Alienation, disintegration and exile are terms that are frequently used in postcolonial literature, and it wouldn’t be wrong to denote that it is imperialism that has brought about a sense of disorder and alienation to countries that were ruled by the imperialists (Parag 135). Using Homi Bhabha’s concept of ‘unhomeliness’ and Hegel’s ‘alienation’ theory as framework, the aim of this paper will be to discuss how V.S. Naipaul strategically portrayed the feeling of being unhomed and alienated through the protagonist, in A House for Mr. Biswas (1961). Primarily, I would assert that this work is a personal reflection of V.S. Naipaul’s inner self, by understanding the nature of his writings, which are filled with works on displacement, alienation …show more content…
Naipaul, one of the most noteworthy contemporary English writers, is a creation of a post imperialist society, and is also representative of rootlessness and displacement. In an article, Sneha Gupta remarks on his life in a nutshell as follows: “Of Indian descent, born in Trinidad and educated in England, Naipaul has been placed as a rootless nomad in the cultural world, always on a voyage to find his identity” (306). He was raised in a Hindu cultural background, the influences of which can be seen in many of his works. Even in A House for Mr. Biswas, there is an abundance of descriptions on how Hindus conduct various religious ceremonies for different occasions. As readers, we learn that Hindus are highly conservative, traditional and religious, and are very particular about their religious and cultural beliefs, even when they are not in their native land. Naipaul also attacks the ideology that Hindus are content in living their lives traditionally and within their own shells, and do not like too many divergences. A House for Mr. Biswas is about an East Indian man’s struggle, while he is on a quest to find his identity. This novel is an outcome of his own experiences in Trinidad, and Mr. Biswas is a portrayal of his own father. Both Naipaul’s father and Mr. Biswas have striking
Daniel Pelka a four year old boy murdered at the hands of his mother, Magdelena Luczak and his stepfather Mariusz Krezolek. Daniel suffered a severe head injury. Previously, before Daniel’s death, teachers observed Daniel’s behavior while eating. He constantly stole food from the other children lunchboxes.
Patel 1 Jalak Patel Mrs. Herr Senior Reading and Writing December 16, 2014 The Natural Many people strive to become heros, but very few become one. In The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, Roy Hobbs is a fictional baseball player, whose dream is to become a hero. He played baseball as a teenager and never made it to the majors until he was 34years old. Before the death of the star, Bump Bailey, Roy joined the New York Knights and took over in the left outfield and led them to the playoffs.
This past Sunday, June 18th, America lost muslim teen, Nabra Hassanen to what most call road rage, and others, a hate crime. Hassanen, accompanied by a group of friends were headed back to a local mosque after a trip to a fast-food restaurant. It was then that they encountered driver Darwin Martinez Torres and an argument erupted. The altercation escalated, resulting in the capturing and death of 17 year old Hassanen. Torres had beaten her with a baseball bat, abducted her, and dumped her body into a lake.
In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, he explains how powerful exile plays an important role in the narrator’s journey to finding out who he really is. According to Edward Said “Exile is… a rift forced between a human being and a native place,…its essential sadness can never be surmounted…a potent, even enriching” .The narrator’s journey to finding who he is, was alienating and enriching. The narrator’s journey to alienation and enrichment began in chapter six of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man.
Lack of work ethic often stems from the lack of competitiveness in young adults and youths, according to Nicholas Trotter, especially lack of competitiveness in sports and mostly youth sports. Trotter’s worry is rooted in the young generation and all the trophies and awards they get for participating, he believes that these awards will hurt future generations work ethic. His worry for the younger generations work ethic is not just in sports but just in everyday life as a whole. Trotter mimics this belief in order to bring awareness to this issue that he believes needs to be fixed. Through appealing to middle class values, Trotter urges the parents of younger generations to think of these kids future and to find a better way to reward kids than just handing out participation trophies out that they did not earn at all.
Dr. James Naismith is one of the most important people in sports history. He invented one of the most popular sports today, basketball. He also pushed the limits of literacy, art, science, and technology for new hopes. That is why he is why he considers James Naismith a "Renaissance Man." Dr. James Naismith was born on November 6, 1861 in Almonte, Ontario, Canada (Logan).
Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies is filled with comparisons and various motifs that could instigate the interests of the reader. The diversity of the mother-child relation shown in the symbolic portrayals of motherhood that Lahiri seems to grant more than the most basic critique is admittedly one of the more curious ones. Lahiri does not seem to prefer or priviledge any of the representations, be it American or Indian, but she certainly creates a clear image that the two characters, Mrs. Das and Mrs. Kapasi, make as mothers. There is less detail about Mrs. Kapasi and her realtions with her children, but the first time that Lahiri mentions her, she is shown as a caring mother whose son died. Lahiri writes that “in the end the boy had
Historians who practice historiography agree that the writings from the beginning of what is now known as the United States of America can be translated various ways. In James H. Merrell’s “The Indians’ New World,” the initial encounters and relationships between various Native American tribes and Europeans and their African American slaves are explained; based on Merrell’s argument that after the arrival of Europeans to North America in 1492, not only would the Europeans’ lives drastically change, but a new world would be created for the Native Americans’ as their communities and lifestyles slowly intertwined for better or worse. Examples of these changes include: “deadly bacteria, material riches, and [invading] alien people.” (Merrell 53)
In “The Foreign Travels of Sir John Mandeville,” John Mandeville provides an account of his travels by creating an imaginative geography of the people and places he visits. Through this imaginative geography the idea of the Western “self” is explored by highlighting the differences between “self,” and the “other” – the peoples of civilizations Mandeville visits. It is in this way that the Western identity is formed – it is not concerned with what Western civilization is but more, what it is not. This dichotomy between self and other is explored in Mandeville’s writing in several capacities, specifically: the civilized human and the savage animals, the pious Christians and the uncivilized pagans, and the good and the evil.
Imagine yourself caught between two vastly different cultures in America- one you only see at home with your family and the other you see at school and in most other aspects of your life. Would you be able to pick just one culture? You know that choosing one would turn your back against your family, but the other would make you stand out in a crowd. How would you handle this dilemma? Jhumpha Lahiri, author of The Namesake, describes the journey of a Bengali family- mainly focusing on Gogol- who recently moved to America.
Everything is Dark and Unknowable It starts with a baseball game, a flying baseball and a nearly blinded eye. That is how The Chosen by Chaim Potok starts. Throughout his wonderful book there are many themes that are tied through the book, Religion, Friendship, but most important of all is the theme of the eye. From literally seeing to the figurative eye, Potok ties the eye wonderfully throughout the entire book, making it a wonderful book to read from young to old.
Alienation is the process of feeling lonely due to someone 's lack of experience that separates them from society. As a result, characters in The Dubliners collection by James Joyce, such as “Araby” and “The Dead”, suffer from alienation. Joyce explores the feeling of being the “other” through its main character Araby from “Araby” and Gabriel Conroy from “The Dead”. Araby and Conroy are both very different from being young or old,uneducated or educated, and poor or wealthy. These characters show us in their story’s how doesn 't matter which lifestyle choice one makes because no matter what no one can escape from that one moment in your life where one feels as if they do not
Ka Her Guy Thorvaldsen Literary Analysis 29 October 2015 Literary Analysis of Alienation in Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog As we live out our lives, it may be hard to fathom the fact that we are one in 7.1 billion people. However, even with such a population, many find themselves or at least feel alienated from those around them with the implementation of their own doing, some else’s, their society, or a combination of all of them. In Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog, the theme of alienation weaves throughout the novel as we follow the struggles of Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani, Kathy Nicolo, and Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon in the custody battle over the Nicolo bungalow. Through the complex plot, carefully-crafted characters, and enchanting writing, Dubus throws us into the lives of these three people observing how they live, how they handle adversity (whether of the past or the present), and how they ultimately find a solution to the chaotic, should-not-have-happened-in-the-first-place situation. As we unfold the lives of Behrani and Kathy in Dubus’ House of Sand and Fog, the theme of alienation becomes evident through how they view themselves, how their families treat them, and how the culture of their society has shaped them and where the society places them within itself.
We are going to see to what extent we can say that Macaulay’s “Minute on Indian Education” reflects British society and the western point of view at the time. In a first part, we will focus on the opposition between Orientalists and Anglicists and in a second part, we will see about the western society seen as culturally superior compared to other nations and societies. On one hand, there was an opposition
The Mimic Men (1976) has been written by V.S Naipaul with so many characters that has so many good and bad values that we can learn from it. The relationship among each characters and their attitude towards each other can be explained clearly in this novel. The protagonist and the narrator of this novel is Ranjit Ralph Singh, the main character in this novel. He is a politician and a businessman who born and raised in Isabella.