A Study Guide for Anita Desai's "A Devoted Son"

A Devoted Son

Anita Desai

1978

Introduction

Anita Desai's A Devoted Son, first published in her collection Games at Twilight and Other Stories (1978), is one of her better known short stories. Like much of Desai's fiction, A Devoted Son is set in her native India and focuses on domestic and familial concerns. Emphasizing character and language over plot, Desai explores how the relationship between a father and a son changes over time.

In A Devoted Son, an illiterate worker named Varma makes sacrifices so that his son Rakesh can receive an education. Even as Rakesh succeeds, becomes a doctor, and travels to the United States to further his education, he still treats both of his parents with the greatest respect and honor. Rakesh eventually returns home, marries a woman selected by his mother, grows wealthy, and eventually opens his own clinic. He remains an ideal son.

After he retires, Varma's life takes a turn for the worse. His wife dies, and illnesses, both real and imagined, limit his life.While Rakesh remains the dutiful son, Varma comes to resent him for imposing strict dietary restrictions and giving him medicines and supplements that keep him alive when he longs to be dead. Rakesh dismisses his father's pleas, compelling Varma to assert his will in dramatic fashion near the story's end.

Through A Devoted Son, Desai not only looks at the complex nature of family relations but also the difficulties in communication between people, the human condition, and the tension between life and death. Respect is also a key element of the text. Critics and scholars have responded positively to A Devoted Son, praising the story for its complexity and subtle undertones. While Desai is primarily known for her novels, stories like A Devoted Son, show her often underrated ability to create compelling short fiction as well.

Author Biography

Desai was born Anita Mazumdar on June 24, 1937, in Mussoorie, India. She is the daughter of D. N. Mazumdar, a Bengali, and his German wife, Antoinette Nimé. Desai's parents met in Germany, and her mother emigrated to India to be with her husband. Raised in Old Delhi, Desai experienced her country as both an insider and an