I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at arbejde med novellen "The Aliens" af Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten samt idéer til fortolkning og perspektivering.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “The Aliens” (1986)
Forfatter: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Genre: Short story
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (født Ruth Prawer, 1927-2013) var en engelsk forfatter. Hun blev født ind i en jødisk familie i Tyskland. Da jødeforfølgelserne i 1930'erne tog til, flygtede familien til England, og Prawer blev britisk statsborger. Senere mødte hun en indisk mand og flyttede til Indien, hvor hun fik sin mands efternavn Jhabvala.
Det var i Indien, at Jhabvalas forfatterskab begyndte. Hun skrev både romaner, noveller og filmmanuskripter og vandt adskillige priser for sit arbejde, herunder to Oscars og Booker-prisen.
Uddrag
Nedenfor kan du se et kort uddrag fra vores study guide til teksten:
Title
The title of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s story “The Aliens” is misleading at first, as it could refer to several different things. Readers might expect the story to be about extraterrestrial beings coming from another planet. Alternatively, they might expect it to be about people belonging to a different place or country. As the text shows, the title “The Aliens” most likely refers to Peggy’s experience in India, as a stranger among people she does not understand or feel at home with.
First of all, Peggy is an “alien” because she was not born in India, but in England (l. 475). She finds her new home unfriendly and unpleasant, and she dislikes many things about India, from the hot weather to the way in which people are educated or behave. Furthermore, she is “alien” in the sense that she is an exotic addition to the Indian family, as her looks do not resemble the traditional looks of Indian women. She has “short hair” (l. 10), and she is, according to her mother-in-law, “too thin” (l. 255). Furthermore, her mother-in-law continuously insists on making Peggy change and act according to Indian standards.
However, the title has the plural form of the word “alien”, which might suggest that Peggy is not the only one the word applies to. Both Sarla and Peggy could be the “aliens” in the house, as neither of them is preferred by their mother-in-law, who tries to change them according to her liking. Also, the title could point out that Peggy is living among “aliens”, as her husband’s family turns out to be completely different from her. The title also touches on the idea of alienation. Peggy feels alienated from her life and family back in England, her new family, and even from her husband, who seems different in the context of his family. Peggy is also alienated from herself, as she refuses to express her true emotions.
