The Experience of Orientalism in Literature and Real Life

The Experience of Orientalism in Literature and Real Life
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The Experience of Orientalism in Literature and Real Life
Orientalism has become a controversial topic in both the eastern and western worlds. Many literary works incorporate themes to show the identity issues among characters from the east living or seeking careers in English or western worlds. For example, Jane Eyre and Re Jane are two worldwide known novels with orientalism, cultural conflict, and identity themes. Many other well-known people like Carine Mardorossian and Stephen Sohn show through their nonfictional work that the impact of orientalism on the western world and its culture is debatable. There are many other people like Adichie with their real-life stories to share their orient experiences in the world where they are considered 'other.' The authors of the texts and the writers and professors working to share the experiences of orientalism in the western or English world discuss cultural issues, identity problems, and the positive effect of combining two cultures through their work.
In the novel, "Jane Eyre," Bronte consciously and unconsciously traces many glimpses of orientalism. The author applies oriental characteristics to signify the 'otherness' in the text. The story introduces many characters showing non-English traits, including Jane, who sits like a 'Turk' (Brontë, 1883). The other oriental characters like Balch and Rochester are shown in the stereotypical pattern, and somewhat undesired models, as the author herself, are English with inherent racial bias. Considering Edward Said's words that orients assist in defining the English world by their contrasting characteristics, Bronte's implementation of 'otherness' becomes comprehensible (Gordon, 1982). The author has consciously used oriental characters in her post-colonial novel while knowing the segregation in the society, and she has unconsciously taken it to the length of being a native European.
In Re Jane, the protagonist exemplifies an oriental experience in an 'other' world and comes to self-discovery after understanding her place in both cultures. Jane is a Korean orphan, living with her uncle in New York and fulfilling their social and familial expectations at the cost of her self-pride and cultural values. The story highlights the eastern effect on its people while living in foreign and their inner struggle to adjust to their new environment (). At last, she returns to her homeland and finds peace. Also, being the offspring of a Korean mother and an American father, the girl is torn between two different cultural values, which she tries to escape her whole life (Park, 2016). This shows the psychological dilemma of orients living in the western world and the eastern impact on people who racially belong to Western and eastern cultures. In her novel, the author shows the experience of 'otherness' that western life gives to Orientals, the subsequent inner conflict, and their failure to combine with different cultures.
Chimamanda Ad...