Final Thoughts on Narratives

It is May, I find myself anxiously awaiting Saturday, the day in which my dependent strings will be cut.  Graduation is in the air, I can hardly concentrate on the last finals I have to study for, which can only mean one thing, I am done with college.  It has been a very enlightening yet busy semester requiring a much needed break. With summer approaching I will travel home and reflect upon the things I have learned and accomplishments I have made. In the warm breeze of summer I will be among the comfort of my family and the environment upon which my narratives and frames have been shaped. The fact is that I have learned a lot this semester, not just about the subjects I studied but about life and where I fit in. In the book “Artists of the Floating World,” author Rob Burton defines the four responsibilities to be a citizen of the floating world. These responsibilities are to recognize and acknowledge the narratives that constitute our identity, to make ethical choices when framing our understanding of the world, to be attentive to the subaltern voices that circulate widely in a media-saturated world, and to heed the lesson learned from “the Salman Rushdie affair” (Burton, 131-132).

To me, being a citizen in the floating world requires one’s self to be open-minded and accepting of diversity. We need to understand this simple principle and see beauty in each and everybody’s character. Everyone has their own frames, constructed throughout their life by family, friends, and culture. This is what makes our world so interesting. In choosing to be accepting of this diversity, I have gained new experiences and insight I would have not acquired otherwise. I have not been afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Throughout my travels, I have learned this valuable lesson and defined who I am today. The experiences I have lived and the people I have met have defined my place in the floating world. Two of the novels that have enlightened me this semester are Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee, and East, West by Salman Rushdie. These novels provide great insight, and prove to be excellent examples of lessons to be learned regarding responsibility a citizen of the floating world must portray.

In the novel Jasmine, by Bharati Mukherjee, the main character travels to America to live a better life. Mukherjee, an East Indian author, demonstrates what it is to question your own identity and what it takes to fit in. The young character Jyotie, decides to leave her native country of India to pursue the American Dream; unfortunately, her transition is anything but a dream. Just off the boat she is raped by the captain, an unfortunate event that sets the tone for her future. Throughout the novel Jyotie changes her name several times from Jyotie to Jasmine, Jase, and finally Jane. It seems as if when she wants to forget a particular part of her life, she just changes her identity. “For me, experience must be forgotten, or else it will kill” (Mukherjee, 33). Jasmine focused too much on the negative aspects and enough of the positive. This is partly caused because she is trying to fit in and be an average citizen of a foreign country.

This novel has helped affirm my notion that you cannot run from your past but instead you need to embrace it. As Jasmine learned the hard way, we cannot escape our past. Our past is who we are and is what shapes our future. Everybody will experience negative and unfortunate occurrences in their lifetime but instead of running from it, we need to deal with it and gain from the experience. I am happy with the person I have become. I understand who I am because of where I have been. My family history, the decisions of my parents and the life I have so far experienced have made me the person I am today.

Belongingness: another aspect of life with entails a great amount of pressure from society.  Eliot Crane in The Harmony of the Spheres, by Salman Rushdie, struggled with his identity and the pressure of belonging to something. Burton states, “it is only when we learn how to stand outside ourselves, literally seeing ourselves as a character in a novel, that we come to realize the extent to which we belong. The narrative that we compose for ourselves may or may not agree with the mainstream narratives around us” (p. 131).

Eliot Crane lived in the novels he wrote. He literally saw himself as a character in his novel, his life, however not only did he struggle with his identity, he struggled with the balance between self and others as well. He didn’t see how he affected, and how he was affected by the characters around him. Rushdie writes about Crane in an interesting light: a negative, sick man, who escapes in his writing and (whether chosen or not) does not want to live in reality. It is hard for him to be real. Crane found his harmony in writing, and yet his issues spawned from his writing as well. “He seemed better as long as he did not try to write, he seemed worse because not writing plunged him into such deep depressions…” (p. 127). Crane’s loved ones around him felt hopeless. The lesson learned from Rushdie’s character Eliot Crane: get real, and find the balance between self and others.

Crane’s loved ones saw him as “sick,” but one of his friends in particular, Khan, felt different. He states, “with his [Crane’s] help, I hoped, I might make a ‘forbidden self.’ The apparent world, all cynicism and napalm, seemed wholly without kindness or wisdom…would show me how to be wise. It would grant me – Eliot’s favourite word, this – harmony” (p. 141). As Crane struggles with his balance of harmony between self and others, Khan tried to find his as well. Khan understands the world, and makes choices about himself and people that give him a harmonic balance. The lesson learned from Rushdie’s character Khan: make ethical choices when framing our understanding of the world – an aspect that makes up a responsible citizen of the floating world.

For me, finding the balance of self and others is fortunately easy. Traveling has opened my eyes more than anything when considering the lives of others. I have been to several countries that have put me completely out of my comfort zone; however traveling pushed me to learn more about myself and others. I am also thankful for my family and friends who have guided me in the right direction of becoming the person I am today. I know who I am, and I have a harmonic balance between self and others. With reflection to the novels by Mukherjee, Rushdie, and Burton, I feel that I am doing my part in becoming a responsible citizen of the floating world.

As of this moment, I am the final sculpture of everything and everyone who has molded me. I will be molded just slightly different tomorrow. And, it is my responsibility to positively embrace every mold that will shape me.   Every country I have traveled, every person I have encountered, every thought that has consumed my mind: every narrative in my life up to this point…makes me, because I have learned to keep an open mind!

 Lisbon, Portugal

Picture taken by me:)