Garbage Hills Myth

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When hearing the word “myth”, one may imagine an epic similar to that of the Odyssey where humans are directed by fate alone in a far off, mystical land. In her novel Berji Kristin: Tales of The Garbage Hills, Latife Tekin prompts readers to reconsider their understanding of myths as something remote and fantastical. She presents a modern-day myth set in a slum community surviving on the outskirts of Istanbul and centers her narrative around the everyday struggles and triumphs of marginalized people. In Nicholas Bredie’s review of the novel, he presents the question for those living in these outlandish communities: is their lack of choice their defining characteristic as it is in most classical myths? While I do agree with Bredie that language …show more content…

First, Tekin uses the wind and bulldozers to display how forces outside of the residents’ control oppress their way of life, and how they uniquely adapt to overcome these hardships. In the opening chapters of the novel, as Flower Hill just begins to form, she depicts the residents’ constant battle with the wind. It is unrelenting and devastating to the people as their houses and belongings were “picked to bits, tossed aside and blown in all directions” (14). Kristin personifies the wind and gives it a more active role as an overwhelming force that the residents have to endure. As the wind is a natural force, it illustrates the lack of control the residents of Flower Hill have over their environment, leaving them with no option but to respond to its destructive impacts. Despite their helplessness, Tekin highlights the residents’ unique ability to adapt to their environment. She describes how the “squatters climbed out on the roofs and lay down flat to stop them taking off” and “became accustomed to walking sideways, hands pressed to their sides, bowing their heads as they walked” (23, …show more content…

These negative rumors create a hierarchy that alienates the gypsies from the rest of Flower Hill. Members of Flower Hill thus have agency over their stories and how it affects others in the community. Later in the novel, western cinema takes hold of the community and women begin to dress modestly and show skin. Haci Hasan, a muezzin at one of the mosques, disapproved of this and faked his daughter’s death and miraculous resurrection, reasoning that “God had brought her back to this world as a lesson to the women who walked with bare legs and arms and their hair uncovered”. By framing his daughter's supposed resurrection as a divine lesson for women who dress immodestly, he attempts to exert control over societal norms. The story of Haci Hasan’s daughter spread rapidly throughout Flower Hill and the women “wrapped themselves in black cloaks”. The community’s trust in oral tradition is evident despite the impossibility of the story and this trust grants Hasan agency over his community, allowing him to shape and enforce cultural norms through storytelling. The author reinforces the importance of oral tradition by illustrating the community's rejection of alternative methods of

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