False Acquisitions
“Innocent until prove guilty” does not really apply to Dr. Aziz’s position in The Passage to India. Dr. Aziz is accused of molesting Adela while she is visiting India. The reason Adela is in India is to visit her potential fiancé, Ronny. Upon her arrival she notices that the British citizens are separate from the Indians. Her and her companion, Ronny’s mother Mrs. Moore, decide they want to see what “real” India looks like. One day they travel to the country side to some caves. This is where all the problems occur, Adela ends up accusing Dr. Aziz and Dr. Aziz isn’t given the same rights because he is an Indian. This one accusation causes a great deal of trouble in Adela’s life that she did intend and it also reveals the big gap between the British citizens and the Indians.
The person who suffers from this gap the most in the novel is Dr. Aziz. Dr. Aziz is not a big fan of the English. His boss doesn’t help these feelings when he is constantly asking Aziz to do ridiculous things during the most inconvenient times. Aziz’s feelings toward the English are shared by many of the Indians. They are very grateful and happy that the English have helped their nation advance, but they do not appreciate how the English look down on them and treat them poorly. This is why when Mrs. Moore is kind and friendly to Aziz, he is confused because he has never had an English person treat him that way.
Mrs. Moore is a kind old woman that is traveling with Adela to India. She wants Adela to marry her son Ronny. Mrs. Moore first meets Dr. Aziz in a mosque and befriends him. She is very interested in seeing the entire country of India, not just the parts that the English had settled. However when the incident with the ...
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...oss. Aziz is always being called to do pointless things during all hours of the day. The English people saw the Indians as lower then themselves. This belief was magnified when Adela accused Aziz. People automatically thought Aziz was guilty because he was an Indian. The normal protocol “innocent until proven guilty” defiantly didn’t apply to this situation. In the English’s eyes Aziz was guilty before they even heard any testimonies. The reason for this was the racial tension. This theme was very prominent throughout the entire novel.
The Passage to India was a very interesting book to read. When I read it I found myself comparing the racial tension to the tension that occurred in America during the civil rights movement. After learning all about the struggle in America, it was interesting to see the same struggle play out in another area of the world.
I enjoyed reading Disciplined Hearts by Theresa O'Nell because i find that many people today do not know a lot about the Native American culture and what they have been through. Their cultures history is not talked about as much the African American or Hispanic's are. Most Americans know about the hardships that the African American and Hispanics had to overcome to assimilate to the level that they are today. I think O'Nell is trying to talk about the history of the Native American culture because, she believes that the reason that their culture is not well-known because of the fact that they have chosen to keep living like their ancestors and not assimilate to the American culture.
Pashtuns have more control over things, as Hosseini talked about in the novel, they had more control in their history. When Amir was describing his father as, “…a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a way ward crop of curly brown hair…” (Page 12), was way different compared to the way he described Ali, a Hazara. Amir did not realize that he was describing the Pashtuns as they were better than the Hazara’s, also when Amir mentioned Hassan he said how he did not call him his friend because Hassan was a Hazara and he was his servant. Although he did say they were like brothers because they grew up together but never did he say friends. The tragedy that happened in the novel when Hassan was rape, sometimes it can be seen as a betrayal because Amir did not help Hassan, Pashtun betraying a Hazara.
I chose the novel Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson because I have heard from many people that it is a compelling story which truly depicts the inhumanities of racism. Human emotions are intensely conveyed in such riveting detail that one can not read this book without it leaving a permanent mark on their heart. Furthermore, I was not very familiar with the Japanese encampments of the mid nineteen hundreds. I knew that reading this novel would broaden my horizons and lead me into unknown territory.
Lastly Khaled Hosseini looks at a Afghan family and how its each family members commitment and strong bond is what is essential in ones future/identity. In the novel it was evident that Pari’s relationship with her family, mainly her brother, Abdullah was Pari’s source of unconditional love and it was that very thing that kept Pari connected to her roots which is the very thing that shaped her future/identity. Pari’s uncle was the very reason why Pari was sold in the novel and the cause of Abdullah being stripped from his only family. In the novel the separation of Pari and Abdullah caused sever pain as Abdullah was not just a brother rather he played the mother and father figure for Pari. In the novel the author, Khaled Hosseini uses many
...not even wanted to think about having any further personal conversations. This teaches us how two entirely different people can carry one mutual heritage but being brought up into different cultures can be very different and UN mutual. Looking back in the story we realize and feel how important it is to keep our cultural believes when it comes to interact with different people as we are not only representing ourselves but also putting the county, believes and family hood on line. Having any kind off self issues should not be shown to people that are not involved in the situation, that also helps us to stay open minded and not selfish, which in the story Mrs. Das seemed to forget.
In conclusion, it is interesting to observe the cultural significance this story has. Tagore wrote this story based on his cultural experience in India. Little pieces of the story point to the way of Indian life and values. Coming from another culture, it wasn't too hard to figure out what Indian customs were like after reading this book. So Tagore, in my opinion, did an excellent job of providing the reader with a basic understanding of how relationships between men and women existed during his time.
Whereas the relationship between Maha and Harb is one of passion and love, Ihsan and Nadia are the complete opposite. Nadia hates how Ihsan looks at her as a woman always and never a person. She struggles to prove her capability of being an individual and forming an identity of her own that is separate and goes beyond Mrs. Natour. She proves that she can ‘think and feel’ for herself and by herself. In the West where we have women out on the streets rallying for equality between men and women, fighting in the armies, present in the workforce, these victories may seem minute. However if one pays close attention to social structures and social norms in different cultures one can realize that this challenging and questioning is as important and holds as much weight as getting equal wages for women in America.
Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of the story, “The Third and Final Continent,” grew up being aware of conflicting expectations from two different countries. As Jhumpa mentioned, “I was expected to be Indian by Indians and Americans by Americans (Lahiri, pg 50).” The Third and Final Continent leaves the reader with a positive notion of the immigrant experience in America. The narrator recalls his school days in London, rooming with other foreign Bengalis, and trying to settle in this new world. He talks about how when he was 36 years old when his own marriage was arranged and he first flew to Calcutta, to attend his wedding. This statement is unique because it depicts the differences between an American culture and an Indian culture. At the time of marriage he is 36 years old and he didn’t pick who he wanted to get married to. Marriage in India is something that most parents set compared to other countries where they can marry someone of choice. Indians settle down by an arranged marriage ma...
I must say that Rudyard Kipling's Kim can be interpreted as a project that articulates the "hegemonic" relations between the colonizer and the colonized during British imperial rule in India. Kipling's novel explores how Kim embodies the absolute divisions between white and non white that existed in India and elsewhere at a time when the dominantly white Christian countries of Europe controlled approximately 85 percent of the world's surface. For Kipling, who believed it was India's destiny to be ruled by England, it was necessary to stress the superiority of the white man whose mission was to
Although the story bounces between these two main "insinuations", it is never clear to me what or who the story is about and I found this to be an unfulfilling reading. In retrospect my previous readings of literature have been more of the atypical writing style. One that leaves you comfortable and secure and without guesswork "The Indian Uprising" avoids this style at all cost. The author's intent on writing in the style of a collage, although fascinating, is very confusing. I will be the first to admit I'm not the most avid of readers, but having to read a story two or even three times and still not fully perceiving its meaning made it an even more arduous read.
A Passage to India is the story of relationships between the rulers and the ruled. Forster has very dexterously highlighted different factors, social, political and religious which determine how they came together and had to live together. In this connection Mahood says:
through being accused of being behind the whole thing . How much worse could it
The measured dialogue between Reader and Editor serves as the framework through which Gandhi seeks to discredit accepted terms of civilization and denounce the English. These principle characters amply assist in the development o...
The Das parents’ negligent relationship with their children in Clear Light of Day mirrors India’s independence from Britain. Before their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Das were preoccupied and inattentive to their four children, Raja, Tara, Bim, and Baba. They spent most of their time at the club, playing “their daily game of bridge” (Desai 50). This pastime is so important to them that they neglect to take care of their kids. For example, Mrs. Das tires of “washing and powdering” Baba, her mentally disabled baby, and she complains, “My bridge is suffering” (103). Mr. Das also does not focus on his children and “he [goes] through the day without addressing a word to them” (53). Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Das are unable to ever form a loving relationship with their children because they both pass away. After Mrs. Das falls into a...
This is why Mrs. Moore is so revered by Aziz and the other Indians. She is too new a visitor to have become hardened, not having been there the six months Aziz and...