Post-colonialism in Details

Postcolonialism

  Basic Concept:

o   Colonialism: Colonialism is a process of ruling a weaker nation by a stronger nation is known as colonialism. The stronger one controls and rules over the economic, political and over all every aspect of the weaker nation. Who rules are called the colonizer and who is ruled is known as colonized.

o   Ambivalence:  Ambivalence is the way in which colonizer and colonized regard each other. The colonizer often regards the colonized as inferior and exotically other. On the other hand the colonized regards the colonizer as both eligible and corrupt.

o   Hegemony: Hegemony is the power of the ruling class to convince other classes that their interests are the interests of all. The colonized people except the rule of the colonized, they think the colonizer superior than them. So, they want them to be ruled by the colonizer.

o   Mimicry: Mimicry is the way by which the colonized adapt the culture, language, education, clothing etc of the colonizers.

o   Heredity: It is a process which happens through the cross-cultural exchange. It can be social, political, linguistic, religious etc. It is actually unnecessary mixture of two cultures.

    Post in Postcolonialism: Post is used as a prefix in the word Postcolonialism. Here post means later. So, postcolonialism means later colonialism. The time after the colonial period is regarded as postcolonial period. And the theory what reads the time, and literature of this period is known as postcolonialism.

    Postcolonialism/Post-colonialism: Both the terms Postcolonialism and Post-colonialism are right. But there is a difference between them. Non-hyphenated postcolonialism means the time after the European colonizers set the world free. On the other hand hyphenated post-colonialism means the colonial period is ended though, it is still exists indirectly. The Europeans announced all the colonized free and put an end of colonization. But it is still going on. Indirectly in the name of various helping fund or organizations western superpower, especially the USA is still colonizing the weaker nation.

    Why were people colonized: Behind the colonization of many countries there has several reasons. Some of the reasons are as follows:

o   Eurocenricism: Eurocentricism is one of the reasons of colonization. The European super powers, especially British, French, Germans, Portuguese, Spanish and some other thought Europe the central of the world. They thought themselves the most powerful. This mentality forced them to colonize the other part of the world.

o   Colonialism is nature: Another reason of the world’s being colonized is the ideology that colonialism is very natural which ideology was possessed by the European or the colonizers.

o   White man’s burden: Actually it is name of a poem by Rudyard Kipling who is a supporter of the ideology of Orientalism. The Europeans studies the other part of the world and announced the areas and the people as uncivilized and inferior to them. Because of being civilized and superior to the others, it was their duty or a burden to civilize the uncivilized. In the name of civilizing the uncivilized, they colonized them.

  Postcolonialism:

o   Focuses on the oppression of the colonizers: Postcolonialism focuses on the oppression of the colonizers. They oppressed the colonizers is almost all the ways as possible. Such as politically, economically, socially and culturally.

o   Questions the effect of empire: The colonizers set an empire in every colonizer area. Their goal according to Orientalism (a discourse of knowledge created by the European orientalist/scholars on the study of the people and culture of the other parts of the world) was to civilize them. But actually what they did was rule over them and consume the resources of the areas. As an effect, the people of those areas got a hybrid cultural identity. In his book “Orientalism” Edward W. Said showed some negative effects. For example- becoming inferior, becoming known as uncivilized, loosing property and history etc.

  Postcolonialism as a Theory:

o   Examines colonizers/colonized relationship in literature: The theory studies if the work is pro or anti colonialist. Writers write both on behalf and also on oppose to the colonialism. The texts which are written on oppose to the colonization and if the writers are from native country, those pieces of literature are known as postcolonial literature and the writers are postcolonial writers. On the other hand the literary pieces which are written on behalf of the colonization, doesn’t matter the writers are from colonized or colonizer region are known as colonial literature and the writers are colonial writers. Besides if the colonizer region writers write on oppose to the colonization also known as colonial writers. Name of some postcolonial writers: Edward W. Said, Salman Rushdie, Chinua Achebe, Arundhati Roy etc. Some colonial writers are: Rudyard Kipling, Daniel Pipe, Joseph Conrad etc.

o   The texts reinforce of resist colonial ideology: Postcolonialism also studies if the literary text is reinforcing or resisting the ideology of colonialism.

o   Explores the dynamics of colonization through literary works: The theory studies of explores how the colonization started and ended.

    Result of Study:

o   Sound knowledge on Orientalism: As we know that Orientalism is a discourse of knowledge inducted by the European scholars known as orientalist. They studied on the people and culture of the other part of the world and from this study brought this discourse. According to them it is just a discourse and they did it from their curiosity. But, Edward W. Said, a prominent postcolonial theorist in his book “Orientalism” showed the real picture of this discourse. According to Said, the discourse was biased. They created the discourse to divide the world into two parts- Orient and Occident where one part (orient) is inferior, uncivilized and another (occident) is superior and civilized. They said they are civilized; it was their duty to civilize the uncivilized. In the name of civilization they colonized the nations and the discourse was inducted just to justify colonization.

o   Detailed history of colonialism: Through the study of postcolonialism, the readers can know the real history of colonialism. Europeans discuss or present colonialism in their viewpoint. They just focus on the positivity of colonialism. But postcolonialism shows the real vivid truth of colonialism.

o   The remaining spirit of colonialism: Colonial period has been ended. But the spirit of colonialism is still remaining in the colonies. Colonial spirit means the language, culture, clothing etc of the colonizers. These spirits still exist in the colonial areas. This can be known through postcolonialism.

  Importance of the theory:

o   A universal theory: Now Postcolonialism has become a universal theory. It is applied and studied all over the world. But there is an issue in this universality. That is, the explanation of the theory varies from nation to nation. The colonized nations explain it in one way, the colonizers explain in another way.

o   Well known in both eastern and western universities: Now the theory is a well known one in eastern and eastern universities. But the motive of study varies

o   A prominent subject in many universities: Postcolonialism is now a prominent subject in many universities. In The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, under the University of Washington, there has a faculty named Post/Colonialism Faculty.

o   A discourse to study: Now postcolonialism is an import and prominent discourse to study. In many universities in our country it is studied.

  Postcolonial theorists:

o  Edward W. Said: Edward W. Said is a Palestine-American scholar, critic and writer. He was born and raised in Palestine as an Anglican. Attended in a British school in Cairo. Then in Princeton and Harvard. Later he became a literary critic. “Orientalism” is a prominent book of Said. This book is highly appreciated in the study postcolonial theory. He is probably the most important figure for the rise of postcolonial study and theory.

o  Homi K. Bhabha: Another important figure in the rise of postcolonialism. He was born in India. Graduated from Elphinstone College. Later in University of Mumbai, Oxford University. He provided the idea of hybridity and ambivalence in postcolonialism. “Nation and Narration” is his most important work.

Conclusion: Postcolonialism is a theory what deals with colonialism. It is studied all over the world. But the method of applying this theory and explanation or interpretation of colonialism through this theory varies from nation to nation. But if it is applied in the proper way, it reveals the true history of colonialism. It is really an important theory to study, especially to know true history.

Autobiographical Elements in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce

Autobiographical Elements in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Introduction: In some novels the author or narrator records or narrates his own experiences of life by adding fictional elements. These are known as autobiographical novel. There are some elements of an autobiographical novel. They are characters, setting, details, chronological order, point of view, author’s purpose etc. In this type of novel the characters, themes and incidents are taken from the author’s real life, but they are presented in an imaginary way. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is an autobiographical novel. Start with the name. The name of the novel carries a sign. The phrase “A Portrait of the Artist” seems a symbol of the self-portraiture of James Joyce. Stephen Dedalus is the protagonist of the novel. He is a young Irishman. The description of education of Stephen Dedalus is quite similar to that of James Joyce’s. His background has much similarity with Joyce’s. The novel covers the first twenty years of Joyce’s life through Stephen. The characteristics of the protagonist are similar to the life of Joyce. But it is a bit artistic or fictional than the biography of the author. The autobiographical elements in this novel are as follows:

1.      Characters: Some major characters of this novel are Stephen Dedalus, his father who has failed in various works and barely can support his family financially, his mother who is dominated by the Catholic church, siblings of Stephen, Mr. Casey, aunt Dante, Parnel etc. We know that Stephen is a portrait of Joyce. From the reading of biography of Joyce we know that father of Joyce was just like that of Stephen in the novel. Joyce’s mother was also very loyal to the Catholic church. There are some other characters which are similar to the novel. Now if we focus on the central character of the novel, we see Stephen with the same intellectuality what is seen in Joyce. Stephen’s thoughts, associations, feelings and language serve as the primary medium by which the readers can discover Stephen’s pain, pleasure, experiences of intellectual, sexual and spiritual elements which actually portray Joyce’s feelings at his time.

2.      Setting: The novel starts in Dublin which can be considered as the backdrop of the novel. It is also a symbol of discontentment of Stephen. The time is nearly the last part of the nineteenth century. We see the sufferings from poverty and frequent changes of houses of Dedalus family. The rule of Irish Catholicism and Irish nationalist movement is also included in the settings of the novel. All the things are just similar to the reading of Joyce’s biography. As Stephen, Joyce also was born and brought up in Dublin, suffered from poverty and changed their houses for several times. Not different from Stephen, Dublin was a place of discontentment to Joyce and the streets of Dublin seemed maze to him from where he wanted to fly away.

3.      Details: This element of an autobiographical novel is interesting. Writers of this type of novel generally use objective and subjective details and fictions to illustrate their life stories. Objective details can be proved. In this novel objective details are – birth details, education, religious views, family, love, emotions, intellectual etc of Stephen. These details are real and are similar to that of James Joyce. Fictional description is also present there. The name of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus has a mythical value. The last name Dedalus was taken from a Latin myth. The myth was about Icarus and his father. Dedalus was taken from their name. They were jailed and they flew away from there. Stephen in the novel and Joyce in his real life flew away from their birth place to fulfill their dream. That is why Joyce used this name of the central character of his autobiographical novel.

4.      Chronological Order: It is the order in which the life events of the protagonist occur in which the writers tell their stories. Often events are arranged from childhood to adulthood. In the novel, through the life events of Stephen, Joyce actually told his story. He arranged the novel from childhood to adulthood. The novel tells the story of Stephen Dedalus from his childhood to his young age. Here we see him to study in the school, his study in the college, see the development of his character, development of his thought, his intellectual development etc. All the things are well arranged. So, chronological order an element of an autobiographical novel is also present in the novel.

5.      Point of View: Point of view is the perspective from which an autobiography is written. In an autobiography, story is told from first person point of view where the pronouns I, me, mine are used. The story is narrated from the point of view of the author. In the novel the narrator is anonymous, but speaks with the same voice and tone that Stephen might. Though most of A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is in third person, the point of view is Stephen’s. As Stephen develops as a person, the use of language and narrating style also develops with him. At the end of the novel we see a section in which the story is told from Stephen’s diary. This section is in first person. This discussion shows that this requirement of being an autobiographical novel is fulfilled.

      Conclusion: The above discussion indicates that the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is an autobiographical novel by James Joyce. The characters, settings, details, chronological order, point of view etc are some of the elements of an autobiographical novel. All these elements are present in the novel. In spite of many similarities Stephen Dedalus is grave, serious but Joyce was witty and cheerful. On the other hand like Stephen Joyce was self-centered. In fact Stephen sometimes seems Joyce and sometimes not, it seems clear that Joyce has portrayed himself through Stephen.

The End