IRP 2 novels

Novels are create to have more than one purpose, for example it can be for entertainment, for education purpose, but it is also a form of self transcendence. According to Moshin Hamid, authors use of cultural believes, trouble characters, real life issues, and with the help of imagination, the readers can easily enter into other human experience, and feel the new experience they never be aware of before. Transcending self is another way of saying to go beyond or improve self, first one must acknowledge the challenge in life, second one must learn to accept the challenge occur in life, last one must solve the problem before it leads to bigger problem. By highlighting the challenge that the protagonist have to go through in life, and acknowledging the importance of accepting it, Donoghue and Lam both create an image of one must learn to adapt a new challenge before one can enhance oneself in Room and The Headmaters’s Wager.

In order to transcend self, one must know that by pushing problems aside, can not guarantee to have a fulfilling life as one always believes; One must also learn to accept and acknowledge that cultural difference can not be solve by connections and money. Precival Chan the protagonist devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mahjong tables. “Your own use of our language is clumsy. Like a child’s.” (Lam, 62) he never accept that Vietnam is taking full control of the country, so he do not see the needs to learn Vietnamese. When he realizes his son gets into trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, his first reaction is to use his connection and money “...Further conversations might be required, with my chief, and possi...

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...erefore can “I look back one more time. It's like a crater, a hole where something happened.” (Donoghue, 321) look back into it and move on in his life.

To enhance self, one must know one’s flaw, and accept the challenge to fix the flaw, before it leads to a big issue, that it can not be fix. By fixing the flaw, it gives a chance to improve self, and can feel the fulfillment of improving. And the authors uses universal and common challenge that can happen to anyone, and anywhere. And with the help of imagination, readers are able to link the issue into their own experience. These cultural difference is a common issue, many people may have hear some in the news, and may have a bit of experience of it, so it will be so much easier for the readers to step in another person’s shoe.

Works Cited

Room by Emma Donoghue

The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam