Complex Cultural Identity and the Transmission of Culture The relationship between culture and individual identity is in a continuous cycle where culture helps in shaping the identity of the individual, then the individual helps back by transmitting culture to different generations, so the cycle goes on again. In this paper, I explore this continuous relationship between culture and the individual identity in Honor, Dolly City, and My Grandmother. I argue that a complex cultural identity exists in the mother figures in these books, which affects the transmission of culture to the next generations.
In the first two books, Honor and My Grandmother, the complexity of the cultural identity in the mother figures, results in a better transmission …show more content…
We see Hernaus, an Armenian girl, forced to leave her religion and culture behind, develops a new Turkish identity as Seher. Seher, who is now married to a Turkish man and have Turkish children and grandchildren, still holds on to some of her Armenian culture. In one part, Fethiye, Seher’s granddaughter, remembers how her grandmother used to make sweet braided breads called çörek. Years later, Fethiye realizes the significance of çörek for Armenians as many of her Armenian neighbors, including her grandmother, would make this bread during Easter (Çetin 102). Seher, even though a Turkish and a Muslim now, still holds on to some of her Armenian traditions. In another instance, Fethiye, surrounded by her grandmother’s American sister who is telling her stories about her great-grandmother, suddenly realizes that the only song she had heard her grandmother hum is an Armenian song from her past life (Çetin 112). Seher, while dealing with the complexity of two identities, Armenian vs. Turkish and Christian vs. Muslim, manages to instill a sense of attachment to her culture into both her children and grandchildren. Considering that this book is a memoir, we can see the result of the developed cultural attachment of Fethiye to her grandmother’s Armenian culture in real life. The mere concept of Fethiye writing such controversial book proves that she was not only attached to her grandmother, but also to a …show more content…
Since Dolly City is set in a futuristic dystopian Israel, the complexity of the cultural identity is presented differently. Here, the confusion is between the identity of Dolly as an individual, and Dolly as the State of Israel. In his article “Postzionism and Its Aftermath in Hebrew Literature,” Todd Hasak-Lowy explains how in Dolly City, “Israel’s territorial ‘madness’ lies at the heart of the protagonist’s unstable identity” (93). Dolly’s unstable identity goes back and forth between being an independent individual and being a counterpart to the state of Israel. In one scene, Dolly questions “if a state like the State of Israel can’t control the Arabs in the territories, how can anybody expect [her], a private individual, to control the occupied territories inside [herself]?” (Castel-Bloom 96). Here, Dolly, is equating the madness in her with the madness in Israel, and by that ultimately equating herself with the State. In another scene, Dolly’s sister takes Son away from Dolly and tells her that she can only have him back when Dolly herself “[returns] to the 67’ borders” (Castel-Bloom 110). Here, not only Dolly sees herself as the State, but also her sister Natasha treats her as if she is the state of Israel. This confusion in identity goes even further when Dolly is seen, in an extreme part of the novel, literally carving the map of Israel
In the first two books, Honor and My Grandmother, the complexity of the cultural identity in the mother figures, results in a better transmission …show more content…
We see Hernaus, an Armenian girl, forced to leave her religion and culture behind, develops a new Turkish identity as Seher. Seher, who is now married to a Turkish man and have Turkish children and grandchildren, still holds on to some of her Armenian culture. In one part, Fethiye, Seher’s granddaughter, remembers how her grandmother used to make sweet braided breads called çörek. Years later, Fethiye realizes the significance of çörek for Armenians as many of her Armenian neighbors, including her grandmother, would make this bread during Easter (Çetin 102). Seher, even though a Turkish and a Muslim now, still holds on to some of her Armenian traditions. In another instance, Fethiye, surrounded by her grandmother’s American sister who is telling her stories about her great-grandmother, suddenly realizes that the only song she had heard her grandmother hum is an Armenian song from her past life (Çetin 112). Seher, while dealing with the complexity of two identities, Armenian vs. Turkish and Christian vs. Muslim, manages to instill a sense of attachment to her culture into both her children and grandchildren. Considering that this book is a memoir, we can see the result of the developed cultural attachment of Fethiye to her grandmother’s Armenian culture in real life. The mere concept of Fethiye writing such controversial book proves that she was not only attached to her grandmother, but also to a …show more content…
Since Dolly City is set in a futuristic dystopian Israel, the complexity of the cultural identity is presented differently. Here, the confusion is between the identity of Dolly as an individual, and Dolly as the State of Israel. In his article “Postzionism and Its Aftermath in Hebrew Literature,” Todd Hasak-Lowy explains how in Dolly City, “Israel’s territorial ‘madness’ lies at the heart of the protagonist’s unstable identity” (93). Dolly’s unstable identity goes back and forth between being an independent individual and being a counterpart to the state of Israel. In one scene, Dolly questions “if a state like the State of Israel can’t control the Arabs in the territories, how can anybody expect [her], a private individual, to control the occupied territories inside [herself]?” (Castel-Bloom 96). Here, Dolly, is equating the madness in her with the madness in Israel, and by that ultimately equating herself with the State. In another scene, Dolly’s sister takes Son away from Dolly and tells her that she can only have him back when Dolly herself “[returns] to the 67’ borders” (Castel-Bloom 110). Here, not only Dolly sees herself as the State, but also her sister Natasha treats her as if she is the state of Israel. This confusion in identity goes even further when Dolly is seen, in an extreme part of the novel, literally carving the map of Israel