"Walking" Experiences and Self-Empowerment of South Asian Female Immigrants in Monica Ali's "Brick Lane"

莫妮卡．阿里《磚巷》中南亞裔女性移民的漫遊經驗與自我賦權

龔紹明(Shao-Ming Kung)

《NTU Studies in Language and Literature》 27期 (2012/06) Pp. 131-161

https://doi.org/10.6153/2012.27.06

摘要

本論文擬從南亞離散的脈絡下分析莫妮卡．阿里《磚巷》中的主角納芝寧如何藉由數次在城市裡的漫遊經驗獲致自我賦權。透過比較納芝寧與其丈夫查努的日常生活實踐，尤其是在城市裡的漫遊，本論文主張，莫妮卡．阿里呈現了一種另類的「離散女性漫遊者」。儘管日常生活泰半耗費在封閉的小公寓裡，納芝寧在小說中參與的漫遊經驗帶給她種族意識與性意識之覺醒，而其對城市的觀照不但對市景提供嶄新的解讀，亦開啟了自身的解放之旅。論文第一部份探討納芝寧在磚巷的漫遊經驗。筆者的重點在探討納芝寧開始意識到族裔暨宗教力量，以無所不在的凝視展現對女性能動性之壓迫。儘管如此，納芝寧已學習步出磚巷，展現其自主性。論文第二部份旨在探討她首次在倫敦東區的漫遊，如何體現出離散能動性與跨國想像。此次獨特的經驗亦逐漸開啟其性意識與政治意識，尤其是她與穆斯林青年卡林接觸，甚至發生不法戀情。論文第三部份則側重分析納芝寧在磚巷勇敢行走尋找女兒莎哈娜，並進一步探究她何以與丈夫查努以及情人卡林仳離，以從父權桎梏與意識形態中解放。小說以納芝寧夢想在雪地中穿紗麗來滑雪做收尾。本論文以為，此即象徵朝向獲得女性自由之姿態，暗藏南亞裔女性移民在全球城市中發現自我賦權之可能。

關鍵字

莫妮卡．阿里 ； 磚巷 ； 南亞離散 ； 日常生活實踐 ； 漫遊 ； 自我賦權 ； 能動性

並列摘要

Reading Monica Ali's ”Brick Lane” in the context of South Asian diaspora in England, this paper attempts to analyze how the main protagonist, Nazneen, gains self-empowerment through her several ”walking” experiences in the city. Via a comparison of the everyday practices adopted by Nazneen and her husband, Chanu, especially their respective walking in the city, my study argues that Monica Ali represents an alternative image of a ”diasporic flâneuse,” Nazneen, who, despite most of her daily life being spent in the cloistered council estate, still participates in a gender-and-race conscious flânerie, and whose perceptive vision of the city not only yields a new reading of the cityscapes but also initiates her journey of self-emancipation. In the first section, I will investigate Nazneen's experience of walking on the ethnic enclave of Brick Lane street. Via this tour, Nazneen starts to witness the suppression of female agency in the form of a semi-omnipresent, ethno-religious gaze. Despite limitations on her body, Nazneen has learned to step out of Brick Lane and articulate her agency. The second part of my paper therefore will discuss how diasporic agency and transnational imagination is manifested in her first venture in East London. Such initial emancipation of migrant knowledge also contributes to Nazneen's sexual and political awakening when she begins an illicit affair with a Muslim youth, Karim. Based on her renewed agency and illumination, the third section of this paper will focus on Nazneen's emancipation from the patriarchal, ideological rules by charting her courage in searching for her daughter Shahana on Brick Lane and her resolve to break with Chanu and Karim. Nazneen's dream of ice-skating in a sari at the end of the novel, my study suggests, reveals a symbolic gesture of moving towards female freedom, insinuating the possibility of South Asian immigrant women's achieving a new found self-empowerment in the global city.

並列關鍵字

Monica Ali ； Brick Lane ； South Asian diaspora ； everyday practices ； walking ； self-empowerment ； agency

參考文獻

Ali, Monica(2003).Brick Lane.London:Scribner.

Appadurai, Arjun(1996).Modernity at Large.Minneapolis:U of Minnesota P.

Bedell, Geraldine. "Full of East End Promise Monica Ali's Tale of British Asians, Brick Lane, is Painful and Funny." Web. 12 June. 2010. .

Cormack, Alistair(2006).Migration and the Politics of Narrative Form: Realim and the Postcolonial Subject in Brick Lane.Contemporary Literature.47(4),695-721.

Gupta, Suman(Ed.),Omoniyi, Tope(Ed.)(2007).The Cultures of Economic Migration: International Perspectives.Aldershot:Ashgate.