Role Of Religion In Raami's In The Shadow Of The Banyan

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Religion and folklore play key roles in the lives of our characters.

“In the Shadow of the Banyan” my novel, religion and folklore play huge roles in the lives of our protagonists; and with this as well our main protagonist Raami can make sense of the tragic things happening in her reality by relating it to her religious teachings and the stories of her mythology. The author makes a clear statement about, the values that can be inherited by looking through the eyes of a naïve child and her rationality behind the events that occur in the story. In this essay, we follow the …show more content…

Raami was born with Polio and because of this was sheltered all through her infancy. As a young child being unable to interact with those who were not in her immediate family or a care taker Rammi looked to the stories and teachings of her ancestors, stories of gods, demons, heroes and happy endings. Before the revolutionary army “took power” Rammi lived a relatively normal life, although the war ravaged on around her she could still cope, but when she was introduced to the Khmer Rouge, the revolutionary army she was not prepared. She claims, “They looked neither like the Devarajas nor Rakshas, the mythical gods and demons I’d imagined them to be.” (Ratner 34). Due to the myths she had been raised up on she imagined the Khmer Rouge as these larger than life characters and this is because of the way they were spoken of and revered by her parents and her aunt. This relates to the overall theme because she associates being revered and being spoken of in a secretive manner as something larger than life, this is derived from her love of folklore and its use as an outlet to make sense of incomprehensible things. Another instance in which our protagonist Rammi went straight towards religion or folklore for validation was the death Mr. Virak’s baby. After the

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