Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Inheritance of Loss is the second novel by Kiran Desai that was published in 2006. The novel won the Booker Prize in 2006. In 2007, the American Literary Society National Book Critics Circle also chose the book for the Best Fiction Award. The novel touches on the sensitive theme of Colonialism and its impact on postcolonial India. The novel explores the social and cultural conflicts that emerged due to the effect of Colonialism. The novel also stresses the social, cultural, economic, and psychological impacts on the migrants. It discusses the problems of illegal migrants in the U.S. Another major theme of the novel is the civil unrest in India during the mid-1980s and highlights the ethnic and cultural demands by Gorkhas in Northeast India for independence and a separate state government. The novel also raises the issue of Multiculturalism and Miscommunication.
Characters of Inheritance of Loss:
Biju is a nineteen-year-old boy whose father is a poor cook working in India. Biju leaves India for the US for a better future. He reaches New York City as an undocumented immigrant. Isolated and insecure, Biju struggles to make ends meet and dreams of returning home. Sai is a teen orphaned girl. Her parents died in an accident. She lives with her grandfather who is a retired Judge. Jemubhai Patel is the grandfather of Sai. He belonged to a poor farmer’s family but his father saved enough money for his good education. He went to Cambridge for higher education by using the money he got as a dowry in his marriage. At Cambridge University, he suffered excessive discrimination. He returned to India and cleared the Indian Civil Service examination to become a judge. Bose is one of Jemubhai Patel’s friends from his Cambridge days. He helped Jemubhai learn the English ways and customs. Gyan is a poor college graduate of Nepalese origin. He takes an active part in the Gorkha National Liberation Front activities. Meanwhile, he also begins tutoring physics to Sai who belongs to a rich family of Gujrati origin. Sai develops a romantic attachment with Gyan. While Gyan acknowledges her love, he cruelly betrays Sai, who he believes symbolizes the class of people who oppress him. Lola is an upper-class Bengali widowed woman who lives with her sister Noni. Lola’s daughter, Pixie, works for BBC London and Lola is very proud of her because she idolizes British culture. Lola is prejudiced against poor Nepali people and adheres to a strict interpretation of class division. Noni is a middle-aged unmarried woman living with her elder sister. She used to be the tutor of Sai during her younger age. Like Lola, Noni appreciates British culture. Bomanbhai Patel is Jemu’s father-in-law. He used to be a supplier during the British Raj and made a good fortune. He idolizes British culture and marries his daughter Nimi to Jemu because he is pursuing a Cambridge education. Nimi or Bela is the dauhter of Boman and wife of Jemu. She was married to Jemu when she was fourteen years old girl. She was a simple Indian teen girl. When Jemu returns from Cambridge, she tries to develop an emotional connection with him but finds him brutal. She resists his abuses but when she realizes that he hates her for being Indian, she becomes depressed because despite her trying, she fails to assimilate into British culture. Jemu rapes her, degrades her, and then leaves her at her father’s home. Harish-Harry is the owner of an Indian cafe in the U.S. where Biju works. He is a cruel and greedy employer who exploits the poor illegal immigrants. Father Booty is a Swiss missionary who lives in Kalimpong and runs a dairy farm. He has been illegally living in India for years. The police catch him during the insurgency of the Gorkha National Liberation Front and force him to leave India. Uncle Potty is a brat son of wealthy parents who studied at Oxford. He is the nearest neighbor of Jemu. Pradham is the leader of the Gorkha National Liberation Front.
Summary of The Inheritance of Loss:
The novel is set in 1986. The story begins at retired Judge Jemubhai Patel’s home called Cho Oyu who is sitting with his granddaughter in the verandah. It is a large, English-style Bungalow located outside of Kalimpong.
Armed insurgents of the Gorkha National Liberation Front attacked their home and demanded all the rifles and other valuables that Jemubhai had collected. After the robbery, Jemu sends his cook to the police station. After the initial investigation, the police accuse the poor cook of being an accomplice of the robbers. They search his hut for evidence but find nothing except some letters written by his son Biju who is working in the U.S. The cook suffers humiliation but the police get no evidence of his involvement.
Meanwhile, Biju is working at a restaurant in Manhattan. The owner of the restaurant is asked by the authorities to perform a green card check. Since Biju is an undocumented migrant, he is asked to leave the place and is forced to look for employment somewhere else. He continues getting jobs at various restaurants but nowhere he gets any job security. He continues to suffer from anxiety, ill-treatment, and discrimination.
At Kalimpong, Jemu has a flashback. He was the son of a poor farmer but was good at studies. He got a chance to go to Cambridge University for higher education but he didn’t have enough money. Jemu met Bomanbhai Patel, a businessman and supplier of goods to the British government, and asked for monetary help. Bomanbhai was impressed by Jemu’s future prospects so he suggested the marriage of Jemu with his fourteen-year-old daughter Nimi. Jemu agreed to the marriage and suggested that he would consummate the marriage after returning from England. He got enough dowry to go to England. He faces constant discrimination throughout his schooling in Cambridge and adapts himself to English speech and customs as a result. He decides to return to India and clears the Indian Civil Service examination to become a judge. He returns to India contemptuous of his native land and people. Bomanbhai sends Nimi to live with him but Jemu doesn’t like Nimi because of her Indianness. Nimi is a traditional girl with no idea of English culture. Jemu tries to teach her the English ways but he fails and then he begins to abuse her. Once she had taken the powder puff that he brought from England. As he looked for it, his family ridiculed him for using it. By the time he discovered that Nimi had taken it, he was furious, and he raped her. In the following days, he insisted that she speak English and follow English customs, which she refused to do. He took off her bangles, threw away her hair oil, and pushed her face into the Western-style toilet when he discovered her squatting on it. He then left her at their home while he went away on tour. After many years, he learned that Nimi had given birth to his son, and later on, she was probably murdered by her brother-in-law.
Bomanbhai took care of his son who went to Moscow for a job and got married there. Sai's parents were killed in a tragic bus accident in Moscow. As a result, Sai was withdrawn from a convent school and taken to live with her grandfather, Judge Patel. Judge isn’t too happy with the responsibility of Sai but he feels that God has given him a chance to correct the wrongs he did to Nimi. Sai finds a surrogate father in the cook who is very sympathetic towards her.
In the U.S. Biju begins working at the Queen of Tarts bakery where he meets a Pakistani young man Saeed. Saeed is cordial towards him and teaches him somehow to remain safe as an undocumented illegal immigrant in the U.S. Biju begins to question his prejudice against people from Pakistan and other ethnicities as they had never done anything harmful to him or to India, unlike white people. Saeed marries an American woman to get a green card and then he divorces her cordially.
Biju sends letters to his father in which he lies about his success in America. The cook sends letters to Biju, requesting him to help other young poor Nepalese to get a place in America which overwhelms Biju. Judge Jemu sends Sai to Nooni’s house for tuition. Nooni treats Sai very well and teaches her about Western culture. As Sai continues to grow, Nooni feels that she cannot teach her anymore. For her physics tutoring at age 16, the judge hires a young Nepali man named Gyan, with whom Sai becomes romantically involved.
The situation in Kalimpong continues to deteriorate due to the uprising of the Gorkha National Liberation Front. Police randomly torture civilians, GNLF members illegally take up residence on Noni and Lola's property, and shortages bring the entire community to the brink of starvation. Gyan and Sai's relationship turns sour as Gyan joins the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). To Gyan, Sai represents the oppressive social and political systems that prevent him from advancing in life. Having tutored Sai in Cho Oyu, Gyan has intimate knowledge of the mansion. He informs the GNLF of the judge's cache of weapons.
After the robbery, Gyan feels guilty but doesn’t wish to reveal his involvement in the robbery. Thus, he begins to ignore Sai. One day, Sai decides to follow him and learns that he is living in very poor conditions. When Gyan sees her, they fight bitterly. Gyan slaps her in his anger and says that he supports GNLF and he hates Sai because she belongs to the upper class. Sai retorts that he used to enjoy cheesecakes with her at her house. Gyan’s sister listens to all this and she informs Gyan’s grandmother about his involvement with GNLF. Gyan’s mother is totally against any such insurgency. Being the matriarch of the family, he asks Gyan to immediately break all ties with Pradham, the leader of GNLF, and not to attend the upcoming Indo-Nepali Treaty burning, effectively ending his involvement with the GNLF. Relieved to no longer be politically aligned, Gyan considers making up with Sai.
Meanwhile, Pradham announces that he will require one man from every family in Kalimpong. The cook doesn’t wish to join GNLF so he tries to run away. On the day of protest against the Indo-Nepal treaty, the parade turns bloody, several police officers are beheaded, and many civilians are injured. The cook barely escapes; traumatized, he returns to Cho Oyu.
At the judge’s house, a poor woman arrives, requesting the release of her husband who was wrongfully jailed for robbing his house. The woman continues to beg the judge for mercy but he blatantly refuses. Saddened and desperate, the poor woman steals Judge Patel's beloved dog, Mutt, and sells her. Upon discovering the loss of his treasured pet, the judge frantically searches the village and then brutally beats the cook, blaming him for the dog's disappearance.
Meanwhile, Biju begins working at the Gandhi Cafe owned by Harish-Harry who is a mean man. Harish-Harry invites the staff to live in the basement below the kitchen, but then pays them a quarter of minimum wage. While working there and living in strenuous conditions, Biju falls ill. He asks for advance payment for his treatment but Harish declines to help him and says that if he cannot work he must return to India. Biju is too tired and brutalized by the continuous discrimination he faces in the U.S. and decides to come back to India. He brings all his savings and expensive American goods. In India, he finds that the roads to Kalimpong have been blocked because of curfew. Unable to find any way to go back to his home, he bribes GNLF members to drive him to the village. After days of driving, the insurgents rob Biju, taking even his clothes and shoes. His leg gets injured when he tries to oppose the GNLF members who leave him on the road. On his still injured leg, Biju walks to Cho Oyu wearing nothing but a woman's nightdress. The cook and Biju reunite, both overjoyed.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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