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Analysis of My Journey to Lhasa
Influence of socioeconomic status on character development in literature
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My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David-Neel is a travel narrative that revolves around David-Neel’s treacherous journey to the city of Lhasa, Tibet at a time when it was closed off to all foreigners. David-Neel herself was a Frenchwoman by birth, however throughout the narrative it becomes apparent that her French identity isn’t the most accurate representation of David-Neel as a person. At the age of six, David-Neel began her fascination with comparative religions, an effect of her parents being of different religions. As she grew up, that fascination concentrated itself to Buddhism. As her knowledge about Buddhism grew, her desire to “go beyond the garden gate, to follow the road that passed it by, and set out for the Unknown” grew as well …show more content…
David Neel’s multi-faceted identity shifts throughout the novel, never truly aligning with one nationality. Instead, her identity revolves around an undying fascination of Tibet, and an inability to rid herself of her underlying Frenchness. Ultimately, David-Neel’s identity is only concrete on the basis that it changes based on its effectiveness in allowing her to reach her goals.
David-Neel’s identity, first and foremost, aligns with her original French self. The factors that impact that change in her identity are essential to understanding her true identity. When she began the journey to Lhasa, it was important for David-Neel to blend in with the people around her. Using her vast knowledge of the Tibetan people and customs, she chose to disguise herself and her adopted son, Yongden, as arjopas. An arjopa is a type of Tibetan pilgrim, who is usually poor and of a religious order. David-Neel’s use of this disguise for her own personal needs is a great indicator of her identity throughout the beginning of the journey. This is one of the first examples in the travel narrative where David-Neel appropriates the Tibetan people, especially the arjopas, by claiming their look as something to help her own
Xinran looked at Tibet through a lens of sanctity and love. Ma Jian took his experiences and his imagination to form five short stories dealing with different topics. Both authors use the title of their book to give readers a hint of what the book is about and see how the title intertwines with the text. Each book gives you a different perspective and helps you form your own lens on Tibetan culture.
Perhaps one of the biggest issues foreigners will come upon is to maintain a strong identity within the temptations and traditions from other cultures. Novelist Frank Delaney’s image of the search for identity is one of the best, quoting that one must “understand and reconnect with our stories, the stories of the ancestors . . . to build our identities”. For one, to maintain a firm identity, elderly characters often implement Chinese traditions to avoid younger generations veering toward different traditions, such as the Western culture. As well, the Chinese-Canadians of the novel sustain a superior identity because of their own cultural village in Vancouver, known as Chinatown, to implement firm beliefs, heritage, and pride. Thus in Wayson Choy’s, The Jade Peony, the novel discusses the challenge for different characters to maintain a firm and sole identity in the midst of a new environment with different temptations and influences. Ultimately, the characters of this novel rely upon different influences to form an identity, one of which being a strong and wide elderly personal
There are many factors that lead to the development of an individual’s identity. Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” illustrates an extreme change in Gregor Samsa’s external identity and the overall outward effect it has on the development of his family. While James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” illustrates a young man struggling to find his identity while being pushed around by what society and his family wants him to be. Both of these characters exhibit an underlying struggle of alienation but both also demonstrate a craving for belongingness. This conflict of trying to belong to something as well as satisfying the needs of society, has directly impacted their own individuality and the lives of the people around them.
...d and left with little cultural influence of their ancestors (Hirschman 613). When the children inadvertently but naturally adapting to the world around them, such as Lahiri in Rhode Island, the two-part identity begins to raise an issue when she increasingly fits in more both the Indian and American culture. She explains she “felt an intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new”, in which she evidently doing well at both tasks (Lahiri 612). The expectations for her to maintain her Indian customs while also succeeding in learning in the American culture put her in a position in which she is “sandwiched between the country of [her] parents and the country of [her] birth”, stuck in limbo, unable to pick one identity over the other.
1 Geoff Childs Tibetan Diary From Birth to Death and Beyond in a Himalayan Valley of Nepal (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) 41.
Tung, R. J. (1980). A portrait of lost Tibet. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.
The author’s writing about identity, for instance when Coleman hides his secret that he is from a black family and changes his identity into Jewish, makes each reader ask questions about their own identities and the elements that affect the recreation of the identities. Coleman explains to his mother that he is leaving his family and he plans to marry a white woman. When Coleman refuses his mother, because she is black, the author has made one of the most hurting scenes in all his work.... ... middle of paper ...
Jhumpa Lahiri was born as NalanjanaSudeshana. But as Jhumpa was found easier to pronounce, the teacher at her pre-school started addressing her Jhumpa. In the course of time it became her official name. Jhumpa Lahiri tries to focus on the issue of identity what she had faced in her childhood. Nikhil replaces Gogol when he enters Yale as a freshman. Here nobody knows his earlier name. He feels relief and confident. No one knows him as Gogol but Nikhil. His life with new name also gets changed. His transformation starts here. He starts doing many activities which he could not dare to do as Gogol. He dates American girls. He shares live in relationship. His way of life, food everything changes. But a new dilemma clutches him. He changes his name but “he does not feel like Nikhil” (Lahiri, 105). Gogol is not completely cut off from his roots and identity. He tries to reject his past but it makes him stranger to himself. He fears to be discovered. With the rejection of Gogol’s name, Lahiri rejects the immigrant identity maintained by his parents. But this outward change fails to give him inner satisfaction. “After eighteen years of Gogol, two months of Nikhil feels scant, inconsequential.” (Lahiri, 105) He hates everything that reminds him of his past and heritage. The loss of the old name was not so easy to forget and when alternate weekends, he visits his home “Nikhil evaporates and Gogol claims him again.” (Lahiri,
Whether we know it or not we all develop a sense of personal identity throughout our lives. Personal identity is the development of the way you view yourself as well as the way you want others to perceive you over the course of your life. For some people this may be more difficult than others because developing a sense of personal identity can be a lifelong journey whereas for others it can be as simple as getting through a certain situation and then realizing what you’re capable of. Personal identity crises not only occur in real life with everyday people but also in works of literature as well since they depict characters or speakers who struggle with the concept of personal identity. Examples of works of literature that
When encountering multiple identities of oneself, people start to get lost, whether they belong to this and that or in between them. As reflected from the title of this novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, ‘reluctant’ means unwilling and hesitated. It is clearly seen that Changez, throughout the whole novel, goes through a couple of striking experiences, where he starts to feel getting farther from the place he stays. This common migration journey is also written in another controversial but inspiring novel, Lucy, written by Jamaica Kincaid in 1990. Similar to Changez, the protagonist, Lucy, is a migrant from the West Indies to America. Both of them have different experiences at first, but they end up identifying themselves as a foreigner and suffer from loneliness. The reason behind this is because the original identity will not be replaced, it could be only added on. Since Changez and Lucy lives in other countries before coming to the United States, some beliefs and values have been naturally formed and inherited to them. This is the core of shaping their true identities. Although they somewhat get used to the American culture, including the people surround them, all of their families and friends are left behind in their home country. Whenever Changez and Lucy are reflecting their own past and future,
The film “Seven Years in Tibet”, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, shows the life of Heinrich Harrer. We find that Heinrich is miserable company throughout his life, but after he had spent a few years in Tibet he changed to a much better person. We find that Heinrich is very self-centred throughout his experience, Heinrich soon discovers he needs help from others throughout his journey and meeting the Dalai Lama changes Heinrich and his view on life and other cultures.
Her main immigrant characters fall mainly into three categories: the refugee, the hyphenated immigrant, and the chameleon. The refugee immigrant type is seen in Jasmine's father, Pitaji and in the Proffessodi and his wife, Nirmala. The character Du is representative of the hyphenated immigrant, and the chameleon immigrant type is that of the main character of the novel, Jasmine. By discussing the various types of immigrants the author has portrayed in the novel and the importance of names for each type, with an emphasis on the main character, Jasmine, the immigrant experience will be seen not as a generic journey that is similar for all people, but is instead a profoundly personal affair that is affected by that person's past life experiences and beliefs. The first type of immigrant, the refugee, is characterized by a longing for the homeland.
Identity is not merely a phenotypic trait. There is a frequently blurred line between race and identity. Mohsin Hamid does exactly this in his work. For instance, the color of one’s skin and country of origin are not sound foundations in which to make judgments as race and identity are correlated, yet the formation of identity as a result of race is inaccurate. In addition to inappropriate and premature labeling on the basis of race and unfamiliarity, life as an outsider in a new land lends to actions conducted in solidarity influenced by uncomfortability, anger, loneliness, and resentment.
Tibet, with its isolated, harsh geographical location and history of political and social remoteness would seem an unlikely place to provide a “cradle for creative art” (Bailey 22). Yet it is in this desolate section of the world that one of the most intriguing artistic cultures has been cultivating over hundreds of centuries. One facet of what makes Tibetan art so unique and interesting is its interdependency on its religious beliefs.