Author

Background
Themes
 An Indian novelist.
 Born in 3rd September 1971, New Delhi, India.
 Daughter of Anita Desai.
 Notable works
 The inheritance of loss
 Hullabaloo in the guava orchard.
 Born in New Delhi, spent her life in Pune and
Mumbai.
 Studied in the cathedral and John connon
school.
 Left India at fourteen and lived in England
and then shifted to the united states.
 Studied creative writing at Bennington
college, Hollins university and Columbia
university.
 Hullabaloo in the guava orchard.
 Published in 1998
 Received accolades from Salman Rushdie.
 Won Betty Trask Award
 Society of authors,
 For the best new novels by citizens of the commonwealth of
nations under the age of 35.
 The inheritance of loss.
 Published in 2006.
 Won Man Booker Prize.(youngest female writer )
 Won National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award.
 Awarded a 2013 Berlin Prize Fellowships at
the American Academy in Berlin.
 End of 19th century
◦ Height of British empire
◦ Territories all over the world and authority over a
quarter of the world’s population
◦ India was the most important territory in British
empire.
 Secured the sea routes
 Desai introduces countries of 3rd world
◦ India
◦ Bangladesh
◦ Nepal
 Key moment of decolonization of 20th century
 Gaining of the independence of India in 15th august,
1947.
 Partition of former British Indian empire into two
countries,(based on religion Muslim majority)
 India
 Pakistan
 Between 1947 and1971 ,after the world war 2
Bangladesh formed eastern part of Pakistan.
 Many problems arose due to ethnic, linguistic, and cultural
differences.
 In 1971 eastern part of Pakistan separated and became
the republic of Bangladesh.
 Nepal is an independent kingdom situated
south of great Himalayan range.
 The ethnic makeup of Nepal is a complex
combination of Hinduism and other religious
practices.
 British influence can be seen in those
countries.
 Historical aspects.
 The consequences of imperialism.
 Desai took eight years to complete the novel.
 The novel sets in post colonial India.
 As a result of this the novel mainly focus on
post colonial themes such as
◦ Race
◦ Gender
◦ Class
◦ Migration
◦ Multiculturalism
◦ Religion
◦ Cultural aspects
◦ Economic inequality
◦ Fundamentalism
◦ Terrorist violence, insurgency
◦ Globalization
◦ Poverty
◦ Isolation
◦ Issues related to loss of identity
◦ Discrimination and oppression
 Alienation and
loss of identity.
Themes

Discrimination and
oppression
 This theme became highly popular among
post-modern writers.
 The term alienation – “allienus” (Latin term)
 Philosophers believes that alienation is
“inevitably produced by a shallow and
depersonalized society.”
◦ “mankind has fallen into crisis by taking a narrow,
technological approach to the world and by
ignoring the larger question of existence.” (web)
 Within this concept social ethics and human
values are sacrificed for the sake of material
success.
 under the theme of alienation and loss of
identity these key points can be added,
 Migration.
 Multiculturalism.
 Cultural aspects and hybridity.
 Terrorist violence & insurgency.
 Isolation.
 Draws parallel between
◦ The Nepali immigrants in India.
 Gyan
◦ Indian immigrants in the states.
 Biju
◦ Indian immigrants in England.
 Jemubhai patel
 “they had stood on the platform between
benches labeled “Indians only” and
“Europeans only”…”
 Thus these migrations took their humanity
crushed out and replaced coldness instead, which
alienated themselves.
 “never again would he know love for a human
being that wasn’t adulterated by another”
 “he retreated into a solitude that in weight day by
day. The solitude became a habit, the habit
became the man, and it crushed him into a
shadow”
 “then he remembered a moment long ago when
he had indeed liked her. He was twenty , she was
fourteen….”
 The judge was not treated proper way even at
the states nor India.
◦ During the colonial era Asians were treated
negatively as it was highly considered the color
discrimination.
◦ His education in England makes him de-cultured
and a man with intellect but not a warm heart.
◦ His futile attempts to fit into the alien culture make
him emotionally barren and spiritually dead.
◦ Even when he returns to India, he was not treated
as an Indian, which makes him colder.
 Biju’s situation in states also represents the
impact of hybridity and loss of identity.
◦ Biju even can’t understand the announcements at the
American embassy.

 Though they think that migration is a way of

gaining social upheaval, it creates distance
relationships, cold hearted people, and nostalgia.
 Thus due to race and color made the judge
alienate in England while literacy and
linguistically made Biju isolated in states.
 Sai is the perfect epitome of hybridity.
 Prasanta Bhattacharyya
◦ “born of Hindu mother and a Zoroastrian father she
is the true inheritor of a hybrid identity whose
secularity is put to the strains of personal tragedy
and political vicissitudes in order, as if, to see its
chances of survival”(web)
 Sais parents were died in Moscow
 Comes from St. Augustine's in Dehradun to Kalimpong to
live with her maternal grandfather.
 Considered as unwanted to Cho Oyu and burden as the
judge has disowned his daughter long ago.
  Sai is unable to connect with her peers.
◦ “sai was shy around her peers”
 She dislikes her grandfather.
◦ “there was more than a hint of reptiles in the slope
of his face, the wide hairless forehead, the
introverted nose,…”
 The main reason behind this was her hybrid
upbringing
◦ Two elderly anglophile Indian sisters- Lola and
Noni.
◦ Uncle Potty, from England – their closest neighbor.
 The major barrier between Sai and the cook
was the language,
◦ “…their friendship composed of shallow things
conducted in a broken language, for she was an
English speaker and he was a Hindi-speaker.”

 This is how Desai has depicted the theme of

loss of identity.
 Depicts how people becomes confused
regarding his own identity and does not feel
at home in either England or India.
 This theme can be divided into three main
points.

Racial
discrimination

Discrimination and Class

oppression discrimination

Gender
discrimination
 The tense relationship between east and west
which means the connection between the
colonizer and colonized is the main reason
behind this.
 The partition of India can be taken as a good
example for the extreme result of the
discrimination and oppression.
 The novel “the inheritance of loss” sets after
the partition of India. But the issues regarding
Nepal and minority are still continuing
throughout the novel.
 What is race?

 “Race is now viewed as a social construction

that is primarily recognized by physical
appearance, or phenotype.”(web)
 The term of race and ethnicity is closely
linked to the concepts of multiculturalism,
migration, integration, discrimination, and
power.
 White, imperial superiority and power did not
accepted or welcomed the colonized
countries.
 The judge experience this issue regarding
racial discrimination
 Due to his dark skin and third world origins
 This leads to poverty, humiliation, and
discrimination of the colonized countries.
 The novel reveals how racial discrimination
can influence and harm the personality of an
innocent and naïve young man.
 His hatred directs towards other human
beings as well as himself and his own
personality.
 “never again he know love for a human being
that wasn’t adulterated by another,
contradictory emotion.”
 He withdraws from all social activities,
 “he retreated into a solitude that grew in
weight day by day. The solitude became a
habit, the habit became the man, and it
crushed him into a shadow”
 Sai’s relationship with Gyan, and his betrayal
makes her aware of racial and ethnic
differences.
 “you hate me”said Sai, as if she’d read his
thoughts,”for big reasons, that have nothing
to do with me. You aren’t being fair”
 GNLF is Gorkha National Liberation Front
 The main aim of GNLF is to create a separate
Gorkha state in the Nepali-speaking area.
 Male dominant, chauvinistic society.
 Women were suppressed strictly.
 ex:- Nimi
 The judge behaves as a physically strong
“white” man who uses his male dominance to
punish Nimi, who is weak, passive and
submissive.
 “as wives in those days followed their
husbands”
 Throughout Nimi’s whole life time she was
under the control of male figures.
◦ 1st by father
◦ 2nd by husband.
 “…she was still unable to contemplate the
idea of walking through the gate. The way it
stood open…”
 Sai is very significant character as she
surpasses her ancestors way of life.
◦ Due to her westernized influence.
◦ Due to her education
◦ Experiences gain from her life in convent
◦ The difficult family situation she experienced.

 This circumstances made her a confident,

independent, self assertive girl.
 Sai appears as the one with control.

 “ha hasn’t done anything, leave him” said Sai,

hating to see him humiliated, hating even
more to see that the only path open to him
was to humiliate himself further”
 Class is a major theme during post colonial and
post modern writing.
 Within the novel the inheritance of loss implies
the theme of class disparity in greater way.
 The factors which decides social class are,
◦ Access to money
◦ Usage of money
◦ Work
◦ Education
◦ Political interest
◦ Lifestyle
◦ Social connections
 India has it’s own way of dividing social class
and cast.
 From the beginning of the novel it introduces
the different sates of their class under the
same roof.
◦ Sai reading a magazine “national geography” – the
intellectual atmosphere, education and connection
to the west.
◦ The cook trying to light up the damp wood to make
tea – profession is servant.
 “only a corner of the kitchen was being used,
since it was meant originally for the slaving
minions, not the one leftover servant.”
 “he was a powerless man, barely enough
learning to read and write, had worked like a
donkey all his life, hoped only to avoid
trouble, lived on only to see his son”
 Desai here demonstrates how hard it is to
improve his status by born in a lower class.
 The complex view of class distinction can be
seen in the judge’s view,
◦ The cook ‘s
 Being an Indian
 Uneducated
 Submissive
 Belonging to lower class in society
 Thus the judge feels extreme superiority
when comparing with the position of the
cook.
 Sai’s class identity is ambiguous, as she lives
between eastern and western culture.
 When we conceder the relationship between
Sai and Gyan,

•Financially •Struggling
Sai

privileged Gyan to survive

•Eats with a •Eats with
spoon hands
 “sai knew that onece the day failed, though,
you wouldn’t be able to ignore the poverty,
and it would become obvious that in these
homes it was cramped and wet…”
 Desai depicts class discrimination in both on
the individual and the universal level.
 Social differences also prove to be a reason
for oppression and discrimination.
 According to the above discussion regarding
the theme,
◦ Discrimination is gruesome human act which can
lead to severe consequences for the once who
suffer.
◦ Shows how oppression due too ethnicity can work ,
both globally and individually.
 The themes of
◦ Alienation an loss of identity
◦ Discrimination and oppression
 Are universal themes.
 Very common within post- modern literature.
 The novel “the inheritance of loss” can be
considered to a social criticism focusing on
the discrimination and oppression and loss of
identity due to alienation.