Compare The Old Woman's Nurturing Of Babar The Elephant

257 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of the Orientalist in modern literature

Through the old woman’s nurturing of Babar the elephant, Jean De Brunhoff’s Babar most closely represents Said’s argument that the Occident assimilates the Orient with a purpose of improving them based on their own understanding of what is proper. In Babar, the seemingly superior Occident represents itself as the old woman, while Babar plays the role of the Orient. When Babar stumbles upon human civilization, he is welcomed by an old woman who cheerfully educates him on how humans should act. Babar learns to dress, dine, exercise, bathe, and even to complete mathematical equations like a human. The old woman is glad to take him in because she believes that she is helping him. Much like the Occident, the old lady believes that her way of life

Show More
Related

  • Social Isolation In The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    Olaudah Equiano in his Interesting Narrative is taken from his African home and thrown into a Western world completely foreign to him. Equiano is a slave for a total of ten years and endeavors to take on certain traits and customs of Western thinking. He takes great pains to improve himself, learn religion, and adopt Western mercantilism. However, Equiano holds on to a great deal of his African heritage. Throughout the narrative, the author keeps his African innocence and purity of intent; two qualities he finds sorely lacking in the Europeans. This compromise leaves him in a volatile middle ground between his adapted West and his native Africa. Olaudah Equiano takes on Western ideals while keeping several of his African values; this makes him a man associated with two cultures but a member of neither.

    Read More

  • Themes In Alejo Carpentier's 'The Kingdom Of This World'

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of this World, many examples of recurring themes, images and symbols occur. In particular, the themes of hybridization and African versus European culture appear multiple times throughout the novel. However, it is not enough to simply look at these themes as trends occurring throughout the novel. Instead, these themes must be analyzed closely in order to provide possible insight into the author’s reasons for incorporating them so frequently in his text. For example, the aforementioned themes both relate closely to one another, and their presence alongside each other may indicate an underlying cultural or historic motive of the author. In essence, in order to truly understand The Kingdom of this World, one

    Read More

  • The Problem Of Old Harjo Analysis

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    Society is quick to identify problems in the lives of others, but always fails to recognize its own shortcomings. From the past to the present, this has been an issue that continues to plague mankind. In John Oskison’s, “The Problem of Old Harjo”, Miss Evans, a Caucasian missionary in the Indian

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rambo

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orientalism is the way that the Middle East is depicted by its’ friendly acquaintances over in the West. In other terms, it is a “racist discourse which constructs the orient for Western aggrandizement.” The way that the Afghans are depicted in the film alongside Rambo makes the audience sympathize with them. The little boy also looks up to Rambo. He looks up to him a masculine father-figure. Using th...

    Read More

  • Marco Polo, the outsider; Ibn Battuta, the insider

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nowadays the wide array of transportation means and infrastructures at our disposal has made it relatively easy for us to travel from one country to another; even when those countries are thousands of miles away from each other. However, during the 13th and 14th centuries, travelling was not that easy. Yet, two men, the Italian tradesman Marco Polo and the Moroccan Jurist Ibn Battuta became famous for having managed to perform extremely long distance journeys away from their home country. At the end of their long travels, both men shared their experiences with the world via the books, The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta. An analysis of those two texts reveals two things. On one hand, Marco Polo remained a cultural outsider to the people he met during his travels, thus enhancing his power of observation and stimulating his curiosity. On the other hand, Ibn Battuta travelled as an insider, and consequently he judged the people he met only in light of his Muslim background.

    Read More

  • The Travels Of Marco Polo Summary

    1621 Words  | 4 Pages

    Moral influence stimulates one's thoughts and direction within their interest. This changes within generations, for the reason that society is continuously evolving. The chronicles of two best sellers - The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo and The Strange Stones: Dispatches from the East to West by Peter Hessler - gives a great example on how foreigners enter the Eastern world with mentality/behaviourism. From a merchant's perspective, to a journalist who immerses himself into the society, both authors bring two distinct perspectives to this topic. The impact of social standards, that have evolved over seven centuries, essentially affected the approach and research shown in both authors in perspective of women, religion, the commercial industry and under authority. Through their

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast of Joy Williams’s Baba Iaga and the Pelican Child and Alexander Afanasev’s The Frog Princess

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    In one, a specimen-creating brute robs a pelican child’s life and her guardian trying to bring her back to life. In the other, a prince learns the value of his frog-turned-princess and sets out on a quest to find her. Joy Williams’s Baba Iaga and the Pelican Child and Alexander Afanasev’s The Frog Princess are both critical facets of the fairy tale genre. While initially it may seem that Williams preserved no elements from Afanasev’s tale, upon a closer glance, it is evident that the two tales’ similarities outnumber their differences. By incorporating a generous portion of the original story into his, Williams’s version brings forth an innovative arrangement of classic and new. As a result, William’s tale introduces features to the tale that mirror everyday life lessons while simultaneously maintaining qualities that are reflective of the definitional aspects of the fairy tale genre.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Michel Foucault

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    Orientalism, which became famous as a term after Edward Said’s book written in 1978, explains a power relation between the Orient and the Occident inspiring from the Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge and

    Read More

  • Alice Walker

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    •     AW’s work is deeply rooted in oral tradition; in the passing on of stories from generation to generation in the language of the people. To AW the language had a great importance. She uses the “Slave language”, which by others is seen as “not correct language”, but this is because of the effect she wants the reader to understand.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Lady With The Dog And Hills Like White Elephants

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    The principal characters from the short stories, ‘’The Lady with the Dog’’ by Chekhov, and ‘’Hills like White Elephants’’ by Ernest Hemingway are dishonest with the one they love and with themselves, they hide their real feelings about the person they are with, they are living an untruthful relationship, and as a couple they lie to each other. In ‘’The Lady with The Dog’’, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, they are both unhappily married to other characters, and after a while they engage in an affair, hiding their feeling to each other, just because they do not want to break up their marriages, they do not want more responsibility of what they have with each other. The same matter happens in the ‘’Hills Like White Elephants’’, The American

    Read More

  • European Colonialism and Imperialism in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, we can see the comparison between European and African culture occurring in many places. In a majority of the imagery, Behn's attitudes can be seen behind the text weighing heavily toward portraying European characteristics as socially more admirable.

    Read More

  • Cultural Collision In Things Fall Apart

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    Culture collisions are in our everyday lives here in America in our own little towns.  We might not notice our culture changing because it is a part of our everyday lives.  Culture collisions cause some people to triumph and some people to fail.  In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the Ibo tribe did not see these culture clashes everyday until the “white men” showed up and influenced the Ibo to change their ways.  Achebe shows how many of the characters react to this culture shock.  Obierika is one of the main characters that shows his sense of identity through this culture collision.

    Read More

  • Subtle Criticism in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a female writer trying to earn a living, and as the narrator of the story represented herself, Behn couldn't have the narrator offer too strong a criticism for fear of losing her audience. The narrator is presented as very European. She is very ethnocentric and seems to have no problem with the slave trade, only with the treatment of one specific individual (namely, Oroonoko). Occasionally, however, there will be a slip, a slight inconsistency in the narrators character, which offers a glimpse of Behn's true sentiments. For example, throughout the novel, the narrator is a strong believer in religion. She tells Imoinda ". . . Stories of Nuns and endeavour[s] to bring her to the knowledge of the true God."(41). She also tries to defend Christianity to an unbelieving Caesar. When discussing the natives of Surinam, however, she mentions that ". . . all the Inventions of Man . . . wou'd here but destroy that Tranquillity . . . and . . . wou'd teach ‘em [the natives] to know Offence . . . "(10). The first thing she includes as an "Invention of Man" is religion, implying that it is not essentiall...

    Read More

  • The Dilemma Of A Ghost By Ama Ata Aidoo

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    When two cultures meet, there is usually a disagreeable point. Either one tries to dominate the other, or both struggle for acceptance. This is shown by Eulalie’s behaviour in the presence of her in-laws and the reaction of Ato’s family upon knowing of his bride. Eulalie’s disgust at the ways and manners her fiancé’s family relate with her points out the theme of clashing cultures. Eulalie considers many of Ato’s family customs backwards and is disdainful of many of them. She also makes ignorant statements about the African women and culture. She states that all palm trees are the same, and she declares that knowing the difference does not really matter. The woman’s nonchalant act of smoking and excessive drinking displeases Ato’s family and even Ato himself. Ato’s family, on the other hand, displays the prejudice of thinking of African-Americans inferior because they are descendants of slaves. They think it is strange for Eulalie to have no tribe or surname, likening her to a “tree without roots.” When they hear that Eulalie is an African by descendant, the women in the house start weepi...

    Read More

  • Culture And Imperialism In Nostromo

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book altogether contains very verbose literary language, that may make it difficult for the lay man. There are numerous individual examples that may although relate to culture and imperialism, but is irrelevant or confusing in some part. Overall the book feels like a number of lectures stapled together with no progression of ideas, however everything...

    Read More

More about Compare The Old Woman's Nurturing Of Babar The Elephant

Open Document