MEETING 2
9.11.2013
Linda Ty-Casper
(Philippines)
 Born
as Belinda Ty in Malabon, Philippines in
1931. She spent the World War II years with
her grandmother while her father worked in
the Philippine National Railways, and her
mother in the Bureau of Public Schools.
 Her grandmother told her innumerable of
stories about the Filipino’s struggle for
independence, that later became the topics
of her novels.
 Linda
Ty Casper graduated valedictorian in
the University of the Philippines, and later
earned her Master's degree in Harvard
University for International Law.
 In 1956, she married Leonard Casper, a
Professor Emeritus of Boston College who is
also a critic of Philippine Literature. They
have two daughters and reside in
Massachusetts.
 Has
won PEN and UNESCO awards and the
SEA WRITE Award.
 Her works have been included in anthologies
in Finland, Malaysia(People On the Bridge),
United States and the Philippines.
 She is also a board member of The Boston
Authors.
 Her
novel Awaiting Trespass which is about
the politically sensitive theme of torture by
the Marcos regime was published by Readers
International of London.
 This work gained her major critical attention
in the United States for the first time, and in
Britain the novel was chosen as one of the
five best works of fiction by a woman writer
published in 1985-86.
 The
story is about a woman who is of mixed
ancestry. Her father is a German while her
mother is a Filipino. She reminisces her
childhood and all the memories shared with
her mother. Her mother told her lots of
stories about life in Philippines and they even
had Filipino dishes often for dinner. She
recollects her memories about her uncle,
Alan whom she could not contact even after
the death of her parents. She visits German
to see her father’s relatives but she could
not cease off the memories of her uncle.
 Setting
-
-
Milwaukee
San Diego
German
 Narrator
-
-
(Aline Drew Herding)
Reminisces her past
Resides in San Diego now
Misses her old home and friends
Her mother is a Filipino while her father is a
German
Works at the Opera House in San Diego
 Uncle
-
-
(Alan)
Narrator does not know where he lived
Did not meet him after her parents’ death
Narrator thinks he is a teacher
He visits the narrator without informing
them.
He has left no address for them to contact.
 Narrator’s
mother
- Often talks about her hometown (Philippines)
- Talks in Tagalog with her brother Alan
- She’s a very quiet person and has very few
friends.
 Narrator’s father
- A German who works in a leather (Rueping
Brothers Leather & Co. ) where he mixes
dyes for leather.
 Longingness
for homeland
- The characters still try to use their mother
tongue in their daily lives.
- The narrator’s mother cooks Filipino food in
order to keep up her tradition.
 Nostalgia
- Unable to forget their origin
- Characters keep reminiscing their past
 Displacement
-
The narrator’s parents miss their homeland
They find it difficult to blend into the
American community.
So, they keep to themselves.
By Vijay Lakshmi
(India)
 Raised
and educated in Jaipur, India.
 Yale University as a Senior Fulbright scholar
 Settled in Philadelphia
 She is also a fellow at the Can Serrat
International Centre for Arts in Spain.
 Novella
– Pomegranate Dreams and Other
Stories
 Virginia Woolf as Literary Critic
 Has published short stories in journal like
Wasafiri (London), Orbis (London), Paris
Transcontinental (Paris) and Amelia (US).
 Her short story, Janaki was published in a
collection, In Search of Sita.
 Place
- At the New Delhi American Consulate
 Time – Pre- dawn
 Season – Winter in India (Morning)
 Winter
starts in November and peaks in
January, with average temperatures around
12–13 °C (54–55 °F). Although winters are
generally mild, Delhi's proximity to the
Himalayas results in cold waves.
 Delhi is notorious for its heavy fogs during
the winter season. In December, reduced
visibility leads to disruption of road, air and
rail traffic.
 They end in early February, and are followed
by a short spring hill the onset of the
summer.
 First
person point of view
 Descriptive
- Enables the readers to imagine the place.
 Visas
were not generally necessary before
World War I (1914–1918), but have since
become standard, even while the initial fears
of spying ceased with the end of the war.
 Commonwealth countries normally do not
issue visas, however now some of these
countries have started using visas.
A
visa (from the Latin charta visa, lit.
"paper that has been seen") is a document
showing that a person is authorized to enter
or leave the territory for which it was issued,
subject to permission of an immigration
official at the time of actual entry.
 The authorization may be a document, but
more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the
applicant's passport (or passport-replacing
document).
 Some
countries do not require a visa in some
situations, such as a result of reciprocal
treaty arrangements.
 The country issuing the visa typically
attaches various conditions of stay, such as
the territory covered by the visa, dates of
validity, period of stay, whether the visa is
valid for more than one visit, etc.
A visa generally gives non-citizens clearance to
enter a country and to remain there within
specified constraints, such as a time frame for
entry, a limit on the time spent in the country,
and a prohibition against employment.
 The possession of a visa is not in itself a
guarantee of entry into the country that issued
it, and a visa can be revoked at any time.
 A visa application in advance of arrival gives the
country a chance to consider the applicant's
circumstance, such as financial security, reason
for applying, and details of previous visits to the
country.

A
visitor may also be required to undergo and
pass security and/or health checks upon
arrival at the border.
 Visas are associated with the request for
permission to enter (or exit) a country, and
are thus, for some countries, distinct from
actual formal permission for an alien to
enter and remain in the country.
 In
general, to be eligible to apply for an
immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be
sponsored by a U.S. citizen relative(s), U.S.
lawful permanent resident, or by a
prospective employer, and be the beneficiary
of an approved petition filed with U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
A
J visa is a non-immigrant visa issued by
the United States to exchange visitors
participating in programs that promote
cultural exchange, especially to obtain
medical or business training within the U.S.
 All applicants must meet eligibility criteria
and be sponsored either by a private sector
or government program.
A
K visa is a dual intent visa issued to the
fiancé or fiancée of a United States citizen to
enter the United States. A K visa requires a
foreigner to marry his or her U.S. citizen
petitioner within 90 days of entry.
 Once the couple marries, the foreign citizen
can adjust status to become a lawful
permanent resident of the United States
(Green Card holder).
 Although
a K visa is legally classified as a
non-immigrant visa, it usually leads to
important immigration benefits and is
therefore often processed by the Immigrant
Visa section of United States embassies and
consulates worldwide.
 If
a K-1 visa holder does not marry his or her
U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of
entry, then he or she must depart the United
States within 30 days.
 The
H is a non-immigrant visa in the United
States under the Immigration and Nationality
Act, section 101(a)(15)(H).
 It allows US employers to temporarily employ
foreign workers in specialty occupations. If a
foreign worker in H status quits or is
dismissed from the sponsoring employer, the
worker must either apply for and be granted
a change of status to another non-immigrant
status, find another employer (subject to
application for adjustment of status and/or
change of visa), or leave the US.
 Nameless
narrator(Mrs. Nitin)
- Just got married three days ago
- Brave
- Has pride and dignity
 Nitin
- US citizen, settled in US.
- Just met his spouse 10 day ago
- Arranged marriage
 Goro
-
-
Bhootni cum White Ghost
stony-faced redhead with dangling earrings
Sits at window #4
She’s known to have rejected almost every
application
Arrogant
 The
-
“advisor”
Wears a brown vest over shirtsleeves
He calls the immigration officer at Counter 4
as Gori Bhootni
He knows how many visa have been rejected
and by whom
He advises the young man on how to address
the people at the counter
 Tensed
situation
 People have to humble themselves because
they are the officers’ mercy
 Frightened people
 Worried people
 Hopeful- escaping Indian to the land of
golden dreams
 Indians
are seen as the other
 They are belittled
 The officers are arrogant
 Hope
 Migration
 Otherness
 One
of every five immigrants of Indian
ancestry in the United States was not born
in India.
As a result of historical migrations, Indianorigin communities can be found throughout
the world.
 Among the 1,734,337 immigrants residing in
the United States in 2006 who reported
having Indian ancestry regardless of their
place of birth, 81.2 percent were born in
India.
 The
Indian foreign born accounted for about
4.2 percent of all lawful permanent residents
living in the United States in 2006.
 About 886,000 Indians have gained lawful
permanent residence in the United States
since 1990.
 Nearly half of Indian-born lawful permanent
residents in 2007 were employmentsponsored immigrants.
 Indian-born lawful permanent residents
accounted for 2.4 percent of all those
eligible to naturalize as of 2006.
 The
Indian born were the fourth-largest
group of student and exchange visitors
admitted to the United States in 2006.
 In 2006, 2.3 percent of all unauthorized
immigrants in the United States were from
India.
 The number of unauthorized immigrants from
India grew faster than the number of any
other immigrant group between 2000 and
2006.
 Farah
Ghuznavi is a columnist, short story
writer, development worker and professional
translator. She is a regular contributor to the
Star Weekend Magazine, Bangladesh’s most
widely-read English language publication,
where she writes on a range of topics
including politics, development issues, social
commentary and humour.
 Her development career has included
working with the Grameen Bank, United
Nations and Christian Aid UK, and these
experiences have also influenced her writing.
 Farah
has been published extensively in
anthologies from the UK, US, Canada,
Singapore, India and her native Bangladesh.
Her short story, Judgement Day was Highly
Commended in the Commonwealth
Competition in 2010, and Getting There
placed second in the Oxford GEF
Competition.
 Most recently, she has edited and
contributed to Lifelines: New Writing from
Bangladesh (Zubaan, India), and she is
currently working to finalise her own short
story manuscript.
 “I
began writing fiction because I felt it
important to tell many of the stories of
people I've encountered in my life as a
development worker, who sometimes aren't
in a position to tell their own stories”. Farah Ghuznawi
 “I
used to write columns for The Daily Star,
the English daily in Bangladesh, off and on
for 15-odd years. I loved the idea of writing
fiction but was terrified. In 2005, when I was
doing my second Masters degree at the
London School of Economics and Political
Science, there was this newspaper headline
about a child domestic worker who died in
hospital after being beaten by her
employers.
I
called The Daily Star editor and said we
should do something. Now, no one was quite
waiting for Farah Ghuznavi to write some
column about child abuse, so we thought it
would be best to get one of the fiction
writers to write something about this. Three
days later, I sat down at my computer and
the first story came to me”.
 The
present-day borders of Bangladesh were
established during the partition of the British
Indian Empire in 1947, when eastern Bengal
became part of the newly formed nation of
Pakistan.
 It was known as East Pakistan.
 However,
it was separated from West
Pakistan by nearly 1,500 km (about
900 miles) of Indian territory.
 Due
to political exclusion, ethnic and
linguistic discrimination, and economic
neglect by the politically dominant western
wing, popular agitation and civil
disobedience led to the Bangladesh
Liberation War in 1971.
 After independence, the new state endured
widespread poverty, famine, political turmoil
and military coups. The restoration of
democracy in 1991 has been followed by
economic progress and relative political
calm, although the country is still highly
polarized.
 Population:
128 .1 million
Dhaka (the capital) is one of the most
densely populated cities in the world. There
are many homeless people.
 Many of the people of Bangladesh are
ethnically similar because of many centuries
of integration. Small Urdu & Indian
minorities
 Religions: Islamic: 83%; Hindu: 16%
 Life
expectancy: 58 years
Infant mortality: 79 per 1000
Average calories consumed: 87% of calories
needed
Safe water: 97% of population has access
 Literacy
rate: 38%. This is poor, but the
literacy rate has gone up by 9% in the last 10
years.
 Languages:
The official language is Bengali.
Bangladesh is on a river delta. It is made up of a
fertile plain, with large rain forest and swamps.
Farming: rice, tea and jute are grown.
Problems: The monsoon climate - with heavy
rain from June to September - often brings
hurricanes and floods which cause disaster.
The rising sea-level is a threat.
There is serious pollution in the coastal area,
caused by sewage & industrial waste: the
pollution and over-fishing may destroy the
coastal ecosystem.
 In Dhaka 15,000 children per year die from lead
poisoning.

 Currency:
Taka
GDP per capita: $360
Main exports: clothing, jute, tea, carpets,
china; recently, also data processing &
software development.
External debt per capita: $140
 The
gap between rich and poor is very wide.
Some rich people are incredibly wealthy (it is
said that one Bangladeshi wears diamonds
worth $3 million in his shoes); labourers earn
less than $1 per day.
 The majority of the land in Bangladesh is
owned by a few rich landowners.
 Bangladesh
has a very large external debt of
$15 billion and is dependent on foreign aid.
 It is one of the poorest and most densely
populated countries in the world.
 Bangladesh
was part of Bengal under British
rule and then became part of Pakistan - East
Pakistan. The country became independent,
as Bangladesh, in 1971.
For much of the time since then, it was
under military rule.
 In 1991, General Ershad was deposed,
elections were held and there was political
reform. There is still believed to be a lot of
corruption, and all parties use armed
supporters.
 The
Press has more freedom than before, but
the broadcast media is owned by the State.
 Workers in the "export processing zones"
cannot join trade unions or take part in
industrial action.
The leaders of both main political parties
are women but, in general the position of
women is weak. There is a lot of violence
against women. Girls are often married
around the age of 13.
 In the cities, there are more career women,
but women work mostly in the home and the
fields.

 Bangladesh
is one of the world’s poorest
countries with 150 million population.
Bangladesh has to depend on international
help. Since the 1990s, there has been a
declining trend of poverty by 1% each year,
with the help of international assistance.
 According to World Bank in 2005, 40% of the
population was still be below the national
poverty line.
 The
population in Bangladesh is
predominantly rural, with almost 80% of the
population living in the rural areas. Many of
them live in remote areas that lack services
such as education, health clinics and
adequate roads, particularly road links to
markets.
 A low estimate of 20% of the rural poor is in
chronic poverty. They suffer from persistent
food insecurity, own no land and assets, are
often uneducated and may also suffer serious
illnesses or disabilities.
 Another
29% of the rural population is
considered moderately poor. Though they
may own a small plot of land and some
livestock and generally have enough to eat,
their diets lack nutritional values. As a result
of health problems or natural disasters, they
are at risk of sliding deeper into poverty.
 Women are among the poorest of the rural
poor, especially when they are the sole heads
of their households. They suffer
discrimination, have few earning
opportunities and their nutritional intake is
often inadequate.
 One
of the main causes of rural poverty is
due the country’s geographical and
demographic characteristics. A large
proportion of the country is low-lying, and
thus is at a high risk to flooding.
 Many of the rural poor live in areas that are
prone to extreme annual flooding which
cause huge damage to their crops, homes
and livelihoods.
 In
order to rebuild their homes, they often
have to resort to moneylenders, and that
causes them to fall deeper into poverty.
 In addition, these natural disasters also cause
outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne
and diarrheal diseases such as dengue and
malaria which will affect them physically and
lower their productivity levels.
 Characters
-The Rich
Mr. Chowdhury
Mrs. Chowdhury
Ronny
-Diya
- Zarif
 The
poor
 Hashem
 Raya
Mrs.
Chowdhury
“
But she was resented having to drag her
unwilling body out of bed at eight o’clock
every morning because of his insistence on
having his breakfast cooked by her”.
 “Even if you take one of the servants with
you, you still have to walk from one end of
the place to the other to get hold of
everything you want. You end up getting
more exercise than you’d be looking for in an
evening walk in the park!”
 “You
know, my husband will not touch food
unless I have personally overseen the
preparation of it; even though our cook’s
salary is over 5000 takas!”
 Her
entire life was spent standing on tiptoe
to serve a demanding master, Mrs.
Chowdhury fumed internally. And she
couldn’t risk losing face by complaining to
anyone about it; she had her prestige to
maintain.
 Mrs.
Chowdhury was relieved when her
menses came several days early, and
released her from the tiresome responsibility
of fasting for the final week of Ramadan. She
was not altogether comfortable with the idea
that the men in the shop might speculate as
to the reasons for her ice-cream
consumption, but she consoled herself with
the thought that they might consider a
woman of her wealth and social status free
from the onerous burdens of piety.
…
adding in her trademark tone of
imperiousness, “Bring me one of those Super
Choc-bars as well. Quickly. And make sure it
isn’t one of those that has melted and reformed because of some power cut! I don’t
why you people insist on having these
generators that don’t even work properly …”
 Considerate
and brave
-She determinedly ignored the small voice in
her head jeeringly demanding to know if she
considered herself absolved of guilt with that
small act of generosity.
 Poor
 Beggar
 Infested
with lice
 Dare not scratch himself in public …
“It would provide yet another incentive for the
tinted windows surrounding him to remain
determinedly closed – protection against the
throat-catching fumes as well as verminous
life-forms, whether of the two-legged or sixlegged variety.”
 Loving
-
and protective
Loves his sister very much
“It was mostly for his sister’s sake that the
otherwise solemn eleven-year-old put on an
optimistic façade, making a game out of
their privations; like stretching out the
limited amount of rice on her plate by
making bite-size morsels for a variety of
imaginary baby birds that “flew” into her
mouth, hand-delivered by her brother – redbottomed bulbuls, honey- toned kokils,
bright green tiyapakhis.”
 Tone
Cynical
Example
- “Under normal circumstances he would
offered her a “cole dreenks,” but Ramadan
made that a risky proposition; the last thing
he wanted to do was to offend her further.
The most unexpected people became
profoundly and ostentatiously observant in
their religiosity during this month”.
-
 “It
was, he mused, the only time they had
anything in common with the other 95 per
cent of the city’s population”.
 “The irony, of course, was that any sense of
fellowship ended with the azan, heralding
the breaking of the fast, self-indulgent iftar
meals in comfortable homes making a
mocker of the original spirit behind the
religious injunction.”
 “Eating
in front of rojadars (those fasting)
will surely bring the pious majority who fast
closer to God, Ma. Instead of fretting over
those of us who are sinners, they can console
themselves with the thought that they will
earn extra sawab (divine blessings)… I’m sure
that they will gain additional brownie points
for not giving in to such earthly temptations.
Unlike the rest of us, who have better things
to do than to starve ourselves!”
Theory and
Application
Literary theory is the body of ideas and methods
used in the practical reading of a literature
work.
 Literary theory does not interpret the meaning
of a work of literature but it is used to reveal
what literature can mean.
 Literary theory is a description of the underlying
principles, one might say the tools, by which we
attempt to understand literature.
 All literary interpretation draws on a basis in
theory but can serve as a justification for very
different kinds of critical activity.

 In
short, it is the mindset that we develop
concerning our expectation when reading any
type of literature.
 To articulate this framework and piece
together the various elements of our
practical criticism into a coherent, unified
body of knowledge is to formulate our
literary theory (Bressler, 1994:4).
Literary theory formulates the relationship
between author and work; literary theory
develops the significance of race, class, and
gender for literary study, both from the
standpoint of the biography of the author
and an analysis of their thematic presence
within texts.
 Literary theory offers varying approaches for
understanding the role of historical context
in interpretation as well as the relevance of
linguistic and unconscious elements of the
text.

Literary Criticism is a disciplined activity that
attempts to study, analyze, interpret and
evaluate a work of art (Bressler, 1994 : 3).
 This discipline attempts to formulate aesthetic
and methodological principals on the basis of
which the critic can evaluate a text.
 When we consider its function and its
relationship to texts, literary criticism is not
usually considered a discipline in and of itself,
for it must be related to something else- that is,
a work of art.

 Without
the work of art, the activity of
criticism cannot exist.
 It is through this discerning activity that we
can explore those questions that help define
our humanity, evaluate our actions, or simply
increase our appreciation and enjoyment of
both a literary work and our fellow human
beings.
 Postcolonial
theory and criticism critically
examine colonial postcolonial canons.
 This theory deals with reading and writing
of literature written in previously or
currently colonized countries or literature
written in colonizing countries which
deals with colonization and colonized
people.
 This theory according to Lawson is
concerned with what occurs or exists
after the end of colonial rule. It also
deals with colonizing power and effects of
language as a colonizing factor.
 This
theory focuses on the critical
discussion of the attempts made by
colonized people to proclaim their
identity and reclaim their past.
 It also looks into the languages, images
and traditions employed in the process of
writing.
 This theory also probes the literature of
the colonial culture that distorts the
realities of the colonized peoples to make
them feel inferior.
 It
studies the impact of colonization on
postcolonial history, economy, science and
culture.
 It also seeks to change the way people think,
behave, and produce a just and egalitarian
societies in which there is peace and
harmony between different peoples of the
world (Young 7).
 This
theory is concerned with how the
colonized respond to the struggle to
control self-representation, through the
appropriation of dominant languages,
discourses and forms of narrative.
 It also projects the struggle over
representations of place, history, race
and ethnicity. Its utmost aim is to present
a local reality of the colonized people to
the world (Ashcroft 15).
 The
theory also seeks to engage the problem
of European modernity, particularly in terms
of its emphasis on progress.
 This emphasis shows that the engagement
between Europe and its ‘others’ is
predicated on violence.
Characteristics of Postcolonial Theory
 Pluralism
 Integrity
 Displacement
 Identity
Crisis
 Loss of Identity
 Concept of Otherness
 Ethnicity
 Oppression of women
 Alienation
 Postcolonial
theory is subject not only to
critique and challenge from the outside but
also from within (Ahluwalia 1).
 Issues such as colonial discourses, the African
Diaspora are often used to identify major
inquiries in this theory.
 It is also important to take into account the
relationship between a writer and the
cultures about which he or she writes.
 One
major characteristic of postcolonial
theory is the concern of displacement. In
the quest for power and wealth the
colonial masters especially the English
masters have uprooted many natives
from their motherland and relocated
them in other countries.
 Then, they impose their religion, culture
and language on these people.
 These
people experience statelessness,
dislocation and become spiritually a
wasteland.
 A major feature in the postcolonial theory is
concerned with displacement.
 Displacement occurs when a “specific
cultural population is moved from its original
homeland or bioregion and relocated to a
different setting.
 People
usually experience culture shock as
they are unable to adapt to their new
surrounding.
 It discusses the crisis of identity and is
concerned with the development or recovery
of an effective identifying relationship
between self and place.
 Edward
Said in his book, Orientalism,
believes that identities are always a
matter of construction.
 The construction of identity is bound up
with the disposition of power in each
society. He further claims that people
find it difficult to accept the actualities
of identities as most people resist the
underlying notion that ‘human identity is
not only natural and stable but
constructed and occasionally even
invented outright’ ( Said 332).
 The
people who are dislocated by the
colonial masters often face problem in
assimilating themselves in the new land.
They have to search their identities through
their remote past which is gradually
disappearing.
 It
also refers to the integration of culture
from the colonizing party and the
colonized.
 This includes the assimilation and
adaptation of cultural practices.
 This also helps them to articulate their
identity and reclaim their past in the face
of that past’s inevitable otherness.
 However, most of the displaced people
are forced to follow the dominant culture
which is often imposed on them.
 This
means that integration of culture from
the colonizing party and the colonized will
take place.
 This includes the assimilation and adaptation
of cultural practices which can be seen as
positive, enriching, dynamic as well as
oppressive, in which the dominant culture
usually silences the marginalized people’s
culture.
 The
simple binary opposition between the
colonizer and the colonized made which
shows the enormous cultural and racial
differences made the emergence of this
term.
 This term emerged with the publication
of Edward Said’s Book titled Orientalism
in 1978. Since, it has become a classic in
the study of the West’s relationship with
the others.
 According to Said, orientalism began to
impose limits on thoughts about the
Orient and to define the European.
 He
further claims that ‘orientalism was
ultimately a political vision of reality
whose structure promoted the difference
between the familiar Europe, the West,
“us” and the strange Orient, the East,
“them” (Said 43).
 He claims that “the orient” is synonymous
with “the other”. The concept of
otherness includes both identity and
difference. It is the difference between
the whites and the rest of the world.
 He
further claims that ‘orientalism was
ultimately a political vision of reality
whose structure promoted the difference
between the familiar Europe, the West,
“us” and the strange Orient, the East,
“them” (Said 43).
 He claims that “the orient” is synonymous
with “the other”. The concept of
otherness includes both identity and
difference. It is the difference between
the whites and the rest of the world.
 The
world is seen as divided. The Westerners
are the masters whereas the colonized
people are seen as ‘the other’.
 The West is seen as masculine, ordered,
rational, democratic, superior, progressive
and good while the east is seen as feminine,
disordered, irrational, inferior, undisciplined
and evil (Said 205).
Sing to the Dawn
by
Minfong Ho
 Minfong
Ho highlights how women are
treated as second class citizens in this novel.
 The society favours male children to be
educated compared to female children.
 The females are abused in this novel.
 Ho shows the patriarchal society that exists
in Thailand.
 Ho
puts forward the general beliefs of the
Thais through the monks that Dawan meets
in order to ask for help to persuade her
father to allow her to continue her studies in
the city.
 The readers also get a glimpse of the Thai
people’s life style.
 The
Waiting (Bangladesh)
 The Cat that Slept on the Altar (Vietnam)
 Her (Indonesia)
 The Guardian Knot (Malaysia)
 Celery, Tulips and Hummingbirds (Philippines)
 This
can be seen in the short story, The Wait
(India)
 The American Immigration Officers treat the
Indian Visa applicants badly.
 The police too bully the civilians who are
lining at the Consulate.
 The
Wait
- The writer shows that people are willing to
be displaced in this story by going to the
United States.
- Mrs. Nitin too will have to undergo lots of
adjustment if she wants to follow her
husband to the United States.
 Celery,
Tulips and Hummingbirds
- The narrator’s parents find it difficult to
assimilate themselves into the American
world.
 The Wait
- The characters in this story willingly accept
the displacement by going to America to
work.
 Women
are marginalized.
 The Waiting (Bangladesh)
- Mrs. Chowdhury is oppressed by her
husband.
 Her
-Mrs. Hamid suffers when her husband takes a
second wife without her knowledge and
permission.
Guardian Knot
- Women are not allowed to further their
studies (narrator’s sister).
- Women are only seen as sexual objects to
fulfill the lusts of men.
- The author depicts the women’s role as a
only a cook for the family. She is not
included in any decision makings.

 Celery,
Tulips and Hummingbirds
- The narrator’s parents suffer from alienation
since both of them are immigrants to United
States.
- They cannot assimilate into the American
culture.
 The Wait
- Nitin, the narrator’s husband returns to marry
an Indian bride. This shows that he cannot
blend into the American society.
 Displacement
– caused by colonizers
 Plight of their race
 Oppression by the upper class
 Suppression of women
 To highlight their rich culture and traditions
The
End