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What I Require from Life by John Burdon Sanderson Haldane
Table of Contents
ABOUT THIS ESSAY
This personal essay, "What I Require From Life," has been written by British-Indian scientist John Burdon Sanderson Haldane. This essay was initially published in a newspaper named "The Daily Worker" in the year 1940. This essay has included various political and philosophical views related to the requirements of people's lives. It has mainly focused on socialistic convictions demanding democratic activities in workplaces. This essay has presented the various needs of working-class people who are living their lives in different circumstances and working to survive properly. In this essay, the writer has used very simple and lucid language in his writing style to discuss his requirements and experiences in life. His requirements in life resemble the requirements of most of the working-class people in the world.
MAIN SUMMARY
The writer starts with his opinions related to his acceptance of the concept of the world as it is. According to him, he must not require the impossible things in his life. He says that if he tries to imagine perfect beings in a perfect world, he will do harm rather than good for others.
According to the writer, he was born at a peaceful age. During his youth, he desired to live his life peacefully, but due to the outbreak of devastating World War I during 1914, he involved himself in his heroic age. The devastating events of World War I changed his concept of living peacefully. In the critical situation in which he was living, he desired to make the most of his time by meeting his basic needs of food, water, clothes, and shelter.
In this essay, the writer has talked about four general human needs that are quite important. These four general needs, which the writer and others require, are as follows:
1. Work
The writer requires work with a decent salary. Work is very important for all. He thinks himself fortunate to have chosen his desirable work to a large extent. He says that apart from his scientific work, he can easily be a war correspondent, write children's stories, or make political speeches.
2. Freedom
Next, the writer requires freedom in his work. Freedom is so essential for all. The writer prefers freedom of speech the most. He wants to say and write about various poisonous aspects in the society, but the law of libel prevents him from doing so.
3. Good health
Next, the writer requires good health to work in his life. Good health enables people to get everything essential in their lives. Good health provides joy and success in life.
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4. Friendship
Next, the writer requires the friendship of his colleagues and comrades. He prefers equality in a society where criticism can be done freely. His friendship must be away from the concept of obedience and order without criticism. Friendship should be done with people of equal standards.
Besides all these basic needs, the writer demands various things in his life. He demands adventure in his life, though there is risk in the adventure. According to him, the satisfaction of adventure is something much more solid than a thrill. He desires to have his room with some books, a motor car, a daily bath, a beach, or a river within easy reach. He desires all these things but does not demand them.
The writer thinks himself lucky to enjoy his essential requirements, but his enjoyments seem useless if his friends don't find happiness in these requirements. He wants to see healthy people on the planet at work. All the workers at work must find fruit according to their capacities. They should work hard for their own profits as well as their friends' well-being, but not for the profits of others.
The writer wishes to see the workers controlling their conditions of work. As a socialist, he wants to see a condition where workers play their vital roles and control the industry. He wants to see the end of class subjection and sex subjection. The need for equality among people is essential to achieving fraternity. There should be an economic revolution to eradicate class subjection and sex subjection.
The writer prefers to die happily to see capitalism overthrown and the workers in power throughout most of Europe. He wants to see the end of fascism, due to which the First World War broke out and peace broke down.
The writer wishes to see the spread of education and the application of scientific methods in all branches of life. Finally, he wishes to die if he can achieve only two conditions of Aristotle's death.
SHORT SUMMARY
This personal essay, "What I Require From Life," has been written by British-Indian scientist John Burdon Sanderson Haldane. Here in this essay, the writer has started his opinions with his personal story of his life about his peaceful and heroic years. According to him, he was born at a peaceful age, but during his youth, due to the outbreak of the First World War, he involved himself in a heroic age of war. Later on, he has put forward his opinions related to his requirements, which he requires from his life to make his life the best. According to him, he requires work with a decent salary, freedom of speech, health, and friendship. The writer desires various things in his life but does not demand them. Next, the writer has presented the importance of adventurous tasks in life. He says that, apart from the thrill of adventurous tasks, satisfaction is also very important to achieve. For him, satisfaction is more solid than a thrill. Next, the writer has presented his opinions politically to advise all the working-class people against capitalism. He wants to see various things in his life, which are as follows:
He wants to see his friends happy with their requirements.
He wants to see healthy people at work in the entire world.
He wants to see all the workers working for their and their friends' profits but not for others' profits.
He wants to see all the workers controlling the industry.
He wants to see the end of class subjection and sex subjection.
He wants to see equality among people for fraternity.
He wants to see an economic revolution to end class subjection and sex subjection.
He wants to see all the workers in power.
He wants to see the end of fascism.
He wants to see education and scientific methods in all branches of life.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
BEFORE READING
a. What do you want to be in your life?
Answer:
I want to have a good person in my life. I want to make everyone happy. I want to do various tasks for the welfare of people.
b. Do you see equality in your society or any discrimination?
Answer:
Yes, I see discrimination in my society. People in my society are still going the wrong way. People discriminate against people in the name of poverty. Rich people are very rude in my society. They behave with poor people in a very bad manner.
c. What are the basic needs of human beings?
Answer:
The basic needs of human beings are as follows:
1. Food
2. Housing
3. Clothing
4. Living securely
a. How does the writer distinguish between a peaceful age and a heroic age?
Answer:
The writer distinguishes between a peaceful age and a heroic age by making a comparison between two different ages. He refers to the time of his birth as a peaceful age, whereas his youth is a heroic age. During his youth (aged 22), the first world war broke out. He desired to live his peaceful age but engaged himself in a heroic age of war.
b. Why does the writer want more freedom of speech than most people?
Answer:
The writer wants more freedom of speech than most people because he wants to say and write freely about those people and institutions who are very poisonous. He wants to write against all those capitalists who have brought disorder to every sector. He wants to write about them and what he thinks about them.
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c. According to the writer, what are the four general human needs?
Answer:
According to the writer, the four human needs are as follows:
1. Work
2. Freedom of speech
3. Health
4. Friendship
d. What is the difference between desire and demand according to the writer?
Answer:
According to the writer, the difference between desire and demand is that desire is the mere wish of a person to have a particular commodity in his or her life, whereas demand is a desire backed by the ability and willingness to pay for a particular commodity. Here, the writer desires various things but does not demand them. But he can bear up all his desires happily.
e. Why does the writer demand security?
Answer:
The writer demands security because the security of life is quite an important aspect compared to other aspects. The security of life is the primary aspect, whereas other requirements are secondary. During a critical war, the writer demands the security of life first. If life is secured, anything is possible.
Explain the following lines with reference to the context:
a. “The satisfaction of adventure is something much more solid than a thrill.”
Answer:
Here in this line, the writer wants to tell us about the satisfaction of adventurous tasks. According to him, adventurous tasks are related to thrills. Apart from the thrill, adventurous tasks provide us with extreme satisfaction. Among thrills and satisfactions, the satisfaction we get from an adventurous task is something more solid than a thrill. The satisfaction of adventure is much greater than the thrill of adventure.
b. “I want the workers to see the fruit of their own work not in profits for others, but in their own and their friends’ well-being.”
Answer:
Here in this line, as a sociologist, the writer wants to see a fine working condition for the workers. He desires to see all the workers at work for their and their people's profit. According to the writer, all the workers must find fruit according to their capacities. They should work hard for their own profits as well as their friends' well-being, but not for the profits of others or their owners.
c. Why do you think the essayist has taken reference from the ancient philosophers?
Answer:
I think the essayist has taken references from the ancient philosophers because he wants to support his ideas and provide us with clear ideas related to the paragraphs that he has presented.
d. Discuss the essay in terms of its language, purpose, subject, point of view and mode of writing.
Answer:
This essay, "What I Require from Life," has been written by a British-Indian scientist, J.B.S. Haldane. In this essay, the writer has used his simple and lucid language to put forward his ideas related to socialism. He has tried his best to present the various requirements of people in their lives. Here, we find the writer demanding equality as well as democratic activities for all working-class people in workplaces. As a sociologist, his main purpose is to uplift the condition of working-class people. He wants to see equality for all people in every sector. He has presented the major subject of life-related requirements, where he has discussed various issues related to the needs, rights, and classes of people. He has presented his opinions against capitalism, which has created unemployment on a larger scale. His point of view can be observed in the essay as that of a social critic. He started his essay with his descriptive mode, but later on, he presented his political arguments to persuade his readers.
REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT
a. What do you require from your life to be happy and satisfied?
Answer:
To be happy and satisfied, I require the following things in my life:
1. Good health
2. Good job
3. Good friendship
4. Freedom
5. Security of life
b. What is socialism? How is it different from capitalism?
Answer:
Socialism is a system of social and economic equality in which there is no preference given to private property or ownership. It is different from capitalism because we cannot find economic equality in capitalism. Capitalism ignores people's needs and does not promote equal opportunity as socialism does.
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c. Write an essay about your dream house.
Answer:
People in this world have different desires and demands. People prefer to live their lives with all the facilities. Apart from various desires and demands, people prefer to build their own house in their lives at first. In my opinion, the house is a very important part of our lives, where we spend our entire lives. In my case, I would like to have a fine dream house in my life. I don't prefer to have a big house. I just want a small one with different facilities. I would like to have a house with a drawing room with a home theatre, a kitchen room with a fine dining table, separate sleeping rooms for us, children, and guests, a fine bathroom with a hot shower bath, a small library with essential books, a small garden with different kinds of flowers, a beautiful terrace to view the sunrise and sunset, etc. I think most people desire to have a similar dream house, which I prefer.
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