Examining Culture as a Process Using Three Texts - Essay Example

Examining Culture as a Process Using Three Texts Culture and roots can be viewed differently from one time period to the next, even more so from one country to the next. By examining the cultural process and evolution which takes place within the protagonists of Persepolis 2, The Namesake, and Anil’s Ghost, one can gain better understanding of the difference between what culture and roots means today and also what these two aspects have meant in the past. The interesting contrast of Marjane Satrapi‘s struggle, depicted in Persepolis 2, is one of an Islamic woman wearing a veil who listens to forbidden music and smokes marijuana. The struggle which exists within Marjane is truly that of so many women in bondage to patriarchal religions and societies who experience some of what modern women may experience. The voice inside of Marjane that reminds her to wear her veil or to be secretive about her activities, is the deeply imbedded voice of her roots and cultural upbringing. Marjane however, is simply trying to discover who she is, independent from the role that her society has placed on her. Marjane’s eventful process of going from veiled Muslim woman with many restrictions in life, to educated, self actualized woman, is both long and painful, “To educate myself, I had to understand everything, starting with myself, me, Marji, the woman. So, I threw myself into reading my mother‘s favorite book“ (Satrapi, p 21). This type of struggle is similarly portrayed within the lives of the Ganguli family in The Namesake. Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli are both submerged into American culture, having both been raised in India. This takes place once they are married and move to America to pursuit Ashoke’s Engineering degree at MIT. The process of adaptation is seemingly much less difficult for Ashoke than for his wife by arranged marriage Ashima. The life of a woman and a woman’s struggles in particular are present in both of these texts. This struggle is specifically pertinent to being molded within a certain culture, and then developing into an individual within another culture. Similarly, in Anil’s Ghost, the struggle of a woman, Anil, is depicted as it pertains to cultural and political demands placed on women. It is Anil’s return to her homeland which incites her new found love for her roots. This is almost an inverse scenario from what is seen within Ashima from The Namesake and Marjane from Persepolis 2. Marjane and Ashima both are developing away from their roots, or at least attempting to while Anil returns to hers. In Anil’s struggle, she is reunited with the Buddha, in a sense. This return to the Buddha implies a life long tie between Anil and her roots as well as a tie to her culture of origin. Similarly, Ashima who is moved from her homeland to America, never really leaves her culture or roots. She is comfortable living within the same customary guidelines while in America, that she lived within back in India. Marjane however, manages to find her sense of self and identity when removed from the restrictive confines of Iran. Once away from her homeland, she is free of wearing a veil and other stringent customs, which she happily abandons. The process of leaving Iran, returning, leaving and so on; allows Marjane to not only recognize where it is that she is beginning but also where it is that she is going and desires to go in her life. By leaving her home, she is able to gain perspective on the lives and cultures of others in different societies. This is key in aiding her transformation into her true self. In contrast, Ashima is somewhat content with just being Ashima in India, But nothing feels normal to Ashima. For the past eighteen months, ever since she‘s arrived in Cambridge, nothing has felt normal at all“ (Lahiri, p 5-6). Ashima never quite accepts or gets used to American culture or society. She is most comfortable preserving the customs and way of life that she is used to. It is when she is married off to Ashoke and plunged into American culture, that she has opportunity to compare the two cultures and ultimately feels more comfortable in the culture of her origin. This is just as much of a choice and an individual decision as that of Marjane. Marjane recognizes the inequalities imposed on women in Iran and wants to be free of this. Ashima may recognize these inequalities of her culture, such as arranged marriages, but seems content with them as they are what she knows. Ashima’s arranged marriage to Ashoke resulted in a happy marriage full of love and acceptance. This is most likely not common, but is an example of Ashima’s adherence and acceptance of her roots. In contrast, Anil is sent back to her homeland of Sri Lanka on a mission and despite the inhumane circumstances of guerilla warfare, she is unable to not fall deeply in love with the land of her origin. Marjane Satrapi returns to Iran on several occasions to find a country at war, and this only pulls her farther from a sense of connection to her place of origin, “ It wasn’t just the veil to which I had to readjust, there were also all the images, the sixty-five-foot-high murals presenting martyrs, adorned with slogans honoring them, slogans like ‘the martyr is the heart of history’ or ‘I hope to be a martyr myself’ or ‘ a martyr lives forever’”( Satrapi, p96). At the end of The Namesake, it is Ashima who returns to her beloved homeland, after the death of her husband Ashoke. This is perhaps the most unique homecoming within the three texts as the homecoming of Ashima is entirely by choice for no other reason than she has no life in America without Ashoke her husband. She returns to the place where hse began as that is where she truly has been all along, “It reminds her of the life together, of the unexpected life he, in choosing to marry her, had given her here, which she had refused for so many years to accept” (Lahiri, p280). Sarath, from Anil’s Ghost dealt with an equally challenging situation upon the death of his wife, “Since the death of his wife, Sarath had never found the old road back into the world” (Ondaatje, p 277). This presents a different layer to the layers of life, culture and origin. These life changing situations such as the death of a spouse can often plunge individuals into a position of redefining themselves and needing to reconnect or disconnect from the world as they know it. In the case of Ashima, she chose to reconnect with her roots where Sarath felt disconnected from everything. The process of leaving one’s homeland of origin or of leaving the only place that one knows is frightening to some and even impossibly frightening to others. The very action of moving through life itself is currently viewed more as one’s roots than one’s history or beginnings might be. Certainly, it can be said that both of these factors must account for the cultural background and roots of an individual. If one is on a journey, moving through this life, they must have started or begun somewhere. That place of origin is as important as the place where they end up. Without beginnings, there are no ends or processes. In looking at the process of becoming and developing, it was certainly a positive process for Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis 2. It was however, not an easy process. Marjane experienced a life submerged in patriarchy, religious fundamentalism and war. She had an extreme amount of obstacles to overcome and lived in a state of fear much of the time when in Iran, due to the strict rules imposed by the Iranian government. She however, has become a well known author, living in Paris and has written books which act as inspiration and an educational component for many individuals around the world. In the case of the Ganguli family, the process of becoming was difficult but not nearly as much so as the difficulties faced by Marjane Satrapi. Although Ashima did not consider America her home, she found love eventually with Ashoke her husband, and a sense of happiness and fulfillment in her life. Gogal her son, may have found it difficult at times to be Indian-American, but ultimately came to appreciate his place of origin. This journey taken by the Ganguli family was not without difficulties, but it was ultimately a life none the less and was positive and fulfilling, in the end. The experiences of Anil in Anil’s Ghost, were more closely comparative to the warfare like experiences of Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis 2. However, these experiences brought Anil to a place of connection with her roots as well as to a place of acceptance and love of those roots. Moving away from one’s roots is a process and a journey, that in many cases brings one right back to where they started. This life is a journey for everyone, whether it is a trip taken around the world or life experiences which take place in one location. In reading these 3 texts, I do not envy much of what these individuals had to go through, but I do feel that their experiences made them who they became. These experiences would not be worth trading, as they have shaped the characters of these specific individuals. Works Cited: Lahiri, Jhumpa, 2003, The Namesake, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston Ondaatje, Michael, 2000, Anil’s Ghost, McClelland and Stewart Inc., Toronto Satrapi, Marjane, 2004, Persepolis 2, Pantheon Books, New York Read More