The Namesake

Gogol struggles as a first-generation American of Indian background. Although his parents had him in America and he was raised in America, he still struggled to find an American identity and where he belonged. Gogol could not even stand his name, changing it to Nikhil to become more Americanized. In Mcleod, hybridization is talked about as a same but different place, " Borders are important thresholds, full of contradiction and ambivalence. They both separate and join different places" (251). The part in the Namesake when Gogol's parents come to visit him in New York City while he attends Yale, is a perfect example of hybridization. His parents are in New York and living the American way, visiting tourist spots, however when it comes down to it they just want to go back to their Indian ways. When Gogol is staying at Maxine's parents house and they have the house to themselves he uses hybridization and lives like an American boy, yet he still has stuff to learn. Like the part in the book at a dinner when he learns " one does not grate Parmesan cheese over pasta dishes containing seafood" (137). He still learns more everyday about an American lifestyle. It is seen again when Gogol's mother makes him  call up Moushumi, although he is American and this is far from an arranged marriage, it has the same feel. A set up with a girl from their same culture, can be seen as step back from hybridization. Overall this whole book is comparable to Mcleod's idea of hybridization. Gogol is the perfect candidate pushing the boarder to the limit and trying to bring one lifestyle together with another.



It’s somewhat tough to believe that a guy known for losing his temper would change his name to World Peace. Ron Artest, now with the LA Lakers, has been recognized as one of the NBA’s top defenders for quite a while now. Unfortunately he’s also known for kicking things during games and he once destroyed a TV camera.


Yes this kid's name is Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116



 Although Gogol changes his name to Nikhil to become more Americanized, some change their names just because they want a new name. Some change their names for comical reasons and pick last names like "World Peace". Others change their names because they want to take a new last name for reasons of divorce and getting married. No matter what, people are enjoying name changes just like in The Namesake! The kid named Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, will most likely change his name like Gogol did when he is older. This could become complicated when at the age in school where you take standardized tests!

Buddha of Suburbia

Throughout the novel The Buddha of Suburbia Karim struggles to find his inner identity, or what McLeod would say, his hybrid identity. From the beginning of the book, even on the first page Karim introduces himself "My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost”, making his identity seem as if it is one that changes. McLeod discusses identity as being a cross “which go beyond older static models, such as national identity and the notion of ‘rootedness’”(McLeod 251). Karim battles this struggle in the theatre company he joins. He knows he is supposed to play Mowgli in their Jungle Book play, but he does not see himself as a darker individual. This is a battle between hybrid identities in itself. As McLeod says “his or her subjectivity is deemed to be composed from variable sources, different materials, many locations- demolishing forever the idea of subjectivity as stable, single or ‘pure’(McLeod 253). This being said, Karim needs to ditch his heritage to truly become a new nationality.  Hybridisation is the cross over point that Karim makes when playing Mowgli in the play. A lot of other characters in this novel seem to have identity problems as well, along with Karim. However Karim is a great example of McLeod's hybrid identities at the 'in-between'.


                                                                                                                                             
The lonely Londoners is a book a lot like The Buddha of Suburbia, Both are about Indian families living in London. "Moses, Galahad, Big City, Tolroy, Five Past Twelve, and other West Indians who have come to London in search of the dream. There to face a reality of racial discrimination, poverty, harsh winters, waiting to see what tomorrow brings. This novel both joyful and sad, is an ode to the survival instinct of the modern immigrant." Karim struggle hardships as well with fitting in just like the cast of The Lonely Londoners. He struggles with identity and where he belongs in a culture he is not from.

 

 

In This Scene from the Jungle Book, Mowgli is seen. Karim plays Mowgli in a play, making these two relate. You can see Karim struggle with his sexuality and needs throughout this book. Kaa the snake is now a sex symbol, which is crazy because this is a Disney movie. However the snake can be compared to the girl he desires from play cast who is involved with the director.

The White Tiger

The class system in India leaves Balram feeling that his murder was just an act of entrepreneurship, through the ideas and beliefs of their government corruption, murder may be seen as nothing but getting by in the days and the life of a low class citizen of the slums of Indian. Balram in White Tiger struggles to get an idea across through to China in the beginning of the book. He talks about how his act is one of entrepreneurship. He starts out working for a rich landlord, from a caste of landlords. Balram himself is from a sweetmaker caste which is supposed to know how to make sweets, however this is not the case. From the beginning of the book when Balram writes to China, he calls his act of murder, anything but that. Balram from the beginning of White Tiger calls him an entrepreneur on “About three years ago, when I became, briefly, a person of national importance owing to an act of entrepreneurship, a poster with my face on it found its way to every post office, railway station, and police station in this country”, calling himself this word over and over and talking about how he was only of national importance for such little time goes to say about the corruption of the government. Later in the book finding out that he killed his boss, shows more corruption of the government. The whole book makes this murder seem like something Balram just did to get on with his life, a natural instinct and something anyone in a low caste system would do to move up or even just get by in India.


"The characters can also seem superficial. Balram’s landlord boss and his wife are caricatures of the insensitive upper classes, cruel to and remote from their employees. Although Balram himself is somewhat more interesting, his credulousness and naïveté often ring false. When he goes to buy alcohol for his employer, he finds himself 'dazzled by the sight of so much English liquor.' When he visits a shopping mall, he is 'conscious of a perfume in the air, of golden light, of cool, air-conditioned air, of people in T-shirts and jeans. . . . I saw an elevator going up and down that seemed made of pure golden glass.'"-The New York Times




 
Donald Trump is alot like the landlords of Balram. He thinks he is better than everyone else and he has a show to higher people to work for him. He can be considered insensitive and annoyance to his employees. He is also like Balram because he is an entrepreneur, also getting there by not caring about others.

God of Small Things

               Velutha may be the God of Small Things to Rahel, Estha, and Ammu, being there for them in times of need, a best friend, someone to look up to, and even a God. Velutha is a character in The God Of Small Things, he has been through struggles and hardships, even people of Ayemenem spread rumors about him. Rahel, Estha, and Ammu have struggles of their own. Because Velutha is so strong and does not let the weak of the world get to him, he is someone that Rahel, Estha, and Ammu admire and put in a Godly vision. More than once they talk about how Velutha could not touch Ammu “If he touched her he couldn’t talk to her, if he loved her he couldn’t leave, if he spoke he couldn’t listen, if he fought he couldn’t win” (207). This time on page 207, when this is mentioned, Velutha is in Ammu’s dream. He wants to hold her but he can’t because he only has one arm. This is an example of struggle he has throughout the book to be able to satisfy and help their needs. He wants to be there for them as much as he can, but struggles are faced. Veluthia becomes a "God" in the eyes of Ammu, along with Rahel and Estha. He becomes a longing desire, and an escape from the hell they live in. "The God of Loss, The God of Small Things, The God of Goosebumps and Sudden Smiles" (312). Velutha brings smiles to their faces, when they struggle to be happy, and goosebumps to Ammu, because she is so desperately longing for him to hold her. Velutha is in a way a God to them, he makes them happy and he is someone to look over them.

Interesting Fact:The God Of Small things was not officially banned, but it faced controversy and challenges in India. Roy faced an obscenity trial for her depiction of love between a Christian woman and a low caste Hindu servant. The novel included pedophilia and incest, but apparently those issues were not what made the novel "obscene."

 

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a rags to riches story which show an over throw of political powers, and the success of social life. Jamal a young boy who is an orphan from Mumbai lives and breathes for Latika, a beautiful woman who has always been his other half. They grew up in the slums of Mumbai and had nothing but the means of survival to keep them going. When faced up against a political battle, when Jamal is placed on "Who wants to be a Millionaire", they fight a battle one never saw coming. Jamal is arrested for cheating at the game. The political battle fought here, is that the "higher class" does not want to see someone from the slums who is uneducated win their show that proves brains, which are gained through schooling, something Jamal never has had. Jamal tells his story to the police officer of what happened between him, Latika, and his brother Salim. Salim works for Javed who pretty much owns the love of his life Latika. The host of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" will do anything in his power to keep Jamal from winning the show, even if it is telling him the wrong answer in the bathroom, but saying it is the right one. Jamal is not deceived because he is used to deception like the deception of his brother in the early years of his life. Jamal truly used his "slumdog" knowledge of the streets to surprise the whole country of India. He is allowed to play the show when the interrogation is over, and the government finally believes that Jamal has not been cheating, just one lucky kid about to have a fairy tale ending. After winning the game show, he wins over the heart of Latika finally who escaped Javed's with the help of Salim. Salim dies, for his brother. This truly is a fairy tale, which is blockaded in many ways by higher political powers. Rags to riches, Slums to palaces. Jamal and Latika live happily ever after.

Jai Ho means may victory be yours. This song is a great example of exactly what Slumdog Millionaire is about. Whether the victory was winning the game show, or beating the slumdog life and not letting it ruin you, victory was won for Jamal. Victory once again is awarded to Jamal who struggled the whole time to save Latika from the evil Javed. Jai Ho is a perfect way to describe the transition from slumdog to millionaire. This song is an awesome way to end the movie!

Shame

Sufiya Zinobia represents the shame of Pakistan's discrimination of women, through her experiences as a first born child, being a woman. Being from Pakistan, Sufiya knows being born into a family as a first born, and a women, that this is something than brings shame upon her family. Not only was her dad disappointed, but her own mother treated her like she brought shame upon the family. From the beginning of the novel you notice how shameful it is to have daughters. Old Mr. Shakil had three daughters, keeping them locked up away from the world out of shame. They grew up with each other always fantasizing and making up their own languages. On his dying day his eldest daughter asked if they were going to be rich now, he yelled back "whores, the dying man cursed them, don't count on it."(6). This is how low women were really thought of in Pakistan. In Shame "a Pakistani father, murdered his only child, a daughter, because making love to a white boy brought such dishonor upon her family that only her blood could wash away the stain."(117) Being a woman, or daughter in Pakistan is just was Sufiya was to her parents, shame, that same shame that she represents to Pakistan, that of being a woman. It is known from the beginning of the book that the shame that Sufiya possesses will bring about about violence in this story. Sufiya blushes whenever even noticed, because she does not want others to notice her. At one point she almost commits suicide, which is the ultimate shame and violence. McLeod mentions how important women are to nationality, something that Shame does not recognize "we are reminded that women are participants in national, economic, political and military struggles, contrary to many nationalist representations which depict women in a supportive and nurturing relation to men". (139) McLeod goes on to talk about how women supported and were part of the decolonization and resist patriarchy. Pakistan at a time when women meant nothing, needed to realize that women were not their shame, just looking for a way to belong and help along the way.


Rushdie talks about the strange things women were not allowed to do in this video. He discusses how women were not allowed to dress Westernized underneath their burkas. If a woman was wearing a skirt her thighs would rub against each other making sexual friction and this heat would be shown through their eyes. He talks about how ludacris this is. He also talks about incest and what is okay and what is not okay. Things you are not able to control is not incest. They even went so far as to say if your aunt lived upstairs and floor broke and the aunt ended up in ones bed, that no man could restrain them self.

Cracking India

Blog Paragraph # 2

Feeling like one belongs to a nation is the most important aspect of nationality, In Bapsi Sidwa's Cracking India, Lenny notices everyone's feelings change among her friends, when the going gets tough. Cracking India discusses a time in India when everyone was clinging to a nationality, whether it was Hindu, Muslim, or Sikhism. Lenny notices differences through out this book that separates the different religions. From hair, to the young Muslim girls being allowed to wear make-up, everyone notices each others differences at this time to cling to religion, without anything else to cling to. Throughout the book Lenny's Ayah is a popular character at the Queen's Park. This is a place where everyone comes and wants to impress Ayah, from the ice-candy man, to  Masseur. Ayah ends up becoming fond of Masseur. Later in Cracking India Ayah's friends all flee Lahore and leave her there alone, and Masseur passes away. At this point, feelings are such a strong part of belonging and Lenny feels for Ayah " And Masseur's death has left in her the great empty ache I know sometimes when the muscles of my stomach retract around hungry spaces within me.... but I know there is an added dimension to her loss I cannot comprehend. I know at least that my lover lives somewhere in the distant and possible future: I have hope"(p.188).  Lenny begins to feel for Ayah because she means the world to Lenny, this feeling is also like the feeling of of belonging in a nationality. It is just that "a feeling". McLeod talks about how feeling is just part of why we have a nationality "These feelings of community are the emotive foundation for the organisation, administration and membership of the 'state', the political apparatus which enforces the social order of the nation"(p. 82). Everyone wants to feel like they belong, Lenny wants to Ayah to feel like she belongs, and also wants to someday find someone to share her life with. The feeling of belonging is the feeling of nationality and in Cracking India Lenny struggles to find where she belongs, wanting everyone to be the same.
This Muslim girl with make up on reminds me of the ones that Lenny would see walking around the park.This novel is completely about womens issues. Lenny being a young girl with polio and her Ayah who she eventually tried to cover for because she is of different religion but ends up hurting her by mistake. To the right is a picture of Ice Candy Man. This is the name they gave the book in India. They called in Cracking India in the United States.