Kanadska Kratka Priča 9. On A Cold Day

 

On a Cold Day-Himani Bannerji

We started this course by b y reading the story A story A Red Girl’s Girl’s Reasoning  by  by Emily Pauline Johnson which dealt with the problems of the First Nations people, then we touched upon gender relationships in the story The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham’s Abraham’s, then we read a few stories that were dealing with personal psychology of the characters ( My  My Father Took Took a Cake to France, France,  Here and No, No, and Celia !ehind me). me). hese stories can, of course, be grouped in different ways! we can say that some of these stories deal with the issue of death, both directly, and indirectly! as something that you learn about and ha"e to deal with, or something that you fear. he story "n a Cold #ay can #ay can best be described through the phrase! hy$ocrisy o% multiculturalism& #ulticulturalism multiculturalism&  #ulticulturalism is, of course, highly "alued in $anada, e"en today, when there are some dilemmas about multiculturalism. here is a lot of criticism, not only on the part of the immigrants themsel"es, who are not %uite happy with the policy of multiculturalism not being reali&ed in life, but also on the part p art of the white people li"ing in $ana $anada, da, people of the 'nglo! aon origin, who feel that they are marginali&ed. *t is %uite paradoical that the descendants of the first European settlers now feel marginali&ed in their own country because of o f the fact that the immigrants are gi"en much more attention, both legally and an d in the social life. +imani anner-i is one of the few women of color who ha"e reached a "ery high position in the $anadian society. society. he is also one of the first women of color who started teaching at a uni"ersity uni"ersity,, and at the moment (b. /01) /01 ) she is oldest woman of color teaching at a $anadian uni"ersity. he also de"eloped her own position into a theory! the theory of the ga'e. ga'e. When she came to $anada from angladesh, too2 her degree and got a -ob, she found herself standing in a classroom full of white students. he was teaching about the body and the theory of representation! how people represent their social position, gender, economic status in the society. he felt the ga&e of her students and understood that she was not seen as other (white) teachers. he felt that her students loo2ed at her in a different way, way, and that they stopped at the surface le"el! at her dar2 compleion. he felt on her own body how that ga&e ta2 ta2es es the surface and refuses to go deep deeper, er, and to see what she as a person can offer. 3ut of this rather uncomfortable position she de"eloped this theory! she insisted on being there, confronting these students, tal2ing to them, and showing them what a woman of color can do (more info about this theory can be found on the study sheet). +er stories deal with the tragic destinies and the position of the women of color in $anada (thus, the main character in all her stories is always a woman of color). here are three issues that need to be ta2en into account when reading this story and other similar  stories! the race o% the main character( character( the gender( and the class to hich the character belongs belongs.. 'lthough +imani herself did not ha"e any class problems (being a respected teacher), she 2n 2new ew  better than to remain at the personal le"el in her stories.

 

here is a sentence in the story when 4ebbie arton loo2s at the body thin2ing! )he’s %rom my country* +ndia( or ,akistan( or !angladesh( or )ri -anka ./0 or Guyana or A%rica/ What does this mean5 're people from these different parts of the world really so much ali2e5 3f course they are not. +owe"er they are percei"ed as being the same. his shows that $anadians use stereotypes. o o them these people are all, more or less, from the same country! they are not from here , they are from there& there& hey  hey fit into the stereotype! so from the point of "iew of white $anadians all non!white $anadians seem to be ali2e. o it ma2es no difference what country they come from. ince this happens at the beginning of the story, we can assume what the story will deal with (the hypocrisy of multiculturalism). *f they wanted to de"elop multiculturalism, which is the official policy in $anada since (she thin2s) /67, then the white $anadians should ha"e  been better trained to identify these differences, not to see all these people from 'sia 'sia as one ethnicity,, because they are not. 1e see that this o%%icial $olicy is one thing( and ho things ethnicity ha$$en in real li%e is something com$letely di%%erent , as you ha"e already seen in the story The  Man %rom Mars Mars. 'lthough, the criticism in the story he #an from #ars is a bit milder, because here we ha"e a woman who dies in $anada, which was supposed to welcome all the immigrants, who actually support the economy of $anada. hey need all these immigrants8 otherwise they would not allow them into the country. o what is the plot of the story5 3n a "ery cold day, a woman called 'sima, -umps from her 7th floor balcony. People gather around her, h er, which is when we meet 'bdul Jalal who wor2s nearby, and has witnessed the fall. hen we meet 4ebbie, who wor2s in a nearby clothing store, and who, upon seeing 'sima9s 'sima9s body, identifies with her. he was on her way to wor2, when she saw the reflection of the body in the shop window. When she turned to see the body b ody,, she saw herself. he then remembers her past! how she had to change her name when she came to $anada, etc. he gets in"ited for a cup of coffee by 'bdul, and they tal2. he feels relie"ed to be able to tal2 to somebody.. When 'bdul as2s her about the girl9s name, so that he can pray for her, she gi"es him somebody her own. o, what happens to a young woman of color when she immigrates to $anada5 he is told by the counselor that she has to change her name if she wants to get a -ob. *n $anada they ha"e special offices that ta2e care of immigrants. he immigrants can go there and be assigned their own counselor, and that person spends se"eral hours ad"ising the immigrants what to do and how to impro"e their condition in $anada. For many people coming from the al2ans it is ad"ised that they somehow shorten their names, and ma2e them easier for pronunciation. $anadian employers don9t want to go to :heritage classes; to be able to correctly pronounce someone9s name. o the counselor, the official official representati"e of $anada, tells 4e"i2a that she should better change her name. *t is also he who chooses the name for her. Renaming her. Renaming a $erson means changing their identity& o identity&  o this *ndian woman now has h as to become $anadian, and she is gi"en a nice 'nglo! aon name! 4ebbie, which according to the counselor sounds much better than 4e"i2a. his is how she belie"es she will get a -ob, which is the most essential thing when you mo"e to $anada.