A Golden Age - Tahmima Anam (2007) - Prose Fiction Essay

Extract

[...] Besides her children, Rehana loses her two love interests; her husband dies before the novel commences and the Major, whom she falls in love with later on in the novel, sacrifices himself to the army for her sake. Sohail and Maya, her children, also loses people important to them. Sohail loses the love of his life, Silvi, as she is married off to another man, and Maya loses her friend Sharmeen, who dies at the hands of Tikka Khan's soldiers. [...]

[...] Even though she shies away from graphic details of the war, we are often given hints, such as the blood she sees on the floor in Operation Searchlight, thin length of red ribbon on the road' and her description of Tikka Khan's soldiers, 'They raped. They murdered. They lined up the men and shot them into ponds. [ . ] every day outdoing their own brutality?' (129). Ultimately, in the end of the novel, Bangladesh finally experiences an era of peace from West Pakistan, as the country becomes liberated. In the end, Rehana, the protagonist, says, 'The war will end today. Niazi will sign the treaty and I will walk into the streets,' (274) indicating that Bangladesh is now free and safe. [...]

[...] A golden age may indicate to some readers a happy period of someone's life. This is far from true, as the novel deals with the hardships a family and a country face. Rehana spends most of the novel worrying about her children being in the war, so much so that she is unable to be happy, 'I'll just close my eyes for one minute, she thought. And then I'll wake up and worry again.' Even as she experiences a moment of happiness with the Major, he is taken away from her from the army. [...]

[...] A Golden Age - Tahmima Anam (2007) - Prose Fiction Essay "The title of a work of fiction is often a reliable guide to what the work is about." Discuss the title in the light of this statement. A golden age refers to an era of achievement and an age of sacrificing honor before peace and happiness is awarded. Entitling her novel A Golden Age (2007), the author Tahmima Anam indicated to readers what her novel would be about. The novel deals with the liberation of Bangladesh, while focusing on the trials and tribulations the Haque family faces before experiencing peace, therefore, the novel concerns the golden age of both Bangladesh and the Haque family. [...]

[...] For most of the novel, the protagonist fought against being an outsider, living in a country that she did not identify as her own. In the end of the novel, however, after struggling side by side with the country, she accepts it as her own, '?and today I will clutch my flag?' (274). In fact, it is no coincidence that Anam brings Rehana into her own person at the end of the novel, as Bangladesh is coming into its own country. In the end, both the oppressed country and the distressed family experiences their golden age of happiness and peace. [...]