The Punjabi Community in Young Adult Fiction:

Constructing Second and Third Generation Immigrant Identity in the Works of Bali Rai

Diplomarbeit

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades

einer Magistra der Philosophie

an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

vorgelegt von

Maria SUNTINGER

am Institut für Anglistik

Begutachter: A.o. Univ.- Prof. Mag. Dr. phil Martin Löschnigg

Graz, 2013

To my family and friends for their continuing support, as well as to Wagner and my fellow scholar and cardinal for sharing their wisdom

Table of Contents

1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1

2. The Punjabi Community in the United Kingdom........................................................................... 3

3. Creation of the cultural environment in Bali Rai's Young Adult Novels...................................... 10

4. The Protagonists and Their Antagonists........................................................................................ 30

5. Bali Rai in the Classroom.............................................................................................................. 54

6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 64

Works Cited....................................................................................................................................... 66

1. Introduction

As a teacher-to-be, one of the priorities of this thesis had to be its adaptability to the Austrian

curriculum and since migration is a topic that can and should no longer be ignored in our schools I

chose to use several of British author Bali Rai’s young adult novels. He himself is a second

generation Punjabi immigrant to the United Kingdom and hence a suitable spokesman for young

adults and teens who have to deal with the advantages and difficulties of their cultural heritage. He

has already won several awards and two of his books were shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage

Prize. The aim of this thesis is to give an insight into how Rai portrays the troublesome worlds and

identity struggles of teenagers and young adults of Indian Punjabi ethnicity. They do not only have

to deal with average teenage problems such as finding a partner and getting through school, but are

also confronted with families that often emphasise traditions and values that differ from the ones

shared by their white peers. As it is vital for the reader to have a basic knowledge of the Punjabi

culture in order to comprehend the protagonists' as well as the antagonists' actions the thesis starts

with a discussion of the value system and the traditions of Punjabi culture and information about the

Punjabi migration to the United Kingdom is given. It is important to notice that when using the term

Punjabi this thesis is referring to the people from the state Punjab in India, not the region in

Pakistan; additionally when not indicated otherwise, the term refers to the Punjabis of Sikh religion

even though, there are also Muslims, Hindus and Christians living there. The actual analysis is split

into two parts: the first one focuses on the cultural environment of Bali Rai's novels and novellas;

these include certain cultural concepts such as honour, food or gender roles, but also basic literary

concepts like setting and language. The second part looks at the way Rai creates his protagonists

and their antagonists and how the differences between them are used to create suspense. Finally, in

the last chapter some elements of the literary analysis are applied to create a concept for teaching

the discussed novels and novellas in the Austrian classroom.

However, since the thesis focuses on young adult literature, an attempt at defining the term should

be made first of all. When reading secondary literature about young adult literature one soon notices

that a definition as such cannot be given easily. While some authors consider Salinger's The

Catcher in the Rye (cf. Lubar 2003:19) to be the first young adult novel, others argue that the genre

has always existed and that it simply has not been recognised as such. They regard Huckleberry

Finn or Great Expectations to be works of young adult literature, as they tell tales of two boys

growing up and struggling with their identities (cf. Hill- Stanford 2013). It could be argued that the

style of these books does not necessarily appeal to the mind of a young readership, yet it should be

pointed out that the one thing the majority of literature for young adults has in common is the first-

1/72

person narrator, just like Pip in Great Expectations (cf. Pölzleitner et Schumm Fauster 2013: 26).

Gary M. Salver on the other hand suggests not reading Great Expectations in the classroom at all,

but to discuss a similar, modern book instead (cf. 2000: 87). Even if most authors and teachers do

not agree on when the phenomenon of young adult literature started, they at least concur up to a

certain point on the characteristics it shares. Bushman and Parks Haas narrow them down to the

following: “conflicts are often consistent with the young adult's experience, themes are of interest to

young people, protagonists and most characters are young adults, and the language parallels that of

young people” (2006: 2). While this definition is certainly a rather open one it at least covers all the

many thematic and experimental possibilities that the young adult novel has expanded to over the

past decades. When once they were used to merely lecture the reader, they can now be found in any

genre and dealing with any topic. While fantasy is covered by such books as Harry Potter or The

Hunger Games, a Native American teenager is trying to break out of his miserable life in the semi-

autobiographical novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and Liesel fights for

survival in Germany during World War II and shares a special relationship with Death in the highly

praised historical fantasy novel The Book Thief. The range of literature for young adults spans from

critically well received works to less demanding ones, which also implies that it has the capability

to satisfy any kind of reader. Instead of insisting on reading the classics, it is this diversity that

teachers should recognise and exploit shamelessly in order to get their students to read, as the joy of

reading simpler works could just spark enough interest for literature: some day they might decide to

read Dickens, Eyre and Wilde after all.

2/72

2. The Punjabi Community in the United Kingdom

As the books are analysed according to how the identities of the British protagonists of Punjabi

descent are constructed, the community in the United Kingdom, as well as its origin in India should

be introduced properly. This chapter first looks at the state of Punjab in India and then at the Punjabi

diaspora and its causes as well as the British regions they migrated to. Finally it discusses the

Punjabi culture, the traditions and values they brought with them to the United Kingdom and how

some of them changed. It is important to note that diaspora in this case is not only the dispersion of

a people across other countries and continents, but that the term is used according to Chanda’s and

Ghosh’s definition and also includes the relationship the Punjabis still have with their home country

(cf. 2012: 1).

Punjab is a state situated in the Northwest of India and even though it only makes up 1,7% of the

entire country, with 27.704.236 inhabitants it contains 2,1% of its entire population. Only a third of

Punjabis live in cities. The region’s primary source of income is agriculture, providing 21% of the

entire country’s wheat, 8,5% of its rice and 7,5% of its cotton, thus being among India’s most

prosperous regions1. As agriculture is the main source of income several references to the

protagonists’ descent of farmers can be found in the books. The majority of the population is Sikh,

the biggest minority is Hindu, and approximately 2% is Muslim. The controversy between the faiths

can be seen well in the novels and will be discussed thoroughly in the following two chapters; it

seems to be an issue that the Punjabis brought with them to their new homes in Britain. The tension

between the three religions dates back to long before the British conquered India, however, their

dominance did not help to diminish the pre-existing hostility among them, instead Britain’s

economic policies rather enforced the differences between them. The Muslims and Sikhs became

involved in agriculture whereas the Hindus were used in the service sector. These occupational

differences were formed along religious lines and their further emphasis by the British certainly

played a part in the failure of later attempts to create a collective Punjabi identity, rather than a Sikh

Punjabi, Hindu Punjabi and Muslim Punjabi one as it is the case now (cf. Singh 2012: 157).

Migration from the Punjab to Britain started as early as the 17th century, firstly only as servants, but

shortly after nobility started to arrive as well, though rather to study than to work. This first form of

migration was caused by the conquest of the Punjab through the East India Company. Later on the

Company recruited Punjabi men as soldiers and labourers and thus indirectly lead to their diaspora 1Online references that cannot be cited according to the criteria of the English department are cited via footnote to not disrupt reading any more than necessary.

cf. http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/sasia/punjab/PJtopic4.html

3/72

to the African Continent, as well as other Asian countries and South America. The causes for

migration started to change and where no longer triggered by economic necessities only, but also by

relationships with immigrants, especially from British East Africa, resulting in the arrival of more

Punjabis in that area. In the 1960s and 1970s Africanisation policies of these countries made it

necessary for the Punjabis to leave and find a new home yet again. The majority of these refugees

decided to make Britain their new home, thus being part of the secondary migration to the United

Kingdom. A wave of direct migration arrived at roughly the same time, in the 1950s and 1960s; it

can be assumed that the grandparents in some of the novels were part of it. The main reason for

migration to Britain was the hope to build a better life for them and their families, as many of the

possibilities such as educational facilities that the United Kingdom offered the Punjabis were

unavailable to them in India. What started as yet another migration movement of young males soon

included families and spouses as they followed the workers to their new home country (cf. Chanda

et Ghosh 2012: 4f.). This theme is also picked up in the novel (un)arranged marriage as Manny’s

father wants to force his son to marry a friend’s daughter in order to get her a permit to remain in

the United Kingdom. There are of course still Punjabis migrating to Britain today, yet not as many

as fifty years ago, as the state has become more prosperous and is now among the richest in India

(cf. Gupta et. Sidhartha 2013). It is difficult to find any official data as to where in the United

Kingdom the Punjabis decided to settle as no difference between Indians and Punjabis is made in

the 2001 Census. However, looking at the data provided, Indian communities can be found in the

North West, the North West Midlands, the East Midlands, London, London East and the South East.

In fact, in some of the constituencies of the named regions they are the majority, rather than the

minority. On the other hand few Indians seem to be living in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland,

as none of the constituencies there has a majority of Indians. Taking a look at the statistics on

religious beliefs it can be noticed that all the areas in which Sikhism is practised also depict an

Indian majority. It could therefore be argued that these are the areas in which the Punjabis tend to

live, as the Punjabi culture is closely linked to Sikhism. These constituencies would be Midlands

West, Birmingham West, Coventry and North Warwickshire, London and London South East.

However Dorling argues that the numbers representing religious believes are difficult to be

interpreted as many chose to leave the question blank, answered 'no religion' or are part of a religion

that is too low in numbers to be represented demographically (cf. 2005: 51ff.). Given that most

Sikhs are Punjabi and that most Punjabis are proud Sikhs, the above assumption should not be

dismissed easily as is is likely that Punjabi communities are to be found in the constituencies

mentioned above (cf. The Sikh Punjabi Community 2010)

As all the protagonists and their families are Sikh, references made to a Punjabi identity in this

4/72

thesis always refer to Sikh Punjabis living in Great Britain. Yet what does it mean to be a Sikh

Punjabi? What cultural values and traditions do they share and which ones did they bring to the

United Kingdom with them? Other than skin colour, people are likely to recognise a migrant or a

foreigner by the language they speak. Punjabi is spoken by 104 million people; it is thus the tenth

most spoken language worldwide2. In Britain it is the most common language spoken by those who

do not speak English as their mother tongue (cf. Punjabi most commonly spoken native language

among UK pupils 2012). In the novels all the protagonists speak it as well, though some better than

others. It is an important means of identification and some of the characters even go as far as

refusing to learn proper English because they are afraid of losing touch with their Punjabi heritage if

they do so. However, even though Punjabi is among the most spoken languages in the world,

according to an UNESCO report it is threatened to become extinct within the next 50 years. Ahmed

Ishtiaq laments that the use of English and Hindi threatens the language in the Punjabi state (cf.

Ishtiaq 2008) while Nirmal Singh, a Punjabi doctor and writer, claims that the language is more

used and appreciated among Punjabis living abroad than among those living in India (cf. Singh

Sandhu 2013). Indeed, the need for migrated Punjabis to stay in touch with their cultural heritage

might cause them to hold onto to their parents’ or grandparents’ language more dearly.

Language of course is not the only element to set the Punjabi immigrants apart from others; their

value system is quite different from the Western European one as well. As has been mentioned

above, the creation of a common Punjabi identity never succeeded. Instead, three different types a

Muslim, a Hindu and a Sikh Punjabi one can be found; the latter one is in the focus of this thesis.

Sikhism preaches equality of all people regardless of sex, age, race, caste or even religion3, yet

reality is somewhat different. For example the caste system has partly been transformed to the

United Kingdom as can be seen by Dalit Solidarity Network’s proposal in 2006 to acknowledge

castes and that they should be recognized as discrimination under the Single Equality Act (cf.

Dhanda 2009: 57). The British Sikh Report 2013 states that even though only 3% of the British

Sikhs consider caste as important 30% still identify with one and of those 69% are Jatt (cf. 2013:

19). This caste, though spelled differently, is also mentioned in some of Rai’s works: they are the

land owners and higher up in the caste hierarchy. Even though Sikhism officially opposes the caste

system and is a peaceful religion, the caste issue is harming the coherence of the Punjabi

communities in the United Kingdom. Chanda and Ghosh say that “this has resulted in the breaking

up of religious organizations and the establishment of different gurdwaras4 for different sections of

2 cf. http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=95&menu=0043 cf. http://www.sikhismguide.org/4 A gurdwara can be definded as “the place where Sikhs come together for congregational worship” (The Gurdwara 2009).

5/72

the Sikh community and a decline in harmony among the Punjabis in the UK. There are also

rivalries among these different sections” (2012: 18). There are several interesting articles available

about the caste system in Britain. In the books, however, castes are hardly ever mentioned and

except for (un)arranged marriage not discriminated against, therefore there is no need to discuss

them any further.

According to the tenth Guru, every true Sikh should wear the five Ks: those are the Kesh, the

Kanga, the Kara, the Kaccha and the Kirpan. A Kesh means uncut hair, a Kanga is a wooden comb

used to brush ones hair twice a day (men usually wear theirs under a turban or dastar), the Kara is a

steel bracelet, Kaccha is cotton underwear that must not go below the knee, and the Kirpan is a

ceremonial sword. The sword can vary between a few inches and three feet and can be worn under

the clothes as well. These symbols of Sikhism should help its believers recognise one another and to

strengthen their community (cf. The Five Ks: 2009). Sikhs should not eat meat or drink alcohol, but

sustain a healthy lifestyle to improve the quality of their meditation5. Again, most British Sikhs do

not respect this diet and drink alcohol– in fact abusing it is part of the Punjabi culture; they also eat

meat, fish and eggs on a regular basis (cf. BSR 2013: 30f.). When Sikhism was founded in the 16th

century it promoted the equality of the sexes, a revolutionary idea at times when sati, the suicide of

the widow by being burned together with her deceased husband, and purdah, wearing a veil, were

still practised. In Sikh belief a woman can freely choose her position in the community and also

work at the gurdwara. It is therefore not religion that keeps women from aiming high in their lives,

but Punjabi culture which is rather sexist. Nearly every other British Sikh woman has been

discriminated against because of her sex and the vast majority of those who have experienced

discrimination suffered it at home or within the community (cf. BSR 2013: 24f.)

Even though Sikhism preaches equality and opposes racism, the Punjabi society in India as well as

in the United Kingdom is not immune to it. Although no official data could be found online, several

articles, twitter-, facebook accounts and entries suggest that there are difficulties between Sikhs and

other ethnicities, as well as Sikhs and Muslims. In fact, some Sikhs have founded a new branch of

the extreme right wing EDL group, called The English Defence League Sikh Division-EDL. The

group shares its racist views via facebook and twitter, claiming that they are preserving the Sikh and

British culture and protecting its rights against aggressive Islamic militants. Many Sikhs disagree

with this new EDL division and argue that it should not be fuelling racism, while forum discussions

often agree with the extremist views the group holds (cf. Gallagher et Slater 2012 and Edl 'sikh

Division' 2013). A different article is concerned with Sikhs occupying a gurduwara in Swindon as

5 cf. http://www.realsikhism.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1248309400&ucat=7

6/72

they tried to block an interfaith marriage between a Sikh woman and her Christian husband-to-be.

However, it has been argued that the protests had less to do with the groom's religion than with his

skin colour as it is assumed that he is of West African descent (cf. Layton 2012). Reports claim that

protests against marriages of Sikh women to men of a different faith are not rare and sometimes

even lead to clandestine weddings (cf. Neiyyar et Khatkar 2013). On this occasion it could be

argued once more that women in the Punjabi culture tend to be objectified and that it is primarily

the anger and fear of losing a woman to a different culture that causes the protests (cf. Kaur 2013).

As could be seen by the examples given, racism exists in any culture and cannot only be found

among white people or Christians. It is important though to keep in mind that there is no official

data available and no safe estimate can be made as to what degree racist views are held by Punjabis.

Therefore it can be concluded that even though some examples of racist behaviour exist, the

evidence does not suffice to mark anyone other than some militant subgroups as racist

Religion and a strong sense of community also influence the family life. Punjabi families tend to be

big. They do not necessarily have mor children, but in the Punjabis' definition of family they also

include extended family members like cousins and their cousins' in- laws. Family is very important

to Sikhism, in fact the religion encourages its members to get married and have children as the

gurus believe society can only be preserved through family. Not only Indian Sikhs, but also many

British Sikhs live in a multi-generational household. Living with, or at least close by ones parents is

seen as ideal since the elders can support and advise the younger generation, as well as help them

raise their children properly, that is according to Sikh and Punjabi values. Strong family ties can

also have negative consequences as they can restrict a person in his or her choices in terms of

partners, education or money (cf. BSR 2013: 30ff.). Because family is of such a high importance it

is difficult for a woman who suffers abuse to ask for a divorce, as she would shame her parents and

siblings in doing so. Additionally, many women are taught from an early age that abuse is

something normal which renders it all the more difficult for them to break free from their violent

homes (cf. EACH 2009: 10). It could be argued that such negative consequences for women

originated from combining the Sikh ideology of strong family bonds with the male dominated Asian

society. However, as the books will show, not only women are suffering under the pressure that

families often exert on them, men do as well.

Another important concept for the Punjabi community in the United Kingdom is the concept of

izzat, which can be roughly translated as honour. It is not so much an alien concept as a forgotten

one: at least in rural Austria a familiar similar concept has been practised for centuries, however,

with the severe changes in our society and hence our family structures, this concept has been if not

7/72

replaced at least adapted to conform to the needs of today’s society. Gilbert et al. explain that izzat

represents the family’s honour and has several meanings to it, but it can be best described as a set of

rules Asian family members have to respect as otherwise they would bring shame to their family

(cf. 2004: 112). In the worst case family members are so worried about their izzat and what the

community might think of them that they are literally willing to kill for it, as reports of honour

related crimes and even honour killings sadly prove. In fact, Saima Afzal, an independent member

of the Lancashire Police Authority says that it is guessed that about 10,000 honour crimes are

committed each year, yet she believes that the number of victims is even higher than that (cf.

Burnell 2012). According to a ComRes poll the support of honour killings among young South

Asians has fallen, yet 4% of young Sikhs still believe that it can be justified in some cases.

However, the vast majority of South Asian adolescents opposes the idea of violence against female

members of the family, yet many of them think that they should live according to the concept of

izzat (cf. Field 2012). It could be argued that to some extent Sikhism is responsible for izzat as

being involved and helping in the community is one of the concepts of the religion. While a tight-

knit community can be helpful when one loses one's job or happens to suffer a misfortune, breaking

its rules can lead to exclusion from it. Therefore, it is important to keep up appearances so as to not

lose one's status in the community. In the books several forms of izzat can be found and they are

usually not related to violence. However, the author strongly criticises that female family members

often have fewer liberties as they represent the family’s honour, whereas males are granted more

freedom. Gender roles are also very traditional: the man is supporting the family financially,

whereas the woman is taking care of the children and the household. Girls are still raised to become

devoted wives and mothers, not to fulfil their dreams6 and while there are no official numbers as to

how many young women are married at an early age and leave school, bloggers and newspaper

articles about violence against women reveal that the concept of equality forms a strong part of the

Sikh religion is preached, but not lived (cf. Singh 2006; Kaur 2012). Gender roles are discussed,

even if just marginally, in all of the analysed books, yet they do not make the Punjabis appear in a

particularly bad light. In three of the books the second and third generation immigrants make it

quite clear that the stereotyping will stop with them and that they feel gender roles are acceptable

for their parents as the grew up with them, but they themselves are not fond or supportive of them.

From the topics discussed above it becomes clear that gender roles and religion are deeply rooted in

the Punjabi community, as nearly all of the cultural concepts and traditions originated from either of

the two. It is therefore surprising that studies show that the children of immigrants value their

parents' religion less and do not consider it important, even though they generally are curious about

6cf. http://users.aber.ac.uk/asg/girls-99.htm

8/72

their roots and care to know about their origins (cf. Robinson 2009: 450 f.). It could be argued that

parts of the religion are so strongly rooted in the Punjabi culture and vice versa that the line between

the two is blurred and although second generation immigrants might not practise Sikhism, they still

use certain concepts, symbols and ideas to style themselves as Punjabis as can be seen in some parts

of the books. However, they tend to integrate and to see themselves as British citizens whereas their

Indian parents often separate themselves from the Western way of life and stay within their

respective communities. This differing approach towards their environment can be explained by

their different upbringing: while the older generation grew up in India the younger one was born

and raised in the United Kingdom and has therefore always been in touch with Western culture.

Still, South Asian adolescents are more aware of their ethnicity than their English and Indian peers

in India, as they are part of a minority. For teenagers and adolescents finding an identity is a at

times difficult challenge, yet for the ones of a different ethnicity it is a more demanding one still. In

order to develop a self-confident, independent personality they need to balance both their ethnic as

well as their national identity. This does not necessarily mean that both identities are equally as

strong, in fact, they are prone to change with time and according to context (cf. Ibid.: 444 f.). A

negative reaction of the dominant culture, in this case the British one, may lead to rejecting it and

embracing and further getting involved into the parents’ culture. Therefore when fighting racism

governments should be aware of the strong influence racist behaviour has on the young second or

third-generation immigrant (cf. Ibid.: 452). Rai's books try to reflect on both cultures without

judging either, but criticising their bad and appraising their good characteristics instead. His works

show the necessity of accepting different cultures into one’s own, to allow both the culture of the

host country as well as the immigrant's culture to unfold and thus create a fertile and peaceful

environment in which their children can grow up together and work towards a more prosperous,

multicultural society.

There is of course much and more to know about Punjabi society, their traditions, values and rituals

both in the United Kingdom as well as in India. However, the information given to the reader in this

chapter will suffice to help her understand the analysis; additionally, any concepts that have not

been discussed so far as well as the ones that have been reviewed above will be explained into detail

in the upcoming chapters.

9/72

3. Creation of the cultural environment in Bali Rai's Young Adult Novels

In this chapter the emphasis is on how the author creates the multicultural settings in his books.

Therefore the location, living arrangements and language as well as traditions and attitudes of the

Punjabi people are discussed. Even though all of the analysed books are situated in the same area,

there are severe differences in topics as well as in secondary characters. However, all of them deal

with racism, discrimination, the Punjabi idea of honour, alcoholism and religion; they also share

progressive thinking protagonists. Firstly, the setting is examined closely, followed by an analysis of

the language that is used in the novels. After that food is discussed briefly before emerging into the

complex concepts of religion and racism. Next, arranged marriage and the Punjabi concept of

family are analysed and the chapter finishes with a closer look into gender stereotypes and how they

are created in the books.

All the novels are set in the East Midlands of England, which, as has been mentioned in the

previous chapter, is next to London and the West Midlands one of the regions with the highest

percentage of Indian immigrants (cf. Mason 2000: 34). All stories but one take place either in

Leicester or in one of it's suburbs. The city is a home to many different ethnicities, and since the

beginning of the year 2013 has a non-white population of less than 50% (cf. Doughty 2013). As the

author was born and is still living in that exact city it can be assumed that the lives of second and

third generation immigrants as depicted in his stories are accurate. Especially in his first work

(un)arranged marriage he describes the city in detail and emphasises Leicester’s multiculturalism:

“It was one of the things that I loved about Leicester. Some areas were nearly all white, some black

and some Asian. And everyone kind of melted into the city centre so that it was all multicultural.“

(Rai 2001: 33) Roads and squares as well as landmarks are mentioned and create a feeling of reality,

even though the works are fiction. Among the five analysed books this feature is most prominent in

the novels and less distinct in the two novellas in which the readers just learn that they are situated

in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. This might be due to the fact that the novellas are aimed at a

slightly younger readership. Furthermore, they are focusing on one topic, whereas the novels treat

different aspects of being a child to migrant parents. Evington Road is mentioned several times in

the books, especially in (un)arranged marriage, where it forms the line between the richer areas

and “an area that lots of people called ghetto” (Rai 2001: 34) Close to Evington Road is Evington

Drive, the street in which the protagonist of the book mentioned before and his family live. The

reader also learns that this is an area that is well liked among Punjabi families. The fact that

immigrants tend to gather together and live in the same area is mentioned several times as well:

“The whole area was about ninety per cent Asian.” (Rai 2001: 33) An explanation for this

10/72

phenomena is also given, in What’s Your Problem Jaspal explains to his friends that he has no desire

of living in a purely Asian populated area, but that sometimes due to all the racism surrounding

them they have no other choice (cf. Rai 2012: 76). Other roads that are mentioned are London Road

or Edward Street and several landmarks can be found as well, such as De Monfort Hall, Victoria

Park or The Shires shopping centre. Interestingly it is unclear in which town the novella that

focuses on racist abuse is set. The narrator informs the readers that it is close to Nottingham, but no

names are given. It is the only book that is not set in Leicestershire, but in Nottinghamshire.

Whereas in the other books the settings and locations of the stories are known, going as far as

describing the exact place of an event in the story, in What's Your Problem some distance is kept.

This could be either to stop people from accusing a town of racist abuse towards its inhabitants with

ethnicities other than white British, but more likely it is to emphasise the fact that racist abuse can

happen anywhere anytime. The overall message of the book is that it is not relevant whether one is

living in a village, a town or major city, discrimination and racist abuse are an everyday problem

and should not be ignored.

As the second and third generation immigrants from the books are all of Punjabi descent, India and

its culture are also present in the narratives. The influence the culture has on the characters will be

discussed further down, for now the representation of India as a country shall be the point of

interest. The country is by far represented the most in (un)arranged marriage; not only is the

protagonist and his family travelling to the state of Punjab, but additionally his father depicts it as

the country of milk and honey. This is most evident in the third part of the book called India, where

a description of the country is given. The first person narrator observes different incidents that

puzzle him and points out the differences between how his father always described India and the

Punjabi people to him and how he himself perceives them. The first thing Manny, the protagonist,

notices are the many beggars that surround them as soon as he and his family leave the entrance hall

of the airport. On their way to the bus station the reader gets a first description of Delhi. With the

beggars, the broken cars and animals everywhere it forms a strong contrast to the average Western

European city. This feeling of bewilderment is reinforced by Harry’s statement about the caste

system which is still commonly practised in India. He tells his younger brother to watch his bag

because these “‘ chamarr (low castes) will rob anything. Best the government should just round

them up and kill' em, innit.’”(Rai 2001: 121). Even though Manny is used to his brothers ignorance

this statement of his shocks him deeply. Later on in the book it becomes clear that Manny disagrees

with the caste system as he is convinced that everybody is born equal. (cf. Rai 2001: 169) After an

atmosphere of chaos is created and the reader can imagine the protagonists new surrounding well,

the father’s village and his home are described, the latter turning out to be quite different from what

11/72

Manny had imagined:

My father’s childhood home wasn’t quite the place that he had been describing, continually, on the plane journey from England. I had imagined it painted in a bright colour, with guava trees growing in the courtyard and maybe a couple of mango trees […] All the wonderful things that my dad used to tell us about it as kids. […] But now it was painted a shade of pastel pink in a mixture of whitewash and colouring. It looked as though it hadn’t seen a new coat for a few years.

(Rai 2001: 128 f.)

When Manny talks to his cousins he also learns that his father did not only alter his description of

the family home, but also lied about the high morals of the Punjabis. He is shocked when he finds

out that two people from his father’s village are having an affair and that there is an alley where one

can buy drugs and visit prostitutes. By having Manny contrast his father’s narrations about India

with his own experiences, Rai helps the readers see how perception is altered over time and how

some immigrants depict their native country as better than it actually is.

In Killing Honour the Atwals travel to India and there are some sequences written from the point of

view of either Anita or Jas that might take place there; however, only hints are given. The author's

intention behind this ambiguity was to put the readers into the shoes of Sat, to feel his despair (cf.

Rai 2011a: 320f.). These scenes represent the protagonist's fear of what might have happened to his

sister, or to her former sister- in- law. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the setting is Britain or

India, according to the descriptions given it could be either. Only the sequence in which the actual

murder of one of the women happens is taking place somewhere in Punjab, next to a river. The

reason this is mentioned might be to render it clear that this is Anita’s, not Jas’ murder, as the first

one disappeared in India, the latter in Britain. It could also be used to refute the imagery of Punjabi

as a better place with intact morals, where no crimes happen. In the other books, India is constantly

present in the way Punjabi culture is depicted, less as a country itself. Even though it is seen as the

country of their origin only the father in (un)arranged marriage desires to return to his home

country, the others, even though not necessarily accepting the British way of life, never say

anything of the likes. They seem to have come to terms with living in Great Britain and by clinging

to certain traditions they are bringing part of their country of origin to Britain. Certain characters,

usually supportive of the protagonists, try to point out other, less traditional ways and also show

some understanding towards the desire to live an independent life. In The Last Taboo the

grandfather is from India and he himself says that he does not wish for his children to only embrace

the Punjabi culture, but to also accept and get involved into the British one.

‘[...]You are English children- that is the way things are. When I left India I did things my parents and my family did not wish of me- but I was young and the world was mine and I did what I wanted to do. You are the same and I won't take that from you.’

(Rai 2006: 251)

The author uses the different settings to support his characters and make them seem more realistic,

12/72

but also to help understand their motives. Nottinghamshire for example is full of hostility, and the

feeling that something bad is bound to happen is constantly closing in on the readers. Rai manages

to create a hostile atmosphere throughout the book, by gradually increasing the racist threats the

protagonist and his family have to endure. If at the beginning they only suffer verbal abuse, they

soon are humiliated in more violent ways, such as the dog pooh in the letter box or graffiti on their

shop window. Ironically Jaspal describes their new home as “the perfect English village”,

presumably referring to the cottages and the only white population (Rai 2012: 38). In (un)arranged

marriage, the episode of the family trip to India helps the readers see why Manny's father, who was

brought up there, is so conservative. Furthermore it puts the impossibility to stick to just one

cultural identity in a new country into evidence. What might make perfect sense in one’s native

culture could be inappropriate in another. The family sticking together and living in one place is

important in rural areas where the labourers are needed, but not so appropriate in Britain, where it

can cause feelings of claustrophobia. The negative consequences can also be seen in Manny's

spoiled, overly protected nephew, who in comparison to his cousins, of the same age, seems

underdeveloped. Another example would be the hostility of the Sikhs against the Muslims. Given

the Indio-Pakistani conflict, the friction between those two parties in that particular area is to some

degree understandable. However, living in Britain it should not be something to cling onto. The

author uses this argument to describe the struggles of the second and third generation immigrants

with their British identities: they embrace old concepts so much because some of them do not feel

British but Punjabi. Others, on the other hand, have problems with their parents or parts of their

family because they are not discriminating against Muslims, black or white people.

Except for a few sequences, the books are set in the United Kingdom, and hence geography cannot

be the only link Rai uses to indicate the Punjabi roots. Another distinctive feature is the language,

which as well as the location is more elaborated in the novels than in the novellas. Three types of

language can be found in the books. The first group is formed by first-generation immigrants who

speak English fluently, but incorrectly. One example of this particular form of English would be

Baljit’s father in Dream On: “‘Today I not working. I celebrating Ranjit’s new baby boy, innit. […]

That settle then.’” (Rai 2011b: 35). He does not use the present continuous or the past tense

correctly, and throughout the whole book he hardly uses the verb be. In The Last Taboo, the

grandfather uses more or less the same English as Baljit’s father: “‘Making me the cup tea,

daughter,’ he said, in his funny English.“ (Rai 2006: 245). This rather broken English indicates that

the speaker is not originally from this country, but that he or she has migrated to it. It does not,

however, show how much the user identifies with the country he or she is now living in. The

grandfather and Baljit’s dad both do not speak the language well, yet they both feel comfortable

13/72

with British culture and want to be part of it, whereas Manny’s father, whose English is better,

refuses to participate in Western culture. He belongs to the second group, which is generally formed

by the second or third-generation immigrants. They use a sociolect marked by a wrong use of

grammar, the usage of Punjabi words and ending phrases with “innit”, a replacement of the negative

tag question. In order to make the working class background of the families more visible, the author

has them use harsh language on various occasions, something that contrasts strongly with the better

educated characters who use proper English: “’Dem tings is like footballs,‘ laughed Raji” (Rai

2006: 227). He is one of the racist characters and his way of talking describes his intellect. Sociolect

shows the unwillingness of the speakers to integrate and to be involved in British culture. Rai also

has other characters use English sociolects, like the English that is spoken by the Jamaican

community. The difference is that they can adapt their language accordingly, sometimes switching

from one sociolect to another. The author uses language to describe a character's openness towards

the world around him as well as to show the culture with which they identify. There are some

exceptions, for example Jas, who has received a good education, but still has a very traditional way

of thinking, or Sat's parents, who speak proper English, but have strict ideas about their honour.

The latter ones, however, are to some extent willing to integrate into British culture and also have

some Western ideas: they are opposed to hitting one's children and also allow their youngest son to

live a very liberal life. The members of the third group belong to the second and third generation as

well, yet they speak colloquial English, like it is spoken by their non-Asian peers: “‘I ain't got no

money, though,’ I told him. ‘I'm gonna have to nick some out of one of my brothers' wallets.’” (Rai

2001: 83). Among the analysed books the language feature is the most prominent in (un)arranged

marriage and in The Last Taboo. In these books, the protagonists have to struggle against their

families and communities to live the life they want for themselves, while their antagonists are solely

identifying themselves as Punjabi and not as British. The language groups render the differences

between the protagonists and the antagonists even more evident. In What's Your Problem Jaspal's

father speaks with a heavy accent and clearly belongs to the first group, the mother apparently is

unable to speak any English at all. Jaspal on the other hand is part of the third group, as he was born

and raised in Britain. As the story is set in a village where there are only white people no examples

of the second group are given; the same applies to Dream On because the protagonist sees himself

as British rather than Punjabi, and therefore only uses the language that is spoken by the third

group. The three language groups do not only show us three different ways of speaking, but are also

a medium through which the author expresses the speakers identity and whether he or she feels

Punjabi or British. It can be said that the second group is used by those characters who have been

born in Britain, but who feel Indian, or rather Punjabi, whereas the third group is used by those who

feel British, rather than Punjabi.

14/72

It is said, that the language we use influences our way of thinking. According to the famous Sapir-

Whorf hypothesis the individual can only perceive the world around him in the categories that his

speech community offers him and hence he can only think within these categories (cf. Penz 2007:

36). This can be seen in the speech some of the characters use when talking about lower castes.

However, it is their language that allows them to categoise people as it offers diverse names for

each gorup. They are used to divide people into different castes and hence treat them accordingly. In

Europe social classes exist too, however, the concepts are quite different. As has been discussed

above, when Manny's family is at the airport, his older brother Harry tells him to “watch your bag

man. These chamarr (low castes) will rob anything. Best the government should just round them up

and kill’em, innit” (Rai 2001: 121). The “chamar” are a low caste in India and still have to suffer

discrimination on an everyday basis. As the example above shows this attitude is spreading around

the world and goes as far as creating difficulties within the Indian communities in the United

Kingdom (cf. Muir 2006). The ending “ji”, that the Punjabis add to the end of a name is another

interesting feature of their language that shows how it can influence ones thinking. This suffix is

used to show respect to people who are older than oneself. In Dream On Baljit addresses his uncle

with “ji”, simply because he is older (2011b: 25). In (un)arranged marriage Manny and his

uncle,who both speak perfect English, even seeing it as their mother tongue, question this tradition:

All that tradition about elders and youngsters, It's all so stupid. To say “ji” is to show me respect, regardless of whether I have earned it. Or whether I'm worthy of it. People shouldn't automatically deserve respect just because they have lived longer than someone else. People are born to deserve respect. All people. It doesn't matter if they are one or one hundred years old.

(Rai 2001: 182)

With this speech Jaq, the uncle, declares his point of view towards his own culture and also his own

language. The author puts these words in his mouth to once more emphasise the overall message of

tolerance and acceptance that his books carry. Manny and Jaq's horizons are broadened not only

because they are part of a community other than the Punjabi one, but also because they speak a

different language. They argue that age alone should not be the only reason why someone should be

respected. They are also the only ones who oppose the caste system because they believe it is

morally wrong to be looked down upon simply because one was born into a family of a lower caste.

Language is thus used as a reflector of the characters' horizons, the simpler their way of thinking,

the simpler the language they use.

Another important part of Indian culture is their food. In all the books, several references are made

to food and drinks that are consumed by the characters. When at home traditional food, especially

curry, is eaten whereas when going out the protagonists prefer something different such as fish and

15/72

chips, or burgers. Food helps create the image of Indian migrants, as the Indian community is

strongly associated with it: “‘My extended family,’ I explained. ‘It’s an Asian thing…’ ‘Like

samosas and saris an’ that?’ he asked, taking the piss.” (Rai 2006: 150) Samosas and Indian tea are

served whenever family members come to visit. When talking about food one cannot help but

notice that it is a gender induced topic, as the kitchen is mainly a woman's place. Save for a few

exceptions, the women are preparing the tea and the food. When talking about eating and drinking

habits, alcohol and alcoholism are important, as nearly all of the male characters are heavy drinkers,

even though most of them are Sikhs and they are not supposed to drink alcohol (Rai 2011a: 7). In

(un)arranged marriage the protagonist's father is an alcoholic and in What's Your problem and

Killing Honour the fathers start drinking heavily. The drinking problem is not restricted to the

house, but can put lives at risks, as the dangers of driving under the influence are not considered at

all. Approximately 27% of the general British population has a drinking problem and it is estimated

that alcoholism among South Asian immigrants to the U.K. is similar to that of the general

population (cf. Rai 2006). In the books this behaviour causes the protagonists to disrespect their

fathers and furthermore to question their morals and values. “I thought about my old man, waiting

in the gurdwara in Derby, smiling a forced smile as the alcohol in his blood ate away at a little more

of his liver […]” (Rai 2001: 9). The two teenagers whose parents are alcoholics follow their

example and start drinking too: “I joined my dad in the evenings, throwing down shots of Chivas

Regal like they were water.” (Rai 2011a: 183f). In contrast to their fathers they are able to stop

before it is too late.

As for many of the characters being a good Punjabi also means being a Sikh, religion is thoroughly

discussed in the books. Similar to Rai's use of language, one can notice the difference between a

progressive way of thinking and a more conservative one. The more traditional the families are, the

more they are involved in Sikhism, which does not necessarily mean being devoted to, or practising

it. The rules are being bent more often than not and the conflict between India and Pakistan is also

partly carried out in their view of Muslims. As mentioned above, Sikhs are not supposed to drink

alcohol, yet most of the Punjabis, and among them especially the males, drink on a regular basis,

very often behaving badly when doing so. Many Sikhs do not drink alcohol on Sundays as it is

forbidden to enter the gurdwara under the influence; another hypocrisy Manny criticises (cf. The

Gurdwara 2009):

Like a lot other Punjabi men, he didn’t drink or eat meat on Sundays. It was like some kind of religious fashion statement that he was making, only he generally tended to get even more plastered on Saturday nights to make up for it. I just thought that it was so stupid not to eat meat or drink booze on only one day in a week. What was the point? The way I saw it, you either were religious or not.

Rai (2001: 63)

16/72

This quote also reflects Manny’s opinion on religion. It has little meaning to him, especially while

he is still living with his parents; it is only later on, in his adult life, that he starts to gain interested

in relgion. In the same book it is also mentioned that his brothers and their friends like to use Sikh

symbols and to style themselves as such even though none of them are real Sikhs (cf. 2001: 25; 87;

257). Some of them wear the khanda, a double edged sword that is used as an emblem for Sikhism.

Manny observes that they pretend to be Sikh, but that they are not real believers as they drink too

much and do not respect any of the faith's doctrines. As has been mentioned in the previous chapter,

Sikhism is a tolerant religion, yet the antagonists only use the parts of it that support their narrow

world view and then claim to be religious. Their behaviour can be compared to militant Christians

who use excerpts from the bible to propagandise their homophobic ideas and thus act against the

bible verse: “Love thy neighbour”.

In Killing Honour the father and the brother both wear turbans; however they too are no real Sikhs.

They are not as racist as Manny's family, yet they oppose Muslims and they, too, like drinking (cf.

Rai 2011a: 7). In Dream On, it is not explicitly mentioned that the father wears a turban though one

of his customers always calls him rag head, therefore it can be assumed that he is wearing a dastar

or a turban (cf. Rai 2011b: 6). None of the characters is wearing all of the five Ks, and the ones who

are the proudest of their cultural heritage, the ones who define themselves as Jat Punjabis, are the

ones who only abuse religion to style themselves as such; they do not live by its values and

concepts. The protagonist of (un)arranged marriage, on the other hand, is no Sikh at all, yet his

attitudes go along better with the religion's values than his brothers' and parents' who pretend to be

devouted to it. Only in the novels which deal more with the tensions between the protagonists and

the Punjabi community than the novellas do the discrimination of the Sikhs against the Muslims is

evident. The protagonists are open- minded and do not care about the religion or skin colour of the

people around them, whereas many of the other characters consider such superficialities as

important: “Pally was swearing in Punjabi- nasty, sexual things about the other lad’s mum and

sister. He followed it up with a load of stuff about Muslims” (Rai 2006: 70).The tensions that exist

between the Muslims and the Sikh are caused by historical events, like the persecution of Sikhs in

the Mughal Empire, and have little to do with the actual philosophy behind Sikhism which preaches

tolerance towards all religions and cultures (cf. Sian 2013: 77).

In his novel Killing Honour, the author shows how these prejudices can lead family members to

disown others; they are blinded by hatred caused by a tension that originated hundreds of years ago.

The more progressive families, on the other hand, are not necessarily less devoted to religion, but

instead of talking about it and forcing it onto their children they practise it for themselves. Baljit’s

17/72

father is a practising Sikh: “Dad thinks giving Mr Biggs free meals is a way of doing his duty as a

Sikh. Part of the Sikh religion is to provide free kitchen to those less fortunate than you, no matter

what colour or religion they are”, but unlike the others he does not try to force his religion onto his

son, nor does he hold any racist views (Rai 2011b: 4f.). The latter can be seen in his son's

description of his friend Mo, who as a Pakistani is presumably Muslim: “Mo is Asian like me. His

parents are from Pakistan […] He used to live in Oldham, near Manchester. That’s why he’s a Man

United fan. In fact, I’m surprised we get on so well, as Man U are the sworn enemies of Liverpool”

(Rai 2011b: 13). To Baljit, a person’s religion is not important, instead he focuses on football. It can

be said that, even though the families are religious, all of the protagonists either care very little or

not at all about it. For the community on the other hand, the gurdwara is not only a place to practise

their religion, but more importantly a place where they can meet and, as it is presumed in the books,

gossip. These gatherings might be another reason why the more traditional among the British-

Punjabi are religious, whereas their better integrated friends or family are not. They need a place to

socialise with people of the same cultural background and the gurdwara is a proper place to meet

for men as well as for women. It is therefore particularly hard for the families if they feel that they

can no longer go there because their honour has been offended.

As could be seen above, religion and racism are strongly interconnected. Therefore, the same

Punjabis that have a problem with Muslims also share racist views toward black or white people:

“He [Satnam7]swore at the driver, making comments about him being Muslim. […] Satnam shook

his head. ‘[…] them kaleh, they ain’t like us…’” (Rai 2006: 65). Simran is getting discriminated

against by the entire Punjabi community because she is dating a black man and none of her former

Asian friends stand up for her (cf. Rai 2006: 199). Manny, too, is getting grief from his family and

his brothers’ friends because his best friend is a British Jamaican (cf. Rai 2001: 18). They are

incapable of looking beyond a person’s skin colour and cannot understand why their friends or

family members would like to befriend someone of a different cultural heritage. They excuse their

behaviour by saying that is wrong to hang out, let alone date, a Muslim or someone of African

descent. On several occasions, they are not even aware of their racism as it is so ingrained in their

way of thinking. The following example is an Asian girl commenting on Blacks: “‘It’s not racist’,

she told me. ‘it’s about us being different…’” (Rai 2006: 74). The situation is not very different

when it comes to white people, as they too can be acting racist without realising it: “‘Yes... many of

our pupils went out into the Empire — to help civilise and educate the natives. I'm sure, that being

an Indian, that is something you'll appreciate.’” (Rai 2012: 31f.) Some of the characters do not

consider racism to be a serious issue and hence allow it to spread. Even Lisa, who heavily criticises

7 To indicate my editing in quotes square brackets in italics are used

18/72

racism herself, does not always recognise racist behaviour:

The school stayed closed […] and reports of a race riot began to appear in the national newspapers. [...] ‘That's just stupid media hype [...] And it was the Desi Posse fightin’- you have to be Asian to be in it.’ [said Lisa] ‘But that makes it racial’, said I.

(Rai 2006: 7)

The author points out that racism can be found anywhere, even if one is not aware of it. He

furthermore shows us that being in a group influences our perception of race and racism. Growing

up in a racist environment leads to racism as no other role models are available. This can be seen

well in What's Your Problem, where one of the bullies tells Jaspal that he is racist because his father

told him that there were too many foreigners and that England was “‘a great country before all the

wogs came over’” (cf. Rai 2012: 67). The protagonists of The Last Taboo care little about racial

boundaries when it comes to making friends, because they grew up in a family where skin colour

did not matter. Their peers, on the other hand, are full of prejudices, as they were raised by racist

parents. They dislike white and black people alike, and Rai has them use the Punjabi words

“gorah” and “kaleh”, which make them sound even more abusive. One of the comments Satnam, a

secondary character, makes shows how biased they can be: “‘Them white teams are pure racist,’

Satnam replied. […] ‘White bastards,’ he [Satnam] snapped, not understanding his own hypocrisy.

But then again, he probably couldn't even spell the word.” (Rai 2006: 20). Not only does this

comment show how racism can be perceived as something that, in Satnam's opinion, only white

people are capable of, but the narrator's input about the other character's spelling skills once more

emphasises that only an education can help eliminate racism.

It should be noted that the Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean subcultures have a great influence on

the culture of young British Asians and are furthermore reflected in their language (Storry et Childs

2007: 155). The paradox of simultaneously being racist and copying the culture one discriminates

against is also shown in one of the books: “‘The bwoi even chats like him black,’ shouted Inderjit

from behind me. ‘An' what accent was that you were putting on, you knob?’ I said, turning to glare

at him.” (Rai 2006: 66). While preserving their own culture, even taking it to racist extremes in

doing so, they evidently cannot get away from the influence of others. Rai is not telling the readers

that everybody is the same, but simply that skin colour and religion should not have any influence

on how a person should be judged. By having characters suffer or witness racism he shows the

reader different possibilities of how to react to it. The bus driver in What’s Your Problem sets a

negative example as he simply ignores the racial abuse one of the students sitting in his bus has to

suffer. The scene is narrated by the victim and his rage is infectious. The reader is put into the

assaulted boy’s shoes, to show that standing by and saying nothing can be as bad as the act of abuse

itself. In Dream On, the referee sends one of the guys that verbally abuses the protagonist off the

19/72

field and tells him that the pitch is no place for racism. It could of course be argued, that by saying

“‘Racist and abusive language has no place on this pitch, son.’” the referee does not condemn

racism generally, but only on the pitch (Rai 2011b: 53). However, when the situation required it, he

stood up against racism and hence he can be seen as a model character. He also tells the boys'

teacher that he would report the school to the Football Association, thus not only telling the abuser

off, but also showing him that his behaviour will have consequences (cf. Ibid.). One of the

intentions that the author could have for characters like this, meaning white- secondary characters,

is to invite his young readers to not look the other way when someone is being abused because of

his origins or skin colour.

Arranged marriages are still very important to the Asian communities, what is worse is that they are

also accepted within British society, an attitude that Bali Rai is trying to change, or at least

questions with his works (cf. Storry 2007: 222). His strong, determined, Western-minded

protagonists constantly encounter arranged marriages, often within their own family. Sometimes, it

is obvious, like in (un)arranged marriage other times it is subtle, as in Dream On, where the

protagonist thinks that his parents do not want him to date officially. It is, however, always

portrayed in the same way: the bride or groom do not choose when, or to whom they get married;

instead, the decision is made for them by their parents. The males at least can pick a girl from

several offers their parents make, while the girls have no say at all. For some couples, this seems to

be working well: “The way they'd met seemed strange to me, but they came across as happy

enough”, for others the result is far less positive (Rai 2011a: 11). Some couples just live next to

each other, without talking, like Manny's parents in (un)arranged marriage, others have to deal with

a nagging partner, and in the worst case, some of the women are physically and mentally abused.

As leaving their husband would be dishonourable to their families, the women have no choice but to

stay with their abusive partners: “She knows that she must leave. Knows that if she doesn't, he'll kill

her. Though leaving will only bring shame, and she doesn't want that. Not for her mother or her

father, and certainly not for her brothers.” (Rai 2011a: 94). By writing about arranged marriage Bali

Rai raises awareness and makes the pressure put on many Asian children visible. They might be

living in the United Kingdom and have British passports, yet their cultural heritage does not allow

them to lead the life of the average Western European citizen. Even though parents choose one's

partner and having a boy or a girlfriend is a taboo, it happens nonetheless; the teenagers keep their

relationships hidden from their parents,forcing them to lie on many occasions. This creates even

more tension between the two colliding worlds of Indian and British identities. The reader too is

constantly wondering what will happen if the parents find out; the ensuing tension helps to keep the

reader interested.

20/72

For the greater number of Punjabi characters, an arranged marriage is completely normal. They do

not perceive it as something their parents force them to do, but as a part of their lives that cannot be

changed, going as far as being convinced that their parents are doing this because they know what is

best for them. As their Punjabi peers around them accept such traditions, it renders it even harder

for those who disagree with them and makes it more difficult for them to live their own life. If they

decide against an arranged marriage, they not only have to abandon their families, but also have to

leave the community. David's and Simran’s parents had a love marriage and were only reacceped by

their family after several years under the pressure of their grandfather. Despite this, most of the

family still looks down on the mother, refusing to call her by her first name, and only referring to

her as “your mother” when talking to her children or “your wife” when talking to her husband (cf.

Rai 2006: 109). They behave this way because they consider choosing a wife without parental

influence to be a deep offense that undermines family authority and cultural norms. Such rebellion

can lead to the entire family losing their face and their honour in front of the community. Of course,

in some cases, arranged marriages are seen as an opportunity to get British citizenship, in which

case match-making is not done very carefully. However, the author focuses on the negative

consequences such marriages bring with them and not on immigration through marriage (cf. Rai

2011: 15). It becomes obvious that the preference for an arranged marriage in the books always

goes together with isolation in the Punjabi community. As soon as young British Punjabi get in

touch with a more British lifestyle their attitude changes and, even though preserving their culture

still matters to them, they no longer consider an arranged marriage to be an option.

Several influences on the protagonists and the antagonists have been discussed so far, yet the most

influential one, their families, has been omitted. In the books the families are generally formed by

dominant parents, traditional relatives and several siblings. The concept of family is quite different

for the British of Asian descent than for white Britons: the social cohesion between them is bigger,

and they consider family matters to be more important. Additionally, they consider everyone who is

married into the family as well as that person’s family, as their kin. This leads to massively extended

families with degrees of kinship that at times are ridiculed even by the narrator: “‘His father's sister

is married to our dad's cousin- that makes him family,’ he said, not joking.” (Rai 2006: 132). The

also guarantees social and financial security and the accomplishments of it are judged in terms of

the family as a whole, therefore the search for personal freedom is undesirable (cf. Each 2009: 5). If

a family member is not acting according to the wishes of the whole, they might be blackmailed

emotionally or even denied financial security as in The Last Taboo: the uncles refuse to give a job to

Simran’s father as long as his daughter is dating a black peer (Rai 2006: 213). If family members do

21/72

not fulfil the expectations others may have, little is cared for their motives; the main interest is to

pressure them into acting like proper Punjabis again so that their family honour is not shamed (cf.

Rai 2001: 243). The pressure that is put onto persons who want to break free from the Punjabi

traditions is a theme that is encountered in all of the novels. To characters outside of the Punjabi

community, their concept of family seems strange and hence it is considered an “Asian thing” (cf.

Rai 2011a: 64). The families are constantly meeting other family members on the weekends, and

frequently go to weddings or the gurdwara. As the protagonists get older, they manage to get out of

some of the family functions, yet helping in the household or in the family business is a duty that

cannot be avoided. In these complex family settings the concept of honour is of major importance,

leading to unreasonable decisions at times. When Jas, Sat's sister, disappears her family

immediately decides to side with her former husband, even though the reason that he has given for

her escape is atypical of her (cf. Rai 2011a: 119). Their reaction is so strong because they fear for

their izzat, their family’s honour, and think that siding with the husband will help prevent any

further damage to their reputation. The narrator refers to honour as the “great silencer” because it

has silenced them for such a long time (cf. Rai 2011a: 85).

The influence of extended families can also lead to difficulties when searching for a partner, as can

be seen in The Last Taboo. Even though the protagonist's parents are open-minded Simran still has

to face her aunts, uncles and cousins who strongly object to her relationship with a black man (cf.

Rai 2006: 56). It is quite unusual for a Punjabi girl to have a boyfriend at all and because the

community is full of prejudices, being with a man who is not Asian, let alone black, is

incomprehensible to them and they see it as a major offence to their culture. Often such controlling

behaviour is tolerated as they claim it as preserving their Punjabi culture. It is also interesting to

notice how differently the children of Asian descent are treated by their parents. In both

(un)arranged marriage and Killing Honour physical violence is present and its absence is

considered something unusual: “Loads of other dads were worse– men who were alcoholics or

violent. My dad wasn’t like that. […] They [the parents] never, ever hit any of us though. “ (Rai

2011a: 8f.). If they do not behave their parents treat them with little respect and often get violent,

like Manny’s dad, who started to beat his son from an early age onward for no apparent reason. In a

traditional Punjabi family the children do not talk back to their parents as it is considered

disrespectful, another point that distinguishes the protagonists from the antagonists. In What’s Your

Problem, Jaspal, who usually acts respectfully towards his father and hardly ever talks back, blames

him for his misery and tells him so towards the end of the novella. Once he finishes his speech, he is

surprised that his father does not come after him, it remains unclear whether his father refrains from

violence because his son is right or because he is so shocked by his behaviour (Rai 2012: 72f.). In

22/72

contrast to their opponents, the main characters reflect on their surroundings and hence often

disagree with their parents: “[…] if my dad wanted something done, Jas and Amar would do it

straight away, no questions. Me, I would ask him why” (Rai 2011a: 8). Sometimes such behaviour

causes severe arguments, especially among the more conservative, patriarchal families. The

antagonists never act openly against their parents and never question their ideas or their world view.

They accept what their parents tell them as fact, as something that cannot be changed. Amar, Sat’s

older brother never asks any questions about his sister’s disappearance. Even his wife admits that it

is “completely out of character” for her to have run away, yet he never stops to think about it (Rai

2011a: 79). As the father is convinced that his daughter abandoned the family, he simply takes on

his point of view.

In the books, families are usually the main reason for teenage rebellion and the first step towards

finding ones identity. Often the parents' expectations differ vastly from their children's, like Jaspal's

father in What's Your Problem. He expects his son to get used to the racial abuse and to settle in,

whereas Jaspal just wants to go back to Leicester, or any other place where he is not bullied and will

not have to suffer racist attacks (Rai 2012: 12). In Killing Honour, the parents expect their children

to have an arranged marriage like them, something Sat, their youngest son, comments sarcastically:

“‘Typical,’ I said. ‘She won't be happy until I get a nice wife and some male babies...’” (Rai 2011a:

55). Despite his attitude he still seems to believe that doing what your parents expect from you is a

way to show them respect: “‘My older brother married someone from the same background. Jas did

the same. They're both very respectful of my parents' wishes. I'm the only one who isn't.’” (Rai

2011a: 109). With this statement, he claims that because he opted to live a life of his own he is

disrespecting his parents, which in fact he is not. Sat is not differentiating between doing what one's

parents' expect and respecting them. Because Punjabi parents can be so strict and have unreasonably

high expectations of their children, their children often lie to them to avoid being seen as a

disappointment and to enable having a life of their own. One of the differences between the

antagonists and the protagonists is that the latter try to be open about what they are doing and only

resort to lying if their parents do not let them have their way and they are not left with any other

options. The former do not wish to get into a fight with their families and hence, instead of

rebelling, they lie to them immediately. Ruby often uses her cousin's family as an excuse to go out,

yet nowhere is it mentioned that she ever tried to face her parents about her desire to live her own

life (cf. Rai 2006: 13). It is also more difficult for the girls to live a life of their own, because if

they misbehave or have a boyfriend they could offend the izzat, the family honour. Therefore, the

parents are even stricter with them than they might be with their brothers. In Dream On Baljit's

cousin advises him to lie to his father about the trial out, and tells him that she herself has been

23/72

lying to her parents for months in order to be able to meet her friends: “‘Yeah, good cover, innit?

They think what you did- that I'm the quiet typ. Into books. My local library don't close till eleven

some nights,’ she said with a wink.” (Rai 2011b: 31) The behaviour of their parents forces them to

take on two different identities; they have to be the perfect Punjabi daughter to please their parents

and hide who they really are. In Mandip's case not even her cousin Baljit, who is also a friend of

hers, knew about her second life. Rai tries to point out that by being too strict their children might

be untruthful to them and no healthy parent- child relationship can come from this. Furthermore, the

parents should trust their daughters; they seem to believe that their children would easily fall prey to

bad influences. Like Ruby's parents who keep her locked away at home, even picking her up

directly after school: “One of her brothers or her dad dropped her off and picked her up every day

so she never got to hang out with the rest of us down the shops. […] ‘Do you want a lift back?’ she

asked me. ‘My jailers should be here any minute’” (Rai 2006: 72). They are afraid that, being a girl,

she could be corrupted easily by Western society and offend the family's izzat. Ruby feels like a

prisoner within her own home as she is never allowed to meet any friends who are not also in the

family.

The families also influence their children's career choices as can be seen best in (un)arranged

marriage and in Dream On. At the beginning of the book, Manny wants to go to university to

become a writer, however, his family shows no understanding for his ambitions:

I couldn't even do my homework in peace because no-one in my family saw it as being important. They thought that school was a waste of time, like quite a lot of working- class Punjabi families. All they were interested in was trying to earn money and you couldn't do that at school or college.

(Rai 2001: 18 f.)

He mentions that other working class Punjabi families share their opinion, yet it should be kept in

mind that the first person narrator is a teenager, describing events from his point of view and

therefore his reliability should be questioned. In fact, statistics show that children of a minority

group are more likely to stay in full-time education than their white peers. One of the theories that

try to explain this phenomenon contradicts Manny's statement as it claims that migrant children

continue school to avoid unemployment (cf. Mason 2000: 62f.). By contrast, his cousin Ekbal has

liberal parents who allow him to do anything as long as he achieves good grades and goes to

university (cf. Rai 2001: 21). For them, education is important and they are also tolerant towards

other cultures and ethnicities. The author, being Punjabi himself, is clearly trying to make a point:

on the one hand he emphasizes that education is important to get rid of prejudices, as the example

of Ekbal and his family indicates, but on the other hand he points out that even a education is

insufficient without the willingness to think for oneself. This can be seen best in Jas, Manny's sister

in law:

24/72

[…] Jas, his mum, who had actually had a good education, something that I had once confused with having an intellect […] After all, it’s not like she had used her education to her advantage. She seemed happy to play the quiet little Punjabi wife, always in the kitchen or looking after the kids.[…] Most of the time she tried to justify it, spouting the same rubbish about Punjabi values as my old man or my brothers.

(Rai 2001: 248)

In Dream On, on the other hand the parents, especially the father, do not wish for their son to

become a football player. Only after finding out that he is a highly skilled player do they change

their minds. For them, education is the key to a better life: “I’d get home from school, eat and then

do two hours of homework or reading. I had to. My old man made me.” (Rai 2011b: 7) It is clear,

that Baljit would rather do something else. One of the reasons why he does not rebel could be his

culture: Punjabi children are not supposed to argue with their parents. However, as opposed to

(un)arranged marriage, Rai renders the parents' motives understandable: “He wanted me to become

a lawyer or a doctor. ‘These are the good jobs, Baljit.[…]’ That was his usual reply.” (Rai 2011b:

12). Baljit’s father wants his son to be able to stand on his own feet someday and to have a better

life than him. Once he finds out that football is a possibility for Baljit to earn a living his attitude

changes: “‘I never want you to waste your life. This,’ he waved the letter again, ‘this not wasting

life, Baljit. This something to be very proud of.’” (Rai 2011b: 81). If at first the parents seemed

stubborn, it is now evident that they never meant to be unsupportive, but they wanted to make sure

that their child had a goal in life and would be able to stand on his own feet one day and not depend

upon their money. For the same reason, the parents in The Last Taboo want their children to get a

good education too, at some point the father even uses himself as a bad example saying that he

messed up and that he wants his kids to have a better life.

It is within the family that the gender roles are constructed as well. Women are supposed to stay at

home, take care of the children and the house, cook, support their husbands and never question their

decisions or opinions: “[...] I asked her if she'd like to have a footballer for a son. ‘You know that

your dad doesn't want that, beteh. Best you do well at school and no worry about all that.’” (Rai

2011b: 42). This example demonstrates the subordinate role of women. Even though the child's

parents get along well in the book, the mother is not even entitled to speak her mind on her son's

career choices because the father would object to it. Sat’s mother is even worse, her daughter

disappears and not once does she reflect on the circumstances under which she vanished, instead

she chooses to believe her husband and her son-in-law. Her son urges her to think for herself, to

consider the fact that her daughter has always been dutiful and that running away did not seem like

her at all, yet she still sticks to the story the men around her have made her believe (cf. Rai 2011a:

178 ff.). A woman is never encouraged to think for herself, she is not seen as an individual, but as a

supporter of her husband. Manny tells his readership that his mother hardly ever spoke to him, but

25/72

when his father decides to marry him off against his will, she immediately starts supporting her

husband (cf. Rai 2001: 67f.) When a woman is married, she ceases to exist; she becomes part of the

husbands family and no longer belongs to her father's and mother’s. “No more time to herself, no

more chances to be herself. She’s going to become theirs: their daughter, his wife, her sister- in-

law. They are going to own her life, own her belongings, own her…” (Rai 2011a: 43). Even though

Killing Honour is mainly narrated in first person, this particular chapter is seen from the point of

view of the bride. She mourns giving up her family, but most of all giving up herself. Marriage for

women is about duty, not love, they are supposed to make their husbands happy and bear them

many children, preferably sons (cf. Rai 2011a: 19). No one asks women if they are treated well or if

they need any help. In Killing Honour some hints are given that the mother actually knows about

the abuse her daughter is suffering, yet she refuses to help her as it would be dishonourable (cf. Rai

2011a: 19) This is once more a proof of the subordinate role of women in Indian society. Sat finds

several articles about British Asian women who have gone missing, suffered domestic abuse or

were victims of honour killings. Furthermore, he finds out that many of the women commit suicide

because they see no way to escape (cf. Rai 2011a: 132). In fact, a survey showed that 92% of

British Asian women believe that the number one reason for suicide attempts among them is an

abusive husband (cf. Each: 9). With his books Rai is informing a young readership about problems

that some of their peers might be facing every day. By addressing such sensitive topics as domestic

violence, cultural heritage and arranged marriages he helps create a surrounding that is more

sensitive towards such issues. Additionally, his own cultural background helps to draw the line

between multicultural sensitivity and pure sexism and racism. If someone outside of the South

Asian community would write such books it could be argued that he or she does not understand the

culture properly, however, as the author is Punjabi himself such argumentation is invalid.

Gender roles are sometimes questioned by western minded people, like Baljit's friend Hannah who

deliberately asks his mother instead of his father if she could use the phone (cf. Rai 2011b: 62).

Manny, even though he is a man, dreams about Lisa standing up for him against his family: “Every

time anyone in my house shouted at me or had a go, I'd start daydreaming about her to shut them off

[...]” (Rai 2001: 54). Gender roles render the differences between progressive thinking characters

and narrow minded ones more evident; the former see gender roles as less important than the latter

group. The protagonists' family in The Last Taboo handles gender stereotypes differently, the

mother is working for a women's community group and hence the father sometimes cooks and

cleans the house. This is not met with enthusiasm; instead, his brothers look down on him for not

making enough money and his sister-in-law criticises his wife for not taking proper care of the

house (cf. Rai 2006: 123). Sometimes the women help in the family business, yet usually they do

26/72

not have a career of their own, only Simran's and David's mother has one. The women are generally

seen as objects, as someone to keep the house clean, to bear them children and to have sex with;

they are talked about with little appreciation (cf. Rai 2001: 242). As the women are objectified they

start to see themselves this way: “‘For going out with kaleh– no Desi lad is gonna touch you

afterwards.’ ‘That's just so fucking stupid,’ I [Simran] told her. ‘What am I– a piece of meat? [...]’”

(cf. Rai 2006 74f.). Simran is talking to her cousin Ruby who grew up in a traditional family and

hence her values are different than those of the progressive thinking Simran. With her statement she

is not only sharing the racist attitude of the Punjabi community, but also objectifying herself. She

implicitly says that a Punjabi woman can only have a good life if she marries someone from the

Asian community. Her worries about her friend are not that she might get her heart broken or how

her parents might react; instead her biggest fear is that she might not find a man. This can be partly

justified by the general view on women as financial burdens and that the only way to lift this weight

of a family is to get married. The wife’s family has to be grateful and show respect to the husband’s

family as they take the burden of a daughter away from them. (cf. Rai 2011a: 26).

Not only women are suffering under gender stereotypes, the men are also affected. Manny, who is

supposed to get married, is faced by disbelief, because no one thinks that men can be pressured into

arranged marriages as well(cf. Rai 2001: 90). It is true that they at least have some kind of choice,

nevertheless it is often against their will and they succumb to their parents' wishes. Whereas the

women are mainly working in the kitchen or serving their husbands tea and the like, the men are

portrayed as aggressive, never missing out on a fight. They use violence to prove their strength and

are afraid that if they do not take brutal measures against an opponent they might seem weak and

unmanly: “‘[…] Now, if I don’t do summat I’m gonna look like a pussy.’” (Rai 2011a: 123)

“Summat” is obviously referring to a violent act and the speaker has the protagonist beaten up a few

days later. Usually if it is one family member against another, others get involved and try to separate

them or keep them from fighting as violence especially towards older family members if frowned

upon. One of the main reasons for physical violence in the books is racism. It almost seems, that

because racists are behaving so violently, violence is the only possible response to their

provocations. Drinking too is considered to be something manly and if someone refuses aclohol

outright or only sticks to beer it can be a cause for mockery: ”‘Here, drink a man’s drink, not that

water you got there. You’re a Jat Punjabi- not a bloody Hindu.’” (Rai 2001: 253). When Sat is

assaulted and knocked unconscious in the bathroom of a bar he feels ashamed when walking out

covered in urine because the other guests will think that he is just a kid who cannot handle alcohol

(cf. Rai 2011a: 131). He wants to be seen as a man and men do not pass out drunk in toilets. Some

of the girls drink as well, yet it is not seen as bad if they have had one too many, as their

27/72

surroundings perceive them as weak and therefore it is assumed that they cannot handle alcohol

well. Furthermore, all of the men are following one sport or the other, usually football, while the

girls seem to be mainly interested in clothes, school work or “chick flicks”- movies that are aimed

at a female audience. There is also a difference between how the male first-person narrators

describes people and how the female narrators describes them. To the males expensive clothes and

cars matter more, whereas the girls do not necessarily notice this. The boys also pay more attention

to the brands they and other men are wearing: “He was wearing a pair of blue jeans that looked like

501s, a blue Adidas sweatshirt and a pair of Nike trainers [...]”(Rai 2001: 173). Even when the

narrator gets beaten up he notices the aggressor’s well- shined, hand- stitched shoe that kicks him in

the head (cf. Rai 2011a: 269). This description, however, not only supports the above statement but

furthermore points out the gross contradiction of Taz’s fine clothes and his violent character. His

clothes help him create the identity of a rich, successful businessman, but they cannot hide his

aggressive nature. He thus possesses two characteristics that according to Rai are part of the typical

Punjabi male: success and aggression. Among the male characters more pressure and competition

can be found. They constantly have to prove how manly they are because otherwise they might be

considered gay. Since the community is homophobic, this is a reputation men would like to avoid.

This attitude is only visible in the novels, in the novellas there are no references to homosexuality.

Manny, for example, is called a “poofter” by his brother because he likes to read, at other times

accusing someone of homosexuality is just another way to discriminate against them (cf. Rai 2001:

24 and 2006: 131). Regardless of their sex, the protagonists have to deal with a macho society

dominated by heterosexual males who believe that equality among the sexes is something western

that spoils the children and hence the Punjabi culture.

Bali Rai creates a very complex setting for his characters, taking elements from both cultures and

mixing them together. He does not only show us characters that come from a working class

background and are bound to stay in the same social class for the rest of their lives, but also some

with zealous parents who want their children to have a better life than they did. The novels cast

some light onto the complex extended families and the Punjabi community as a whole and show

how closely linked both are. They also discuss gender stereotypes and how deeply rooted they still

are in Punjabi culture. The background knowledge given the reader in the books is essential as

otherwise he would have difficulties understanding the protagonist's actions and complaints. Rai is

appealing to a young readership and not all of them will already have had experiences with fellow

citizens of a different ethnicity. It shoult be noted that the information Rai gives the reader differs

according to the books’ main topic. In the novellas, the family structures are not as important as in

the novels, since the main topics are racism and the parents’ expectations. Hence he focuses rather

28/72

on the relationship between the children, their parents and the social interaction between the

characters of the Punjabi community with those outside of it. The author clearly wants to point out

difficulties in the Punjabi community, nevertheless it is important not to generalise. The two novels

(un)arranged marriage and Killing Honour in particular is very negative towards the Punjabis,

often depicting their culture as overly conservative and aggressive. Arranged marriage and an over-

emphasis on the sense of honour are certainly dangerous and it seems that the author's intention is to

render these flaws visible. This is one of the reasons why his books are so well suited for class

reading projects.

29/72

4. The Protagonists and Their Antagonists

The fourth chapter analyses how the differences between the protagonists and their antagonists are

created, therefore the narrative styles of each book as well as its chronological order are examined,

followed by a discussion about Berry's four different acculturation strategies. Next, the relationships

between the children, their parents' and their extended family are analysed. After that a closer look

is taken into the different attitudes of the protagonists and their antagonists towards alcohol, izzat

and sexuality. The capter ends with an analysis of several statements of the protagonists that do not

fit any of the categories mentioned before.

While background of the characters, as well as the expectations of their parents, might be different,

what they all have in common is that they want to live an independent life and try to break free from

the conventions dictated to them by the Punjabi community. They all feel British and consider the

U.K. rather than India their home country. It is also noticeable, that the more conservative the

parents are, the more the children rebel. In (un)arranged marriage, the identity of Manny, the

protagonist, is formed by being what his environment is not: “Clarendon Park was much more

middle class and had loads more white families living there which automatically gave it a better

reputation in the eyes of some ignorant people.” (Rai 2001: 35). By calling people with this opinion

ignorant, he makes clear that he himself thinks differently and that he, as opposed to them, is an

open-minded person. As his family sees things mainly in black and white and has no interest in

integrating into British society, but rather is living in a society within a society, their lives form an

opposition to his, they are what he is not: “I gave Ranjit half a smile when he’d finished, wondering

how we could be related at all. He was like a weaker version of my old man with his simple view of

the world. In a way I actually felt quite sorry for him.” (Rai 2001: 233). This way of identification

can also be found in The Last Taboo and Killing Honour, though there it is not as consistent. Sat

always loves his family, he only questions their way of handling traditions; David with his liberal

parents does not feel the need to rebel against them. Nevertheless, he disagrees with the racist

opinions many of the people belonging to the Punjabi community hold.

The author chose to have the protagonists narrate the books, hence the novels are mostly recounted

by a first person narrator. However, two of the books, namely The Last Taboo and Killing Honour,

also have chapters written from a third-person limited perspective. Additionally, the last chapter of

Killing Honour is a collection of different, fictive newspaper articles, thus giving it an unexpected

ending. Bali Rai clearly believes in the social responsibility of literature and pleads for a more

tolerant society in his works. By using an autodiegetic narrator, he creates the illusion that his books

30/72

are real and not mere fiction. In fact, his stories strongly remind one of an adolescent’s report or

diary entry. Of course, it is important to keep in mind that Rai in fact did experience many of the

topics he discusses in his books first-handedly and hence can give an accurate description of life

within the Punjabi community. In (un)arranged marriage the reader follows the protagonist, the

first-person narrator Manny, throughout four troublesome years. As has been mentioned in the

previous chapter he is not a reliable narrator, he tries to explain the Punjabi community to the

reader, but only focuses on his point of view. Manny claims that a lot of working-class Punjabi

families thought that education was unimportant, yet he does not give any official statistics and the

readers have to rely on his word. Indeed, statistics prove him wrong: many children of migrant

families do stay in education, because they often have no other options since they are unable to find

a job. It should therefore be assumed that the narration reflects his personal experiences and does

not necessarily represent the general situation.

The story is told achronologically, starting with the prologue that is set on the day of his marriage.

Manny is in a restroom on the highway, explaining to the readers that he was about to turn the

tables. He has had some troublesome years and he believes that his is “a story worth telling” (Rai

2001: 10). These first two pages already reveal that the author managed to resolve the problem that

first-person narratives can only ever focus on one person and his or her feelings. The narrator

cannot possibly know what a person who is not in his surroundings is doing. Therefore, Rai has his

protagonist imagine what his father and his siblings are supposedly involved in at this instant. As

Manny describes his own father and brothers he seems a reliable source. It is likely that a son is

well acquainted with his father's and brothers' habits and behaviour: “They must have sat there

waiting for me, laughing to themselves about how I had finally succumbed to their way of thinking,

their way of life.” (Rai 2001: 9) After the prologue, the story starts in medias res, with the

protagonist's announcement that he was not getting married and preceeds in chronological order

except for the occasional flashback that is used to add information on different characters, like

Manny's older brothers, or his best friend, Ady.. The beginning of the first chapter foreshadows the

upcoming events: Manny's determination to get out of his forced marriage and live an independent

life. The book ends two years after Manny fled his wedding and a now wiser narrator tries to

rationalise his actions, admitting that some of them were caused by juvenile irresponsibility and an

urge for revenge. The first novel of Bali Rai thus shows similarities with a bildungsroman, as the

protagonist changes from an insecure youth that is torn between his family's expectations and his

desire for freedom, to a responsible adolescent who knows what he expects from life but who also

realises that some of his actions wronged innocents, like his bride-to-be.

31/72

Baljit in Dream On and Jaspal in What's Your Problem? are autodiegetic narrators too and both

books start in medias res. Both novellas introduce us to an everyday situation in the lives of their

protagonists, and a flashback then explains how and why they find themselves in their current

positions. But where Baljit has to deal with his father urging him to help out in the shop, Jaspal has

to cope with yet another racist attack on his father's shop in Nottinghamshire. After the introduction,

Dream On continuous chronologically, whereas Jaspal takes the reader back to when he and his

family first moved to the village, and the story develops from that point onwards. Dream On is

about a teenager who wants to be a football player against his parents’ wishes. However, once they

find out that their son really is talented, they are happy with his career choice. Since everything

works out well for Baljit, foreshadowing is not used in this novella, as it could not be used to build

up tension. However, this element of suspense is adopted in What's Your Problem?, where Jaspal

tells the reader that things were going to get much worse, after he has read a threatening letter (Rai

2012: 51). As the letter is alarming by itself, the protagonist's warning further emphasises the dark

atmosphere that has been discussed in the previous chapter.

The two remaining novels, The Last Taboo and Killing Honour, stand out the most among the

analysed books, not only because the perspectives are constantly changing, but also because the

latter book finishes with several fictive newspaper articles. However, in The Last Taboo two

siblings narrate their story in turns, with chapters written in different narrative styles woven into

them. These chapters narrate the experiences and points of view of several different characters and

they can be divided into three different groups according to whom they focus on. The first group of

chapters tells the story of a racist assault in Leicester market in 1979, the second group is written

from the perspective of the antagonists, and the third group is made up by the chapter that describes

how Tyrone is beaten up. The book is narrated mainly by Simran, the protagonist. Her brother is a

first person narrator too, yet he is somehow less important. It is not quite clear why the author

decided to write his story as a first-person narrative. It might be to give the reader a better insight

into the protagonist's family, but also to show the siblings' different reactions towards discrimination

and racism. Simran objects to racism and gets cross with her friends for being racist, yet she never

acts aggressively. Even when she is bullied in school for dating a black man she never defends

herself and just suffers silently. Her brother David on the other hand is much more aggressive when

arguing and does not hesitate to get into fights if someone offends his friends or his sister. Their

vocabulary is different as well, Simran is always polite, whereas David uses swearwords on many

occasions even getting into fights with his parents about it. Only when Simran is talked down to by

her uncle she swears back at him. Even though they grew up in a modern family, with both parents

entitled to the same rights and duties, they behave according to the gender stereotype of the

32/72

aggressive male and the passive female. To have the two of them use the same narrative style

emphasises the differences, but also the similarities between them. Both of them despise racism and

believe that people are to choose their partners and friends according to their likes and not

according to society. They care deeply for one another, their family and friends and stand up for

their ideals, even though they take different approaches to do so.

When the reader first stumbles across the chapter of the events in Leicester market in 1979, he or

she might be confused as there is no indication on how this is linked to the rest of the story. The

chapters are written from the point of view of the nine-year-old Mandip, a Punjabi boy, and Gulbi,

his father, who get ready to work at their market stand. It proceeds by describing racist attacks

towards them and how three black man who helped the Asian vendors against the neo-Nazis get

arrested. The focalization changes between Mandip and Gulbi, describing not only what they do,

but also how they feel. The uneasiness of the father right before they are attacked by skins makes

the reader anxious and worried, just as the son's confession that he was hiding in his father's van

during the fight relieves and shames them at the same time. On the one hand they are relieved that

nothing has happened to Mandip, yet on the other the readers are influenced by the boys account of

his “cowardice” (cf. Rai 2006: 177). Only towards the end of the book are the two stories tied

together by Simran's and David's grandfather, who tells them how the white shop owners helped

them get the unjustly arrested Jamaicans out of prison. It turns out that the young boy and his father

really are their father and their grandfather. This embedded story helps to explain why Simran's and

David's immediate family is so liberal. Their father learned at an early age that skin colour has little

importance as a person should only be judged according to his or her deeds.

In the book there are several antagonists, all equally disapproving of blacks. The narrative mode

changes from David, hence an autodiegetic narrator, in the previous chapter to a covert narrator. As

opposed to the chapters about David's father, focalization on the opponents does not reveal their

thought processes, but only what can be observed from an outside perspective. Therefore the

antagonists are always teamed up and reveal their intentions and attitudes via dialogue, rather than

thoughts. In fact, these episodes are told by a covert narrator, only using internal focalization on

several occasions: “Satnam heard a shout go up and turned his attention back to the game. He saw

his brother Parmjit arguing with some white lad, before the referee calmed them down [...]”. (Rai

2006: 49) This technique effectively prevents the reader from bonding with the antagonists, as they

represent a part of the Punjabi community that the author criticises violently in his works. The last

chapter that focuses on any other character than the protagonist, is the one in which Tyrone is

beaten up and severely wounded by two Punjabis who reject his relationship with Simran. The

33/72

previous chapter focuses on two of Simran's and David's opponents and hence there is a noticeable

change in narrative situation. The reader experiences Tyrone's pain and helplessness from his

perspective. The injuries and the physical effects of the beating are described in detail, whereas little

is known about how he actually feels when being attacked. The attackers take Tyrone by surprise,

and therefore he has little time to reflect, additionally by mainly focusing on the action the narrative

time and discourse time are nearly the same, creating narrative immediacy.

It is interesting how the author decided to use several different narrative styles and perspectives

throughout the novel. The autodiegetic narrator is used to ease the readers into the story, to help

them identify and sympathise with the protagonists and their cause. However, as Nünning points

out, a narrative I has the disadvantage of only being able to represent his or her own experiences,

feelings and thoughts (2005: 115). It is impossible for them to know what might be happening

elsewhere, instead they have to rely on accounts from other characters. In (un)arranged marriage

this is sorted by simply letting the protagonist assume what people who are in different parts of the

house, or even the city are doing in this instant. In The Last Taboo however, the author makes use of

two first-person narrators, one of them representing the male perspective on the story. The story of

Mandip, adds important background information and demonstrates the importance of tolerance and

acceptance of one another. Furthermore, it reflects on social responsibility; the white stall owners

come to the aid of their immigrant colleagues, instead of looking the other way. As Rai tries to

encourage such behaviour with his works he chose a narrative situation that allowed him to portray

the inner life of his characters. When the third-person narrator focuses on either the son or the father

he describes their worries and their thoughts according to their age. In the morning, Mandip is

worried about spilling the contents of the toilet bucket on his pyjamas, whereas Gulbir is concerned

about the skinheads that might attack them in the afternoon. Mandip's world is that of a nine-year-

old, filled with music, smoking his first cigarette and school; Gulbir's on the other hand revolves

around his family, his colleagues, his marking stall and his children's future. Through the third-

person limited perspective the reader can relate to the characters he reads about, it is easier for him

to become part of their world and to be taken into the story. As the antagonists represent the

intolerance and ignorance that the author criticises in his works, he uses a covert narrator to narrate

the parts of the novel that cover their perspectives. He thus creates a distance between the readers

and the antagonists and hence little sympathy is felt for their racist and antiquated views.

In Killing Honour similar narrative techniques to the ones discussed above are used. Just as in all

the other books the protagonist is also the narrator; however, the story is told achronologically,

jumping back and forth between the frame story that is set now and the main plot that is set several

34/72

years ago. The frame story is a dialogue between Amanda, a journalist, and Sat, the protagonist,

who talks to her about his sister's disappearance and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it.

The book begins with a few pages describing the horrible fate of a young married woman, followed

by a chapter about the frame story which then finally introduces the main story line. The narrative-I

tells the reader both, the frame story, as well as the parts of the plot in which he is involved. Just as

in The Last Taboo, the first person narrator's incapability of being at several places at once is solved

by introducing chapters written from different points of view: some chapters are dedicated to his

missing sister and her dead sister-in-law, about equally as many are focusing on the antagonists.

Some parts of the book are written from the perspective of Sat's friend Laura and the book ends

with several newspaper articles. The narrative perspective changes several times throughout the

novel and it is not always clear which type of narrator is used, or who and if somebody is being

focalised. The first chapter is written from the perspective of a young wife, yet the introductory

paragraph is clearly an overt narrator (Rai 2011a: 1). It evokes a feeling of voyeurism in the readers,

as they see her on the bed, crying. As they keep on reading they zoom into the story and into the

character's perspective, they start to feel her pain and despair. The other chapters written from her

point of view also play with the illusion of voyeurism, for example when she floats above her body,

watching herself. Even though sympathy is evoked, the author focuses rather on describing the pain

she suffers than on her thoughts and feelings. Thus, the narrative perspective reflects the character's

inability to enter her body and defend herself instead she observes, just like the reader. Her passivity

is most likely caused by her cultural heritage, as she was raised to be devoted to her husband and to

never disobey him. By acting up against him, she first has to overcome what she has been taught all

her life. When she finally asks for a divorce, instead of simply running away, it is not clear if she

was acting courageous by facing him, or trying to get his permission. The autodiegetic narrator

witnesses several fights between his mother and his sister, and it is hinted that they were about his

sister's marriage (cf. Rai 2011a: 10). This might be an explanation as to why his sister did not try to

leave her husband; she had nowhere to go to, because her own parents were not willing to support

her. In the last of the four chapters, written from the young woman's perspective, the one that most

likely focuses on Anita, it is mentioned that she is a fighter (cf. Rai 2011a: 266). This indicates a

strong character, who might have been able to escape her abusive husband if she had had some

support from her family. As in these episodes it is never clear if the young woman is Jas or Anita, it

could also have been the latter who asked for a divorce. The uncertainty of her identity can also be

seen as a symbol of all the other women living in Great Britain who suffer the same fate as Jas or

Anita; it is estimated that 17.000 women are subjected to honour-based violence every year (cf.

Brady 2008). In the interview at the end of the book it is mentioned that by making it unclear

whether the character was Anita or Jas, Rai wanted the reader to go through the same doubts as Sat

35/72

(cf. Rai 2011a: 320f.). He will never know what really happened to his sister, therefore these

chapters could also be seen as a reflection of his imaginations and his fears. Either way, the readers

are left with a wary and uneasy feeling after each of these episodes, as the suffering of a girl, who is

about their age, is described into detail.

The frame story is set in London, the I-narrator is telling his story to Amanda, a journalist. The main

story is interrupted regularly with these episodes; they shortly sum up what has happened so far and

foreshadow the following chapters. They are also used to create suspense as they discuss how

dangerous it will be for Sat to return to Leicester if his former in-laws find out that he talked to the

press. Amanda's reaction further emphasises the seriousness of the situation, her limited knowledge

and understanding of the Punjabi culture force Sat to explain certain concepts and behaviour, like

honour or obedience. In doing so the reader gets the information he needs in order to understand the

book. Additionally, during the interview, Sat's feelings and his regrets about not helping his sister

when he still could have are described in detail. The main plot of the novel finally starts in chapter

three, and it is soon evident why Sat stressed his feelings for his sister so strongly before. At the

beginning of the story he is a typical British teenager, egotistic and only caring about his own and

his friends' lives. He is not necessarily behaving badly, or mean, he just cannot be bothered with

anything that concerns his family. He is acting like a normal fifteen-year-old, trying to distance

himself from his parents, as most teenagers do. Furthermore, he admits his mistakes and does not

try to embellish his actions. In contrast to Manny from (un)arranged marriage, he is openly telling

the reader about his faults, therefore it can be assumed that he is a fairly reliable narrator. Just as in

The Last Taboo the chapters about the antagonist have a covert narrator, who refrains from referring

to the characters' feelings, and if he does, he portrays them as distant, cold, and aggressive. That

their perspective is used nonetheless, is evident in how different Taz, one of the antagonists, and Sat

perceive their environment. Sat says about the female officer that she “had cropped chestnut hair

and a round face”, whereas Taz refers to her as “the female one with the lesbian haircut” (Rai

2011a: 113/121). The author tried to render the antagonists as unlikable as possible, leaving them

without any features that might cause the readers to develop any sympathy towards them.

It should, however, not be forgotten that there is a second group of antagonists, the members of

Sat's immediate family. They do not have chapters of their own, because Sat lives with them in the

same house and describes them himself. The difference between the two groups, other than not

having a voice of their own, is that the Atwals and their friends know that they are doing something

wrong, whereas the first are acting according to tradition and believe that thus they are honouring

their families. They are misguided by their cultural heritage, which makes them worry too much

36/72

about appearances; they do not disown their daughter because they mean to harm her, but because

in their society it is obligatory to do so. Even though they themselves have not killed Jas, the author

still criticises their behaviour, as can be seen in Sat’s desperate search for his sister that contrasts his

parents’ and brother’s comportment. Some parts of the book are written from Lisa's perspective,

who serves as a link between Sat and Taz Atwal. In contrast to the antagonists' episodes her's reflect

her innermost thoughts and feelings. Even though she becomes friends with Sat and helps him

prove the Atwals guilty of Anita's murder, her function in the novel is to keep the readers updated

on Taz. The last part of the book consists of newspaper articles, some of which show astonishing

similarities with real ones. In his blog, Bali Rai states that he was inspired to write the novel from a

feeling of anger, and does not mention any articles, yet if one googles “honour related violence” it is

soon obvious that the claims the journalists make in the book have been well researched (Rai 2011).

Several articles talk about the sentences of Anita's and Jas' murderers and question whether the

police would have investigated more thoroughly if the missing women had been white. The book

raises the reader's awareness towards honour killings and domestic violence in migrant families and

families with an immigrant background and, points out that it is not only occurring in countries far

away, but in the UK as well.

In conclusion, it can be said that the books have similar narrative situations: all the protagonists are

autodiegetic narrators and, while describing their feelings to some extent, they never get too

emotional. They keep certain, personal details hidden from the readers and just hint at them, as if

fully aware that they were being “watched”. However, the readers are never directly addressed (cf.

Rai 2006: 156). Additionally, the antagonists, even though some of them have their own chapters,

are rendered unappealing; not only through the descriptions of the protagonists, but especially

through the way they behave. By using an I-narrator for the protagonists and a covert narrator for

the antagonists in The Last Taboo and Killing Honour the author once more emphasises the

difference between the two groups. The narrative situation of the protagonists clearly tries to win

the readers, whereas the covert narrator is not improving the antagonists' image. It appears as if the

author attempts to make sure that the reader has no way to bond with them. His writing style clearly

supports the message of tolerance that his books carry.

The major difference between the open-minded protagonists and their conventional and traditional

Punjabi antagonists is how they integrate into society. According to Berry there are four different

acculturation strategies. He calls these approaches to cope with one’s cultural heredity in the

country one migrated to: separation, assimilation, integration and marginalisation. Separation is to

reject the majority or mainstream culture and to identify solely with one’s own ethnic group.

37/72

Assimilation on the other hand means only embracing the culture of the new country and ignoring

ones roots. Ideally one should be integrated into the new society, meaning that one identifies with

both the parents' culture and heritage and the culture of the country one is living in now. Finally,

marginalisation is defined as rejecting both groups (cf. Robinson 2009: 444). The first three

acculturation strategies are used by the characters in the books; however, the last one is never used

and will therefore not be discussed any further. The protagonists want to integrate and have either

only a British or a British-Punjabi identity, whereas their antagonists are separatists, condemning

everything that belongs to Western culture, while clearly using some of its ostensible benefits, like

alcohol or porn magazines. The friction created by the irreconcilable differences between the two

groups forms the basis of the plot and hence the action: a pattern that all the analysed novels share.

When in other books the action is created by the greed or selfishness of the antagonist, here it is

caused by the two different approaches towards one’s cultural heritage. In the novellas on the other

hand, the antagonists do not necessarily belong to the same cultural background, but the friction is

created by racist behaviour of white Britons. The first group, the separatists, is, as mentioned above,

formed by the antagonists and to some extent family members and friends, not all of them having

issues with the main character. The opponents condemn the British lifestyle and cannot accept that

someone sharing their cultural background would think differently: “‘What you wanna read for

man? Bloody Dickens- what are you, a gorah (white) or something? […]’” (Rai 2001: 17). This

statement by Harry, Manny’s brother in (un)arranged marriage shows how racism and rejection of

the new country’s culture go hand in hand. For him, only his parents’ culture is important; he has no

interest in learning about or adjusting to Western culture. He argues that he is a proud Punjabi,

therefore clearly neglecting any British identity (cf. Rai 2001: 25). The next quote from his father

could be an explanation for Harry’s resentment:

‘Who does he think he is, with his degree and his gorah language? Better than me? I am still a Jat Punjabi, not bloody English like him. When the goreh kick us out I will have land to go back to. What will he have? Never done a day’s hard work with his computers and his desk. How will that help him in India?’

(Rai 2001: 17)

The father, who was born in India, resents the country he has moved to and because they grew up in

such a narrow-minded environment two of his sons share his view. Additionally, his fear of having

to leave the country becomes evident, which is somehow ambiguous as he wants to return to India

anyway. On the one hand he despises the Western world, yet on the other he takes offence in not

being accepted. What might bewilder the reader here is that in the entire book there is not a single

clue that might qualify his suspicions; furthermore, his children are all British and could not be

deported from the country. Ranjit, Manny’s other brother explains that they have to create their own

society in order to protect their culture and raise their children to be good Punjabis (cf. Rai 2001:

233). His description of a society within a society reflects the separatist approach the clearest. They

38/72

do not want to be part of British society, but prefer to isolate themselves in order to live lives similar

to the ones of their fathers’ in India. In The Last Taboo Simran the protagonist describes her

antagonists as seperatists too: “‘They’re what I call ‘typical bhangra-muffins’– all macho, and thick

with it and, to be honest, I don’t really speak to them if I can help it.’” (Rai 2006: 13) She is not

directly addressing the readers, yet she is speaking in a very familiar tone, as if telling her story to a

newly made friend. Bhangra is a genre of music that originated in the Punjabi region and has been

brought to England by immigrants (cf. Kumar 2006). Calling her cousins ‘bhangra-muffins’ is her

way of describing their identity as being Punjabi, not British. Their traditional ideas of honour and

family, described later on in the book, render her first description of them quite accurate (cf. Rai

2006: 142). When she is attacked by her former friends for dating a black man, they cover their

racist views by claiming that she is acting like a white girl, instead of being proud to be Indian.

When she argues that in fact she is British she is told that she would always be Indian (cf. Rai 2006:

203). Her antagonists not only style themselves as being Punjabi and not British, but do the same

with the people surrounding them. They only judge a person according to his or her skin colour and

their parents’ cultural background and completely disregard a person’s chosen identity. Sat’s

antagonists, the Atwals, in Killing Honour see themselves as Punjabi too, they have arranged

marriages, an extended family, a strict concept of honour and act according to the behavioural rules

that are expected from them, like refusing alcoholic beverages before accepting them after a short

dispute (cf. Rai 2011a: 20). However, their ultimate position as antagonists is due to their immoral

and aggressive behaviour and not necessarily caused by their Punjabi identity. Then again, they are

partly misbehaving because of their cultural heritage, as they believe that they are superior to

women, ending up violating and killing their wives. Additionally, if Sat had behaved according to

the rules of the Punjabi community, he would not have investigated his sister’s disappearance any

further and thus would never have had any problems with the Atwals.

However, not all the antagonists are constantly separatists, as Baljit’s father in Dream On is open-

minded and willing to change his mind when he finds out that he has erred. In fact he is integrated

into British society whilst maintaining some cultural concepts of his native country. He demands

that his son helps him in the shop and wants him to be a good student, yet he also accepts his

girlfriend, or his Muslim friend. He is not disrespecting his child’s wishes for cultural principles,

but because he worries about his future. This is why he is being extremely strict about his education

and does not want him to play football. As the above examples show us the opponents can be

divided into two groups: the ones who are Punjabi and disagree with the protagonists' lifestyle and

the ones who are having issues with the main characters because of their skin colour and heritage.

This rather clear distinction can be made as the analysed books mainly focus on the difficulties

39/72

within the Punjabi society as well as on the ones the immigrants, hence the parents as well as their

children and grandchildren, encounter within British society. Therefore the points of friction are

obvious; with the first group it is the Western minded attitude versus the often backward way of

thinking of the Punjabi community; with the second group the problems emerge from racism.

The protagonists can be divided into two groups the assimilationists and the integrationists,

however, a clear line cannot be drawn as most show characteristics from both categories. All of

them insist that they are British and not Indian. Some of them, however, hold on to certain traditions

and behaviour because they feel it is their duty, while others take a very distant position towards

their parents’ cultural heritage. In three of the five books the protagonists explicitly state that they

are British, in one of them even the grandfather admits that because they were born in England they

are entitled to live their lives according to the cultural conventions of Great Britain rather than India

(cf. Rai 2006: 251). The author has the main characters identify as British or English on several

occasions, not just when they are asked directly about their identity: “It would be fun to travel with

Inderjit too. Maybe he'd be able to show me what made his country special, the way that I had

described England to him.” (Rai 2001: 159) This short extract shows once more that Manny sees

England as his home; it is to him, what India is to his cousin Inderjit. Since all the books are at least

partly written from the protagonist’s perspective, the main character’s identity in the ones that do

not mention it explicitly is quite clear because it is implied through their thoughts, ideas and

behaviour. Sat considers his parents view on morals, honour or religion as backward and would

never bend to their rules or demands, such as having an arranged marriage or disowning someone

for dishonouring the family (cf. Rai 2011a: 91). Baljit’s favourite football team is Liverpool, he

wants to be a famous football player, protests against his father forcing him to work in the shop,

and requests to be allowed to grow up like a normal person (cf. Rai 2011: 3). ‘Normal’ in this case

is referring to the life of the average British teenager, who, according to Baljit does not have to help

out in his or her parents’ fish and chip shop.

It should be mentioned that the author has all his protagonists demonstrate their belonging to the

Western culture by watching or playing football, listening to music such as hip hop or reggae,

drinking beer and eating fish and chips. In short, all the main characters like to do what the average

English teenager does. The only difference is that their parents or grandparents were born in a

different country. Jaspal in What’s Your Problem? points out, “‘I mean — how can I be any more

English — I was born here.’” (Rai 2012: 75) Some scientists argue that a racist environment may

cause the victim to identify less with the national group and to create a stronger bond with the

ethnic group instead (cf. Robinson 2009: 445). Jaspal, however, never truly identifies with his

40/72

ethnicity and even the racist attacks on him or on his parents cannot change that. He feels British

and is angered by the fact that his environment only perceives his skin colour. This represents well

all the other main characters' attitude towards their identity. It could be argued that Rai is pleading

for assimilation rather than integration, as his protagonists are more concerned with British culture

than their parents’. This argument is invalid though, as none of the main characters claim that their

approach towards their cultural heritage is the right one; they only insist on tolerating a person’s

freedom and choices in life.

Even though some of the protagonists have severe problems with their parents, going as far as being

verbally and physically abused by them, they are strongly attached to them. This is most evident in

(un)arranged marriage where Manny, who is being forced into an arranged marriage, struggles

severely with his decision of whether or not to leave his family in order to be able to determine his

own fate. It is also noticeable that even though his father beats and threatens him he beliefs

everything he tells him about India and is therefore shocked when he finds out how different it is

once he gets there himself. During the time he and his family stay there they stop quarrelling and

only once or twice he gets in a fight with his older brother Harry, never with his father. This

prompts him to let down his guard and he does not realise that his family has planned to leave him

in the small village until shortly before his marriage in England. Yet, in spite of everything it is only

his father’s severe beating up when he comes back to Britain that makes him determined to stick to

his plan to not go through with the wedding. Sat too suffers under his father’s and his brother’s

traditional attitudes as he rebels against them disowning his sister. Unlike Manny, he is never beaten

up by either of them, yet he is hit and verbally abused several times: “He came towards me, eyes

ablaze, and slapped me. Pain exploded across my face; my eyes watered and my heart began to

pound furiously. ‘You stupid bastard!’” (Rai 2011a: 119) Whenever he tries to discuss his missing

sister with either his father or his brother they swear at him and when he actually talks to the police

and the press about it they slap and push him (Rai 2011a: 119/160). However, the instant Taz Atwal

threatens Sat's family he surrenders and stops investigating his sister’s case. As his own life has

been threatened before it is even more remarkable how quickly he gives in in order to protect his

family. The difference between him and Manny is that he truly loves his family, whereas the latter

only holds on to them because he knows that breaking with them means giving up the live he has

lead so far. Nonetheless, Sat is angry with his parents for treating him badly and ignoring his sister’s

awful fate for so long. Even as the parents finally decide to join Sat in his search for the truth he is

still incapable to forgive them (cf. Rai 2011a: 285). In the following chapter he is worried about

their safety, indicating that despite his anger he still loves them. Throughout the book it is evident

that Sat’s family loves him and that they only try to forget Jas’ disappearance due to social

41/72

restrictions, not because they stopped loving her (cf. Rai 2011a: 179). They are violent towards their

son because they do not know how to deal with their anger and their frustration and hence they

punish him for reopening their wounds with his investigations. Simran and David from The Last

Taboo on the other hand get along well with their parents, they only have difficulties with their

extended family who interferes with their personal life, because they fear for their izzat. Simran is

talked down to by her uncle and in the end is nearly killed in a car accident caused purposefully by

her cousin; David gets into a fistfight with his cousins and they verbally abuse each other. Despite

disliking their aunts, uncles and cousins at the beginning they do not host any negative intentions

towards them, only when their opponents push them they start to act aggressively as well. The

extended family cannot accept Simran's and David's choices in life and it is their intolerant

behaviour that leads to the family's break-up at the end of the novel. Yet only the stepping in of the

grandfather made their aunts and uncles realise that they misbehaved. Once more Rai emphasises

the importance of respectful and tolerant behaviour towards each other and demonstrates that

violence can never be an answer. The two protagonists from the novellas have difficulties with their

parents as well; however, neither of the two gets verbally or physically abused. Their disputes are

restricted to the average teenager-parents conversation, with the occasional outburst of the teen. As

all the protagonists are teenagers or young adolescents they are dependent on their parents, not only

from a financial, but also from an emotional point of view. Therefore the idea of breaking with them

scares the protagonists and in Manny’s case, makes them vulnerable and easy to manipulate. The

abusive family members, be it a parent, an aunt, an uncle or a cousin, constantly talk about

respecting the family, yet ironically they are the ones who disrespect this concept the most. The

protagonists try to act respectfully towards their antagonists, accepting their choices in life and

expect them to do the same. The opponents on the other hand want to force their way of life onto

the main characters, disrespecting their personal freedom and choices. In the end they are the ones

dividing the family, not the protagonists.

As mentioned in the previous chapter children, especially the girls, in traditional Punjabi families

do not talk back to older family members. The protagonists in the books, however, want to break

free and hence often disagree and argue with their parents, aunts and uncles. They are not willing to

take orders without discussing them first. They reflect and think for themselves, questioning their

duties as children. For some of the parents, like the ones in Killing Honour this might be unusual, as

their older children never exhibited such behaviour, but in the end they come to terms with it. For

others backtalk is a reason to punish their child violently, thus giving it even more reason to rebel:

“The beating that I got on my return had only made me stronger, more determined to go my own

way” (Rai 2001: 227 f.). The antagonists on the other hand accept everything their parents tell them

42/72

and never argue with them. The same can be said about some of the less determined Punjabi

characters as well, like Sat’s sister Jas. When looking at the relationship between the children and

the parents a difference has to be made as to whom they are rebelling against, as the majority of the

protagonists have difficulties with the community not necessarily with their parents. David and

Simran's parents in The Last Taboo are quite liberal and try to support their children in every

possible way. They seem to have the perfect children-parent relationship in which both parts, even

though they often argue, try to always be respectful and understand each other. In (un)arranged

marriage Manny constantly challenges his parents and fights with them: “‘[…]Why are you always

with that kalah (black)?’ And that would be it. I’d go mad because my old man was dissing my best

mate. I’d call him a racist, get another clip across the head and then he’d pour out all of his

prejudices about black people.” (Rai 2001: 19) He also refuses to go to India with the rest of the

family, but he is not taken seriously (cf. Rai 2001: 108). His siblings on the other hand, who are also

his antagonists, never refuse their parents' wishes. They all had an arranged marriage when they

were still quite young and his brothers are now working in a dead- end job at a factory. They speak

Punjabi and have difficulties with the English language, listen to bhangra and like to drink, just as

his father does. Manny points out that his older brother acts like someone who has been

brainwashed and that he felt sorry for him (cf. Rai 2001: 233). To some extent he is certainly right

about his siblings being indoctrinated; growing up in such a closed society with narrow minded

parents certainly does not enhance out of the box thinking or personal responsibility. Neither of his

brothers ever reflects on anything, they have no aim in their lives other than being a good Punjabi

and that has been taught to them by their parents.

Simran and David who come from a working class environment too, have similar difficulties with

their extended family. However, they have a relaxed relationship with their parents and sometimes

are even insolent when talking to them: “I told her that she was going grey and that her wrinkles

were showing”; or “‘Yeah, and you didn’t have computers or mobiles- or shoes,’ I said, taking the

piss.” (Rai 2006: 16/42) They feel taken seriously by them and always try to be honest with them,

and do the same with their aunts, uncles and cousins, yet they consider it to be disrespectful instead

of honest. Simran tries to argue reasonably with her cousin Ruby about her refusal towards Blacks,

but is met with incomprehension as Ruby’s strict and traditional parents raised her to be prejudiced

towards them. Ruby and her parents believe that Simran is dishonouring the family by going out

with a black man and even forbid their daughter to talk to Simran. They consider their child to be a

well behaved Punjabi girl, not realising that she is lying to them, that she drinks alcohol, and that

she goes out to parties just like any other teenager. Simran and David want to choose their own path

in life and are willing to confront their parents and argue with them if necessary, Ruby on the other

43/72

hand prefers to lie to her's and have them believe that she is a devoted Punjabi daughter, when in

reality she is just shunning away from conflict.

It has been discussed before that in Killing Honour Sat has two groups of antagonists: the Atwals as

well as his own family. Quite at the beginning of the novel he explains to the reader, or rather to

Amanda, one of the characters from the book, that he has always been a wild child, who never

followed his parents’ orders and wishes, but always questioned them. He constantly caused trouble

and by the time he was fifteen his parents had given up on controlling him (cf. Rai 2011a: 8). He

thus leads a life free from restrictions and is allowed to do whatever he likes to. He is incapable to

understand how his siblings can lead a life that has been dictated to them by their parents, but

nonetheless respects their decisions. His sister quietly accepts her fate and has never argued with

her parents, nor has ever done anything that might disrespect them. Even when they decide to marry

her to a complete stranger she does not protest as she is convinced that they know what is best for

her. Her passivity, caused by her upbringing, leads to her being killed by her husband. Amar, Sat’s

older brother, rejects to think for himself too, instead he believes what his father tells him to. What

is interesting about this novel is that Sat’s father, as opposed to Manny’s, is not a bad person, he

treats his wife and children well and truly tries to do what is best for them. Yet when the moment

arrives to reflect on what he is told about his daughter’s disappearance he is incapable of doing so,

because he, like his children, has been brought up to follow the rules of izzat and not to question his

parents or any of their decisions. He thus becomes a prisoner of his own culture, unable to imagine

that his son-in-law might be lying to him about his missing daughter. By telling one's children what

to believe and how to behave, they cannot start to think for themselves, always relying on others to

have an opinion for them. Sat realises this and already at an early age tries to break free from this

circle. He is the only one in his family to think outside the box and to be able to make up a mind of

his own, hence he is also the only one to consider his sister’s disappearance as highly suspicious. In

the novellas the children talk back to their parents as well, the only difference is that in What’s Your

Problem the antagonists are not of Punjabi descent and in Dream On the antagonist is already the

father. Therefore, no difference between the protagonist and the antagonist in their behaviour

towards their parents can be analysed. However, all the books share rebellious, free-thinking

protagonists who speak up their mind and have liberal attitudes towards different ethnicities,

religious believes or sexuality. They are not intimidated by their parents’ standards and traditions; in

fact they are hardly influenced by their cultural heritage at all. They no longer want to only live in

the Punjabi community, but simply be part of the bigger British society as they feel that their

individuality is more respected by the British than by the Punjabi culture.

44/72

Alcoholism, as mentioned in the previous chapter is a problem among British-Asians and Rai uses it

to differentiate once more between the antagonists and the protagonists. Both groups drink for fun

and sometimes out of frustration, one of the protagonists even gets kicked out of school because of

it. The distinction is made by how they act under the influence of alcohol. The antagonists tend to

get aggressive and beat up their children or behave disrespectfully towards women. They also drive

under the influence, something that the protagonists would never do: “Inderjit turned his Audi A4

down a side street off Evington Road and pulled over to the kerb. He opened his door, leaned out

and threw up.” (Rai 2006: 178) The main characters also drink too much, just like the average

teenager; however, they never do anything that would risk another person’s life. On several

occasions they get into fights, not necessarily because they drank too much, but rather because they

were provoked. As mentioned above fighting is part of proving one's masculinity in the Punjabi

culture and hence the teenagers do not even try to avoid it (cf. Rai 2006: 143). They also admit it

when they have had too much, like Manny does when he wakes up after a night of heavy drinking

(cf. Rai 2001: 247). As he is the first person narrator he might at some points in the book describe

situations to his favour, but he would not have any reasons to lie about feeling bad after a night of

drinking. The antagonists on the other hand tend to blame it on something else, find excuses for

their drinking or deny it: “‘That curry messed me up. Weren’t the booze…’ he insisted.’” (Rai 2006:

178) The protagonists, even though they are often younger than their antagonists are acting more

responsible when they drink and seem to be more aware of the negative consequences alcohol can

have, especially if one consumes too much of it too often. Sat watches his father become an

alcoholic, yet he never expresses any sympathy: “Dad would sit on his own, bottle in hand, crying”

(Rai 2011a: 87) He even describes how ragged he looks because of his abuse, but his description

does not give away any feelings, it rather appears to be the description of an heterodiegetic narrator,

nothing in it gives away that the speaker is the son: “He looked dishevelled: his cream turban was

dirty and badly tied; his beige shirt and black trousers were creased, his face gaunt. The skin looked

papery, especially under his eyes. The booze was taking its toll” (Rai 2011a: 154). Manny too sees

his father drinking everyday: “Sometimes I’d felt bad for him, wondering what made him drink so

much. But there was nothing wrong with his life. […] He was just a pisshead. An alcoholic. And

that was no- one’s fault but his own.” (Rai 2001: 240) There are two reasons why the protagonists

cannot emphasise with alcoholics: first of all they have a certain emotional distance to them. Even if

they once had a stable relationship, like Sat and his father, by the time they are alcoholics they do

not get along anymore. Secondly, the protagonists see alcoholism as an illness one is responsible for

him- or herself. It is caused by difficulties that could be solved if the individual wanted to. Sat’s

father could investigate his daughter’s disappearance himself, find out what really happened and

thus restore his izzat, his honour, like Sat tries to. Manny’s father on the other hand could have

45/72

rebelled too and lead his life the way he wanted it, but he decided against it so now he has to deal

with the consequences. While the majority of the characters, antagonists and protagonists alike,

drink, alcoholism befalls the weaker ones, the ones who do not live their lives the way they want to,

but the way it is dictated to them by society. For the protagonists alcohol is consumed for fun, to

relax, but also to experiment a bit, see how much one can handle. For the antagonists it clearly is a

way to escape their daily routines.

Honour is another aspect of their community with which the protagonists do not agree. They have a

different concept of honour and often do not understand what a certain behaviour might have to do

with it. “Dad told me to listen to everything Taz said. To respect him. ‘My izzat is at stake’, he went

on, not making any sense. What did going out for a beer with Taz and my dad's honour have in

common?” (Rai 2011a: 26) As discussed in the previous chapter izzat cannot simply be translated as

honour, but rather should be described as a set of rules an Asian person has to follow in order to

protect his or her family from shame and to maintain one's position in the community (cf. Gilbert et

al. 2004:112). If one member of the family acts dishonourably the entire family might be affected,

hence violence within the family is often concealed to protect the family’s izzat (cf .Czernik 2013).

Bali Rai agrees on this definition on izzat:

The concept of honour in British Asian communities centres on the way others perceive your family. Anything that is seen to be dishonourable can affect that. That pressure, for many, is very great. People tend to keep things in the family, rather than air their problems in public.

(2011: 321)

In his books Rai often has his protagonists criticize such behaviour, as can be seen in the example

above. Their bicultural identity, their knowledge of both the English and the Indian culture seems to

force them to constantly question behaviour and traditions that their surroundings take for

unchangeable such as the many rules that concern izzat. In What’s Your Problem Jaspal is not able

to understand his father who stubbornly continues to stand his ground against a village full of racists

when he could just go back to Leicester. Whenever the son tries to argue with his father, the latter

uses his authority to avoid an argument and simply forbids Jaspal to discuss the matter. In Jaspal’s

case the father does not only fear for his izzat, but furthermore feels that it is his right to live in any

place he chooses to because he sees himself as British (cf. Rai 2012: 49f.)

In Killing Honour, however, the protagonist has severe difficulties in dealing with his family’s

concept of honour, as his parents disown his sister Jas when their in-laws tell them that she has run

away, instead of investigating her disappearance: “‘You, Dad, Amar– you’re all the same!’ I said

angrily. ‘It’s all about protecting your bloody honour. Not love, not Jas and not me– just izzat. But

all you’re doing is killing it- killing honour. Not defending it!’” (Rai 2011a: 180) He cannot

46/72

understand why his parents would rather believe Jas’ violent husband than inform the police. Even

though he was raised in a traditional family, to him their concept of honour is too abstract and he

does not want to adhere to it (cf. 2011a: 81). For Sat a missing sister is cause for anxiety, yet his

environment perceives it as something dishonourable (cf. Rai 2011a: 71). Whenever he is trying to

raise his family’s awareness towards his sister’s disappearance, they firmly hold on to the belief that

she has threatened their izzat. In the case of Killing Honour the protagonist is fighting the

antiquated Punjabi concept of honour as the story’s focus is on honour killings and on domestic

violence. The main character is used as a tool to criticise and question this particular aspect of the

Punjabi lifestyle. With his determination to solve the mystery of Jas’ disappearance he forms a

strong contrast to the rest of his family who willingly accepts whatever lies their in-laws tell them.

In fact Sat’s behaviour leads to more violence within his own family and Jas’ former husband’s

family. On several occasions he is threatened verbally and physically by his father and his brother,

hence the reader realises how dangerous it can be to speak up against the rules of izzat. In the end

Sat’s efforts are rewarded; the book finishes on a message of hope and encourages others to do the

same. As seen above the protagonists all have British identities thus rendering the difference

between the Asian concept of honour and the Western idea of it all the more evident. While they

find it easy to accept certain aspects of the Punjabi life like food, or to some extend family

gatherings and religion, they start to rebel as soon as it comes to ideas or concepts that threaten their

personal freedom or the freedom of the people around them.

When it comes to sexuality a difference has to be made between the novels and the novellas once

more. It has already been mentioned before that the novellas focus rather on one topic instead of

looking at the Punjabi community and its traditions as a whole. The first novella focuses on its

protagonist's aim in life and the other on racism therefore sexuality is only discussed briefly. Both

teenagers, Jaspal in What’s Your Problem as well as Baljit in Dream On, have a girlfriend. Jaspal’s

father only complains about his son coming home late (cf. Rai 2012: 49) and to his surprise, Baljit’s

parents are fine with it too: “‘You know, Baljit, your father and me do not mind you go out with

girls. We are not like some parents. You were born in this country – you are bound to do what your

friends do’” (Rai 2011b : 66) Whereas Baljit’s parents have a Western attitude concerning their son’s

love life, it is different for his female cousin, whose parents are strict because she is a girl and

represents the family honour (cf. Rai 2011b: 31). While Baljit states this without revealing his

personal opinion, other protagonists clearly are against such biased behaviour. Even though Baljit’s

and Jaspal’s parents are traditional in some aspects, like caring too much about one’s izzat, or being

too strict when it comes to grades or work, they accept that their children are growing up and start

to lead lives of their own, which of course also includes exploring their sexuality. The parents and

47/72

relatives in the novels on the other hand have a rather negative attitude towards sex; they do not talk

about it openly and are completely against premarital sex. This negative attitude towards sexuality

can best be seen in (un)arranged marriage, where Manny explicitly states that he “was brought up

to view sex as something dirty and wrong.” He goes on to explain how his father even switched

channels whenever there was a nude scene (cf. Rai 2001: 95). He also tells the readers that sex and

having children is something the Punjabis do not talk about, it is an unacceptable topic to discuss.

Not even the pregnancy of his cousin’s wife can be mentioned, even though they are married. Lisa’s

parents who are British form a strong contrast to Manny’s, and represent a different approach

towards sex. They want their daughter and Manny to be responsible and hence discuss this sensitive

topic with them. The protagonist is aware that having sex is something very intimate that should be

done with someone you love. He is treating this subject with respect, unlike his older brother Harry

who considers it as yet another opportunity to prove his masculinity. Manny’s father thinks that

sexual relationships should be concealed, Harry on the other hand talks about it openly and uses it

to offend his younger brother whom he believes to be still a virgin (cf. Rai 2001: 87). Sat’s parents

too are uncomfortable with the thought of their son having a girlfriend, they are very traditional and

both of their older children had an arranged marriage. Their attitude does not keep their son from

dating a girl though and as the book hints it is likely that he also has a sexual relationship with her.

The focus of Killing Honour and The Last Taboo is not only on the Punjabi community, but

especially on honour and hence sex as a topic is discussed less explicitly than in (un)arranged

marriage. In both books several references are made, but except for the rape scene at the beginning

it is never clear whether the narrator is talking about sex or foreplay. Nonetheless it is evident that

the protagonists are exploring their sexuality and enjoy themselves as they do so: “[...] I was

hanging out at Charlotte's house, listening to music in her bedroom and doing them things you do

[...]” (Rai 2011a: 25) or “I pulled his hand away when it began to stray further north, not because I

didn't like it, but because his parents were downstairs.” (Rai 2006: 150). In this context it has to be

mentioned that the rape scene is not part of the protagonists’ sex life. The author emphasises in the

books that sex or petting is something that should be done with a loved partner and that it should

not only be restricted to the marital bed. He criticises that arranged marriages can lead to sexual

oppression and violence towards the wife (cf. Rai 2011a: 1). The books try to raise the reader's

awareness and sensitivity towards the topic while being neither insensitive nor provocative.

Among the Punjabi parents David’s and Simran’s are by far the most progressive. They do not have

a problem if their children have a boy- or a girlfriend, instead they are open-minded about it. The

father is a little biased about his daughter dating, however, considering famous sitcoms such as My

48/72

Wife and Kids or Suburgatory8 this seems to be a normal reaction for fathers in any culture: “‘It’s

the same as the other boyfriends you’ve had. At first I want to tear out their throats with my bare

hands and eat their livers with marmalade and toast, and then I calm down, accept that you’re a

teenager and go with the flow – did you think I was going to lynch the poor lad?’” (Rai 2006: 184).

Ruby’s parents on the other hand do not allow their daughter to go out, or date, they want her to

have an arranged marriage as well. She is not particularly happy about it, but does not openly

complain to them either. It can be said that the protagonists all have a healthy attitude towards

sexuality; they are curious about it and want to explore it. When doing so they act responsibly and

have partners they love, as opposed to the antagonists who consider it to be something bad and

unnatural that should best not be talked about. The books present sex as something teenagers are

and should be interested in, something beautiful that also needs to be handled with respect and care.

The author is not trying to educate them, but is aware of the topic’s sensitivity and hence

emphasises important factors such as love, responsibility and respect when discussing it.

The identities of the protagonists are created and influenced by all the circumstances and cultural

differences discussed above, as well as diverse approaches towards certain cultural concepts such as

their rejection of izzat or arranged marriages. Additionally, the author uses statements of the main

characters to support their character traits and personal identities, as opposed to the personality their

surroundings try to force upon them. In this last part, attitudes that have not been debated yet

because they did not fit any of the other concepts, but which are nevertheless important for the

protagonists’ identities will be analysed. Concerning an analysis the novellas have proven less of a

fertile soil than the novels, hence the discussion will start with the former.

The other books have the readers assume that the protagonists were always different from other

members of the Punjabi community, only Baljit in Dream On knows exactly when he started to

rebel against his father’s strict rules and the life he had set out for him. He never minded working

in his father’s fish and chips shop until he started to play football. From this point onwards he

disliked it because it meant that he had less time for practise (cf. Rai 2011b: 9). The reader also

learns that Baljit is a very humorous young man by the way he makes fun of his cousin, or his ironic

narrative style. He tries to entertain the reader with anecdotes such as the one where he asked his

friend Mike to help him date his sister: “‘I was always telling Mike to put in a good word in return

for me not making him look like a monkey on the footie pitch with my far superior skills. Funnily

enough, what I said didn’t make him want to help me.’” (Rai 2011b: 38) It can also be assumed that

8 In both sitcoms the fathers have difficutlies to accept that their daughters are growing up and are interested in the opposite sex.

49/72

he is a zealous person as he wants to be a star player and is also willing to train harder. In one scene

he runs back to Mo, one of his two best friends, to help him up because they were attacked by racist

students from a different school. He is risking his own health in doing so, showing the readers that

he cares deeply about his friends. Even though Baljit is a loyal friend, he is also ambitious. When

his friend is hurt again during the football trial he forbids himself to think about it and seizes the

opportunity to shine instead (Rai 2011b: 47). Jaspal in What’s Your Problem? does not have any

difficulties with his identity, he knows who he is. What troubles him is that he has problems fitting

in; he was accepted as British in Leicester, whereas in the village he lives in now he is constantly

confronted with his Punjabi identity. He is angered because people in his new surroundings cannot

see past the colour of his skin. He has been confronted with racism before, however, this time his

entire identity as an Englishman is being questioned. Jaspal likes to listen to hip- hop to distract

himself, but even then he cannot forget all the racism around him. In Nottinghamshire the

protagonist is constantly on edge, waiting for something bad to happen. He no longer leads the life

of a normal teenager: the only time he ever feels relaxed in the story is when he leaves the little

town to go to Nottingham. He is not struggling with his own identity, but with the fact that others

around him do not accept it because they believe that only white people can be British.

The protagonist in (un)arranged marriage identifies himself as a very tolerant, open minded person

and is annoyed that his family does not agree with his ideals. He sees himself as British, or English,

not as Indian or Punjabi. To him being British means tolerating other ethnicities and to mix with

them, be it in relationships, friendships or living arrangements. In the novel one of his friends has

two siblings, both with a different father and all of them have different skin colours. Manny loves

the idea of multiculturalism behind it and also tells the reader about other children from his school

who grew up in families with multiple ethnicities. Most readers of Bali Rai’s novels and novellas

are teenagers and the protagonist’s enthusiasm towards a multicultural society is most likely not

only used to aid the character’s evolvement, but also to influence the readership and create a

positive image of multicultural families. When he is thirteen Manny has dreams, just like any other

teenager, but as the story progresses he loses his focus. Instead of working hard in school to be able

to go to university, his interests shift and he only concentrates on escaping his arranged marriage.

This can be seen well when he is called to see a teacher in the middle of his literature class. At the

beginning of the book he claims to love literature and even reads Charles Dickens, but at that point

in the novel he is happy about the distraction as he is bored by discussing World War One poetry

(cf. Rai 2001: 69). Just at the end of the novel, once he has escaped, he remembers his aims and

starts to focus on them once more. Manny experiences difficulties with his identity, partly because

he sees himself as British and his family sees him as Punjabi and he somehow needs to balance both

50/72

identities. His interior struggles are represented by the many daydreams he has. The reader learns

that Manny often dreams that he was adopted, or that something terrible has happened to his family

because he feels like such an outsider in his own home. He starts to deliberately misbehave going as

far as stealing money from his brothers even though he knows that it is wrong. He feels sorry on the

one hand, but on the other he thinks that his family is permanently treating him unjustly and this is

his way to get back at them (cf. Rai 2001: 83). He is the only character who, by rebelling against his

parents is also causing harm to others, as he shoplifts regularly. While at the beginning he says that

he does it every once in a while he later starts to shoplift on a regular basis. He argues that he does

this because of all the pressure his parents put on him. The shoplifting has become a catalytic

converter for his fears and helplessness (cf. Rai 2001: 91). From the beginning of the novel on

Manny constantly lets the reader know how different he is from the rest of his family, but only when

they threaten to take him to India he himself realises that he truly is. The strong ties children often

have with their abusive families renders it impossible for them to set any actions against such

behaviour, therefore Manny does not leave his home earlier, or starts any preparations to do so. In

one of his many discussions with his uncle, he recognises that he can either satisfy his family and

succumb to their wishes, or gain his freedom and leave his family, however, he will never be able to

have both (cf. Rai 2001: 219). This is the final dispute that determines him to choose his own path

in life. It is also emphasised that living ones life has nothing to do with being selfish and egotistic,

thus encouraging the readers to do the same: “Making your own decisions about life didn't mean

that you were selfish. Not at all.” (Rai 2001: 220) Throughout his books the author reaches out to

his readership with similar statements, encouraging them to break free from any ties that keep them

from being who they are and from living the life they want. With his novels and novellas he tries to

make teenagers believe in themselves and helps them fight for an independent life. Manny also

releases his emotional distress through his writings; one can tell from his many daydreams that he is

a young man with a vivid imagination. In India he stops stealing, not only because everyone there is

poor and he would feel guilty, but also because he can now catalyse his feelings through his

writings. He uses these dreams and stories to escape reality, for example, when he meets the girl's

family, he zooms out of his body and watches the scene from above, which of course is impossible,

yet his fantasy permits him to do so nonetheless (cf. Rai 2001: 238). Among the main characters

Manny is the most complex and also the most misbeheaved; he has severe difficulties with his

family, yet he cannot leave. He steals, drinks excessively, gets kicked out of school and his

behaviour is irrational on many occasions. However, he is well behaved around his girlfriend's

family, his own extended family in India and their servants. It should be kept in mind that all the

protagonists are teenagers and Manny is a particularly troubled one, his behaviour is therefore most

accurate for his situation. Young grown-ups do not necessarily act like adults, or make responsible

51/72

decisions. As he reflects on his behaviour several years later he admits that some of his actions were

based on poor decisions on his side, which indicates that he has learned from his mistakes in the

past and grown more responsible.

The main characters in The Last Taboo have less difficulty to define their identities because their

parents are supportive and they maintain a healthy relationship with them, as well as with each

other. What is noticeable is that Simran is pressured by her extended family and Punjabi friends to

stick to behavioural rules of which she does not approve. She asks herself the same question as

Manny; whether she should let other people decide her life for her, or stand up for herself and, like

him, she decides to choose her own path in life (cf. Rai 2006: 75). Both of them do not show any

characteristics or beliefs that have not already been discussed, hence the analysis will continue with

the last novel, Killing Honour. Sat is the protagonist who questions Punjabi traditions the most and

who discusses them with his family as well. All of the main characters object to homophobia,

racism, religious intolerance, or izzat but usually they do not talk about them with their parents.

Manny never argues with them, or maybe he has given up on doing so, the reader never learns any

details about this. He simply confronts his parents as well as brothers and they quarrel immediately,

there is no arguing or discussing or trying to look at things from a different angle. Sat on the other

hand tries to talk to his parents and brother and to make them see his point of view: “‘Do you think

Jas would do this?’” (Rai 2011a: 78). He also wants to convince his mother to question her

daughters behaviour (cf. Ibid.: 179). Even though he drops out of school he is the one whose

decisions are thought through the most; he thinks strategically and tackles a problem from several

angles. This can be seen in the way he handles his sister's disappearance. His parents or his brother

are passive and do not even want to look for her, but he immediately calls her cell phone and later

uses social media to find her. At the end of the novel he only talks to the journalist after his family is

well hidden and out of reach of their enemies so that no harm may come to them. Manny, too, had

an escape plan for his wedding, but where he deliberately hurts others, such as his bride's family Sat

is careful to not put anyone at risk. His character also shows some significant development as he

changes from a spoiled, egotistical teenager to a young, responsible adult.

In one way or another all of the protagonists are eager to achieve something extraordinary in their

lives, yet some of them get distracted along the way, trying to find their own identity or because of

struggles within the family. Once such disputes are settled they go back to their ambitious projects

such as becoming a writer or going to university. All of them are strong willed and determined to

choose their own path in life. While the outside world references to their cultural heritage: “‘[...]

and besides, it suits your colouring better than mine. It'll make your lovely skin tone stand out’”

52/72

(Rai 2006: 107), they hardly see themselves as Punjabi, but rather as British. Even though others

members of their community criticise them for “acting white”, they themselves never question their

identity. Instead they struggle with their community (in Jaspal's case his racist environment) to be

accepted for who they are. They also share their tolerance towards different religions, skin colours

or alternative lifestyles. The author manages to portray the lives of teenagers well, varying between

different types of characters such as the aggressive and annoyed Manny, the ambitious Baljit, or the

funny and responsible Simran and her brother David who has a tendency to get in trouble every

once in a while. The different protagonists show the readers different possibilities of living the life

of a British citizen with a Punjabi heritage. The antagonists in the novels form a strong contrast to

those attitudes, they represent the other end of the spectrum, the ones who are unwilling to adapt to

Western culture. They are passive and accepting where Rai's protagonists are active and critical.

They set the negative example for how not to act as a modern, open-minded person. The friction

between the protagonists and the antagonists permits the author to help children, teenagers and

young adults understand the importance of tolerance without lecturing. To teach without preaching

is the characteristic that renders his books so valuable from an educational point of view and

furthermore is the main reason why his books are so well suited for the Austrian classroom which,

too, has changed remarkably in recent years.

53/72

5. Bali Rai in the Classroom

In the introduction a definition of young adult literature has been outlined, the aim of this chapter is

to further discuss why and how it could be used in the English classroom. Therefore this chapter

examines the pros and cons of using young adult literature as teaching material and presents several

tasks of a short literature project to demonstrate how the books could be used in class. It has to be

clarified that by “English classroom”, the teaching of English as a second or third language is

meant. Most of the secondary literature that argues in favour of young adult literature in schools

refers to English being taught as a first language, however, this line of argumentation can also be

used to support the ideas presented in this thesis. As a consequence the criticism concerning young

adult literature has to be considered as well. Firstly though, the question should be answered as to

why young adult literature should be taught instead of works from the literary canon. Chaucer,

Shakespeare, and Dickens are not only known all over the world for their works, but also helped to

create the English language as it is today. Chaucer is referred to as the father of English literature,

Shakespeare added over a thousand words to the English language, and Dickens enriched it furhter

for example with the word scrooge9. Why should such fundamental works no longer be taught, why

should authors or books that many adults never even heard of be used instead? The answer is

simple: to make the students read. While teachers should always aspire to have their students read

famous novels, plays ,or poems on the long run, on the short one they should ensure that their pupils

do in fact read at all. For that purpose one of the teachers at the English department of the Karl-

Franzens-University suggested to start with picture books that have very little text in them as soon

as possible, as they are easily understood and can motivate the young learners even if they are

already eleven or twelve years old. As they get used to reading in a different language the level of

difficulty should be increased gradually. It should be kept in mind though that not all students will

be able to master the English language well and that the knowledge they will gain, will most likely

be limited to the B2 level of the CEFR. Even if the students are capable of reading and

understanding Shakespeare or Dickens, teachers need to understand that with websites such as

www.gradesaver.com or www.sparknotes.com nearly all the canon can be found online and none of

the works need to actually be read in full any longer. The information that can be found on current

literature, however, is limited and thus not reading it is no longer an option. Additionally, the pupils

can identify better with the protagonists and their struggles as they woulbe be roughly of the same

age and share some of the same difficulties such as growing-up and finding ones identity.

Furthermore, they are shorter and often the language used is easier than in adult works, hence less

time is needed to read them (cf. Salvner 2000: 94). Not only is the language easier to follow, it is

9 A miserly person can be referred to as a scrooge. (cf. Dickens at 200 2012)

54/72

also ‘up-to-date’ and reflects the contemporary culture of the target language. Pölzleitner and

Schumm Fauster argue that “the language used in YAL ‘expresses, embodies and symbolizes

cultural reality’ of the target culture” (cf. 2013: 26). To expose pupils to a more realistic use of

language may help them when they encounter it in real life situations as the average English speaker

is unlikely to use Received Pronunciation. Basic literary terms can also be elaborated by examining

young adult literature; point of view or narrative mode for example constantly change in Bali Rai's

novels, as does the language the characters use. Salvner argues that “if we are seeking to have

students understand the elements of fiction, it makes no sense to use as a model of those elements a

work so impenetrable or imposing that student's aren't able to even perceive the model” (2000: 94).

If instead literature is used that is comprehended by the students and even evokes their interests,

teaching of the often complex terms will not only be easier, but also more successful as the pupils

are more likely to grasp the understanding of the literary concepts. Salvner continues his

argumentation by referring to yet another positive effect of young adult literature: the often

unknown author. Many students hesitate to criticise famous authors or their works due to their

authority and because they see little point in doing so, as they are already known and recognised

around the world; there is little reason to criticise those authors yet again. Though when reading

young adult literature, students feel that they are on familiar soil as they can usually relate to the

topics and characters in the books. This familiarity makes it easier for them to discuss the literary

works as they have been in similar situations and can thus make use of their experiences when

talking about the texts. They can talk back to the book, agree or disagree with its attitudes and

discuss perspectives without even noticing that they are doing a literary analysis of it (Ibid.).

Another supportive argument for young adult literature, and the one that proves the most valid for

this thesis, is that the cultural aspects of the target language can be taught with it. In recent years

such aspects have gained in importance as it became evident that a profound knowledge of grammar

and vocabulary are not sufficient to master a language, but that awareness of the target language's

culture is equally as important (cf. Pölzleitner et Schumm Fauster 2013: 25). However, to teach

culture and not simply trivia, to really help develop a student's cultural competences is a challenge

for every teacher. There are many different possibilities to do it and movies, television series, music

and literature can be used as an aid to teach cultural values and concepts as well as register,

language variations, behaviour, attitude a.o. Pölzleitner and Schumm Faustner continue their line of

argumentation by stating that when reading a teenage novel the young readers are presented with an

unknown environment and because most adult literature is written from the first person perspective

they experience it through the eyes of characters that are roughly their age and deal with some of

the same difficulties they face every day. Perceiving the world through their eyes may help the

pupils draw parallels to their own society and situations and invite them to reflect and hence

55/72

improve their intercultural competences (cf. Ibid.). However, books cannot only be used to teach

and reflect on the target culture, but also to connect it with the Austrian one. This is another

advantage of young adult novels. Nowadays they cover so many different genres that literally any

topic can be discussed by investigating them. As mentioned above the difficulties Rai is pointing

out in his novels and novellas also concern the Austrian culture and society and hence can be used

well when discussing racism, discrimination and immigration. Further on in this chapter several

exercises will be introduced that will help the students see the similarities and differences of both

countries when immigration is concerned.

A counter-argument to teaching current literature for young adults instead of books from the literary

canon might be that parents or teachers fear that the values taught in them might be lost and when

reading Gossip Girl or The A-List such an argument is difficult to dismiss. Some of this literature is

low in quality and reminds the adult readership of television series like Sex and the City. In one of

her articles for the online version of The New York Times Naomi Wolf reveals some details about

several book series for teenage girls that cast a shadow on the entire genre. Wolf's article does not

criticise the sex scenes, the drug taking, or the talking back to parents, but the disrespect with which

such situations are handled in the series and that there are no consequences to misbehaviour.

Furthermore, she feels uneasy about teenagers acting like adults without being prepared to take on

the responsibility that comes with adulthood (cf. Wolf 2006). It is true that pupils should be

encouraged to read, but it is the teacher's obligation to ensure that the content is adequate. The

various censorship complaints in the USA show that parents and teachers do not always agree on

what is appropriate for their children to read. Gloria Pipkin argues that the same qualities hence

“realism and relevance in plot, themes and language” that render the books interesting to a young

audience are also the ones that attract criticism the most (2000: 171). While some books of the

English or American canon share certain topics or themes with young adult literature such as

sexuality, drugs, or alcoholism, they are known as classics and works of art and therefore are

accepted more willingly in the classroom. Even though in Austria teachers do not have to face such

difficulties, books should be chosen wisely and according to the topics they wish to discuss.

Especially when it comes to literature that addresses racism, anti-Semitism or ethnicities, reactions

can be controversial and while the one group appraises a certain piece of literature another might

consider it highly inappropriate. Slapin and Seale published a list of criteria that could help when

selecting books to read; they advise teachers to be aware of the following:

1. Look for stereotypes– are members of other cultures portrayed as complex individual human beings? Are the cultural details included oversimplified?

2. Look for tokenism3. Look for distortions of history– are historical events accurately portrayed from the perspective of

56/72

individuals who may have different conceptions of the cause and reasons for those events? Are the contributions of members of other cultural groups to the history and culture of this country recognized and valued?

4. Look at the representation of the lifestyle– is it treated condescendingly or in a paternalistic fashion, or is it treated with respect? Are religions and traditions described accurately and in the context of the civilization?

5. Look at the dialogue– are multicultural characters allowed to speak with skill and to be articulate, or do they use stereotypical speech patterns?

6. Look at the standards of success– do members of the dominant European-American culture appear to know “what is best” for individuals from other cultural backgrounds, or are these individuals portrayed as mature and able to make their own decisions? Are such characters judged against the “norm” of white, middle-class suburban culture?

7. Look at the ways in which women and the culture's elders are portrayed 8. Look for any content that might embarrass a young adult or child from the cultural group being

portrayed– are […] positive role models provided? 9. Look at some indication that the author is qualified to write about the people in the work in an authentic,

artful, and truthful way. (Stover 2000: 106)

The analysed novels and novellas fulfil all the criteria, however, it should be mentioned that they

might raise some controversy in traditional Punjabis, as they are criticising some of their outdated

values and traditions. As has been mentioned in the previous chapters Bali Rai himself is of Punjabi

descent and hence has first-hand experience with the culture; this insider's perspective permits him

to discuss and dismiss certain behaviour patterns and concepts without being called racist or

inaccurate (cf. Stover 2000:103).

Once the teacher has decided on the books that he/she would like to discuss in class he/she has to

choose one of the many possibilities on how to approach the texts. The easiest, yet most outdated

and therefore the least recommended option would be to have the students read the requested piece

of literature and then explain the necessary information ex-cathedra. In this scenario the students are

unlikely to read the books as they know that their teacher will tell them what they ought to know;

even using the most recent young adult literature is not going to change that. Other possibilities

include the use of open discussions in the classroom, group projects, or portfolios. A teacher needs

to choose the method that best suits him and his students, as well as the literary texts he wants to

work with. While some teachers discuss difficult texts with the entire class, others might prefer to

have their students work on them individually; with the proper preparations any approach has its

benefits. When working with novels, I personally believe that a mixture between group work and

individual work is the most profitable for students as they might pick up some good ideas and

opinions from their colleagues, but still have enough opportunities to form and present their own

ideas.

As mentioned at the very beginning of this thesis, Bali Rai's books were chosen as they depict the

life of second and third-generation immigrants to the United Kingdom. They describe in detail how

57/72

they adapt, or choose not to adapt to Western society and also use characters with other ethnicities

to show how they and their parents cope with living in a new country. In Austria, the numbers of

students who were not born in the country or are the children of immigrant parents are increasing. A

study from the year 2011 showed that 17,6% of all students going to a compulsory school do not

speak German as their first language, indicating that the numbers have quadrupled since the 1980ies

(cf. Biffl etSkrivanek 2011: 1). As Austria is facing a multi-ethnic society the curriculum has to

adapt to the current situation and hence tolerance and acceptance of other cultures need to be

emphasised in the classroom more than ever. Rai's books offer the perfect content for dealing with

such topics in the second language classroom, as they not only were written in the target language,

but additionally cover this much needed subject matter and offer plenty of possibilities to draw

parallels between the United Kingdom and Austria.

The reading project that I would like to introduce is called Changing Society and focuses on

immigration and the life of the children and grandchildren of immigrants, the traditions and values

they bring with them to their new country, and the racism they have to suffer. The idea is to

emphasise different ethnicities in the classroom, to help them create or discuss their own identities

and evaluate the cultural diversity they add to our society, and to raise the students' cultural

awareness. As mentioned above, the tasks will be a mix between partner, group, and individual

work; the students will be given a sheet with several tasks that they have to complete within two to

three weeks, depending on the quantity of lessons they have per week. They should do as much of it

in class as possible, yet for some students it might be necessary to complete the individual tasks as

homework. All written tasks need to be handed in at the end of the project, of course they can

always be turned in earlier for proper correction. All written performances combined will then form

the final grade of the project. The importance of writing for the grade is less due to the possibility of

marking it and helping the students with their mistakes, but rather because reading and writing go

hand in hand. Brown and Stephens point out that they are “complementary processes that help

students not only to construct meaning but also to develop critical thinking skills and greater

conceptual understanding” (Brown et Stephens 2011: 83). The students are informed about the

upcoming project a week before it starts in order to give them plenty of time to purchase the books

and have a first look at them. Obviously more time has to be allocated if the books cannot simply be

bought at a local bookstore, but need to be ordered online. However, before they have to choose a

novel, the teacher should introduce the books individually, and may hand out some sample pages so

that the pupils can take a closer look and make the right choice for them. As the five books

discussed in this thesis vary in length and level of difficulty, any type of reader will be able to find

one that suits him or her well. The reader's needs should be considered thoroughly as the reading

58/72

task does not involve only the understanding of printed or written words, but also deeper reading

comprehension and analysis. Furthermore, it has been proven that the meaning of a text is

constructed by its connection to prior knowledge and that the cultural and social background of the

reader are of great importance (cf. Brown et Stephens 2011: 81ff.). The methodology classes at

Karl-Franzens-University suggest to perform pre-, while-, and post-reading activities whenever

dealing with literary texts. Brown and Stephens criticise the fact that in most language classrooms

the emphasis is solely on the post-reading activities while students should already be motivated

before they start reading. The pre-reading activities' purpose is to arouse the students’ interest and to

help them get an overall idea of what will be expecting them. To introduce the overall topic it would

be best to do such exercises before even talking about the books. (cf. Ibid.: 83f).

Warm-Up Task

The students get together in groups of four and are handed out a task sheet onto which numbers

such as 17,6%, 400 A.D and 20.000 BC, as well as terms like “the land of the free”, “first

language”, “language barrier“ or “culture shock” are written. The aim is to guess the project's topic

and to raise their interest in it. Additionally, discussion helps practising communicative

competences.

When the books have arrived the project can finally start properly. This means that the students are

each given a project-booklet with the tasks that have to be completed within the upcoming two to

three weeks, depending on the quantity of lessons per week. The tasks aim at the practice of

communicative competences as well as cultural competences in order to fulfil the Austrian

curriculum requirements. As mentioned above, the tasks are pre-, while-, and post-reading activities

and will also be marked as such in the booklet. However, it is still up to the students to decide

whether or not they want to follow them, as some of the more eager readers might finish their books

early and might want to start with a post-reading activity. Any additional materials, like prompt

cards or texts can be found either at the teacher's desk, or the classroom could be arranged to form

several “stations”, one for each activity. There will be eleven tasks as in total, so each student has to

finish two to three tasks per hour. The first two tasks focus on personal experiences the students

might have had with migration, the following seven tasks focus mainly on the content and the

analysis of the book, and the last two tasks focus on the effects migration has on the students' lives.

It should help them reflect on the fact that society and its structures are constantly changing and

whether such change is positive or negative. Renovation of society and culture cannot be stopped,

but should be embraced rather than stigmatised, therefore teachers should address such issues in

their classroom whenever possible.

59/72

Task 1: Personal Experience: pre-reading activity

The students get together in groups of three to four. They are given a stack of cards with questions

they should answer. The questions can rank from “What is your first language?”, or “What is your

favourite (religious) holiday?”, to “Were you born in this country?”. The students are encouraged to

talk about themselves and share their background stories. When doing such a task teachers have to

be careful to not offend any of their students as they might feel uncomfortable talking about their

own, or their parents’ origins, culture, or religion. It is therefore essential to cross-check the

questions with what they know about their students before using them in the classroom. My

personal experience with children and teenagers of first-, second-, or third-generation immigrants

has shown me that they usually enjoy talking about their background and like to share their cultural

diversity as many of them seize such an opportunity to explain traditions, dispel misconceptions and

get rid of prejudices.

Task 2: Working on Prejudices: pre-reading activity

The second task discusses common prejudices against immigrants. The students are presented with

a short abstracts from two articles and are to discuss them with a partner. If they have smart phones

they may also look online for further information. They should then proceed to write a short column

about one of the articles. Below are two abstracts that could be used for this task:

So on average, it takes 13 immigrants to "displace" one British job – not exactly the "common sense" conclusion. Moreover, those immigrants who do "take" British jobs are temporary, non-EU workers – many are young Australians, Canadians and so on with working holiday visas, rather than Polish plumbers. It's an obvious point, but those immigration rights tend to be reciprocal so British workers have equal rights to work abroad. Blocking non-EU temporary workers probably wouldn't cut unemployment at all, since it would reduce options open for emigration to British workers. And at a rate of 13 jobs created for every one lost, that's an awful lot of tax revenue to forgo for the sake of one job.

(Knowles 2012)

Academics have scotched fears that non English-speaking children hold back British-born youngsters in the classroom. In fact, in some cases, immigrants were helping drive up standards, the London School of Economics team found. There have been fears that British-born children were being held back because teachers had to help kids who were struggling with a language barrier. However, after examining exam results in different primary schools, the LSE said: "The growing proportion of non-native English speakers in primary schools should not be a cause for concern: this trend is not detrimental to the educational attainment of native English speakers.

(Moseley 2013)

Task 3, 4 and 5: Getting to Know the Characters: while- and post-reading activities

Lazar suggests having students rank the characters according to certain criteria as a while-reading

activity (cf. Lazar 2012: 85). I would like to change that slightly and have the pupils group the

characters into family, friends, and antagonists and then rank them inside their respective groups

60/72

according to how much impact they have on the story. They can name a character several times to

see the connections, or change positions between them. For example, Ruby in The Last Taboo is a

family member and a friend at the beginning of the novel and later on she becomes one of the

antagonists. This exercise should help the students keep track of the characters and see how they

interact with one another. The next task is a post-reading activity, also suggested by Lazar (cf. 2012

86). As all the novels and novellas are told from the point of view of a first person narrator, the

students should write a short description of the protagonist using the information he or she gives

them in the text. By doing so they learn to read between the lines and to interpret thoughts and

speech of the narrators as well as their actions. The last of the three tasks is a role playing exercise

and can either be done as a while- or post-reading exercise. The students get together in groups of

three to four. There is a task sheet addressing the main problem of each book: arranged marriage

and personal freedom for (un)arranged marriage and The Last Taboo, the importance of honour and

traditions in Killing Honour, racism in What's Your Problem?, and parents' expectations in Dream

On. The pupils have to assume the point of view of one of the characters and discuss the problem

for about fifteen minutes from their perspective. In Killing Honour, for example, Sat tries to explain

his point of view to his parents and his brother, but they would not listen. The students get character

cards, which should include the character's, as well as his or her opinion on the matter that is to be

discussed: Character: Sat; Opinion: loving your sister or daughter has nothing to do with honour;

Character: Amar; Opinion: highly disappointed in his sister, believes she has run away. However,

the students should not get too much information on the characters' position so that they can use

their own interpretations.

Task 6: Narrators and Perspectives: post-reading activity

As the perspectives and narrators change several times in the books the students should take a closer

look at these aspects. In this post-reading activity they need to find a partner who has read the same

novel or novella and try to find out how many different narrators, perspectives, and focalizers they

were able to find. They should also name five reasons why they believe that this narrator or this

perspective was chosen to narrate that particular chapter or passage.

Task 7: Working on Narrative Style: post-reading activity

The students have to rewrite a part of the story in the form of a blog entry, newspaper article or

column. It is important that they have already worked on these text types before and are familiar

with the respective language and register in order to be able to reproduce them. Carter claims that

re-writing helps the students “to recognize the broader discoursal patterns of texts and the styles

appropriate to them” (Carter 1986: 115). In addition, they have to take on a new point of view, as

61/72

they either look at the novel from a character's perspective if they choose to write a blog entry, or

through the objective eyes of a journalist. They are likely to gain new information on the book when

doing so and simultaneously practise their writing skills.

Task 8: Prompt cards: post-reading activity

In this group work the students should once more get together in groups of three or four, ideally

with those who have read the same book. They are given some prompt cards to discuss settings,

characters, story structure, and different perspectives that might have been used in the book. The

task should take them about fifteen minutes and could also include reading out loud to each other,

as the students could be asked to share their favourite passages or the most important statements in

the text. They do not need to take notes, but the teacher should make sure that the students only

speak in English to each other in order to improve their communicative skills. In this exercise the

novels are analysed in depth. The prompt cards guide the students through analysis and because

they are talking to their peers they will not be afraid of giving a “wrong” answer, thus encouraging

them to come up with their own interpretations instead of trying to figure out what the teacher

wants to hear.

Task 9: The End justifies the Means: post-reading activity

This activity is a post-reading one and students who have read the same book work together in

pairs. The students need to reflect on the main protagonist's actions and have to decide whether or

not they would have reacted similarly or if they believe that he or she could have acted differently

and found a better solution to his or her problem. They should explain their findings in a few

sentences. The outcome of this exercise could be surprising for the teacher as the adolescents in the

books sometimes act irresponsibly and illogically, from an adult's perspective. It will therefore be

interesting to find out how the students perceive the character's behaviour.

Task 10: Cultural awareness: post-reading activity

As in all the books dating and arranged marriage are discussed to at least some extent, the students

should take a closer look at these topics. Cultural Awareness offers a nice task sheet with several

statements the students can fill in concerning dating in the United Kingdom (Tomalin et Stempleski

2008: 60 f.). The pupils have to investigate whether the situation is the same in their respective

culture, or give a short explanation if it differs. Additionally, they should put themselves into their

book's protagonist's shoes and mark his or her answer in a different colour. They now have three

statements they can compare and as homework they should write down the differences that strike

them the most.

62/72

Task 11: Everyday Racism: post-reading activity

The students are now invited to think about a situation in which they have witnessed racism or were

themselves subjected to racism and how they felt about it. They should then write a short report,

describing the situation and how they handled it. If they feel too uncomfortable talking about it they

can also choose a situation in which they experienced a cultural misunderstanding. The pupils

should consider if they could have acted differently: could they have helped the person that was

being discriminated against or if they were the victim could they have said anything that might have

helped them in this situation? The scope of this exercise is to realise that anyone can be a victim and

that racism should never be ignored. This reflection might help the victims to avoid similar

situations in the future and help witnesses to step up the next time they see such acts.

‒Last Lesson Wrapping Up

As the subject is a very sensitive one, a lesson with a guided discussion is very helpful to wrap it up

and give it a proper conclusion: the different tasks the students had to do should be talked about

briefly as well as any difficulties that the teacher thought the students might have had. Tasks such as

the last one should be discussed a bit more thoroughly, ideally, after the teacher has looked into

some of students’ writings. As the pupils are encouraged to step up to discrimination and racism it

should also be mentioned that they should do so appropriately and within reason.

There is of course an infinite number of different tasks and approaches that could be taken when

discussing the books as they present so many aspects of immigrants’ everyday lives. This short

project shows some of the possibilities with which literature can be handled in the classroom and

how different literary terms and definitions can be elaborated through the use of young adult

literature. It also demonstrates the importance of using different tasks when working with texts to

keep the students interested and create variety. The chosen activities aim to aid the pupils in

practising and improving their writing, speaking, and cultural competences. The Austrian

curriculum explicitly states that these are among the competences that need to be mastered for the

school leaving examination (cf. Lebende Fremdsprache [2004]: 6). As teachers, it is our

responsibility to ensure that our students have the opportunity to train these skills as well as

possible; luckily social media, prominent English television series, as well as music in English can

all be accessed online and help students gain a certain insight into the culture of the target language.

However, nothing could ever replace a good book and therefore literature should always play an

important part in the classroom– especially with the many, new opportunities the genre of young

adult literature has to offer.

63/72

6. Conclusion

Bali Rai writes about second and third-generation Punjabi immigrants and tries to describe their

identity struggles or rather their efforts to be accepted by both their British peers as well as their

Indian families. All of his books share rebellious protagonists who are determined to choose their

own path in life and whose behaviour unsettles at least their families, if not the entire Punjabi

community. It is this friction between the main characters and their environment that causes the

action, sets off the events in the story, and creates suspense.

In his novels and novellas the author's protagonists are not so much searching for an identity as they

are defending it against their antagonists who cannot respect who they are and want to force them to

be someone they are not: traditional Punjabis. This constant fight for acceptance is Rai's main

method of defining a character's identity. While several of the second or third-generation

immigrants wish to break free from their traditional families, such as Ruby in Killing Honour, only

the resolute protagonists who are willing to confront their family and community and hence risk

being shouted at or even beaten succeed in doing so. The main characters constantly criticise the

flaws in their parent's or extended family's value system and stress that they are different from them.

When Manny is shocked by his brother's statement about the lower castes the reader can conclude

that he himself opposes the caste system (cf. Rai 2001: 121). The protagonists need their

antagonists to form a counterpart to their tolerant behaviour and set a negative example to their

open-minded attitude. They differ from each other not only in their diverse approach to religion or

racism, but also in their different points of view concerning arranged marriages, family, gender roles

and many other cultural aspects. They see themselves as British and want their environment to

accept them and their choice to live a life inspired by Western rather than Punjabi culture.

To further emphasise his characters' multi-cultural background Rai depicts the setting and

surrounding of the novels and the novellas carefully. The information given to the reader varies

according to the book's main topic and ranges from thorough descriptions of Leicester in

(un)arranged marriage to briefly describing a village without even naming it in What's Your

Problem?. General concepts such as religion, racism or food are examined and help to create a

realistic atmosphere. The rebellious teenage protagonists thus find themselves in an environment

that seems to provoke them from every angle, whether it is hypocritical devotion to Sikhism or the

sweet Indian tea they hate so much. The creation of a realistic cultural environment is needed in

order to render the protagonists' character traits believable and to help the reader understand their

despair when facing decisions that will upset their families, or similar culturally related challenges.

64/72

To further emphasise the realistic aspects in his books, Rai has his characters use the everyday

language of Leicester, the city he grew up in (cf. Rai 2006). It is this attention to detail and his

unwillingness to shy away from sensitive topics that render his books so believable and attractive to

young readers.

Rai said that when he visited schools he often encountered young adults who disliked literature as

they could not identify with the books they were supposed to read. He is trying to change that with

his works as he is convinced that “books can and must be for everyone- regardless of their

background” (cf. Bali Rai breaking down the barriers 2013). In his books Bali Rai has his

protagonists face problems within the often closed Punjabi communities and thus successfully raises

the reader's awareness towards these issues. He also addresses the difficulties second and third-

generation immigrants encounter within the United Kingdom which they regard as their home

country, whereas many white or Asian Britons still consider them to be Indian and refuse to

recognise them as British. The last part of this thesis tried pick up this argument in a literature

project for the Austrian classroom. Several exercises were designed to help the students improve

their language skills and to practise basic literary analysis. Additionally, the tasks were set out to aid

students' reflection on their own identity as well as on stereotypes and how they might negatively

influence their perception of foreigners. The aim was to illustrate the many possibilities young adult

literature has to offer as teaching material and to describe and encourage its usage in the classroom.

65/72

Works Cited

Primary Literature

Rai, Bali (2001). (un)arranged marriage. London: Random House.

Rai, Bali (2006). The Last Taboo. London: Random House.

Rai, Bali (2011a). Killing Honour. London: Random House.

Rai, Bali (2011b/2002). Dream On. Edinburgh: Barrington Stoke.

Rai, Bali (2012). What's Your Problem? Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications.

Secondary Literature

Brown, Jean E. et Elaine C. Stephens (2007). Teaching Young Adult Literature: Sharing the

Connection. Mason: Cengage Learning.

Bushman, John H. et Kay Parks Haas (2006). Using Young Adult Literature in the English

Classroom. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall. 4th ed.

Carter, Ronald (1986). “Linguistic Model, Language and Literariness: Study strategies in the

teaching of literature to foreign students”. Brumfit, Christopher et Ronald Carter, ed.

Literature and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford UP. 110-132.

Chanda, Rupa et Sriparna Ghosh (2012). The Punjabi Diaspora in the UK: An Overview of Char-

acteristics and Contribuitions to India. San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University

Institute. 10

10 As special requirements as to how to cite this report have been made that did not meet the standards of our English department, the work is cited once more in this footnote, according to said requirements:

Rupa Chanda, Sriparna Ghosh, The Punjabi Diaspora in the UK: An Overview of Characteristics and Contributions to India, CARIM-India RR 2012/23, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute, 2012.

66/72

Dorling, Danny (2005). Human Geography of the UK. London: Sage.

Gilbert, Paul et al. (2004). “A focus group exploration of the impact of izzat, shame, subordination

and entrampment on mental health and service use in South Asian women living in Derby.“

In: Mental Health, Religion & Culture. 7.2: 109-130.

Lazar, Gillian (2012). Literature and Language Teaching. A guide for teachers and trainers. Cam-

bridge: Cambridge UP.

Lubar, David (2003). “EVERYTHING.” In: The Alan Review. 30.3: 19-21.

Mason, David (2000). Race and ethnicity in modern Britain. Oxford: Oxford UP.

Nünning, Ansgar and Vera Nünning (2005). Grundkurs anglistisch-amerikanistische

Literaturwissenschat. Stuttgart: Klett.

Pelz, Heidrun (2007/1975). Linguistik: Eine Einführung. Hamburg: Campe Verlag. 10. Ausgabe.

Pipkin, Gloria T. (2000). “The Young Adult Novel Under Fire.” In: Monseau, Virginia et Gary M.

Salvner, ed. : Reading Their World: The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. Portsmouth:

Boynton/Cook Publishers. 2nd ed. 170-186.

Pölzleitner, Elisabeth et Jennifer Schumm Fauster (2013). “Crossing Borders.” In: Modern English

Teacher. 22.1: 25- 30.

Robinson, Lena (2009). “Cultural Identity and Acculturation preferences among South Asian

Adolescents in Britain: An Exploratory Study.” In: Children & Society. 23.6: 442-454.

Salvner, Gary M. (2000). “Time and Tradition Transforming the secondary English class with

Young Adult Novels.” In: Monseau, Virginia et Gary M. Salvner, ed. : Reading Their

World: The Young Adult Novel in the Classroom. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

2nd ed. 85-99.

Sian, Katy P. (2013).Unsettling Sikh and Muslim Conflict: mistaken identities, forced conversions,

and postocolonial formations. Plymouth: Lexington Books.

67/72

Singh, Pritam. (2012). “Globalisation and Punjabi Identity: Resistance, Relocation and Reinvention

(Yet Again!).”Journal of Punjab Studies. 19.2:153-172.

Stempleski, Susan et Barry Tomalin (2008). Cultural Awareness. Oxford: Oxford UP.

Storry Mike (2007). British cultural identites. London: Routledge. 3rd ed.

Stover, Lois T. (2000). “Who Am I? Who Are You? Diversity and Identity in the Young Adult

Novel.” In: Monseau, Virginia et Gary M. Salvner, ed.: Reading Their World: The Young

Adult Novel in the Classroom. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers. 2nd ed. 100-120.

Online Sources

Bali Rai: Breaking the Last Taboo (2006, Mar. 11). “Bali Rai: Breaking the Last Taboo“. Booktrust.

[Online]. http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/teenagers/interviews/135. [2013, Nov. 24].

Biffl, Gudrun et Skrivanek Isabella (2011, Mar.). “Schule- Migration- Gendern: Endbericht”.

[Online]. http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/21041/schule_migration_gender_eb.pdf.

[2013, Oct. 15]

Brady, Brian (2008, Feb. 10) . “A question of honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every

year”. The Independent. [Online]. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-

question-of-honour-police-say-17000-women-are-victims-every-year-780522.html. [20.8.

2013].

Burnell, Paul (2012, Aug. 3). “Shafilea Ahmed: Investigating honour crime”. BBC. [Online].

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-19016484. [2013, Nov. 1].

Charles Dickens at 200 (2012, Feb. 9). “Charles Dickens at 200”. BBC. [Online].

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theteacher/2012/02/120207_t

eacher_dickens.shtml. [2013, Oct.15]

68/72

Czernik, Ann (2013, Feb. 7). “Child sex abuse and ‘izzat’: one woman’s fight to be heard”. The

Guardian. [Online]. http://www.theguardian.com/society/the-northerner/2013/feb/07/child-

sexual-abuse-izzat-honour. [2013, Aug. 5].

Doughty, Steve (2013, Jan. 10). “White Britons are now a minority in Leicester, Luton and Slough

and Birmingham is set to follow by end of decade”. MailOnline.

[Online].http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2260067/White-Britons-minority-

Leicester-Luton-Slough-Birmingham-set-follow-end-decade.html. [2013, Aug. 5].

EACH (2009, Feb.). “Asian Women, Domestic Violence and Mental Health. A Toolkit for Health

Professionals”. [Online] http://www.eachcounselling.org.uk/downloads/DV_toolkit.pdf

[2013, Jul. 17].

Edl 'Sikh division' (2013, July 20). “Edl 'Sikh division'”. Sikh Sangat.com. [Onlnine].

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/72247-edl-sikh-divison/. [2013, Nov. 4].

Field, Clive (2012, Mar. 19). “Honour Crimes”. British Religion in Numbers. [Online].

http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2012/honour-crimes/. [2013, Nov. 1].

Gallaghar, Ian et Ross Slater (2012, Jun. 30). “The far-Right leader in a Sikh headscarf and a very

disturbing anti-Muslim alliance: EDL joins protesters angry at 'grooming of girls'”.

MailOnline. [Online]. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2167009/The-far-Right-

leader-Sikh-headscarf-disturbing-anti-Muslim-alliance-EDL-joins-protesters-angry-

grooming-girls.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. [2013, Nov. 4].

Gupta, Surojit et Sidhartha (2013, Nov. 11). “Punjab tops states in prosperity, Kerala on equity ”.

The Times of India. [Online]. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-11-

11/india/43928600_1_durables-prosperity-equality-index. [2013, Nov. 12].

Hill- Stanford, Holly. “Does a Need for Values-Based Literature Still Exist in the Changing Nature

of Young Adult Literature?”. [Online].

http://nwi.ivytech.edu/atrium/site/current/HollyHillStanford.pdf. [2013, Oct. 14].

Ishtiaq, Ahmed (2008, May 24). “Punjabis Without Punjabi”. Academy of the Punjabi in North

69/72

America. [Online]. http://www.apnaorg.com/articles/ishtiaq8/. [2013, Oct. 31].

Kaur, Shiha (2012, Jul. 7). “Sikhs control women by extreme actions”. the f word. [Online].

http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/07/sikhs_control_w. [2013, Nov. 4].

Kaur, Valerie (2012, Mar. 22). “10 Sikh Women You Should Know and Why You Should Know

Them”. Huffinpost Religion. [Online]. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valarie-kaur/10-

sikh-women-you-should-know_b_1353700.html. [2013, Nov. 3].

Knowles, Daniel (2012, Jan. 11). “Why immigrants aren't taking British jobs”. The Telegraph.

[Online]. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielknowles/100129096/why-immigrants-

arent-taking-british-jobs/. [2013, Sept. 4].

Kumar, Bal (2006, Aug. 23). “International Banghra Capital”.BBC Home. [Online].

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2006/08/14/birmingham_bhangra_capit

al_feature.shtml [2013, Aug. 17].

Layton, Josh (2012, Jul. 4). “Militants try to halt multi-racial wedding”. SwindonAdvertiser.

[Online].http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9795689.Militants_try_to_halt_multi_r

acial_wedding/. [2013, Nov. 4].

Lebende Fremdsprache [2014]. “LEBENDE FREMDSPRACHE (Erste, Zweite)”. bmukk. [Online].

http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/11854/lp_ahs_os_lebende_fs.pdf. [2013, Nov. 14].

Moseley, Tom (2013, Aug. 27). “Immigrant Children Are A Positive Influence In The Classroom,

Study Finds”. The Huffingtonpost. [Online].

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/27/immigrant-children_n_3822526.html. [2013,

Sept. 4].

Muir, Hugh (2006, Jul. 4). “Caste divide is blighting Indian communities in UK, claims report”. The

Guardian. [Online]. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/04/india.world. [2013, Jul.

13].

Neiyyar, Dil et Perminder Khatkar (2013, Mar. 11). “Sikh weddings crashed by protesters objecting to

mixed faith marriages”. BBC. [Online]. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21721519. [2013, Nov.

70/72

4].

Punjabi most commonly spoken native language among UK pupils (2012, Jun. 22). “Punjabi most

commonly spoken native language among UK pupils”. The Times of India. [Online].

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-22/community/32368362_1_second-

language-native-speakers-english. [2013, Oct. 15]

Rai, Bali (2011, May 30). “Killing Honour”. [Online]. http://balirai.blogspot.co.at/search?

q=killing+honour. [2013, Aug. 23].

Rai, Bali (2013). “Bali Rai: Breaking down the barriers”. Booktrust. [Online].

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/teenagers/miscellaneous-pages/bali-rai-breaking-down-

the-barriers/ . [2013, Nov. 24].

Singh Sandhu, Rameshinder (2013, Oct, 31). “Punjab Day special: 'People should love, respect their mother

tongue'”. hindustantimes. [Online]. http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/amritsar/punjab-

day-special-people-should-love-respect-their-mother-tongue/article1-1145900.aspx. [2013,

Nov. 3].

The Sikh Punjabi Community (2010, May). “The Sikh Punjabi Community”. BBC home. [Online].

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/untold_stories/asian/sikh_community.shtml. [2013,

Nov. 3].

Singh, Gurumustuk (2006, Nov. 27). “Women in Sikhism: Gender Inequality?”. mrsikhnet.[Online].

http://www.mrsikhnet.com/2006/11/27/women-in-sikhism-gender-inequality/. [2013, Nov.

3].

The Five Ks (2009, Sept. 29). “The five Ks”. BBC. [Online].

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/customs/fiveks.shtml. [2013, Nov. 12].

The Gurdwara (2009, Oct.27). “Gurdwara”. BBC. [Online].

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/ritesrituals/gurdwara_1.shtml. [2013, Nov.

14].

Wolf, Naomi (2006, Mar. 12). “Young Adult Fiction: Wild Things”. The New York Times. [Online].

71/72

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/books/review/12wolf.html_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slo

gin&adxnnlx=1381966638-dEbVHNd2EJCBTgKBZqULBg. [2013, Oct. 15].

Footnotes

http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/sasia/punjab/PJtopic4.html. [2013, Oct. 31]

http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=95&menu=004 [2013, Oct. 31]

http://www.sikhismguide.org/. [2013, Nov. 3] .

http://www.realsikhism.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1248309400&ucat=7 [2013, Oct.

21]

http://users.aber.ac.uk/asg/girls-99.htm [2013, Aug. 29]

72/72