The Namesake

The Namesake

            In the novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the character Gogol goes through many identity changes and as he makes discoveries about himself the author uses his name as a focal point. From birth Gogol’s name was never just that, it defined his relationship with his family, Indian heritage, and American identity. The first instance is at birth where he first receives his name. Ashima, his mother, must name him in order to leave the hospital and without hearing the selected from her grandmother (25). This is Gogol’s first step away from his Indian heritage and disconnection from his families past and an introduction his American identity. Another big turning point in Gogol’s life is on his 14^th birthday, and he really begins to resent his name. After Gogol’s father tells Gogol the origin of his name, from an author, he feels no connection and thinks, “…no one he knows in the world, in Russia or India or America or anywhere share his name. Not even the source of his namesake” (78).  That moment alone is a turning point, where Gogol begins to truly feel disconnected from his family and his heritage. Gogol begins to his morbid hatred for his name after The Overcoat is assigned to him in class, and to add to his embarrassment the teacher tells a brief description of the author and his insanity (91).  Gogol eventually begins to go by Nikhil and its through his new name Nikhil that is Americanized identity develops. He becomes less connected to his parents by speaking and visiting to them less often.  When his father reveals the truth behind his name Gogol faces a feeling of shame and confusion “his father is a stranger, a man who has kept a secret, has survived a tragedy, a man he does not fully know” (123). Although he doesn’t go back to Gogol, he no longer squints of embarrassment when his mother or father accidentally calls him that instead of Nikhil. Gogol continues to live a life of disconnection from his culture until the untimely death of his father. It is in his death that he finally discoveries his identity and his true connection to his family and his name.  As the book comes to an end Gogol looks back on his life and all the unfortunate accidents that made up his life and made him the man he is. He finds the book his father left and finds himself thinking, “ [t]he name his has detested, here hidden and preserved—that was the first thing his father had given him” (289).   The name that made him want to be disconnected from his family is now the biggest connection they share, and when his family is gone so will the name Gogol. 

Assimilation

Each character in Gogol's family including Gogol struggle with how much to assimilate into American culture and how much of their Indian culture should they hold on to. You can see the  Gstruggle between the first generation immigrant versus the second. You see in the photo that Gogol fully assimilated into American lifestyle, and his sister simply Americanized the look of an Indian woman. Their mother, Ashima, appears to have not assimilated at all, which is common with first generation immigrants.  His parents continue to have only Indian friends and carry on with Indian traditions. 

-The video above is the trailer to the film adaptation of the novel The Namesake

Indian Immigrant Assimilation
I found this article and it discusses how Indian immigrants are the slowest to assimilate to culture and civic changes when coming to America.

The Buddha of Suburbia

                                                   

                                                               The Buddha of Suburbia

          In the novel The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi the characters demonstrate that hybrid identities are always in motion through their constant struggle between embracing their native Indian culture and adjusting to fit the norms as an “Englishman.”  In McLeod, he quotes Kureishi by stating, “…feeling neither here nor there, unable to indulge in sentiments of belonging to either location, defined by others often in unflattering ways”, which is relatable to both the character Karim and his father Haroon throughout the novel (247). From the beginning of the novel you get a sense for Karim’s struggle, “I am an Englishman born and bred, almost” (3).  Karim describes himself as “belonging and not” because he is at constant struggle between his Indian heritage and his desire to assimilate into the British society.  Karim perpetually negotiates his hybrid identity.  Karim’s identity struggle is not solely based upon Indian vs. British; it also is within his sexuality and city vs. suburbia. Karim never fully states his sexual preference homosexual/heterosexual nor Indian/British; he consistently negotiates between the binaries. Haroon, Karim’s father, also depicts McLeod’s hybrid identities throughout the novel. He embraces his exoticness to help himself climb the social ladder, but without really believing the things he teaches others until the end of the novel. Karim describes his father as a magician, “having transformed himself by the bootlaces” who is always changing to whatever is most palatable or most marketable (31).  Both Karim and Haroon are stereotyped throughout the novel, and Haroon embraces the stereotypes for social gain.  “Dad appeared to be returning internally to India, or at least resisting the English here” Karim went on to say that his father never showed any desire to return to India (64).

          Both characters are so complex in qualities, yet have no single identity. In McLeod, he discusses those who live border lives, “borders are important thresholds, full of contradiction and ambivalence” (251).  Karim and Haroon are filled with contradiction and ambivalence. Haroon embraces Indian culture, yet has no desire to return to his homeland while also wanting to be an Englishman. Karim continuously struggles to fit in as a British teen, but is constantly stereotyped as an Indian boy despite never even have been to India. The hybrid identities are constantly in motion and persistently experiencing transformation.  

Racism and Hybrid Identities

 "I was sick too of being called Shitface and Curryface, and coming home covered in spit and snot and chalk and woodshavings" (63).

Indians make up about 1.4 million people in the United Kingdom. And just like Karim and his father many play a role of a hybrid identity. Society has its beliefs or perceptions of how a man or woman of Indian descent, and they are expected to fit that mold while also being assimilated. Haroon was expected to know yoga and Buddhist methodology, and Karim was expected to have an Indian accent for his role in the Jungle Book despite never have even stepped foot in the country.  For Karim and Haroon, it is like they never have a true identity, and for every role they play it is never the right one to them or to those around them. 

Forty-five per cent of the victims of racial attacks in Britain are Indian, says a study which also claims that such violence is spreading in the country due to the government's approach towards racism.  

"With great expectations I change all my clothes
Mustn't grumble at silver and gold
Screaming above Central London
Never born, so I'll never get old So I'll wait until we're sane
Wait until we're blessed and all the same
Full of blood, loving life and all it's got to give
Englishmen going insane
Down on my knees in suburbia"- Lyrics from the Buddha of Suburbia by David Bowie (music video above)

The White Tiger

The White Tiger

          Balram Halwai, the protagonist in the White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, uses manipulation and criminal behavior to climb from Indian servant to businessman throughout the novel, and because of that he looks at his acts as justifiable or “acts of entrepreneurship” (9).  In India, each person is born into a certain caste, and Halwai felt the only way to grow along with India was to commit criminal acts. The comparison of the life of an elite and a servant are a constant theme in the novel. “These days, there are just two castes: Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies. And only two destinies: eat – or get eaten up“ (64).  The only way to leave those castes is to come into money, but those that come from the Darkness don’t have money. Halwai is intrigued by the rapid growth of India and desperately wants to be apart of it. As the novel goes on you see Halwai step out of his role as servant and descend into a corrupt entrepeneur. He starts his decend with blackmailing the other drivers to get his position as Mr. Ashok’s driver in Dehli, along with no longer sending his family money despite his promotion in salary. Halwai even knows and sees the change in himself,“The tale of how I was corrupted from a sweet, innocent village fool into a citified fellow full of debauchery, depravity, and wickedness“ (189).  I feel this novel correlates with the phrase “he sold his soul to the devil“, because without his evil actions Halwai would still simply a servant to Mr. Ashok.  Even once Halwai has killed Mr. Ashok and began his life as an entrepeneur, he still uses manipulation and criminal acts to continue moving up in the castes of India. He pays off the police to help his business profit, and he accepts the demise of his family “ I have woken up, and the rest of you are still sleeping, and that is the only difference between us. I shouldn’t think of them at all. My family“ (271).  Halwai shares a lot of similarities with the character Salim in Slumdog Millionaire, both characters strive for money and embrace the globalization of India. And through this both characters become as corrupt, if not more than the people who they called boss. They both use murder, lies, and corruption to get the things they want. And their lives most as quickly as the cities they “run.“

 

Globalization in India

A major theme in The White Tiger is the globalization of India.  With this globalization there has been major corruption, and huge lines drawn between the different classes. This is shown throughout the novel as Balram commits crimes to climb through the classes from the "darkness." I found an article about an Indian journalist, Siddhartha Deb, set out to explore the true impact of globalization on his homeland by working undercover in an Indian call center. Throughout his time undercover he uncovers the dark side of Indian Prosperity. 
Undercover in India-beautiful-and-damned

"You have at the very top end of the country ... something like 66 billionaires. And these numbers might be slightly old, but there are probably a few more billionaires since I last checked. But 66 billionaires who seem to have something like 30 percent of the country's wealth. On the other end, you have like 800 million people — over 800 million people — living on less than $2 a day. When you have a country where 40 percent of the children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition, it seems to me that these contrasts aren't really healthy. They're not just differences. They are really like living different worlds within the same country."- This is a quote from Deb on the wealth disparity in India and I think that is really illustrates what Balrum is talking about throughout the novel. 

 This is a YouTube video of Former country director of ActionAid India on BBC Hard Talk discussing the effects of globalization on India.

The God of Small Things

           
 In the book The Book of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, the character Velutha embodies the god of small things for his small gifts of kindness and his ability to sacrifice for others. To the twins Rahel and Estha, Velutha offers them small kindnesses every day, and each gift makes him the god of small things in their eyes. He is the father figure that they lack in their childhood for example “It was Velutha who made Rahel her luckiest-ever fishing rod and taught her and Estha how to fish.” (75) He helps Rahel and Estha fulfill their childhood with happiness and memories that a father should give. As Rahel and Estha play he never disrupts or downplays their games, instead he embraces them and lets them enjoy their moments of fun and happiness. He also offers small gifts like a boat “Velutha set the boat up for them. The boat that Estha sat on and Rahel found.” (203) It seems that Estha and Rahel are happiest when they are with Velutha because of the small things he gives them each day. Velutha is also a god of small things to Ammu, the twin’s mother. In one aspect he offers a small gift to Velutha by bringing happiness to her children, but those gifts grow as their relationship does. Velutha gives Ammu the gift of tomorrow, and when they are together they admire the small things in life that they would otherwise ignore like a spider’s web or the silver of a wasp wing. “They grew to love his eclectic taste. His shambling dignity” such a small thing became so beautiful because Ammu shared it with Velutha (321). Velutha is also the God of Small Things because of his ultimate sacrifice; he dies for the sins of others without complaint. He accepts his fate for his love of others. He takes the blame for kidnapping the children and the rape of Ammu despite the deeper passion they shared. Velutha is a character of compassion and a man of small gifts of happiness which makes him the God of Small Things. 

Class Segregation

A major theme in The God of Small Things is the untouchables vs the touchables, and the class segregation. Each character in the novel depicts some example of class tension and cultural boundaries for example the twins' relationship with Sophie Mol, Chacko's relationship with Margaret, Pappachi's relationship with his family, and Ammu's relationship with Velutha. With the class segregation there comes laws that forbid relationships between the touchables and untouchables. When it is come to light that Velutha and Ammu have been intimate, Velutha's own father is willing to have his son killed for his crime. 

 
I found this video on YouTube and it shares clips from the film The God of Small Things along with quotes and images depicting the caste system in India. 

Background on India's Caste System

The caste system in India is an important part of ancient Hindu tradition and dates back to 1200 BCE. The term caste was first used by Portuguese travelers who came to India in the 16th century. Caste comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word "casta" which means "race", "breed", or "lineage". Many Indians use the term "jati". There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 subcastes in India, each related to a specific occupation. These different castes fall under four basic varnas:

Brahmins--priests

Kshatryas--warriors

Vaishyas--traders

Shudras--laborers

 More Information on India Caste System

 

Slumdog Millionaire

            
 The movie Slumdog Millionaire participates in gendered discourses through the character Latika by portraying her sexually available, exotic and passive. The male characters in the film all have a strong presence and character, but Latika is only seen through her interaction with Salim and Jamal. Salim sees Latika as a burden and a sexual desire; he shows disgust towards Jamal’s need to protect her and their friendship. In the scene at the deserted hotel, Latika shows her passiveness when she willingly gives herself to Salim in order to protect Jamal, and further instill Salim’s dominance over her. Throughout the film Latika continues to be a victim to different men, and her only trait desired by men is her sexuality. The scene where Jamal goes to the brothel to find Latika, he looks through a crack in the door and sees her dancing in exotic Indian attire; I believe this scene captures her exotic sensuality. Latika is the damsel and Jamal is her hero/prince throughout the film. I feel that Latika’s character is only defined through her relationship with Jamal, and her constant need for a savior. Latika is the girlfriend of the head mobster of Mumbai, and is treated like a slave and is beaten by him. She moved up from the slums to the riches of Mumbai through her beauty and sexual desire from men, but is never treated with respect or seen as anything more than an object. Latika is exotic and beautiful, but lacks any true depth which is how “native women” are portrayed through gendered discourses. 

I chose this video because it is the video to a song from Slumdog Millionaire's soundtrack, and it also illustrates the eroticism that Latika's character depicts in the film. Just as Latika is portrayed in the film, these women are seen nothing more than sexual desires to the men watching them dance. 

Slums

 Another topic I didn't discuss in the blog above is the slums of Mumbai, and how they are depicted in the film. I find it interesting although it as shown as filthy and decrepit, it also is shown with so much color and so much life. Even in the photo above the hints of blue and orange in a way make it captivating.  I found an article about the slum where the film was shot, and those who live in the slum were not happy about the film or its release. 
 Slumdog Greeting

Shame

In the novel Shame by Salman Rushdie, the character Sufiya Sinobia depicts the shame of Pakistan by demonstrating the inferiority of women to men in the aspect as a whole as well as based on their intelligence. From the moment Sufiya Sinobia was born, she was the shame of her family simply based upon the fact that she was a female. Her parents were expecting a recarnation of the boy they had lost and when they had Sufiya their response was, “Is that all, my God, So much huffery and puffery to push out only this mouse” (Rushdie 88) this further demonstrated Sufiya’s inferiority in the eyes of Pakistani parents. According to McLeod, women have the power of childbirth, but in Pakistan childbirth is only honored and appreciated when a boy is born. Sufiya’s own father denied her gender when she was born stating, “Mistakes are often made!” (Rushdie 88). It’s disheartening to read but from the moment Sufiya took her first breath she was the shame and denied by the very parents that should care for her. Sufiya also embodies the inferiority of women to men based upon intelligence. Sufiya becomes ill with a fever which eventually makes her mentally retarded.  In response to this defect her mother feels she has shamed her husband, “he wanted a hero of a son; I gave him an idiot female instead” (Rushdie, 101). Women throughout Pakistan are persecuted for the simplest fact of being a woman. They are not respected nor thought of as intelligent in any aspect. The only thing a woman is seen worthy of is sexual fulfillment. These ideals are not secluded to just Pakistan, they are seen through the eyes of men throughout India.

Notes- For this blog post, I tried to have a stronger for concise thesis statement to better set up the rest of my paragraph. I tried also to stick to one general idea and not bounce from idea to idea. 

Women in Pakistan

A major theme I discussed for Shame was the inferiority of women in Pakistan. Women in Pakistan face a lot of turmoil much worse than that of Sufiya. There are immense amounts of violent and sexual crimes against Pakistani women. The most common crimes are
The crime categories include honour killing, forced marriage, offenses relating to marriage, rape, attack on modesty and insult of modesty through word, gesture or act. I was shocked to find that martial rape is not even recognized in Pakistani Law nor is domestic violence explicitly prohibited .

Crimes Increase Against Pakistani Women

Although women do still face crime and violence, there have strives of improvement. There are some women present in political parties and activism. 

This photo is of Naela Chohan, who is an Ambassador of Pakistan as well as a feminist artist.

Cracking India

In the book Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa uses the narration of Lenny to capture the idea of nationalism and an imagined political community. In the book Cracking India it is apparent that the sense of community is imagined. The characters of the book all come together as a community, but in reality look down upon each other for their differences. Lenny describes the people of her community saying, "One day everybody is themselves and the next they are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian. People shrink, dwindling into symbols."(101) And rather than come together as one symbol of nationalism they are each separated into their own. As the book goes on more and more lines are drawn between the different religions. The Queen's garden goes from a community into separate cliché. Lenny notices the change herself but can't define what it is or where her community went "..There is a subtle change in the Queen's Garden "(104).The characters continue to go to the Garden despite the change, to have that imaginary sense of community, but is it really there? Lenny's life is also very confined to a select few people and a select few streets. When she ventures from this, it is obvious she feels out of her element and out of her comfort zone of the safety of her community. Lenny says, "My world is compressed" which is true to a community, people stay where they know and don't like the mysteries of the unknown. I believe all this captures what McLeod was trying to get across that people like to have a sense of community even if it is imagined. People need to feel that sense of belonging. Lenny feels like she belongs in her small community despite their differences and their hidden animosity towards each other, they still in a sense are their own community. 

Religious Intolerance

A major theme in the novel Cracking India is religious differences and intolerance. Each characters comes from different religious backgrounds and it is because of that the Queen Garden loses its sense of community. It is because of religion that there are fights of physical and verbal matter between characters and why friendships are lost. 

Religious Persecution in Pakistan I found this article while searching for religious intolerance in Pakistan, and even today there is an extreme intolerance of religious differences. 

• Muslims: 175,376,000
• Sunni Muslims: 80%
• Shia Muslims: 20%
• Ahmadi : 2,000,000
• Hindus: 3,200,000
• Christians: 2,800,000
• Bahá'í Faith: 30,000 - 78,000
• Sikhs: 20,000
• Zoroastrian/Parsis: 20,000
• Buddhism: 70,000
• Other (included Animists, Atheists, Jews, etc: unknown  

Above is a list of the religions in Pakistan, those that don't fit under the category of Muslim are under the most persecution. The Muslims are intolerant to the minority religions.   

 

 Lastly, I wanted to add a video of important scenes from the book Cracking India, and that also illustrate some of the acts due to religious intolerance.