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Int. 2 and Higher Notes on the novel * The novel is written in what is called demotic Scots. * This is not Scots that you would find in a Scots dictionary but the language that people use in the street and is usually local to an area like Glasgow or Aberdeen. * In many novels it is used to give colour to the dialogue of the characters. Writers like Walter Scott or Lewis Grassic Gibbon are famous for it. English writers like Thomas Hardy or Charlotte Bronte use it too for a similar effect. What is unusual is to write the whole novel in demotic language. *Demotic Scots Some writers do this as a political gesture; Anne Donovan uses it because she wants to celebrate the lyrical richness of the daily language of the characters. The Scots she uses is a natural expression of the true feelings of the characters. We feel a powerful honesty and truth in the dialogue unencumbered by the formality of standard English. In 2004 ‘Buddha Da’ won the Prince Maurice award for literature in Mauritius , proving that demotic Scots can transcend national barriers to enjoy critical acclaim. *Demotic Scots creates lyrical richness * Rather than the stereotypical Scotland of many novels Anne Donovan’s Glasgow avoids poverty, violence, sectarianism, politics and consumerism and instead presents a postcolonial, cosmopolitan Glasgow where cultures seem to blend and tumble over each other without friction. * The tensions in the novel are to do with the family and the individuals in it rather than the meeting of different ways of life. *The setting *Glasgow of the future not the past * Donovan’s view of Glasgow is one of cultural and ideological synthesis. * The dialect is Glaswegian and her religion is catholic but Anne Marie finds comfort in her pal Nisha who’s brother mixes hip hop, Indian and European music to create a new stateless synthesis. * The characters all mix and blend and share influences * At the Buddhist centre Kevin attempts to define fellow pupil Khalil as being from India and the futility of the old labels is made clear. “That where you came frae in’t it, Khalil?” Says Kevin. ‘Don’t be daft, he comes fae Pakistan.’ ‘Ah do not,’ says Khalil. ’Ah come fae Govan.’ * The novel is told through the three narrators Jimmy, Liz and Anne Marie * This is more than just a stylistic device it goes to the heart of one of the novel’s central ideas: We tend to see things very much from our own point of view, not realising how they may affect those closest to us. *Narrative Structure Jimmy ‘Ah’m on a journey and ah don’t know Where ah’m gaun’ Jimmy’s narrative charts his struggle to come to terms with Buddhism and his home life. As with his abortive visit to Cumnock, in many of his journeys he gets things wrong and life turns out to be different from what he might have expected. *Narrative structure * Each of the characters view the world from a different angle. * Jimmy has a very visual sense of the world, being a painter. He is constantly seeing the beauty in things and feels at home with colours and shapes, as we can see when he starts to sketch out the Buddha for the mural or on his trips to the botanic gardens and Arthur's seat. * He also has a big heart. He feels all the right emotions but makes lots of mistakes when it comes to thinking. His decisions to try Buddhism or to attend the Lama's talk instead of his daughter’s show, his difficulties in understanding things like ‘Karma’ all show that he is not that bright. * The Characters Jimmy - One man’s view Jimmy is a character who’s lack of understanding of what effect his actions will have on others contradicts his desire for peace and inner harmony ‘enlightenment’. Jimmy’s enlightenment does not happen until the end of the novel when he is brought up sharply to face what his selfish and fruitless pursuit of Buddhism has resulted in. Anne Donovan uses Jimmy to powerfully suggest that real ‘clarity’ and ‘enlightenment’ is being aware of those around you and what they feel and how your actions impact on them. In the end Jimmy is enlightened and it is not Buddhism that brings it to him but the powerful connection he has to those around him and the stark reality of the world he lives in. * The Characters Jimmy – ‘A fruitless search for Enlightenment’ * Anne Marie is both the same and the opposite of Jimmy * She is unhappy with her life at the beginning of the book just like Jimmy but… * She doesn't turn her back on the life she has but accepts what's wrong and finds new friends around her including those from a different culture * She shares Jimmy's enthusiasm for music but proves more adaptive and grows… she likes Madonna who is famous for reinventing herself and she is successful in finding new friends and new musical ideas. Jimmy on the other hand fails to do this. * She finds Karma in the chanting of the Lammas and really understands her Dad’s painting and so *Anne Marie a symbol of multiculturalism and hope * Liz is the character most affected by Jimmy’s search for enlightenment and clarity * She is the dutiful daughter, mother and Wife and has little expectation outside of her clearly defined role * She finds pleasure in Anne Marie’s growth and ability to see the world as it is and make the most of it. * She is frustrated with Jimmy’s inability to see the way things really are. * Liz of all the characters is enlightened in a very straightforward way. Her rapid movement from a woman defined by her duty to the free thinking and acting young woman is remarkable. * Donovan uses the fling with David the student to demonstrate both her ability to free herself from the humdrum of her life and her clarity to see that there is no real future in it and that she must set him free and return to the solid if frustrating reality of her family life. *The woman Liz * Quotes – Liz is someone who likes to see order and predictability in her life… * ‘Every night ah look at the calendar and think aboot whit ah’ve got tae prepare for the morra, or next week. Is there ironin tae be done, any messages tae get, dae a ah need tae take sumpn oot the freezer for the morra’s dinner?’ * ‘ Ah wish ah could see ma life spread oot in front of me, as if ah was up in the sky; like an astronaut lookin at a river, seein the start and the middle and the end of it as it flows tae the sea.’ * We can see that Anne Donovan portrays Liz as the anchor stone of the family and that she represents all that we might imagine that a good mum a good person might be. *Practical Liz * Liz is surprisingly also presented as a surprisingly sensual person and this is placed in sharp contrast to the seemingly awkward attempts by Jimmy to awaken a sense of the sensual nature of the world around him by Jimmy. * ‘ …ah caught ma breath for a minute and shut my eyes, feelin the cauld water and the heat aff the sun and the nearness of him all at once. * Her affair with David surprises us with its sensual intensity. Donovan uses smell as one of the main methods of relating aspects of Liz’s personality. * ‘Its funny but when Liz is really mad aboot sumpn, she goes mental with the bleach *Sensual Liz * Anne Donavan seems to set up a scenario where the search for enlightenment pursued by Jimmy is sharply contrasted with Liz’s actual experience. Jimmy seeks enlightenment by withdrawing from his world whereas Liz becomes even more mentally and physically involved in it. * The wise outcome of all this is that neither gain happiness but Liz shows a new and startlingly clear view of the world and the people around her; * She lets David , the student, free to live his own life * She sees how important to Anne Marie her dad is * She realises that bring up the baby will be best done with Jimmy however nuts he can be * She knows that she herself needs the predictable and the controllable *Clarity and the mixture of reality and imaginative characterisation * Jimmy sees the world in a visual way * ‘ wanst ah started tae move the pencil alang the lines of the drawin , ah felt ok again.’ 165 * Jimmy is always seeking ‘clarity. And this Jimmy’s understanding of what enlightenment is. * Ironically the novel holds out the possibility that Jimmy ends up a better Buddhist by abandoning Buddhism and accepting an other man’s baby. He loses his preoccupation with self and the self’s desires and becomes the ‘big hearted ‘ man of the beginning of the novel *Jimmy sees the world in pictures but loses the clarity he seeks through Buddhism * Anne Marie is the symbol of hope and multiculturalism in the novel * She shows the same practical ‘clarity’ that Liz does. * She moves from the friend that has sidelined her and finds a new friend and in doing so finds her new hobby and passion in life. * Her acceptance of both her father’s wayward attempts at Buddhism and her mothers new found lease of life show that although she sees the world through the eyes of an adolescent she understands it. * Her use of the lamas chanting in her successful pop fusion says it all ; she can see the possibilities of the future with ‘clarity’ even though she is just starting out. *Anne Marie a symbol of multiculturalism and hope * ‘ Wish there was some way of knowin if we’re daen the right thing, but there isnae. Never is.’ * Clarity or Enlightenment it all amounts to us trying to make sense of a world that is often hurtful and random, which sometimes makes sense and is wonderful and sometimes is mad and cruel. * Anne Donovan is suggesting that religion and philosophy are no substitute for dealing with people as they are and the world as it; is not trying to see it in a different way. *The thematic conclusion of the book Paragraph 1 Introduction Name of novel and author and a brief answer to the question. Paragraph 2 Brief summary and lead into the first main point ‘Buddha Da tells the story of Jimmy, Liz and their daughter Anne Marie… Buddha Da tells the story of Jimmy, Liz and their daughter Anne Marie who are a normal family from Glasgow . The novel is written I demotic scots and gives first person accounts of the family problems which ensue from Jimmy deciding to become a Buddhist. The family eventually split up and Liz finds herself having a fling and eventually getting pregnant with a PhD student. The story revolves around the issue of Jimmy’s search for some kind of ‘clarity’ and his seeming lack of it. Liz on the other hand and her daughter find new things and a kind of truth about life. Paragraph 3 PEE ( Point , Example, Explanation) Your first main point One of the main characters is Jimmy and he starts off as a very ordinary fellow but has that 21st century desire for direction. ‘Ah’m on a journey and ah don’t know Where ah’m gaun’ Jimmy is used by Anne Donovan as an extreme example of the way in which today’s society seems to think that somewhere there is an answer to the eternal questions ,’why are we here ? What is it all about? Jimmy tries religion with comical results but the serious point is that in extracting himself from the people around him and the trials and tribulations of ordinary people he loses everything that is precious. She also makes the point that this search for meaning is not confined to the idle middle classes; Jimmy is a stereotypical working class bloke and is just as lost as the rest of us. * PEE ( Point , Example, Explanation) * The character who really seems to explore the human issue dealt with in the novel is Liz. We see her as very normal and routed in the real world of motherhood , being a good wife and looking after her own mum. What challenges her challenges our own sense of what is enlightened, what would ‘clarity ‘ look like for a normal person. * ‘ Ah wish ah could see ma life spread oot in front of me, as if ah was up in the sky; like an astronaut lookin at a river, seein the start and the middle and the end of it as it flows tae the sea.’ * In Liz we can hear Anne Donovan’s voice speaking asking us to really look at our lives and try to evaluate just what we have control of and just what enlightenment might mean for someone like us , like Liz. In this quotation we are aware of the Buddhist–like appreciation of the world , the sky , the sea but it is tempered here with a need to kbnow what the consequences of our decisions are. In this she is so unlike Jimmy and seems to have a much greater claim to clarity than Jimmy. So Donavan gives us another perspective on the issue of ‘enlightenment or clarity in the book. *Paragraph 4 The second main Point * The third narrator Anne-Marie * The symbol of hope and the future in the novel * How does this character add to the over commentary the writer is making about ‘clarity’ and enlightenment? *Paragraph 4 3rd Main Point * The writer’s craft. * Anne Donovan uses demotic Scots, three first person narrators and a lot of humour . How does this make her exploration of the issue of enlightenment effective? *Paragraph 5 4th Main Point * The conclusion of the novel * The ending is not what you would expect the conclusion seems to come quite suddenly and yet how else could it have ended. What is Donovan’s message from the book ? What does it have to say about Buddhism and ‘enlightenment and was it effective? *Paragraph 6 5th and final main point * In conclusion… * Here you restate the question and answer it as clearly as you can * … the novel ‘Buddha Da is tackling one of the eternal issues that concern us as people ; what is it all about ? Am I doing the right thing? How could I see things more clearly ? Religion? Philosophy? Music ? In the end it is a very brave message of commonsense , love and duty that tumbles out unexpectedly from the book… * ‘ Wish there was some way of knowin if we’re daen the right thing, but there isnae. Never is.’ *Last Paragraph and conclusion