In Chapter 5, Changez is in a hotel in Manila, packing his suitcase and watching television, when he sees the towers of the World Trade Center collapse. “And then I smiled,” he confesses. Explore this scene as the turning point of the novel — in terms of plot, character, scope, and tone.

This scene in the book is the beginning of the decline in Changez’s character. After 9/11, Erica becomes more distant and he is no longer able to keep his mind on work and eventually quits his job, although that is due to the Terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament rather than 9/11. Changez begins to question his identity. On his way back from Pakistan to the US, he said “I found it ironic; children and the elderly were meant to be sent away from impending battles, but in our case, it was the fittest and brightest who were leaving”. He was obviously preoccupied with thoughts on what might happen with his home country and India, and it didn’t seem right for him to leave. He also decided to grow out a beard. At this point in time, many people would do the opposite in hopes of not looking middle eastern to not drag attention to themselves. Changez does the opposite and even goes out to look for trouble as if to find himself.

Pick a song which does this in an insightful or problematic way and write a response.

The song I will be doing is New Slaves by Kanye West

The song New Slaves begins with a distorted and futuristic beat. The beat gives the mood of urgency, it makes us feel uncomfortable and that there is not much time remaining. Kanye West discusses global issues in the song, addressing racism, segregation, materialism, and the status quo. Kanye is almost shouting the lyrics, its as if he was ranting. His message is being delivered very angrily, to show how upset he is with modern society.

The song begins with kanye describing how his mother grew up, “my mama was raised in an era when, clean water was only served to the fairer skin”. Kanye is referring to the segregation his mother had to deal with, and the jim crow laws.  Later on in the first verse, he explains his experience with racism. How when he was “broke”, the shopkeepers would be very dismissive of him, telling him “dont touch anything in the store”. To the present day, and how when he enters a store now they are very joyful and helpful. He parallels his mothers generation to ours, and how racism is just as prominent as it was in the older days. “What you want, a bentley? fur coat? diamond chain?” He is describing how rich black males are often stereotyped, and that its a “dream” of black males to own these things. “used to only be niggas, now everybody playin, spending everything on alexander wang” Kanye is describing how materialism has caused everybody to be a slave, and that it is no longer only the blacks. He explains that money is used to make people do what the “masters” want. People are influenced by others to buy all these expensive brands, and products of Alexander Wang, who’s products often cost a lot of money. Kanye even refers to the song Strange Fruit by Nina Simone when he says “I know that we the new slaves, I see the blood on the leaves”. Strange Fruit is a song about the lynching of black males, and how common and horrible it was in america. It relates to Kanye’s point as he suggests that he sees the blood money (leaves referring to money), and that the new slavery is materialism and consumerism.

Kanye West is a very controversial musician, and is not afraid to speak on what he believes. This is why I think that he was the perfect person to deliver a song like this, he does not care what the public will say, it is something he believes in. Unfortunately, many people view Kanye as a very delusional person, as he does suffer from the bipolar disorder. This means that people disregard his message, and just view it as another one of his “rants”.

In Gandhi’s memoir, he describes his conflicts as he struggles to build or retain his identities. He explains how his shift to vegetarianism affects his relationships and social status. I think it was quite nice of his friends to stay supportive of him, although they believed that it isn’t what a true “English gentlemen” would do.  He states that it was the “last friendly tussle we had”, which shows that his friends didn’t mind that he was different.

Gandhi describes how he was constantly trying to become somebody he wasn’t, the “perfect English gentlemen”. He begins to take all these classes, and change his identity and personality for the people around him. He does not stay true to himself. He tells us that he took multiple classes, dressed differently, and compromised his character trying to fit in.  It’s a problem we face every day, trying to fit in with the people around us. I mean, it’s even a problem for me. I switch identities from when I am around my parents, to when I am with my friends. I think it is something we can all relate to, feeling as if we do not belong. So I can understand why he would do all these things, and I would probably have done the same if I was him, but I do not think it is the correct thing to do.

This was why I was happy to find out near the end of the memoir he came to a realization. He realized that this wasn’t who he was, that this was someone else. He realized that he did not come to England to become a gentleman, rather study law, and become a lawyer. He was not raised in England like the people around him, and he would probably always be a stranger to the people around him. He could learn all these things in India, and he should continue his studies.

Gandhi used many different techniques to communicate his experiences. One of them being humor and sarcasm. “Mr. Bell rang the bell of alarm in my ear and I awoke.” This added comedy to the memoir and engaged the reader. It made Gandhi feel more like a person, rather than someone telling a story about their life. It releases tension in the text, as some parts are quite serious.

c) Duffy uses dark humor to great effect in this poem. Elaborate instances where this is evident.

Carol Ann Duffy manages to explore the ideas of greed and selfishness in her poem, “Mrs. Midas”. She manages to put her own twist on the mythical tale “Midas”, giving the perspective of Midas’s wife.

Duffy uses dark humor to show the shock, and how hopeless the situation is. When Duffy said “For starters, corn on the cob. Within seconds he was spitting teeth of the rich.” Often, rich people will have their teeth filled with gold. Although this may not be intended to be funny, it makes the reader laugh and allows them to realize how hopeless Midas is in this situation. Not only that, but it also allows the reader to understand the selfishness of Midas, and how it negatively affects him, as he isn’t even able to eat corn on the cob.

It’s also humorous how to most people, gold is a luxury. Duffy twists this and for Midas and his wife, gold is somewhat of a curse. But, Duffy shows that Mrs. Midas still conforms to the gold, as she says “the toilet I didn’t mind”. Showing that she is still somewhat a person attracted to wealth.

Another example is when Midas comes into the house, and has no clue what is going on. He is still in shock about how the reckless he was and how his greed and selfishness cloud his judgment. He even began to laugh. I believe he started to laugh as he just begins to realize the severity of his situation and is in shock. He could also be laughing to hide his fear, and doesnt want to believe that this is actually happening.

What aspects of Patel’s exploration of his identity struck you particularly? (about 200-300 words?)
Choose one/two of the 7 concepts (identity, perspective, transformation, culture, communication, representation, creativity) to explain the ways in which this/these is/are a central concept(s) in this performance.

What struck me was the way he dressed and presented himself throughout the ted talk. He was wearing traditional Indian clothing, while the woman on stage looks more like a traditional Chinese piece of clothing. I think something that he is trying to show by doing this is telling us how much our culture impacts who we are, and our identity. He also shows that sometimes we base the identity of other people on the way they look or the way they talk, which I find very interesting. He talks about the influence he received from his father and bruce lee. He explains how our role models affect our character today. I really enjoyed the way he communicated his points, with the choreographed dances and the “translator”.