РефератыИностранный языкEnEngland The Immigrant Experience And

England The Immigrant Experience And

England, The Immigrant Experience, And ‘The Buddha Of Suburbia’ And ‘The Black Album’ By Hanif Kure Essay, Research Paper


This paper is an investigation of the way in which ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’


and ‘The black Album’, both by Hanif Kureishi deal with the 1980-90s


second-generation immigrant experience of South Asians in British society.


To do this, the assistance of three questions have been employed to guide the


answer: what are the consequences of embracing the borderlessness of hybridity


for the main characters? what is achieved for the main characters whether by


gain or loss, from creating borders in tradition of authenticity? And finally,


where can political agency be located if not in resistance to some border, be it


morality, religion or philosophy?


By examining these questions within their contexts and through exploration of


the language of both texts the (dis)location of resistance that develops out of


second-generation immigrants’ dual experiences of discrimination and upward


mobility have been compared; realising the basic stance of both novels is to


imply acceptance of the reality of people of colour by White Britain (both the


establishment and the working classes).


In this paper the subject of the second generation immigration experience of


the South Asians in British society is explored, in the context of ‘The Buddha


of Suburbia’ and ‘The Black Album’ by Hanif Kureishi, primarily in the decade


between 1980 and 1990.


This is a period after the surge of immigrants to Britain from the 1950s and


60s from the New Commonwealth countries: West Indies, India, Pakistan and


Bangladesh, who came in search of a better life in a thriving economy, for the


hope of finding employment and success through the superior education system.


Also purely for the prestige that is automatically attached onto them for living


in the United Kingdom, especially in London, Birmingham and Bradford.


” … Dad was sent to England by his family to be educated … Like Gandhi


and Jinnah before him, Dad would return to India a qualified and polished


English gentleman lawyer and an accomplished ballroom dancer.” – The Buddha of


Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1990, page 94


This extract from ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ illustrates Kureishi’s intentions


to establish the psychology and circumstance behind his character which provide


the background from which the proceeding actions are caused. This also allows


the reader to understand the stance of the character and his respective view


point, hence the reader can associate with the character and his subsequent


behaviour. The idea of going to Britain and being educated in the western style


and living among Westerners assumes a great deal about the future of this


action. From this quotation the assumption is clearly to do with upward-mobility


in society, both in England and the home country. Yet whether this is degrading


of the pursuers own culture is an argument to be considered. An extract from


‘The Black Album’, portrayed as an opinion of a character, opposes the ideas


presented in ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ directly.


” … he asserted that Papa’s generation, with their English accents, foreign


degrees and British snobbery, assumed their own people were inferior. They


should be forced to go into villages and live among the peasants, as Gandhi had


done.” – The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 91-92


It seems that this upward-mobility of the characters sacrifices their


cultural background, and in some respects, it leaves them vulnerable to such


attacks as above. However, to take Gandhi as an example, as he features in both


quotations, it is possible to move up in the ladder of life and social-literacy


without loosing the essential cultural background that is ones identity.


This form of description is carried out in both books and seems to be a


characteristic of Kureishi’s writing; his in-depth references to actual people,


events and literature (which has the same strength of interest in both Karim and


Shahid), brings greater ‘realism’ and background to the novels’ ideas as their


history coincides with the characters’ daily lives.


The immigrants who first came to Britain were ambitious, and also na?ve as to


the hardships and difficulties to be endured in city life. An example of such an


ambitious character is that of Shahid’s father in ‘The Black Album’:


“…Papa hated anything ‘old-fashioned’, unless it charmed tourists. He


wanted to tear down the old; he liked ‘progress’. ‘I only want the best,’ he


would say, meaning the newest, the latest, and, somehow, the most ostentatious.”


- The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 39


Chili (in the same book) is the eldest son of the ‘ostentatious’ father, who


has adapted with encouragement from his father to life in the city.


” … In Chili’s hand were his car keys, Ray-Bans and Marlboros … Chili


drank only black coffee and neat Jack Daniel’s; his suits were Boss, his


underwear Calvin Klein, his actor Pacino. His barber shook his hand, his


accountant took him to dinner, his drug dealer would come to him at all hours


… Now Chili claimed that the family business had to expand – to London.” – The


Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 38


Here, as well as describing the physical appearance of the character,


Kureishi also appoints a life-style to him which reflects the second generation


immigrant’s conformity to, and acceptance of the western materialistic society


that dominates around them, rejecting their own traditions of home and family -


where Chili is reluctant to live with his wife Zulma, and prefers the company of


more promiscuous women. Despite these traits Chili is “rarely disrespectable,


and he never hit her’, so showing the reader he is not wholly without morals,


and also that the second generation immigrant is not a ‘bad’ person but a


disillusioned one. Riaz refers to him as ‘a dissipater’ because of his


promiscuous nature, money-hungry attitude and dealings with drugs; Kureishi


chooses this word to form the idea of a rebel who does not conform to his own


kind, but indulges merely in pleasure, possibly without necessary cause or


greater understanding. Coming from moderately well-off families (such as


Karim Hassan’s father in ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’) these immigrants expected


life in Britain to be as good if not better. However, politicians such as Enoch


Powell spoke out against immigration, making life very challenging if not


difficult for them. To provide a context for the events of the decade between


the 1980s/90s and so clarify the situation around which both of the novels and


based, some social history is referred to:


During the 1980s/90s four thousand miners were made redundant, and British


shipbuilding hit an all-time low. The overall mood of Britain was a mixture of


bitter-hatred and longing for better times. The job-losses were made harder to


bear as the areas affected were already ones of high unemployment. In addition


to this, in keeping with past political philosophy, the Conservative Party


announced a programme of privatisation, selling public assets to private


shareholders. Mrs. Thatcher’s popularity fell, and people became more interested


in materialistic, technological products. The British Nationality Act was put


into operation to keep immigration under control in 1983, most of whom were


channelled into manual employment and racial discrimination was evidently


abundant in housing, education and public life. It was during this period that


the commission for Racial Equality was set up to bring harmony to race


relations. Still, social unrest pursued in the form of serious race rioting


mainly in Birmingham, Bradford, London, Leeds and Wolverhampton. In both of


his works, Kureishi refers to the unrest of racial conflict, enhancing the


’cause’ through religious belief and political stances – in ‘The Black Album’


Shahid, Riaz, Hat, Chad and other boys and girls from the college go to ‘guard’


a Bangali family from the deep-racial harassment they faced from twelve and


thirteen year olds: ” … The husband had been smashed over the head with a


bottle and taken to hospital. The wife had been punched. Lighted matches had


been pushed through the letter-box. At all hours the bell had been rung and the


culprits said they would slaughter the children.” – The Black Album, Hanif


Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 90


And in ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’, Karim is restricted from seeing his friend


Helen by her father:


” … ‘We don’t like it,’ Hairy Back said. ‘However many niggers there are,


we don’t like it. We’re with Enoch. If you put one of your black ‘ands near my


daughter I’ll smash it with a ‘ammer! With a ‘ammer!’ ” – The Buddha of


Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1990, page 40


Kureishi moves on to question whether violence can be attributed to ‘living


in ugliness’. In the estate where the Bangali family is being guarded, there is


a high level of racism; could this be due to unemployment, powerlessness, lack


of food and under-education? Dr. Brownlow, Deedee Osgood’s ex-husband and the


students’ lecturer, defends this as the problem. He is contended against by


Riaz, the fundamentalist and leader of the student revolutionaries, who argues


how privilaged they are living in Britain; to be able to vote, ‘have housing,


electricity, heating, TV, fridges, hospitals nearby’, while “‘ … our brothers


in the Third World, as you like to call most people other than you, have a


fraction of this …’” yet they are neither “‘ … racist skinheads, car


thieves, rapists … No they are humble, good, hard-working people who love


Allah!’”- The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 95


Kureishi developes the idea of religion as an integral part of politics and


as a requirement for liberation, equality, and racial unity. He underlines the


importance of faith in the second generation immigrant as a ‘tag’ that makes


them human, and shows

how far it goes to unite ‘brothers and sisters’ together


in harmonised respect and trust towards Allah, and a sense of belonging.


” The religious enthusiasm of the younger generation, and its links to strong


political feeling, had surprised him.” – The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber


and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 91


The second generation’s faith in ‘The Black Album’ is much stronger than of


the first, this is apparent as neither Shahid nor Chili had been taught about


religion (is this also a reason for Chili to be labelled a dissipator?) by their


parents. Kureishi portrays these ideas through the eyes of Shahid, who’s


ignorance towards religion provides an unbiased insight as to its ‘workings’.


“Observing the mosque, in which all he saw were solid, material things, and


looking along the line of brothers’ faces upon which spirituality was taking


place, he felt a failure.” – The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber


Ltd, 1995, page 96 Shahid is uncertain and doubtful, but realises that:


“…faith, like love or creativity, could not be willed. This was an adventure


in knowing. He had to follow the presciptions and be patient. Understanding


would surely follow; he would be blessed.” – The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi,


Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 96


Even this seems to be the wrong way to approach faith towards God, and the


author himself feels it is a fruitless endeavour when one seeks faith because it


is popular to do so, or because one feels left out without it. Kureishi’s


depiction of Shahid’s uncertainty in his religion makes the reader, who


associates with him as the central character, doubt what Riaz and his posse


stand for in general because the questioning brings forward the lack of evidence


which is involved in faith to God. The reader finds him/herself in the same


position Kureishi puts Shahid in, tempted by passion of sex, the lure of drugs,


the reader feels he has been cheated in some way for his/her own beliefs, taken


in by a deception.


Karim is also absorbed by his father’s spirituality, affectionately calling


him ‘God’ for his accomplishment at conducting yoga sessions with Eva and a


hoard of other converts in ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’. But, like Shahid, Kureishi


puts Karim not without doubt, and distances from the core of belief. The


children of the first immigrants have come to find themselves living in a


divided world, in a state of limbo between cultures and traditions. They were


seen as unwelcome outsiders by the White majority and shunned by their families


back in their own countries for being too western. They were labelled as


‘coconuts’ and ‘paki’, degraded, hated for their colour and rejected for their


‘hybridised’ cultures.


‘ … Perhaps it is the odd mixture of continents and blood, of here and


there, of belonging and not, that makes me restless and easily bored … I was


looking for trouble, any kind of movement, action and sexual interest I could


find.’ – The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1990, page


3 All of this furthered and increased the (dis)location of resistance in the


relationship between the second generation immigrant and the dominant culture of


the white citizens; which is based around ‘a background of raves, ecstasy,


religious ferment and sexual passion.’. This is observed when Shahid and his


lover and lecturer Deedee Osgood go out into the night-clubs of London -


resistance is directed towards religious disbelief on the part of Shahid, and


Riaz responds to preach: ” … ‘Must we prefer this indulgence to the


profound and satisfying comforts of religion? Surely, if we cannot take the


beliefs of millions of people seriously, what then? We believe in nothing! We


are animals living in a cesspool, not humans in a liberal society.’” – The Black


Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995


Both of these novels consider a genre preoccupied in both conserving and


disrupting conventions, and political and religious borders through the process


of hybridity – a popular culture derived from implications of racial and


cultural mix vie with spiritual practices and orientations from many corners of


the world to indicate paths by which one may further ‘realise’ ones experiences


- and authenticity as practised by the second generation of immigrants.


In both novels the experience of ethnic discrimination govern the social and


economic order of the nation to ‘determine’ (not ’cause’) the whole cultural


life of society, and create a need for resistance which is only further


complicated by the simultaneous yearnings for upward mobility – the need for


recognition – within the economic and social-cultural structure. So, what are


the consequences of embracing the borderlessness of hybridity for the main


character? What is achieved for the main character whether by gain or loss, from


creating borders in tradition or authenticity? Where can political agency be


located if not in resistance to some border, be it morality, religion or


philosophy? To answer these questions one must fully determine Kureishi’s


focus on the subjects of ethnicity and class as well.


A reader of ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ may feel it is appropriate for the


narration to be done by the main character, giving him a chance to express his


deeper, more personal emotions and thoughts throughout the story; also keeping


in mind ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ is a comedic novel, this provides the


opportunity for Kureishi to explore the humorous and absurd innuendoes within


every-day life itself, deliberately forcing the reader to enter the characters’


mind and perceiving through his eyes, taking what is said to be fact without


questioning.


In ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ the focus is perceived through a seventeen year


old Karim Amir, a mixed child of an immigrant from Bombay and a lower-middle


class English woman, Haroon and Margaret, driven by hormones and lured by the


sense of danger in seeking release from the status quo. Kureishi identifies the


character of Karim as being a ‘new breed’ as the second generation of the


immigrants living in England; a direct product of transmigration and interracial


marriage creating an almost chaotic jumble and confusion of feelings within him,


and a non-linear – contrary to tradition – set of beliefs/principals that


present an inherent restlessness and the need for change and resistance.


Kureishi constantly flips between the lives of the characters and the


perception of life as experienced by Karim. he is placed in the midst of a


polarised society; where radicalism is contradicted by convention, to be


different is to be cool; two ideas presented through Margaret (the


traditionalist) and Mrs. Eva Kay (new-age spiritualist and radical); and a


transition (a disruption) in the family mainly induced by his father’s renewed


and revitalised interest in spiritual practice in conjunction with Eva. Hanif


Kureishi’s exploration and critique of the stigma’s of progression as seen in


both novels and continuity of the western tradition cross-fertilising with a


multitude of cultural and religious beliefs, for instance, the teachings of


Buddhism. The desire to shift toward novel, foreign, or iconoclastic teachings -


or to reconcile more familiar faiths to unfamiliar ones – expresses a timely and


healthy impulse to include a wider world in to humanity.


By making the character firstly accept his own predicament by stating it,


Kureishi goes on to develop Karim, as well as introduce the reader to the


differing facets of his life: friends, sexual interests, family, and so on.


In ‘The Black Album’ focus is perceived through the eyes of Shahid Hassan who


is a teenage student of a rundown inefficient college in London, and a Muslim


second generation immigrant. Kureishi introduces the reader and Shahid to


hybridity – the Multi-culturalism – present all ready in London’s streets and


society; we are made to observe the compact way in which the different cultures


fit together, obscured further by the disordered nature of the college students.


For both immigrants and native-born members of the working and lower-middle


classes, notions of culture and class authenticity help to demarcate borders for


both progressive and conservative forces. Resistance based on authenticity,


however, often flounders when it becomes an officially sanctioned site of


marginality within the dominant culture. Hybridity reflects both groups’


investment in the dominant culture, but can obscure the borders which mark the


unequal power relationship between ethnic groups. The fate of Kureishi’s


second-generation, upwardly mobile characters in both novels interrogates both


the alteration of traditional radical resistance through hybridity and the


culture-wide transformation potential created by the upward mobility of the


second-generation within the dominant cultural system, realising the basic


stance of both novels is to imply acceptance of the reality of people of colour


by White Britain (both the establishment and the working classes).


It seems that when one is promised new kinds of experience, one is led to


suppose that one has long been involved in illusion, ignorance, or error. One


may regard both oneself and the patterns and meaning of the world’s claims upon


one’s life as at fault: so if one awakens it will be because one has somehow


escaped from (or struggled above) what one has become used to – and often the


shakles are named to be the entire western tradition.


Bibliography


? The Buddha Of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd., 1990 ?


The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd., 1995 ? Mastering


Economis and Social History, David Taylor, The Macmillan press Ltd., 1988 ?


A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory, Raman Selden, The Harvester


Press, 1985 ? Comparative Religion, A.C.Bouquet, Penguin Books, 1960s ?


Anti-D?hring (Herr Eugen D?hring’s Revolution in Science), Frederick Engels,


Foreign Languages Press Peking, 1976 ? http://www.ibo.org/archives.htm


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