Divided in four parts – “The Year of Our Loves and Friendships”, “The Year of Her Passion”, “The Years of Betrayal”, and “Homecoming- The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a bold attempt at telling the epic of Asian people in Africa. It is a novel concerning themes of love, passion, commitment and more importantly, identity. The narrator, Vikram Lall, is a Kenyan born Indian who grows up in an era where rebellion, confusion, and disruption were all prevalent. In this journal, you will learn about the characters, themes, and settings in the first half of this book.
Part One: The Year of Our Loves and Friendships
In the first section we are introduced to the Lall family, who are residents of Kenya. At once the reader is introduced to the
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It is rare to see blacks hanging out with Indians or whites, for segregation is still common. On the other hand, Vassanji did an impressive job of developing these relationship and used outside figures, such as Vic’s mom, to depict the un-accepting aspect of their friendships. These children were clearly ignoring racial barriers that were in place in that time but their bonds and love for one another was real and truly genuine for the relationships which are formed in the beginning of the novel are intact throughout the entire of the story.
Part Two: The Year of her Passion
Vic tells his story in small snippets of recollection. For example, his encounter with Seema at the library creates some curiosity for what had occurred in East Africa that opened him to migrate to Canada. It is obvious that Vikram has committed some sort of crime which forced him to flee, but were not told much more beyong that. This technique at times can be frustrating but more often than not just urges the reader to read further in hope to gain some more insight on the past and there is therefore successful. After briefly touching upon the present, Vic then proceeds with telling the story of his past. After returning to Kenya from Dar-es-salaam, Njo and Deepa’s love is indeed rekindled. Unfortunately, this entire section is basically a battle between love and politics, and politics
Every piece of writing has a purpose and reason, the goal of the message which the author wishes to express and communicate. Mother Tongue and Memoirs of a Rebel Princess share the same general purpose, simply to inform about the situation of their education, and how they were deprived on this matter (Jack and Pryal 2016). However, even with the same purpose, each of these writings portrays a different story and experience.
“They wept together, for the things they now knew.”(104) The last sentence of the first story in Interpreter of Maladies, reveals the cruelty of the elapsed romance in a marriage. In the two collections, A Temporary Matter and The Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates that a marriage can be either uplifting or discouraging depends on the mindset held by the couple and the strength of human bonding. Lahiri emphasizes the significance of mindset and human bondings through the ending of the two stories. The endings of the two stories are polar opposite : In A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shobha weeps for the termination of their relationship; The Third and Final Continent, by contrast, the protagonist(MIT) enjoys a fairytale-like
Language can be a powerful tool which can build individuals up but it can also tear them down. When reading Literature through a post-colonial lens it can give us the needed tools to provide or grasp the information in order to reveal the bigger picture in the story. “Post-colonialism examines the manner in which emerging societies grapple with the challenges of self- determination.” (Aladren, 2013) In one way we can see that approach of colonist being conveyed through the native tongue which tends to be taught to its subjects. Such examples can be seen in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Act1 & 2) and the The Epic of Gilgamesh which illustrates how a “savage” can be domesticated simply by learning the imperialist language. As the subjects Caliban and Enkidu encounter these dominating issues due to the situation they face once they are introduce to oppressors culture.
The reader gets a rare and exotic understanding of a totally foreign and ancient culture experiencing the growing pains of colonial expansion during the British domination
The simplistic plot of the novel and the overall theme of love allows the author to span the lives of the main characters. The reader sees the span of the life of two of the main characters, Sidda and her mother Vivi, as
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, written by Sherman Alexie, is a novel describing a 14 year old’s journey throughout high school. In the story, Junior, the main character, is faced with multiple obstacles in his life: Hydrocephalus, poverty, and the target of bullying. Despite the world being against him, Junior’s multiple traits helps him greatly when it comes to the adversity that accompanies his migration from the Wellpinit Reservation to Rearden.
It is always interesting to me to see what types of roles women play in popular books or novels of western history. The role of women in Things fall apart is more of a background story but their significance is deeply rooted in this book. Women play fundamental roles in education, religion and the social balance according to Achebe. In this paper, I am going to detail these roles giving references from Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Novel to show how significant they actually are. You will be surprised to learn that they are very significant indeed even in a traditional African culture which at the time was being polluted by colonialism and other western influences of demoralization and demonization through missionary works.
In the novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part time Indian”, author Sherman Alexie shares a compelling story representing racial issues among communities and families in cultural areas today, and a boy’s journey to find who he truly is, while being torn between two cultures. In this novel the main character, young Junior finds himself truly understanding that he is more than just an indian. In order to know more about the plot behind the novel, author Alexie takes the reader into Junior’s perspective to bring the story to life and let the reader understand how racial issues along with family problems make a play into today’s society. The novel shows a countless number of situations Junior encounters that impact his life throughout the novel.
The plot in the short story “Hindus” demonstrates how a certain sequence of events can help people better understand themselves. Leela meets many different and unique people on her journey throughout
Forming a new identity in a foreign country is not an easy task. Immigrants usually face challenges to identify themselves. Identity formation is the development of one’s distinctive personality due to particular reasons such as new environment, new culture and conflicts. During the process, some characters from Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake either create or deny the bond with their own culture; some undergo conflicts among generations. Those processes reflect significantly in Ashima and Gogol throughout the book. The degree of assimilations determines to what extent the characters have formed the new identity in the new culture.
The simplistic plot of the novel and the overall theme of love allows the author to span the lives of the main characters. The reader sees the span of the life of two of the main characters, Sidda and her mother
Ultimately, the four sections of the novel helped develop Laila and Mariam’s character because each section represented a different time in their lives. It also helps provide the reader with a clear contrast between their characters as one is a “city girl” whereas the other was a “village girl”, but it did not matter where they came from because at the end of the novel they were both shown in a positive light for their own reasons. The theme of education brings the characters and the style of the novel
Gandhi premiere on November 30, 1982 in New Delhi, India. The 190 minute film was wonderfully directed by Richard Attenborough and well written by John Briley. I found this film difficult to “briefly” summarize, however I would like to share a short timeline of events through the film’s eyes.
The author’s effort to display oral literature, including expressing Ghanaian English speaking and non-English speaking society, in her work reflects her own persona as a contemporary writer resembling the African oral traditions and art work. “Shall I go to Cape Coast, or to Elmina I don’t know, I can’t tell. I don’t know, I can’t tell,” (Aidoo) Language, mainly English, is promoted to throughly capture various backgrounds and events of the play. Aidoo tries to distinguish Eulalie’s American-English speech that instantly alienates her from the rest of the characters. The author also quite succeeds in reflecting Ato’s educated language with a hint of lecturing that proves he has been indeed abroad, as oppose to his Ghanaian family. It crucially exposes the impact of colonialism on communication between Africans with distinctive educational and social situations, as for instance, the married couple’s complexed struggle to not only fully accept their cultural differences but also keep and hold onto their own identities. Aidoo also catches the inflections and outcomes of oral literature by using simple songs, traditional proverbs and imagery, such as the interesting ones in the dialogue between the two old Ghanaian women. “1st W.:But you know, my sister, That my name is Lonesome. I
More than those of any other African writer, Chinua Achebe’s writings have helped to develop what is known as African literature today. And the single book which has helped him to launch his "revolution" is the classic, Things Fall Apart. The focus of this essay includes: 1) Achebe's portraiture of women in his fictional universe, the existing sociocultural situation of the period he is depicting, and the factors in it that condition male attitudes towards women; 2) the consequences of the absence of a moderating female principle in his fictions; 3) Achebe's progressively changing attitude towards women s roles; and 4) feminist prospects for African women. In the context of this study, the Igbo people whom Achebe describes will