Preparation for TMA 06
AA100 module
th
March 6 , 2017
The Question
• Assignment 06 Cut-off date: 31 March 2017
• For this assignment you are asked to write an essay of
no more than 1500 words. You should choose to
answer either Option 1 or Option 2. You should make it
clear which option you have chosen by writing the
question in full at the head of your essay.
• Option 1 Cultural Encounters and Cultural Exemptions
The text below describes a law case that was heard by
the United Supreme Court in 1986. You will find the
essay question beneath the text. Read through the text
carefully before writing your essay.
The Question
•
•
•
In 1972, the US Supreme Court reviewed a case brought by the state of Wisconsin
against members of three Amish families. The parents had been prosecuted and
fined for refusing to send their children to school beyond the age of fourteen. (The
law required that all children should attend school up to the age of sixteen.) The
parents argued that, at school, their children would be taught to value
competitiveness, intellectual accomplishment and worldly success – values which
they took to be incompatible with the Amish way of life, and which, they believed,
would endanger their children’s salvation.
The US Supreme Court found in favour of the parents. The court agreed that
enforcing the law in this case would violate the parents’ right to freely exercise
their religion (a right enshrined in the US constitution). However, one judge,
Justice Douglas, dissented from this decision with respect to two of the three
families. His concern was that, in those cases, the children’s own opinions and
wishes were unknown.
Source: Cornell UniversityLaw School, Legal Information Institution:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/406/205#writingUSSC_CR_0406_
0205_ZD, accessed 8th October 2015
AA100 Tutorial on Cultural Encounters and
Cultural Exemptions, March 6th, 2017
• Assignment task: Between 1972 and 1976 in the UK, all
motorcycle riders were required by law to wear a crash
helmet. Sikhs sought an exemption, on the grounds
that Sikh religious observance requires Sikh men to
wear turbans (Barry, 2001, pp. 296–7).
• In 1976, the Motor-Cycle Crash Helmets (Religious
Exemption) Act was passed, establishing the exemption
in law. How might a liberal philosopher argue in favour
of the exemption? How might a liberal philosopher
argue against it? Which side has the stronger
argument? [The following is the work of a student from
a previous AA100 presentation. Beware of plagiarism.]
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘In 1976, an exemption to the law requiring all motorcycle riders to wear
helmets was granted to Sikhs on religious grounds.’
• Aims of the essay: to consider this exemption from the viewpoint of a
liberal philosopher.
– What are the values central to liberal thought?
– For example, the rights of the individual and equality;
It will use types of arguments to argue both for and against this
cultural exemption with relation to these core values (Pike, 2008, p.
94).
Finally, it will show that, although a case can be made either for or
against this type of exemption, the argument for a religious
exemption is stronger.’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘Consider a liberal philosopher’s position on the 1976 the Motor-Cycle
Crash Helmets (Religious Exemption) Act
• Refer to the origins of liberal thought and tits central values
• ‘Liberalism is a historical tradition mainly concerned with the rules and
institutions governing society (Pike, 2008, p. 93). It is rooted [in] the
seventeenth century and came about as a response to earlier traditions,
especially those that assumed that some people were naturally superior
to others (ibid.).
• So liberalism was opposed to certain types of discrimination, like religious
discrimination, and liberal thinkers, such as John Locke (1632-1704), urged
tolerance (Pike, 2008, p.94).
• Consequently, equality, toleration and diversity became core values of
liberalism. In addition, by definition, a key concern of liberalism is freedom
of the individual, or individualism (OED Online, 2014). This focus on the
rights of the individual, equality, diversity and tolerance would be central
components to the viewpoint of any liberal thinker.’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘When responding to this exemption, a liberal philosopher
could use the ‘autonomy argument’, i.e. the idea that, as
rational beings, individuals are able to make their own
decisions about how to live, to argue that it should be up to
the individual whether or not they choose to wear a helmet
(Pike, 2008, pp. 106-107).
• This notion of autonomy and the freedom of individuals to
live as they choose, provided it does not impact the health
or safety of others, is of great import in liberal ideology
(Pike, 2008, p. 107). However, this argument does not
justify the religious exemption (ibid.) Instead, in arguing
that a person should be able to decide for him or herself
whether or not he or she wears a helmet, it is an argument
against the law itself (ibid.).’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘What is a difference-blind liberal?
• Someone who holds that laws ought to be universal and
blind to cultural differences. Such a person might then
argue that, whilst the concept of autonomy is vital in liberal
theories, as shown above, it does not support granting a
religious exemption, and the ‘rule and exemption method’
is, in and of itself, unfair because it does not apply the law
equally to everyone (Pike, 2008, p. 98).
• Equality is a key value of liberal theories and allowing the
law to be applied differently to some people would create a
bias, and, therefore, the exemption would be
discriminatory and unjust.’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘Because the idea of equality is central to this difference-blind
argument, then exactly what is meant by equality should be
clarified.
• It could be argued that if a law affects people differently, then it is
not equal; therefore, applying the law in the same way to
everybody is not fair (Pike, 2008, p. 108). As argued by Professor
Bikhu Parekh, the error in the difference-blind argument is that it
equates sameness with equality (speaking in ‘Discussing Cultural
Exemptions’, 2008, track 3).
• Liberals value the idea that human beings are all individuals, yet
ignoring the differences in the way certain policies may affect
different cultural groups by rejecting the rule and exemption
approach directly contradicts this idea of individualism.’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘When examining the crash helmet law, it seems clear that it does
not affect Sikhs in the same way as the rest of the population.
• Sikhs and their religion: for Sikhs, wearing a turban is an integral
part of their religion and culture, thus directly linked to their
identity. Without a religious exemption, this helmet law would
either force them to act or behave in a way that goes against their
deepest beliefs, or they would no longer be able to ride
motorcycles.
• In the first instance, forcing a person to act in a way that is contrary
to the beliefs of their cultural community could isolate them and be
alienating, thus putting them in a situation where they feel trapped,
as if they were imprisoned, which would then be the exact opposite
of the autonomy so valued by liberals (Pike, 2008, p.114).’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
•
•
‘The second instance would create an unfair restriction. Consequently, the only
way to compensate for this inequality would be by granting a religious exemption
or repealing the law.
An argument can also be made for the exemption by comparing it with a similar
case in which a cultural exemption was granted. In Canada, the Musqueam people
were granted an exemption to fishing restrictions on the grounds that ‘salmon
fishery has always constituted an integral part of their distinctive culture’ (R. v.
Sparrow, cited in Pike, 2008, P.103). Although this case was based on cultural
rather than religious grounds, as in the case of the exemption for Sikhs, an analogy
can be made because, not only is wearing a turban a required part of their
religious practice, but, like salmon fishing for the Musqueam people, it is a
fundamental part of Sikh culture (Pike, 2008, P.103). In addition, a person’s
culture, like that of the Musqueam people or Sikhs, is not something that is
chosen. The Musequeams did not choose to be born into a culture in which
salmon fishing is an essential part of their way of life, just like most Sikhs did not
choose their religion, but, rather, were born into it (Pike, 2008, p.111). Therefore,
it would be wrong to discriminate against them based [on] their religion or culture
because it would be no different to discriminating against someone because of
their race (ibid.).’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘Conversely, it could also be argued that these two
cases differ on this very crucial matter of choice.
Although one cannot choose the culture or religion
into which one is born, as adults, many religions
require people to confirm their beliefs and make a
conscious decision to continue practising said religion
(Pike, 2008, p. 112). Since the Sikhs requested the
exemption on religious grounds, and, according to this
argument, religion is an issue of choice, unlike the
cultural identity of the Musqueam people, the two
cases are not analogous, and the helmet law cannot be
considered discriminatory. Hence, a cultural exemption
would not be justified.’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘However, the problem with this rejection of the analogy
with the Musqueam fishing rights case is that it assumes
that religion and cultural identity are two completely
separate entities. As shown above, for many people religion
and culture are closely linked and the exemption touches
on the core of their identity (Pike, 2008, p. 104). As such,
religion is no more a matter of choice than the culture that
one is born into (ibid.). For Sikhs, as for the Musqueam
people, the exemption is vital for them in order to protect
their values. Therefore, the fact that the exemption is on
religious rather than cultural grounds is a non-issue, since,
in this case, religion and culture are closely interwoven and
virtually one and the same.’
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘In summary, the foregoing discussion has shown that there are
many convincing arguments both for and against the religious
exemption for Sikhs to the UK helmet law. While the ‘autonomy
argument’ appeals to the liberal idea that one should be allowed to
decide how one wants to live, it has been demonstrated that this
argument alone is not sufficient to justify an exemption (Pike, 2008,
p. 107). However, if taken into consideration with the ‘unequal
impact argument’, which holds that it is important to consider the
fact that the helmet law has a greater impact on Sikhs than other
segments of the population, the argument for a rule and exemption
approach is much more compelling. In addition, this essay has
shown that wearing a turban is not a matter of choice, but rather
an essential part of the Sikh religion and culture, which are
intricately intertwined, and thus a matter of cultural identity in
much the same way as salmon fishing in the case of the Musqueam
people. ‘
Exemption from the compulsory
wearing of crash helmets (UK)
• ‘Therefore, the requirement for them to wear a
crash helmet places an unfair restriction on them.
In conclusion, bearing in mind these arguments
along with their relationship to the core liberal
values of individuality, equality, tolerance and
diversity, it is fairly clear that the argument for a
religious exemption is the stronger argument.’
[Please remember that the above is the work of a
former student on the AA100 module and is only
used here for broad guidance purposes if you
choose to deal with Option 1.]
The Burial at Thebes
• Option 2 Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes
• What are the challenges involved in taking an ancient
Greek play and turning it into a successful textual
adaptation for a modern audience? How were these
challenges met in The Burial at Thebes? Answer with close
reference to the text.
• Guidance Note
• This question is designed to test your awareness of the
contexts within which ancient literature was produced and
subsequently reinterpreted, and also your ability to analyse
texts from different cultures and periods of time.
• 34
The Burial at Thebes
• you will need to think very carefully about the selection of
the material that you need to support your argument.
• It is expected that your discussion will cover both aspects of
the question. So you will need to set out both the
challenges involved in producing a successful textual
adaptation of an ancient Greek play, and also how these
challenges were specifically met in The Burial at Thebes.
• Areas you might want to discuss in your answer are issues
of translation, making the language and style of the play
accessible to a modern audience, and how the major
thematic issues involved in the original play have been
presented in a way that still speaks to contemporary
concerns.
The Burial at Thebes
• In preparing for this assignment you will need to re-read
the text of the play itself carefully, as you think about the
issues involved in adapting an ancient Greek play into a
successful modern text. You will want to revisit Book 3,
Chapter 6, Section 6.1 on the conventions of the ancient
Greek theatre. You will also find very useful information in
the chapter on Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes,
particularly in Sections 6.2, ‘Translating Sophocles’
Antigone’; 6.3, ‘Texts and Contexts: Ancient and Modern,’
and 6.4, ‘Heaney’s Play in Performance on the Modern
Stage.’ You will also find useful information in the
interviews on the second Audio CD of The Burial at Thebes.
• 35
Option 2 Short Stories
• Option 2 Short Stories Through a close critical reading of
Peter Carey’s story ‘American Dreams’ on pp.147–62 in the
Anthology, A World of Difference, consider how the story’s
focus on themes of cultural dependency have particular
consequences for a sense of place.
• Guidance Note This question is intended to test your ability
to understand short stories; in particular, it is aimed at the
learning outcome for the study of English by developing
your critical understanding and appreciation of a range of
literary forms. You should aim to read the story several
times, being aware of your initial impressions the first time
around, then subsequently with more of an eye to narrative
structure and setting.
Option 2 Short Stories
•
•
Once you have some ideas about how cultural identity (and a lack of investment in
one’s own culture) is treated as a theme within the story, begin to build up your
answer, making close reference to the text for your evidence. As you work on this
question you will be building on the skills you have practised in earlier assignments
in order to analyse the ways in which Carey explores concepts of identity and
cultural self-esteem.
In your answer, try to consider the various formal techniques used in the story as
well as its themes. For example, you may wish to look at narrative voice, irony and
characterisation, among other things, and decide how each contributes to the
author’s exploration of culture and identity in relation to setting. The tension
between how the townspeople view their own local space and how they relate to
American culture will provide you with an important framework for thinking about
the question. If you have not already read the Preface on pp. xi–xix in the
Anthology A World of Difference, it would be useful to go through this now, as a
way of firming up your sense of how short stories work. You will also find it helpful
to read the introduction to Peter Carey and his writing that precedes ‘American
Dreams’ on pp. 149–50 in the Anthology.
Option 2 Short Stories
• The short story is one of the most important literary
genres.
• The short story is both familiar and accessible. In the
following analysis we need to pay particular attention to
the following terms: cultural dependency and how ‘cultural
dependency [has] particular consequences for sense of
place’.
• Reading the introduction to Carey’s strange story we know
he is a third-generation of English descen and he was born
in 1943 ‘in the small town of Bacchus Marsh, Victoria’ and
that his parents owned and ran a small garage service. So,
the first point we might make in the discussion is that some
of the material is drawn from real-life experience.
Option 2 Short Stories
• I expect you have all read the story by now so we already know that this is
a story about a sleepy town, presumably in Australia – references to
‘American dollars’ and written in British English – that dream of being
American. Nothing much happens in the town until one day a fairly
nondescript but rather reclusive and quite strange man called Gleason
dies. Then the walls he has spent years constructing up at a place named
Bald Hill are destroyed by a group of Chinese labourers he had formerly
employed to reveal an imaginative but extremely accurate reconstruction
of their own town. Initially, the townspeople are delighted, feeling that
there town has at last come to life but further close examination of the
town reveals models of the townsfolk that are startlingly lifelike and when
the rooves of the houses are taken off, a sexual liaisons between Mrs
Cavanagh and Craigie Evans unknown to the townsfolk themselves are
discovered. Eventually such an amazing discovery promotes an American
tourist stampede to the town and it’s fair to say that the town loses what
character it had having to perform for the Americans’ cameras as the
tourists make comparison between the ‘real’ people and their model
counterparts.
Option 2 Short Stories
• Let’s now look at the text section by section. A strong, perhaps
enigmatic opening sentence, ‘No one can, to this day, remember
what it was that we did to offend him’ (Carey, p. 151). The name of
the man who has been offended remains withheld from the reader
‘when he gave him the wrong meat’ (ibid.) but the results must
have been serious as Dyer the butcher ‘curses himself for his
foolishness’. So, another point we can make is about the narrative
voice. It is, initially, a first-person plural ‘we’ that shifts in paragraph
3 to ‘I’: this is the son of the garage owner. This is not the voice of
the protagonist: is there one? We might say this role should be
apportioned to ‘this small meek man with the rimless glasses and
neat suit who used to smile so nicely at us all’ (151), Mr Gleason
whose identity remains shrouded in mystery and whose motivation
for creating such life-like representation of the town life of which he
was part remains unclear.
Option 2 Short Stories
• This man peers out from behind lace curtains: he was ‘so quiet and
grey’ and he did things in ’his own peculiar way’.
• The writer makes it clear on the first page that there is a sense of
discontent about the town, ‘it is not where we would rather
be’…’we have treated it with contempt’ as well as ravaging the
environment. The narrator says ‘we all have dreams of the big city,
of wealth, of modern houses of bid motor cars: American dreams’
(p. 152). So here is the cultural dependency, out-of-the-way town
on the east coast of Australia dependent on American television
and films and advertisements for their dreams and escape from
normality.
• What is the relevance of the narrator’s father as an inventor and
the father’s emotional sympathy with Gleason?
• Most of the people travel by bikes. Why do you think the narrator
says ‘They were as much a burden as a means of transport’ (p. 152)
Option 2 Short Stories
• What signs do you detect about Gleason’s character,
his appearance. Perhaps you think he was a man on his
own who became a recluse, an outsider, an observer of
society.
• What can you say about Mr Gleason’s relationship with
the boy’s father who seems to be the self-appointed
spokesman for the townspeople. Do you think the folk
made Gleason feel unwanted? What do you make of
the ominous sentence: ‘[i]t was only when he retired
that things began to go wrong’ (p. 153). Is this s turning
point in the story.
Option 2 Short Stories
• Writers employ names of people and places with symbolism
sometimes and almost always significance, subtle or more obvious.
What do you make of ‘Bald Hill’. Does Gleason carry authority as a
character? Is he, himself symbolic? Think about his painstaking
observation of the people he has lived among but rarely if ever
socialised with. What about Mrs. Gleason? She appears frightened.
On page 155 Carey says ‘She had a way of averting her eyes that
indicated her terror of questions’. It’s interesting to note that by
now the town think Gleason had ‘simply gone mad’ (p. 154).
• For a sense of place have a look at the third paragraph on page 155.
‘From the filling station where I sat dreaming’. ‘Dreaming’ and
‘gazed’ suggest escapist tendencies or the desire to escape from
one’s roots without the necessary motivation to accomplish that
desire. James Joyce in his Dubliners stories, refers to the idea of
‘paralysis’ of Irish people emotionally imprisoned by the constraints
of the Church and the law and unable to leave or quit the city.
Option 2 Short Stories
• What is the town’s response to Mrs. Gleason?
Let’s have a look at page 156 at the paragraph
beginning ‘And then, during my seventeenth
year, Mr. Gleason died’. Can we trace what
happens to Mrs Gleason?
Option 2 Short Stories
Martha, Martha
• Option 2 Short Stories
• Read Zadie Smith’s ‘Martha, Martha’ from the anthology A
World of Difference. How is the theme of ‘Cultural
Encounters’ illustrated by Smith’s story?
• Guidance Note
• The question is intended to test your ability to understand
short stories; in particular, it is aimed at the learning
outcome for the study of English by developing your critical
understanding and appreciation of the literary form of the
short story. You should aim to read the story several times,
being aware of your initial impressions the first time
around, then subsequently with more of an eye to narrative
structure and language.
September 11th 2001
•
•
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11)[nb 1] were a series of four coordinated terrorist
attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday,
September 11, 2001. The attacks consisted of suicide attacks used to target symbolic U.S.
landmarks.
Four passenger airliners—which all departed from airports on the U.S. East Coast bound for
California—were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists to be flown into buildings. Two of the planes,
American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South
towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within an hour and 42
minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed, with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or
complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7
World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the
United States Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia, leading to a partial collapse in
the Pentagon's western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, initially was steered
toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its
passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, the attacks claimed the lives of 2,996 people
(including the 19 hijackers) and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure
damage[2][3] and $3 trillion in total costs.[4] It was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law
enforcement officers[5] in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively
‘Martha, Martha’
• The name Martha is an Aramaic baby name. In Aramaic the
meaning of the name Martha is: Lady. In the Bible, Martha was the
sister of Lazarus and Mary of Bethany and known for her obsession
with housework.
• The story is a tense cultural encounter which begins with an
interview between Martha Penk, a twenty-two year old, of AngloNigerian race, initially described as ‘shrimpish’, meaning puny or
somewhat diminutive, and Pam Roberts, a conventional, garrulous
middle American. From the start there is a sense of ‘imprecision’,
what we can know from observation or ‘identification’ about an
individual person and by extension of a generic identity. A sense of
Martha being unconfident, lacking a positive aim: is she fleeing
from personal troubles at home; perhaps seeking a new direction in
life? Is she an aspiring academic? Martha is enigmatic and elusive:
‘black, could not blush, and her accent, to Pam’s ears very English’
(p. 181).
‘Martha, Martha’
• There seems to be a third-person narrator (although we sometimes see
through the eyes of both Martha and Pam) but the narrator does not offer
authority on a number of key points relating to Martha’s identity.
• What about Smith’s use of language and her use of imagery? For example,
‘[o]utside a plane roared low like some prehistoric monster’ (p.184).
Martha blows ‘hot and cold’ (p. 185) and this reflects the warmth inside
the building and the intense cold outside.
• Martha is perceptive/sensitive to atmosphere
• ‘clumsily divesting herself of the loud red coat’ (p. 181). She was dressed
in a ‘cheap-looking trouser suit and some fake pearls’ (ibid). Speech is
short, curt, ‘The lift’s broken, it don’t work’; ‘charmless and determined’
‘Martha, Martha’
Recorded in the spellings of Pinch, Pinck, Pincke, Pinks,
and the dialectals Penk and Penke, this surname is
English. It was of early medieval origin, and derives
from a nickname given to a bright, chirpy, person,
thought to be as active and cheerful as a chaffinch.
The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century
word "pinca", in Middle English "pinch" or "pink".
Jamal (Arabic: ‫ جمال‬Jamāl/Ǧamāl ) is an Arabic
masculine given name, meaning beauty. The use of
this name is widespread across the Muslim world.
‘One out of Many’
• I am now an American citizen and I live in Washington, capital of the
world. Many people, both here and in India, will feel that I have done well.
But.
• I was so happy in Bombay. I was respected, I had a certain position. I
worked for an important man. The highest in the land came to our
bachelor chambers and enjoyed my food and showered compliments on
me. I also had my friends. We met in the evenings on the pavement below
the gallery of our chambers. Some of us, like the tailor’s bearer and myself,
were domestics who lived in the same street. The others were people who
came to that bit of pavement to sleep. Respectable people; we didn’t
encourage riff-raff.
• [‘E Pluribus Unum’ Latin for ‘One out of Many’: this phrase included on
the seal of the United States, considered an informal motto of the country.
Also, ‘Out of Many One People’ is the national motto of Jamaica and is
based on the nation’s multi-racial roots.]
‘One out of Many’
• In the evenings it was cool. There were few passers-by
and, apart from an occasional double-decker bus or
taxi, little traffic. The pavement was swept and
sprinkled, bedding brought out from daytime hidingplaces, little oil lamps lit. While the folk upstairs
chattered and laughed, on the pavement we read
newspapers, played cards, told stories and smoked.
The clay pipe passed from friend to friend; we became
drowsy. Except of course during the monsoon, I
preferred to sleep on the pavement with my friends,
although in our chambers a whole cupboard below the
staircase was reserved for my personal use’ (A World of
Difference, ed. Prescott, 2008, p. 261).
‘One out of Many’
• The opening two sentences are in the present tense told by a firstperson narrator. The conjunction ‘But’ at the end of the second
sentence signals a doubt, perhaps some inner discontent and is
repeated in the section in the story when Santosh leaves his
employer in Washington and ‘I can’t say that I moved in. I simply
stayed’ (p. 283) with a fellow Indian, Priya. The rest of the story is
told in the past, returning to the present to connect with the
opening on pages 293-4 and, in which, Santosh offers further
explanation about his new life as an American citizen.
• The second paragraph is so positive. Santosh was ‘so happy’,
respected’ was content with his lot in the Indian hierarchy, was
happy to sleep outside on the city pavements with fellow domestics
and others in a pleasant, sociable gathering, ‘on the pavement we
read newspapers, played cards, told stories and smoked’ (p.261).
These are ‘respectable people’ and, whilst recorded in a humorous
way there is no trace of irony in ‘we didn’t encourage riff-raff’ (ibid.)
‘One out of Many’
• Again, without irony, Santosh records his
preference for sleeping out on the pavements
with his friends aside from the Monsoon season,
‘although in our chambers a whole cupboard
below the staircase was resserved for my
personal use’ (ibid.).
• The whole story is focalised through the eyes of
Santosh in his clear, concise voice and careful
observation. But, as with Joyce, we only see what
he sees and feel with him as he records various
experiences of travelling to Washington.
‘One out of Many’
• Santosh’s arrival in Washington
• ‘For the people of Washington it was late afternoon or
early evening, I couldn’t say which. The time and the
light didn’t match, as they did in Bombay. Of that drive
I remember green fields, wide roads, many motor cars
travelling fast, making a steady hiss, hiss, which wasn’t
at all like our Bombay traffic noise. I remember big
buildings and wide parks; many bazaar areas; then
smaller houses without fences and with gardens like
bush, with the hubshi standing about or sitting down,
everywhere. Especially I remember the hubshi. I had
heard about them in stories and had seen one or two
in Bombay, too.
‘One out of Many’
• But I had never dreamt that this wild race existed in
such numbers in Washington and were permitted to
roam the streets so freely. O father, what was this place
I had come to?
• I wanted, I say, to be in the open, to breathe, to come
to myself, to reflect. But there was no openness for me
that evening. From the aeroplane to the airport
building to the motor car to the apartment block to the
elevator to the corridor to the apartment itself, I was
forever enclosed, forever in the hissing, hissing sound
of air-conditioners’ (pp. 265-6).
‘One out of Many’
• Santosh as a character: how does he develop through self
analysis in the mirror.
• 1. His experience of the flight to Washington:
• ‘In the fluorescent light it[Santosh’s face] was the colour of
a corpse. My eyes were strained, the sharp air hurt my nose
and seemed to get into my brain. I climbed up on the
lavatory seat and squatted. I lost control of myself’ (p. 264).
This deathly yellow image and the effect of the air pressure on
both his eyes and nose creates a bright, fluorescent ‘horror’
image. He ‘loses control of himself’ as a first stage of his
cultural deprivation. Experiencing racial prejudice on the
plane – he is made to sit at the back on his own – this is the
beginning of his adjustment to the American way of life.
‘One out of Many’
• 2. After exposure to American culture, his discovery that he was
good looking:
• ‘Slowly I made a discovery. My face was handsome. I had never
thought of myself in this way. I had thought of myself as
unnoticeable, with features that served as identification alone’ (p.
273).
• 2. Having begun to experience elements of the faded ‘American
Dream’, Santosh is pleasantly surprised that his features are seen as
being ‘handsome’. Formerly, he saw himself as a small part of his
employer’s presence. Now, as he begins to learn to speak English
more fluently in an attempt to come to terms with the American
culture, he becomes obsessed with his appearance and this
obsession heightened by his exposure to American television and
advertisements..
‘One out of Many’
• 3. After leaving his employer and signing on to work for
Priya whose talk ‘ensnared me and gave me the bigger
causes that steadily weakened me’ (p. 285).
• ‘And every day the mirror told its own tale. Without
exercise, with the sickening
my heart and my mind, I
‘One out ofof
Many’
was losing my looks. My face had become pudgy and
sallow and full of spots; it was becoming ugly. I could
have cried for that, discovering my good looks, only to
lose them. It was like a punishment for my
presumption, the punishment I had feared when I
bought the green suit’ (Ibid.).