A Golden Age Tahmima Anam

In “A Golden Age,” by Tahmima Anam, the story is centred around Rehana and her struggle to keep her family and nation united during the Bangladeshi war of independence. The story describes Rehana’s bravery and how she manages to keep her family together despite the tumultuous occurrences of the Bengali people from before partition to the formation of a distinct nation. The trauma as described in the novel are primarily centred around Rehana’s loss of her husband and the separation from her children Sohail and Maya.

Anam uses descriptive language through metaphors, imagery and the detailed accounting of events throughout the novel to highlight Rehana’s trauma however it is not the sole vehicle used.In addition to descriptive language, Anam skillfully manipulates narrative point of view and numerous symbols. The point of view is switched between the third person omniscient and the first person. The use of varying point of views, in particular the first person point of view, give essential information about the innermost thoughts of each character and thus exposes the characters to the reader.

In addition to narrative point of view, Anam uses symbols to highlight and parallel numerous occurrences of the war between East and West Pakistan. The use of symbols is instrumental in introducing themes of war and nationalism. The novelist does not rely solely on descriptive language to represent human trauma. Narrative point of view in tandem with symbolism are is also effective in representing the trauma in the novel.

In the prologue, Anam is careful to introduce the predicament that Rehana finds herself trapped.

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By the use of descriptive language, the reader understands that Rehana will be separated from her children,’Rehana had decided it would not be wise to cry in front of the children so she had done her crying in the rickshaw’. By the use of descriptive language, Anam magnifies Rehana’s trauma by effectively baring her emotions to th…

A Golden Age Tahmima Anam Summary