Finding A Voice

Long weekends are excellent for procrastinators. Instead of cramming for the three tests I have next week, I am feverishly trying to finish Zadie Smith's White Teeth, for it has captured my attention consecutively for the past few nights. Due to a recommendation by my English teacher, I read Speaking in Tongues, a brilliant essay in Zadie Smith's collection, Changing My Mind.

What does it mean that we speak in different ways to different people? Is it a sign of "duplicity" or the mark of a complex sensibility? These are some of the thought-provoking questions that arise while reading Smith's essay, Speaking in Tongues. Throughout her essay, Smith focuses on the way in which people find themselves in between their different "voices." She relates this concept to great pieces of literature as she draws references to Pygmalion, President Obama's Dreams of My Father, Shakespeare, and as a great writer, also to her own life. In this lecture, Smith reflects upon her move from London to Cambridge, which resulted in the adaptation of her sophisticated English accent, in exchange for her childhood "voice." I won't write too much about it as I don't want to ruin it for you, however it is a must read. I have attached links below.

It is a part of human nature to want to "fit in" or search for acceptance. To do this, people will often strive to modify themselves, whether it be adapting a new accent, learning a new language, or even changing their physical appearance. Although I was born in Canada and have lived here my whole life, even I experienced some "doubling" of my voice. When my parents moved from India to Canada, they were able to speak English... with an Indian touch. This was the English that I learnt. As I was brought up in a white-dominated community, I was often confronted by my peers who spoke a completely different English than mine. Being rejected by your peers can definitely cause a bit of "double-voicedness." However, with time and the help of my white friends (and a few ESL classes), I was able to speak perfect Canadian English.

As mentioned in my last post, authors are often influenced to create pieces of writing based on events in their own life. In many of Zadie Smith's works, she includes the idea of "speaking in tongues."

Here are the links to her essay. I have also posted an audio version for those of you who would prefer hearing it in a lecture style. Please comment and tell me what you think.

Text: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/feb/26/speaking-in-tongues-2/?pagination=false
Audio: http://www.nypl.org/audiovideo/speaking-tongues-zadie-smith

Is Ryuji a Samurai?

November 25, 1970 was the day Yukio Mishima fulfilled his destiny of a Samurai by comitting the honourable death of seppuku. By then, a famous novelist in the East, Mishima became increasingly consumed by a desire to revive the traditional lifestyle of Bushido, or the code of the Samurai. Following World War II, Mishima believed that Japan had lost its cultural roots as a result of Western influence. Sailor is a vivid representation of Mishima's personal sentiments in regards to the Westernization of post-war Japan.

While reading an interesting journal article on the code of Bushido, I was inclined to think that Ryuji's character is an embodiment of a tradtional Japanese Samurai; thus affirming Mishima's Eastern ideals. Ryuji's stature as a sailor forces him to fit well in to many of the characteristics outlined in the code of Bushido. The fierce and masculine characteristics of a sailor are parallel to the ones inscribed in the "Seven Virtues of Bushido." However, in order to effectively portray his thoughts on the influence of Westernization, Mishima presents Ryuji as a weaker character succumbed to human emotions. Mishima believes the inclination to die for a woman as dishonourable and an act of disloyalty to the Samurai Code. As Fusako is an obvious symbol of Westernization, Ryuji's eventual subservience to her love is an accurate metaphor for the loss of Eastern ideals in post-war Japan. In fact, Ryuji is a microcosm of Japan itself, as he is shifting within the forces of tradtional Eastern values and Western ideals. Just an interesting interpretation...

Oftentimes, we read novels and dismiss them without taking into account the personal events in an author's life that may have influenced them to create a certain piece of writing. This was a fascinating experience for me as I read Mishima's interesting biography and came up with my own interpretations of different events in his life that may have influenced his various characters. As we should always remember, "all stories are about people and their problems."