Discuss ways in which representations of non English characters are used to define Englishness in any two or three texts.
Khushnama Khan
Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: B, BCUC (BCUC), course: English literature BA , language: English, abstract: Before I begin a discussion on representation of Englishness I think it is important to define what Englishness means in the context of the literary work I intend to use for my discussion. The term Englishness implies many things ranging from notions of nationality, race to class, and a way of life. For the purpose of this essay I will explore the kind of Englishness which is associated with a late Victorian notion of masculinity, Empire, adventure and Englishness in British colonies. In The making of English National Identity Krishnan Kumar traces the history of Englishness; Kumar suggests that ‘English self consciousnesses’ began to emerge when foreign commercial enterprises began to threaten English supremacy in the early 1800s ( p.224, 2003). In this essay I will look at ways in which Englishness is defined by the way non English characters are represented in Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines and E. M. Forster’s A passage to India. [...]
