Cultural Response

Watching the film clip on Thursday helped to give a face and identity to the characters in the story. It was especially insightful to see the environment that Nazneen actually came from, which gave understanding to the new world that she was instantly thrust into. Being a world away from her family and everything she knew and now suddenly emerged into a strang new culture along with new roles as a wife and mother while trying to idenitify with who she was and who she now is as she evolves into more. This was extremely courageous for someone like Nazneen.

Peer Response to Brick Lane

I was going to make a separate post about sexual repression and the line where she “felt sick,” but jdia2 pretty much stated everything I felt on the subject. I noticed that there is a reoccurring theme when it comes to Southeast and Middle Eastern women’s literature. I was relieved that this was used for the purpose of arousal more than it was something along the lines of pregnancy; I usually see that for young female protagonists  that are unaware of their bodies and it becomes more of a setback (or a hidden blessing).

Brick Lane

As the novel progress, Nazneem is also progressing and finding her place. The scene when Nazneem went to the meeting that Karmin invited her to is very empowering. Nazneem realized that she does have a place in this world. She was very motivated to know that she could change and be a part of something important. This moment shows how oppressed Nazneem has been. It’s a contrast of how she saw herself earlier in the novel when she got lost in the streets.

Line Quote

“When Chanu fidgeted he showed his unease. When Karim could not be still, he showed his energy.” This quote reflects Nazeem’s view of how these men handle difficulties. It shows her perceptible eye on the differences of men. Many performers are told to harness and focus nervous energy.

Sex and culture

It seems very redundant to say what I have to say because everyone else has said it. But no one can ignore the sexual repression that Nazneen experiences. One of my classmates mentioned that they had to re-read the part where Nazneen “felt sick.” I myself did not catch it at first. A lot of these countries teach the women that the purpose for sex is strictly for reproduction only. Thats why some of them still participate in female genital mutilation. I did find it interesting how she had no clue that she was being aroused. I could assume it would be the case for a lot of the bengalian women

Theme Response to Brick Lane

I find the themes in Brick Lane to be quite intriguing. Ali takes her readers on a journey with Nazneen, exploring culture and identity. Who a person is affects the way they behave and interact, which is quite clear in Brick Lane. However, I think Ali’s focus was more so on the influences of what makes Nazneen who she is. Her identity is greatly affected by her culture and the way in which she was raised. When your surroundings change then you as a person are liable to change.

Culture Response to Brick Lane

It’s interesting to be inside the head of a character whose culture is so different from my own. When we think of Islam in the West, we often think of sexually repressed, stingy, ultra-conservative peoples (thank you, major news networks). But this is not always the case. It’s not at all uncommon to read about Muslim women fighting for their rights to education, for their rights to be part of political processes and for their rights to express themselves sexually. Even when the ultra-religious stereotype is the case, as Nazneen shows, not everyone follows these guidelines without faltering. Getting inside Nazneen’s head during these moments of “weakness,” as she most likely sees them, is fascinating. Seeing her desires and culture clash in such violent fashion has been one of the highlights of this novel and one of its most human moments as well.

Peer Response

William and gracearumlee post are so right about the cultural discrimination and there are evidence of this every day. For example, I attended a meeting where someone spoke about a book drive and volunteering. That is, tons of book were being sent to one of the western African countries – I can’t remember which- and the speaker advised student to come volunteer. A boy got up and said that since the books are not going to his country he is not going to volunteer. I just thought to myself that he is by far, the most ignorant and dim-witted person I have ever met. Well any way, what I seem to notice in the reading is that, Chanu has been living in the United Kingdom for almost 30 years and have never went sight-seeing. I don’t know if this is just a big deal for me or anyone else but I find it odd that one does not explore the world they live in. Also the switch in Nazneen’s character was also astonishing. I think that she is being more relaxed and we notice this by paying attention to her actions like when she asks Chinua questions and laughing very hard that he thinks she is sick. The readers although seeing every other character through her eyes, can also tell that she is growing up.

Peer Response: Sexual Repression

I think Tiffany’s post is so interesting. I had never even thought about it that way. I went back and re- read the scene with her post in my head and it changed the entire scene for me. Nazneen is so repressed that she doesn’t even know herself sexually. I think this isn’t only a reflection on Nazneen as a character, but the Bengali woman. Not every woman, of course, but usually it is frowned upon for a woman to be sexual. Monica is genius for that. She was able to express her lack of self- intimacy without putting it in bold letters and underlining it. She does this throughout the novel. Monica describes the situation so the reader may actually visualize the scene and come to their own conclusions.

Theme Sexual Repression

When I first read this book I didn’t understand that one scene when Nazneen was with Karim when she said that she felt sick. At first I thought that it was so random and out of place. Then, I re-read it and I understood what she meant. It’s amazing to me how sexually repressed Nazneen was that she didn’t understand the blushing and mistook it for a sickness and not sexual arousal. I have read sex scenes and sexual moments that are a bit too close for comfort and very “knowledgeable”,however, I rarely read a scene with such innocence to the point that I was lost and grazed over it completely. It’s a really big reflection on Nazneen as a character.

Peer Response

I agree with jdavis. I think that too often we assume that cultures that are foreign to us are completely different and cannot have anything in common with us. I think that Ali showing that there is a division among the immigrant culture, gives it an incredible universal effect, for lack of a better word. It’s something that you can find in Western culture, with political parties and different ideologies clashing and butting heads all the time. I think that it’s so easy for people to look at Muslims and think that they are all the same. You watch the news at night and see the terrorist attacks and assume the all Muslims support this, all Muslims are like this. It is easy for people to remember the worst and forget the best. While Ali’s book doesn’t deal with this directly it does show that there is just as much division in ideology in Muslim communities as there is in any.

Brick Lane Ins & Outs

I love the way Monica shows the many  divisions within a culture. She’s already shown us the way cultures tend to flock to each other, especially in places where it’s the minority. But even then there’s the inevitable clash and choice to either accept aspects of culture or reject it, which Ali likes to play with a lot. I found it so weird when they split into groups because of what kind of Muslim a person was, a native or Bengali. But when thinking about it, it actually made since because while religion can build a bridge, there’s just no way of getting around culture because it not only does it affect how we interpret it but also how we express it on a wider scale beyond ourselves.

Peer Review to William Baer’s Post

I agree wholeheartedly with this post. Sometimes, people would discriminate against others due to culture clash. I think it’s quite similar to America in the 60’s where civil rights was severe. Blacks were discriminated against and feminism started to take into place. The hero portion intrigued me with how true it is. Many people from the discriminated race try and stand out in order to view themselves as “heroes”. Maybe the renowned people of civil rights and feminism in America back in the day perhaps viewed themselves as heroes.

Culture in “Brick Lane”

The chapters from the most recent reading offered us a view of the animosity that can occur between immigrants and natives in a society. The “Bengal Lions” are formed in response to a group of native Brits that identify themselves as the “Lion Hearts” (No doubt a reference to Richard I, who fought Muslims in the second crusade) in a “war” of Pamphlets. that is to say, there is no real violence in this war, but there is high animosity between the native and Muslim populations of the area. Both sides are seen playing themselves up as the victim of cultural imperialism, thinking that their ways of life are in clear and present danger. I thought it was interesting how the stealing of pin-up calendar (I do not know if it would be considered pornographic hear in the states based off of what is in the text) became a writing point for both sides, native British people who saw a wave of backwards reactionaries seeking to make the female body into a symbol of shame, and Bengali immigrants who did not want women to be disrespected by public display. Both groups tried to sell themselves as defenders of women, seeking to show themselves as heroes. I think this is a good example of cultures clashing, because people do usually try to portray themselves as heroes when they can, and if they can get their whole race/religion/class in with them, then they want them all to be heroes.

Culture

I have to agree with a couple of my classmates when it comes how Monica Ali does a good job at describing this culture. I do not know about all cultures, especially this one specifically, but I did not think woman engaged in sexual acts outside of their marriage. I thought Asia was considered prudish when it came to copulation.

Brick Lane

Reading Brick Lane made me focus on two themes. Those themes are life and death and the cultural theme altogether. In the novel, I felt the sense of life of when Nazeen was born. Leading up to her son’s death, I though about the saying, everyone must die. In addition, their culture affected their way of life. Even when it came to the food they ate.

Brick Lane

By: Chelsea Riden

The letter writing format in chapter 7 was very difficult for me to read.  I found myself automatically correcting Hasina’s grammar in her letters.  I tried to make an effort to read it the way that she wrote it, hoping that it would help me to be in Nazneen’s point of view, but it was extremely difficult for me to pay attention to content.

While it was hard for me to read, I do admire the effort that Monica Ali put into writing the letters like that.

Brick Lane Response

I definitely see why Ali received criticism about her stereotypes in the novel with characters like Chanu. He is exactly the way one thinks a South Asian man would be. He is selfish, thinks higher of himself than he ought to and he is never wrong. Even though Ali is stereotyping a bit, in my experience, most South Asian men are that way. I’m on the fence. Is Ali playing into stereotypes or is she simply telling a fictional story from a very realistic point of view?

Brick Lane Response : Difference between first and second generation Immigrants

I love how this novel stress the essence of culture, how the food they eat, the clothes they wear and even forcing their children to recite  some poem that they do not like. In my options, the daughters where the fascinating characters in this few chapters. They were born in London, and have never been to Bangladesh before and it kind of raise some questions. Does Nazneen and Chanu fear that their daughters will never understand their culture seeing as they have been westernized from birth? I mean this is like every immigrant parent nightmare. I have met two people like this is my life. One was a Ghanaian mother who sent her son back to Ghana because he started acting rude and disrespectful, therefore in order to get him to change his character, she sent him back home to be trained in the cultural essence of her people. To my amazement, when he came back he was a totally different person in terms of moral and culture. For example he greeted his parents in the traditional way and acted very differently like he usually did before. Nazneen daughter, Shahana, really hates everything about Bangladesh and wants to “wear jeans”, which can symbolize freedom in the daughters point of view, and is also a big deal for very religious Muslim.

Brick Lane

I think what’s really interesting about this novel is that it not only provides insight to a different culture but moreover pinpoints different issues facing third world countries. From Hasina’s letters, the readers gain knowledge about the unrest in Bangladesh. Many third world countries don’t have the opportunities that a first world country has and so they immediately think that living in a first world country will be better. However, this is not true in all cases. This is important because Ali highlights the fact that culture not only impacts the food you eat or the clothes you wear but it also plays a role in the improvement and growth of a country and its people.