The Human Stain

Philip Roth’s The human Stain is a great novel that it contains individual trauma to reflect as social and culture meaning. The voice of novel describes each character’s traumatized memories by the third person narrator, Nathan Zuckerman. Through Zuckerman’s observation, Roth made reader to travel character’s past and present. Also, he paralleled the historical facts with the events to point out race, class, sex, and ethic in 90s.

Coleman Silk is not a simple character, and he keeps huge secret that explains his traumatized memories as colored Jews. Coleman is highly educated, overwhelming, and privileged class; however, he loss all of his reputation due to the charging as a racist in his college. During his lecturing, he calls two absent students as “Spooks,” which means “a ghost or dated offensive a contemptuous term for a black person.” He can’t say that he is black. After he rejects his identity, he decides to be a white Jew. He isolates himself from his family and the past. After he meets Faunia, who suffers from death of children, he reveals his dark secret to her. They understand each other and feel free from their struggle. I was deeply impressed their trauma due to individual and social causes.  

Prologue

Let me have no shame

Under the heaven

Till I die

Even the sound of wind

Passing the leaves

Pained my heart.

With a heart singing stars.

I will love all dying things.

And I must step my path

That's been given to me.

Tonight also

The wind sweeps past among the stars

I usually don’t read poems, but I have favorite one. This “Prologue” is written by Donju Yun who was died during the era under the colonial administration of imperial Japan. He was talented young students that studied in Japan. Most of poet wrote for protesting against colonialism, and the tone of their poem was rough and strong. Yun indirectly expressed his emotion in his poem, and tone of his poem was calm and devoted. Also, his religious aspect reflected the page of dark time in his country. “Wind” represented the dangerous enemy to his country, and stars indicated his future. He was talented educated man, so he felt guilty about his action not doing. I was impressed the way of his salvation that he decided to do what he learned. He died so early the age of 25 in the prison. I believed that his poem has a historical significant to think of dark era. 

My Name Is Red

Have you ever heard about Orhan Pamuk? I remembered the year of 2007 which I had a great vacation from South Korea to Japan. I was waiting for my friend at the Osaka Airport, and I was too bored. I looked around the stores to keep wasting my time. I bought My Name Is Red, and I went to café to read it. The reason I bought it is that Panuk won the Novel Price this year. While I was reading it, I was surprised because I was not familiar with Islam culture. I was interested in the history of Ottoman Empire and different style of painting. My Name is Red shows the confusion between European and Ottoman culture to reflect the relationship of Turkey as a part of Europe.

          I was influenced by Buddhism, and I had my chance to contact with Christianity. However, most of Asian cultures are not deeply related to Islam culture. I found several interesting points of this book. The narrator is changed by 59 chapters that the painting talked about his stories or other painters describe each characteristic. Also, the novel contains romance, arts, mystery, and philosophy of 16c. Even though I don’t know about Quran, I can understand it through the paintings in noble. The painters got a secret mission from sultan that he ordered his portrait as European point of view.

                

I think that Pamuk does not complain about other culture, but he wants to explain the complex situation in his culture. After I finished read My Name Is Red, I changed my mind to different culture aspects through Kara, investor of murder in the Noble.