The Birth: Pre-Reading Task

About the author: A. J. Cronin

Archibald Joseph Cronin was born on 19th July 1896 in Cardross near Glasgow on the west coast of Scotland to a Scottish mother and Irish father.

Cronin graduated with honours from medical school at the end of the First World War in 1919. In the mining towns of Wales, he saw the human spirit fighting poverty and hardship. In his London practice, he encountered the spoilt, neurotic rich, happy to spend money like water.

Thus, he worked with the miners, then the rich, eventually grew disillusioned with the medical profession entirely. This disillusionment is reflected in the novel 'Citadel' which is the origin of the extract in the class XI CBSE textbook.  

His career as an author was very successful. He had a great following in America and in 1939 moved with his wife and three sons, to New England. However, at the height of his fame, success and wealth, Cronin was deeply dissatisfied.

CITADEL: fortress, bastion, fort, castle, refuge, sanctuary

THE NAME: The symbol of the citadel is central to the book. It symbolises ideals – in Manson’s case medical integrity – which are enclosed in a castle on a hill. Manson fights against great odds to free himself from materialistic temptation, and climb that hill. At the end of the book we are left with the sense that, with Denny and Hope at his side, Manson will scale the walls of the citadel to realise his ideals.

SUMMARY FROM THE NOVEL TILL OUR EXTRACT:

Newly qualified, Dr Manson takes a job as assistant to Dr Page in a small mining town. On arrival, he finds to his surprise that Page is partly paralysed and will never work again. This means Dr. Andrew Manson will have to do most of the clinic’s work in this mining town at a meagre pay. Most of the cases are either of minor illnesses or mining accidents.

A junior doctor, Denny proposes to blow up the old sewer in order to oblige the authorities to build a new safe one. Andrew helps and the plan works. The new doctor thus becomes more popular in town. Manson then cures someone no other doctor has been able to help, with a hormone treatment. Andrew falls in love with a schoolteacher, Christine Barlow and contemplates marrying her. However, on the night where our story begins, Andrew has had a little tiff with her. He also comes to know of other friends and acquaintances whose marriages have been proven unsuccessful in their own right. On returning home, he is called by a miner to help deliver a baby.

WHAT ELSE TO DO

Watch the movie 'Three Idiots' again with special focus on the birth scene towards the end of the movie. Reflect upon the expressions on the face of all the people involved, from the immediate relatives to the friends to acquaintances. Before you read, understand that a birth is an extremely emotional and exacting event, not only for the parents but for everyone involved even in the process of helping the child come to the world.