Brick Lane: Mirroring Nazneen’s Metamorphosis
Dr. Hossain Al Mamun
Associate Professor
Department of English
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology
Sylhet, Bangladesh mamuneng_sust@yahoo.com +8801711987266
Abstract: Brick Lane (2003) unfolds a story of an immigrant woman—Nazneen, and her journey to Britain from Bangladesh and her all out struggle for getting freedom. Heraclitus comments in the beginning of the novel—“A man’s character is his fate”, but the story presents man’s supremacy over his fate. Nazneen falls in bad condition so many times, but her inner strength fights against her fate which gradually develops and this study compares that change with butterfly’s metamorphosis. Like a moth of a butterfly Nazneen comes out from…show more content… As a woman, Nazneens metamorphosis supposes possibilities of new cultural affiliations and therefore new opportunities, which takes place in cross-breeding of cultures in terms of hybridity involving the rejection of past and assimilation of new values. In Brick Lane, Ali shapes a female character who transgresses boundaries fixed on her by her gender, culture, caste and economic status. Nazneen is determined by strategies of resistance, escaping from traditional space, using sexuality in order to move beyond restrictions imposed on her and thus renegotiating the space in which she actually resides. The gendered space underlines the idea of home which remains problematic. The conflation of home, as both security and prison, evokes therefore ones limited identity. (Trying to Belong)
The main focus in Brick Lane is on Nazeen and her personal change as a result of her marriage, her move to Britain, her relationship with her husband and her lover, her discontent and her emancipation. (Tongur 561) Hasan considers Nazneen’s status as “her supposed freedom.” (Book Review) Because Nazneen “often accepts new culture wholly.” (Whipple 8) Considering these reviews, this study intends to focus on mirroring Nazneen’s metamorphosis in Brick