Geraldine Brooks, Orientalist

Well, Brooks has been quite the roller coaster ride for me. One minute, she really likes the culture, the next minute, the culture is oppressive and backward. The class discussions have really helped me wade through her inane rants and valid points. It is really apparent that Brooks is definitely orientalist and, though her preface seems to indicate otherwise, she contributes greatly to widening the East/West divide. Though there are points in her narrative that are definitely positive, an overwhelming amount has been negative, and even pessimistic. To sum it all up, all you have to do is look at the chapter on "Gaining Wisdom" to see her apparent prejudices. Faced with what she would have thought to be a college full of feminist scholars, she realizes that an overwhelming number of the girls to be happy with their lot in life and aggressively against feminism. This realization strikes her to be backward and she is pissed off. Her anger over the "wrong" happiness of these girls, she (to me) blatantly sabotages a relationship with a girl that could have given her valuable insight into whey they thought that way. She was the breadwinner of her family, she adopted the hijab late in her life (according to custom, anyway) and supported her imprisoned brother. A fundamentalist to the core, and an apparent convert to that way of thinking, she really could have given Brooks valuable insight into what Brooks states is her objective; understanding hijab and everything that goes along with it. Apparently unreligious, she points out that she is a Jew in a territory where being a Jew is a viable death sentence. This seems to fall in line with what was brought up in class as "Gonzo Reporting", or the reporting of exaggerated events to sell copies of your article/book. Now, I don't advocate hiding your beliefs or lying about your religious affinity, however, I think it was done here more for shock value and the creation of tension for the reader more than for a stand on her beliefs. I really don't get the feeling that Brooks really has much belief in anything, her conversion seeming to be out of convenience and respect for her in-laws more than any real belief. But that's just me. Anyway, I'll get off of my soap-box for now. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!