Group Discussion (1-2) Please see the lecture ppt at EngSite.

 Basic Info. Basic Info › Partition & Race relationsRace relations › Women’s Roles › Kite Festival  Questions about Lenny, Shanta vs. Dil Navaz  Work Cited Work Cited  Next Week Next Week

 conflicts [see lecture ppt.] film-chap 4  Discussion in the Park : --What's the news from the Viceroy's house? -- I've heard Gandhi, Nehru, and Mountbatten are really tight. -- Really? -- If they are that close, who will champion us Muslims? -- And who will help Jinnah Sahib? -- Master Tara Singh and his bleating herd of Sikhs?

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 chap 2 –cracking jokes  chap 6 -- bum licker or invisible

 conflicts [see lecture ppt.] film-chap 11  Lahore (where the story took place): › Muslim as the majority; › Hindus owned most of its businesses; Sikhs seen as “trouble” or “the fighting arm of India” › When it becomes evident that Lahore will be part of Pakistan, most of the Hindus and Sikhs pick up and leave. › Lahore – a border city, flooded with refugees

 Dil Navaz – associated with poetry, performances  Hassan –quieter – “We lived as brothers…” “Our holy Koran lies in their” Golden Temple in Amritsar.”  -- Pacifism: “Our holy Koran lies in their Golden Temple in Amritsar.” Willing to convert

 Surfacing conflicts in film-chap 11 › Against the British culture represented by Lenny (“English pudding”) › Stereotypical images of Sikhs (a history of violence) › worries about Muslims left on the wrong side  –

 The only alternatives [besides death and departure]: siding with the powerful › conversion; e.g. Hari convert to Islam (chap 17), and Pappoo’s family to Christianity (chap 12, chap 20) (ref. Raisinghani 162)  Not always useful – Shanta --[chap 13] the Parsees aren't taking sides. Everyone knows that. As long as I'm with you, I'm safe. -- [the end] Madame, tell Hasan!

 (14 August 1947—Dominion of Pakistan) Midnight of August 15, 1947 Jawaharlal Nehru: “Tryst with destiny” speech

 A site of contestation › the refugee scene –the boy’s mother › the life and fate of Shanta  In the novel, the raped women › gathered in a house, and, in case of attack, burned themselves; › survived with a strong sense of guilt (e.g. Shanta in a brothel and Lenny) (ref. Raisinghani 164)

 In Lahore – “the city’s youth have sent thousands of brightly colored kites into the sky during the festival, held on a weekend in February or March.”  Vicious competition with strings made of wire or coated with crushed glass, which killed a lot of people.  Banned in 2006 because of the number of people dying of sharpened strings (source)source  Cancelled last year because of the suicide attacks.  Ref. kite flying in Kabul in 2001, after being banned in (source)source

 The Sethna family 1 Narrator-- Lenny Sethna 2 Shanta, the Ayah 3 Parents -- Bunty Sethna  Male characters Hassan, the Masseur Dil Navaz, the Ice Candy Man  The others (1) -- Mr. Rogers  The others (2) Imam Din – the cook Pappoo Mr. Singh Sher Singh-- Sikh Hari / Himmat Ali

How does the Partition affect Shanta? Why does she get abducted by the mob? How does the Partition affect Lenny?

1.Shanta 2.Lenny 3.Dil Navaz

 1.Home 2.Dinner 3.Park (friends) 4.Game 5.Game (Kite) 6.Home (Dance) 7.Outside (Protest) 8.Park (friends) 9. Wedding 10. Meal (friends) 11. Home 12. Train

 13. Conflicts on the street/Independence 14. Balcony and Home (Game) 15. Birthday--Home (Doll & Refugees) (“Do you want to play marble” “ Cake? What's that?”) 16. (Friends) Discussion  Shanta with Hassan 17. Home (Singh hiding) 18. Home (Getting Married) 19. Home (Mob attack ) 20. Ending

Lenny - 2 Shanta - 3 Dil Navaz -5 What do they do ? 1)Before the Partition 2) During and After the Partition What do Others do or say about them? How do they change How are they involved in the Conflict What do they say or think?

 Among Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.  e.g. fighting, killings, raping “the fallen women” and ghost train.

 Is it correct? It’s not about Muslims and Hindus, but something inside us.

 Character Names: Dil Navaz -- the Ice Candy Man, Shanta -- the Ayah; Hassan -- the Masseur, the Sethna family –as Parsees Singh –the Sikh.  Compare the characters of Hassen and Dil Navaz.  Discuss Dil Navaz’s changes in the film. Why do think the original novel is subtitled The Ice Candy Man?

1. Shenta’s role 2. Children › The child bride (untouchable) saved by marrying a Christian dwarf; › The Muslim refugee child (clip 14) › Lenny: unhappy birthday; breaking plate and doll, nightmare 3. Describe Lenny’s perspective; What do you think about Lenny’s betrayal of Ayahat the end of the film?

 Images and symbols:  Lion, the statues, the park  telephoning Allah,  fire

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 Color – orange, red vs. darkness and fire  Statues  the characters’ gazes (at Shanta)

 A lively park to a desolate one  Friends to enemies: changes of the different meetings in the park and at night  Parsees and sympathetic Muslims (Hassan and the cook): powerless  Poetry and love, to Violence, and then to betrayal of trust  Beauty and Marriage destroyed

 Race and Cultural Differences;  The roles of children and women.  main symbols & Filmic techniques (contrast and main colors)

 Similarities -- partition: experience something beyond our comprehension (e.g. 921 earthquake, 911) -- Shenta: someone close (e.g. nanny) but from another class/race/nation -- Ice-Candy man & love- triangle --  Differences? -- no brutal racial conflicts -- The personal connected with the political

 Raisinghani, Neelam. “Wounded India in Deepa Mehta's 1947-Earth.” Films, Literature and Culture: Deepa Mehta's Elements Trilogy. Ed. Jasbir Jain. Rawat, 2007:  “Back out in the open, Afghan kites fill Kabul's sky with colour ” in-the-open-afghan-kites-fill-kabuls-sky-with-colour html in-the-open-afghan-kites-fill-kabuls-sky-with-colour html

 Violence against Women kGjg1sUw kGjg1sUw

 “Pigs Can’t Fly”