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  • Essay / Colonialism and Metropolitanism in The Buddha of Suburbia

    Societies are formed by a mixture of several cultures and people from different countries, as well as cultural origins. But in some cases, the unity of society gives way to culturally hybrid societies that cause identity problems and create ambivalence and in-betweenness in the inner and social lives of individuals. This hybridity speaks to the emergence of new transcultural forms brought about by the impact of colonization and can even be associated with the work of Homi K. Bhabha, who argues that ambivalence provides a description of the complex structure of attraction and repulsion. Thus, the relationship between colonizer and colonized is characterized by the notion of hybridity. Furthermore, it is defined as ambivalent since the colonized subject can never completely resist the colonizer. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayAs multiculturalism is not a new phenomenon in European history, neither are its literary and artistic manifestations, where The suburban and metropolitan novel The Suburban Buddha by Hanif Kureishi is about escaping the limits of postcolonial ethnicity dictated by the condition of immigrant. In this novel, the ambivalence and in-betweenness of hybrid identities in multicultural Britain is represented through the main character Karim where his cultural mix in terms of social, ethnic and even national identity appears to be mistreated and even swallowed by his pride in finding somewhere. he can belong. So, in what way did Hanif Kureishi seek to redefine the relationship between the colonial margin and the metropolitan center? Firstly, what makes the novel so valuable is that Karim is depicted as a middle-class Indian-Pakistani boy who fits into the ambivalent experience of British life. South Asian community. From the start, Karim does not give the impression of being particularly interested in his own heritage, but shows a strong desire to escape the poverty of the suburbs, where "people rarely dreamed of seeking happiness" (Kureishi 1999, p.8 ) The novel is presented in a racial perspective through the consciousness of Karim, as he is the son of a British woman called Margaret and an Indian father called Haroon. He is not only with his father's Indian friends, Anwar, Jeeta and their daughter Jamila, Karim's best friend and sexual partner, but also with his unhappy, alcoholic British parents, Jean and Ted. Additionally, it is important to mention that it is full of humorous depictions of confused or somehow multiple racial identities (Indians who want to be more English and Englishmen who find satisfaction in rejecting their British ethnocentric heritage). From the beginning of the novel we can describe Karim's hybrid identity which causes ambivalence in his attitude towards life and people, when he introduces himself at the very beginning of the novel: "My name is Karim Amir and I am a born and bred Englishman, almost. I am often considered a strange Englishman, a new breed, born from two ancient stories. (p.1) Through this statement, he gives the first clue to the reader: his feeling of incompleteness that accompanies him throughout the story. Karim's subversive actions are indefinite and completely unsystematic. In fact, according to Glabazna (2010, p. 68), this is a fact that may not be the ideal terrain for anticolonial politics and resistance, but is entirely legitimate in a world postcolonial where any form of subversive activity must necessarily reject all essentials as illusions, and instead "usesits own fragmentation, its ambivalence and its indeterminism. Concerning his life in Britain, we can distinguish two opposing parts as center and margin: metropolitan and suburban as well as multiple conceptions of England. Consequently, the image of the immigrant first trying to assimilate and fulfill his expectations of the host country and then rejecting this role of searching for his origins is, according to Karim, the problem of "the condition of immigrant” (p.64) and the creation of identity on the margins of society. As his world is full of class and racial tensions, he is caught in a society that either patronizes or accepts the other, provided the other meets dominant assumptions and commercial notions of exoticism. For Karim, the multicultural freedom offered by city life is based on the possibility of undoing stereotypes; however, this involves the humiliation of being labeled “ethnic” or a minority. However, over the course of the novel, Karim learns to suffer and tolerate any indignity that could help him succeed and escape the suburbs. For example, as an actor, he says he wanted the role, whatever it was. (p.139) Contrary to what it may seem, Karim does not want to conform but to be different, because he craves adventure and can't wait to be somewhere else. Leaving his suburban world, he becomes aware of the dangers of entering strange territory, especially after meeting Eleanor, he decides to climb the social ladder by losing not his Indian accent, like his father, but his suburban accent. (Zas Rey 2004, p.99) Lured by the fantasy of a glamorous, bohemian metropolitan world, Karim – along with his suburban friends – are desperate to escape to the city in search of the chic artist world of downtown. London. In fact, it showed how difficult it is for a person of color to escape the prejudices imposed on themselves, when Shadwell (the theater director), with his cultural racism, sees Karim as the ideal actor to play Mowgli in The Jungle. Theater production of books. As a result, Karim is appalled by this idea and attempts to return to the suburb where he belongs, but the offensive implications of playing such an undignified role quickly disappear. This role is a clear attempt by Karim to appear "more Indian" on stage with his accent and covered "in brown mud" (p.146) even requiring him to hiss like the snake that saves Mowgli's life. Kureishi thus reflects the cultural racism of white society. The director himself claims that he was chosen for his authenticity and not for his experience (p. 147). Shadwell's caricature of the Indian accent and his choice to feature a product of colonialism such as Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, as well as the misconception of caricatured Asians, "exploited immigrants constitute trials that Karim must endure to leave the suburbs.” and improve one’s career and life.” (Zas Rey 2004, p.100) But there is another interesting aspect behind this: Karim is the one who chose the artistic career to avoid the fate of being a mixed race in England (Kureishi 1999, p. 141). It is nevertheless quite ironic that Karim gains respect and a new identity by being a participant in Asian stereotypes in the metropolis. Following Kureishi's thinking where he plays with this notion of representation, Pyke (another theater director) asked the group of actors – to which Karim belonged – to “'focus on the way in which [they] think that [their] position in society has been fixed” (pp. 168-169). In this way, Pyke shows us how he understands the world: divided into binary (oppressors-oppressed, master-slave, colonized-colonizer). On the other hand, Karim and his father enjoy the advantages of being different, because Haroon..