Page 10 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes and the whole idea of Nation, Nationalism and Nationhood gets discussed. There is Tridib, the
eccentric Historian cousin through whom the idea of history being problematic gets highlighted.
Then there is the third generation Ila, the narrator’s second cousin through whom the author
brings to fore the issues of diaspora and racism. The role of the narrator is also central to the
extent that it is he who articulates the ideas held by these characters and also integrates these
subjective viewpoints and experiences to highlight that both public discourses like history and
personal discourse like anecdotes are incomplete till they are integrated. The role of the narrator
is also crucial to the structure of the novel, which is one of story within story told in a non-linear
way. The novel has also been analysed by the critic Suvir Kaul in the essay “Separation Anxiety:
Growing Up Inter/National in The Shadow Lines” as embodying elements from the bildungsroman
(coming of age) tradition of the novel. M.H.Abrams describes the term bildungsroman as a ‘novel of
formation’… ‘the subject of these novels is the development of the protagonist’s mind and character,
as he passes from childhood through varied experiences –and usually through a spiritual crisis –
into maturity and recognition of his identity and role in the world.’

The Shadow Lines witnesses the growth of the narrator from an impressionable 8
year old in the Gole Park flat in Calcutta to an assured adult through the book.

However, the growth of the narrator is not physical alone but seen in relation with the growth of
ideas on ‘… nationalism, nation states and international relations…the narrator’s itinerary into
adulthood …is necessarily framed by these larger public questions…it becomes not merely a male
bildungsroman, an authorized autobiography, with its obvious agendas and priorities, but also a
dialogic, more open-ended telling of the difficult interdependencies and inequalities that compose
any biography of a nation.’ The novel begins with the eight-year-old narrator talking of his
experiences as a schoolboy living in the Gole-Park neighbourhood in Calcutta. He introduces the
reader to the two branches of his family tree- the families of his Grandmother Tha’mma and that
of the Grandmother’s sister, Mayadebi. According to the acclaimed critic Meenakshi Mukherjee
this rendition in the novel amongst other details helps the reader feel the ‘concreteness of the
existential and emotional milieu…the precise class location of his family, Bengali bhadralok, starting
at the lower edge of the spectrum and ascending to its higher reaches in one generation, with
family connections above and below its own station…’ The grandmother is a schoolteacher and
the father is a middle rung manager in a tyre company. The family of Mayadebi is more affluent,
her husband being a high-ranking official in the foreign services, with one son, Jatin being an
economist with the UN and the younger one Robi being a Civil Servant. Only Tridib of her sons
is not successful in the material sense, however of his ability the reader is left in no doubt as even
though eccentric, he is the one who is the repository of all the esoteric knowledge. He can talk on
length about issues as diverse as the sloping roofs of Columbian houses and the culture of the
Incas with equal ease. He is also the one who transfers to the young narrator a profound love for
knowledge. The sisters Tha’mma and Mayadebi are thick with each other, however the former is
perennially on her guard on the issue of accepting help from the latter. In this regard it is important
to talk about her past experiences. As a young woman living in Dhaka (prior to Bengal Partition)
she is married off to an Engineer posted in Burma. However she loses her husband very early and
is left with the prospect of raising her only son single handedly. What follows is her struggle to
make ends meet and her subsequent career as a schoolteacher in Bengal. She raises her only child
independently and lives a spartan life where wasted time stinks. Her self worth goads her to abstain
from becoming dependent on her affluent relations. In the midst of the narrative she retires from
school and her life really comes a full circle. One of the important facets of Tha’mma’s worldview
that we have to consider is her perception of historical events and her notions of Nationhood and
Nationalism. As a young woman she finds herself in the greatly charged milieu of 19th century
Bengal when the Extremist strand of Nationalism was in its full glory. As a college going young
woman she upholds these young extremists as her true heroes and secretly desires to be a part of
such extremist organizations as Anushilan and Jugantar. She idealises these young men who indulge

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