What does it mean to incorporate English in a post-colonial text?
Translating Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:
An Exploration of the English Language in Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable
Figure 1: Book cover of Soniah Kamal's Unmarriageable
Stories are universal; they persevere through time and over
borders. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a classic example of a universal
text. From the 1995 British television drama to Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable
which is set in south Asia, the story of Pride and Prejudice has one
of the most retellings and adaptations over time. Despite being translated to a
different continent, Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable is a true retelling
of Jane Austen’s classic tale, Kamal parallels Austen’s original text whenever
possible. The similarities between texts arise at the basic level as the
character names from Kamal mirror Austen. Austen’s Jane becomes Kamal’s Jena,
Elizabeth becomes Alysba, and Bingley becomes Bungles. In addition to the
names, the plot parallels the original. However, it also carries different
tensions as the novel is set in post-partition Pakistan and spans from December
2000 to December 2001. The location is integral to the story since the people
of Pakistan continue to experience the effects of the British Empire through
education and language even after their independence from the British in 1947 (Rajan
95). Hence, through this paper, I will analyze the implications of
translating Austen’s work into a post-colonial time and space. By using Audre
Lorde’s “The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House”, and Lois
Tyson’s post-colonial theory, I will showcase how it is possible to use
instruments of oppression to dismantle the oppressor's system.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The British empire was in place from 1858 to 1947 (Rajan 101). Over these ninety years, the oppressors ruled the Indian subcontinent,
until the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 (101). The political state of the nation is crucial as this text takes place
in a post-colonial society. Kamal draws attention to India’s politics by
including an epigraph from Thomas Macaulay’s “Minute on Education” before the
beginning of her story:
I have never found one among them
[Orientalists] who could deny that a single shelf of good European library was
worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia…We must at present do our
best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom
we govern—a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes,
in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to
refine the vernacular dialects of the country.
Macaulay was a British historian and politician who proposed the need
for English as the universal vernacular tongue for education. Windhausen
comments that while Macaulay justifies the importance of English as the medium
of instruction, he also recognizes the expenses involved in training all the
people of India in English. Thus Macaulay advocated for the government to
“educate the elite, through whom this learning would somehow filter down to the
rest” (255). This is also called the “filtration policy” and it would primarily
target language teachers in the country (255). By opening her story with
Macauley’s racist passage, Kamal tries to situate her reader in an
uncomfortable position because Unmarriageable is a post-colonial text
written in English.
Linguistic Tensions. In like manner,
Kamal begins Unmarriageable by situating the reader in an English
classroom in Pakistan. The first line of the story states the female
protagonist's job is that of an “English-literature teacher at the British
School of Dilipabad” (3). Alysba Binat’s career is deep-rooted in Macauley’s
western preferences for language and education. On the other hand, after
wrapping up the story, Kamal claims that this novel was written as a “postcolonial
counter to the linguistic legacy of colonialism” (353). Thus, on the surface
level, there seems to be hypocrisy around the symbol of the English language
because how can one counter the legacy of colonialism by using the colonizer’s
language? In other words, how is it possible to use instruments of oppression
to dismantle the oppressor's system as Kamal claims she has done? To expand,
instruments of oppression can include colonial education and the expectation of
being fluent in the English language. While both themes are apparent in Unmarriageable,
an exploration of the text through Audre Lorde and Lois Tyson will eventually
reveal how tools of oppression can be used to confront colonial damage and
potentially develop new ways of looking at the role of language in a
post-partition space.
Audre Lorde. In her essay “The Master's Tools Will
Never Dismantle the Master's House”, Audre Lorde addresses what it means when
the “tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy”
(1). Lorde claims that we cannot solve problems of oppression by working with
the tools that originate from a system of oppression as this makes it difficult
to recognize the shortcomings of the oppressor’s system. To expand, she raises
the concern of whether any efforts to undo the effects of patriarchy will fall
flat because many of us are deeply wrapped up in these power structures,
unwillingly and unknowingly. In relation to Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable,
we see how Alysba profits from tools of oppression through her teaching
job. Near the beginning of the book, the audience learns that “Alysba Binat
began working at age of twenty” (Kamal 3) and despite only being a “second year
of undergrad in English literature” (45), Naheed was willing to “pay [her] well
[as she was] fluent in English with [a] decent accent” (12). Compared to modern
standards, Alysba’s qualifications are not enough to secure a teaching job as
these jobs require the completion of a degree. Thus, in a location where the English
language is considered posh, Alysba’s accent helps her to secure a career with
limited education.
In addition, Lorde also challenges the idea that equality can exist
without a genuine and deep appreciation of our differences. She cherishes
difference as she states that “advocating the mere tolerance of difference is a
total denial of the creative function” (Lorde 1). Her statement shows that when we deny and
oppress differences, not only does it diminish the chances of a creative
dialect, but the restrictions can also limit an individual’s potential. Alysba
acts as a discouraging teacher as the opening scene of the novel shows how she
tolerates her students’ conservative thoughts while pushing for what Rose-nama
considers “Western conditioning” (Kamal 6). This term refers to her
agenda of being an independent career woman who tries to tolerate opposing
opinions in the room. Her acts of tolerance cease to influence or address the
underlying power structures of the school or marriage institutions which she
does not support. In fact, they can even serve to perpetuate the existing
oppressive power structures by deluding her into thinking work has been done.
By trying to teach the classroom her way of thinking without actively listening
to their feelings, she ultimately defends the very source of oppression she
seeks to subvert. In conclusion, Alysba frequently projects her expectations of
life onto others, something the colonizers have done as shown through Babington
Macaulay’s “Minute on Education” under the impression of having a superior presence.
Lois Tyson. On the other hand, much pre-colonial
culture has been lost over many generations of colonial domination. Many
theorists argue that “even had there been no colonization, the ancient culture
would have changed by now: [as] no culture stands still” (Tyson 422).
Therefore, many post-colonial theorists stress the changing nature of culture
and consequently the changing nature of humans. Moreover, Tyson asserts that
the hybridity of spaces “does not consist of a stalemate between two warring
cultures, but it is rather a productive, exciting positive force in a shrinking
world that is itself becoming more and more culturally hybrid” (422). Thus
there is value in bringing cultures together, and Alysba presents her
appreciation of this concept through her dialogue with Darsee and Wickham as
she shows an appreciation for the post-colonial land she lives on and the
English language. She understands that “a book and an author can belong to more
than one country or culture” (Kamal 177), which shows the hybridity of texts
across spaces in addition to showing the universality of Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice. Through this statement, Alysba shows that post-colonial identity
is a constantly evolving hybrid of cultures.
Despite her inclination toward a life of independence, Alysba struggles
to find a balance between her identity as a career woman and her Pakistani
identity. During her teaching classes, she “wrestles with how to incorporate
history” (124) as she wants to introduce modern texts to her students without
diminishing the effects of the British empire. She combats her internal
struggle by pairing up English texts with post-colonial works in her classroom
as this comparison allows her to emphasize how stories from different
backgrounds can speak to each other. In fact, she praises translations when
Wickham claims that “too much is lost in translation” because she understands
that something is still better than nothing (130). Furthermore, she advocates for
an “appreciation of the universalities across cultures” (117). In conclusion,
she is constantly trying to find a middle ground between her double identity
and decides to focus on gaining from different cultures, rather than strictly
focusing on one or the other.
CONCLUSION
The exploration of Alysba’s attitudes through Lorde and Tyson highlights
the linguistic tensions in Soniah Kamal’s Unmarriageable. So how does
Kamal use instruments of oppression to dismantle the oppressor's system? While
Kamal’s protagonist is responsible for spreading the love for the English
language, she also engages in dismantling acts of oppression through the texts
she teaches and how she approaches conversations with her male love interests. Alysba’s conversations with Darsee and Wickaam would not hold much
weight unless they were accompanied by actions which uphold the same morals.
Although Alysba attempts to match her attitudes with actions in her classroom.
Rather than focusing on texts, music, and movies, from either post-colonial
artists or western artists, she places them alongside western art. This shows
how she embraces her double identity without giving either side more importance
over the other. For example, when Alysba walks to the Race Course Park she
listens to the following songs: “Dama Dam Mast Qalandar”, “Material Girl”, “Aap
Jaisa Koi”, and “Disco Deewana” (100-102). The rotation of English and
Pakistani music draws on her inability to escape her hybrid culture while
showing that adopting both identities is not harmful to either culture. In addition, by using Urdu words throughout the text, Kamal uses Unmarriageable
as a vessel to transport words which do not have direct translations and
inevitably lead to a mixing of language and culture. Thus due to the complex
nature of Pakistani land, I believe we must extend sympathy to authors and
characters who attempt to converse with post-colonial bodies and spaces. The
text attempts to undo the damage inflicted by colonialism in the form of
English instruction while being aware of the limitations of reality. The text
is constantly in conversation with colonial ideologies, but it also explores
more than the classic tale of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, thus making
it a valuable contribution to the world of Austen’s retellings.
Works Cited
- Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Broadview. 2002
- Austen, Jane et al. directors. Pride and Prejudice. BBC Production 1995.
- Kamal, Soniah. Unmarriageable: A Novel. Ballantine Books, 2020.
- Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” 1984. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Ed. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. 110–114. 2007. Print.
- Rajan, M. S. “The Impact of British Rule in India.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 4, no. 1, 1969, pp. 89–102. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/259793. Accessed 27 Nov. 2022.
- Tyson, Lois. “Postcolonial criticism.” Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide, 2nd ed., Routledge, 2009, pp. 417–449.
- Windhausen, John D. “The Vernaculars, 1835-1839: A Third Medium for Indian Education.” Sociology of Education, vol. 37, no. 3, 1964, pp. 254–70. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/2111957. Accessed 27 Nov. 2022