Plotting the Story (pp. 90-102)

12 June

Inder Lal asks the narrator why she has come to India. From everything you’ve read so far, list possible reasons and evaluate them.

The narrator tells Inder Lal that she’s come because of her ancestry and her relations in India. She wants to find out about Olivia (who was her grandfather’s first wife) and her story with the Nawab. During her journey the narrator gets also interested and finally involved in the Indian culture. She becomes friends wih Inder Lal and his mother as well.

Maybe the narrator was not only looking for her ancestry, but also for spirituality in India. She tells Inder Lal that the Europeans got tired of the materialism of the West and with coming to India they hope to find a simpler and more natural way of life. This can also be found in her way of living in India: She does not need much for living; furniture and decoration is not as much important to her as to Olivia. The narrator also can’t understand why Inder Lal often feels ashamed before her because of the way he is living. She’s happy to have found a place where materialism is not the most important thing (like e.g. in England).

pp. 100-102

Why does Olivia so eagerly wish to have a baby?

Olivia, who has been lonely for a long time in India, wants to have a baby. Because her husband is absent for most of the time, she would like to have a baby to care about someone. If she had a baby she would always have a piece of Douglas at home, it would be with her at all times. Olivia sees another possibility in the idea of having a baby: It would give her lonely life a (new) sense and maybe she and her husband would weld together.

In  my opinion, the main idea of Olivia having a baby is to have more time with her husband. Possibly she thinks that Douglas would take great care about her and the baby; otherwise Olivia would always see the „little Douglas“ in her baby.