Page 50 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Indian Writings in Literature

Notes • The novel questions the efficacy of borders. The family of Dutta Choudarys and Prices in
London defy the borders between them and there is a continuous to and fro movement
between the two. They have good relations despite the racial and cultural differences. Ila
gets married to Roby and May falls in love with Tridib.
• Time and again he has tried to drive home the point that the borders that are drawn are more
a source of violence than a mark of an actual separation. After the division of India, a
carousal of violence was let loose.
• The Shadow Lines questions the sanity and efficacy of the borders that divide. These lines
that are drawn on maps and on lands are powerless. These lines may put the people in
different groups but they cannot divide and experience or memory as experienced by
Tha’mma, her 90-year old uncle, Roby or by the narrator but they are certainly capable in one
thing, that is, wreaking havoc, spree of violence, rape, murder and loot. In most of these
cases the commoners neither have a say nor a will for such division. It is a handiwork of a
few hungry of either power or ruled by fanatic dispositions.
• The narrator gives an incident of Jammu and Kashmir when Mu-i-Mubarak believed to have
been the heir of prophet Mohammad himself was lost. In Kashmir the riots did not breaks
out. The situations though was very tense and volatile, did not have any effect on the health
of the people.

• The shadow lines is a continuous struggle of the author to undo the demarcations to prevent
the establishment of the borders. And to reinforce his ideology, he has even gone to the
extent that nationalism is a defunct force. Nationalism has been under attack in the novel,
which is perceived as a hurdle in the unification of mankind.
• Nationalism has been painted black in The shadow lines. It is held responsible though
obliquely for division and separation. Tha’mma has been ridiculed as fossilized specimen of
nationalism. However, to hold nationalism only responsible for such results in my opinion
would be unfair. And to affirm the death of nationalism would be making a profound and
authoritative statement.
• The novel has also thrown some light on the Hindu-Muslim relationship in the past. In the
riots during the division, there were instances of Muslim families in Pakistan giving shelter
to Hindus at the risk of their own life and Hindus in India doing the same. The discrimination
and differences between the two communities are predominantly illusory.

4.3 Key-Words

1. Fanatic : A person filled with excessive and single minded zeal, especially for an extreme
religious or political cause.
2. Efficacy : The ability to produce a desired or intended result.

4.4 Review Questions

1. Briefly describe the novel ‘Shadow Lines’.
2. Write a critical appreciation of the novel ‘Shadow Lines.’

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