Choose your favorite passage from the book. Copy it here…. (should be no more than a paragraph). Do an analysis, focusing not only on what is written but how it is written, her choice of language and images. Discuss why this passage resonated with you.
Although this quote is not directly from Lahiri, she mentions it in Impossibility and it has been on my mind since I read it on the train the other night: "It's extremely useful to know that there are certain heights that one will never be able to reach."
ReplyDeleteAlthough Lahiri focuses on the quote's meaning in the context of literature, and her own struggles with writing in a foreign language, I found that this passage resonated with me differently as an aspiring educator: Although educators probably wouldn't want to admit that there is a "ceiling" that can be feasibly reached within their students, there definitely is one. This is totally observable as you progress through college and see former AP students and honor roll kids burned out, disillusioned, or just simply unable to make a C+ in 2-300 level calculus, chemistry, or computer science, when they probably got all 4s in high school. This doesn't necessarily have to be around education or writing, I feel like this one quote can be looked at in many ways as a somewhat depressing reminder of one's own mediocrity; in light of all of the pseudo-uplifting garbage I see on a daily basis, this one quote resonated within me as being realistic. As I get older, my own inner mediocrity begins to shine, as a former brightly shining star has probably reached his ceiling at the age of 17 and is struggling to make it out alive of taking six credits in four weeks and balancing work as an educator, preparing work for students at an after-school program that are certainly bound to surpass me in life-- if they haven't already.
What Lahiri refers to is that while she'll never be as good of a writer as those who've penned Dante and Don Quixote, I reflected within myself as never being as great as the mathematicians Euler or Gauss, or as brilliant as the mathematician and economist John Nash. Mathematics is the secondary language I choose to write in, and in discovering this passion at a somewhat "late" age, (16-- some of my students are 14 and I'm ashamed to admit that they're way smarter than me) most of what's written in In Other Words seemed to resonate with me in choosing mathematics as a language. Additionally, having studied Japanese for two years and completing a minor in it, I still know just about nothing. Although that parallels Lahiri's early experiences a bit more directly, I thought I'd focus on a more "abstract" language.
“Here is the boarder I will never manage to cross. The wall that will remain forever between me and Italian, no matter how well I learn it. My physical appearance. I feel like crying. I would like to shout: “I’m the one who desperately loves your language, not my husband,” (Pg. 137).
ReplyDelete“Sometimes when I speak Italian in Italy, I feel reprimanded, like a child who touches an object that shouldn’t be touched. “Don’t touch our language,” some Italians seem to say to me. “It doesn’t belong to you,” (Pg. 141).
I picked these two passages from the book because they represent my understanding of the obstacles Lahiri has faced in her studies of Italian. Lahiri uses many similes and metaphors throughout her book to make her adversities relatable. Although I have ever studied a foreign language intensively I can connect to Lahiri’s description of feeling as if she has been “reprimanded, like a child who touches an object that shouldn’t be touched.” By using this simile Lahiri is not only sharing her experience but allowing the reader to connect to her experience, to feel her experience. The first passge shows the frustration of Lahiri. She felt like crying because of the walls that stand in her way. How does it feel to exhaustedly hit a wall that won’t break down? Lahiri voices her lack of control, “no matter how well I learn it. My physical appearance.” Lahiri leaves it all on the page she writes very emotionally. She shares her frustrations and her feelings of self-doubt and lack of capability. I think Lahiri makes her experience relatable to a range of readers by writing so openly about her personal experience.
“For twenty years I studied Italian as if I were swimming along the edge of that lake. Always next to my dominant language, English. Always hugging that shore. It was good exercise. Beneficial for the muscles, for the brain, but not very exciting. If you study a foreign language that way, you won’t drown. The other language is always there to support you, to save you. But you can’t float without the possibility of drowning, of sinking. To know a new language, to immerse yourself, you have to leave the shore. Without a life vest. Without depending on solid ground.”
ReplyDeleteThis is the paragraph from the opening chapter of the book “the crossing” where she metaphorically describes her journey of learning Italian for 20 years as learning to swim across a lake. The use of the simple wording helps the readers understand and imagine her portrayal of learning Italian language. It is as if she is using her words to actually describe swimming. The shore, represents English language and the water is the Italian language. By repeatedly learning and practicing Italian, it exercises your brain- keeps it active just like how swimming exercises your body muscles. He quote “To know a new language, to immerse yourself, you have to leave the shore. Without a life vest. Without depending on solid ground.” Is a very powerful image to me. Its explaining that if you fully want to learn- not just the language, you have immersed your self in it- fully “drown in the water” without the life vest, without any help. I could relate to this image of swimming across a lake as in my culture if you dream about water and someone crossing it, it’s the sign of crossing into another continent and or accomplishing something very positive like starting a new chapter in your life. My grandmother actually dreamt of me crossing the ocean with my family while I was still in Pakistan, even before I got my visa to America and it was her prediction that one day my family would migrate to America. It didn’t take 20 years for me to get here but it was a matter of couple of months. So the image of Lahiri swimming in water to which one day she crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Italy was relatable to the dream that my grandmother had of me moving to America.
"I manage to understand and at the same time I don't understand. I renounce expertise to challenge myself. I trade certainty for uncertainty...
ReplyDeleteAfter I finish a book, I'm thrilled. It seems like a feat. I find the process more demanding yet more satisfying, almost miraculous. I can't take for granted my ability to accomplish it. I read as I did when I was a girl. Thus, as an adult, as a writer, I rediscover the pleasure of reading" (37)
When writing, I think it's tempting to try to write in the most elevated way possible with flowery imagery and words to present one's self as articulate and intelligent as possible. Even that last sentence, I could have written more concisely (People try to write in a way that makes them look smart) but I would have sacrificed vocabulary and the illusion that I'm intelligent and have a wide vocabulary. Lahiri's choice to write in a foreign language, where she will arguably never obtain the same type of command as she does in her primary language, is a bold choice. It is a choice that stands out to me as brave in a world where people are afraid to fail. Especially in demanding academic places, it feels like everyone is consistently trying to prove their worth through their intricate sentences and lofty vocabulary. People are afraid to stumble in these places because it may reflect badly on them. This can ultimately stunt people's growth, because growth cannot happen without failure. I think most people don't want to revert to the feeling like a novice in a sea of experts. I appreciate her comparison to children and the feeling of reading in a new way because of her language metamorphosis. It's a beautiful way of interpreting what she's doing.