The Bastard of Istanbul: Paper

Taylor Fawcett The Bastard of Istanbul
The novel The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak is a modern day account of Turkish and Armenian relations. Through the characters Aysa Kazanci and Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian and their families, the author displays the similarities and differences between being raised Turkish and being raised Armenian. The expectations of women in society are shown through the Kazanci women and their desire to be nonconformists. The importance of learning from one’s past is stressed through Armanoush and her paternal family’s story. Nationalistic ideas and values are portrayed differently by both families. By using the characters and linking them together, Shafak brings together Turkish and Armenian worlds and telling the story of their past history together and modern day coexistence.
It is revealed through various factors like music by Madonna and cars like Toyota Corollas that the novel takes place within recent years. Even though it is explained that women have gained many rights since the early 1900s, there are still standards that Turkish women were expected to follow. Zeliha Kazanci is a true example of a rebel and nonconformist in Turkish society during modern times. Zeliha is described to use cuss words all of the time and even denounce Allah and His existence. She smokes, wears short skirts with high heels and has a nose piercing, which was seen as absolutely against conformity for Turkish women. She works in a tattoo parlor, which was also seen as out of the question for Turkish women to partake in. Perhaps most scandalous of all her aspects, Zeliha attempts to get an abortion at age nineteen. Zeliha has her child out of wedlock and becomes mother to Aysa, the title character, the “Bastard of Istanbul”. Aysa follows in her mother’s footsteps of going against the expectations of women by society. Aysa, like her mother, smokes cigarettes and marijuana. She has affairs with different men, including her current affair at the time of the book with a married newspaper cartoonist. Aysa avoids going to her classes and goes to a local café where she socializes with adults much older than she. Although is it stated in the novel that women had gained success in their liberty and independence to express themselves since the early 1900s, Zeliha and Aysa are seen as outcasts to their family, and also bring their family shame.
Different instances and situations in the novel set the scene for the attitudes of society regarding women. For example, when Zeliha attempts to get an abortion, she is required to get the consent of her husband. Even after, it is shown that Zeliha is unmarried, her patients in the gynecologist’s office look at her with shame and disdain. Also, there is an unwritten set of rules that women are expected to follow to keep themselves in the best situations, and Zeliha constantly thinks of these during her journey to the gynecologist’s office regarding a taxi driver who sees her as a prostitute and a man stalking her. She knows that, according to these rules, she must keep her head together as women are expected to do in order to get out of her current predicaments. Also, Mustafa Karnaci, the estranged son of the family, is clearly favored by his mother. It becomes apparent in the end of the novel that Zeliha has been raped by her brother, Aysa’s father, but she hides it from the rest of her family because of the dominance of the male sex over women in Turkish society. Zeliha’s mother is in constant worry that because her daughter is no longer a virgin, she will be unable to become married like Turkish women are supposed to do. All in all, the women of the Karnaci family relay to the reader what it means to be a woman in Turkish society and how they are expected to conform, and also how they will be viewed if they don’t.
Another purpose Elif Shafak had in writing the novel is to show the importance of one’s past and history in one’s present life. Armanoush and Aysa have extremely different backgrounds regarding their families, but they are related to each other. Armanoush’s father and family are Armenian. They have negative views toward any Turk, and see it is as inconceivable for Armanoush to be raised by her Turkish step father, Mustafa Karnaci. During the years right before World War I, the Armenian population was persecuted by Turkish rulers. There was a mass diaspora, or exodus, or Armenians to different areas of Asia, with women, children, and men being tortured and forced to die due to starvation, illness, and exhaustion. The Tchakhmakhchian family never forgot that their ancestors were victims of this genocide, and through her trip to Istanbul, Armanoush makes it known to the Karnaci family that the Turks are responsible for their suffering. Much to Armanoush’s disbelief, Asya and her family have no knowledge of the connection between themselves and the Turks who took part in this persecution. While Armanoush and her family rely on the fact that they survive the Armenian victims who had to go through this relentless slaughter, Asya and her family do not see it as relevant to their own history. Aysa tries to take a stand to Armanoush’s fellow Armenian friends with whom she talks online and offers to somewhat “make it up” to them. The Armenian teenagers believe that the Turks should recognize that what they did was wrong and are practically unable to let go of what happened to them. During a scene from a café that Asya takes Armanoush to, it is made clear that the Turks do not take responsibility for the actions that their ancestors inflicted upon the Armenians. They try to tell Armanoush that the Aremenians were just as bad to the Turks and that they were both equally to blame for the events that occurred between the two nations during the start of World War I. Armanoush takes pride in being an Armenian and all that she has become due to the strength of these ancestors, while Aysa’s past does not mean as much to her because she does not know as much about her heritage.
Nationalism is a theme that is presented in The Bastard of Istanbul that also directly relates to the history of the Turks and the Armenians. The Armenians of the Balkans felt very strong ties to their independence from the Turks during the years leading up to World War I. Also, young Ottoman Turks set up secret societies to try and attain their independence in order to have restoration of the Ottoman Bill of Rights through the use of newspapers and propaganda. Armanoush personifies these ideas through her pride in being an Armenian. She tries her best to keep her identity as an Armenian by keeping her name Armanoush, rather than the name “Amy” that her mother likes to call her. Also, Armanoush’s family always reminds her of her Armenian heritage, just as Asya’s grandmother reminds her of her Turkish heritage.
In conclusion, The Bastard of Istanbul describes various issues of Turkish and Armenian life that occurred during the final years of the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Through the use of Asya, Armanoush, and their families, the main ideas of the lifestyles and heritages are presented to the reader in the form of a fictional novel.