{"id":1073,"date":"2021-05-09T19:18:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T23:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/?p=1073"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:38:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T18:38:52","slug":"an-unstoppable-force-secrecy-and-transgression-in-monica-alis-brick-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/london\/an-unstoppable-force-secrecy-and-transgression-in-monica-alis-brick-lane\/","title":{"rendered":"‘An Unstoppable Force’: Secrecy and Transgression in Monica Ali\u2019s Brick Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"

This essay represents my own work, in accordance with University regulations.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was as if she had woken one day to find that she had become a collector, guardian of a great archive of secrets, without the faintest knowledge of how she had gotten started or how her collection had grown. Perhaps, she considered, they just breed with each other. And then she imagined her secrets like a column of ants, appearing at first like a few negligible specks and turning so quickly into an unstoppable force\u201d (228).\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Introduction<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike adventurous protagonists in the tradition of the realist novel such as Oliver Twist and Jane Eyre, Nazneen is confined to the domestic arena and draws her power only from within. This is hinted at in the epigraphs announcing fate as the major theme of the novel. Because each of Nazneen\u2019s attempts to forge into the outside world is considered a transgression in her society, she turns into a \u201cguardian of a great archive of secrets\u201d: her first walk in the city;\u00a0 her sister\u2019s despair; her knowledge of Tariq\u2019s descent into drugs, and most significantly the affair with Karim, are all secrets. While her husband, Chanu, conceals to abscond responsibility and soften his wounding humiliations, Nazneen uses secrecy to test the suffocating social boundaries around her before eventually breaking free from them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the secrets compound, the gulf between Nazneen and her husband widens, and by the end of the novel, the roles of husband and wife in the family have completely reversed. Secrecy allows Nazneen to ascertain her power and attain selfhood, sharpening her perception and allowing her to establish roots in the city, even as the marriage crumbles.<\/span><\/p>\n

I: <\/span>Quiet Rebellion<\/span><\/p>\n

Mishra (2003) finds Chanu\u2019s depiction is fuller than Nazneen\u2019s. This is indeed a correct first impression. But if one takes Nazneen\u2019s secrecy into account, she acquires a more complex interiority. In the first half of the novel, Nazneen\u2019s secrets afford her a quiet rebellion, a profound rejoinder to Chanu\u2019s hollow tirades.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Chanu\u2019s past is only one of glory, Nazneen\u2019s is more nuanced. She clings to the legend of her nativity: Nazneen had been taught that she had survived her childhood only because she was surrendered to fate. Her mother, Amma, downplays the role she had played in nursing the daughter and instead attributes it to fate. This grants the child freedom from life\u2019s drudgery and banishes all ambition. For a woman, the desire for self-improvement is itself considered a sin. But Nazneen\u2019s life is nothing but toil: she submits to her father, who marries her off to Chanu. And at her house, she essentially becomes a maid, tending only to Chanu\u2019s needs: she cuts his corns and trims his nails. Because there is no satisfaction in such humiliating work, Nazneen falls back into her mother\u2019s philosophy: she surrenders to fate, which justifies the toil and gives her a different source of purpose, a purpose she may have found in a job of her own. Unrooted and displaced in London, Nazneen grounds herself in tradition. She draws resilience from the conviction that there is nothing she can do about her life. \u201cWhat could not be changed must be born,\u201d was how Amma had put it (p. 4). But the toil becomes too unbearable for Nazneen and she quietly rebels. These transgressions gather into secrets.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Jorina, a woman in the neighborhood, commits suicide, Nazneen is concerned. The news is broken by Mrs. Islam, whose authority over the neighborhood rests solely on her archive of secrets. For women, secrecy is a source of power. This is made more explicit when Nazneen inquires about why Jorina had killed herself. \u201cYou can hardly keep it a secret when you begin going out to work,\u201d Razia theorizes (p. 13). The woman\u2019s sin, it turns out, was that she had found a job for herself. This piques Nazneen\u2019s curiosity. She formulates a question about Jorina\u2019s death, rephrasing it endlessly, but she never gathers enough courage to pose it to Chanu. This sets the ground for her rebellion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Nazneen accompanies Chanu to Dr. Azad\u2019s practice, he introduces her as \u201cshy\u201d, but she locks eyes with the doctor, finding herself \u201ccaught in a complicity of looks\u201d (p. 19), which threatens to give off what her husband is not saying. Although she has no role in the conversation, she still manages to tip Chanu off. Nazneen also represses her desire to act, secretly hatching plans in her head, which compensate for her passivity. \u201cShe wanted to get up from the table and walk out of the door and never see [Chanu] again\u201d (p. 18). So forceful is her desire for rebellion even when she is completely subdued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nazneen\u2019s first true transgression is the walk she makes to the city by herself, unaccompanied by her husband. This journey represents independence. Chanu confines her to the house, locked from the outside world. Embarrassed, he also hides the details of his job from Nazneen. He wants to live with her in the same house but still somehow maintain a distance, keeping the assaults against his manhood only to himself. Even in his ramblings, Chanu manages to remain obscure, rarely briefing Nazneen on the true contents of the books he reads, claiming that they are not easy to translate. This forces Nazneen to forge into the city on her own. And when she takes the walk to the city and makes it back to her house safely, having asked for directions, this cements Nazneen\u2019s power and bolsters her self-confidence. \u201cSee what I can do,\u201d she says to herself, addressing Chanu, although she cannot yet summon the courage to tell him about the walk (p. 40). At least she discovers she no longer has to rely on him. And this must be kept a secret: he wields too much power over. If Nazneen confesses her transgression, Chanu may restrain her and this is not a risk she is ready to take.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Nazneen finds a different outlet for action. Her sister, Hasina, writes to her from home to tell her that she had escaped from her husband to Dhaka. This is Hasina\u2019s secret and no one in the village knows about it. Nazneen is convinced her sister\u2019s action will put her in great peril. \u201cOnce you get talked about, then that\u2019s it,\u201d she confirms (p.38). A woman is only safe as long as she remains servile to her husband; if she breaks free, that is the end for her, as has been the case of Jorina. Nazneen is worried such a fate is awaiting her sister and she appeals to Chanu for action. But Chanu downplays the sister\u2019s case and instead sympathizes with the husband, whom Hasina had confessed had brutally beaten her. \u201cWhat will happen will happen,\u201d Chanu says, echoing Amma\u2019s philosophy of submission to fate. Nazneen feels betrayed and withholds Hasina\u2019s future letters from her husband. This, she believes, is a case she must take up on her own. For the first time, she punishes Chanu for the grievance. She stops praying for his promotion, puts \u201cfiery chilies\u2019 into his sandwich, slips the razor when cutting his corns, and registers her rebellion in all the chores she undertakes (p. 40). But Chanu barely notices Nazneen\u2019s discontent. If anything, he suppresses her even more. For instance, when Nazneen suggests enrolling in Razia\u2019s college, Chanu feigns indifference (p. 51). This confirms to her that she cannot rely on him for anything. Nazneen must rebel more fiercely.<\/span><\/p>\n

II: <\/span>The Affair<\/span><\/p>\n

Walter (2003) finds fault with Hasina\u2019s letters, writing, \u201cI don\u2019t quite understand why Hasina\u2019s letters are written in such broken prose, since presumably she would write in her own language\u201d. This ignores the fact that spelling mistakes can also occur in the Bengali language. But the true distinction between the sisters is one of temperament. Nazneen admires Hasina\u2019s broken spelling and finds her correspondence more lively than her own letters, which are anguished and forever in search of perfection. Gorra (2003) lucidly captures the true intention of Hasina\u2019s letters. \u201cHasina\u2019s account of her life in a desperately poor city [tells] Nazneen that the \u201chome\u201d she imagines no longer exists,\u201d he writes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hasina\u2019s desperation is clearly overstated. Mishra (2003) points out that Hasina \u201csounds more like a travel writer from England than an oppressed Bangladeshi woman\u201d. However, there is no doubt that Hasina\u2019s grim experience back home alleviates Nazneen\u2019s nostalgia and grounds her in the city. This is a secret she withholds from the tormented Chanu, until later in the novel. But her sister\u2019s correspondence is not enough solace for Nazneen. The \u201cexternal three-way torture of daughter-father-daughter\u201d becomes too unbearable for her (p. 147).<\/span><\/p>\n

This slowly leads to Nazneen\u2019s biggest secret. Estranged from her husband, Nazneen begins dreaming of finding a job for herself and sending money to Hasina (p. 133). She swings into action and masters \u201cbasting, stitching, hemming, buttonholing and gathering\u201d (p. 139). In this way, she invents a job for herself without leaving the house, as Jorina had been forced to do. At this point, Nazneen also finds out that Chanu had taken a loan from Mrs. Islam and she confronts him about it. As always, he merely ignores her. But when Nazneen starts working at home, Chanu does not ask her to stop; instead, the roles of wife and husband reverse and he begins helping her, \u201cpassing scissors, dispensing advice, making tea, folding garments (p. 147.\u201d He desperately wants to be in charge, even calculating the profit margins on her behalf. Chanu is unmotivated and he has given up his big ambitions. He has essentially resigned to fate. \u201cNow, I just take the money, I say thank you. I count it,\u201d he says (p. 154). This sense of despair bothers Nazneem and she desperately wants an escape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is when Nazneen falls for Karim, the middleman who brings her the garments. Unlike Chanu, Karim is a man of action; in fact, his favorite catchphrase is \u201cman\u201d. Though he is of the same generation as Tariq, Karim is different. Where Tariq steals from his mother (saying \u201cOk-Mama\u201d to everything she says) and succumbs to drugs (a secret Nazneen picks on early but never discloses to Razia), Karim rebels from his parents and loathes them intensely. He scolds his father for spending too much money calling back home and faults him for growing passive after decades of driving. Karim just cannot stand weakness and this attracts Nazneen to him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Nazneen\u2019s eyes, Karim accounts for Chanu\u2019s weaknesses: he is confident and knows his place in the world. And he gives her the attention she needs. Being an Islamic activist, Karim brings Nazneen leaflets and slowly radicalizes her. This allows her to avenge Chanu for a lifetime\u2019s grievances. \u201cYou are not the only one who knows things,\u201d she would retort, secretly and only to herself (p. 176). But Chanu still remains indifferent, even oblivious. Threatened by the leaflets, he finds mistakes in them, claiming they give \u201ca wrong impression of Muslims\u201d (p. 188), though he is himself not a practicing Muslim. But this does not discourage Nazneen. The secrecy of her affair with Karim and the possibility of Chanu finding out only intensifies her desire (p. 188).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The affair permits Nazneen to break free from the philosophy that she had inherited from her mother (and subsequently Chanu) and grants her urgency, almost instantly. \u201cFor a glorious moment,\u201d we are told, \u201cit was clear that clothes, not fate, made her\u201d (p. 201). This allows her to bridge the barrier between her and Karim, while at the same time drawing closer to her daughters, who are of the same generation. And as soon as Chanu alienates Shahana by calling her memsahib and addressing her through her younger sister, Bibi, she begins confiding in Nazneen. The immensity of the transgression (considered to be the biggest sin in Islam) endows Nazneen with a fearlessness she had never known before. The city also justifies her action: Nazneen overhears the \u201crhythmic knocking\u201d from the bed of her next-door neighbor, who drops one new boyfriend after another, and this allows her to view her own affair as nothing out of the ordinary (p. 221).<\/span><\/p>\n

III: <\/span>The Epiphany<\/span><\/p>\n

After the affair, Nazneen changes and begins to use her power: she stands up to Mrs. Islam, who had been bullying her with her two sons for a long time; she breaks up with Karim after realizing he is not the man she had imagined him to be, and she refuses to return back home with Chanu when he acquires the tickets. These are all out of sync with Nazneen\u2019s temperament in most of the novel. The secrecy takes on an outward force, which surprises the reader. Yet, even when she awakens, Nazneen still lacks a strong conviction. Though she refuses to return home, she does not entirely abandon Chanu and one can imagine her sending money to him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore<\/span>, Brick Lane <\/span><\/i>leaves loose ends. For instance, no reason is provided for why Nazneen does not tell Razia about Tariq\u2019s descent into drugs, although the two are close friends. And the epiphany about Karim comes too suddenly. Moreover, the relationship between Chanu and Nazneen continues to linger on. These moments can all be seen as an extension of Nazneen\u2019s passivity. Hiddleston (2005) argues that the novel operates on \u201cshapes and shadows\u201d, playing with \u201cprovisional forms, rather than determinate individuals or incontrovertible truths\u201d (Hiddleston, 71). In a sense, the novel is itself cast as fate, unrooted, uncertain of itself. It becomes a secret to unravel. This hesitancy in the narration is one Ali herself confesses in a 2003 essay in The Guardian. \u201cStanding neither behind a closed door, nor in the thick of things, but rather in the shadow of the doorway, is a good place from which to observe,\u201d she writes. But I am convinced that these are just the faults of a debut novel. Although Nazneen\u2019s epiphany comes too late and lasts only briefly, I think this force can be gleaned even in the early pages if one pays attention to her power for secrecy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Conclusion<\/span><\/p>\n

Nazneen\u2019s power gathers slowly, almost like an army of ants, and this is driven by her talent for secrecy. These secrets allow Nazneen to transcend the social boundaries and eventually take control of her fate. But the journey to this moment is too slow and it comes too swiftly, which necessitates close attention to detail, particularly the secrets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/b><\/p>\n

Hiddleston J. Shapes and Shadows: (Un)veiling the Immigrant in Monica Ali\u2019s Brick Lane. <\/span>The Journal of Commonwealth Literature<\/span><\/i>. 2005;40(1):57-72. doi:<\/span>10.1177\/0021989405050665<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Micheal Gorra, \u201cEast Enders\u201d, <\/span>The New York Times,<\/span><\/i> September 7 2003. Available <\/span>here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Monica Ali, <\/span>Brick Lane<\/span><\/i>. New York: Scribner, 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 “<\/span><\/i>Where I am Coming From\u201d,<\/span> The Guardian<\/span><\/i>, June 17 2003. Available <\/span>here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Natasha Walter, \u201cCitrus Scent of Inexorable Desire\u201d, The Guardian, June 14 2003. Available <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Pankaj Mishra, \u201cEnigmas of Arrival\u201d, The New York Review of Books,\u00a0 December 18 2003. Available<\/span> here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This essay represents my own work, in accordance with University regulations.\u00a0 \u201cIt was as if she had woken one day to find that she had become a collector, guardian of a great archive of secrets, without the faintest knowledge of how she had gotten started or how her collection had grown. Perhaps, she considered, they … <\/p>\n

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