Name : Gausvami Surbhi A.
Assignment Topic : “ Post-Colonialism in Literature and Postcolonial Reading of Two Movies “
Paper no. 11, Postcolonial Literature
Roll No. : 23
Submitted to : Dr. Dilip Barad, M.A. Department of English
MK Bhavnagar University
Email id: gausvamisurbhi17@gmail.com
# Post-colonialism in Literature and post-colonial reading of Two movies
In many works of literature, specifically those coming out of Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, we meet characters who are struggling with their identities in the wake of colonization, or the establishment of colonies in another nation. For example, the British had a colonial presence in India from the 1700s until India gained its independence in 1947. As you can imagine, the people of India, as well as the characters in Indian novels, must deal with the economic, political, and emotional effects that the British brought and left behind. This is true for literature that comes out of any colonized nation. In many cases, the literature stemming from these events is both emotional and political.
The post-colonial theorist enters these texts through a specific critical lens, or a specific way of reading a text. That critical lens, post-colonial theory or post-colonialism, asks the reader to analyze and explain the effects that colonization and imperialism, or the extension of power into other nations, have on people and nations. post-colonialism asks the reader to enter a text through the post-colonial lens.
What the postcolonial writers did was as important as what the anti-colonial freedom fighters and activists did. That's because postcolonial writers challenged some of the basic assumptions (like "white people are better") that had justified colonialism in the first place. In other words, the writers' battlefield was the mind, while the freedom fighters' battlefield was… well, the battlefield.
Postcolonial writers emerging from Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean, South America and other places"wrote back" to the empire. They decided that the big guys—like Britain and Francehad been hogging the microphone for too long. Now it was time for postcolonial writers to tell their own stories, from their own perspectives. We all love justice. Isn't it nice when everyone's treated fairly, when we each have the freedom to do what we want and pursue our own happiness? That's the world we all want to live in. If you dig justice, equality and freedom, you'll dig postcolonial literature. Because it's a literature born out of the struggle of colonized peoples for justice, equality and freedom. Postcolonial literature is the literature of the underdog. All those people who were brutalized and exploited for decades by European colonizers, finding their voices and standing up for themselves—that's what postcolonial literature is all about Postcolonial writers tell history from their perspective and show how the history written by colonizers is—you guessed it—totally biased against the colonized and toward the colonizers. When postcolonial writers take colonial languages like English and French and use them to talk back to the colonizers in a way they can't help but understand, that's a fancy little thing we call appropriation of colonial languages. (shmoop)
Language and literature are together implicated in constructing the binary of a European self and N0n-European others. Which as Said’s Orientalism suggested, is a part of the creation of colonial authority. Literature in such reading, both reflects and creates way of seeing and modes of articulation that are central to the colonial process. It is especially crucial to the formation of colonial discourses because it influences people as individual. But literary texts can also militate against dominant ideologies or contain elements which can not be reconciled to them. Plays such as Othello and The Tempest evoke contemporary ideas about incivility of non-European. Both plays have been interpreted and taught in ways that endorse colonialist ways of seeing, but both have also inspired anti-colonial and anti-racist movements and literatures as texts that expose the workings of colonialism.
# Post-colonial reading of movies:
(1) “ Midnight’s Children”
'Midnight's children' is a novel by the famous writer 'Salman Rushdie'. Midnight's children won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981. It was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. it is a postcolonial novel in which writer gives account of events happened during British India and Independent India. He adds the beauty to these events by using the tool 'Magic Realism' which makes novel imaginative piece of literature instead of boring historical novel.
The protagonist of novel Saleem sinai was born on the exact movement when India gained it's freedom from British rule, 15th august,1947. He is the narrator of story and starts telling from the life of his grandfather. His grandfather named Adam Aziz was doctor begins treating Naseem his grandmother. Here one can read postcolonial feminism that Adam was not allowed to treat Naseem directly. Even Doctor can not check woman, she remained in 'parda'. Novel begins in Kashmir, the place is already problematic for India and Pakistan. Novel speaks about some minority muslim people who didn't want partition. But 'Islamophobia' spreads in such a way nowadays that we always blame them for everything.
Saleem born on the midnight of India's independence with giant nose therefore possesses telepathic power to gather children who born on the same midnight. other children also possess the enormous power. 'Magic realism' is the aesthetic aspect of the novel. so readers can not question or accept surreal things as telepathic power of Saleem, Even the mother Naseem can go into the dreams of daughters, Parvati's power of doing magic 'Abra ka dabra'.
Novel raises the ontological question of Saleem's life. We can find several gray areas about Saleem's identity. When we ask question epistemologicaly at that time we find several information about his existence and identity. Perhaps he is child of William Mathwold and slave lady so the problem of hybridity takes place. But then exchanged by nurse and got rich family. 'Let the rich be poor and poor be rich'. it suggests that we are thrown in this careless universe, we don't have control over birth. The identity which is given to us or label with which we live as Hindu, Muslim or christian is fake. Because we don't know the fact about someone's birth. Saleem lives with given identity but all of a sudden he come across the truth that 'he is not what he is'. And suddenly lost his fortune and becomes poor person. so at the end he speaks that 'I had many family and no family'.
Political crisis is one of the major events of the novel. Which portrayed the India during 'Indira Gandhi's' rule. Emergency is world-known political crisis for India.Novel evokes the pathetic condition of poor people. India got the democracy, freedom and progress at the cost of poor people. Salman Rushdie makes fun of India's progress by suggesting that India and Saleem grew together.
One can find a postcolonial aspect in novel and film. Because salman Rushdie was abandoned writer for India and 'Deepa Mehta' the director of the film is Canadian. So they portrayed India as a country of 'snake charmers' and the people who believe in superstitions. So they narrate 'Orient' people as inferior and badly poor.
In a way this novel has the postcolonial characteristics. which gives picture of India during British rule and after the independence.
(2) “ The Reluctant Fundamentalist”
One ambitious Pakistani man, Changez khan goes to America to have bright future. He belongs to the gentle and educated family. His father is a poet, well known person and respected by all. Changez khan has the great literary heritage.He belongs to great literary canon but distracted from that path. instead of following family tradition he went to America.He easily mix up with the environment and people of America. He is Intellectual man so proves himself better than other colleague and also got the promotion by owner of company. This may be the reason for jealousy of American people and they consider other people as 'outsider'. He falls in love with Erica, American artist. Everything was well going but his life changed after the attack of 9/11 on America.
Suddenly American people start doubting him because he comes with label of 'Pakistani'. Even her girlfriend Erica suspects him. She ask him that 'do you know anything about the attack?' Very furiously he replies that 'how can i know about attack?'. His moustache becomes the symbol of terror for American people. Even his love abuse him by portraying him as Pakistani and not as 'Human being' in her photographs.He recognizes himself as American and tells that 'I love America' but no one believes him and try to make him 'Terrorist' just because he is Pakistani. He faces many adversity adversity and finally he commit professional suicide and came back to Pakistan.
In 2011 Anse Rainier, an American professor at Lahore university is kidnapped. An American journalist arranges the interview a colleague of Rainier, Changez khan. Whom he suspects just because he was doubted for the American attack. Changez khan tells entire story to Robert Lincoln in flashback It's no wonder that the words 'Islam' and 'Fundamentalism' are tightly coupled in the mind of every person. everyone suffers from 'Islamophobia' which is only the oriental narration of power country that is America. It has spread Islamophobia in such a way that we always blame Muslims for terrorism. As Edward said rightly put that Americans narrate Muslims as 'Orient' and them as 'Occident'.
# Conclusion:
“ Literature is the mirror of society. “ One can find a direct reflection of society into literature. Society provides the theme and subjects of literature. Literature is the expression of joy, happiness, suffering, pain of writer himself. Most of the country colonized for longer period of time. And still suffering from the effect of colonialism. Which gets reflected into wide range of literature.
Works Cited
shmoop. 22 october 2017 <https://www.shmoop.com/postcolonial-literature/>.
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