Bapsi Sidhwa and cultural differences in her writings

Bapsi Sidwa’s novels provide a wide glimpse of the contemporary political situations and cultural life in the subcontinent. Her novel “Ice-candy man” clearly depicts that she had been a part of cultural multiplicity in the subcontinent. In the novel, she introduced herself as a little girl “Lenny” who was not mature by her age but still sensible enough to catch the whole plight of people belonging to subcontinent into her never-fading memories, not just at an interval level but also at an external point of life. She was accompanied by the people who belonged to different religions and they let her know about the changing circumstances of the subcontinent. In her novel, she has discussed different cultures. Through the depiction of the culture, she makes the reader clear to acknowledge the cultural harmony, cultural hybridization and cultural relativism that existed in the subcontinent at the time of partition. Through the way she highlighted the living style of people, one can interpret that she has also shown the element of cultural ethnocentrism.
Bapsi Sidhwa spotted the various elements of the culture in her novel. She herself belonged to the Parsee community, which was among the minor religions of the subcontinent. The different cultural elements like symbols, language, customs, traditions, food, festivals, etc of the people belonging to different communities provide us with the cultural differences in the novel.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Bapsi Sidhwa gives a number of references on cultural differences; on the other hand, she depicts the cultural harmony and the similarities of the culture among the various communities of the subcontinent. The cultural harmony is highlighted by how different communities used to gather in the park and gossiped. At the very start of the novel, Lenny presents the picture of the people who were seen commenting and flirting with Ayah, those people who belonged to different religions but their behavior was inclined toward homogenized culture. She also represented the harmony of culture in the village life also, when Lenny visited the village” Pir pindo” she described the way Muslims and Sikhs gathered to listen to the radio at Chaudhry’s place. The homogenized culture can also be seen when Lenny says Salaam-alekum Khan Sahib! Though Lenny belongs to the Parsee community but the way she greeted Sharbat khan represents the amalgam and mixture of two cultures. In contrary to this cultural differences among different communities can be drawn through the following elements of culture

Romanticism my field of Interest

Polysemy

Here in this example the first sentence is used by the people of Urdu language to say “it’s fine”, while in the second sentence the same word is used to say “let’s go”.

Homonymy, Homophony and Homograph with Urdu Examples

Hyponymy with Urdu Examples

Synonymy with Urdu Examples

Connotations

The connotation is a quality or an idea that a word makes you think of that is more than its basic meaning. The connotation is a secondary meaning which is beyond its dictionary meaning or explicit denotation. The meanings are often emotional and have a range of associations. 
These meanings are implied by the speaker or writer and are inferred by the listener or reader. M.H. Abraham differentiated between Connotation and Denotation. According to him the denotation of a word is its reference or primary signification whereas its connotation is the range of secondary or associated significations which it commonly implies and suggests. “Horse” and “Steed” refers to the same quadruped, but “Steed” has a different connotation which is derived from the romantic or chivalric narratives in which this word was often used. Similarly, “Home” refers to the house where one lives, but connotes intimacy, privacy and coziness Words can be used for positive and negative connotation depending on the contextual situation. The use of words is for making good and bad sense, feelings, impressions, expression, etc. for example, advertisers and politicians may use words with positive connotations while expressing their message attractively.

 A word with a negative connotation may be used to describe an unpleasant feeling. Pleasant or positive connotations are also called honorific, while negative ones are called pejorative. Pejorative connotations may also refer to a “polite” words versus an “impolite” word though both mean a fairly negative phenomenon (Gowers, 1987). Lexicology studies two essential aspects of word meaning; “denotative” which is the factual and intellectual meaning and “connotative” which is emotional and evaluative meaning. There are at least three types of connotations mentioned in linguistic literature (Cruse, 1997): power solidarity, evaluative and associative(metaphor). One and the same word may have positive or negative connotations according to the speaker/listener (gender, educational level, religion, nationality, sociolinguistic factors of age, social class, political and general views have to be taken into consideration) and situational context. Gairns and Redman highlight this thesis with examples of usage of the word “liberal”

Madman by Khalil Jibran

Motherese

Analyzed: Hamlet Soliloquy and Element of de-familiarization by Shakespeare

Cladiuss,

Stranger by Albert Camus; Symbolism

Symbolism in Camus novels play an important role, he uses different symbols to highlight different realities and uncovered different truths, he was a naturalist as well because of his love for nature, he added them as a result in his writings.
 There have been used various symbols including Sun the first and foremost major and quintessential symbol, at the same time different colors have used including red, green and white, the courtroom. Sunday, Arabs and Crucifix.
While discussing the symbol of the sun, it shows Meursault's discomfort towards reality and his absurd feeling towards it, because whenever something happens to him Sun shines, sometimes he basks in it and another time he rebels it. It depicts the reality of the universe that man negates, and when it collides with man it creates absurdity. The bright light of sun shows indifferent behavior of Meursault towards nature, as when the flashing light of sun glared on his face he tries to hide his face, but when he finds out and confronts the absurdity of life he accepts it, although in various occasions in the novel he says to his coworker to turn off the light, he is more insensitive towards light than his mother’s funeral. That same light at the end of the novel become his friend because he accepts everything. The murder of Arab happens also in the sunlight, and the reason why he kills is because of sun, Arab also depicts his Sun-father. when he wishes it he wills Homoerotic relation with him and in final chapters, he attains comfort in nature by calling nature his 'brother’, so he befriends and becomes comfortable with its scheme. Nature appoints Meursault as an agent to destroy other beings as Sade remarks, according to him the reason behind his murder was nature destructive force, that is why when the court asks for the reason he is unable to defend himself and says 'It just happened that way''. Because nature was the driving force behind him.
 At the same time, sunlight on the sands and rivers made it more difficult for him to swim, see, walk and enjoy moments
Another symbol that has been used is of Sunday, it signifies various things, as it is the symbol of Christ death, her mother’s funeral, killing of Arab, all the major incidents happened on this particular day, at the same time he is put to death on the same day, Christ and Meursault are similar in front of some scholars as some calls him as ''Christ as a human version of being, he shows the new testament of Christs in which he drinks alcohol and commits murder as human beings do frailty.
While discussing the courtroom, it symbolized the society that contains order and rationality, but within a courtroom, he felt indifferent because they always inquire and investigate rational questions and are limited in their psyche.

Different colors have been used in the novel, like red, green, white, that shows different aspects of Meursault and the universe and the connection of them with him, when he is angry, he becomes red and when in a calm mood the sky is shown as green because it symbolizes calmness, peace, and tranquility. the white color shows light of a sun that is unbearable, so the different colors of nature are variables that show certain human versus weather conditions.

The sign of Crucifix is used as a sign of Christianity, as some of the scholars agrees upon the fact that he was more agnostic than Atheist and more non-Christian than Anti-Christ, as we can see in the novel he was called as ''Monsieur Antichrist'' because of his refusal to the existence and believing in God. by refusing him, people have refused to message of god because he was the Christ human version. In front of him, religion is a limitation a restriction that made people think in a certain way that is the case with Chaplain, in front of him he lacks his ability. Therefore, he is the depiction of Christ. and the dinner with Raymond is also symbolical in a way all the tragedy and destruction starts from that point. The bread and wine hosted by Raymond symbolized as Christ's blood and body and Meursault sweat in front of the sun at the same time. Raymond can be symbolized as evil because he seduced him to drink wine just like Satan forced Christ to disobey God's orders but he resurrected. Emmanuel's innocence can be regarded according to Biblical reference Isaiah; he is the opposite of Meursault.
Arabs at the same time can be regarded symbol of the universe in which man always asks questions and it disappoints and remain silent, these Arabs can be regarded as the glimpse of universe, he also resembles them with his mother because she also remains silent.

Surrealism

Epitaph! lived in that age and for a thousand-year

Modernism

Death of Ivan Ilych