Unit-18
Immigration and Identity
"We
are all immigrants. Some people have forgotten that." Moises Rodrigues
Reading
Identity
Crisis in Immigrants
Jonathan
Yardley, The Washington Post
a. Who are immigrants? Do you think that people living
in foreign countries have no identity?
Ans:- When people cross national borders during their migration,
they are called migrants or immigrants from the perspective of
the destination country. Identity is that which an answer of the question
"who am I?". Our language,
ethnicity, tradition, culture, lifestyle, customs, behaviors, eating behavior,
costumes, and religion help to shape our identity. In our homeland or
birthplace we are accustomed with these behaviors easily which help to shape
our identity. When we go to foreign land we have to assimilate and mimic
other's behavior, tradition, language, culture, religion and so on and we feel
identity crisis.
b. Complete the bubbles with the terms related to
identity.
Key points of the book review:
v This is a review of V.S. Naipaul's novel 'Half A Man' (2001)
by Jonathan Yardley published in The Washington Post. Different to Naipaul's
other works, Half A Life made him Nobel Laureate. This book presents his worry
on cultural and racial identity in an ironic tone.
v The theme of the novel is found in a scene, at the three
quarters of the novel, when Willie Chandran encounters a tiller being abused by
his Portuguese boss at a restaurant in an African Nation. Through Anna, part
Portuguese and part African, Willies knows the tiler to be an illegitimate
child of an African girl and a rich Portuguese landowner. He is carrying the
shame of his birth on his face like a brand, and Willie is worried about his
identity.
v The theme of the novel is found in a scene, at the three quarters
of the novel, when Willie Chandran encounters a tiller being abused by his
Portuguese boss at a restaurant in an African Nation. Through Anna, part
Portuguese and part African, Willies knows the tiler to be an illegitimate
child of an African girl and a rich Portuguese landowner. He is carrying the
shame of his birth on his face like a brand, and Willie is worried about his
identity.
v As a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, Willie's father belonging
to high caste married to a girl of low cast for leaving a lasting kind of
sacrifice.
v Somerset Maugham, a British writer, noticed Willie's
father's sacrifice when he was in India for his book and portrayed him in his
book. Because of unhappy and strange relationship Willie and his brother Saroja
born. Being unhappy in India Willie manages to get a scholarship in a college
in London and flees there.
v In London, Willie
progresses in his study, and begins to feel disdain and unconcern of British to
his father, but his disdain turns into compassion because he finds freedom
there. He doesn't find racial discrimination, and feels that he can remake
himself, his past and his ancestry.
v He starts to create his history there. He takes part in
Bohemian immigrant life of London and realizes their unconventional lifestyle.
He starts writing scripts for the BBC and later writes stores bringing plots
from different movies,
v He can't
find materials for his writings, faces difficulties in writing and stops. He
collects his stories and publishes a little book of stories. Except Ana, the
book is neglected universally. A mixed African background girl Ana finds
similarities between the condition of her life and content of the book. They
manage to meet. Willie feels comfortable with Ana who accepts him completely.
v Ana decides
to leave London for her Portuguese African country, Willie follows her. To live
a second rank Portuguese is event to have high status there and even Willie
finds acceptance there. But most of people like Willie are living a life of
second rank there. Willie feels that whenever he goes in the world his own land
is no more certain and secure than that. Seeking an identity in other's countries
is not possible.
v This
is the central point of Naipaul told in a fine point. The omniscient narrator
tells this story from the point of view of Willie, but this is the story of
Naipaul who discovers that he has been living in other's countries mimicking
their behaviors to hide his past.
Exercises
Ways with words:
A. Find the words from the text to solve
the crossword puzzle below. The meanings of the words are given in the clues.
Across:
2.
As is certain to happen - inevitable
4.
Famous and respected -eminent
6. A
temporary stay- sojourn
7.
Knowing everything - omniscient
Down:
1. The
state of being preoccupied-preoccupation
3. Anxious
or fearful that something bad will happen- oppressive
5. a
person of mixed white and black ancestry - mulatto
B. Find the meanings of the following
words in a dictionary as they are used in the text.
melancholy, elusive, motif, disdain,
fabricate, intoxicate, resentment
Melancholy- a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause
Elusive- difficult to find, catch, or achieve
motif - a central or frequent idea in an artistic work
disdain- the feeling that someone or something is worthless of one's concern
or admiration
fabricate - invent (something) in order to deceive
intoxicate - to cause someone to lose control of their faculties or
behavior
resentment - bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly
C. Do the
bold words in the following sentences have the same pronunciation but different
meanings?
Dear Board
of Education
I am also board of education!
Homophones
are words with the same pronunciation but having different meanings and
spellings. For example, board and bored, meet and meat are homophonous.
D. Choose
the right word to fill in the blanks.
a. Can you bury
the box in the back garden? (bury/berry)
b. Alex could not break the branch off the tree. (break/brake)
c. Whose
pencil is on the floor? (who's/whose)
d. We have got very few tasks (phew/few) left. (phew- expressing a strong
reaction of relief, or of disgust at a smell)
e. Some tribes worship their gods before the prey. (prey/pray)
f. Damn
it. Everything is messed up. (Dam/damn) (damn- curse)
Comprehension
Answer
these questions.
a. How is
Willie Chandran different from the rest of his family?
Ans:- Willie Somerset Chandran is a mixed racial person born out
of a Brahmin father and a dalit mother. He is different to the rest of his
family because he is neither a Brahmin nor a dalit child. He is unsecure about
his mixed racial identity.
b. Who is
the main character of Half a Life? How is he described?
Ans:- The main character of V.S. Naipaul's novel "Half A
Life" is Willie Somerset Chandran. His father was a man of high cast who
married a woman of backward caste. He was born in India 40 years ago. He got
his middle name from a British writer Somerset Maugham. He is unhappy in India
so he goes to England for his higher identity and secure identity. He migrates
to different countries in search of his identity but at the last he finds that
nobody is more certain and secure in his/her own land than in foreign land.
c. Why does
Willie leave India?
Ans:- As a child of a high caste father and a low caste mother,
Willie feels that he has no certain identity in India. He is hateful to his
father as in the name of sacrifice, being a high caste people who married to a
low caste woman out of whom he got birth. He is bitterly unhappy in India and
by managing a scholarship in London, he leaves India.
d) What is
the revelation that Willie begin to feel in college and in London?
Ans:- Willie begin to feel that he is secure
and free unlike in India where racial discrimination plays a vital role. There
he could write his own revolution, remake himself, his past and his ancestry.
e. Why does
Willie accompany Ana?
Ans:- Willie writes stores
there in London, and manages to publish a little book of stories which is
ignored universally except Ana- a mixed African girl. Because of her
words and behavior, Willie likes her and decided to go back home to her
Portuguese African country where he can find a complete acceptance.
f. What is
the central issue Naipaul has raised in the novel?
Ans:- In the novel "Half A
Life", V.S. Naipaul has raised an issue of identity crisis regarding
ethnicity and culture. In the name of religion and caste, some people specially
having mixed racial identity feel insecure in their birth place and in search
of certain identity and freedom migrates to different place but the ultimate
certain and secure place is own birthplace.
Critical Thinking
a. What kind of divided identity is
depicted in the novel 'Half a Life'? How do characters in the novel try to
create new identities for themselves? Explain.
Ans:- According to the review of the
novel 'Half A Life', there are three characters having mixed racial or divided
identities. They are Willie, Ana and a big light eyed man. Willie, the central character of the novel has
divided identity because of his birth from a Brahmin father and a low caste
mother. Because of racial discrimination that prevails in India, Willie feels
unsecure and loss of identity. He is unhappy in India and to find his freedom
and identity he migrates to London. Ana is another character having same kind
of divided identity. She belongs to a mixed African identity (part Portuguese
and part African) similar to the identity of Willie. Willie and Ana like each
other. Ana has also come in London in search of her identity but later after
meeting Willie, she feels that she may have a high status in her Portuguese
African country even to be a second rank Portuguese than mimicking other's
behavior to hide her past. Willie also follows her to her home country in a
hope of a complete acceptance there. But he also feels there lack of identity.
He sees the plight of an illegitimate man illegally born out of and African
mother and a Portuguese landowner father. Such people are abused by Portuguese
people because of the same of their birth.
b. Discuss the similarities between the
author and the protagonist in the novel?
Ans:- Half a Life is a novel written by V.S. Naipaul in 2001. The novel revolves around the story of Willie Somerset Chandran, whose father is a Brahmin from the Hindu caste system and his mother a Dalit. Willie's middle name 'Somerset' comes from the name of an English writer called Somerset Maugham who had visited Willie's father in a temple once. Willie has a strained relationship with his father and decides to leave India so as to go and study in London, England. He lives the life of a poor immigrant whilst in London but later writes a book and manages to publish it. The publishing of his book leads to Willie receiving a letter from a fan called Ana, who admires the book and wants to meet Willie. Ana and Willie fall in love and Willie goes back with Ana to her homeland in Africa. The novel ends with Willie leaving his 18 year stay in Africa and going to live with his sister in Berlin. Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad on 17 August 1932, and the eldest son of a second-generation Indian. He was educated at Queen's Royal College, Trinidad, and, after winning a government scholarship (1950), in England at University College, Oxford. His novel 'Half a Life' records Naipaul’s exiled life and manifests the splits among subjectivity, geography, and language toward multicultural and fluid identity. The masterpiece also portrays the protagonist Willie’s constant exiled life from India, England, Africa, and Germany so as to rediscover and affirm his self-identity.
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