The Great Buddha: Nadeem Aslam

Nadeem Aslam is what can be considered a transatlantic writer.

Firstly I would like to engage with the reoccurring “Great Buddha” which is omnipresent throughout the novel, and presents a key reference point for its readers. Rather than suggest that this is a reference to a religious question, it is in fact a reference to the past and the peace that Afghanistan embraced before the horrors of war. If we take for example, Marcus who is the great pacifist of the novel, he is fantastically described as “a prophet in wreckage” by Russian native Lara. What is represented immediately by Marcus, is indeed a wreckage, salvaged from war. The first reference to The Great Buddha can be contrasted with Marcus as it too, is a relic of the past, as it described as “A face from another time.” (Aslam 22) Nadeem Aslam emphasised in an interview with “BookBits,” that a country cannot bury its past, thus The Great Buddha is not only a memory of the past, but a memory of a peaceful Afghanistan. The purpose of the Buddha is not to romanticise Buddhism or condemn Islam, but condemn war and act as a stark reminder of peace.

Fascinatingly enough, Aslam creates another contrast with historical reference in his masterpiece. The book is punctuated quite frequently, with references to the Twin Tower bombings of 2001, yet refrains from detailing to heavily into the attacks. Jean Baudrillard wrote a daring piece in the aftermath of these atrocities stating that; “The Spectacle of terrorism forces the terrorism of spectacle upon us.” Thus the impact of such an attack is based on the symbolic value of the element. I make this observation in order to draw a clear contrast between these atrocities and a second symbolic act by Muslim extremists in 2001 and that ...

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...ate level, but all the same represent a changing mentality. The earliest occurrence which this shift is suggested, begins with The Great Buddha. Casa appears mildly disorientated momentarily as he falls asleep. “He lies there aware of the giant features hovering above him in the half-light. The almost-closed eyes. The smile.” (Aslam 164) Although his mind desires him to move from the “idol”, his body rejects such a movement, giving a sense that he is drawn to the Buddha and the ideology attached to it. Perhaps one sentence in the novel which stands out regarding Casa’s redemption is upon his discovery of a landmine. “He knows he must prevent Marcus and the others ever venturing near the mine. He cannot bring himself to care about what happens to them.” (Aslam 259) This passage suggests an inner conflict of Casa’s, regarding the safety of Marcus, Lara and David.