Paper #2

            The book Brick Lane by Monica Ali, is a powerful and beautifully written story about a young Bangladeshi girl named Nazneen, who leaves her homeland to live with a man she has never before met in London. The book has many powerful characters, including Nazneen herself that assist in the telling and diversifying of the story and provide ideas and theme. The character of Nazneen sort of represents, so far in the story, a strong-willed woman, true to her heritage and religion, who has sacrificed much in order to please her family and her God. She labors in the house, for her husband and for their child, even if she is perhaps feeling tired or sick. She is a martyr of sorts. This however, is greatly contrasted by her sister, Hasina, who’s rare breathtaking beauty had doomed her to a life in which she married for love and destroyed her families reputation and relationships with her, except for Nazneen of course. She writes to Hasina constantly, using her as a sort of escape to better times when they’d play together in their old village, without a care in the world. Hasina stands for this freedom, this happy playful life that Nazneen no longer knows, as she is bound to her responsibilities for her husband and child. Another character that seems to represent a theme in the story is Chanu, her husband she was arranged to. He is in many ways very different from her. He lives in the past and the future, regretting decisions everyday and longing for goals in the future. Nazneen lives in the moment. Chanu is very modern, and speaks English and wishes to live in new land of England. This difference from Nazneen to her new life, which can be represented as Chanu, is also a theme. The character of Nazneen's little baby Raqib also represents a theme in the book. Raqib, to Nazneen, represents innocence, and the way things used to be. He is a young baby with a clean slate for life, he can do things that Nazneen is unable to do now in her age and can live a life rich in way that a young Nazneen would have never imagine in her life back in Bangladesh. Another character whom, although she is not really a main character, but who interacts and provokes thought is Razia. Razia is a neighbor of Nazneen who befriended her when she first arrived in England. Soon Razia becomes a target of neighborhood gossip when she rebels against her abusive husband, (also an arranged marriage) by cutting all of her hair off and doing other things of the like, such as going to college to learn English and wearing men’s trousers and not a sari. But Razia is a strong independent woman who shows Nazneen that there are other ways of living in this new land. Living to benefit the family and the children by evolving from old customs that may not be in the best interest of moving forward.

The title of this book, Brick Lane, is an actual place in London, a place in which, at one point in the book, Nazneen stumbled to as she was having a self-realization and an epiphany about her life and the lives of people. It is a brick paved street filled with multi-cultural shops, eateries and homes, the sights and sounds of which seem to pleasantly mingle to create a wonderful sort of street music. She witnesses white children playing alongside Indian children and people living harmoniously with one another. I believe that this correlates to one of the main themes of the book, which is that of different peoples living happily and easily together. To live without any form of racism or stereotyping, which is still a major problem both in the past and today. I also think this Brick Lane is sort of a goal for her. Nazneen lives in a sort of not-so-nice neighborhood and perhaps as she is starting to settle in finds that this Brick Lane is a goal for her. An ideal neighborhood to raise her child.

  Some recurrent themes and ideas that are sprinkled throughout the writing of the book are the themes of finding one self and also of challenge ideas and stereotypes that are passed on from generations. The author of this book is very good at weaving them throughout and relating them to the story at hand and developing them. Some themes are almost like a person themselves, throughout the story they are growing and different characters being to react, and demonstrate ideas from these themes.

A key line from the book, one that also demonstrates a theme is “Fight against one’s Fate can weaken the blood.” (4) This line refers to the fact that, as a baby, Nazneen refused to feed from her mother for many days until she finally did and lived. Her mother did not force her to drink as she thought it would be wiser to leaver her to her Fate, to see whether or not Fate would allow her to live. They said that to do otherwise, to rebel against whatever god had planned for you, would bring fatal consequences. This gives rise to the theme of fate, which is throughout the book, which Nazneen demonstrates by not rebelling against Fate or things such as her arranged marriage.