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Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with a happy ending or a serious play with an unhappy ending, which however may be filled with jokes throughout. First Person Narrative: This novel is written in first person: 1. How is our understanding of the novel aided through this style? 2. How does the first person narrative style help us make a connection with Ram? 3. How is our opinion of other characters/events skewed by this style?
Narrative Style:
1. Allusions to Bollywood:
Throughout the text there are references to Bollywood. Ram relates what is happening around him to Bollywood plots, actors, films, as he has no one to explain his own life to him. Instead he has to use his imagination where much of its inspiration comes from Bollywood. It is inside the films that Ram and Salim seek comfort and refuge and they have the function of taking him away from his painful reality. On page 371, the author Swarup says, The potboiler Hindi films have traditionally been considered escapist entertainment, perhaps highlighting their reality to the masses. They almost become an alternate reality for the poor. Ram says "These films are about a fantasy world. A world in which kids have mothers and fathers, and birthdays. We saw this fantasy world but never got carried away with it. The most we could aspire to was to become one of those who held power over us" When Ram evaluates periods of his life according to Bollywood, eg a drama with doses of comedy and action ending eventually in tragedy. In film parlance, this is how I could describe the time I spent with Neelima Kumari. When he meets Nita p298, "In Hindi films, I have seen the prostitute heroine is inevitably a good hearted girl who has been forced into this profession against her will. At the end of the film, the prostitute almost always commits suicide by consuming poison. I wonder whether I have been brought to this whorehouse for a purpose. Whether there is a heroine waiting for me behind this door. Whether I am her hero who is supposed to rescue her. And whether I can change the ending preventing her death." I realised again that real life is very different from reel life (p396) Till now, my conception of love has been based entirely on Hindi films, where the hero and the heroine make eye contact and whoosh, some strange chemistry starts their hearts beating and their vocal chords tingling and the
next you see of them, they are slipping off singing songs in Swiss villages and American shopping malls. Much of the story has elements of Bollywood: 1. Ram envisages his mother as a noble, beautiful woman in a white sari who has no choice but to leave her beloved baby at St Marys church. His recall is fused with a film version as he describes her in relation to the camera 2. Every woman he connects with reminds him of his idealised mother and is a reason why he acts as their protector. 3. There are coincidences: eg Smita hears of his arrest, recognises him and rescues him to pay back her debt of gratitude when he helped her as Gudiya. 4. Prem Kumar is the abuser of both Neelima and Nita. 5. Ram photographs Maman and then has the opportunity to have him killed.
2. Use of a Conceit
A conceit is like a riddle or pun to cleverly allude to an idea Shankars speech is like a conceit in that the consonants seem to mean nothing but following the chapter heading 100,000,000 X GKRZ OPKNU or A Love story, a certain code can be worked out. Shankar is thought to be autistic and unable to communicate after the trauma of being rejected by his mother he discovered her dirty little secret and that is why she threw you out of the house. And that is when you lost the ability to speak like a normal boy. When Ram says he is going to ask her to pay for the rabies antidote, Shankar replies, IK IK IL LGZXIZ AKIP CK PK HU HJHHU decoded as No no No, please dont go to my mummy. Being autistic and speaking like this, he cannot break through and make himself understood. Ironically when he is delirious with the rabies and near death, and when the doctor he would stop speaking completely, he speaks lucidly Why did you throw me out Mummy? I am sorry, I should have knocked. How could I know Uncle was inside with you? I love you Mummy. I draw pictures of you. My blue diary is full of pictures. Your pictures. I love you Mummy. There is a sense of pathos here as he speaks as if regressed to a long-lost time. (1, pathos, poignancy. a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow) We as readers are saddened that these last intelligible words are of love towards Swapna Devi who is actually consigning him to death.
really distressed about the cruelty and suffering he sees. Father Timothy a father. Gudiya becomes a sister; Shankar a brother; every experience that Ram goes through alters this motif. It is evident that his mother plays a significant role in his life through which filter he interprets events. Ram invents a Bollywood type story about his mother having to abandon her love child in tragic circumstances - This is how he envisages his abandonment: a tall and graceful young woman, wearing a white sari, leaves hospital after midnight with a baby in her arms. The wind is howling, her long black hair blows across her face, obscuring her features. Leaves rustle near her feet. Dust scatters. Lightning flashes. She walks with heavy footsteps to the church, clutching the baby to her bosom. She reaches the door then she places him in the bin arranging the old clothes to make him comfortable. She takes one final look at her baby, averts her eyes and then, running away from the camera, disappears into the night. Throughout the novel, the dream morphs and changes as he becomes attached to people As indicated by the class, a pattern emerges Gudiya is described as a sister, Father Timothy as a father, Shankar as a brother so that Ram gathers together the wish fulfilment of a family. It becomes a nightmare at Mamans house. That night I dream of going to a house Jahu Vila Park. I ring the bell and wait. A tall woman opens the door. She is wearing a white sari. A strong wind is howling, making her long black hair fly across her face, obscuring it. I open my mouth to say something, and then discover that she is looking down at me. I look again and discover with a shock that I have no legs. He is deeply affected by the suffering of the children. It affects his subconscious and he feels their pain. Relationship with Gudiya changes the dream. They have connected physically through holding hands through the wall, and emotionally. When she is threatened and her cat is killed his dream alters. Just then another woman arrives. She is also tall and graceful, but her face is swathed in bandages. She plucks the baby from the bin and smothers him. She says s-i-s-t-e-r the baby gurgles back Meeow! a strangled cry from the cat suddenly pierces the night. I wake up and try to figure whether the cry I heard came from the dream or the room next door. The love he feels for her has become threatened by her father's violence as he is now in the role of victim. Also changes because of Shankar. Ram is horrified by his mother's indifference. "That night I dream of going to a house Jahu Vile Park. I ring the bell and wait. A tall woman opens the door. She wears a white sari. A strong wind is howling, making her long black hair fly across her face, obscuring it. The baby looks into her eyes and gurgles sweetly...Mama. The mother opens her mouth to reply to the baby but the only sound that comes out of her lips is 'Q Gkrz Ukj Hu Wxmu" The baby shrieks and tumbles form her lap. I wake up and check whether I still have a tongue." In his darkest hour, being tortured by the police in the prologue, he almost loses consciousness and his last thought is, "I see a tall woman, with flowing black hair. The wind is howling behind her, making her jet-black hair flying across her face, obscuring it. She is wearing a white sari of thin fabric that
flutters and vibrates like a kiteShe opens her arms and cries, my son...my son...what are they doing to you?" In the epilogue, Ram says, "I realised a long time ago that dreams only have power over your mind; but with money you can have power over the minds of others." Perhaps the dreams of his mother reflected the only comfort he could have and when the dream was distorted, we feel his fellow feeling with his victims, his empathy that leads him to help them as he imagines his mother would have helped him?
nameless dacoit or Shantaram or even Neelima Kumari, it felt pointless to make long term plans for the future."
6. Dramatic Irony
Occurs when the readers know more than the characters. We realise the significance of what Ram is confessing that he saw in Father Johns room. He is confessing to seeing things but we know Father John having the pornographic material is the sin. Is he an idiot orphan boy? Ram using the coin to get Salim to escape from Maman we recognise this from the ending
7. Motif: Dehumanisation
This occurs where characters are compared or compare themselves to animals. To dehumanise something is to deprive it of human qualities. It can be demeaning degrading, and people are made to feel inferior. Links in strongly with the theme of poverty. Ram is at the police station: I remain quiet. Monkeys do not speak. Especially not in English. (p15). This links to what Ram had earlier thought on page 12: Ram does not view himself as a person allowed to cross the dividing line that separates the rich from the poor. After all, what business did a penniless waiter have to be participating in a brain quiz? The brain is not an organ we are authorised to use. We are supposed to use only our hands and legs. After Ram has won the money and taken the other waiters out for dinner, Even the grouchy manager smiled indulgently at me and finally gave me my
back wages. He didnt call me a worthless bastard that night. Or a rabid dog. (p13). Poverty induces abuse. After Father Timothy dies, Ram was picked up from the church in a blue van with wire-meshed windows. Like the type they use to round up stray dogs. Except this one was for rounding up stray boys. (p91). When Ram is working for Colonel Taylor, I begin to think of myself as a mongrel peeping through a barred window into an exotic world which does not belong to me. (p131). He is constantly reminded how his poverty makes him different. When Ram describes Dharavi, he says, There are a million people like me, packed in a two-hundred-hectare triangle of swampy wasteland, where we live like animals and die like insects. (p156). Like pet cats and dogs, we are called only by our first names. Nita (299) Ram says he becomes a crazed animal (327) after Shankars death.
8. STYLE = HOW
Be specific when referring to style should be more than just mentioning a technique. Think TEE Technique, Example, Explanation. Describe the tone of the dialogue, refer to how the authors characterisation of Ram allows us to experience what he is feeling, etc Discuss what might be ironic about what a character says. Always link back to authors purpose / intent. Why is he using foreshadowing, why the symbolismwhy the strong imagery with metaphor/simile Aspects of Style / Techniques
Language (Characters language / dialogue) Imagery (also incorporates Swarups use of poetic techniques) Symbolism Chapter headings Irony Sentence Structure Narrative / Point of View Tone / Atmosphere / Mood Foreshadowing Characterisation