Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the central themes of Kiran Desai's novel "The Inheritance of Loss" include globalization, unbridled capitalism and economic disparity. The author points that Desai's exploration of these themes is unyielding, and her conclusions are dispiriting as she uncovers the gruesome truths about the lives of the people that the comfortable classes learn to ignore. The paper underscores that Desai's novel grapples with the issue of racial self-hatred and relates that story of the judge in the book is studded with humiliations, but the crux of the matter is his reaction to the daily degradations. The paper concludes that this novel, with its unyielding gaze on the intricacies of the relationships between occupier and occupied, educated and illiterate, westerner and colonized, and rich and poor, is a damning indictment of a system that has relentlessly crushed a large portion of the world's population.

From the Paper:

"While the judge's response to the humiliations and degradations that are the natural offspring of colonialism is one of racial self-hatred, his granddaughter's tutors, Lola and Noni, are the very embodiment of the laughable attempt to appropriate a foreign culture. The two tutors are far less menacing than the judge, and they contribute to the book's subtle humor. Desai introduces these two characters by making note of their cottage's name--Mon Ami. The very "French-ness" of that ludicrous name is surprising, and one is left to wonder what inspired the two aspiring socialites to use such a name for a cottage in the Himalayas."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. New York: Grove Press, 2006.
• Hamilton, Hamish. "Uncle Potty and other guides to the truth." Guardian Unlimited 3 September 2006. 25 April 2007 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329567352-102280,00.html.
• Harleman, Ann. "Luminous family saga bridges era, cultures." The Boston Globe--boston.com 4 January 2006. 24 April 2007 http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/01/04/.
• Hussein, Aamer. "Maps of the Heart." Independent Online Edition 8 September 2006. 25 April 2007 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060908/ai_n16725069.
• Mishra, Panjak. "Review: The Inheritance of Loss." International Herald Tribune--Print Version 10 February 2006.

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