Melancholia and assimilation as ways to exist in the social world

[cathy_ndiaye2]

How does Rajiv’s melancholia manifest itself in Antiman, and how does it compare to his father’s attitude toward his Indo-Guyanese culture?
One obvious example of the author of Antiman, Rajiv Mohabir’s melancholia towards his Indo-Guyanese heritage is the fact that he wrote a book about it and his grandmother, the person who connects him to his heritage is an important character of the story (at least in the part we had to read). He depicts her in a beautiful, compassionate and respectful way, we easily see that he values the fact that she is his connection to his culture ‘’ whenever I saw her, I would spend hours sitting, recording, and later transcribing and translating my Aji's Bhojpuri songs.’’ (Mohabir, 20) Furthermore, in some parts of the book, he transcribes what seems to be Hindi or old Guyanese languages and this shows the importance he gives to the languages of his ancestors. I think the most obvious representation of his melancholia is the fact that despite his father’s disapprobation he learned about stories from his culture and he learned the language to be able to communicate with his grandmother, translate her songs and rediscover the culture of his ancestors. About that, he writes ‘’I wanted Hindi and Bhojpuri instead: these old Guyanese and Indian traditions sparkled on Ihe horizon, catching my eye from their past lives. Through them I could learn the deep ocean of stories of where we came from and breathe into them new life’’ (Mohabir, 19)

The contrast is obvious with his father’s attitude. His father, the son of the grandmother grew up in Britain and growing up assimilating to the English culture and Christian faith was a way to have an education and to build a future. It looks like for Rajiv’s father, assimilating and denying everything that was connecting him to his Indo-Guyanese heritage was the only way to survive the social pressure of not being a white Englishman. Rajiv’s dad is depicted as someone who does not want anything to do with what reminds him of Hinduism and Indo-Guyanese culture. He is actively fighting against his melancholia almost as if doing so, he would be able to erase his culture from within him and it seems that he’s been doing it for a long time ‘’ Pap hadn't wanted to hold on to these things. He and his siblings all started taking communion and going by Christian names for the sake of assimilation or genuine faith…To survive they had to create social distance between their Coolie home culture and the English world through mimicking the latter. In certain conditions when my father addressed white people, daal became split pea soup, aloo, potatoes, and he called himself Glenn when his name was Surjnarine…’’ (Mohabir, 20) While reading about the attitude of Rajiv's father it seemed to me like he had an ''inferiority complex'' at first, but when I think about it on a deeper level, I don't think that it came from a place of hate or shame, I think it was the way he found to survive in his social environment. Also, it seems like for Rajiv’s dad it becomes an even bigger struggle when his son shows interest in the culture he tried to erase. Another example of his assimilation (in opposition to melancholia) is the fact that he insisted that Rajiv learn ‘’useful’’ languages like Greek or Hebrew to eventually be able to understand the bible instead of learning Hindi (Mohabir, 19).

It’s really interesting because a few weeks ago, in class we talked about how the melancholia and the wish to grow a connection with their parents' and grandparents’ culture often seems to be stronger in the children of immigrants (2nd , 3rd generation) than in the immigrants themselves (1st generation). This is exactly what we see with the relationship between Rajiv’s parents, their culture and their interactions with the grandmother. In opposition to the way Rajiv strives to be connected to his ancestors’ culture. I wonder how the grandmother felt about her son's ''rejection'' of her story and her culture. Did she see it as a ''survival mechanism'' or as rejection/shame ?