Carinadust’s Weblog

persons:

page 7-page 8 line 15

• Olivia
• Nawab
• Douglas
• Tessie
• Beth
• Harry
• Marcia

Olivia was the first wife of the narrator´s grandfather, Douglas Rivers, a British colonial officer who spent most of his life in India. Olivia left his husband to live with an Indian prince, called the Nawab. This family scandalwas kept secret for years, it was not until they were old women that the narrator´s grandmother Tessie (Dougls´s second wife) and her sister Beth (narrator´s greataunt) began talking about Olivia. The narrator hears from them about Olivia and gets more details from an elderly Englishman named Harry, who lived with the Nawab during the same years olivia and Douglas were in Satipur. Harry also gives the narrator the letters that olivia wrote to her sister Marcia while she was living in India. The narrator takes these letters with her as she sets off for india in search of her family´s roots.

personal impression: It´s an introduction, a prologue, the narrator, a young woman, explains her relationship to the protagonists of the novel. All persons are labelled and you get to know what will happen in the end, it creates tension, the reader concentrates on how and why things happen and not on what happens. But what is her motivation to see the places where Olivia lived 50 years earlier?

The narrator´s story starts in the 1970s (2nd february- 31st of august), it´s about 7 months. Olivia´s story lasts 36 years (1923-1959)

first diary entrie: february the 2nd-page 8, 15-page 11, 20 “Not what I imagined at all”

The narrator has just arrived in Bombay which is completely different as she had imagined. She spends her first night in a missionary hostel, in a room with 7 other women. A woman who has spent 30 years in India warns her in drastic terms of the physical ans spiritual dangers that threaten Westerners in India. She has not fully arrived yet because she imagines waht time must be in Britain and reaches for her watch.

personal impression: creates a horrible picture of India, India seems strange to me, I guess that the story will be exciting and interesting because India is so unlike Europe and I´m curious about what I will learn from the story.

second diary entry: february the 16th- page 11, 21-page 13,18 “she was everything I´m not”

The narrator has now taken up residence in a room in Satipur, the town in which the Rivers lived in 1923. There she rents a room from a minor Indian cicil servant named Inder Lal, who lives with his mother, his wife and three children. She contrasts her sparsely furnished room (no bed, no chair) with the description of Olivia´s lavishly decorated house in her letters.

third diary entry: february the 20th- page 13,19- page 15, 26 “I suppose we must look strange to them”

We get information about Inder Lal and his family because the narrator pays a visit to Inder Lal´s wife and mother. The Indians call her “hijra” (transvestite), because she is tall and flat-chested. The Indians look her as being different, living with Indians does not automatically change who one is. She wishes to become part of India social life.

fourth diary entry: february the 24th, page 15, 27- page 18, 27 “If the buses are always the same, so is the landscape through which they travel”

Inder Lal and the narrator travel to Khatm. She reports on her impressions of her bus drive and describes the old palace of the Nawab. The narrator explores the empty, spacious rooms that now reveal little of their former purpose.

—For the first time in the story, the narrator visits an identifiable site of Olivia´s past life. The narrator contrasts the cool interior of the palace and its watered gardens with the harsh heat in the little town beyond the walls.

personal impression: India must be poor and dusty in places. I guess there is little distance between fabulous wealth and abject poverty in India.

• The narrator is inspired by stories told in her family about Olivia, her grandfather´s first wife
• one of the first people she met in India warns her of the physical danger of India for Westerners
• she tries to integrate into local society

History pp.19-24

Several months after her arrival at Satipur, Olivia meets the Nawab at a dinner party he gives for the British administrators of the district. Here she gets to know an Englishman named Harry, who appears to be a more or less permanent house guest of the Nawab. Some days later the Nawab visits her unannounced, bringing Harry with him. A few days later Olivia receives an invitation to dinner at the palace, only for her and Douglas. When Douglas realizes that his superior has not been invited, he rejects the idea of accepting even so he sees how much Olivia is longing for any escape from the boredom of her daily life.

In this section all the major characters of the historical narrative are introduced in detail: Olivia& Douglas, the Nawab, Harry, the Crawfords, the Saunders, the Minnies. Olivia´s likes and dislikes become clear in her reaction to the different people around her. She finds the British gentlemen tiresome, she is impressed by the mental alertness of the Nawab and by the way he is looking at her.

• Olivia is bored in her new life and feels out of place
• The Nawab enters her life as awelcome escape from her daily life

fifth diary entry: february the 28th, p.24,22- p.28,26 “gloomy, broading house”

The narrator reports on an encounter with three young British who were attempting with little success to obtain entrance to a travellers´ house in Satipur. Two of them, a couple, recount their misadventures since arriving in India (illness, being robbed) and they tell her how they got fascinated with India and its culture. One of the old British bungalows had not been converted into office space, instead maintained as a rest-house for travelers. She realizes that the musty and glommy house must be the former one of Dr Saunders when she looks out of the window and sees the crumbling remains of the marble angel that marked the grave of the saunder´s baby.

• India is presented as a country with two very different faces; a country of fascination, but also of harsh reality.

History pp. 22-49

Seeing the marble angel for the first time has a powerfull effect on Olivia. She is afraid that she will become pregnant in India and die in childbirth. Douglas, born in India, tries to comfort her. Later Olivia visits Mrs Saunders, who is bed-ridden and complains of her poor health and servants. She confesses to Olivia that she wants to return to England. Olivia feels pity for her but also put off by Mrs Saunders`lack of decorum (she is not of the same class as the other members of the British community).

Together with Mrs Crawford, Olivia vistis the Begum (the Nawab´s mother). Olivia feels left out of the conversation because she isn´t able to speak Urdu. Afterwards, the two Englishwomen visit Mrs Minnies, with whom they have a long conversation. They talk about the Nawab and his wife Sandy ( ruler of a neighbouring state) and Douglas. Olivia gets more information about the Nawab when Harry comes to visit. Harry characterizes the Nawab from his own experience: his commanding personality and his boundless generosity.

After Douglas had a delegation of Indian men at his house, he expresses that Indians are basically like children, but also rogues who cannot be trusted. He wants that Olivia goes to Simla for the summer, but she doesn´t want to leave Douglas for such a long time.

One morning the Nawab turns up unexpectedly in front of the River´s house with two cars and his retinue. He wants that Olivia attends him on a picnic. Olivia drives together with the Nawab and Harry in the Rolls. During the drive through the empty landscape the Nawab doesn´t speak to Olivia, she wonderes if he is in a bad mood. They stop after a while to walk ahead. The Nawab becomes charming again and pays her a lot of compliments, they also talk about Douglas. After their conversation they play a game together with Harry and the rest of the retuine. ( I guess that we would call the game “Reise nach Jerusalem). The Nawab shows her a small spring and the Nawab asks her if she believes in miracles and tells her that they are very similar in their feelings.

I guess the Nawab is interested in Olivia and wants to intensify their relationship. He is playing a subtle game with her: he ignores her, then charms her, he lays out a romantic picnic by a spring and tells her that they have a rare feeling of togetherness.

Mrs Saunders names the Indians “devils” and Douglas Rivers compares them with “children”- I think that expresses the stereotyped thinking of the colonial powers of the time. In their view the “White Man” had selflessly come to bring civilization and progress to the retarded peoples of Asia and Africa.

The Nawab doesn´t allow Olivia to win the game, he must win himself -a sign of little power!?

6th, 7th, 8th diary entry: march the 8th, 10th& 20th, pp.49-56

The narrator describes her daily routine: going to the bazar to buy food, cooking, working on her journal, sometimes going to meet Inder Lal. Her relationship with her lessor intensifies as he gets used to her and begins to confide her. He tells her that his wife is unintelligent and ruined her health trough excessive homesickness after their marriage.

The narrator reports on her futile attempts at communication with Ritu, Inder Lal´s wife. Her extreme shyness makes it impossible to converse with her. As the heat increases, the narrator starts sleeping outdoors in the courtyard like the other Indians as well. She feels like a part of a vast community. One night she is woken up by a piercing scream. Ritu has been seized by another of her fits. Together with Inder Lal´s mother, she takes Ritu into the house, where the mother performs a kind of ritual to free her of her spasm.

After the above incident, the narrator and Inder Lal´s mother become friends. She accompanies her for example to the bazar and makes sure that she is treated fairly by the vendors. The narrator comments on the mother´s role in the family: she looks after her son, serves him his meals and lays out his clothes. The narrator joins Inder Lal´s mother and other widows on one of their outings. One of the women there shows her the sutee shrines dedicated to the widows who threw themselves on their husband´s funeral pyre.

These entries contain a parallel to the preceding episode: in each case, the relationship between the Indian man and the British woman intensifies. But also the contrast between both women becomes more obvious: Olivia feels like an outsider but the narrator strives to learn Hindi, follows Indian customs, tries to make friends etc.

• The narrator does everything to become part of Indian life
• In her dealings with Inder Lal and his family, she shows that she is helpful and sensitive

The sutee shrine is abridge to the next part of the History section, whre Olivia hears of an illegal incident of widow-burning.

History pp. 56-61

While Douglas is in Satipur, a widow is forced by her male relatives to burn herself. Douglas is upset that the British authorities arrived too lateto prevent the brutal act; he has all the relatives arrested. While this the nawab had started to visit Olivia regularly. Olivia doesn´t find the right opportunity to inform Douglas. Later the British officials attend a dinner at which the suttee is the main topic of conversation. Olivia says that the suttee is a part of Indian culture and religion and that the British have no right to intervene in such matters. Dr. Saunders attacks her views, saying that the suttee is a savage and barbarous “like everything else in this country” (p.60, ll.3f.). Major Minnies then tells the story of a 19th- century widow who won the right to die with her husband. Olivia cries out impulsively that she would be greatful for a custom that allowed her to die with the man she loves.

The question how a colonial power may or may not interfere in local customs is raised.

9th, 10th and 11th diary entry: march the 30th, april the 10th and 15th pp.61-67

While walking home with Inder Lal one evening, the narrator hears a sound coming from the Royal Tombs. She discovers the English boy called Chid lying in the corner, not able to stand up. She and Inder Lal take him back to her room.

After recovering from his fever, Chid becomes a permanent house guest, eating her food and using her for sex whenever he wants. He now spends his days in the streets of the town, talking to people about his spirituality. The narrator thinks that he is a nuisance.

• The narrator shows herself in a bad light, in that she allows herself to be used even sexually) by Chid, while disliking him for doing so.

The narrator accompanies Inder Lal´s mother and many other women to Baba Firdaus´s shrine, where she hears the story of Husband´s Wedding Day. Once a year, this event is celebrated by women of all ages who visit the shrine and enjoy themselves by having a picnic. The narrator is integrated into local life and goes on trips with Indian women.

History pp. 67-76

The “Husband’s Wedding Day” was a problem for Major Minnies since the shrine was on the Nawab’s land. Although assured by the Nawab that all would be well, the Major worried, because Khatm had a large Muslim population, the Nawab and his family among them. They did not like their shrine being taken over by Hindu worshippers and there was always a disturbance, often about something else and often occurring somewhere else, like the bazar. The Nawab failed to do anything to stop the anti-Hindu rioters because he himself is a Muslim and secretly supports them. Mrs Crawford renews her offer to take Olivia to Simla . harry supports her by describing the Nawab´s marvellous house in the mountains. Harry reveals that he wants to return to England to look for his sickly mother, but the Nawab is opposed to the idea. Mrs Crawford offers to arrange passage for Harry on a steamer leaving Bombay shortly. Before Harry is due to depart, the Nawab arrives to bring Harry byck to the palace. He treats harry like a little child who cannot act without his supervision. Harry follows him meekly.

• The Nawab´s power over an Englishman?