Toronto since the 1950s - Book Report/Review Example

 Toronto since the 1950s Toronto is the capital city of Canada. Like other great world cities, it went through a system of adjustments and growth in terms of economic, social, political, and cultural aspects. Some writers have praised the city through their work while others have shown how it has developed politically, culturally, socially, and economically. The city began as an industrial city but it has grown and developed into one of the major economic, social, and cultural centers in the world. The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai and The Torontonians by Phyllis Brett Young are compared in this paper while holding to the changes of Toronto since the 1950s. The two books show both similarities and contrast in various ways in which the city changed. The comparison of the two books is based on key themes and topics such as economic, social, political, cultural, and religious perspectives and practices. The key concern in two books is how Toronto changed to the state it is currently. In The Torontonians, Toronto is said to have started as an industrial city. It developed industrially to have car manufacturing industries. Toronto has, in recent years, gone through a reassessment and small cultural renaissance period. The book provides a view of the city at its earlier transition. The city advances to the international scope having developed both culturally and economically. The book is mainly about female and the upper-middle class experience at the time when the change is experienced. The book depicts a setting in which Toronto is like the City of London as depicted by Karen Whitney’s home, which is on the outskirts of the city, where overnight becomes suburban Rowanwood’s center. The novel depicts endearing images such as the buckweed lawn belonging to Whiney as part of the latest developments. As the novel develops, the protagonist of Young, Karen Whitney who is a housewife rejects the culture of postwar suburbia, which is domestic driven. She hopes for a more cosmopolitan way of life within Toronto, a now thriving central city. While exploring the circumstances, which informed the decisions of Karen, an historical insight is provided into an urban lifestyle. The urban lifestyle has now become much commoditized. Towards its end, Karen stands and looks west specifically across Toronto city from the heights of an office building in downtown (Young, 2007, pg.328). She first sees Toronto in terms of collection of landmarks but she later sees the city. Landmarks depict her upper-middle upper class while “the city” depicts the prevailing heights of poverty that has grown as the city develops. The Hungry Ghosts, is a story that talks about a gay individual within the upper-middle-class. This gay person is a Sri Lankan teenager having immigrated to Canada with his sister and mother. They were escaping from an ethnic violence as well as homophobia from their island. The books combines exploration works of karma of the way sins belonging to people’s past follow them their immediate and future lives. This happens until people make the necessary amendments. The book is written very well with various writing styles such as suspense. The main themes include mystery, romance, social issues, and religion among other aspects. The book has Buddhism as then main religion. The novel is centered on Shivan Rassiah who is mainly of mixed Tamil as well as Sinhalese lineage. To his grandmother’s dismay, Shivan Rassiah grows from beautiful boy to a gay man who to her is striking. This contradicts the Christian perspective of sex and marriage. Shivan Rassiah is now preparing to return to Colombo, which happens as the novel opens to the present day. These contrasts form some of the contradicting themes depicted in the two books. The two books are similar in scope, setting, and have much concern on social, political, economic, and religious issues, which are constantly changing not only in Toronto but also in other world cities (Kim, Chapter 5: Globalization and World Cities, 2012, pg.68). According to the book, The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai, the dead could be reborn specifically in the form of hungry ghosts. The ghosts in this case have so large stomachs that they can hardly be full. This could happen especially if the ghosts had desired too much once they lived. The novel brings in the theme of life after death and a notion that there is some connection between the dead and the poor (Selvadurai, 2013, pg.211 ). One a person die, his or her spirit turns into a ghost. Depending on whether the person desired too much or not, their ghost stomach would never be full when they would be living as ghosts. The relatives of the dead have the responsibility of ensuring that those doomed to the fate of not being satisfied are relieved by initiating kind deeds as well as creating good karma. The author creates a ghost that is hardly forgettable. The book uses Buddhist myth and religion in contrary to The Torontonians. Although the two books are rich in religion and religious beliefs, the practices of each religion are a bit different and their mode of change is also different (Sweet, pg129). Christianity is a religion that supports marriage between a man and woman but hardly allows gay practices. It seems that in The Hungry Ghosts that people are comfortable with gay practice. As much as religion is a key theme in the two books, differences are only evidenced in some religions practices. The two religions encourage good relationships among people living in Toronto. However, Toronto has Christianity as the main religion with almost all people celebrating occasions like Christmas and other Christian holidays. Buddhism is mainly an imported religion, with a few people practicing it. Due to this comparison, Christianity is seen to be a religion of choice to majority of the Torontonians. The Hungry Ghost talks about karma and a burdened family, which seems to always destroy their important things. This destruction is based on religious beliefs of Buddhism. People in this novel greatly believe in life after death, but after death, the spirits of the dead people turn out to be hungry ghosts with great desires. It then becomes the obligation of the living relatives to break such cycles (Selvadurai, 2013, pg.43). Breaking these cycles whereby after death people’s spirits turns out to be hungry ghost could only be done by offing kindness to the people requiring any kind of kindness. This religious aspect of Buddhism then pushes people to do good deeds to others. If people hardly do good deeds to others but instead hurt or harm them in any way, it could be reflected as a form of great evil desire. Once such people die, they become hungry ghosts (Selvadurai, 2013, pg.87 ). Life after death is a key concept in this case where people have to do good things and act in accordance with the Buddhism religion if they would like to live in good spiritual life after they die. The same religious theme is depicted in the book, The Torontonians, where Christians have to act according the Christian religious belief. In Christianity, people live a good life and initiate good relationships with others in order to avoid bad afterlives specifically in Hell. All Christians have a common goal of going to Heaven after death. Religious theme is depicted in the two books where people avoid doing bad deeds to avoid bad lives after their death. In the book, The Hungry Ghosts, the extent of religion is so strong that the Hungry Ghosts end up painting a vivid picture depicting life both Colombo as well as the experience of immigrants in Canada (Selvadurai, 2013, pg.104 ). Love is another issue depicted in the two books. Despite the fact that he is gay, Shivan Rassiah remains to be a favorite grandson to his grandmother. He lived under many promises including grand inheritance. Most of the promises were accomplished especially during Shivan Rassiah’s childhood, in The Hungry ghosts. He was promised and bought many things including books and bicycles (Selvadurai, 2013, pg.78 ). Life in Toronto is good but a bit stressing given the extent of his religious beliefs. Shivan Rassiah receives maximum love from his grandmother. Love in The Torontonians is in many ways. Religious love is depicted through religious relationships and presentation of Christian Holydays gifts. Toronto seems to have changed greatly in terms of religions with many people turning to Christianity. This is however the trend as many countries across the world compete to have the best cities and top economies (Kim, The Raise and Fall of Cities, pg.34). Economically, The Hungry Ghosts depicts a period when Toronto was a great city but not much development in both economically and in terms of infrastructure development. In the book, The Torontonians employs a setting, which is familiar to London’s creeping the city has advanced to look like more or less like London. In this case, people have advanced economically such that people have good homes as depicted in the book through Whitney’s buckweed lawn. In Rowanwood, houses having just one bathroom could be frowned upon since it is said to drag down other people’s houses and their market value. The economy has become very competitive such that the kind of neighborhood is of critical essence. In the book, Young paints a smart picture depicting the shape of Toronto as it appears within the mid of its transition period. The picture shows juxtaposing of the suburbs in contrary to the city’s downtown (Sweet, pg.129). Toronto is depicted as a great city. Social life has advanced to a point where the elite live within interconnected families with their children enjoying same but superior facilities like private schools. The book author says that Toronto has been a city that is constantly changing. Some of the scenes are set mainly against the pre-CN Tower aerial views, which is an indication of the constant change and an implication that people hardly step in the same city two times. Unlike in the olden days where people would visit the city and leave immediately after obtaining what they intended to achieve, this time people enjoy living in it due to the cultural diversities that have developed within the city with time. According to this book, The Torontonians, Toronto has changed to become a good city to live in (Young, 2007, pg. 247). The same thing is depicted in the book, The Hungry Ghosts, where the main character and his family immigrated into Canada from Sri Lanka in fear of ethnic clashes and other social problems. After completing his studies, Shivan decides to go back to Sri Lanka to take control of his family business, which include the management of estate property, justifying his good decisions, and deal with the locally operating gangsters. Later after things back home goes poorly, the only option is Canada’s Toronto City. This movement is claimed to be a demand from the ghosts due to his past deeds (Selvadurai, 2013, pg.219 ). Toronto and Canada as a whole has changed greatly economically, socially, politically, culturally, and technologically. Social-cultural aspects seem to change with time including gender roles and women position in the society. In the book, The Hungry Ghosts, Colombo has developed into many struggles for human rights by a human rights group. Traditionally and religiously, women have never been depicted as good leaders especially where tough decisions are required. The most striking thing in this case of human rights is that the human rights group leader is a lady. The books end with a great image of completely changed Canada and particularly Toronto. The two books are similar in showing the way Toronto has advanced with time. The advancements are both good and harmful especially to some social behaviors, practices, and wellbeing. Good religious values and believed have deteriorated. Increased cultural diversities have also contributed to the deterioration of some important cultural practices. References Greer, S. (2008). Urban Studies and the search for community in Britain and the United States after the Second world War. Between the Suburb and the Ghetto, 5, 75-85. Kim, Y.-H. (2012). Chapter 5: Globalization and World Cities. In Cities and Economics (pp. 65-81). Kim, Y.-H. (n.d.). The Raise and Fall of Cities. In Cities and Economics (pp. 37-47). Routledge. Selvadurai, S. (2013 ). The Hungry Ghosts. Doubleday: Doubleday Canada, Limited. Sweet, C. P. (n.d.). Chapter 7: Citycom Suburbs. Young, P. B. (2007). The Torontonians. McGill-Queen's University Press. Read More