i am Rinkal jani student of Department of English from Bhavnagar university, Here i am sharing my presentation of Modernist literature and topic is Reflection of various interpretation in Harold Pinter's 'The Birthday Party' This will helps students and readers to understand the interpretation in the play.

2. Topic: Reflection of various
interpretations of Birthday party in
literature and current affair
Prepared by: Rinkal Jani
Roll no: 22
Seam: 3
Year: 2016-2018
Enrolment no: 2069108420170012
Email Id: rinkaljani1807@gmail.com
Paper no-9: The Modernist literature
Smt. S.B Gardi Department of English
Professor: Dr. Dillip Barad
Maharaja Krishna Kumarsinghji
Bhavanagar university

4. “The Birthday party”
As an absurd play
Written in 1957/58
 Point of view: Meaninglessness and
nothingness in human existence
A play with various thematic interpretation
and symbols
It has been interpreted in many ways.
The very vagueness, the uncertainty, and the
mystery of events and their motivations have
given rise to varying their interpretations

5. Various interpretations of the play
 Society's treatment for an Artist
 Breaking away from innocence to
maturity
 Haptephobia
 Psychological interpretation
 Spiritual interpretation
 Political interpretation

6. Artist and society
 Society’s treatment of an artist
 Stanley as pianist/ as an artist
 Whom society claims back from a
comfortable, bohemian , opt-out existence.
 His clean shaven appearance at last act
 Symbolize that he has accepted or forced to
accepted traditional mode of living and
thinking
 Toy drum: Symbolize Artist and his playing
with the art
 Play it according to society wants
 Freedom of expression which artist have not

7. “Art and society” Reflection in
literature
 Lily brisco
• A painter
• As an artist
• Women can not write women can
not paint
• Freedom of expression is not there
• Stanley couldn’t play toy drum as
he wants

8. Breaking away from innocence to maturity
 Process of growing up, of expulsion from
the warm, cosy world of childhood
 Meg- stanely and Oedipus complex
 His refusal to go with lulu-strong
attachment with meg- he seems to be
afraid of sexuality outside of the mother-
son relationship
 His attempt to rape lulu- shift from
infantile sexuality to adult relationship
 His going in gentlemen’s dress up is
symbolic of his growing adult and going
out of warm world of his childhood
 Theme of individual’s unwillingness to
leave the warmth of the womb

9. Haptephobia
 Found in stanely weber’s character
 call it encroachment on your bubble
 Fear of being touch
 Fear of our space is being encroach by
someone
 Stanely doesn’t want that two stranger
are come and stay there
 Symptoms of Haptephobia
Panic
Anxiety attacks
Trembling
Muscle tension
Numbness
Hyperventilation
Feeling out of control

10. Reflection in current affairs
 Indians killed every year in
foreign country
 Dot buster movement in
America
 In Mother in-law and
daughter in-laws
relationship

11. To be conclude…
Any single interpretation of Pinter's play is not
possible. His plays cannot be bound in any single
definition. When he get noble prize for it that
time he spoke this lines:
“I have often been asked how my plays come
about. I cannot say. Nor can I ever sum up my
plays, except to say that this is what happened.
That is what they said. That is what they did.”

12. Work cited from:
https://www.slideshare.net/kaushal111/variou
s-interpretations-of-the-birthday-party
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birthday_Pa
rty_(play)
https://www.allaboutcounseling.com/library/h
aptephobia/