Carinadust’s Weblog

Diary entry: april the 25th, the 30th and mai the 2nd pp.77-82

The narrator relates that she and Chid have now become part of the local landscape, accepted as residents of Satipur. She describes some of the people in her neighbourhood who suffer from illnesses and deformities. As the heat and dust get worse, the narrator loses her patience with Chid, who sits in the corner all day chanting mantras. One day she tries to throw him out-unsuccessfully-she is prevented by Ritu´s condition, as she has another attack.

Ritu´s condition worsens . Somebody comes to heal her by inflicting intense pain on her. The narrator is upset by this and talks to inder lal about the necessity of psychiatric treatment for his wife. Inder Lal is embarassed about the „unscientific“ Indian methods and claims that his mother wanted it.

Maji advises Inder Lal´s mother to go with Ritu on a pilgramage to a holy place high in the himalayas. She also persuades Chid to go with them.

• Inder Lal often feels embarassed and inferior in front of the narrator- he is caught between the traditional world of India and the enlighted, progressive world of the West.

History pp. 82-90

Olivia doesn´t leave with the British wives for Simla. Harry now calls frequently on Olivia, taking her in the Nawab´s car back to the palace for the day. On one day the Nawab asks Olivia to play the piano for him and shows her a collection of European playthings, including two pianos and a large assortment of sports and camera equipment, most of it is now useless and rusting.

——During this time Olivia and Douglas begin talking seriously of having children———–

• The Nawab appears in a sense as a mirror-image of Chid: just as the Englishboy is fascinated by Indian culuture and tries to imitate it, the nawab is buys European furniture,  surrounds himself with European playthings-Indirectly he adopts the colonial attitude that European culture is superior to their own. This process of adaptation confirms Olivia in her belief that the Nawab is at heart a modern person, just like any Western European.

Diary entry june the 12th pp.90-96

Just a short commentary: Karim (the Nawab´s nephew) and his wife Kitty are living in London. They are unable to live in India, they have no real relationship to India. They have given up on their chaotic country and now live as fully integrated members of the London scene

History pp.97-102

• Harry is ill
• The Nawab asks Olivia what she heared about him from her husband
• Olivia and Douglas take their usual walk through the British cemetry-Olivia asks him about the Nawabs involvement in criminal activities-Olivia is incredolous when Douglas tells her again that he takes money from robber gangs in return for protecting them.
• Olivia fells on her knees in front of the marble angel—take a look at the article „Why does Olivia so eagerly wish to have a baby?“

Diary entry june the 15th pp.103-109 

The narrator observes a beggar woman who she has seen before, now lying motionless next to a dump. She is afraid that she is dead and so she asks Inder Lal to look at her, but then she senses the instinctive Hindu fear of pollution through contact with something “unclean”. After bathing, the narrator goes to the hospital to seek help. On her way back home after the denial of the doctor because of a lack in staff, she passes Maji´s hut and tells her the story. Maji runs off to find the woman. Maji takes the old woman´s head in her lap until  she dies.

In this very short episode differin attitudes are contrasted:

The narrator reacts to the sight of the dyinf woman in a “Western” way, feeling that something must be done to help her if possible. But when she comes away from the conversation with the doctor, she has already adopted an “Indian” attitude. the old woman is “dispensable”, her life is no more important than her life was before.

But Maji embodies a selfless motherloy love; through her intervention, the old woman´s death is given a kind og dignity as the completion of a long life´s journey.

History pp.109-116

The main aspect: The Nawab states coldly „All are the same.“ Olivia is shocked to think that for the Nawab all British people are basically alike.

• Olivia´s believe that the Nawab is a European-thinking person is challenged when she is confronted with the Nawab´s condemnation of the British. She cannot believe that he doesn´t make an exception for her. Olivia wants to believe that cultural differences do not matter.

Diary entry june the 20th pp.116-120

The narrator goes with Inder Lal to Barba Firdaus´grove for a picnic. In spite of the intense heat, she is entranced by the stillness and solitude of the grove. They go to the shrine and each tie a thread to the window lattice while making a wish. Inder Lal repeatedly tries to get the narrator to confess what she has wished for; instead of telling him, she places her hand on his, and they make love.

History pp. 120-127

Olivia accompanies the Nawab alone to Barba Firdaus´grove after harry prefered to return to the palace. Olivia and the Nawab tie threads to the window lattice of the shrine and make wishes. The Nawab tells Olivia about his ancestor, Amanullah Khan, who received his title from the British after a rough life, but then felt unhappy and frustrated in the palace. He also tells a bloody anecdote from his ancestor´s biography; then he and Olivia make love.

• With this love affair the Nawab wants to take revenge on the British civil administration for insulting him by not treating him with the respect he feels he deserves. 

Diary entry: july the 31th, august the 15th pp.127-131

Maji tells the narrator that she has noticed she is pregnant and offers to perform an abortion for her. The narrator learns about Maji´s past life: she was married, worked as a midwife and raised several children. She takes the news of her pregnancy lightly.

Chid returns and has abandoned his Indian clothes and hairstyle and he is seriously ill. He says that he can no longer bear the smell of Indians and their food. Inder Lal is very disappointed by Chid´s transformation. Inder Lal visits the narrator´s room every night and their relationship becomes more open and trusting but she cannot bring herself to tell him about her pregnancy.

• Chid´s fate mirrors the ambivalence of India: the fascination it holds for the Western mind, and at the same time the danger it embodies.

History pp. 131-143

The conflicts that have been brewing for some time now approach the crisis stage: The British can no longer ignore the Nawab´s protection of robbers, as the problem has spread the boundaries of Khatm. Olivia´s pregnancy will force her to make a decision: Where is her place in the world? AT her husband´s side, in the safe, familiar, boring world of the British community? Or in the exotic world of the palace? The Nawab is convinced that he is the father of the unborn child Olivia is expecting and that she will leave Douglas and move to the palace

The narrator draws an exact parallel between the Nawab and Douglas letting them use the same gesture and even identical words „You will really do this for me?“ p.141, l.12; p.143, ll.8 ff.——To emphasize the choice?

Major Minnies admires the Nawab, but he cannot do his duty properly without insulting him.

Diary entry: august the 20th, 27th pp.143-147

The narrator relates the end of the British community at Satipur after Independence 1947: Douglas and his second wife Tessiereturn to Britain; the Crawfords stay on in India but ultimately give up and move to Britain too. Chid wants to return to Britain, but is still too sick to travel. He has to stay in hospital.

The narrator describes the appalling conditions in the hospital, which she visits every day to bring Chid his food and look after him.

example of the limits of understanding:

Retired British officers who give up and go back to England, Chid´s complete physical collapse, coupled with a rejection of all Indian things; Dr. Gopal´s joking remark that perhaps the British are simply not made for India. All this shows the real significance of Olivia and her story for the narrator: Olivia was an ordinary British woman who succumbed to the fascination of India, but did not lose herself in the process. The narrator´s quest is to find out how this could happen, and to follow in Olivia´s footsteps.

History pp.147-149

Harry tells Olivia that he will leave for England and that the Nawab has agreed. harry says that the Nawab consults lawyers in indore and quotes a remark the Nawab made as to the effect the birth of his son will have on the British community. Olivia is taken aback; she tells Harry that she is considering an abortion and asks him to secure the Begum´s help.

• Harry´s planned return-Chid´s return in the Diary
• Olivia maybe realizes that the Nawab may have had reasons of his own for starting an affair with her.

Diary entry: august the 31st pp.149-152

Maji offers again an abortion, says that it would be possible through a simple massage. She massages the narrator´s belly until the latter cries STOP. The two women go out into the fresh air; the narrator realizes with „rapture“ that she wants to keep her child.

• The narrator´s decision to keep her child can be seen symbolically as a decision for India, to accept a fate that has bond her to this country and its ways. The decision sets her apart from Olivia.

History pp.152-154

Olivia is escorted to a run-down house in Khatm where two midwives prepare her for the abortion. The preliminary massage is interrupted by the Begum´s arrival. The Begum bent over her to look into her face and Olivia stared back at her.

pp.154-165

Douglas takes Olivia to the hospital, where Dr. saunders discovers that the foetus has been killed using an old Indian trick. The British community conclude that Olivia let herself be used by the Nawab for a „rotten“ act of revenge and banish her from their minds.

the end of the story: Olivia flees from the hospital directly to the palace and never sees Douglas or any of the community again. Harry soon leaves for London, where he lives with his mother and later with a friend. Years later, the Nawab comes to London, now changed and no longer wealthy. Olivia never returns to England, but rather stays in the mountainside house the Nawab bought for her.

• How did Douglas react?
• How did theNawab react to the abortion?

pp.158-160

The narrator says goodbye to Maji before leaving for Olivia´s mountain residence. Havin arrived there, she describes the landscape and the furnishings.

pp.160-163

The Nawab´s latter days (1938). He is now fat and womanly, moreover beset with financial troubles. Olivia disappears from the story altogether. The nawab doesn´t mention her in any way. The letters to her sister Marcia become rarer, then stop.

pp.163-165

Looking about Olivia´s house, the narrator wonderes ho Olivia lived, what she thought about as she gazed out of the window to the mountains. She plans to go up to the mountains to an ashram to have her baby.

• For the narrator, the only path to knowledge about Olivia is through imitation. Her story has an open ending: the narrator is „swallowed up“ by the vastness of India, like Olivia before her. The weather stands for Olivia-remaining a mystery