effect of globalization on cultural identity
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a paper about the effects of globalization on the thirld worldTRANSCRIPT
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Effect of Globalization on Cultural Identity of Third World as reflected in
Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss and Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke
ABSTRACT
This paper intends to explore the effects of globalization on cultural identities of Third World
people. For the exploration of such effects the medium of literature particularly novels are
chosen as literature is reflection of the society and it can be the best account of the reactions
of common masses towards the process of globalization. The novels chosen are from the
regions of India and Pakistan. The research is a qualitative research in which content analysis
is used to analyze The Inheritance of Loss and Moth Smoke. The points to focus in this paper
are how the globalization is affecting the cultural identities of Indians and Pakistanis and the
comparison of the treatment of the theme of the effect of globalization by both the writers.
The effect of global culture can be best traced in both the novels and both of the writers’
stances are different as in Desai’s novel there is depiction of inclinations towards global
culture but, also, there is resistance towards dominant culture. But Hamid’s novel only
presents the acceptance of global culture without any resistance to it.
KEYWORDS: globalization and identity, cultural globalization, The Inheritance of Loss,
Moth Smoke, cultural homogenization, cultural heterogenization.
1. Introduction
This paper intends to explore the effects of globalization on the cultural identities of the
people of Third World through the medium of literature especially novels. The paper intends
to compare the novels of two Third World countries: India and Pakistan and try to seek the
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degree of impact on Indian and Pakistani culture and identities of people due to the influene
of globalization.
1.1 Globalization
The term “globalization” first appeared in 1960 and is described as “a process, a
condition, a system, a force and an age” (Steger, 2007). Such description shows the varying
levels, multiple meanings and a number of features in globalization process. There have been
a number of definitions of globalization.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in 2002 reports
that,
“Globalization is a widely-used term that can be defined in a number of different ways. When
used in economic context, it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national
borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour. Globalization is
not a new phenomenon. It began in the late nineteenth century, but its spread slowed during
the peroid from the start of the First World War until the third quarter of the twentieth
century. This slowdown can be attributed to the inward-looking policies pursued by a number
of countries in order to protect their respective industries […] however, the pace of
globalization picked up rapidly during the fourth quarter of the twentieth century…”
This definition provides the beginning of the globalization and its development over peroid of
time.
Sheila L. Croucher (2004) argues that “Globalization can be described as a process by
which the people of the world are unified into single society and function together. The
process is a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural and political forces.” This
definition presents the homogeneous model of globalization in which there is no diversity or
differences in nations due to the spreading wave of global village.
Ashcroft et al (2004) defined globalization as “it is process whereby individual lives and
local communities are affected by economic and cultural forces that operate world-wide.” It
describes globalization as an agent of change playing crucial role in affecting the local
communities.
Jan Aart Scholte (2005) presented five definitions of globalization. The first one is
“internationalization” which refers to the international exchange and interdependence
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between countries. The second definition associates globalization to “liberalization” in which
the impositions of government institutions are rejected and an open, borderless world
economy is created. The third definition identifies the concept of globalization with
“universalization”. According to this concept in the process of globalization the objects,
values and experiences are spread to all corners of earth. A fourth definition equates
globalization to “westernization or modernization”, where the global culture that is the
dominant culture prevails, destroying the pre-existing cultures. The fifth one identifies it with
“deterritorialization” which entails the remapping of the world map in terms of
transformation of the social spaces.
1.2 Cultural Globalization
There are different types of globalization: economic globalization, political globalization
and cultural globalization. Cultural globalization deals with the concept of transformation of
cultures under the influence of globalization. In the pre-modern peroid cultural globalization
was associated with globalizing religions- Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. In the modern
peroid, cultural globalization is predominantly associated with secular ideologies such as
socialism, nationalism and liberalism and with “the diffusion of values and practices
associated with modern science.” Held et al. (1999) argues that “Cultural globalization seems
most urgently centred around the impact of the growing volume of exchanges of cultural
products, the rising power and visibility of the ‘cultural industries’ the apparent ubiquity of
Western popular culture and the consequences for identity that flow from these other forces.”
In the modern era cultural questions are central in the process of globalization as Tomlinson
(1999) argues that “Globalization lies at the heart of modern culture; cultural practices lie at
the heart of globalization” (1). The globalization is the main force of transforming culture
and so affects the identities. Globalization is termed as neo-colonialism by many scholars but
some other scholars termed it as beneficial force for the enrichment of the culture. The wave
of globalization has influenced the whole world to make it into a global village and so the
Third World does not escape from the clutches of global wave.
1.3 Cultural Identity
According to Edward Said culture has two meanings: the first is that it “means all those
practices, like the arts of description, communication, and representation that have relative
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autonomy from the economic, social, and political realms and that often exist in aesthetic
forms, one of whose principal aims is pleasure. (x. ii)” The second meaning of culture is that
it “includes a refining and elevating element, each society’s reservoir of the best that has been
known and thought in the world. In this sense culture becomes a source of identity. (x.iii)”
Thus there is strong connection of cultural products and identity as people usually identify
themselves with their culture. The culture consists of everyday practices, foods, festivals,
dressing, education and cultural values etc. Therefore, this paper aims to seek the impacts of
globalization on the identities of Third World particularly India and Pakistan through cultural
form of novel.
The literature is the reflection of the society and a writer is, usually, product of his age.
Thus the impacts of globalization on cultural transformations and the ever-changing state of
identities can be best traced in the literature of that region. In this paper the effects of
globalization on cultural identities of the Third World especially India and Pakistan is traced
through the novels of Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss and Mohsin Hamid’s Moth
Smoke respectively.
Kiran Desai is an Indian writer who permanently resides in USA. Her second novel The
Inheritance of Loss was first published in 2006 and had won awards like Man Booker Prize
2006, National Books Critics Circle Fiction Award in 2007 and Vodafone Crossword Book
Award in 2006. Her novel deals with the issues of effects of colonization and contemporary
effects of globalization on the Indian culture, states the transformation of cultural conditions
and how those conditions are being treated by the Indians.
Mohsin Hamid is a Pakistani writer who divides his time between Pakistan and abroad.
His critically acclaimed novel Moth Smoke was first published in 2000 and won the Betty
Trask Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Anita Desai, in the New
York Review of Books, noted that
"One could not really continue to write, or read about, the slow seasonal changes, the rural
backwaters, gossipy courtyards, and traditional families in a world taken over by gun-
running, drug-trafficking, large-scale industrialism, commercial entrepreneurship, tourism,
new money, nightclubs, boutiques... Where was the Huxley, the Orwell, the Scott Fitzgerald,
or even the Tom Wolfe, Jay McInerney, or Brett Easton Ellis to record this new world?
Mohsin Hamid's novel Moth Smoke, set in Lahore, is one of the first pictures we have of that
world."
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The above quotation shows that Moth Smoke deals with the effect of globalizations on the
traditional families of Pakistan, the changing patterns of social life of Pakistanis.
1.4 Research Questions:
Following questions are to be addressed in this paper.
i. How the globalization is affecting the cultural identities of Indians and Pakistanis?
ii. Is there any difference in the treatment of the globalization’s effect by both of the
writers?
2. Literature Review
Globalization is the most debated topic in the contemporary world. Its effects on the
politics, culture and economy is much evident but less work is done in the exploration of
effects of globalization on cultural identity of Third World nations through novels. As
literature is the main source of depiction of the ideas of common masses because a writer is
sensitive to all the realities that a normal eye cannot see.
Arnett (2002) discusses different forms of identity constructed due to influence of
globalization: bicultural identity, identity confusion and self-selected cultures. The bicultural
identity “combines the local identity with an identity linked to the global culture” (Arnett,
774). Identity confusion is developed among people who do not feel comfortable either in
their home culture or in global culture and so developing confused identities for themselves.
The third type of identity is constructed by people who wanted to have a pure identity having
traditional values and discarding global culture altogether.
Edgell (2003) focuses on the modern culture in Third World countries. The modern
culture is amalgam of the multicultural values, thus maintaining the postmodernist notion of
culture which is not stable or fixed. He has taken material from multiple articles of Lawrence
E. Harrison’s and Samuel P. Huntington’s Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human
Progress. He concluded that acceptance of global culture in the modern world would result in
the compatibility of Third World with the First World.
Spielman (2009) explicates the essay about The Inheritance of Loss’s themes of
multiculturalism and changing culture under the influence of globalization. Spielman focuses
on the “solid knowledge” and “contradictions” in Desai’s novel. The contradictions refer to
cultural differences and solid knowledge means the facts which people tend to think to be
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true. He draws his findings that neither assimilation nor preservation of cultural distinction
would be helpful in this modern era in which world becomes a global village. But the
intermediate of flexibility and adaptability of modern culture should be adopted. The
characters in the novel who “cling to the ‘solid knowledge’ come to bad ends while those
more comfortable with cultural contradictions tend to fare better” (Spielman, 74).
Naz, Khan, Hussain and Daraz (2011) focussed on the traditional concept of identity as
static which is destabilized due to the effects of globalization. According to these researchers
globalization is solely responsible for weakening the local culture and values. The research
was conducted in Malakand Division and they deduced the result that simplicity and
solidarity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s culture is replaced by Western notions of complexity
and individualism as propagated by cultural homogenization.
Liu’s article “Exploring the Impacts of Cultural Globalization on Cultural
Awareness/Values and English Writing” (2012) explores the impacts of globalization on
Chinese cultural values. He traced the globalization’s impact from two aspects: first the
cultural transformation and secondly the production of strong cultural values among Chinese
youth. Liu, also, discussed the three models of cultural globalization. The first model is
cultural homogenization- which deals with the idea of dominance of one culture. The second
model is cultural heterogenization which presents the notion of preservation of local cultures
against the spreading wave of global culture. The third model is cultural glocalization which
is the most intermediate way in which cultural transmission is a two-way process, thus
emphasizing the equality of cultural participations rather than dominance of one culture. He
concluded that globalization is affecting Chinese culture negatively by transforming the
traditional values for example the social solidarity or collectivism is replaced by
individualism.
Gil explores the connection between the identity and globalization. Her perspective was
related to culture therefore she focuses on the role of art especially literature. She explored
the two aspects of globalization’s impact in her essay: first is loss of identity and the other is
returning to the home culture, therefore strengthening national consciousness. Gil focussed
on the analysis of Jose Saramago’s novels which is the best example of the depiction of the
Portugal’s identity under question. Gil’s finding is that people of Portugal should take more
interest in strengthening their local cultural values, thus promoting the traditional view of
identity.
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The above mentioned works explore the relationship of globalization and culture and how
the globalization is affecting the cultural values and norms of different regions of the world.
This research paper deals with the same kind of exploration of the impacts of globalization on
cultural identities. The gap which will be filled by this paper in analyzing the effect of
globalization on cultural identities is through the medium of literature of the Third World
especially novels, the literature is reflection of the society and through this medium the
opinions of common masses about the influences of globalization can better analyzed. As in
Culture and Imperialism Said defined culture as “those practices, like the arts of description,
communication, and representation that have relative autonomy from the economic, social,
and political realms and that often exist in aesthetic forms, one of whose principal aims is
pleasure” (xii). This paper is dealing with the analysis of role globalization in changing
cultural patterns of Third World (especially the regions of Pakistan and India). Pakistan and
India has, also, a history of colonization which has already affected the various spheres of
lives of people in this region. In the modern day world, globalization is influencing the
cultural patterns and traditional ways of people of this region. And literature is of these
regions is, also, influenced by the wave of global culture. Therefore to analyze the impacts of
globalization on cultural identities of Third World, the novels taken are Kiran Desai’s The
Inheritance of Loss and Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke.
3. METHODOLOGY
This research is a qualitative research in which content analysis is used to analyze The
Inheritance of Loss and Moth Smoke. There will be focus on the depiction of characters and
dialogues to analyze the influence of globalization on cultural transformations in India and
Pakistan. The data is collected through the close reading of the primary sources: The
Inheritance of Loss and Moth Smoke. The secondary data is, also, used for example articles,
books and thesis which provides the main theoretical framework for this research. The three
steps in the analysis of the data are classification of data, interpretation of data and finally
making conclusions.
4. ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
The close reading of the novels The Inheritance of Loss and Moth Smoke reveals the
transformation of the cultural patterns, lifestyles, habits and perception of the world due to
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the effect of globalization. The analysis of the novels is done on the basis of Liu’s three
models of cultural globalization: cultural homogenization, cultural heterogenization and
cultural glocalization. The globalization affects the elements of culture such as education,
food, values, language and lifestyles. The affected cultural values and norms in turn affect the
identity of people a region. As Edward Said puts forward the idea of culture which cannot be
regarded as monolithic or deterministic thus turning identity as unstable and ever-changing
phenomena. The three models of cultural globalization that are cultural homogenization,
cultural heterogenization and cultural glocalization produce identity confusion, self-selected
cultures and bicultural identities respectively.
4.1 Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai’s critically acclaimed novel The Inheritance of Loss deals with the effects
of globalization on the local communities thereby transforming the identities of the Indians.
There is a deep connection of culture and identity and so global wave affecting the culture
also affect the identity. Liu’s models of cultural homogenization and cultural
heterogenization are applicable to this novel.
4.1.1 Cultural Homogenization
The model of cultural homogenization presents the idea of dominance of the Western
culture thus producing confused identities where a person can identify himself neither with
the dominant culture nor with the local culture. There characters in the novel like Sai, Lola,
Noni, and Jemubhai Patel whose identities are being assimilated in the dominant Western
culture. They have been completely absorbed in the Western culture thus not only forgetting
but despising the local culture. There are several instances from the novel where the strands
of cultural homogenization can easily be traced. The characters from elite class follows
English ways and traditions, fond of reading English writers only, feel superior in speaking
English, take pride in acquiring English education, celebrating English festivals like
Christmas and so having confused identities with which they can neither call themselves
Indians nor English.
As one of the character Sai made tea on the demand of thieves who came to Cho Oyu
she had no idea of making tea in Indian way as quoted “although she had no idea how to
properly make tea this way, the Indian way, she only knew the English way.” Thus, showing
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that Sai only knew English way of making tea as she has accepted the ways of the dominant
culture.
The education plays an important role in Third World countries to teach people the
dominance and superiority of Western ways and culture. Thus, Sai being educated at St.
Augustine’s convent realized that “cake was better than laddos, fork spoon knife better than
hands, sipping the blood of Christ and consuming a wafer of his body was more civilized
than garlanding a phallic symbol with marigolds. English was better than Hindi.”(Chap: 6,
pg.33) English education shapes certain thinking patterns of the people and they feel
themselves as higher, superior beings while blindly following the English customs ways and
language as when there came a time to send Sai to school, her grandfather Jemubhai Patel
decided to send her to Noni who was well versed in English and gave the reason of his so
doing that “Can’t send you to a government school, I suppose… you’d come out speaking
with the wrong accent and picking your nose…”(chap:7,pg.38) Another instance of shaping
perception of local Indians by English education is that it not only places forward the
superiority of English customs but, also, suppresses the voices that can resist such
dominance. As in the text it is stated that the teacher of Sai, Noni, went to a convent school
and her views about English education in the following words, “you could only remain
snared by going underground, remaining quiet when asked questions, expressing no opinion,
hoping to be invisible-for they got you, ruined you.”(Chap: 12, pg.77)
Another example of the global culture is that Indian elites, in this novel, are more
inclined towards reading English writers like Austen, Fitzgerald etc. They liked to hear
Beatles-English Rock Band and do not account for the local Indian folk music, Indian
literature in regional languages etc.
The global effect in economic terms is much evident in the novel as due to the
dominance of Englishness and whosoever has English ways is a privileged person and has all
the rights to enjoy the facilities and privileges. As the cook in Cho Oyu sent his son Biju to
USA to earn money with the certainty that as long as he would be cooking English food he
would be getting more pay than if he will be cooking Indian food. As quoted the cook “was
sure that since his son was cooking English food, he had a higher position than if he were
cooking Indian.” (Chap 4, pg. 19) It was not the case only with poor strata of Indian society
but the elite class, also, runs after the economic strength gained at the hands of English
System. As Lola advised her daughter Pixie-BBC reporter- that “India is a sinking ship.
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Don’t want to be pushy, darling, sweetie, thinking of your happiness only, but the door won’t
stay open forever.”(Chap 9, pg. 53)
English language is the main source in the creation of barriers between elite and lower
classes as in the novel Sai represents elite class following English ways and language and the
cook is from lower class as quoted “the closeness between Sai and cook is exposed in the end
as fake, their friendship composed of shallow things conducted in a broken language, for she
was an English-speaker and he was a Hindi-speaker. The brokenness made it easier never to
go deep.”(Chap: 4, pg. 21)
Therefore several of the characters like Sai, Jemubhai Patel, Lola, Noni and Father
Booty are more inclined towards the dominant Western culture. These characters are
assimilated in the Western culture as they follow the Western ways: celebration of Christmas,
speaking English language, listening to Beatles band etc.
4.1.2 Cultural Heterogenization
The second model of cultural heterogenization can be traced in the novel by the
analysis of the characters of Gyan and members of GNLF (Gorkha National Liberation
Foundation). They resist against the spreading wave of global culture and try to establish the
supremacy of local culture and by resisting the global culture they established the self-
selected cultures. Gyan a Nepali who was living in Darjeeling was against the people who
follow the Western culture blindly. When Sai and Gyan argued about the celebration of
Christmas, he became extremely furious and his dialogues reflected the extreme hatred
towards the people who had assimilated themselves in global culture as he said infuriated,
“Why do you celebrate Christmas? You’re Hindus and you don’t celebrate Id or Guru
Nanak’s birthday or even Durga Puja or Dussehra or Tibetan New year.” He called them
“slaves” who were always “running after West’” and west does not give them any
importance. He condemned the process of globalization and criticised the celebration of
Christmas in strong words.
Gyan’s extreme hatred towards such people is evident in his thoughts about Sai. She
is the girl whom he loves most but her rejection of Indian culture made her despicable in the
eyes of Gyan. As quoted, “Gyan thought about Sai who could not speak any language but
English and pidgin Hindi. She who could not eat with her hands; could not squat down on the
ground on her haunches to wait for a bus; who had never been to a temple but for
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architectural interest; never chewed a paan and had not tried most sweets in the mithaishop,
for they made her retch; she who left a Bollywood film so exhausted from emotional wear
and tear that walked home like a sick person and lay in pieces on the sofa. She felt happier
with so-called English vegetables, snap peas, French beans, spring onions, and feared- feared
loki, tinda, kathal, kaddu, patrel and the local saag in the market.” Gyan’s thoughts about
clears his hatred and anger towards Sai because she has always preferred English things over
Indian ways.
The wave of ‘return to culture’ and hatred for foreign cultures resulted in the Father
Booty’s expulsion from India. He has been living in India for 55 years but all of a sudden he
was thrown out because foreigners are regarded as national threats.
The staunch sticking to ancestral traditions is highlighted when Odessa co-worker of
Biju at American restaurant once said that “Isn’t it ironic, nobody eats beef in India and just
look at it- the Indian businessmen order steaks heartily.” But another dishwasher rejected
this idea in the following words, “One should not give up one’s religion, the principles of
one’s parents and their parents before them.” (Chap 22, pg. 151)
Mr. Iype who has been living in America commented on the resistance movement of
Nepalis that, “They should kick the bastards back to Nepal, Bangladeshis to Bangladesh,
Afghans to Afghanistan, all Muslims to Pakistan, Tibetans, Bhutanese, why are they sitting in
our country.” Thus, completely rejecting the idea of global village but the irony is that he,
himself, is living in America and is negating the foreigners in his country India.
The cultural heterogenization model describes the notion of preservation of local
culture by completely rejecting the idea of global culture. There is resistance towards global
culture on the part of Gyan who despised the followers of Western traditions and saw them
with contemptible eyes.
4.1.3 Globalization affecting Cultural Values
The process of globalization affects the cultural values of caring and sharing with
others and also the ways of communication are changed to modern and fastest ways of
communication means. One of the characters Saeed, resident of Zanzibar, depicts the change
in the values of caring for others and the element of sacrificing for others in the following
words, “in Zanzibar what one person have he have to share with everyone, that is good, that
is the right way- But then everyone have nothing, man, that is why I leave Zanzibar.”(Chap
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17, pg 107) another example of change of values is the spreading wave of modern consumer
products. In the novel it is depicted through the discussion of businessmen at Gandhi Café in
USA about the chances of business in Asia, “it’s opening up, new frontier, millions of
potential consumers, big buying power in the middle classes, China, India, potential for
cigarettes, diapers, Kentucky Fried, life insurance, water management, cell phones-big family
people, always on the phone, all those men calling their mothers, all their mothers calling all
their many, many children.” So the use of cell phones, a modern means of fastest
communication has replaced the tradition of letter writing. The new technologies replacing
older ones are the demand of modern times where no one has the time to wait for the letters
to reach them and through which they could know about their loved ones.
Noni and Lola’s house contain “Tibetan choksee tables painted in jade and flame colors
piled with books, including volume of paintings by Nicholas Roerich, a Russian aristocrat
who painted Himalayas with such grave presence it made you shiver just to imagine all that
grainy distilled cold, the lone traveller atop a yak, going-where? The immense vistas
indicated an abstract destination. Also, Salim Ali’s guide to birds and all of Jane Austen.
There was Wedgwood in the dining room cabinet and a jam jar on the sideboard, saved for its
prettiness. By appointment to her Majesty the queen jam and marmalade manufacturers.”
(Chap 9, pg 50) The household things in Lola and Noni’s house are not from only one region
but from different parts of the world.
The analysis of Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss depicts that globalization is the main
factor in the transformation of the cultural aspects of India. There are several characters in the
novel like Sai, Lola, Noni who has accepted the Western dominant culture and are completely
assimilated in that culture. But there are, also, streaks of resistance of global culture and
establishment of local culture through the character of Gyan.
4.2 Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke
Hamid’s novel Moth Smoke exposes the globalization’s effects on the transformation of
social and traditional structures of Pakistani society. The novel set in Lahore tells the tale of
growing economic globalization and its effects on cultural patterns of society. In the analysis
of this novel the symbolic form of culture is taken which is a set of values, beliefs and way of
life. The spreading wave of economic globalization has severely affected the Eastern values
of care, concern, sincerity, respect and honesty. It has changed the lifestyles and the
traditional constructions of the houses. In the analysis of the novel, the model of cultural
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homogenization is best applicable as the characters have accepted the global influence and
there is no strand of resistance to the global culture. The economic globalization is main force
in the transformation of the culture depicted in the novel. The elite culture that is shown in
the novel is similar to the American culture thus the fourth definition of Scholte in which
globalization is equated with “westernization” can be best applied in this novel.
The economic globalization brought about modern technologies and products in
Pakistan. The introduction of heavy metal bands and their increasing popularity can be traced
in Pakistani culture as evident when Daru, the protagonist of the novel recalls his memorable
days with his best friend Ozi as quoted,
“I remember speeding around the city with Ozi in his ’82 Corolla, feet sweating sockless in
battered boat shoes, following cute girls up and down the Boulevard, memorizing their
number plates and avoiding cops because neither of us had a license. Hair chopped in senior
school crew cuts. Eyes pot-red behind his wayfarers and my aviators. Stickers of universities
I would never attend on the back windshield. Poondi, in the days of cheap petrol and skipping
class and heavy-metal cassettes recorded with too much bass and even more treble. We had
some good times, Ozi and I, before he left.” (25)
The descriptions of parties in the novel are attended mostly by the “elite class of
Lahore” in which there is usage of Sushi from Japan, wine and hash etc. Thus, giving the
scene of an American party where the members of elite class consume drugs, giving an
impression of belonging to an upper class.
Another instance of cultural transformation due to the introduction of modern
machinery is of the usage of the Air Conditioners. The growing use of ACs has changed the
tradition of people sleeping on their roofs in open air.
The consumption of wine is shown as a status symbol so Daru in order to look a part
of elite class, he started consuming “MacDowell’s wine” in comparison to Ozi’s drink of
“Black Labels” which is the very expensive. This instance shows the change in everyday
practice of young men of Lahore.
The speaking of English language is, also, thought to be prestigious. Therefore, all the
characters in the novel speak English, even a rickshaw driver, Murad, “speaks what he thinks
is well-bred English in an effort to deny the lower class origins that colour the accent of his
Urdu and Punjabi.”
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Thus, the novel “Moth Smoke” shows a kind of cultural globalization that is cultural
homogenisation in which Western culture is dominant. The characters in the novel follow the
Western ways and traditions in order to be seen as people of high stature. The practices of
young generation changed due to the effects of globalization process.
4.3 Comparison of The Inheritance of Loss and Moth Smoke
Both the writers deal with the theme of globalization affecting their cultures and
resulting in the transformation of cultural practices. In the Indian novel, The Inheritance of
Loss deals with the effects of cultural globalization on Indian culture and thereby changing
the identities. The model of cultural homogenisation is applied on the novel in which the
characters like Sai, Jemubhai Patel, Lola and Noni followed the Western norms and preferred
English language over local Indian languages. Another model which is applicable to the
novel is cultural heterogenization in which the people return to their own culture and show
strong resistance towards the dominant Western culture. Whereas the Pakistani novel Moth
Smoke deals with the theme of globalization through the economic globalization that changes
the cultural patterns of Pakistani people. But there is no resistance shown against Western
culture, all the characters are being dominated by Westernization and they have accepted the
Western domination without any resistance. Thus the similarity between the novels is that
both deals with the idea of cultural transformation but through different means. Desai deals
directly with cultural globalization whereas Hamid’s novel deals with the economic
globalization which is affecting culture and identity. The difference between the treatments of
both the writers is that Desai shows the assimilation of the characters in Western culture but
also there are characters that resist this dominant culture and preferred their local culture.
Whereas Hamid’s novel only deals with the acceptance of hegemonic Westernization and no
resistance is depicted in the novel.
5. Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that neither of the Gil’s and Naz’s results of discarding the
global culture is correct. As in The Inheritance of Loss the approaches of the characters
towards assimilation or towards rejection of global culture is not fruitful and can produce
serious and dangerous effects. The characters of Sai, Jemubhai Patel, Lola and Noni were
assimilated in the Western in turn despising local Indian culture and traditions. They tend to
celebrate Christmas, read English authors and prefer to speak English language. On the other
hand, the people who are resisting strongly against domination of Western culture their
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stance, also, produce dangerous results. For example, the expulsion of Father Booty, Swiss
national, from India in the name of foreign national, being a threat to national security and
solidarity. The Pakistani novel Moth Smoke depicts a picture of transformation of culture due
to the economic globalization and all the characters, in the novel, accepted the Western
culture as Darashikoh Shezad, Aurangzeb Ozi and Murad Badshah follow the Western global
culture. Thus producing the confused identities with which they can neither identify
themselves with Western or Pakistani culture.
WORKS CITED
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Arnett, Jeffrey J. “The Psychology of Globalization”. American Psychological Association.
57.10(2002):774-783.
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