BBL 3221 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST

ASIAN LITERATURE

MEETING 2

9.11.2013

CELERY, TULIPS AND

HUMMINGBIRDSLinda Ty-Casper

(Philippines)

LINDA TY-CASPER Born as Belinda Ty in Malabon,

Philippines in 1931. She spent the World War II years with her grandmother while her father worked in the Philippine National Railways, and her mother in the Bureau of Public Schools.

Her grandmother told her innumerable of stories about the Filipino’s struggle for independence, that later became the topics of her novels.

LINDA TY-CASPER

Linda Ty Casper graduated valedictorian in the University of the Philippines, and later earned her Master's degree in Harvard University for International Law.

In 1956, she married Leonard Casper, a Professor Emeritus of Boston College who is also a critic of Philippine Literature. They have two daughters and reside in Massachusetts.

LINDA TY-CASPER Has won PEN and UNESCO awards and

the SEA WRITE Award. Her works have been included in

anthologies in Finland, Malaysia(People On the Bridge), United States and the Philippines.

She is also a board member of The Boston Authors.

Her novel Awaiting Trespass which is about the politically sensitive theme of torture by the Marcos regime was published by Readers International of London.

This work gained her major critical attention in the United States for the first time, and in Britain the novel was chosen as one of the five best works of fiction by a woman writer published in 1985-86.

SUMMARY The story is about a woman who is of mixed

ancestry. Her father is a German while her mother is a Filipino. She reminisces her childhood and all the memories shared with her mother. Her mother told her lots of stories about life in Philippines and they even had Filipino dishes often for dinner. She recollects her memories about her uncle, Alan whom she could not contact even after the death of her parents. She visits German to see her father’s relatives but she could not cease off the memories of her uncle.

SETTING Setting - Milwaukee- San Diego- German

CHARACTERS Narrator (Aline Drew Herding)- Reminisces her past- Resides in San Diego now- Misses her old home and friends- Her mother is a Filipino while her father

is a German- Works at the Opera House in San Diego

Uncle (Alan)- Narrator does not know where he lived- Did not meet him after her parents’

death- Narrator thinks he is a teacher- He visits the narrator without informing

them.- He has left no address for them to

contact.

Narrator’s mother- Often talks about her hometown

(Philippines)- Talks in Tagalog with her brother Alan- She’s a very quiet person and has very

few friends. Narrator’s father- A German who works in a leather

(Rueping Brothers Leather & Co. ) where he mixes dyes for leather.

THEMES Longingness for homeland- The characters still try to use their

mother tongue in their daily lives.- The narrator’s mother cooks Filipino

food in order to keep up her tradition. Nostalgia- Unable to forget their origin- Characters keep reminiscing their past

THEMES Displacement - The narrator’s parents miss their

homeland- They find it difficult to blend into the

American community.- So, they keep to themselves.

THE WAITBy Vijay Lakshmi

(India)

VIJAY LAKSHMI Raised and educated in Jaipur, India. Yale University as a Senior Fulbright

scholar Settled in Philadelphia She is also a fellow at the Can Serrat

International Centre for Arts in Spain.

HER WORKS Novella – Pomegranate Dreams and

Other Stories Virginia Woolf as Literary Critic Has published short stories in journal

like Wasafiri (London), Orbis (London), Paris Transcontinental (Paris) and Amelia (US).

Her short story, Janaki was published in a collection, In Search of Sita.

SETTING Place - At the New Delhi American

Consulate Time – Pre- dawn Season – Winter in India (Morning)

Winter starts in November and peaks in January, with average temperatures around 12–13 °C (54–55 °F). Although winters are generally mild, Delhi's proximity to the Himalayas results in cold waves.

Delhi is notorious for its heavy fogs during the winter season. In December, reduced visibility leads to disruption of road, air and rail traffic.

They end in early February, and are followed by a short spring hill the onset of the summer.

STYLE OF WRITING First person point of view Descriptive - Enables the readers to imagine the

place.

VISA Visas were not generally necessary

before World War I (1914–1918), but have since become standard, even while the initial fears of spying ceased with the end of the war.

Commonwealth countries normally do not issue visas, however now some of these countries have started using visas.

A visa (from the Latin charta visa, lit. "paper that has been seen") is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter or leave the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry.

The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport (or passport-replacing document).

Some countries do not require a visa in some situations, such as a result of reciprocal treaty arrangements.

The country issuing the visa typically attaches various conditions of stay, such as the territory covered by the visa, dates of validity, period of stay, whether the visa is valid for more than one visit, etc.

A visa generally gives non-citizens clearance to enter a country and to remain there within specified constraints, such as a time frame for entry, a limit on the time spent in the country, and a prohibition against employment.

The possession of a visa is not in itself a guarantee of entry into the country that issued it, and a visa can be revoked at any time.

A visa application in advance of arrival gives the country a chance to consider the applicant's circumstance, such as financial security, reason for applying, and details of previous visits to the country.

A visitor may also be required to undergo and pass security and/or health checks upon arrival at the border.

Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter (or exit) a country, and are thus, for some countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country.

AMERICAN VISA In general, to be eligible to apply for an

immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen relative(s), U.S. lawful permanent resident, or by a prospective employer, and be the beneficiary of an approved petition filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

US VISA

J VISA A J visa is a non-immigrant visa

issued by the United States to exchange visitors participating in programs that promote cultural exchange, especially to obtain medical or business training within the U.S.

All applicants must meet eligibility criteria and be sponsored either by a private sector or government program.

K VISA A K visa is a dual intent visa issued to

the fiancé or fiancée of a United States citizen to enter the United States. A K visa requires a foreigner to marry his or her U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of entry.

Once the couple marries, the foreign citizen can adjust status to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States (Green Card holder).

Although a K visa is legally classified as a non-immigrant visa, it usually leads to important immigration benefits and is therefore often processed by the Immigrant Visa section of United States embassies and consulates worldwide.

If a K-1 visa holder does not marry his or her U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of entry, then he or she must depart the United States within 30 days.

H VISA The H is a non-immigrant visa in the

United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H).

It allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. If a foreign worker in H status quits or is dismissed from the sponsoring employer, the worker must either apply for and be granted a change of status to another non-immigrant status, find another employer (subject to application for adjustment of status and/or change of visa), or leave the US.

AMERICAN CONSULATE IN NEW DELHI

CHARACTERS Nameless narrator(Mrs. Nitin)- Just got married three days ago- Brave - Has pride and dignity Nitin - US citizen, settled in US.- Just met his spouse 10 day ago- Arranged marriage

IMMIGRATION OFFICERS Goro Bhootni cum White Ghost- stony-faced redhead with dangling

earrings- Sits at window #4- She’s known to have rejected almost

every application- Arrogant

The “advisor”- Wears a brown vest over shirtsleeves- He calls the immigration officer at

Counter 4 as Gori Bhootni- He knows how many visa have been

rejected and by whom- He advises the young man on how to

address the people at the counter

SITUATION IN THE CONSULATE Tensed situation People have to humble themselves

because they are the officers’ mercy Frightened people Worried people Hopeful- escaping Indian to the land of

golden dreams

ANOTHER TYPE OF COLONIZATION Indians are seen as the other They are belittled The officers are arrogant

THEMES Hope Migration Otherness

One of every five immigrants of Indian ancestry in the United States was not born in India.As a result of historical migrations, Indian-origin communities can be found throughout the world.

Among the 1,734,337 immigrants residing in the United States in 2006 who reported having Indian ancestry regardless of their place of birth, 81.2 percent were born in India.

The Indian foreign born accounted for about 4.2 percent of all lawful permanent residents living in the United States in 2006.

About 886,000 Indians have gained lawful permanent residence in the United States since 1990.

Nearly half of Indian-born lawful permanent residents in 2007 were employment-sponsored immigrants.

Indian-born lawful permanent residents accounted for 2.4 percent of all those eligible to naturalize as of 2006.

The Indian born were the fourth-largest group of student and exchange visitors admitted to the United States in 2006.

In 2006, 2.3 percent of all unauthorized immigrants in the United States were from India.

The number of unauthorized immigrants from India grew faster than the number of any other immigrant group between 2000 and 2006.

WAITING BY FARAH

GHUZNAVI

FARAH GHUZNAWI

Farah Ghuznavi is a columnist, short story writer, development worker and professional translator. She is a regular contributor to the Star Weekend Magazine, Bangladesh’s most widely-read English language publication, where she writes on a range of topics including politics, development issues, social commentary and humour.

Her development career has included working with the Grameen Bank, United Nations and Christian Aid UK, and these experiences have also influenced her writing.

Farah has been published extensively in anthologies from the UK, US, Canada, Singapore, India and her native Bangladesh. Her short story, Judgement Day was Highly Commended in the Commonwealth Competition in 2010, and Getting There placed second in the Oxford GEF Competition.

Most recently, she has edited and contributed to Lifelines: New Writing from Bangladesh (Zubaan, India), and she is currently working to finalise her own short story manuscript.

WRITER’S MOTIVE

“I began writing fiction because I felt it important to tell many of the stories of people I've encountered in my life as a development worker, who sometimes aren't in a position to tell their own stories”. - Farah Ghuznawi

“I used to write columns for The Daily Star, the English daily in Bangladesh, off and on for 15-odd years. I loved the idea of writing fiction but was terrified. In 2005, when I was doing my second Masters degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science, there was this newspaper headline about a child domestic worker who died in hospital after being beaten by her employers.

I called The Daily Star editor and said we should do something. Now, no one was quite waiting for Farah Ghuznavi to write some column about child abuse, so we thought it would be best to get one of the fiction writers to write something about this. Three days later, I sat down at my computer and the first story came to me”.

GHUZNAWI IN KOLKATHA

BANGLADESH

The present-day borders of Bangladesh were established during the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947, when eastern Bengal became part of the newly formed nation of Pakistan.

It was known as East Pakistan.

However, it was separated from West Pakistan by nearly 1,500 km (about 900 miles) of Indian territory.

Due to political exclusion, ethnic and linguistic discrimination, and economic neglect by the politically dominant western wing, popular agitation and civil disobedience led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

After independence, the new state endured widespread poverty, famine, political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by economic progress and relative political calm, although the country is still highly polarized.

Population: 128 .1 millionDhaka (the capital) is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. There are many homeless people.

Many of the people of Bangladesh are ethnically similar because of many centuries of integration. Small Urdu & Indian minorities

Religions: Islamic: 83%; Hindu: 16%

HEALTH

Life expectancy: 58 yearsInfant mortality: 79 per 1000Average calories consumed: 87% of calories neededSafe water: 97% of population has access

LITERACY

Literacy rate: 38%. This is poor, but the literacy rate has gone up by 9% in the last 10 years.

Languages: The official language is Bengali.

ENVIRONMENT

Bangladesh is on a river delta. It is made up of a fertile plain, with large rain forest and swamps.Farming: rice, tea and jute are grown.Problems: The monsoon climate - with heavy rain from June to September - often brings hurricanes and floods which cause disaster.The rising sea-level is a threat.There is serious pollution in the coastal area, caused by sewage & industrial waste: the pollution and over-fishing may destroy the coastal ecosystem.

In Dhaka 15,000 children per year die from lead poisoning.

ECONOMY

Currency: TakaGDP per capita: $360Main exports: clothing, jute, tea, carpets, china; recently, also data processing & software development.External debt per capita: $140

INCOME DISTRIBUTION

The gap between rich and poor is very wide. Some rich people are incredibly wealthy (it is said that one Bangladeshi wears diamonds worth $3 million in his shoes); labourers earn less than $1 per day.

The majority of the land in Bangladesh is owned by a few rich landowners.

SELF-RELIANCE

Bangladesh has a very large external debt of $15 billion and is dependent on foreign aid.

It is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world.

POLITICS

Bangladesh was part of Bengal under British rule and then became part of Pakistan - East Pakistan. The country became independent, as Bangladesh, in 1971.For much of the time since then, it was under military rule.

In 1991, General Ershad was deposed, elections were held and there was political reform. There is still believed to be a lot of corruption, and all parties use armed supporters.

FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The Press has more freedom than before, but the broadcast media is owned by the State.

Workers in the "export processing zones" cannot join trade unions or take part in industrial action.

POSITION OF WOMEN The leaders of both main political

parties are women but, in general the position of women is weak. There is a lot of violence against women. Girls are often married around the age of 13.

In the cities, there are more career women, but women work mostly in the home and the fields.

POVERTY IN BANGLADESH Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest

countries with 150 million population. Bangladesh has to depend on international help. Since the 1990s, there has been a declining trend of poverty by 1% each year, with the help of international assistance.

According to World Bank in 2005, 40% of the population was still be below the national poverty line.

The population in Bangladesh is predominantly rural, with almost 80% of the population living in the rural areas. Many of them live in remote areas that lack services such as education, health clinics and adequate roads, particularly road links to markets.

A low estimate of 20% of the rural poor is in chronic poverty. They suffer from persistent food insecurity, own no land and assets, are often uneducated and may also suffer serious illnesses or disabilities.

Another 29% of the rural population is considered moderately poor. Though they may own a small plot of land and some livestock and generally have enough to eat, their diets lack nutritional values. As a result of health problems or natural disasters, they are at risk of sliding deeper into poverty.

Women are among the poorest of the rural poor, especially when they are the sole heads of their households. They suffer discrimination, have few earning opportunities and their nutritional intake is often inadequate.

CAUSES OF POVERTY One of the main causes of rural poverty

is due the country’s geographical and demographic characteristics. A large proportion of the country is low-lying, and thus is at a high risk to flooding.

Many of the rural poor live in areas that are prone to extreme annual flooding which cause huge damage to their crops, homes and livelihoods.

In order to rebuild their homes, they often have to resort to moneylenders, and that causes them to fall deeper into poverty.

In addition, these natural disasters also cause outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne and diarrheal diseases such as dengue and malaria which will affect them physically and lower their productivity levels.

BEGGARS IN BANGLADESH

CHILD LABOURERS

WAITING Characters-The RichMr. ChowdhuryMrs. ChowdhuryRonny -Diya- Zarif

The poor Hashem Raya

Mrs. Chowdhury

LAZY “ But she was resented having to drag

her unwilling body out of bed at eight o’clock every morning because of his insistence on having his breakfast cooked by her”.

“Even if you take one of the servants with you, you still have to walk from one end of the place to the other to get hold of everything you want. You end up getting more exercise than you’d be looking for in an evening walk in the park!”

BRAG “You know, my husband will not touch

food unless I have personally overseen the preparation of it; even though our cook’s salary is over 5000 takas!”

OPPRESSED Her entire life was spent standing on

tiptoe to serve a demanding master, Mrs. Chowdhury fumed internally. And she couldn’t risk losing face by complaining to anyone about it; she had her prestige to maintain.

JUSTIFIES HER ACTIONS Mrs. Chowdhury was relieved when her

menses came several days early, and released her from the tiresome responsibility of fasting for the final week of Ramadan. She was not altogether comfortable with the idea that the men in the shop might speculate as to the reasons for her ice-cream consumption, but she consoled herself with the thought that they might consider a woman of her wealth and social status free from the onerous burdens of piety.

DEMANDING … adding in her trademark tone of

imperiousness, “Bring me one of those Super Choc-bars as well. Quickly. And make sure it isn’t one of those that has melted and re-formed because of some power cut! I don’t why you people insist on having these generators that don’t even work properly …”

DIYA Considerate and brave

-She determinedly ignored the small voice in her head jeeringly demanding to know if she considered herself absolved of guilt with that small act of generosity.

HASHEM Poor Beggar Infested with lice Dare not scratch himself in public …“It would provide yet another incentive for

the tinted windows surrounding him to remain determinedly closed – protection against the throat-catching fumes as well as verminous life-forms, whether of the two-legged or six-legged variety.”

Loving and protective- Loves his sister very much- “It was mostly for his sister’s sake that

the otherwise solemn eleven-year-old put on an optimistic façade, making a game out of their privations; like stretching out the limited amount of rice on her plate by making bite-size morsels for a variety of imaginary baby birds that “flew” into her mouth, hand-delivered by her brother – red-bottomed bulbuls, honey- toned kokils, bright green tiyapakhis.”

STYLE OF WRITING Tone - CynicalExample- “Under normal circumstances he would

offered her a “cole dreenks,” but Ramadan made that a risky proposition; the last thing he wanted to do was to offend her further. The most unexpected people became profoundly and ostentatiously observant in their religiosity during this month”.

“It was, he mused, the only time they had anything in common with the other 95 per cent of the city’s population”.

“The irony, of course, was that any sense of fellowship ended with the azan, heralding the breaking of the fast, self-indulgent iftar meals in comfortable homes making a mocker of the original spirit behind the religious injunction.”

“Eating in front of rojadars (those fasting) will surely bring the pious majority who fast closer to God, Ma. Instead of fretting over those of us who are sinners, they can console themselves with the thought that they will earn extra sawab (divine blessings)… I’m sure that they will gain additional brownie points for not giving in to such earthly temptations. Unlike the rest of us, who have better things to do than to starve ourselves!”

Theory and Application

WHAT IS A LITERARY THEORY? Literary theory is the body of ideas and

methods used in the practical reading of a literature work.

Literary theory does not interpret the meaning of a work of literature but it is used to reveal what literature can mean.

Literary theory is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to understand literature.

All literary interpretation draws on a basis in theory but can serve as a justification for very different kinds of critical activity.

In short, it is the mindset that we develop concerning our expectation when reading any type of literature.

To articulate this framework and piece together the various elements of our practical criticism into a coherent, unified body of knowledge is to formulate our literary theory (Bressler, 1994:4).

WHY IS LITERARY THEORY IMPORTANT? Literary theory formulates the

relationship between author and work; literary theory develops the significance of race, class, and gender for literary study, both from the standpoint of the biography of the author and an analysis of their thematic presence within texts.

Literary theory offers varying approaches for understanding the role of historical context in interpretation as well as the relevance of linguistic and unconscious elements of the text.

WHAT IS LITERARY CRITICISM?

Literary Criticism is a disciplined activity that attempts to study, analyze, interpret and evaluate a work of art (Bressler, 1994 : 3).

This discipline attempts to formulate aesthetic and methodological principals on the basis of which the critic can evaluate a text.

When we consider its function and its relationship to texts, literary criticism is not usually considered a discipline in and of itself, for it must be related to something else- that is, a work of art.

Without the work of art, the activity of criticism cannot exist.

It is through this discerning activity that we can explore those questions that help define our humanity, evaluate our actions, or simply increase our appreciation and enjoyment of both a literary work and our fellow human beings.

POSTCOLONIAL THEORY Postcolonial theory and criticism critically

examine colonial postcolonial canons. This theory deals with reading and

writing of literature written in previously or currently colonized countries or literature written in colonizing countries which deals with colonization and colonized people.

This theory according to Lawson is concerned with what occurs or exists after the end of colonial rule. It also deals with colonizing power and effects of language as a colonizing factor.

This theory focuses on the critical discussion of the attempts made by colonized people to proclaim their identity and reclaim their past.

It also looks into the languages, images and traditions employed in the process of writing.

This theory also probes the literature of the colonial culture that distorts the realities of the colonized peoples to make them feel inferior.

It studies the impact of colonization on postcolonial history, economy, science and culture.

It also seeks to change the way people think, behave, and produce a just and egalitarian societies in which there is peace and harmony between different peoples of the world (Young 7).

This theory is concerned with how the colonized respond to the struggle to control self-representation, through the appropriation of dominant languages, discourses and forms of narrative.

It also projects the struggle over representations of place, history, race and ethnicity. Its utmost aim is to present a local reality of the colonized people to the world (Ashcroft 15).

The theory also seeks to engage the problem of European modernity, particularly in terms of its emphasis on progress.

This emphasis shows that the engagement between Europe and its ‘others’ is predicated on violence.

Characteristics of Postcolonial Theory

Pluralism Integrity Displacement Identity Crisis Loss of Identity Concept of Otherness Ethnicity Oppression of women Alienation

Postcolonial theory is subject not only to critique and challenge from the outside but also from within (Ahluwalia 1).

Issues such as colonial discourses, the African Diaspora are often used to identify major inquiries in this theory.

It is also important to take into account the relationship between a writer and the cultures about which he or she writes.

DISPLACEMENT One major characteristic of

postcolonial theory is the concern of displacement. In the quest for power and wealth the colonial masters especially the English masters have uprooted many natives from their motherland and relocated them in other countries.

Then, they impose their religion, culture and language on these people.

These people experience statelessness, dislocation and become spiritually a wasteland.

A major feature in the postcolonial theory is concerned with displacement.

Displacement occurs when a “specific cultural population is moved from its original homeland or bioregion and relocated to a different setting.

People usually experience culture shock as they are unable to adapt to their new surrounding.

It discusses the crisis of identity and is concerned with the development or recovery of an effective identifying relationship between self and place.

IDENTITY Edward Said in his book, Orientalism,

believes that identities are always a matter of construction.

The construction of identity is bound up with the disposition of power in each society. He further claims that people find it difficult to accept the actualities of identities as most people resist the underlying notion that ‘human identity is not only natural and stable but constructed and occasionally even invented outright’ ( Said 332).

The people who are dislocated by the colonial masters often face problem in assimilating themselves in the new land. They have to search their identities through their remote past which is gradually disappearing.

It also refers to the integration of culture from the colonizing party and the colonized.

This includes the assimilation and adaptation of cultural practices.

This also helps them to articulate their identity and reclaim their past in the face of that past’s inevitable otherness.

However, most of the displaced people are forced to follow the dominant culture which is often imposed on them.

This means that integration of culture from the colonizing party and the colonized will take place.

This includes the assimilation and adaptation of cultural practices which can be seen as positive, enriching, dynamic as well as oppressive, in which the dominant culture usually silences the marginalized people’s culture.

CONCEPT OF OTHERNESS The simple binary opposition between

the colonizer and the colonized made which shows the enormous cultural and racial differences made the emergence of this term.

This term emerged with the publication of Edward Said’s Book titled Orientalism in 1978. Since, it has become a classic in the study of the West’s relationship with the others.

According to Said, orientalism began to impose limits on thoughts about the Orient and to define the European.

He further claims that ‘orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar Europe, the West, “us” and the strange Orient, the East, “them” (Said 43).

He claims that “the orient” is synonymous with “the other”. The concept of otherness includes both identity and difference. It is the difference between the whites and the rest of the world.

He further claims that ‘orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar Europe, the West, “us” and the strange Orient, the East, “them” (Said 43).

He claims that “the orient” is synonymous with “the other”. The concept of otherness includes both identity and difference. It is the difference between the whites and the rest of the world.

The world is seen as divided. The Westerners are the masters whereas the colonized people are seen as ‘the other’.

The West is seen as masculine, ordered, rational, democratic, superior, progressive and good while the east is seen as feminine, disordered, irrational, inferior, undisciplined and evil (Said 205).

POSTCOLONIALISM IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST

ASIAN LITERATURE

NOVEL

Sing to the Dawn by

Minfong Ho

OPPRESSION OF WOMEN Minfong Ho highlights how women are

treated as second class citizens in this novel.

The society favours male children to be educated compared to female children.

The females are abused in this novel. Ho shows the patriarchal society that

exists in Thailand.

ETHNICITY Ho puts forward the general beliefs of

the Thais through the monks that Dawan meets in order to ask for help to persuade her father to allow her to continue her studies in the city.

The readers also get a glimpse of the Thai people’s life style.

SHORT STORIES The Waiting (Bangladesh) The Cat that Slept on the Altar

(Vietnam) Her (Indonesia) The Guardian Knot (Malaysia) Celery, Tulips and Hummingbirds

(Philippines)

CONCEPT OF OTHERNESS This can be seen in the short story, The

Wait (India) The American Immigration Officers treat

the Indian Visa applicants badly. The police too bully the civilians who are

lining at the Consulate.

DISPLACEMENT The Wait- The writer shows that people are willing

to be displaced in this story by going to the United States.

- Mrs. Nitin too will have to undergo lots of adjustment if she wants to follow her husband to the United States.

DISPLACEMENT Celery, Tulips and Hummingbirds- The narrator’s parents find it difficult to

assimilate themselves into the American world.

The Wait- The characters in this story willingly

accept the displacement by going to America to work.

OPPRESSION OF WOMEN Women are marginalized. The Waiting (Bangladesh)- Mrs. Chowdhury is oppressed by her

husband. Her-Mrs. Hamid suffers when her husband

takes a second wife without her knowledge and permission.

Guardian Knot- Women are not allowed to further their

studies (narrator’s sister).- Women are only seen as sexual objects

to fulfill the lusts of men.- The author depicts the women’s role as

a only a cook for the family. She is not included in any decision makings.

ALIENATION Celery, Tulips and Hummingbirds- The narrator’s parents suffer from

alienation since both of them are immigrants to United States.

- They cannot assimilate into the American culture.

The Wait- Nitin, the narrator’s husband returns to

marry an Indian bride. This shows that he cannot blend into the American society.

COMMON MOTIVES OF SOUTH AND SOUTH EAST ASIAN WRITERS Displacement – caused by colonizers Plight of their race Oppression by the upper class Suppression of women To highlight their rich culture and

traditions

The End