Brick Lane Theme/Issue Response:
In class today we discussed the Chanu and Karim, and one thing I noticed about both characters is that they have a kind of nostalgia for something that never really existed in the way they think about it. Chanu has a deep longing to return to Bangladesh, yet the country he wants to return to and that he “remembers” is starkly contrasted with the country Hasina experiences and writes about in her letters. One of the reasons Chanu says he wants to return to Bangladesh is to get Shahana and Bibi there so they can have a better life, but given the horrible experiences Hasina has, it seems unlikely that they would have had a better life there. Similarly, Karim has a sort of nostalgia for Bangladesh, even though he has never been there, and does not know what it is really like. His reasons for this are probably different that Chanu’s, and it would make sense to me that it had to do with wanting to learn his history and culture, like we discussed in class today. It also seems likely that his response was so strong because of the othering and discrimination he likely felt. Nazneen, on the other hand, has nostalgia for certain real places and times. It was interesting to note the differences!
It’s interesting to think about how what you’re noticing connects what we heard on our tour today. Harry talked about all of the people who lived in the East End before there was even plumbing in the houses – as late as the 1960s, he said – who talk about how it has been ruined. They complain that it’s no longer the comforting place they remember, but Harry seemed to think it was never that place. The human consciousness definitely does some strange things with nostalgia, but I also think it’s interesting that both of these types of nostalgia have bases, though with different origins, in the same physical location.