Leah Guillory

December 12, 2009

What Jasmine and Train to Pakistan, and then
Heart Of Darkness and Things Fall Apart say to Each Other

            Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart have much to say to each other. One way is through family lineage. Okonkwo’s character in Things Fall Apart is formed in response to his father who is both jobless and gentle - flawed features that Okonkwo associates as weak and womanly. While the Igbo judge men by their own actions, unlike the Europeans in Heart of Darkness revealed when Marlowe has to rely on his aunt’s connections to get him a job, Okonkwo is nevertheless gripped by a “fear of himself, lest he should resemble his father” who leaves Okonkwo without land or money. Far removed from Marlowe‘s beneficial family legacy, who has secured a billet as commander of a river steamer through family connections, Okonkwo must make his own way in the world, and it is fortunate for him that the Igbo society offers him the opportunity to improve his station.          

            Another way that the two text speak to one another is through their approaches.

Marlow’s narrative in Heart of Darkness posits a superficial view of the tale - essentially an elaborate story involving confrontation with exotic natives, treacherous dangers of the jungle, brutal savagery. The story presents attacks by the natives, descriptions of the jungle and the river, and characterizations of white men who, sometimes for principle and sometimes for profit, invade the jungles to bring out ivory.   

            One important function of the Things Fall Apart on the other hand, is educational; Achebe effectively counters the pitiless European stereotypes of African culture, particularly the notion that traditional African cultures are amoral and unsophisticated. In refutation of this stereotype, Achebe carefully describes the sophistication and changeableness of Igbo culture, disclosing the existence of groups with different ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds within one society.

            Both novels though represent a native culture and a European culture threatened by the coming of Christianity and European ways - both cultures are adversely effected.

            Okonkwo’s demise foreshadows the elimination of traditional Igbo culture considering that greatest flaw is his inability to adapt to cultural change. At the end of the novel, Okonkwo stands alone, a self-proclaimed defender of an inflexible way of life that contradicts the true flexibility of his people’s way of life.

            Kurtz becomes corrupted by the very natives he had hoped to enlighten. He still had power over the natives, but instead of his changing them, they had reduced him into an uncivilized savage. Kurtz attended native rituals, had killed frequently in order to get ivory, and had hung heads as decorations outside his hut. Talking to Marlow, Kurtz showed his awareness of how uncivilized he had become and how his plans to educate the natives had been reversed. 

            Jasmine and Train To Pakistan also speak to each other through two main characters. Jasmine is a complex, resourceful, and dynamic character who undergoes dramatic positive changes throughout the novel. A young, daring woman from India, endowed by nature with good looks and a good mind, she uses them both to her fullest advantage to seek happiness and self-fulfillment. With her remarkable willpower, she fights an undesirable fate as she resists the hold of a feudal and patriarchal family. Her marriage to Prakash allows her to break the mold of the traditional female role in Indian society and strengthens her hopes for a bright future. Even her husband’s death does not deter her from realizing her American Dream. Her arduous voyage to America shows her stubborn will to survive and her determination to re-create her destiny. She goes through several rebirths to become all-American. Her adaptability and readiness to reinvent herself aid her assimilation into American society.

            Hukum Chand, dissimilar to Jasmine is a morally conflicted man who undergoes negative changes throughout the novel as the regional magistrate, and the most influential character in the story. Overcome with tainted transactions, Hukum Chand is an ugly, filthy man who is who often unsuccessfully tries to wash away the dirt: “Hukum Chand felt as if he had touched the lizards and they had made his hands dirty. He rubbed his hands on the hem of his shirt. It was not the sort of dirt which could be wiped off or washed clean” (24). He is unlike Jasmine who also has tainted transactions although they do not overcome her.