MGC English The Bastard of Istanbul Assignment Sheet

Transcription

1 MGC English The Bastard of Istanbul Assignment Sheet A and B Blocks 15 February 2013 The past lives within the present. BACKGROUND: After the whirlwind of Sophomore Speech, we now plummet back into the world of literature with Elif Shafak s The Bastard of Istanbul (2006). This novel marks a major transition for us in Modern Global Communities: this is both the first work of contemporary literature (that is, it was published during our lifetimes), and the first work of literature written by a female author. With it, we continue our global search for truth and empowerment, as we rest in Turkey for a few weeks with this beautiful work. What is The Bastard of Istanbul? This novel, originally written in Turkish, is at heart a family melodrama. The Kazanci family lives together in a cramped apartment in Istanbul, but is embarrassed when the youngest sister Zeliha gets pregnant out of wedlock. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, in Arizona, Zeliha s estranged brother Mustafa meets a woman in a supermarket and adopts her daughter Armanoush (Amy) Tchakhmakhchian (pronounced Chak-MAHK-chi-yan). Nineteen years later, the eponymous bastard has grown into Asya Kazanci, a taut, rebellious, and discontented philosophical wanderer who loves American music, while Amy has grown up to become a respectful, somewhat shy young woman whose curiosities lead her to Istanbul. So the two protagonists meet, and their lives change forever. Thrown into the mix are both characters extended families. For the purposes of simplicity, here they are, listed by family and relationship to Asya and Armanoush: The Kazanci Family: ASYA Petite-Ma: Great-Grandmother Gülsüm: Grandmother Banu: Aunt Cevriye: Aunt Feride: Aunt Mustafa: Uncle Zeliha: Mother The Tchakhmakhchian Family: AMY Shushan: Grandmother Dikran: Great Uncle Surpun: Aunt Varsenig: Aunt Barsam: Father

2 Rose: Mother Mustafa: Step-Father [Please note that Mustafa is in bold because, though he is by birth a Kazanci, he comes into the story because of his relationship with Armanoush. Also, Rose is in italics because she is divorced from Barsam, so she is technically not part of the Tchakhmakhchian family. Sorry for the complications!] Besides their place of residence, there s another important fact that separates the two families: the Kazancis are Turkish, and the Tchakhmakhchians are Armenian. Understanding this novel will require you to review your notes about an historical event known as the Armenian Genocide. To be brief, around 1915, the Ottoman Turks conducted a systematic deportation and mass execution of the Armenian ethnic group, a predominantly Christian group who lived in the Northeastern corner of what is now modern-day Turkey. Because of the Genocide, which the Turkish government still does not acknowledge or recognize, most Armenians live abroad, forming the large Armenian Diaspora diaspora being a general name for people who live away from their ethnic or national homeland. At the start of The Bastard of Istanbul, the Armenian Tchakhmakhchian clan live in San Francisco, and when Armanoush leaves to visit Istanbul, she does it in secret. Her homecoming is both a result of the tragedies of the past and a cause of the major events that occur as the novel continues. One more thing about this novel that you may find important: Elif Shafak was temporarily thrown in jail by the Turkish government for publishing The Bastard of Istanbul. Her arrest was caused by the novel s so-called anti-turkish sentiments, but it was really about her (brave) acknowledgement of the horrors of the Armenian Genocide (which she graphically depicts in the chapter entitled Pomegranate Seeds ). Remember that fuss over banning The Merchant of Venice. Yeah, these things matter. OBJECTIVES: Besides the fact that The Bastard of Istanbul is a beautiful novel, we are reading it for the following reasons: Content Objectives: a. To immerse ourselves in a new world this time, contemporary Istanbul just as we did with Umuofia, Venice, Thebes, and Oceania. b. To understand the various ways that past trauma can literally and metaphorically affect people today and thus to observe how nations deal with national scars. c. To gain awareness of the cosmopolitan face of modern Turkey through the eyes of a female writer and her (predominantly) female characters. d. To reflect on how our families have shaped who we are as individuals. e. To introduce some key political issues that shape the modern Middle East.

3 Skills Objectives: a. To continue improving our skills in observing nuances and interpreting ambiguity in literature. b. To reveal the significance of cultural allusions here, related to pop-culture, literature, and food. c. To identify reasons why an author would play with time and chronology in her writing. d. To explore the significance of lyricism in writing. KEY VOCABULARY: Here are some terms that may help you decipher the novel. a. Istanbul: the largest city in the nation of Turkey, located on the Bosphorus Strait. Istanbul is a centerpiece of the novel, both because its primary action takes place there, and because its historical qualities relate to the central themes of the novel. The key feature of the city, for our purposes, is this: it exists as a kind of gateway between Europe and the Middle East, and as such, it straddles the two cultures in unique ways. Secular liberalism clashes with Muslim conservatism. Western fashions clash with traditional Islamic garb. And so on b. Armenian Genocide: (see above) the systematic deportation and execution of the Armenian people at the hands of Ottoman Turks during the First World War (1915). c. Diaspora: a group of people living away from their homeland. Some of the biggest diasporas in the world are the Armenian Diaspora, the Jewish Diaspora, the Chinese Diaspora, and the Cuban Diaspora. d. Johnny Cash: an American country singer, best known for his songs Ring of Fire and Walk the Line. Cash is Asya Kazanci s favorite singer. e. Milan Kundera: a Czech novelist, best known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Kundera is both Armanoush s favorite writer and the name of an Istanbulite café where Asya hangs out. MGC THEMES and KEY QUESTIONS: a. Power: How and why do/did the Turks use their power in such brutal ways against the Armenians? What are the lasting consequences of using power in this way? b. Rebellion: How do the rebellious characters in the novel enact their rebellion against those in power? Which characters rebel for Personal Rebellion and which rebel for Principled Rebellion? Where would Zeliha, Asya, Amy, Mustafa, Rose, Banu, etc. fit on this spectrum? c. Identity: How do each of the main characters attempt to assert their identities? Do they see themselves as products of their culture, byproducts of their culture, or

4 aliens to their culture? How does gender play a role here? What are the different kinds of women that Shafak catalogues? d. Interconnectedness: How does Shafak use the cosmopolitan qualities of the city of Istanbul to dramatize the novel s main themes? Why is it important, for example, that Asya loves an American country singer, that Amy loves a Czech novelist, that Mustafa marries a woman from the American South? What is Shafak saying about the nature of contemporary global existence? LINKED QUESTIONS: i. Where would each of your characters (that is, the characters you have been assigned for History class) stand on the politics of the Armenian Genocide? ii. Where would each of you stand on the issue of Shafak s arrest? iii. Would your character see the global, cosmopolitan, Westernized depiction of the modern Middle East as a beneficial sign of progress or as a sign of cultural decay? iv. Is globalization just Westernization by another name? HONORS ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE: NOTE on NOTES: As usual, please take careful, detailed, and complete notes, primarily on the Two Q s. You also should begin connecting the themes and main ideas of the novel to other works of literature that we ve read so far, especially 1984 (about the significance of memory) and Antigone (about female rebellion). DUE Monday, 25 February: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 1-49). Begin taking notes in your BoI journals. DUE Wednesday, 27 February: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 3-5 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. DUE Thursday, 28 February: NO READING. Instead, WRITE two page response paper on the question assigned on Monday (see separate assignment sheet) and PREPARE to lead Lesson #1 (plan on 30 minutes, since we re going to be busy with BHM Music for the first part of class). DUE Friday, 1 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 6 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. In addition, PREPARE for Vocab Quiz #7. DUE Monday, 4 March: NO READING. Instead I d like you to follow up on some of the pop cultural allusions that Shafak uses in her novel. That is, IDENTIFY five pieces of music, art, literature, or philosophy in the novel so far and FIND OUT what they are and why they might be significant to character, plot or thematic development. No need for a formal essay structure; write a list of the allusions you traced, what they are (you may

5 want to do some preliminary research like, if it s a song, listen to it!), and how they contribute the novel. DUE Wednesday, 6 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 7 and 8 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. DUE Thursday, 7 March: NO READING. Instead, PREPARE for In-Class Writing Exercise on The Bastard of Istanbul. DUE Friday, 8 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 9 and 10 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. DUE Monday, 11 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 11 and 12 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. DUE Wednesday, 13 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. DUE Thursday, 14 March: NO READING. Instead, I d like you to follow up on some of the Turkish and Armenian food that Shafak uses in her novel. Food is one of the elements of this novel that gives it its flavor (literally and figuratively) and contributes to the plot and themes. Like you did before (with the pop-cultural allusions), please IDENTIFY five types of food that Shafak incorporates into her work but this time, choose one type of food, and bring it in to class! (You can find this food at the Armenian and Middle Eastern markets on Mount Auburn St. in Watertown go to Sevan, Arax, and/or Massis. For recipes, ask the people who work there!) In addition, PREPARE for Vocab Quiz #8. DUE Friday, 15 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 16 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals. In addition, PREPARE for Vocab Quiz #8. DUE Monday, 18 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters (pp ). Finish taking notes in your BoI journals. In addition, PREPARE a list of five questions that you might want to answer for your Bastard of Istanbul paper. Today, we ll start the process of writing our essays in class. See separate assignment sheet for details. DUE Monday, 25 March: Final draft of Bastard of Istanbul paper due.

6 CURRICULUM ONE and CURRICULUM TWO ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE: NOTE on NOTES: If you are taking Global C1, you should take close nightly reading notes following the patterns that you have already established this year (that is, keep on doing what you ve been doing!). If you are taking C2, I will ask you NOT to take notes, but instead, to answer nightly reading questions that I will check like notes every class. DUE Monday, 25 February: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter one (pp. 1-34). Begin taking notes in your BoI journals (C1) or completing reading questions (C2). DUE Wednesday, 27 February: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 2-3 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals (C1) or completing reading questions (C2). DUE Thursday, 28, February: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 4-5 (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals (C1) or completing reading questions (C2). DUE Friday, 1 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 6 (pp ). In addition, PREPARE for Vocab Quiz #7. DUE Monday, 4 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters 7-8 (pp ). DUE Wednesday, 6 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 9 (pp ). DUE Thursday, 7 March: NO READING. Instead, PREPARE for In-Class Writing Exercise, on which you will be able to use your books and your notes. DUE Friday, 8 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 10 (pp ). DUE Monday, 11 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals (C1) or completing reading questions (C2). DUE Wednesday, 13 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters (pp ). Continue taking notes in your BoI journals (C1) or completing reading questions (C2). DUE Thursday, 14 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 15 (pp ). DUE Friday, 15 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapter 16 (pp ).

7 In addition, PREPARE for Vocab Quiz #8. DUE Monday, 18 March: READ in The Bastard of Istanbul, chapters (pp ). Finish taking notes in your BoI journals (C1) or completing reading questions (C2). In addition, PREPARE a list of five questions that you might want to answer for your Bastard of Istanbul paper. Today, we ll start the process of writing our essays in class. See separate assignment sheet for details. DUE Monday, 25 March: Final draft of Bastard of Istanbul paper due.