England The Immigrant Experience And

England, The Immigrant Experience, And ‘The Buddha Of Suburbia’ And ‘The Black Album’ By Hanif Kure Essay, Research Paper

This paper is an investigation of the way in which ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’

and ‘The black Album’, both by Hanif Kureishi deal with the 1980-90s

second-generation immigrant experience of South Asians in British society.

To do this, the assistance of three questions have been employed to guide the

answer: what are the consequences of embracing the borderlessness of hybridity

for the main characters. what is achieved for the main characters whether by

gain or loss, from creating borders in tradition of authenticity. And finally,

where can political agency be located if not in resistance to some border, be it

morality, religion or philosophy.

By examining these questions within their contexts and through exploration of

the language of both texts the (dis)location of resistance that develops out of

second-generation immigrants’ dual experiences of discrimination and upward

mobility have been compared; realising the basic stance of both novels is to

imply acceptance of the reality of people of colour by White Britain (both the

establishment and the working classes).

In this paper the subject of the second generation immigration experience of

the South Asians in British society is explored, in the context of ‘The Buddha

of Suburbia’ and ‘The Black Album’ by Hanif Kureishi, primarily in the decade

between 1980 and 1990.

This is a period after the surge of immigrants to Britain from the 1950s and

60s from the New Commonwealth countries: West Indies, India, Pakistan and

Bangladesh, who came in search of a better life in a thriving economy, for the

hope of finding employment and success through the superior education system.

Also purely for the prestige that is automatically attached onto them for living

in the United Kingdom, especially in London, Birmingham and Bradford.

” … Dad was sent to England by his family to be educated … Like Gandhi

and Jinnah before him, Dad would return to India a qualified and polished

English gentleman lawyer and an accomplished ballroom dancer.” – The Buddha of

Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1990, page 94

This extract from ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ illustrates Kureishi’s intentions

to establish the psychology and circumstance behind his character which provide

the background from which the proceeding actions are caused. This also allows

the reader to understand the stance of the character and his respective view

point, hence the reader can associate with the character and his subsequent

behaviour. The idea of going to Britain and being educated in the western style

and living among Westerners assumes a great deal about the future of this

action. From this quotation the assumption is clearly to do with upward-mobility

in society, both in England and the home country. Yet whether this is degrading

of the pursuers own culture is an argument to be considered. An extract from

‘The Black Album’, portrayed as an opinion of a character, opposes the ideas

presented in ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ directly.

” … he asserted that Papa’s generation, with their English accents, foreign

degrees and British snobbery, assumed their own people were inferior. They

should be forced to go into villages and live among the peasants, as Gandhi had

done.” – The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 91-92

It seems that this upward-mobility of the characters sacrifices their

cultural background, and in some respects, it leaves them vulnerable to such

attacks as above. However, to take Gandhi as an example, as he features in both

quotations, it is possible to move up in the ladder of life and social-literacy

without loosing the essential cultural background that is ones identity.

This form of description is carried out in both books and seems to be a

characteristic of Kureishi’s writing; his in-depth references to actual people,

events and literature (which has the same strength of interest in both Karim and

Shahid), brings greater ‘realism’ and background to the novels’ ideas as their

history coincides with the characters’ daily lives.

The immigrants who first came to Britain were ambitious, and also na.ve as to

the hardships and difficulties to be endured in city life. An example of such an

ambitious character is that of Shahid’s father in ‘The Black Album’:

“…Papa hated anything ‘old-fashioned’, unless it charmed tourists. He

wanted to tear down the old; he liked ‘progress’. ‘I only want the best,’ he

would say, meaning the newest, the latest, and, somehow, the most ostentatious.”

- The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber Ltd, 1995, page 39

Chili (in the same book) is the eldest son of the ‘ostentatious’ father, who

has adapted with encouragement from his father to life in the city.

” … In Chili’s

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