In the short story, “An Arranged Marriage” by Nell Freudenberger, the protagonist, Amina, travels from Bangladesh to New York to marry a man she has only met online. As someone who was born and raised in Bangladesh for the first 10 years of my life, I was struck by the intricate details and knowledge of the story’s setting. Within minutes of reading, I began to assume that the author must have also been from the area. After doing some research, I was surprised to discover that Freudenberger has no connection to the region or culture. I wondered how she was able to portray even the smallest details so accurately. I later learned that she met a woman on an airplane on whom she based the story.
This made me question whether writers from one culture should have the freedom to write about cultures other than their own. Some might argue that outsiders should not be allowed to write about another culture due to a history of misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and exploitation. Then again, writers who portray their own cultures can also face criticism for negative depictions. For instance, a reviewer on Goodreads commented on “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri, “This appears to be written specifically for Western readers with no knowledge of Indian culture. You know, a commercial, populist work aimed to give you a flavor of India, shock you with arranged marriages, Indian family dynamics, struggles of Indian immigrants, etc., which at the same time gives you no real insight into the foreign mentality that isn’t superficial or obvious…”
One thing is clear: as readers, we should not confuse characters with their authors. Authors are not open books like the characters they write about, just as movie characters are not the same as the people who play them. Authors spend so much time developing their characters. For example, Imbolo Mbue said she spent four years developing Neni, one of the main characters in “Behold the Dreamers.” It would be unfair and misleading to assume that Neni is a reflection of Mbue’s own life, as the character is a carefully constructed work of fiction.
Ultimately, the question may not be whether or not one should be allowed to write about another’s culture, but whether they do so with respect, in-depth research, and a commitment to representing it truthfully and responsibly. As someone who grew up in Bangladesh, and had not previously read a story with a Bangladeshi protagonist, I am grateful to have come across Nell Freudenberger’s “An Arranged Marriage.”
Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash