Thesis 2017
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Item Yasmina Reza’s Plays: A Faithful Picture of Bourgeois in Europe(East West University, 2017-12-13) Ahmed, FahmidaBourgeois were always the favorite topic of the philosophers, novelists, poets and playwrights. Some writers have dealt with the subject of bourgeois in a serious manner; on the other hand, some have treated the topic and the bourgeois in satiric way. Bourgeois were well treated in the writing of the satirists, specifically in the play of the satirists. Among them Yasmina Reza’s name is worth mentioning because through her plays the bourgeois of the postmodern era have come into light with their values, instinct and limitations. This dissertation paper aims to work on two plays of Reza, namely, Art and God of Carnage to find out if Reza’s plays are faithful picture of Bourgeois in Europe. For better understanding of her plays some theories, such as, Marxism, Postmodernism, Poststructuralism and Deconstruction are applied. In the first chapter of this paper Marxism has been discussed; in the second chapter Postmodernism, Poststructuralism and Deconstruction have been discussed; and in the third chapter, Art and God of Carnage are discussed in details and theories mentioned above are applied. Through these discussions the result is drawn, that is, Yasmina Reza’s plays are faithful picture of bourgeois in Europe.Item Shaping Minds through ‘Ignorance’: Politics in Bangladeshi School Textbooks(East West University, 7/2/2017) Islam, FarhanaSchool textbooks are assumed correct and unbiased in their narrative, and most often prescribed to the young minds without questioning. However, due to the increasing interference of political parties in the government funded public education sector, the school textbooks must be critically analyzed before being considered as rightful sources of knowledge. Hence, this study posed two questions: i) how politics influences the narrative of the textbooks in Bangladesh, and ii) how these books produce ‘ignorance’ by excluding crucial facts regarding history and rights of the citizens. To seek the answers, the research evaluated NCTB (National Curriculum and Textbook Board) authorized books in Bangladesh, Social Science (Choudhury et al.) and Bangladesh and Global Studies (Patwari et al.), followed in class 6 and 7 from 1996-2017, and education policies adapted during the period. Furthermore, in two subsequent chapters, it is observed, how in Bangladesh’s context politically engineered ‘ignorance’ helps the powerful political parties to keep the citizens ignorant about their religious history and current human rights, and allows to push forward a Muslim majoritarian narrative for winning maximum number of votes. The findings of this research, in two subsequent chapters, calls for teachers and general people alike to recognize ‘ignorance’ as an active tool of political power embedded in the school textbooksItem Translation of Akhtaeruzzaman Elias’s “জাল স্বপ্ন, স্বপ্নপ্নর জাল"(East West University, 1/10/2018) Haque, Afsara MaymunaAccording to linguists there are five to six thousand languages in this globe. It is not possible to have knowledge of all languages of this world. Most of the translators learn to translate different texts over the years for different purposes such as social needs, political, economic or academic purposes, or simply for pleasure. The task of a translator involves the intended outcome of the language of the translated text that echoes the original one. It can be said that a translator’s task is to free a text from the fixed signs of its original shape with a view to making it known to the Target Language (TL) readers. A translated text makes a communicative affiliation among the author, the translator and the readers. The art of translation is considered as a creative act which requires both adaption and negotiation. In this act of art, translators negotiate between two languages, two cultures, and two different mind sets. This is the process which calls forth a deep understanding of the language they are translating from and a fluency in the language they are translating into. It is an intricate and creative process of acclimatizing one text into a new reality, mediating between the source and target language. Thus, the task of translators is not only complex and challenging but also highly creative. Anton Popovič notes that the translator has the right to differ organically and to be independent (85). Translators need to be independent for the sake of authenticity, if they are reproducing it as a living work. Thus, it can be said that translation is usually a task of solving “context” problems, where creativity “chimes in.”Item Hollywood: The New Colonizer?(East West University, 8/30/2017) Hasan, NaeemThe phrase “the empire on which the sun never sets” used to represent the earlier British Empire which had been the largest in terms territory. Whether this sun was meant for the geographical domain that the British Empire was so vast that no matter what there could have been some places where the sun would still found on the sky or the longevity of British colonization is argumentative. However, the British Empire eventually fell. That does not mean the era of colonization has stopped and the world is free rather, the United States of America took that place. The end results of colonization are similar where the mechanisms of are different and there the largest movie industry, Hollywood plays a significant role in forming, re-forming, including, and excluding agendas and spreading those agendas and also ensuring their sustenance. Each year, a lot of movies of different genres get released in Hollywood. These agendas are so transcending that in many cases these movies contain some sort of imperialistic notions. Among them, most common notions are establishing America as the center of the world both culturally and militarily and representing America as the savior of the world who rescues the world from tyranny, terrorism and also survives any kind of natural disaster. In this research, the main discussions are based on The Terminal, Battleship, American Sniper, and Pearl Harbor. This research therefore focuses on how America is spreading its colonial propaganda in the form of cultural imperialism. This research focuses on cinematography, screenplay and sound effect to critically analyze “photo opportunities” (Dodds 479) of the selected movies and explains the propagation of American imperialism. This research is therefore, about how Hollywood is used to propagate new imperialistic propaganda. For its theoretical framework, this research relies on Orientalism: Western Conception of the Orient and Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said.Item Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and the Cool Japan Strategy: Exercising Soft Power with Brilliance(East West University, 5/30/2017) Tishi, ShuhratFullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (FMAB), an anime adaptation of the famous manga Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, adopts the western elements of society and life, and adapts them according to the corresponding eastern values. By doing so, it attracts the viewers all around the world towards the eastern way of life, inspires them to explore the East and infuses the eastern ethics into them. It is an ideal representation of the Japan’s exercise of soft power through cultural diplomacy. This research inspects the anime under various lights, especially philosophy and politics, to excavate how this anime is subtly transforming the masses’ perspective of life. Simultaneously, it focuses on the Japanese strategy of alluring the international audience towards them, and changing their point of view about the country. Thus, in the two chapters, this dissertation explains, using FMAB as the text, how Japan is using its cultural elements, especially the creative industry to execute soft power and public diplomacy on the international audience.Item Waiting for Nothing: Examining Existential Crisis in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot(East West University, 5/30/2017) Islam, Md. ZohorulWhen do people start believing that they cannot do anything to change the situation of their life? Does faith help one recover what one has lost? Reading Waiting for Godot creates such questions in a reader’s mind. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot does not provide direct answers to these questions; however, we see the agony and angst of human beings of postmodern era in Waiting for Godot. The life of helpless human beings have been portrayed and the absence of an idea has been shown through the character of Godot. The people who have everything may not understand how it feels to lose everything and wait to recover. People who have nothing tend to wait to revive what they have lost. Nothing will seem important to that person and mortality will force him to wait for some miracle. Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a play where the characters have nothing and they wait for that revival. The wait seems meaningless because the characters do not know what they are waiting for. The post Second World War society saw so much horror that they started to see meaninglessness in everything. The nothingness became a true phenomenon in everyday activities. The shock of the war turned society into believing that there is no guarantee of life in the coming hour. The existential crisis destroyed the believe system of the greater part of the society. The interpretation of the play varies from critic to critic but the play has been accepted as a masterpiece by the modern audienceItem Spacing Diaspora “identities”: A Comparative Study on The Shadow Lines, Jasmine and Interpreter of Maladies(East West University, 8/6/2017) Jyoti, Sabrina MonirDiaspora identity surfaces a number of emotional dispositions: rootlessness, isolation, nostalgia, inner conflict, generation gap, and last but not the least, an expedition for identity. The diaspora writers attempt to reconstruct a link between the motherland and the migrated country by projecting the continuous cultural clash between these territories. Searching for and defining a new identity is the central question for immigrants living in foreign land that leads them to create a balance between their past and present. This paper will offer a comparative study on the portrayal of Indian diaspora in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines, Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine, and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. These novels share some common contexts, like first generation immigrant’s craving for establishing the values of their root to the next generations, second generation’s vision of the “imaginary homeland” and their current home and their constant effort to make a balance between them, and the failure of creating a substantial balance leading to trauma and disruption of the personal and communal relationships. The main focus of this study is to trace the identity crisis of the characters in terms of space, geography, history, trauma etc. This paper will offer a literature review of those novels by relating them to the concept of third space and hybridity by Homi Bhaba from his The Location of Culture and the idea of cultural relocation and representation by Stuart Hall from the essays “Cultural Identity and Diaspora” and “Question of Identity”.Item Humayun Ahmed’s Ghetuputro Komola and Nandito Noroke: A Study of Sexual Exploitation and Repression(East West University, 3/21/2017) Yesmin, Quazi FarzanaThe principle aim of this paper is to create awareness among people about sexuality by analyzing two films of Humayun Ahmed, Ghetuputro Komola (Pleasure Boy Komola) and Nandito Noroke (In Blissful Hell). This dissertation focuses on the sexual exploitation and repression in our society as it is reflected in those films. This study intends to present the practicalsituation of existing society regarding sexuality by relating it with the films. The first chapter focuses on the film Ghetuputro Komola,which actually represents the regressive culture and tradition of pederasty of mediaeval Bengal, while the second chapter concentrates on the sufferings of females, especially mentally challenged women in this patriarchal society. In both chapters, real scenario of present society has been connected with the films by mentioning relative data. This study believes that change can come only through awareness. As literature is a reflection of real life and films are the best way to convey messages to the common people in an entertaining way, through presenting these two films this paper intends to create awareness among people about sexuality to ensure a safe and secure lifeItem Fantasy and Necessity in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and Guy De Maupassant’s “The Necklace”(East West University, 5/30/2017) Rashna, Rifat Ara MehrujGustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary (1856) and Guy De Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace” (1884), both are two French masterpieces of world literature that tell us the stories of two young women who have lived a life full of fantasy and let their fantasy get the best of them. These two stories reveal the economic and societal situation from their time to the time of our own. The protagonists Emma and Mathilde portray the victims of society who face downfalls due to their extreme materialism. The characters’ imagination and fascination of luxury life made them forget about the reality. They could not differentiate between what is fantasy and what is the real necessity of life. Throughout the three chapters I have tried to explain the smallest details of these two characters that correspond with their excessive need for desire, thus losing the essence that really matter in life; and also tried to show a covert picture of psychology, society and economy alongside it. I believe this dissertation will illuminate the unaware people about the deepest facts of psychology and the hidden agendas of society and economy.Item ''One is Not Born, But Rather Becomes, A Woman”: Becoming Woman in Tahmima Anam’s Works(East West University, 1/27/2017) Hossain, TazrinTahmima Anam‟s trilogy, comprising A Golden Age (2007), The Good Muslim (2011), The Bones of Grace (2016), explores the complexities of women‟s lives. Specifically, it underlines the condition of women before, during and after the Liberation War of Bangladesh. This research explores the unheard and unbearable sufferings of women in Anam‟s works. Simultaneously, it highlights the heroism and accomplishments of women in different situations and how women are treated as subalterns in society, culture, and national boundaries. Thus, the common issue of women‟s survival under the domination of patriarchy has been explained in the three chapters. This dissertation illuminates the fact that it is not easy to become a woman in a postcolonial patriarchal system and women, albeit subalterns, are indefatigable.