English Speech: Change

Nothing endures but change. Good morning everybody, I’m Darshil as you already
know. I’m here to teach about the change of culture found in the novel “The Chant of
Jimmie Blacksmith” by Thomas Keneally and a film “The Namesake” directed by
Mira Nair. I will be teaching the change of perspectives on culture for both texts.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a powerful story of a black man's revenge against
an unjust and intolerant society.
Culture for Jimmie changes throughout the novel, and as a young boy Jimmie accepts
both black and white culture. Jimmie respects his culture and goes through the pain of
man initiation which is juxtaposed to the whites misunderstanding of the values.
Jimmie replies to Mr Neville to his disappearance by saying he was “catchin’
possums” while not showing the fact of his important step to manhood.
However, Jimmie quickly begins to question his culture, and starts taking in the ideas
of Christianity and adapting to white values. He is now told of owning land, marrying
a white girl and building status for himself. This begins to contradict his Aboriginal
culture but nonetheless “Jimmies black soul had been most undermined by the train
journey...” Jimmie sees the limits in Aboriginal culture, and how everything he had
believed was not the reality. He sees the disgust in Aboriginal values on his visits to
Verona and soon after “baptizes himself a white man”. Symbolism is used to show
white women as white society and everything he had wanted. A second change occurs
when Mr Newby along with everyone else does him injustice. He undergoes a murder
rampage. He murders white women with his axe in order to extract revenge on white
society that would never accept him. He is now in between two cultures which
conflict inside of him. However towards the end, culture is accepted by Jimmie and
“may have turned to the Tullam instinct for primacy of mother’s brother.” While he is
on the run, he is forced to be with his full blooded half brother Morton, who he grows
to love. Regret is felt throughout the end perspective for his brother and his uncle who
had embarked on a murderous rampage. Dialogue is used to show Jimmies anger
when he hears the school children talk about Australia as if it were theirs. The story
was told by an omniscient narrator which allows all views to be shared and illustrate
character development.

The Namesake describes the struggles between first-generation Bengali immigrants to

the United States, and their children, particularly their son, Gogol.
Gogol is born in the United States unknowingly of the journey his parents had taken.
Even though he was born in a Bengali family, Ashoke Ganguli and Ashima Ganguli
(parents) knew it wasn’t going to be the way they had been raised in their home town
of Calcutta. Gogol grew up in America and was introduced to both his Bengali culture
and American culture. However it is contrasted when the Americans misunderstand
the depth of their culture and importance of their name (“ How about... Baby Boy
Ganguly.” The initial view is shown by using light and soft colours which create a
mild mood.
The change occurs when Gogol is given his real name ‘Nikhil’ which he denies. This
symbolises the future of Gogol and how his culture will be undermined. In his teenage
years the perspective towards his natural culture diminishes and is dragged forward to
a more normal American life which is shows when he is called “Nick” in the
beginning of a new chapter.
However, with events such as his father’s death and seeing the lifeless American
culture, Nikhil decides to accept his culture, and take responsibilities for himself. He
breaks up with his girlfriend and embarks on things he missed due to his prejudiced
beliefs. He shaves his head to respect his fathers death and “embarks on his
namesake”.
The Namesake relates to the chant of Jimmie blacksmith because Jimmie and the
main character Nikhil in the texts are introduced to a new culture, and decide further
upon their actions. Initially they are both seen to accept their culture but are opened to
new ideas which in a way corrupt their minds. Their change comes when they realise
their limitations in their culture. However, in the Namesake, the main character
changes his perspective due to his general misunderstanding of it.

As we have seen the chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and The namesake have their
characters that go through similar change and in the end find out they cannot escape
themselves for who they really are. The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith was more
effective in explaining the change; it contains more techniques which help visualise
the change and the events are logically understandable. The composer tells the story
through an omniscient narrator which also helps the responder see absolute character
and culture change.

Thank you