The drama “Padarkush”
“Padarkush” (“The Plight of the Uneducated Child”) is “the first national tragedy”, in 3 acts and 4 scenes. In Act 1 the rich man sits in his guest room. A modern-minded teacher (Domla) comes and advises him to educate his son; the rich man refuses, saying that happiness and respect lie in wealth and schooling is needless. Then an intellectual educated in Russian (Ziyoli) comes and explains at length that modern knowledge is needed, but the rich man dozes and does not listen. In Act 2 his son Toshmurod drinks with bad friends in a tavern, and they push him towards a wrongful deed to get money. In Act 3 the tragedy occurs: the rich man dies and the mother curses Toshmurod as a “padarkush”. In the fourth scene the offenders are caught in the tavern; the Ziyoli says this outcome comes from ignorance and lack of upbringing. In the textbook “padarkush” means “father’s killer”.
Divide the class into 4 groups: each tells one act (or scene) in its own words in 3 sentences and finds its main idea.