Thursday, March 21, 2013

Lesson 2, Wednesday the 20th of March


Texts we have worked with today (homework and texts introduced in class)

-          Kanthapura by Raja Rao – class discussion

-          English For Better For Worse by Khushwant Singh – group work

 

How did we work with these texts?

-          Discussion in class

-          Group work

 

What were the main topics of today’s lesson?

India and the British

-          The language of the India people in England

 

What did we discuss?

1. What is the significance of gods in Indian culture? How do they behave, and how are they different to the Western concept of God?
- The Indians are polytheists, while the western, Christian populace is monotheist. The Indian gods often appear in mortal forms (human/animal), so that they have an identity, contrary to Christianity where god is an almighty being that is difficult to grasp. The Indian gods are assigned to different areas (f.eks. agriculture).

2. Why is it difficult for an Indian author to convey what he has to say in English?
- It is difficult, because of the language barrier between the two cultures. English is not a usable language to express the feelings and emotions of India, because they do not think alike. You cannot use a western language to express eastern lifestyle and feelings. = So some things will be lost in the translation.

3. What does Rao mean by “intellectual make-up” and “emotional make-up”?
- They wear the English language as make-up, because they will appear more intellectually. It is just like, we, in Denmark, utilize Latin to express ourselves, when we want to appear more intellectually. However they were not able to cloud their emotions through a mask.

4. What are the traits of the Indian language and Indian storytelling, according to Rao?
- “Not white, not quite” The Indians are trying to equalize the cultural differences with The British Empire by wearing “intellectual make-up”, because if they are able to speak as fluent and as proper as the English did, they are able to be equal to them – however this is hard, because they will never be as white as them.

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