her confidence, her witty retorts to criticism, her emotional dedication of the book to her sister, and her gratitude towards her husband and the TV channel.

Analyze the central conflict Manjula addresses: the criticism from the Kannada literary community for writing a novel in English. Students should understand the accusations of 'betrayal,' writing for a Western audience, and the perceived dishonesty of writing in English.

Understand the arguments surrounding the financial motivations for writing. This includes Manjula's defense of writing for money ('Why not?'), the jealousy it causes among peers, and the connection she draws between 'Artha' (meaning) and 'Artha' (money).

Explain the source of Manjula's novel, 'The River Has No Memories'. Students should understand the story of her physically challenged sister, Malini, and how Manjula claims to have used her experience nursing Malini to empathetically write the book.

Analyze the dramatic twist where Manjula's own image on the television screen remains and speaks to her after the broadcast. This represents an alter ego or conscience, setting up the central conflict of the play: Manjula versus herself.

Understand the background of the playwright, Girish Karnad, and how his common themes, such as using history and mythology to explore contemporary issues and his own bilingualism, are reflected in 'Broken Images'.

Analyze the significance of the play's title and the epigraph from T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'. Students should connect this to Manjula's potentially fractured identity, her public vs. private self, and the conflict between her Kannada roots and English success.

Understand the significance of the play's setting in a modern, technologically advanced television studio. This includes the use of the plasma screen, the lapel mike, and how this modern, spartan setting isolates the character and facilitates the confrontation with her own image.