Mrs. Begum's Son and the Private Tutor (1997)

by Zadie Smith

I was rather lost and worried after finishing reading Picnic, Lightening by Zadie Smith whether the rest of our class and the time in Oxford were going to be a "read assigned novels-moment of silence-WHAT?!-kind interpretation by Professor Reed" sequence. At least this time I have the characters and the story plot down. Zadie Smith's second short story, Mrs. Begum's Son and the Private Tutor, is thankfully less obscure than Picnic, Lightening. However, both have dramatic and rather  theatrical endings, which I wanted to say I understood when I learned that Zadie Smith was an aspiring musical theatre actress before her writing career.

I must say she's a very attractive lady!
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2009/03/zadie_smith_col.php

 Mrs. Begum's Son and the Private Tutor was more ethnically diverse and meaningful, may I say, than Picnic, Lightening, though. The first son of Bengali immigrant Mrs.Begums, Mark, is 17-year-old and rather violent. As the narrator puts it, "there was a revolution in him." (p.8). A Buddah-like 10-year-old boy Magid is a second son of Mrs.Begums, who also has typical high hopes for her child(s). The narrator's job becomes blurred as he doubles up as a baby-sitter for this 10 year old boy. Still, this Oxford graduate is impressed with the boy and rather feel close to him. However, Mrs. Begums and Mark both kept their distance between them and the narrator by discouraging/sneering at him."I don't expect (Alex) to know what (it) means (to be a Bengali)." (p.1) or "(he) has no idea what this is like." (p.11)

It was not difficult to relate to the characters in the story. It is typical to display angry behaviors as a minority teenager like Mark. Mrs. Begums having high hopes for her kid(s) seems all too familiar. Even Magid, the saint-like figure, grows up to be an ordinary man, where Alex wonders if Magid even remembers his insights and short-lived-fame back then. I couldn't help but feel a bit somber when Alex closes his recollection of Magid by saying "I think he became a lawyer." Is Zadie Smith portraying an inevitable fusion of identity into major stream of society in order to go on about life and succeed as a minority? Alex also mentions that Magid later changes his name to Mathew. Not coincidentally, the author also changed her name as a teenager when her parents divorced. I will never be able to fully step into Zadie Smith's, Magid's, or Mark's shoes. However, I am able to relate to them in terms of feeling like a foreigner and having a sense of responsibility to carry on my heritage. Am I forgetting my color though? Frightfully, I can't quite often recall the words I want to say in Korean, a language I spoke exclusively up to six years ago. One thing for sure though, is that I am forming my new color as Clara. I'm sure Magid, or Mathew did too.