Synopsis
As Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she may be forgiven for feeling happy. Today she will throw a party for her son and daughter. In the garden of the house she has built, her roses are blooming; her children are almost grown up; and beyond their doorstep, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air. But none of the guests at Rehana's party can foresee what will happen in the days and months that follow. For this is East Pakistan in 1971, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change for ever.
Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution, of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism. In the chaos of this era, everyone--from student leader protesters to the country's leaders, from rickshaw-wallahs to the army's soldiers--must make choices. And as she struggles to keep her family safe, Rehana will find herself faced with a heartbreaking dilemma.
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“About the book.” tahmima.com.08 June, 2008 < http://www.tahmima.com/book.html >.
Review
Tahmima Anam's A Golden Age is an empathic piece of writing. Although she is not an eye-witness to the war yet she crafted a convincing tale from the accounts narrated by people as well as her own research. This fiction brings a story about the Bangladesh Liberation War to an English-speaking audience, but at what expense? Whether she succeeded or not is the point under consideration.
It can’t be denied that the Bangladesh war for independence depicted good against evil, the arch rivals. The security forces especially military of West Pakistan occupied and ransacked the East Pakistan wing (presently Bangladesh) with such an insane devastation and religious chauvinism that it vindicated the forceful cries for liberty in the ruined streets of Dhaka. This desire for liberation grew day by day.
Here, some critical questions strike one’s mind. Haven't we passed biased plot-making? Haven't we decided that the "innocent" device of depicting "evil bad guys" as disgusting, malevolent, and one-sided is inaccurate, unjust as well as immoral? The trichotomy of the good, the bad and the ugly certainly exists in Tahmima Anam's subject matter, but in her novel, A Golden Age, realistic characters and human villains do not. It is worthwhile to mention that in her effort, she certainly hit the bull’s eye.
Based on her grandmother's life and miscellaneous narration of events during the war, the novel tells a tale of Rehana Haque who was a widow and a mother of two.
Major newspapers around the world wrote about Masih’s story, even though it was often demoted towards the end of the newspaper. It was not long before both the media and the public disregarded it. A little less than seven thousand miles away from Pakistan, however, another 12-year-old boy in Thornhill, Canada devoted Masih’s story to memory, an undertaking that signified the beginning ...
A ‘golden age’ can be interpreted in many ways; it can be a time of
One of the main controversies in this book is the plight of women and men’s struggles. Although both experienced different kinds of inequalities, women were the target of the Taliban. In 1978, women in Kabul were demanding their rights during the Afghan Women’s Year. The president who was in charge then was president Daoud, and he decreed, “The Afghan woman has the same right as the Afghan man to exercise personal freedom, choose a career, and fins a partner in marriage” (53). This decree was absolutely invalid when the Taliban expelled a humanitarian organization that was run by women, and because of that, the Taliban took over Kabul. Women were not allowed to work outside of home. Because of that, Latifa mentions that women in Kabul usually just bake bread, do embroidery,
Many people may view something differently than others, this is usually and interpretation. An interpretation is an action of explaining the meaning of something or it can be an explanation of a way to explain something. We have all made interpretations about something and we do it often. Eric Forner and Howard Zinn had different interpretations of the gilded age, which was a time period where the United States population and economy quickly grew with a lot of corruption. Their ways of explaining this era was different from one another.
The name The Gilded Age given to America by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner does not fit the time period. The words Gilded in essence means golden but the Gilded Age (1870-1900) was not that. The Gilded Age had success, like the economic boom and the formation of labor unions, but the weaknesses of that era were far greater than those accomplishments, like the ill prepared government, the unequal distribution of wages and the racial discrimination held against the Chinese, African Americans and the Indians.
As a kid I always loved going to the movies and seeing Spiderman, Batman, or Superman kicking the bad guys’ butts’ on the big screen. It seems movies these days always have the same overarching theme though good vs. evil. Even those super girly princess movies have aspects of good and evil. Take The Little Mermaid, for example, there is the protagonist, Ariel, and the antagonist, Ursula, and just like in all of the other movies, the good guy always wins. Although, the theme of good vs. evil is not only found in movies; it can also be found in history, literature, and day-to-day lives. Though the battle between good and evil manifests itself in many types of literary work, good always triumphs evil.
It is the year 2000, in Kabul, Afghanistan where the Taliban just took over, enforcing the rule that all women must stay inside or be accompanied by a man or boy. Deborah Ellis wanted to write a story about how one family stuck together to endure the toughest of times. Even when they have different points of views.
Mark Twain wrote in his biography, “I like the exact word, and clarity of statement”. Upon examining the parameters of this self-reflection, it bounces back onto his famous characterization of the 1870s to 1890s period, ‘the Gilded Age’. This particular wordplay implied (and referred) to the “glittering, deceptive” appearance of America’s current political and economic expansion (Foner 528). Although naturally certain societal views are held more strongly than others, with how much certainty could this term be used to accurately describe all of this period’s major events? Despite the inevitable negatives produced from the Second Industrial Revolution, the achieved growth and benefits balanced
Look around at our society today, would it be the same if not for the Gilded Age?? The Gilded Age resulted in many things that people still benefit from to this very day. The Gilded Age was an age of economic growth, especially in the North and West. Millions of European immigrants were attracted to the United States. The European wages, especially for skilled workers, were much lower than in America. Wages in the US grew at a very fast rate and continued to rise. The increase of industrialization means, an increasing labor force. However, even with an increase in jobs the Gilded Age was also an era of poverty as very poor European immigrants moved to the United States. The major industry was railroads, but labor unions, mining, and the factory system also increased in importance. One major nationwide depressions known as the Panic of 1893 stunted growth. The South remained devastated economically; its economy became tied to tobacco and cotton production, which suffered low prices. African Americans in the South lost their right to vote. The political outcome was notable despite some corruption, elections between the evenly matched parties were close and turnout was very high. The biggest issues were economic: tariffs and money supply, and cultural: especially including prohibition, ethnic and racial groups, and education.
Large amounts of immigrants from all over became attracted to the United States in the 19th and 20th century because of the fact that we had started expanding rapidly, new industries opened up which leads to more job openings; this time was called the Gilded Age. The immigrants coming to the United States realized they had a chance for a better life; they have the chance to start over and have a job. “While they endured harsh conditions during their time of service, as a result of their labors, they acquired ownership of small pieces of land that they could then work as independent yeoman farmers.” (Diner). Americans built bigger corporations, cities, and buildings; some people made fortunes and others created a new middle class and proved
In the memoir of Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah states that his life’s journey has been a huge obstacle, but has learned to overcome that struggle by venting while the two contradictory sides continue their battling. Beah accomplishes his goal of explaining to the reader his point of view through the use of rhetorical questions, scenic narration, and parallelism. Ishmael Beah’s apparent purpose is to share personal accounts of his life with his fellow country men, in a country where war affects people to a level beyond the imagination. He is able to apply his purpose using a grotesque and bitter tone. Beah approaches his audience of ordinary people in this manner in order to vent his feelings about war by sharing life experiences with his reader.
During the Cold War, many regional conflicts occurred and were noted as the significant battles which later led to decolonization. One of the regional conflicts were India and Pakistan fighting for their independence. In 1947, India was released under Great Britain’s control and gained its independence. However, the country was divided between Muslims and Hindus, which share different religions. Muslims wanted church and state to become unified while Hindus wanted a separation of these two establishments. Since these two ethnic groups disagreed, it was difficult to create a new government. Therefore, India was divided into two nations: India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. Hindus and Muslims were racing to the border in order to get to their nation state which led to killing 500,000 people due to rioting. Although, Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian National Congressman, wanted to obtain peace between these two religions. Pakistan refused the H...
Bangladesh is a proud nation built on the foundation of a rich literary tradition and history. As they finally one their independence from Pakistan in 1971 after many years of struggle, the masses of people that once made East Pakistan and East Bengal cheered as they finally gained their independence. As this youngest nation of South Asia was free to chart their own destination, with high hopes of becoming a better nation. But soon all those high hopes and expectations were gone, and Bangladesh soon drowned into a pool of poverty. For an average ...
There were growing tensions between East Pakistan and West Pakistan during 1971. After winning the 1970 elections, East Pakistan wanted to establish their own country and separate from Pakistan. West Pakistan answered this with “Operation Searchlight” which started the Bangladeshi Liberation War (Malieckal,77). Operation Searchlight’s purpose was the extermination of all Bengalis. Dinshawji comments on this genocide when he says, “Bloody butchers, slaughtering left and right” (76). 3 million Bengalis died and 10 million decided to take refuge in India (Malieckal, 75-76). To pay for all these refugees, India introduced refugee relief tax which made the lives of the people harder. India joined the war after the bombing by West Pakistan's military aircraft. In the novel, Gustad covers his windows with black paper and builds an air-raid shelter under his bed to keep his family safe during the war (347). After 13 days of fighting, the Indo-Pakistani war came to an end with Pakistan surrendering and the Bengalis establishing their own nation.
Kashmir — a beautiful mountain state with clear rivers, evergreen forests and one of the highest death rates in the world. It is at the center of an age-old dispute between Pakistan and India that has dragged on from the independence of both nations over fifty years ago to the present time, with no resolution in sight. The combined population of the two nation totals over a billion, so no conflict between them is of passing importance, especially when nuclear weapons are involved. Pakistan and India share a common heritage, language, and traditions, yet the subject of Kashmir can push them to the brink of annihilation. Fifty years of animosity have built up as a result. A proxy war still brews in Kashmir, claiming dozens of lives every day, running up a casualty total over time into the hundred thousands. Kashmiris have suffered untold horrors and Kashmir has the notorious reputation of being one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.