TRF: Identity/Roots Flashcards
1
Q
‘My ____________ was invisible, _______ by my ____’
A
‘My Pakistaniness was invisible, cloaked by my suit’
- Roots being disguised by American culture
- Representative of Americanisation + their influence on other cultures
- Role at Underwood Samson dominating his identity
2
Q
‘I began to ___ and _____, as much as my ______ would permit, more like an ______’
A
‘I began to act and speak, as much as my dignity would permit, more like an American’
- Compromising cultural identity in order to win acceptance
- Disassociated sense of identity
3
Q
‘A form of ______ on my part, a ______ of ______’
A
‘A form of protest on my part, a symbol of identity’
- Changez’s growing need to assert his own identity
- Does not care about unease his beard will provoke
- Accepting his true identity, presenting himself as a Pakistani
4
Q
‘I made it my _______ on campus to advocate a ___________ from your country’
A
‘I made it my mission on campus to advocate a disengagement from your country’
- ‘Mission’ implies Changez has become sort of a double agent
- Changez attempts to tackle American imperialism
- ‘Your’ = possessive determiner, Changez distancing himself from America as a whole
5
Q
‘And then I ______’
A
‘And then I smiled’
- Changez rouses from his American dream
- Forced to confront his identity and deep rooted resentments
- 9/11 catalyst for his hatred against America
- Witnesses attack from tv screen = reflects distance from home country/roots + distance he will feel when he returns
- Lacks emotional loyalty
6
Q
A
‘Someone had so visibly brought America to her knees’
- Personification of America
- ‘To her knees’ = defeat, buildings/skyscrapers destroyed, lowered/diminished Americas self-importance
- Retribution/comeuppance
7
Q
A
‘I was a modern-day janissary’
‘an ex-janissary’s gaze’
- Changez has completely adopted the American/indoctrinated colonial mindset
- Allowed his idolisation of America to brainwash him
- Rejected his own cultural identity/roots
- ‘ex-janissary’ = beginning to strengthen his cultural ties/affiliation to Pakistan, no longer blinded/bound to American beliefs/ideologies
8
Q
What is the context behind Changez’s position as a ‘modern-day janissary’?
A
- Late 14th century
- Christian boys taken by the Turks to fight for the Ottoman empire, indoctrinated with Ottoman ideology and forced to convert to Islam
