Bon Voyage

Editorial Vol.5(1)

Motikala Subba Dewan — 2023-12-31

No abstract available.

The Politics of Displacement of Refugees in Habiburahman’s Novel First, They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks

Alok Lamsal — 2023-12-31

This paper explores mainly three phases of displacement experienced by refugees in Habiburahaman’s book First, They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks and potential solutions to address the challenges they face. Deriving from Beverly Crawford’s concept that “refugees live three lives,” which has been quoted in the book written by Alan Gratz- Refugee, the paper examines the distinct experiences of refugees as they flee from their homeland, seek refuge in another place or country, and establish lives in foreign lands. Using the plight of Rohingya refugees in refugee camps as a reference point from the book, the paper argues that each phase of displacement dispenses with exclusive challenges and insecurities for refugees. The paper also discusses the role of theories in highlighting the problems and giving possible solutions to those complications of displacement. Additionally, the paper comprehends various insights from different philosophers and theorists on the topic of refugee displacement, providing a theoretical framework to address this global issue through a novel. Ultimately, the paper aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of the experiences of refugees in the book “...A Rohingya Speaks” and to propose possible implications to help refugees rebuild their lives after various phases of displacement.

Emergence of the Nepali Nation-State: A Stepping Stone to Modernity

Bal Bahadur Thapa — 2023-12-31

The present study examines traces of nation-state and nationalist capitalism in Prithvi Narayan Shah’s Dibya Upadesh, a collection of royal edicts, in the light of relevant historical details. As Prithvi Narayan Shah’s campaign of uniting the princely states has been very contentious one, the scholars have different opinions regarding it. With the abolition of monarchy and rise of the identity politics in Nepal in the recent years, there is no dearth of scholars, who are bent on proving Prithvi Narayan Shah’s venture as a colonial and expansionist campaign triggered by his greed for property and power. However, this dissertation does not try to judge him in terms of needs and values of the present Nepali society. Instead, this study, keeping the values and constraints of the then historical period, examines Prithvi Narayan’s venture in terms of its consequences and thus claims that Prithvi Narayan Shah’s unifying campaign contributed to the rise of nascent nation-state and nationalist capitalism in Nepal. As the nascent nation-state based on the Hinduism, the hill culture and the Nepali [Gorkhali] language set the path of the history of modern Nepal, it has remained a semi-feudal and premodern state at the core. Regarding nation-state, capitalism and modernity, this qualitative as well as interpretive study employs the relevant ideas of Kathleen Thelen, David Gellner, Anthony Giddens, Benedict Anderson, Ernest Renan, Mark Leichty, and Mahesh Chandra Regmi, among others.

The Murderous Act as a Response to Identity Crisis in Trifles

Bam Dev Sharma — 2023-12-31

Trifles is one of the revolutionary one act plays dealing with murder in which John Right is murdered by the wife, Minnie Right. She, however, refuses that she was fast asleep when the murder took place. The circumstances, however, evince that she is responsible for the murder. The play does not clearly manifest any such clues except the narrated accounts of other characters regarding her personality and her emotional and psychological. She behaves eccentrically when Mr. Hale, a close neighbor, comes to her house inquiring her husband, John Right. The investigation, then, takes place led by country attorney and other members. They enter the farm house, examining several rooms in course of investigation. On this story backdrop, this article tries to explore the cause of murder due to identity crisis. To make this claim justifi able, the research article is based on identity theory proposed by Peter Bourke, Castelles Manual, and David De Grazia.

Politico-Cultural Exigencies and the Rise of Rhetoric in Classical Greece

Hem Lal Pandey — 2023-12-31

Did rhetoric naturally evolve from the inherent power and potential of language, or were specific political and cultural conditions instrumental in driving its development in classical Greece? This paper explores this question by adopting a historical approach to rhetoric and a rhetorical approach to history. It draws on the perspectives of sophists such as Gorgias, the anonymous author of “Dissoi Logoi,” and Isocrates, as well as the rhetorical philosophical orientations of Plato and Aristotle. In conducting this study, I employ a methodological review approach that relies on the scholarship of rhetoric and rhetorical history and critically analyse available sources and the arguments developed in the field. Through this approach, I argue that the emergence of rhetoric in classical times was prompted by several exigent factors, including humanism, democracy, education, literacy, and legal practices. Therefore, theorizing and practicing rhetoric beyond the cultural-political context is inherently partial and incomplete.

Critiquing Psycho-social Abjection of Young Adult’s Body in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye

Hukum Thapa — 2023-12-31

This study applies Julia Kristeva and Karen Coats’ critical findings into the psychosocial abjection of the body to an analysis of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. It makes an argument for how and why Holden Caulfield, the young adult protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, experiences body abjection and what benefits from it. It argues that adolescents experience rejection as a part of their adult lives. It also makes the case that young adults degrade their own bodies in order to gain their freedom, individuality, and maturity, and that adults degrade the bodies of teenagers in order to maintain their power over them. The yearning for freedom, identity, and adulthood is sparked by the rejection of one’s body. This work paves the way for future investigations concerning rejection and the milieu of diverse continents and societies among young adults.

Demonization of Children in Laurence Yep’s “The Phantom Heart”

Madhav Prasad Dahal — 2023-12-31

This article explores some cultural aspects that lead to the demonization of children in the post Chinese Revolution era (1945-1949) in Laurence Yep’s story “The Phantom Heart”. Based on the insights of Joseph L. Zarnado, Anfeng Sheng, John Clarke and some other critics, it uses children’s perspective to examine the adult behaviors. It examines how dominant adult psychology makes children victim of injustice, poverty and insecurity. The Chinese Revolution, led by The Chinese Communist Party in 1946, ended with the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.The change in political system still did not bring a positive change in the attitude towards children. This study ponders on the overall adult attitude of the time towards the children. It tries to excavate cultural and psychological aspects latent in the protagonist characters of the story. Analyzing the mutual relationship of the major characters with the children, it makes an endeavor to portray the impact of dominant adult ideology on children in the socio- political and cultural level. It tries to answer whether the adult ideology to socialize children strengthens their overall development or makes them weaker. It also answers why children are made victim of adult ideology. Its findings suggests that adult ideology has crippled the psychological development of children rather than helping them to develop their fundamental potentials and the children have always been the victim of poisonous images invented against them by the dominant culture to perpetuate dominance. This research offers a new interpretation in studying adult behavior within the context of existing scholarship.

Fusion of the Local and the Global in Parijat: Reading Blue Mimosa

Maheswor Paudel — 2023-12-31

This paper assesses how Parijat in her masterpiece Blue Mimosa deals with the issues of Nepalis’ global encounters. Primarily through one of the protagonists of the novel Suyogbir, Parijat weaves a story of a Nepali lahure who, in course of fighting the World War, interacts with the people abroad and brings in global experiences to his native country as he narrates the saga of his experiences with the female protagonist Sakambari. Significantly departing from her predecessors and also from her contemporaries primarily because of her serious concern with the global issues that no more affected only the people of her origin but those throughout the globe, Parijat in the novel caters to the new subjects to her readers. Her fascination with novel and experimental forms that rigorously redrew the boundaries of the traditional categories and her serious effort in familiarizing her readers with the global issues led her to the path of transcending her local experiences and thus acquiring a transnational stature. Applying Paul Jay’s ideas on transnational literature, this paper analyzes how Parijat in the novel blends the local and the global experiences with craft and imbricates those diverse experiences to constitute a beautiful structure. Her unique mixture of characters representing various cultural milieus, selection of settings and philosophical depth in subject matter blur the boundaries of ‘national’ category of writing and thus create an ambience where the local and the global intersect.

"Sonny’s Blues": The Dream Variation and Cultural Integration through Music

Manahari Sharma — 2023-12-31

“Sonny’s Blues” is a chronicle of racial prejudice, diverse dreams, suffering, redemption, and reconciliation. As a tale of conflicting relationships between two brothers in Harlem society, it narrates the narrative of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on two opposite sides that the brothers are situated in: the legacy of African-American cultural and mainstream dreams. It is against this background dichotomy that the suffering of Sonny, the African-American protagonist, engendered due to his latent desire to be a jazz musician, is shown. This paper discourses on the existential narrative and its manifestation on society through an individual and answers different questions: why would characters go through extreme familial tension? What aspires them to embody two dissimilar legacies? How does music amidst racism produce a therapeutic effect? How are human predicaments resolved and why do characters go back to their original niche, which their ancestors had created? Hence, this paper aims at how music outcasts the barriers and welcomes avenues of resilience by removing the thundering cloud of stillness and darkness in the blue sky of Harlem.

An Apology of a Campaigner in King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Rishiram Ghimire — 2023-12-31

This article examines Martin Luther King’s letter written in Birmingham jail in 1963 in defense to eight white clergymen’s public statement against King’s campaign for civil rights. While King as a campaigner is determined to establish just society in America white religious leaders are defending discriminatory practices of segregation as a decree. This letter has been evaluated from the perspective of Life Writing/Narrative, in which King’s letter in relation to his life and public issue with focus of common good is debated and discussed. This letter is an apology of King as a campaigner that defends against the indictment of the oppressors. In the letter of King, it can be found the examples of atrocities toward black community as the manifestation of whites’ prejudice of rights, which the civilized society cannot imagine and withstand. Black community cannot remain oppressed eternally and King’s letter of initiation is crucial to open the eyes of the oppressors and the oppressed that America needs change. This letter responds strongly to the question, ‘Why is the action of a campaigner justifi able?’

Ambivalence in Female Characters in Reply from Tibet and Letter from a Lhasa Merchant to His Wife

Sujita Shrestha — 2023-12-31

This article analyses the themes of love, longing and fear of abandonment felt by the female characters Hisila in Reply from Tibet and unnamed wife of unnamed narrator in Letter From A Lhasa Merchant to His Wife. Torn between love and fear of abandonment/social ostracization or of non-fulfi llment of love, both Hisila and the wife exhibit conflicting feelings of deep love alongside strong indifference or even scorn towards their lover Yami and husband respectively. This article studies these contrasting emotions under the critical framework of psychoanalytic concept of ambivalence which denotes prevalence of two polar emotions or attitudes towards a person, object or situation. The article concludes that Hisila’s rejection of Yami’s marriage proposal alongside urging him to become her brother, and the wife’s converting into nun but saving her husband’s letter until her death testifies the ambivalence in these characters.