Transcending Borders in Orhan Pamuk’s My Name Is Red

Orhan Pamuk's novel My Name Is Red (1998) blurs the territory-bound art, cultural fences, and national boundaries to promote fraternity and connectivity through the two-fold strategy of obliterating conflict and encouraging philanthropic sensibility. This paper has examined the crossing of the divide in the massive migration, international trade, and refugee problems of the border postulated by Alejandro Lugo, Atzili Boas, Victory Konrad, and Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary’s border theory that emerged post-1990. Based on the insights of this theory, this paper argues that the ultimate resolution for the ongoing struggle among the people from diverse political, geographical, ethnic, and anthropological backgrounds in the third space is through the elimination of the territorial differences and the advancement of cross-cultural assimilation and humanitarian approach. This study uses qualitative research design to validate the argument that the territorial boundaries between the nations trouble social synchronization. The study’s finding reveals that the arts such as paintings transcend political division and promote the cultural adjustment in the liminal space. Istanbul is the setting that represents the transitional landmark between Southeast Asia and Europe as a cross-cultural and cross-border notion. The painting of the natural objects and the human procession merges the Eastern and the Western essences. The novel surpasses the conformist boundaries and endorses a multicultural artistic society without any religious, cultural, and geographical discrimination. Therefore, art functions as a tool to promote the aura of art, and such a sensation becomes the tool for the extension of psychological, physical, and social well-being.


Introduction
Orhan Pamuk's novel My Name Is Red highlights the significance of crosscontinental artistic interface to blur the conventional notion of traditional territory.This paper argues that artistic vision if expressed cogently can resolve conflict or antagonism through its philanthropic sensibility.Cultural integration creates social harmony to foster a sense of national unanimity.It symbolizes the amalgamated artistic center and exposes it as a stage for Western and Eastern culture.In the novel, the artists like Black, Effendi, Osman, and others move back and forth in and out of the country.The integration of the two diverse geopolitical backgrounds via art supports the mission for assimilation and acculturation by stepping into the new socio-cultural sphere.This study analyzes the novel from a borderland theoretical perspective to justify the relevance of the setting and theme of the novel.
The artists' advocacy for the assimilation of people and society who belong to diverse backgrounds to establish a multicultural society is the dominating issue of this study.Pamuk's novel is set in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire of 1591, a cross-continental place, and a center of arts that works to foreground the issue of cross-border assimilation.The location is the midpoint of miniature arts, and projects painting as the embodiment of transcending the physical borders.The novel's multiple narrative layers draw critics' attention to artistic and social issues presented with a persuasive force.The geopolitical situation heightens the political conflict among nations on territorial border issues.The novelist employs setting, characters, and painting going beyond the territorial borders to galvanize the people and culture of the two countries in the borderlands.
Critical receptions present the thematic, stylistic, narrative, and artistic interpretation to readers.Approaching the novel from the realistic perspective of society, Nilgun Anadolu Okur analyzes the novel's down-to-earth activities of people, "Pamuk molds his characters from his observation of people in daily life" (6).For Huseyin Ekrem Ulus, blindness is the major theme of the novel because the artist goes blind due to his extraordinary skill of painting as he further claims, "Blindness is one of the central themes in My Name Is Red and the idea of blindness is also at the core of the artistic formation of the miniaturists" (87).The artists become blind upon the completion of their painting while lending an essence to the art.Kirka Mesut scrutinizes the novel from an Eastern thematic and narrative point.Mesut maintains, "Orhan Pamuk blends Western narrative techniques with themes and topics belonging to Eastern culture" (34).The narrative discourse bridges the two hemispheres of the world.Ali Barish and Hagood Caroline analyze the novel from the historical point of view, which is narrated in the following lines: "Set in Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Murat 111 (r.1574-95), their heteroglossia spree, is a novel and innovative representation of death and its moments" (505).They further contend, "My Name Is Red de-centers any threat of unitary narratological Umbrage" (506-507).However, Sajjad Noor-UI and Perveen Ayesha discuss the implication of the miniaturist painting when they claim, "The dominant form in the 16 th century Ottoman capital Istanbul is the miniature painting style inherited from Persian painting" (2).Here, the major concerns are realism, character studies, narratology, and miniature painting.
Critics prioritize a realistic portrayal of characters, death and blindness, and painting.They examine Pamuk's novel from the cultural, linguistic, romantic, postmodern, and post-colonial perspectives.However, while these multiple worldviews enrich the novel's various trajectories, the paper approaches the novel from the perspective of how it advocates for obliterating conflict and developing philanthropic sensibility through the third space of literary art, a space which binds people of diverse continental locations, ethnicities, social backgrounds, and religions in the same fold of love, harmony, and humanitarian bondage.Cross-cultural exercises promote togetherness that dissolves the classical tradition of boundary.The artists in the novel move back and forth from one nation to the next to expand the horizon of art and assimilate it with their own art culture.Such a cross-cultural movement contributes to multicultural assimilation that transcends the physical borders.Effendi's secret book merges the Western coffee culture with Eastern socialization.He paints the cloud and wedding procession in the Chinese style, but the people are native to this region.The multiple narratives support the perception of the same art from the cross-cultural viewpoints.The conventional ideas about the importance of physical borders narrow the humanitarian thought.The novel breaks away from the convention of the unitary narrative and gives way to multiple artistic points of view to uncover truths about art and painting.Therefore, the study reasons for the transcontinental art, transnational, and cross-cultural acclimatization that can potentially minimize a political rift and nurture fraternity among the people of the world.

Borderland Theory: A Theoretical Perspective
The borderland theory deals with the contemporary issues about the political borders and their consequences.This theory casts light on the primary concerns of the people from which disparity rises due to the conflict between two nations and two cultures on the issues of physical borders.Rather than the political borders, cross-cultural ambiance is the epitome of this theory.Victory Konrad and Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary focus on the re-bordering process to establish synchronization among the people.They argue, "Our focus on the border is thus based on a comprehensive contextualization of bordering and de-/re-bordering process, both in time and space" (5).It is due to the physical fences that "contribute to hardening the differentiation" (6) among the people, that in turn, promotes struggle and distancing.When a nation values the territory, the "confrontation between two cultural entities" (8) increases.Here, the national resources get spent just for the sake of keeping the fences secure.Therefore, scholars should advance the discourse on "revisiting our understanding of border" (9).The border should function as the third space for a cultural study.The classical concept of border leads a demarcation line in terms of geography, politics, ethnicity, and culture.The divergence appears from the point that the political and ethnic borders divide the people, whereas the cross-cultural practices dissolve the conflict since they value integration and social synchronization.The concept deals with the social, psychological, and physical aspects and the consequence of these aspects between two cultures and nations.It advances the concept of the fluidity of boundary and interrelation.
Human migration is the key issue in the border theory that helps resolve the problems of displaced people such as refugees and war-torn people.Conflict should be resolved in a variety of ways.The only solution is a borderless society without any conflicts and differences.The borderland theory voices for a conflict resolution.In the words of Michaelsen Scott and David E. Johnson, "All the border studies attempt to produce a cultural politics of diversity and inclusion" (3).The inclusion leads to harmony.Alejandro Lugo reasons for the transformation to a multicultural society, a "transformation of the nature of the culture (from homogeneity to heterogeneity)" (50).People should understand and respect diversity for a harmonious society.For instance, the reception to assortment leads to diversity.
The borderland theory hypothesizes that the territorial borders develop a debate among the people, and lead to differences and battles.In a similar line of argument, Konrad and Szary unfolded the track to a territorial trap, "Fixation, polarity, and containment have led us to a territorial trap" (120).This trap does not lead to openness in the belief systems and social synchronization.Similarly, the physical borders cause conflict among the people more than any other aspects as he notes, "Territorial threats have a much greater effect on state building than non-territorial ones" (Boaz 2).He further points out that the weak states should not value the fixed borders, as "weak states are more likely to become the source of international conflict in a world of fixed borders" (3).Aaron et al. discuss the origin and function of border studies and note that it was "established at the University of Glamorgan in 2000 brings together territorial, symbolic, and cultural borders" (2).The borderland studies integrate the physical, symbolic, and cultural borders to hypothesize the reduction of the edge conflict.Therefore, the territorial borders should be surpassed through the borderland studies.One of the issues of border theory is the discussion of the liminal place, the space between two nations.
Anthropologists deal with the border issues from a different perspective.They insist on preserving local remains and antiques to preserve ethnicity and culture.However, this concept leads to the division of the people in terms of the binary opposition.Thomas Wilson M. and Donna Hastings maintain that "Anthropological ethnography focuses on local communities at international borders to examine the material and symbolic process of culture" (4).People in the cross-cultural locations face in-betweenness due to the influence of the diverse public.Wilson and Donnan add that "Ambivalent border identity affects the role that border communities play in international cooperation and conflict" (11).Therefore, people must establish harmony, "focusing on the adaptability" (5).To support a borderless society, Scott postulates the borderland theory to support a borderless society as he states, "Border studies can provide a substantial contribution to conflict resolution, cross-border cooperation, intercultural understanding, cultural policy and other areas" (95).Aaron Santesso differentiates between the border theory and utopia as he argues, "Border theory's idea of the in-between place, the space between the borders" functions as the equal to "the traditional utopian insistence on purity and defined limits" (338).According to Henry Giroux, "Border crossings attempt to engage the complex and dynamic force of the borderland" because border study deals with the "social demands of the larger society" (6).These multiple theoretical perspectives advocate that the world demands multicultural togetherness, which is possible by using the borderland studies as a theoretical base.
The borderland theory advocates for resolving social conflict by developing the borderland's music, art, and literature of the borderland.It works as the major contributor to ending the skirmishes caused by territory, ethnicity, culture, and religion.The literary art of liminal space supports social synchronization through cooperation and togetherness.The first space is the hometown; the second space is the host country; and the third space is the borderland between the two countries.The novel functions as the third space to develop new narratives for the enunciation of social synchronization through adaptability and cooperation.The setting merges the diverse nations and characters and creates the pictures that merge Asian and European styles, epitomizing the borderland study.The novel has multiple narrators because the single narrator fails to grasp the fluidity of events in society.Pamuk's My Name Is Red proposes a perfect blend of cultural borders through its multiple narrators.The novelist is in favor of blending the cultural borders through its multiple narrators.A harmonious society is the demand of the time; such a humanitarian society is possible only through blurring the border's sealed compartment and promoting borderland literature.In this way, philanthropic sensitivity promotes a compassionate sensation among individuals of assorted upbringings.

Pamuk's My Name Is Red: Critical Analysis Miniaturists' Workshop as the Liminal Space
Pamuk's My Name Is Red explicitly describes the borderless society for which he employs the appropriate setting of the novel, miniaturists' painting, and characters.
Most of the major events are set in Istanbul, the center of Asian and European space, open for cross-cultural activities.This geographical location functions as the lab for the benevolent perception since it works as a transcontinental place mingling the art and culture of the diverse nations.Turkey is the center for cross-continental social and cultural assimilation, since it is the crossroads for the multiple nations.This location is strategically located between Asia and Europe, a center of art and multicultural society.It is the hubbub of the cultural transformation and global market, enhancing the cosmopolitan social values.
Being a center of Islamic calligraphy, Byzantium art, and European Realism, Istanbul is the appropriate setting for the novel.These aspects function as a proper backdrop of the novel.The miniaturists' workshop promotes a border-free concept.Husret Hoja ordered the artists in the workshop to paint in the Islamic style.Black, an artist, narrated, "Our Sultan stated He wanted: A book that depicted the thousandth year of the Muslim calendar" (226).However, the artists in the novel paint the art of heterogeneous continents, nations, races, ethnicities, colors, and cultures, violating his expectations.This blatant defiance of Sultan's order led him to be critical of the painters.As he said, "The drinking of coffee is an absolute sin" (12).He disliked the Western coffee culture because these places are the places for "vulgar behavior" and "ought to be banned" (12).Against the expectation of the ruler, however, the artists like Elegant Effendi, Black, The Color Red, and Enishte Effendi painted a picture that foregrounded the cross-continental culture.This disobedience from the artists shows the germination of a revolutionary discourse in the Ottoman Empire of 1591, challenging the ruler.
The narrators blur the life-death demarcation to depict the inner vision and voices of the artists.Elegant and Enishte depict after their death as if they reincarnated.This point blurs the demarcation line between life and death.The first sentence of the novel is narrated by Elegant Effendi, a reincarnated narrator and an artist.Here, Effendi recounts, "I am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a well" (1).Explaining the cause of his death, he said that his painting depicted the blurring of the territorial demarcation because of which he was murdered.He makes a proud statement, "I made the best illuminations in Our Sultan's workshop" (1).The radiance was the best for the artists to depict multiple truths.To investigate the reason for Effendi's death, Black returns to Istanbul after 12 years.He was banished for his amorous relationship with his cousin Shakure.His uncle Enisthe called him to know about his growth as an artist while he was in another country.During the 12 years of exile, he honed his skills and knowledge through Eastern cultural assimilation and adaptation from crossing his border.Enisthe's cross-national journey supports the merging of territorial nationalities in painting.
The miniature artists' visit beyond the border reconciles the East and the West since the paintings represent the style and content of diverse geographical and social backgrounds.His art showed the coffee culture of the West, the color of China, and foreign dress and culture which defies the decree of the ruler.Therefore, for blatantly flouting the rules, the artists were murdered.He transcended beyond the geographical and cultural demarcation and created the third space in art as he says, "I painted scalloped Chinese-style clouds" (1).Crossing the ethnic border and generating the liminal space of art was the reason for his death.In the painting of coffee drinking for Husret Hoja, the narrator Dog recounts that it "is an absolute sin" (12), and "Coffee houses are places where pleasure seekers and wealthy gadabouts sit knee-to-knee" (12).Bringing the coffee culture in the secret book of art was one reason for his murder.But Effendi painted the art inviting the coffee culture in the East in the secret book of art.The secret book displays the painting of coffee culture in the Eastern style that merges the East and the West.The artists were motivated by a broader vision of humanitarianism and cosmopolitanism.Their borderless aesthetic sensibility thwarted the Sultan's dogmatism and bigotry.Sensing this threat, he has executed the defiant painters.This antagonism between the painters and the country's ruler reveals the novelist's propensity for the cross-cultural narrative.
The multiple narrators of the novel engaged to discharge their respective responsibilities.As the artists, they depict consequences.Black, one of the major engaging narrators, recounts the way he came back.His reminisces are riveting: "After an absence of twelve years, I entered Istanbul like a sleepwalker" (6).This was a challenging task for the artists to cross the border and come back to the country.He further points out his inclination as Effendi assigned to add his imagination in the painting of the horses from the last fifty years.He (who is He?) traveled long to study the Eastern art, as is narrated in the novel: "During the sixth year, I spent in the East, traveling or working as a secretary" (6).The traveling injected an artistic aura into his skill.The work emphasizes the accumulation of the ideas of the transcontinental region.The reason for the murder (remind whose murder is being referred to here) was the violation of the "pure and innocent religious" (17) conviction assigned in the secret book.The murderer (name the murderer) asks a question to Effendi: "Aren't you aware that behind this affair rests the will of His Excellency Our Sultan?" (20) and the narrator further points ruefully, "If one of Husret Hoja's followers hears of such an allegation, nothing will remain of us" (21).The artists have to work at the cost of life.Rulers' priority of religious hegemony submerged creativity in the arts.The singularity of nation and culture does not allow multiplicity, due to which a sense of imagination fails to cross the boundary.The murderer confesses the way the artist was killed, "I'd dropped him into the well" but it did not "benefit the grace of a miniaturist" (21).This physical death was the symbolic projection of the suppression of creativity, imagination, and expression.The death was to submerge the truths of art and creativity.Sultan wished to have a book that "depicted the thousand years of Muslim calendar (the end quotation mark either missing or misplaced here)" depicting the "military strength and pride of Islam" (226).However, the artists depict the multiple cultures merging multiple nations in the miniaturists' workshop.The artists from Istanbul managed the representation of art from Persia, which is described in the novel: "The miniaturists of Istanbul recount the legend of Tall Mehmet known as Muhammad Khorasani in Persia" (72).The arts in Istanbul, as Stork asserts, embody "part Chinese, part Croatian sixteen-year-old apprentice in Shah Tahmasp's miniaturists' workshop" (73).In the words of Murderer, one of the narrators and artists, "Rulers want paintings for the sake of respect, to influence how others see them" (159).However, the painters "owe blizzard and the splendor of Persian paintings to the meeting of an Arabic illustrating sensibility" (161).The narrator contends that a painter can change the human mind; he says, "A great painter…succeeds in changing the landscape of our minds" (161).Blind Master asserts the transformative power of color in painting: "Colors are not known but felt" (187).China, Croatia, Persia, and Istanbul are simultaneously visible at the miniaturists' workshops.Esther is the saleswoman of Persian silk shawls, handkerchiefs, and other imported embroidered clothes.Her profession implies the embroidery art across the borders.Although it seems that dogmatism strangulates artistic energy, the triumph of imagination and creativity are noticeable in representing the cross-border and crosscultural realities.Therefore, the miniaturists' art symbolically represents the cross-border and cross-cultural realities.
The novelist Pamuk employs the twenty-one narrators to explore the subtleties and nuances inherent in art to uncover the truth.The traditional single narrator perceives the same event from a unilateral point of view, which portrays the otherwise vast spectrum of varied socio-cultural realities only partially or inadequately.On the contrary, the present novel employs the multiple narrators to blur the individual border and liquefy the multiple perceptions of miniature art and conventional Islamic art.The multiple narratives and cross-cultural activities of the characters are used to reinforce the miniaturists' workshop as the third space without any geographical or political borders.Indeed, the workshop epitomizes a melting pot of borderless arts.Consequently, the border art becomes a subject of the study of hybrid culture and social acclimatization.As discussed above, in the instance of the Sultan's tyranny, an artistic expression is either curtailed or made to conform to edicts.But eventually, as portrayed in this novel, art reclaims its sovereignty in the form of a liminal space to function as the means for merging the diverse people for social integration.

Cross-cultural Adjustment
Pamuk's novel blends the Eastern and Western artistic presentation, dissolving the territorial fences through art and culture.The setting of the novel is the sixteenthcentury Ottoman Empire.During this time, the East influences the West and vice versa.The miniaturist painting sanctions blend the Western and Eastern cultures in Istanbul.Assimilating the European style with that of Eastern contributes to blurring the political division of the borders.Uncle as a narrator depicts the way Eastern artists worked to please the Westerners.He recollects that the easterners made "odd single leaf pictures-curiosities that would please European travelers" (23).His perspective is a process of transcending the territorial boundaries.Painting the word picture of Arab art, the narrator and character Olive expresses his exuberance, thus: "Arab miniaturists were in the custom of staring at the western horizon at daybreak to alleviate the understandable and eternal about going blind shared by all miniaturists" (79).Beloved Uncle narrates a depiction of the Sultan in the Venetian style, "Our Sultan's portrait painted in the Venetian style" (110).Portraying the Sultan in the Venetian style merges two nations using painting.Death as the narrator of the art grants recounts the way the Eastern and Western arts blend together in the painting.He says, "The master miniaturist with the miracle touch was making this portrait" and adds that the art incorporates "from the farthest point in the East to the farthest point in the West" (127).The painting nullifies the political division, depicting the paintings that crosses the division.Kirca indicates that the novel merges the east-west geographical parameter, arguing, "Eastwest dichotomy reshapes itself on a metaphorical level in Pamuk's image text" (34).This novel promotes the amalgamation of the two hemispheres through the miniature painting.Ali and Hagood critically assert that the novel "straddles the boundaries of binaries -East and West, reader and text, and art and life" (511).The other character Esther reminisces about the painting who says, "I removed the green Chinese silk that had recently arrived by way of the Portuguese trader but was not selling, substituting the more alluring blue" (129).The miniature painting puts two nations, China and Portugal, together to motivate the public across the country.The culture of Istanbul in the words of Konrad and Szary "precede borders" (47) because it "accepts this diversity of culture" (7).Istanbul as the setting of the novel promotes a society in which the arts do not value the territorial bound, but they are the cross-border ambiance.The reason that the border has to move "from fortification to humanitarianization" (112).A demarcation of political division impedes this shift, bringing the Byzantium and Islamic artworks together in this place.This point justifies the blurring of the territorial border for the benevolence of a larger harmonious community.
While the Western world promotes the dissolution of individual identity, the Eastern philosophy values the collective identity and togetherness.Transcending the boundary means going beyond the individual identity and togetherness to promote synchronization.The novel promotes an art to blur the political division.The Islamic art and European art simultaneously find a third space in Istanbul that dissolves the cultural borders, converting it into an artistic place for a cultural exchange.Istanbul functions as the third space to represent accommodation and synchronization.Fencing between the nations generates the cultural and political rifts.This concept is expressed by Konrad and Szary.They argue that the physical fences "are typically a last resort to divide interest" (174).Estrangement leads to disparity in thoughts and actions.This distance in turn leads to an everlasting separation among the people.Consequently, the people engage in personal and social conflict.However, the narrator points out that the miniature art of the novel incorporates "from the farthest point in the East to the farthest point in the West" (127).Esther narrates the aesthetic part of the art as he says, "I saw a woman on horseback with her slaves, sitting bolt upright like a man" (131).This is an appealing aspect of painting.According to the narrator Murder, Effendi was the one "who introduced the terrifying demons, horned jinns, horses with large testicles" because he was "influenced by the portraiture that had come from Western ships" (157).However, "Rulers want paintings for the sake of respect, to influence how others see them" (159).They value the art as a status marker.Beloved uncle asserts the secret of transnational color as he says, "If the Mongols had not brought the secrets of red paint-which they'd learned from Chinese masters… we in Istanbul couldn't make these paintings at all" (169).Importing red color in the paintings from China to Istanbul largely rests on the borderless concept in art.The next narrator Master Osman asserts the way Persia and China are simultaneously visible in art when he says, "The curling Chinese clouds…had spread throughout Persia from Herat under Chinese influence" (315).China and Persia are simultaneously visible in the painting.Black relates the artistic representation of the liminal space who says, "It's a wedding procession.It resembles a Chinese picture, but the figures are not Chinese, they're our people" (328).Native people in the Chinese wedding processions further gear the value of cross-nation visibility in the painting.As Olive articulates the mosaic painting that incorporates the East and the West, "European style would be preeminent in our Sultan's workshop" (381).Therefore, Sultan's workshop is the melting pot of diverse nations and civilizations.The physical movement of the characters back and forth in Persia, India, and China along with the adoption of art, culture, and perception both of the East and the West shows the interest beyond the territorial fences.The art, painting, and the third space narrative blur the crosscontinental differences and develop the liminal space to voice a sense of cross-cultural integration.Istanbul functions as the third space for cultural hybridism and humanitarian assimilation, conveying a message that differences, as represented by physical/political borders, create a rift whereas acclimatization, as shown through the transformative dynamism of art, produces a social harmony.
The artistic representation in the novel endorses assimilation through a crosscultural gamut.Transcontinental temporary and permanent migration, the flow of people from one to the next nation is the current practice of the people that allows for the exchange of artistic, cultural, and social practices.As a result, the people need an instantaneous adjustment and experience exchange to maintain the philanthropic feelings.To maintain patronage, borderland literature has to be created and disseminated among the people in the world.Istanbul is the artistic hub for such literature that addresses the East and the West for the cross-cultural and intercontinental artistic experience that endorses the humanitarian concepts among the public.Through the main plot and sub-plots, the multiple narrators expose their characteristics about the art, culture, and artistic value of Istanbul and perceive the same incident from the assorted outlooks.The novel advocates for borderland literature to promote and consolidate fraternity among the people of the world.Therefore, the novel acts as an advocate for the charitable ideas going beyond the territorial border to foster a feeling of one humanity among the people of the world through the third-space narratives.It employs the multiple narratives to encourage a philanthropic impression among the people.

Conclusion
Pamuk's My Name Is Red epitomizes the third space narrative to accelerate a sense of togetherness through borderland literature.The territorial idea of the border is the traditional idea that perpetuates antagonism rather than humanitarianism among the geographically and politically dispersed people.The social issues about the location stoke the conflict in the society.As depicted in the novel, the miniature artists' painting challenges the static nation-bound color to create a balance in culture, art, and identity.Turkey as the setting of the novel is invested with a symbolic cue, which stands both for a cross-road country and a liminal space to encourage the artists to delve into the depth of cross-border arts.It promotes the third space for a cross-cultural exchange, highlighting togetherness through painting.The multiple narrative points of view in the novel bring the cross-cultural dynamics in the form of art in the context of Istanbul.The artists are the pioneers in reforming the new blended art based on each character's skills and knowledge that they have as an artist.The multiple narration breaks away from the conventional mode of storytelling, weaving the multiple views to dig out the hidden truths of society.The underlying clue through the miniaturists' workshop is the longing to go beyond the politically-imposed (b)order.The multiple narratives of the novel encourage this dynamic aspect of the narratology, reassuring the fact that the diverse narrators in each chapter perceive the arts from the assorted lenses to dissolve the individual borders.Bringing together the aura of multinational culture and color in painting, the novel advocates in favor of social harmony among the nations.The transformative knowledge of the artist of diverse locations, as shown in the novel, marks the process of the commencement of a border-free belief.The portion and events incorporated in the text about the artist by Rulers juxtapose the landmark of the crosscultural belief expressed through the skillful miniature art.Consequently, human beings are likely to refrain from physical, social, and psychological persecution, which in turn leads to peace and harmony in the society.As discussed above, it can be reasonably inferred that borderland literature establishes the concept that the borders are the socially constructed locations rather than the physically and politically imposed entities.