John Prendergast Lecture

Reflection- Only a Fraction of an Understanding

            Okay, so I’ve told you all (my classmates) about how difficult it is to recover from the loss of my oldest brother. I’ve expressed to at least thirty people how constant the grief is after the death of a sibling. However, in all honesty after listening rather attentively, if I might add, to John Prendergast’s speech about the domestic war in the Congo I really began to think about the life I live, and how fortunate I still am. I know how cliché and self-centered this reflection may appear, so let me clarify that this response is supposed to symbolize everything contrary to this. Because of this lecture with Mr. Prendergast I have gained a different understanding of life.

            After hearing John Prendergast’s lecture on the civil wars in Africa, my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach-literally. Through his powerfully descriptive words and passionate tone, Mr. Prendergast was truly able to evoke a ton of emotion from his audience. I appreciated his style of lecture because it appeared more so that he was talking with us and amongst us, rather than to us or at us as an audience. Not only did he blow us all away when he illustrated the brutal conditions of the ongoing issues occurring in Africa, but he built us up as college students when he informed us about how we have limitless potential to change the society in which we live in today, and for this I am appreciative of him even more. People always hear about how they make a difference in numbers vote or rally together or whatever. Yet, Mr. Prendergast showed us [as college students] how we make a difference already and how to continue doing so. I was honored at how much respect and gratitude he showed us even when we ourselves view one another as just silly, college students. Furthermore, during his lecture I was awed at how pragmatic he was.

            In some parts of his lecture I was unable to sit comfortable in my chair. I found that during the really graphic points he made in his lecture, my face began to scrunch up and I began to squirm in my seat. Nevertheless two things I am certain of- I am naturally an overdramatic person, and this is exactly the reaction (whether felt internally or acted out eternally as I did) that Prendergast wanted to conjure from his audience. Often times I was incapable of fathoming conditions such as the ones in which the citizens of the Congo have undergone. But even in just imagining just a fraction of the pain and hardship in which they experience as victims of war was enough to truly just leave a person speechless. Honestly, I shake my head in dismay at how cruel people can be. I sincerely hurt for the victims of war in the Congo. And, I now question some of the values I live for.

Bharati Mukerjee's A father

Who Needs A Man Anyway?

            Babli, Mr Bhowmick’s daughter embodies the epitome of a strong woman. At only twenty-six years old, she has graduated from Georgia Tech only to become an engineer. To say that she’s an intelligent woman is beyond being modest. Babli, is more than just a brain. She’s determined, smart, motivated and strong willed. So, at the turning point of Bharati Mukerjee’s “A Father,” when it is revealed that such a woman is pregnant, it is a complete surprise. When carefully scrutinizing Babli’s character, one can conclude her to represent that of a modern day feminist. However, for a young, progressive Indian-American girl growing up in a strict, Indian household, Mukherjee does a great job biringing a sense of psychology as well as tradition and culture full circle. Babli, the strong, independent career woman wanting a child can be said to have a strong connection with her relationship with men.  

            Early on in the story, readers can deduce that Mr. Bhowmick feels a strong sense of both disappointment as well as disconnection with the women in his family. “Family life had been turbulent” (345). Mr. Bhowmic further goes on to reveal the intimate details of his domestic relationship with his wife and the lack of love he has for her. “He did not love his wife now, and he had not loved her then” (345). Since their marriage began up until present day, it is understood that he has never loved his wife. In turn, this is unfortunate to comprehend, because his lack of love for his wife trickles down and ultimately affects their daughter. Babli, who certainly is more American than her mother, has developed her personality from both her mother as well as her father, only Mr. Bhowmick cannot accept either of the women in his household because they don’t exemplify the tradition in which he was raised on.

She wasn’t womanly or tender the way that unmarried girls had been in the wistful days of his adolescence. She could sing Hindi film songs, mimicking exactly the high, artificial voice of Lata Mungeshkar, and she had taken two years of dance lessons at the Sona Devi’s Dance Academy in Southfield, but these accomplishments didn’t add up to real femininity. Not the kind that had given him palpitations in Ranchi (341).

In the context of this quote is it disclosed just how well rounded Babli is, yet how she still isn’t good enough for her father. Like Babli’s mother, Mr. Bhowmick is just incapable of loving and accepting her for who and what she is.

When applying a more psychological lens into the character of Babli, one can reason that her decision to artificially inseminate herself speaks volumes and directly correlates to the turbulent relationship that she has with that of her father. Although it is imperative that children have a balance of love and affection from both parents, often times for young girls, especially, the first form of love is exemplified (or not) through a father or father figure. So the love that Babli has yet to receive from her father will be fulfilled through the birth of a child. Ironically, never in his descriptions does Mr. Bhowmick describe his daughter as being unattractive, or hard-up for finding a mate. So, for her to want to parent a child singularly is definitely quite odd. Perhaps this is the outcome of the parental absenteeism in which she has experienced during her developmental years of childhood. Because Mr. Bhowmick was (and still is) essentially an absentee father, Babli has developed a jaded opinion of men as a result. “Men louse up your lives. I just want a baby” (349). Babli was never shown love or affection and never seen it occur in her household between her parents so she too will perhaps be incapable of giving love to her offspring.

This short story really touched me in a personal way. I consider myself to be a feminist, so I commend female characters like Babli and all of her accomplishments, as well as disapprove of men who think like Mr. Bhowmick. Because, in my household, I have a relationship with my father that that mirrors the complete opposite, this may be the reason in which one can understand just how crucial a healthy father-daughter relationship truly is. In life, women like Babli will always be aiming to fill that void in their heart.