The novel "The Buddha of Suburbia" by Hanif Kurieshi is a coming of age story focussed around the main character Karim. Karim is very intent on finding and discovering whatever it is that can bring him any certain kind of pleasure. This is where he begins to experiment with his sexuality. We as the readers are then left wondering many times in the story whether Karim likes men or women. Our society is so quick to put a label on someone that most of the time we cannot stand not knowing exactly what someone is and does in their everyday life. The Buddha of Suburbia is actually Karims dad, and in the beginning of the novel we see that he thinks highly of his dad. He even calls him God at certain times. As the story progresses Karim realizes that his dad is indeed human and makes mistakes just like he does. His dad leaves his family and starts to hang out with another woman which Karim does not agree with at all. Karim becomes desperate to leave London, because he wants to experience other things, and he ends up in New York City. He becomes and actor, which he is very good at because of his personality and the way that he is able to convey his emotions on his outside. Karim becomes fascinated with the character of Charlie whom he meets, but Charlie does not show the same affection as Karim which makes things difficult for him. This novel was definitely not what I was expecting it to be. When i read the title and saw the cover of the book this is the last story that I would have come up with. The ending of the novel is abrubt and we as the readers are left wondering what happens next for Karim in his life. His dad decides to marry another woman and announces his engagement. I believe that having the story end this way makes people think which is what Kurieshi wanted.
There are many underlying means in this text which i found interesting when going back and picking out what certain themes were. I would say that music is a theme in this novel because it almost has a soundtrack to itself. Karim says at one point in the story "There was a sound that London had. It was, I'm afraid, people in Hyde Park playing bongos with their hands; there was also the keyboard on The Doors' "Light My Fire". There were kids in velvet cloaks who lived free lives". Two main problems in this story for Karim are racism and prejudice which therefore gives the novel another theme of question of identity. The very first sentence of the novel has Karim already questioning himself "My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost". Karim experiences a lot throughout this story and I believe that a lot of it is for the better. He grows up in a way with all of these new challenges and experiences in his everyday life. This novel is telling us to be ourselves and to not be afraid to have our own identity.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Great Fire of London
I chose to do my project on the Great Fire of London. I decided to
focus on some of the history and how the fire effected the city of
London and influenced the culture. Also I decided to show how two
mens diary entries were so significant. The event took place from Sunday September 2 through September 5 year in the year 1666. The fire started at the bakery and home of Thomas Farrinor on Pudding Lane. The family managed to escape by climbing out the upstairs window. The maid was to scared and became the first victum of the Great Fire. Neighbors tried to help quench the fire,constablesarrived and told the people that the houses around should be destroyed to prevent the fire spreading more. Two of the most famous diarists during the Great Fire and the restoration were Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. The people refused to have their houses torn down and Sir Thomas Bloodworth who was the Mayor of London at the time was called to help and he refused also. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary "People do all the world cry out of the simplicity of my Lord Mayor in general; and more particularly in this business of the fire, laying it all upon him." On monday the houses of the bankers on Lombard street began to burn, which caused a huge rush to get their stacks of gold coins, which were so important to the wealth of the city, to safety before they melted away. John Evelyn wrote"The conflagaration was so universal, and the people so astonished, that from the beginning, I know not by what despondency or fate, they hardly stirred to quench it, so that there was nothing heard or seen but crying out and lamentation, running about, like distracted creatures without at all attempting to save even their goods, such a strange consternation there was upon them." Evelyn said in his diary that the river was crowded with boats trying to make their way through with supplies. The "London Gazette" printing press burned down, which everyone in the city relied on, so rumors began to spread about a foreign invasion. Guards began going through the city and capturing Catholics, foreigners and anyone else who looked strange. Thomas Bloodworth abandoned the city while King Charles II put his brother James in charge. James made many men he found on the street into firefighters and he fed and paid them well. He and his men also rescued foreigners and tried to keep things calm . Tuesday was the biggest destruction day of all. People had crammed St. Pauls cathedral full of goods because no one thought it would burn, but unfortunately it was being restored and had wooden scaffolding on it. By wednesday the wind dropped, so the fire breakers were finally able to work. The Great Fire was finally over, but people were still worried about a foreign attack. Many narratives were written during this time about the peoples concern and why they believed that this what was happening. King Charles II was worried about a London rebellion against the monarchy because of the unrest growing in the people because of the worry of a forgeign attack. Charles brought bread into the city everyday to try to help the people. In the end 13,200 houses, 87 churches, the custom house, 44 company halls, St. Pauls Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and Bridewall Palace were destroyed in the Great Fire. The number of deaths is unknown, but is thought to be small. Recently discovered was the fact that many middle class and poor deaths were not recorded which could possibly mean bigger numbers. In 1667 the first Rebuilding Act published by Parliament was put into action. The act laid down road widths, types of building, types of houses that were allowed and the city of London officials were responsible for the new building regulations and the repairing of old buildings. After much debate they decided to recreate the old street plan, with hygiene improvements where new sewers were added. Wider street were created because of the difficulties people had when trying to leave the city of London. The buildings were built mostly all of brick and pavement was used for the first time. St. Pauls Cathedral was completely reconstructed. Charles II decided to have a monument be constructed next to Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire originally started. The monument was designed by Christopher Wren and stands 61 meters tall. It said "Here by permission of Heaven, hell broke loose
upon this Protestant City...the most dreadful burning of this city.
Many people in London back then memorized this text which soon became part of their culture because it was something that everyone
knew because it was such a significant event. Another monument called "The Golden Boy of Pye Corner in Smithfield" is located where the Great Fire stopped. The plaque on this monument says that the
fire was started because God was angry at the city of London for the sin of gluttony. Both of these monuments symbolize the harsh time that the people of London had to go through and the dramatic reconstruction that followed. By 1672 nearly all the rebuilding of the houses was finished. Only 51 out of 87 churches were rebuilt and they were each given their own identiy. Two ways in which the Great Fire was defeated were the strong east winds died down and the tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreakers to halt any further speed. The Great Fire damaged 4/5 of London
affected the city. Both of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyns diaries were very helpful in learning more about the disastor. These men wanted to know what was going on at all times and wrote down everything that they observed. Without their information there would be many gaps in our history of the fire. The culture of London was greatly effected also because the people had to learn to cope with the circumstances they were in. The changes that London went through I believe were the better than the worse. Many of the physical aspects needed to be changed and which were and people needed to stop singling out others because they were different. Going to visit some of the places where the Great Fire went through gave me a better grasp at the extremity and force of it all and how the city had to work together to get through all of its hard times. The Great Fire is such a large part of of the city of Londons history and I am glad I got to experience it in my own way.
Sources:
1) St. Pauls Cathedral
2) The Story of the Great Fire by Adrian Tinniswood
3) The Museum of London
4) The Great Fire by Stephen Porter
5) The Monument in London
focus on some of the history and how the fire effected the city of
London and influenced the culture. Also I decided to show how two
mens diary entries were so significant. The event took place from Sunday September 2 through September 5 year in the year 1666. The fire started at the bakery and home of Thomas Farrinor on Pudding Lane. The family managed to escape by climbing out the upstairs window. The maid was to scared and became the first victum of the Great Fire. Neighbors tried to help quench the fire,constablesarrived and told the people that the houses around should be destroyed to prevent the fire spreading more. Two of the most famous diarists during the Great Fire and the restoration were Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. The people refused to have their houses torn down and Sir Thomas Bloodworth who was the Mayor of London at the time was called to help and he refused also. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary "People do all the world cry out of the simplicity of my Lord Mayor in general; and more particularly in this business of the fire, laying it all upon him." On monday the houses of the bankers on Lombard street began to burn, which caused a huge rush to get their stacks of gold coins, which were so important to the wealth of the city, to safety before they melted away. John Evelyn wrote"The conflagaration was so universal, and the people so astonished, that from the beginning, I know not by what despondency or fate, they hardly stirred to quench it, so that there was nothing heard or seen but crying out and lamentation, running about, like distracted creatures without at all attempting to save even their goods, such a strange consternation there was upon them." Evelyn said in his diary that the river was crowded with boats trying to make their way through with supplies. The "London Gazette" printing press burned down, which everyone in the city relied on, so rumors began to spread about a foreign invasion. Guards began going through the city and capturing Catholics, foreigners and anyone else who looked strange. Thomas Bloodworth abandoned the city while King Charles II put his brother James in charge. James made many men he found on the street into firefighters and he fed and paid them well. He and his men also rescued foreigners and tried to keep things calm . Tuesday was the biggest destruction day of all. People had crammed St. Pauls cathedral full of goods because no one thought it would burn, but unfortunately it was being restored and had wooden scaffolding on it. By wednesday the wind dropped, so the fire breakers were finally able to work. The Great Fire was finally over, but people were still worried about a foreign attack. Many narratives were written during this time about the peoples concern and why they believed that this what was happening. King Charles II was worried about a London rebellion against the monarchy because of the unrest growing in the people because of the worry of a forgeign attack. Charles brought bread into the city everyday to try to help the people. In the end 13,200 houses, 87 churches, the custom house, 44 company halls, St. Pauls Cathedral, the Royal Exchange and Bridewall Palace were destroyed in the Great Fire. The number of deaths is unknown, but is thought to be small. Recently discovered was the fact that many middle class and poor deaths were not recorded which could possibly mean bigger numbers. In 1667 the first Rebuilding Act published by Parliament was put into action. The act laid down road widths, types of building, types of houses that were allowed and the city of London officials were responsible for the new building regulations and the repairing of old buildings. After much debate they decided to recreate the old street plan, with hygiene improvements where new sewers were added. Wider street were created because of the difficulties people had when trying to leave the city of London. The buildings were built mostly all of brick and pavement was used for the first time. St. Pauls Cathedral was completely reconstructed. Charles II decided to have a monument be constructed next to Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire originally started. The monument was designed by Christopher Wren and stands 61 meters tall. It said "Here by permission of Heaven, hell broke loose
upon this Protestant City...the most dreadful burning of this city.
Many people in London back then memorized this text which soon became part of their culture because it was something that everyone
knew because it was such a significant event. Another monument called "The Golden Boy of Pye Corner in Smithfield" is located where the Great Fire stopped. The plaque on this monument says that the
fire was started because God was angry at the city of London for the sin of gluttony. Both of these monuments symbolize the harsh time that the people of London had to go through and the dramatic reconstruction that followed. By 1672 nearly all the rebuilding of the houses was finished. Only 51 out of 87 churches were rebuilt and they were each given their own identiy. Two ways in which the Great Fire was defeated were the strong east winds died down and the tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreakers to halt any further speed. The Great Fire damaged 4/5 of London
affected the city. Both of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyns diaries were very helpful in learning more about the disastor. These men wanted to know what was going on at all times and wrote down everything that they observed. Without their information there would be many gaps in our history of the fire. The culture of London was greatly effected also because the people had to learn to cope with the circumstances they were in. The changes that London went through I believe were the better than the worse. Many of the physical aspects needed to be changed and which were and people needed to stop singling out others because they were different. Going to visit some of the places where the Great Fire went through gave me a better grasp at the extremity and force of it all and how the city had to work together to get through all of its hard times. The Great Fire is such a large part of of the city of Londons history and I am glad I got to experience it in my own way.
Sources:
1) St. Pauls Cathedral
2) The Story of the Great Fire by Adrian Tinniswood
3) The Museum of London
4) The Great Fire by Stephen Porter
5) The Monument in London
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe
This novel was definitely the most difficult to read out of the four that we had. I ended up surprising myself and really liking the book by the end. I had never read a novel that had not had chapters in them to separate the story. Chapters are places where the reader can pause and put the book down and then know where to pick it up when reading it later. In Mrs. Dalloway it was hard for me to find a place where I wanted to stop reading. The entire novel takes place in only one day, which is a good reason why the author chose not to have chapters. In this novel Mrs. Dalloway has married for stability and not for love. Back then women would marry a man whom had money and could provide a place for them to live and a relatively good life. She chose Richard Dalloway instead of Sally Seton whom she was very much in love with and also Peter Walsh. Clarissa Dalloway goes around London in the morning gathering things because she is getting ready to host a party later that night. Peter Walsh comes back from India and visits Clarissa making things very difficult for her when she realizes she still cares about him. Another character in this novel is Septimus Smith who is a veteran of World War I. He spends the day in the park with his wife Lucrezia. Septimus suffers from hallucinations mostly about his friend Evans who died in the war. When Septimus is prescribed involuntary comitment he comits suicide by jumping out of a window because he decides that he does not want to live anymore. Later on at Clarissas party she overhears people talking about Septimus' suicide and does not like that this is happening at first because she thinks that it is dapening the mood of her party. As the party goes on she begins to like the fact that his suicide is being talked about because she considers it an effort to preserve his happiness. Feminism is a big theme in this novel. Clarissa is able to embrace the social expectations of being a woman of the household but she is also able to express herself by having the parties that she does.
The London Eye(Post Modernism)
The second part of the day we went to the London eye which was incredible. I had been on it three years ago but thinking about the buildings this way gave me a whole new perspective to look at them. The building that I mostly focussed on was St. Pauls Cathedral. We had been to see it as a class for a field trip and I wanted to compare what it looked like on the ground to what it looked like from above on the London Eye. Seeing it on the ground was magnificent. It was huge and it towered over many things. The architecture was very ornate and there were many beautiful sculptures all around it. When we got to the top on the London eye all of the buildings did not look as fascinating as they did on the ground. Many of them looked jumbled together and some looked completely out of place. When I found St. Pauls I was surprised to see from that high up that it looked like it was next to the BBC tv tower which was odd. To have a beautiful church like St. Pauls look like it was next to a tv tower takes the beauty and meaning out of what the church stands for. The idea of having a huge ferris wheel in London is an odd one also. It was very unusual to find out the the wheel is located in London across from where Parliament is. The wheel attracts many tourists and is such a crowded area that having it located across from such a prestigious building was very unusual. When one thinks of London they think of the beautiful architecture and how much history is there within the city. One would not think of a huge ferris wheel being there in the middle of it. When I think of where something like this should be located I immediately think of somewhere in the United States where we would not find this uncommon at all. Once you are on the London Eye at the top everything is beautiful and it was worth all of the people and the tourist traps that you have to go through and get to it.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Tate Modern Museum
When i found out we were going to the Tate Modern museum I was skeptical at first that it may be just another museum to walk around. I was plesantly surprised however that it was not. Many of the modern paintings and sculptures were so out there and incredible that i found myself immediately fascinated by it all. One painting that caught my eye from the beginning was called "Portrait of a Doctor." I read the caption that said originally the painting was of the man pointing to a skull. It was returned to the painter unsold who then decided to take of the features of the face and then replace them with symbols. It was also surrounded by sex symbols and the painter as a joke had written that 1925 was the year that he had made the painting. Another awesome painting was one called "Portrait of a Young Woman." This painting looked so life like and the cello that she was holding made me want to reach out and touch it. Something interesting that i read on one of the walls in the gallery was that the reason for surrealist themes like Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollack used was because of a feeling of the unfolding horrors of the 20th century that had been shown on the power of the irrational. One painting that I was told to look at that i am extremely happy that i did was one by Salvidor Dali. This painting showed a mysterious dark trench dug out that contained a lake with a huge telephone sitting atop telephone poles with mountains in the background. I was transfixed with this painting because something about it kept my eyes glued to it and i wanted to figure out what was taking place. Another section of the modern museum that was incredible was a piece called 30 pieces of silver. This was 1,000 silver items hanging from ropes that were things that people didnt want that were flattened by a steamroller. The soap and stainless steal piece was incredible too with the many shapes of soap hanging from the ceiling being perfectly balanced. One of my favorite rooms was on the 5th floor which was called No Ghost Just a Shell. It had a bunch of different pieces of art that had been made about this one Japanese manga series. There was a light up head on the wall while another showed a video of the character which was very dark and weird. One crazy thing in this room was a book called how to kill yourself anywhere in the world for under $399. It was written for the main character of the manga series named AnnLee and the guide suggested death may hold freedom from her servitude. One of the most disturbing parts of the museum was the lady who poured blood all over herself who then rolled in feathers. This was supposed to represent the people who have been suffering over in Cuba. She definitely made her point. Overall the Tate Modern museum came as a complete shock to me. I was not prepared for what it was and i am very glad that I have now seen it and had the chance to walk around and learn about as many paintings and sculptures as i could.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
St. Pauls Cathedral and The Tower of London
Going to see St. Pauls church was one of the best things that I have done my entire time of being here in London. It was absolutely beautiful with the ceiling covered in gold and beautiful memorials everywhere. Walking all of the stairs turned out to be very worth it because when I got to the top the view was incredible and i felt like i was on top of the world. The Tower of London was something that I had seen before but I discovered new things that I had not seen before which was fun. The ravens were so neat to watch and I really enjoyed taking the tour and learning new things about the towers and who was held prisoner that I didnt know before. The Tower of London represents materialism with the crown of jewels and also the mythic idea where the bigger diamond is better. St. Pauls represented materialism with faith and religion. Also there were more soldiers that were buried in St. Pauls while more royals and monarchy were buried in the Tower. Both of these building are symbols of the power of the state and are both built very high up from the ground. When i was high up in St. Pauls I really felt like i was looking down on everyone from a heavenlike perspective. St. Pauls was very open and there were not many places in the church that were dark. This was celebrating death in a positive way saying that the people who had died here had gone to a better place. The Tower of London was very confined, dark and small in most places. THis represented that the people who were here lived in dark times and most of them did not deserve to die and were unhappy here. Both the Tower of London and St. Pauls also represented a sense of community. The wardins have been living in the Tower for many years while the priests made the church seem very family like and close. I am very glad that I was able to visit both of these magnificent and historical places while i was here in London.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
