Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Battle of the Two "M's"
In class today, Jeff initiated a discussion about whether or not we the class thought that if Millat and Magid were to switch places, if the same result would occur. In my opinion, I believe that if Samad would have sent Millat to Bangladesh and would have made Magid stay, I think that the same outcome would occur for Magid, but could go either way for Millat. I say this because it seems as though no matter where he is, Magid would want to do something dealing with law, or have a career that he could use his intellect in. I think that by Samad sending him back to his home only enforced more what Magid had internally wanted to do. On the other hand, I think that if Mallat would have been sent away, that he could have turned out to have either the same outcome as he has by staying in his birth town, or could have a different. I say that he could be the same, by slowly turning more into a real “Muslim” by being sent away because he would be with his native people, and he might be able to conform to their ways. Opposing this idea, I think that Millat could also have a different fate because due to his rebellious ways, he could have chosen to rebel against the natives and have taken a totally different route. I think that Samad’s intentions were good in sending his “good” son to his home, but I think he would have ultimately gotten what he wanted if he would have sent Millat instead.
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I think this was a very interesting question and one that could take many different twists and turns. I agree with you that Magid probably would have turned out the same way. Staying in London I feel he would have been introduced to the Chalfen's earlier. He most likely would have become friends with Josh, being two minds that are intellectual, and would have been influenced by FutureMouse earlier. On the other hand, the influence of Millat is much harder to infer. If he would have gone I could definitely see him rebelling more because he was sent away but then at the same time he might have embraced his father's religion eventually though unlikely. No matter what I think he was/is determined to have a different viewpoint form his father, it is just part of his rebellious nature. Even within KEVIN he has a difficult time fully confomring because of his gangster personality. I don't think he would have been influenced by KEVIN if he had gone to Bangledash, that seems to be a London based group but there may be another group in Bangledash similar that would have just as much influence on him and been just as extreme. I think that if Samad had not sent Magid away and kept both boys together they would have balanced each other out. They both have extremes, like we talked abotu in class, but they are extremes on opposite ends. By keeping the two boys together they may have been able to help each other and balance the other out so they would not be as extreme. They would probably still have their views but not be so much at war with each other and others. Samad would have been more likely to get what he wanted by keeping them together instead of splitting them apart. By separating them he brought out the extremes of their personalities and with nothing there to keep it in check they were able to run wild.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting hypothetical question. Though I agree with Chelsea that Millat might have benefited more from having a connection to his cultural homeland, I do think that keeping the twins together would have had the most dramatic quality on both. However, tt seems to me that Smith is positioning the twins as a single self that has been separated and fragmented by the rupture of immigration and diaspora. If we take this as our starting point, then they would never able to be whole -- even if they had stayed together.
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