Time is one of the main themes of Bharati Mukherjee’s Holder of the World. The ping-pong/meshing of two different times in the novel, one in the early 1990s and the other in late 1600s-early 1700s is something that I find very arresting and makes for a more compelling read. Time and history is Beigh Masters’ life work, and she is connected to Hannah Easton, Salem Bibi, even though they live(d) in completely separate times. But are their times really that separate? It relates back to what Venn is trying to achieve with his machine: “he won’t call it time-travel. Neither we, nor time, will have traveled an inch.” It seems as though Mukherjee is demystifying the idea that time is a continuous line, with its events separate--they happen and are done. We are affected and influenced by history and, in turn, affect and influence history ourselves. It pertains to the trippy idea that time is really not a constant line but that it is all at once. I guess this would relate to spaces that we talked about as well. Mukherjee is not the first author I have read to bring up aspects of time like this. As an example, one of my all-time favorite books (a series actually) is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I should mention, this is not the Outlander that was apparently a viking vs. aliens movie, which I was informed of awhile ago. 
These books are honestly spellbinding—mix of history, romance, adventure, time travel—they are great. So, if you’re looking for summer reading…and a 7th one is coming out this Sept. I heard. But anyways! If you plan to read any of the books just take my word for it that it is relevant to what I was talking about before with history/time, and don’t read the next part of my blog because I am going to spoil a few things.
Super long story short: Claire is a nurse after WWII, just got married and is in Scotland where she goes through standing stones which send her back in time to the 1700s where she falls in love with and marries Jamie Fraser, a big rugged highlander. Trust me, it’s completely believable in the book! She knows about rebellions and Stuart's war that are going to happen and tries to change history and all that but then….she finds out she is pregnant with Jamie’s baby and goes back to the 20th century and has the baby there, where time passed normally as it did in the past (3 years I think). Throughout the books, she and her daughter travel back in time multiple times, once ending up in the present earlier than when they had left. Especially great part: the creepy lady who is getting hung for being a witch tells Claire a number (1-9-6-3) and shows Claire a small pox vaccination scar on her arm right before she dies.
These ideas of history and time bring up an awareness of how we all have the power to influence each others’ spaces in both positive and negative ways. I feel like this is an important thing that I have gotten from the class.
I will for sure be checking out those books this summer (so I didn't read the second part of your blog haha)! But nice blog Laura :)
ReplyDeleteThe influence we have over others space is fascinating. This can be seen on both large and small scales. For example the space in personal relationships, or space in regard to large companies and the influence on society etc. This also ties back to the discussion of agency. Agency, or power, is a huge determining factor in ones space. Without agency, it is difficult to have any control over the content of your space. I keep relating everything back to the movie we saw in class, but this is very similar in regard to the agency companies have, and the way in which they control the space in Bangladesh very negatively.
ReplyDeleteI love the ping pong comment. I pertty much covered this theme in my blog too. I believe that we need to pay attention to this flip flop thing of time periods and decades because it is all around us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the sense that I think time can and does connect various spaces. But at the same time, something I think important to recognize is location, and not just in the physical sense. Sometimes I think when we say "we are all connected" we often dismiss any differences that lie between "us" and "them" by simply pointing to one or two things we have in common. I think Klein talks about this in her book when she is discussing the prevalence of Brands in China and how kids there are wearing the same brands of clothing that American kids are wearing so they feel they are like them. But there are obviously vast differences between a kid in China and a kid in the United States. Sometimes by grouping people together under that statement, we often dismiss very big and important differences that lie between. :) Just a thought.
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