Multicultural Maladjustments - Essay Example

Multicultural Maladjustments It is not easy to live in your own country as a stranger. Those who live amidst two or more cultures always have an uncomfortable feeling of being outsiders. This is poignantly brought out in the three books I am now going to discuss, “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri, “Persepolis-2” by Marjane Satrapi and “Anil’s Ghost” by Michael Ondaatje. All these three books deal with the conflict that results from being between two or more cultures. In “The Namesake”, it is the struggle for identity of a boy of Indian origin in America that is portrayed, in “Anil’s Ghost”, the author describes the travails of a young Sinhalese woman, and in “Persepolis”, the heroine is an Iranian educated in the West. All these characters have one thing in common , which is the feeling of being an outsider among peers. A feeling of perpetual disorientation and discord haunts the lives of the people who are forced by circumstances to live as a part of multiple cultures. They can overcome this feeling of alienation by consciously trying to become a part of the prevailing culture . Thegraphic art novel “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. was originally written in French. A daughter of a noble family of Iran, Satrapi lived a comfortable life in Iran. In 1984, in her early teens, she was forced to flee Iran and study in a school in Austria. She feels like an outsider among her classmates at school, but struggles to acquire a sense of belonging. She returns to Iran after graduation and finds her country changed. She starts to feel like an outsider in her own country. In her autobiographical comic book “Persepolis” , Satrapi portrays the anguish felt by a young person torn between two cultures. The central character of the book, Marji feels like a stranger in both Austria and her own country, as Iran has changed into a different country during her absence. It has become an intolerant society where the government sanctions chauvinism, which she finds difficult to accept. “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri is a contemporary novel where the author has brought out the conflict the Indian emigrants feel in their adopted country , the United States, as well as the alienation felt by their children who are born in America. Ashima, the Bengali housewife who has arrived from India feels very homesick . When she is admitted in hospital during labor, she wishes she could talk to the other American women in the room for reassurance , but desists because, ”she has gathered that Americans, in spite of their public declarations of affection, […..], prefer their privacy.”(Lahiri 3) Ashima and Ashoke are caught unawares when they are required to give a name to their baby son in the hospital. They are caught between the Bengali custom of giving a “good name” and the American custom of giving a name at birth. Matters are made more complicated when the expected letter from Ashima’s grandmother containing the “good name” for the baby fails to arrive, and Ashoke is forced to give a name that he admires- the name of the Russian author Gogol, to the newborn. Gogol, the central character of the story is highly embarrassed by his name which adds to his feeling of being different from his peers. When his teacher tells the class about the Russian writer Gogol, the boy Gogol feels disconcerted.. “Each time the name is uttered, he quietly winces.”(Lahiri 91) Later he changes his name to Nikhil and feels more comfortable. During his first semester at college, he goes back home every other weekend although he would rather not do so. Whenever his parents are invited to parties, they insist that he accompanies them even though he finds the parties boring. By mistake he refers to New Haven as home, much to the consternation of his mother. She tells him that” after twenty years in America ,she still cannot bring herself to refer to Pemberton Road as home.”(Lahiri 108) We see Gogol changing into a typical American teenager after he joins college. He works in the dining hall and earns some money, has a girl friend. He comes to know that he is one of the ABCDs-“American Born Confused Deshi” , a self deprecatory term his fellow Indians call themselves. When he meets Maxine and her parents, he is astonished by the easy camaraderie between the girl and her parents. “ There is none of the exasperation he feels with his own parents . No sense of obligation” (Lahiri 138) When Maxine’s parents go for a holiday, Gogol mentally compares it to the holidays of his family in Calcutta. He realizes that his parents went so often to India due to a sense of duty while for the Ratliffs it is the sense of pleasure. Gogol’s father dies suddenly of a heart attack, which makes him reflect on his way of life. Later, he meets an Indian –American girl whom he marries. “Anil’s Ghost” by Michael Ondaatje is the story of a Sinhalese girl who is educated in the West. It is set in the Sri Lanka of the 1980s when there was widespread violence due to political unrest. The citizens were subjected to violence from three sources- the separatists, the leftist insurrection and government’s repression .Anil, who had gone abroad fifteen years earlier to study on a scholarship, returns to Sri Lanka as a part of a team sent by the United Nations to investigate Human Rights violations. Being a forensic anthropologist, Anil has earlier worked in other violence torn countries. Anil has never come back to Sri Lanka in the fifteen years she was away, as her parents were both killed in an accident soon after she went abroad. Now, after fifteen years, she sees her native land with the discerning eye of an outsider. In the years she was away, Sri Lanka has become a ravaged country, torn by violence. The government allocates Sarath, an anthropologist, to assist her in her investigations. They discover a skeleton which was obviously buried recently, among other centuries old skeletons . They name it “Sailor”. Since Sailor is found in an area which is only accessible to government forces, Anil becomes suspicious and decides to find out the antecedents of Sailor. Although Anil does not trust Sarath, she has to take his help . Sarath’s old teacher Palipana suggests that they reconstruct the face of the skeleton with the help of Ananda. After giving the face a peaceful expression, Ananda tries to kill himself and is saved by the timely intervention of Anil. When Anil tries to confront the government officials with the evidence of the crime, she discovers that the Sailor has vanished. The officer utters veiled threats and she is ordered to leave the country, leaving all her unfinished work behind. In Anil’s Ghost, the confusion felt by the individual when she returns to her country after a long absence is well depicted. Anil feels confused and impatient with the system- she points out that “ every political opinion (is) supported by its own army”(Ondaatje 27). Sarath replies, “You talk like a visiting journalist.”(Ondaatje 27). Anil still thinks like a Westerner, objectively. She replies to him saying that she could not ignore those facts. (Ondaatje 27) She herself has a western inculcated passion for systematic investigation, with a certainty that when the facts are put together ‘scientifically’, the truth can be easily reconstructed. Another time, when she is waiting in the hospital , a doctor comes and lies down on a bench and starts reading a book rapidly. He gets up when a nurse comes and taps him on the shoulder, and only then Anil realizes that he is a doctor. She thinks “If she couldn’t tell who was who in a hospital, what chance did she have ?”(Ondaatje , 38) Not only does she feel like an outsider, other people also treat her like one. She constantly hears comments on her position as a transient , who will slip away after her work is done. “You can’t slip in, make a discovery and leave.”(Ondaatje ,44) After she undergoes the rigors of life in Sri Lanka she and sees so many families scarred by violence , she rediscovers a sense of belonging When she helps Ananda when he tries to commit suicide because his wife had been kidnapped, her hands become soaked in blood. She hears about Sarath’s old and admired teacher being murdered. Wherever she goes, she sees people scarred by violence. “Those who were slammed and stained by violence lost the power of language and logic” (Ondaatje 55) Finally, at the end of her adventure , she feels a sense of belonging. In Colombo, in the Armoury Auditorium, she confronts the government officials with her evidence of state –sponsored violence. She says, ”You murdered hundreds of us” (Ondaatje ,172) She has at last come to identify herself with her roots. Sarath thinks , “Fifteen years away, and she is finally us.” (Ondaatje 172) The central characters in all the three books discussed experience a conflict which stems from their being between two different cultures .In the case of Marjane, it is the stark difference between the freedom of the West where she was educated , and the repression of women in Iran. In “The Namesake”, Gogol endures a conflict between his Indian self with a sense of obligation to parents and family, and his American self, with its inbuilt freedom. Anil, the central character of “Anil’s Ghost” has “lived abroad long enough to interpret Sri Lanka with a long distance gaze.”(Ondaatje 1) Being an outsider does affect their interpretation of the world around them. While In Vienna Marjane continues to struggle to achieve a sense of belonging , Gogol feels embarrassed by his very name. Anil finds it hard to make sense of the situation in Sri Lanka. All of them resist the stereotypical role hoisted upon them and emerge as people in harmony with their surroundings. Gogol changes his name which gave him so many anguished moments and lives his life as a well educated American young man . Marjane writes the graphic novel which becomes a best seller and is selected as the best comix of 2003 by the Time magazine. Anil earns the respect of her fellows by her courage. Works Cited Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake Harper Collins Publishers India . New Delhi 2004 Ondaatje, Michael. Anil’s ghost Vintage International. New York. 2001 Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2 Panthean Books .New York. 2004 . Read More