Discussions: 'Literature suggests that power is maintained more by language than with physical force'
Hi!
This is the second statement in my series of discussions. These are aimed at helping you to hit top AO1 marks by making your essays sound more argumentative. It's excellent revision, because it forces you to think about your texts in different ways!
This week's discussion prompt is:
Literature suggests that power is maintained more by language than with physical force.
Prompts
Here are some prompts to get you started:
- Which of the texts you're studying would be interesting to talk about for this statement?
- What does it mean to 'maintain' power?
- What do we mean when we say 'language'? The words people use? The different languages they speak? Accent and dialect? etc.
- How can you maintain power with language?
- What kinds of power would you want to talk about here?
- Is it different if we're talking about different kinds of power?
- Is the answer true for all people in the text(s)? Or is it different depending on a person's identity?
- Do certain people experience more physical force while others experience more language-based things?
You might have your own questions or thoughts, so don't feel bogged down by mine. Either way, comment as many times as you like! I'll be there to watch and add input where we need it.
i thought this would be an interesting q for the immigrant experience!
i thought firstly perhaps (tho it might be a stretch) that immigrants maintain power through self-affirmations, which allows them to idealise a sense of belonging in their host countries. gilbert says something along the lines of how opportunity ripened in england as abundant as fruit on jamaican trees, and this helps sort of bolster both countries. in trf changez in his dramatic monologue mentions how he could not forget the tea of lahore despite feeling completely american, and in this sense the narration style helps changez sort of "rewrite" or add ideas that give him power over the american reader.
- if there was a comparison of narration styles, i think there is probably something interesting about si's polyphonic narration. i remember a critic about how bernards narration is denied a voice in the present, which obviously demeans his power and more broadly the intolerant attitudes of the host country
i also thought about how in both texts that the challenges faced by immigrants are usually from language, which remind them of their "otherness".
i would definitely write a paragraph about the immigrant accent. for hortense this initially gives her an air of superiority, but the reality is that the british cannot understand her. still, she looks down on the cockney accent. changez has a more of a smooth sailing initially, with jim even mentioning his accent in the job interview. i would link this to them growing up within the colonial systems of education.
of course this leads into the inevitable discrimination from language: bernards dismissal of gilbert's speech about race as him not being unable to understand gilbert, and the casual discrimination from strangers post 9/11 such as one near changez' workplace who mocked him saying like "alkaha-mahala" or something like that meant to imitate south asian languages.
theres perhaps a sort of reclamation of language in the end, like when hortense holds the baby and says "me sprigadee" which affirms her "afro-saxon" identity according to lloyd best, and changez teaching in pakistan, which of course fully reimmerses himself in the language (altho i cant think of any textual evidence that would make this a strong idea)
YB Z. I love the points you've made here! So I thought my bullet point responses here would be more to challenge you to expand!
- Have you heard of the term 'code-switching'? I think it's really useful to use here if you're thinking about how immigrants maintain power. It also ties into the idea of cultural hybridity that I mentioned in your other post about the immigrant experience. Code-switching is when you change from one dialect of English to another. For example, my dad is Jamaican and code switches to patois when he's angry with one of my siblings or me 💀 and then he code switches again when he's on the phone and speaks in more of a middle-class London accent! It's useful here because you can think about how immigrants use code switching as a way to maintain their power dynamics in different situations, and also to assimilate easier (which is, arguably, a source of power in the immigrant experience).
- I would encourage you to think about pejoratives and negative terms used for immigrants, either by themselves or by members of the host culture, too! Is there anywhere where we see a character being spoken to or spoken about in a negative way? Is there anywhere where we see characters embody negative stereotypes and talk about themselves negatively as a result? For me, I think of Changez's reassurances to the American as a really interesting example of this. I mean, he is always reassuring him that even though he has a beard and he's Muslim, he's 'one of the good ones'. I think this shows the power that the host nation can have over the immigrant, right? Because it shows they see themelves through the eyes and perspectives of their oppressors! That brings about that idea of double-consciousness I mentioned earlier, too! In other words, it's the power that the host culture has over their minds. This would bolster your point about Bernard, as it shows you're aware of multiple different mechanisms of power that take hold.
- Is there anywhere in the books you can think of where an immigrant talks themselves or someone else out of doing something or downplays something because of the power that the host nation has over them? I'm thinking here about Changez's mum and how she urges him not to come back to Pakistan when he wants to. Again, that's a form of power, right? The persuasion and policing that immigrants do with one another helps to reinforce the power of the host culture by seeing themselves as either inferior or as uncapable because of their situation, so they don't even bother trying.
- I love your point about reclamation, too! There are plenty of times where we see characters do that, right? Going back to code switching, the fact that they have reclaimed this language – a Caribbean dialect that itself was made through strife and resilience – is so powerful when it comes to reclamation!
Are these essay prompts helping you to revise? Because I stopped doing them when no one was replying, but I'm happy to bring them back if they're useful!
- thats an interesting point! i guess code switching can be a way for immigrants to retain an "insider" status in their respective communities. i wonder if theres an angle about how immigrants being "forced" to code switch sort of still shows the pervasive power of the host country, especially given that immigrants are typically far more casual with their immigrant/home country communities.
- I think there's definitely a comparison with Hortense, who sees herself as unequivocally British, referring often to her "honey" skin as a form of colourist superiority that gives her acceptance into the host country. The first time she talks about this is while she is still in Jamaica iirc and so it's interesting that even though she hasn't even moved yet that she holds onto the ideals of the host country.
- I wonder for SI Gilbert and Elwood, and Gilbert initially dismisses Elwood's optimistic view that the motherland will provide, exacerbated when the mule Elwood buys escapes and is stung to death by the bees, causing Gilbert to feel disillusioned. Later on though Elwood does approach him with an opportunity to live in the place at Finsbury park, and that could be seen as immigrant solidarity?
The essay prompts are definitely interesting to help me think deeper about the question and my texts! I don't feel strongly either way since I probably won't be answer every week given that A-Levels are so soon, but I will definitely try to practice thinking in this manner, so it could be useful!