When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day.
V. S. NaipaulRead
It has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn't matter'.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote discusses the destructive impact of cultural conversion on one's heritage and history.
V. S. Naipaul highlights the traumatic effects of cultural conversion on the identity of individuals and communities. He critiques the notion that one must entirely erase their ancestral culture and history to embrace new beliefs, suggesting that this act of 'conversion' leads to a loss of self and disconnection from one's roots.
Themes
Cultural IdentityConversionHistoryAncestral CultureLoss
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of preserving cultural heritage.
More from V. S. Naipaul
All quotes βIt is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
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If you decide to move to another country and to live within its laws you don't express your disregard for the essence of the culture. It's a form of aggression.
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One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
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His ignorance seemed to widen with everything he read.
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I think when you see so many Hindu temples of the 10th century or earlier disfigured, defaced, you realise that something terrible happened. I feel the civilisation of that closed world was mortally wounded by those invasions the old world is destroyed. That has to be understood. Ancient Hindu India was destroyed.
V. S. NaipaulRead
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