Amazon.com reviews for The Voice That Remembers by Ama Adhe include only four- and five-star ratings, with comments ranging from "Her story is one everyone should read because her message helps gain perspective and perseverance through adversity" to simply "I think (Adhe's voice) the book made me a better person” (1). Almost every review makes sweeping claims about a person's improvement after reading the book, and the lasting effect and the educational value the novel had in informing Western readers about the plight Tibetans face at the hands of the communist Chinese. And it's true; Adhe's story is the incredible tale of his struggle to remain faithful to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition despite the genocide and extensive torture at the hands of the Chinese in the early 1960s Even the book's harshest critic can say nothing against the willpower, truly impressive perseverance and strong-willed devotion that drove Adhe to survive. after being imprisoned and specifically victimized for twenty-seven years. However, it is important to note that The Remembering Voice was undoubtedly written largely by ghosts and cleverly employs literary tactics that generate a strong and instinctive pathological response from Western audiences. As Laurie McMillan states in her short essay “New Age Namtar: Tibetan Autobiographies in English”, “the creation of Tibetan autobiographies in English is inevitably a mixed phenomenon, intertwined with Western expectations and the desire of some Tibetans to represent what which could be seen as the authenticity of their experience” (156). McMillan goes on to say that what Westerners qualify as an “authentic Tibetan” is a Tibetan devoted to Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan nationalism, and exile. Here lies the ultimatum. While Adhe undoubtedly felt the need to portray the struggles she and her companions faced as realistically as possible, she also needed to appeal to Western readers, which raises McMillan's initial question: “Tibetan autobiographies in English are simply a sort of capitulation to Western desires… or could they be something else again?” (155). While Ama Adhe's tale of oppression at the hands of Communist China is authentically moving and powerful, Adhe goes to great lengths to present himself as McMillan's "authentic Tibetan" by using subtle literary techniques that emphasize his devotion to Buddhism, Tibetan nationalism and into exile during the invasion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Even before Adhe's narrative begins, the book bolsters her credibility as a Tibetan Buddhist by including a letter from the Dalai Lama, highlighting Adhe Adhe's accomplishments and the significance, in a Buddhist and humanitarian sense, of the novel. This immediately establishes the ethics or credibility of Adhe. Perhaps the most important point of the note of praise is that the Dalai Lama emphasizes the impact the book has in describing the struggle of the “Tibetan people” much more heavily than he talks about Adhe herself. The effect of this is that she is not only glorified through a Buddhist lens, but also through a nationalist lens. The introduction of the Dalai Lama symbolizes the supreme Buddhist praise, as well as the nationalist praise, and drives home the idea that reading this novel as a Westerner will make you a "better person". When a Western reader finally immerses himself in the novel, it is virtually impossible to forget for even a page that Adhe is Buddhist. It serves as the main motivation to live and source of strength inthroughout the novel, combined with his love and need to return to his children and protect his friends and family. Three factors contribute to his Buddhist devotion while in prison; personal practice, helping and respecting the devotion of others, and the wickedness of the Chinese in the religious sense. First, Adhe derives his personal practice from his childhood and upbringing. It is important to note that she continues to practice these Buddhist traditions even after several years in prison, when many prisoners have become emotionally destroyed under the weight of the work and the communist manifesto. In one case, Adhe fears that she will not be able to remember all the verses of the 21-line prayer she usually recited to the patron deity Dolma, and so she asks the former lama Kathong Situ Rinpoche to help her. In return, he gives her an abbreviated 9-verse prayer to the deity Dolma herself, and she can continue her religious practice. Instances like this punctuate the entire novel; whenever the reader fears that he might give up, he is reminded of his religious nature, as when Adhe attempts to starve himself and fashions rosary beads from the fabric at the bottom of his robe. These little personal nods to Buddhism suggest that it is a constantly driving force in his mind and establish his credibility as an “authentic Tibetan.” Second, periodically throughout her torturous labor, she is accompanied by another Buddhist devotee. For example, when she is originally imprisoned, there is a day where women are subjected to rape and torture sessions, and then forced to drink murky water to prevent pregnancy. In this moment of desperation, Chomphee Gyalgo Rinpoche reassures her: “even if we are going through very dark times, it will not be possible for them to destroy our religion and our culture. In the end the doctrine of Tibetan Buddhism will prevail” (105). This is a further reminder to readers of Adhe's cultural and doctrinal roots, even if the observations do not come from Adhe herself. Finally, in the novel the contrast between the Chinese Communist and the Tibetan Buddhist is black and white, when in reality there were many shades of grey. In one scene, a prison guard tells the prisoners "you must admit that there is no divinity or religion" (155), to which the prisoners respond by calling her a "devil-woman" (155). The effect of this is to juxtapose Tibetans religiously and to unconsciously emphasize the role of religion in the personal lives of Tibetan prisoners. Adhe's combination of personal practice and constant reminder of the polarization between Chinese and Buddhist education completes the first Western requirement of an “authentic Tibetan” according to McMillan. Adhe also builds his credibility as an “authentic Buddhist” by increasing his sense of nationalism through the new structure, the pointed avoidance of mentioning Chinese prisoners during communist rule, and the devotion to protecting his friends who joined his rebel group . Chapters 1 through 4 spend a lot of time describing Adhe's life in Tibet before the communist invasion, serving two purposes. The first is that it creates a setting for the character and contributes to the autobiographical nature of the novel, but the second is that it subconsciously establishes to the reader her strong roots in Tibet since she was a child. All his memories of the pre-communist invasion are very bright and idealistic. The first sentence of the novel is even "I can remember my first memory: laughing, spinning and falling in fields of flowers under an endless sky" (5). This creates a romanticized view of Tibet that will serve to make his fight to save Tibet more effective. Secondly, very few Chinese people who are not authority figures are mentioned throughout the novel. Actually,in the camps where the Tibetans were taken there were many Chinese prisoners. Although the Tibetans far outnumbered the Chinese, the exclusion of Chinese characters forces readers to focus on the plight of the Tibetan prisoners, as well as establishing the Chinese as a single, united oppressive force. Once again, the effect of this is turning a gray reality into a black and white world. The refusal to betray his resistanceThe group and its friends involved show a real nationalist drive that is not invented by the novel, but its inclusion has a very powerful effect on the reader. After years of torture, Adhe continues to deny taking part in organizing, leading or participating in the resistance group she and her brother organized in Tibet. For this reason she is subjected to endless suffering, while her brother was killed after admitting his guilt. This punishment is much worse than death, which Adhe desires several times throughout the novel. Adhe's nationalist side is exposed through a combination of literary technique and genuine devotion, and this in turn cements her as the Western ideal of the “authentic Tibetan”. Finally, McMillan's “authentic Tibetan” must complete a state of exile, which Adhe does without further explanation for several years. However, his exile is forced rather than voluntary, but this makes his return to Tibet incredibly shocking after nearly thirty years spent in various prisons and labor camps outside Tibet and China. However, probably the most poignant thing about his forced exile is that he never forgets his home country and constantly questions his status even when he is thousands of miles away. Returning, Adhe observes that "my region had been a land of pristine beauty, a place of great religious sanctity...but now the mountains around Lhobasha were barren, the forests had all disappeared" (196). Adhe's pain in exile and the knowledge that his home has been destroyed devastate readers, who already know the inevitable fate of the post-communist invasion of Tibet and turn emotionally to Adhe. This completes Adhe's credibility and establishes her as an "authentic Tibetan" in the eyes of Western readers. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Ama Adhe's personal account of twenty-seven years of imprisonment in the years of the communist takeover are truly moving and surprisingly intimate, especially for the Western reader who may not be adequately informed of the atrocities inflicted on the Tibetan people . However, with this in mind, it is equally important to recognize and analyze the literary techniques that allow the Western reader to feel for Adhe and affirm her as the perfect vision of the "authentic Tibetan"; devoutly Buddhist, unquestionably nationalist and subject to exile. There are advantages and disadvantages to Westernized versions of Tibetan autobiographies, but a recurring and perhaps most problematic disadvantage is the Western idea that reading stories like Ama Adhe's will somehow transform the reader into a better person. As Laurie McMillan says, “Reading about the life of a Tibetan – the apparent contact with the Tibetan – becomes something that can transform readers, transforming them into the new 'you'” (206). The Voice That Remembers by Ama Adhe is no exception to this statement, as seen from the Amazon reviews referenced in the introductory paragraph of this essay. And even as the writer of this essay, criticizing the novel seems harsh because, as McMillan says, “Criticizing the book would seem like criticizing the person (here, Ama Adhe) 'in the world'”.