CHAPTER- IV

MULTICULTURALISM IN BYE BYE BLACKBIRD

Anita Desai is a leading Indian woman novelist in English. She is seriously

concerned with the emotions, thoughts and cultural identities of her characters.

Her novel Bye Bye Blackbird deals with Indian immigrants' problems in the

alien land of England. Before 1960, England had adopted multiculturalism as a

policy to attract 'outsiders' or 'others' because England was in need of

unskilled and uneducated workers for her material growth and economic

prosperity. However, England has also accepted muhiculturalism as a political

weapon for ruling people of different cultures and backgrounds. In the post-

war period, people from all around the world with different cultures,

backgrounds, religions, mentalities, histories and aspirations have flocked to

England, a land of economic prosperity and opportunity. Thousands of Indians

and other migrants from various countries arrived in England in search of blue-

collar jobs in the growing industries. As K.N Malik (1997:91) rightly says:

"The immigrants were inspired to migrate by Britan's post-war shortage of

labour, its expanding economy and the portrayal of Britain as a land of 'great

opportunity" by those who had come to the UK through army and navy

connections."

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The ethnic groups of various countries began to subdivide themselves

according to their Hnguistic, cultural and religious identities. As a result,

England turned out to be a large multicultural society. Interestingly, the diverse

cultural groups retained/preserved their cultural and religious identities. They

were very much conscious of their cultural, religious and ethnic identities in

England. They asserted their identities by building gurudwaras, mosques and

temples. These spiritual centers manifested their religious freedom and

autonomy.

The migration of various non-white groups to England after 1960 had a

number of important consequences. England started facing some serious

problems due to the large inflow of the migrants. The natives believed that the

immigrants as outsiders would invade their culture. So England, being a host

country, changed its earlier policy of multiculturalism. As a result, the large

numbers of colored (Asian) immigrants were paid less and were often

discriminated against on the basis of color, caste, origin and religion. Such

racial discrimination led to constant friction. Further, England started its policy

of not accommodating and respecting 'other' alien cultures in its mainstream

British culture.

In Anita Desai's novel, Bye Bye Blackbird, we see a continuous shift between

the Oriental and Occidental culture. In the eyes of the Orientals, Occidental

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culture is more rational and superior which is characterized by logical thinking,

tolerance, progress, modernism, independence and peace. However,

Occidentals believe that Orientals are primitive, black, savage, violent, fanatic,

underdeveloped, traditional and conservative. This has created a permanent

rival relation of superiority-inferiority complex between the Occidentals and

Orientals. With the help of their mass media. Occidentals have disarmed and

neutralized the Orientals and labeled them as 'others' or 'outsiders'. In power

relations, Occidentals have placed Orientals at the periphery and maintained

their centrality at a global level. Thus, Orientals become the victims of western

ideologies and philosophies, which conceive Europe as a symbol of supremacy

of power and civilization. In the post-colonial period, too, the clash between

the Oriental and Occidental culture continues. In fact there is a continuous

domination of the Occidental culture over the Oriental in the name of

acculturation. This is a blatant violation of the international assumption that

each cuhure is autonomous and free to retain its colors and flavors. The

dominance of one culture over the other leads to social disharmony, unrest and

friction. Edward Said in his seminal book. Orientalism expresses his view on

the distinction between the Oriental sense of inferiority and Occidental

superiority. Edward said (1991:42) believes that: " Orientalism is better

grasped as a set of constraints upon and limitations of thought than it is simply

as a positive doctrine. If the essence of Orientalism is the ineradicable

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distinction between Western superiority and Oriental inferiority, then we must

be prepared to note how in its development and subsequent history Orientalism

deepened and even hardened the distinction."

Anita Desai has successfully depicted Asian immigrants' problems, especially

those of Indian immigrants in England. The immigrants from Asian countries

were known as 'blackbirds' in the land of white people. In the novel, she

presents blackbirds as marginalized, dislocated, rejected and unwanted

foreigners staying in a country that has not adopted and accepted them

honestly. The feelings of alienation, emptiness and barrenness disturb their

lives. The novel opens with the arrival of Dev, Adit's friend, in England. Adit

is an Indian immigrant, married to Sarah, a British girl. Their inter-racial

marriage invites clash between two cultures-Oriental and Occidental. She is

sandwiched and squeezed between two different cultural forces. By creating

the character of Dev, Anita Desai has shown Indians' disregard for and

disrespect to British culture. Initially, he is disturbed and distressed by the

prejudiced manners and the racial discrimination of the British people towards

Indian immigrants. But gradual changes may be noticed in the attitudes of both

Dev and Adit during the course of the novel. By marrying a black Asian, Sarah

has broken the social conventions and codes of British culture, which is

supposedly superior to and more refined than other cultures.

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Throughout Desai's novel, we see the continuous ebb and flow of ideas in the

minds of different characters. But the present study analyses the novel from

sociological perspectives in order to see how multiculturalism is either

reflected or deflected in the novel. The in-depth analysis of the novel reveals

diverse themes: Adit's fascination and disregard for Occidental culture, Dev's

contempt for Occidental culture, racial discrimination, prejudice, cultural

intolerance, narrow-mindedness, problems of inter-racial/inter-cultural

marriage, identity crisis, social ostracization/ marginalisation, cultural

rootlessness, socio-cultural conflicts, acceptance/ rejection/ adjustment and

oscillation between Oriental/Eastern and Occidental/ Western culture. Often

we do not find a continuous flow of narration in the novel because of such

psychological changes within the characters.

Adit, the protagonist of Bye Bye Blackbird, leads a settled life as an immigrant

in London with his English wife Sarah, a leading female character of the novel.

Adit is first of all fascinated by the Occidental culture and then disillusioned by

it. Initially he regards England as a "land of opportunity" (19) and material

prosperity. Thus, we see Adit being very critical of everything Indian. He says:

"Nothing ever goes right at home - there is famine or flood, there is drought or

epidemic, always"(129). His fascination for Occidental culture reveals his

colonial hangover of valuing and respecting British culture as one that is more

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rational and advanced than the Oriental culture. J.P Tripathi (1986:44) has

rightly explained Adit's love for Occidental culture:

Love of England and the Occident is exemplified through love of

English society and its order and employment opportunity and
economic and social and political freedom, love of English
literature, English History, English Architecture and monuments,
museums. Towers of victory and churches, English and Western
Art and Painting and Picture Galleries of the past and the present,
love of English country side and nature, topography and rivers
and valleys and the vegetations.

However, his fascination for the Occidental culture remains fresh only till the

middle of the novel. His debate with his friend, Dev, exhibits his initial

fascination for British culture. As an Asian immigrant, he sharply criticizes

Indian ways of life but appreciates British culture:

I love it here. I'm so happy here; I hardly notice the few

drawbacks. I'll tell you-I did go back, three years ago, when I got
engaged to Sarah and my parents wanted me to come with her. I
stayed there looking for a job for four months. All I could find
was a ruddy clerking job in some Government of India tourist
bureau...I'm happy here...I like the Coijlvent Garden opera
house.. .1 feel like millionaire. I like the girls here... I used to like
dancing with them...I like thatched cottages and British history
and reading the letters in The Times. I like the pubs. I like the
freedom a man has here: Economic freedom! Social freedom! I
like reading the posters in the tube...I like weekend at the
seaside. I even like the BBC! He ended with a shout of triumph.
(17-18)

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According to him, while the Occident promotes autonomy and liberty, the

Orient is an embodiment of restrictions and limits. What one notices in him is a

kind of fascination for a seemingly superior culture which is indicative of his

colonial hangover. If his own country symbolizes a passive and sluggish life,

the British society is vibrant in all its aspects: " . . . here there is no death at all.

Everything - animal, vegetable, mineral - is alive, rich and green forever"

(129). To Adit, things are really bright in England, "Here the rain falls so softly

and evenly, never too much and never too short. The sun is mild. The earth is

fertile. The rivers are full. The birds are plump. The beasts are fat. Everything

so wealthy, so luxuriant - so fortunate"(129). It shows Adit's obsession for

Occidental culture that separates him from his 'home' culture. Adit has molded

and transformed himself entirely up to the expectations of England.

The other reasons for Adit's admiration for England are social, political and

beauraucratic. Thus, he points out that there is no corruption or bribe in

England. He feels "the magic of England - her grace, her peace, her abundance

and the embroidery of her history and traditions" (157). Further, the clerks of

England, unlike their Indian counterparts, are not lazy and he does not have to

be bothered by unpunctuality of trains and buses.

What England offers to him is a carefree life that suits a sybarite. What India

offers him is a life of inconveniences and a difficuh style of existence. But he

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enjoys the life of a bourgeois in England, which offers him pubs, women to eye

and a lot of wine. England for him is a symbol of refinement and

sophistication, while India is a home of crudities and dirt. The more he

compares his own culture with that of England, the more Anglophile he

becomes.

Adit's fascination for British culture is not so objectionable, but the way he

looks at his 'home' culture is not acceptable in the light of the theory of

multiculturalism because multiculturalism acknowledges cultural equality,

recognition of differences and disapproves the dominance of one culture over

the other.

As a person who loves and admires England, "her history and her poetry as

much as any Englishman"(164), Adit is too critical of his own fellow

countrymen in England. His rude comments on Dev's behavior and his Indian

thinking illustrate this fact: "If anyone suggested going to the coffee house, it

was you who pointed out that no one had money. If anyone thought of going

for a moonlight drive, you pointed out that there was no moon and none of us

had a car. You think black by habit" (19). What is obnoxious in Adit's

behavior is his inability to acknowledge the fact that he himself is a product of

Indian culture and that any imitation of English ways cannot make him a native

of that country. It may also be argued that his Anglophilia is a consequence of

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his admiration for his own wife Sarah: "I see gold - everywhere - gold like

Sarah's golden hair" (19).

While admiring the history and poetry of the west, Adit seems to forget, rather

willingly, the fact that the British have used them to play up their hegemony

and maintain their central position at a global level. They have been able to

project the idea that what is Occidental is good and desirable and when the idea

catches up with the subservient attitude of people like Adit; the task of the

white men - to colonize the mind of the Third World - becomes easier. If Adit

has greater admiration for the history and poetry of England than those of his

own, then it implies the hegemonic success of the West over its blind cultural

fans.

What is striking about Adit's initial Anglophilia is his utter disregard for what

is native, what is his own. Over the years the white men have done everything

possible to belittle all that is non-European. What one notices in this kind of

intellectual superciliousness is their reluctance to acknowledge the value of

multiculturalism, the significance of minorities' identities. Indians like Adit, at

least for a while, fall a prey to the glitter of the white ideology of art,

philosophy and life. The fact that he gets out of his obsession with everything

white itself is a testimony to the hoUowness of the white ideology. It also

points up the fact that cultures can educate you when you attempt to study

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them more from close quarters and experience them by living in them. This is

illustrated in the attitudinal transformation that takes place in Adit's mind.

Dev, Adit's friend, comes to England for studying at the London School of

Economics. Initially he is averse and reluctant to the idea of staying on in

England as an immigrant. But gradually a slow change occurs in the attitude of

Dev. His initial encounter with British people and their culture brings

unhappiness and discontent. The cultural differences expand when Dev moves

about in search of a job. He undergoes various experiences and cultural shocks.

The difference between expectation and reality upsets him and makes him self-

conscious and insecure. As he says, "I wouldn't live in a country where I was

msulted and unwanted" (17). He wishes to go back to India as an "England-

returned teacher" (17). He comes all the way to London for a proper education.

But in London, he feels to be an unnamed stranger facing various socio-

cultural problems. In his desperate mood, he calls Adit, his friend "a spineless

imperialist-lover"(19). He openly calls London "a jungly city"(10), where

people live in their own cocoons without any social concern. Every encounter

in London prompts Dev to compare the differences between Eastern and

Western cultures (Oriental-Occidental). He observes the neighbors' silence, "-

their radios, their quarrels, their children are all kept behind closed doors" (56).

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This kind of cultural difference shocks him. Therefore, he feels isolated in an

alien land:

If this were India.. J would by now know all my neighbors- even

if I had never spoken to them. I'd know their taste in music by
the sound of their radios. I'd know the age of their child by the
sound of its howling. I'd know if the older children were
studying for exams by the sound of lessons being recited. (56)

It is true that there are hundreds of Third World immigrants in London who

willfully forget the value of their own local cultures in the glitter of the western

city. But Dev has been able to perceive the loneliness that lurks beneath the

sheen of the city. Every individual in the urban center is alienated from his

neighbour. What one notices is a breakdown of any soul-to-soul

communication. If an Englishman cannot have real communication with

another Englishman, then how can he establish any meaningful relationship

with an immigrant who is a black or brownie? The white man's lack of concern

for others is symbolized in the 'closed door' referred to in Desai's novel. Dev's

confrontation with western indifference, unlike in the case of Adit, is the

sudden realization that his own culture is accommodative; it is concerned about

others' problems and personal sorrows. Individuals' sorrows in India can be

the neighbours' too. And what Dev desires is a transplantation of his own

cultural values to England (West). He wishes for the establishment of Indian

religious centers and the transference of Indian religious gurus to England.

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Indeed there is no dearth of moral and religious ideas, such as iove thy

neoghbour as thyself, in England but in the race for attaining material success,

the white man has forgotten the value of such ideas. But what Dev notices is

the practice of similar ideas in his own country. Material prosperity and

superiority complex have taken away the emotions of love and concern for the

otheif thereby downplaying the relevance of multiculturalism. What Dev

witnesses in England is social disharmony and stratification of cultures. The

eagerness to be secluded and unconcerned is visible everywhere and,

consequently, what one notices even in a busy city like London is emptiness.

And Dev notices this:

Another thing to which Dev cannot grow accustomed, in all his

walks and bus rides through the city is silence and emptiness of
it- the houses and blocks of flats, streets and squares and
crescents- all, to his eyes and ears, dead, unalive, revealing so
little of the lives that go on, surely must go on, inside them. The
English habit of keeping all doors and windows tightly shut ... of
guarding their privacy.... It never fails to make Dev uneasy to
walk down a street hr knows to be heavily populated and yet find
it utterly silent, deserted- a cold wasteland of brick and tile. (63)

Dev's Anglophobia, thus, is a result of his intense observation of English life.

The seclusion of the white man is often considered as his introspective nature.

But if such introspection does not lead to the self-discovery that every human

being has individuality, then it is a meaningless self-analysis. What one needs

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 to discover is the connection of one's, self with the other. Then

multiculturalism, in spite of the diverse elements in it, can be a reality.

Appreciation of a different individual is the appreciation of a different culture.

And what is lacking in a multicultural society like England is this

accommodation of a different culture or the openness of a liberal mind.

Consequently, as Dev notices, the city can offer only a sense of emptiness to

the inhabitants. What he is aware is the close ties that exist in his own country,

which is much more multilingual and multicultural than any European country,

between people even in a sparsely populated locality. And that is a noteworthy

difference between the Occident and the Orient.

This difference is acknowledged even by the British as a response of Sarah,

Adit's wife, reveals. When Dev questions the unashamed behaviour of the

lovers in Hyde Park, while they make a show of their love ignoring the

passers-by, Sarah replies: "English people aren't as self-conscious as they are

supposed to be" (65). They are not self-conscious because they are cocooned in

their own places of dwelling. The Dev-Sarah discussion on the lovers'

behaviour reveals further the vast cultural differences that exist between the

East and the West.

Here the comparison between Oriental and Occidental cultures is not so

/

important, but cultural differences should be recognized positively if they do

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not cause harm to social peace and harmony. After all, each culture has

something new and valuable to share with others, but sharing cultural

differences should not necessarily lead to social crumbling and disintegration.

As a social theory, multiculturalism centers around the basic idea that every

culture presents only a limited range of worldviews. The assistance of other

cultures is required not only to understand the world better, but also to enrich

its own culture and expand the horizon of general understanding. Therefore, no

culture is wholly worthless; each carries some value for its members. This also

suggests that no culture is perfect. So multiculturalism prioritizes cultural

pluralism and sensitizes the dangers of cultural majoritarianism or dominance.

However, Dev also does not seem to acknowledge fiilly the value of

multiculturalism. He assigns himself the role of a cultural ambassador to India:

I am here, he intoned, as an ambassador. I am showing these

damn imperialists with their lost colonies complex that we are
free people now, with our own personalities that this veneer of an
English education has not obscured, and not afraid to match ours
with theirs'. I am here, ... to interpret my country to them, to
conquer England as they once conquered India, to show them, to
show them-. (123)

But he is performing his role as ambassador with vengeance in mind. The

expression 'these damn imperialists' bears this out. He is proud of the harmony

and peace that exist in his country even though it is highly multicultural in its

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composition. There is an element of arrogance in his outburst and it causes him

to downplay the sharp divisions that have existed in his country along the lines

of caste and religion. What he desires now is a cultural invasion of England.

His scorn for the Englishman's 'white' superiority consciousness is

understandable. His assertion that English language and literature were white

man's weapon for colonizing the Indian mind is also justifiable. But his desire

to colonize the cultural thinking of the west is essentially wrong, for

multiculturalism does not rest on the principle of an eye for an eye and tooth

for a tooth. What is acceptable is Dev's critique of the continuing impact of

British hegemonic attitude. But his imaginary moral and cultural attack on the

British is suggestive of his own colonial aspirations. In this sense his

Anglophobia is unjustifiable. What is perhaps admirable in his anti-British

stance is his decision to not to be A "Macaulay's Bastard" (122).

In another early outburst, Dev hopes to reverse the whole history of the British

colonization of India. He imagines the Sikhs and the Sindhis going to England

as traders and gradually consolidating their power there. He imagines the large-

scale migration of Indians and the spreading of Indian ways, customs and

manners there. He visualizes the establishment of temples and gurudwaras as

also the exchange of Indian yogis and gurus in place of priests and patrons. He

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also imagines the replacement of Greek and Latin with Sanskrit and Punjabi

swear words. In short, he wants 'history [to] turn the tables now' on England.

However, once again we notice the impracticality of Dev's colonial

imaginings. It is very difficult for anyone to take history backwards again.

History has its own course and even if it repeats, it repeats itself Dev's notion

of the Indian colonization of the West is slightly quixotic. While being in an

alien land he had all the opportunities to be a native imitator of the west. But

he has maintained his essential identity as an Indian. Yet, what is objectionable

in his Indianness is his belief that everything Indian is good and everything

British is bad. His hope to be a cultural ambassador in England does not seem

to be impressive. The British ha^ had the opportunity to confront a great

cultural ambassador like Gandhi. Over the years many such ambassadors from

various countries have tried to educate nations, including Britain, in the

positive dimensions of multiculturalism. Further, even in India there has' been

frequent instances of violations of multicultural values. The subjugation of the

dalits by the so-called upper class is a case in point.

However, if Dev is Desai's mouthpiece, then Dev's outbursts may be viewed

as her legitimate postcolonial stance as a writer. Then Dev's utterances should

be taken as examples of exaggeration meant to express her anti-colonial stance.

They serve the purpose of bringing out the pain of subjugation and hegemony

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 A
experienced by the colonized. She seems to point up the fact that all forms of

colonization are a violation of the essential democratic principles of

multiculturalism.

India was a British colony for nearly three centuries. During this long period,

England could consolidate its political power and exploit the resources

available here. Although Indians outnumbered the British rulers, political and

military power enabled Britain to keep Indians as their subjects and wield her

power freely. However, the position of the Indian immigrants has been

different. They have always been controlled by the laws of the country. As the

number of immigrants began to increase, the laws became stricter. It was the

Englishman's necessity to keep the immigrants as a minority and thus

overcome the fear of the latter outnumbering the local people. The white man's

rigid immigration laws only curtailed the freedom of the Indian. As Viney

Kirpal (1989:247) says: " Englishmen's feeling of insecurity made them accuse

the immigrants of having lowered their standard of living, of having deprived

them of employment, of having fouled up their beautiful countryside, of having

brought crime and disease to their land...and so on and so forth." The laws of

the British government have often been discriminatory. They often manifest in

society in various forms of discrimination based on race, color, origin and

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culture. A recent example of such racial bias is Shilpa Shetty's experience in

England at the Big Brother reality show.

The suppressed racial antagonism against the Asian immigrants is a result of

the white man's long-established belief that he is superior to the non-white

people. Edward Said's attitude to the Orient, as he argues, is shaped by his own

people's history of the East. As such, Indians, along with other Asians, face

inequality on the basis of colour and race. In such a society multiculturalism

does not seem to have a healthy future. There the immigrants feel frustrated,

alienated and marginalized.

These feelings find clear expression in Dev's antagonism towards everything

British. To quote K. Jha (2004:161-62): " Bye Bye Blackbird is full of

situations in which we find characters struggling to survive the racial

onslaught. Racial prejudice often gets expression through the accusation

against the coloured immigrants for spreading dirt and filth." However, Adit's

mother-in-law, a racist to the core, cannot accept her own Indian son-in-law

and his Indian friends. When they enter her kitchen: "It was evident she was

thinking that all she had heard about the filthy ways of the Asian immigrants

was correct" (133). She "charged in, her face as flushed and her eyes as big as

though she expected to find murder being committed in her kitchen"(157).

What is evident in such remarks and instances in the novel is the age-old belief

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of the Occidentals that the culture of the Orient is primitive, filthy, inferior and

dirty. The history of the Orient, as narrated by the historians of the West, is

meant to consolidate European centrality and to depict the Third World as the

'Other.'

The peculiar kind of racism that prevails in England has a historical

background. The colonial dominion of the British in India has given them a

sense of superiority which comes in handy in the present when the erstwhile

subjects are immigrants in their country. Desai's novel comments on this

secure position of the Englishman. As P.K Pandeya (2001:20) puts it: "The

novel touches on racial problems and feeling in England. This feeling becomes

sharper when it comes to a colonizer nation like England who has ruled over us

for a long time. It is not simply white man's burden but also the feeling of

superiority by virtue of their being ruler over us."

Thus, Desai seems to imply that England cannot be a melting pot of cultures. It

is a fertile ground for discrimination and marginalization of the Eastern people.

The inherent craze of the ruling class once again manifests itself in the petty

discriminatory feelings of Mrs. Simpson and Roscommon-James, Adit's

mother-in-law.

Discrimination based on colour and race is treated with illustrations in Bye Bye

Blackbird The shocking fact is that even the white children grow up with a

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warped knowledge of colour and race differences. Thus, while on a sightseeing

trip to London, Dev is called a 'wog' by a schoolboy. Dev's reaction to the

insult is sharp, but the point is the boy's awareness that anyone other than a

white-skinned person can be insulted publicly. A little later we find Dev

pointing out to Adit that "the London docks have three kinds of lavatories-

Ladies, Gents and Asiatics" (17). Even nationality of an individual, thus,

becomes a criterion for discrimination. In some cases differences in race and

colour can endanger the Asian immigrants' life. For instance. Mala, an

immigrant woman, explains how her son reacts when he is chased by a gang of

English children. He shouts at them in despair: "I'm not black! I'm not black-

I'm grey!" (26). As Usha Bande (1991:191) argues: " In Bye Bye Blackbird

Anita Desai tackles issues pertaining to racial and cultural prejudices,

adjustment and acceptance, and the subjective and objective views of a

historical situation hard to shake off"

What the immigrant feels in England is the pressure of the dominant white

culture on him. The natives of England have succeeded in marginalizing the

immigrants and in intimidating them with their status of a minority. There is no

culture in England for the immigrants to identify with. Their desperate attempts

to get back to their roots and Indian identity (as in the case of Dev, for e.g.)

suggest their cultural rootlessness in Europe.

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There are occasions when the immigrants' economic worth is judged by their

origin and appearance. The fact is that the immigrant's white counterpart may

be less rich and lower in employment status. Yet the latter's air of superiority

is evident, it is often repulsive. The behaviour of the pedlar of Russian icons to

Dev is a case in point. Dev's attempt to know the price of an icon is

contemptuously ignored by the pedlar. Note this exchange between them on

the price:

'How much?'

'Oh', says the young man, smiling with an infuriating kindness, 'it is
expensive.'

'Yes. How much?' repeats Dev, more heatedly, on fire to possess

an object which he has so far viewed with a detached and
objective ardour.

'Very much', the man bites on the words as though they were thin
threads, snap-snap, still smiling like a jocular alligator. 'Oh, very
much. I wouldn't even name the price to you.' (71)

Dev is almost treated like an untouchable who is culturally backward and

socially mean. However, what is bright about Dev's character is his ability to

critique the hollowness of the white culture. The fact that he has married Sarah,

a white woman, indicates that his anger is not aimed at the white human beings

but at their superiority complex. What he expects of them is a certain degree of

mutual concern and respect for the 'Other.' His irate outbursts are, in a sense.

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his challenges to the European cultural hegemony and an assertion of his faith

in the inherent values of Indian culture, and, by extension, the relevance of

other small cultures. What he seems to imply is that while asserting one's own

culture, one can also maintain friendly relations with other cultures and

minority groups. Multiculturalism promotes healthy dialogues between

cultures, but what Dev is confronted with is prejudice, inequality, distrust,

injustice and oppression.

The British in Desai's novels are so colour-conscious that even jobs are

reserved for the fair-skinned Europeans. What is all the more shocking is how

people are categorized according to their religion. Thus at an interview for a

job, the interviewer informs Dev that the latter cannot be offered the job

because he is not a Christian. And the interviewer openly speaks of the

religious reservation of the job:

Not a Catholic? Not even Christian?...! am sorry. Dear me, I

ought to have mentioned it at once ... we simply must have a
Catholic, or at least a High Church man. It's public relations ...
I'm afraid it wouldn't do to have a Hindu gentleman in this job.
(108)

It now becomes evident that the white (European) hegemony is directed not

only by cultural, social, racial and economic considerations but also by

religious factors. The white woman Roscommon-James has no qualms about

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openly admitting religious priorities in giving jobs to people of other cultures

and religions. Thus she informs Dev that it is not easy for Indians to get a job

in London, for "there are many people with right complexion, of course, but

not for Indians" (149). What is overlooked by the European employers is the

qualification of the candidate. They begin with the assumption that Indians are

of a lesser intelligence and competence and that they carmot be offered all jobs.

Once again, discrimination in professional opportunities is a characterizing

feature of British/European hegemony. The very hegemonic nature of the West

is a direct violation of all principles of multiculturalism. It fails to acknowledge

the necessity of cultural diversity and promotes favoritism. The existence of

different religious groups can be a feature of a multicultural society, but when

people are discriminated against on the basis of their religions and national

status, multicultural principles get violated very badly.

What is perhaps shocking is the attitude of the Europeans to racial

discrimination and the casual way in which they take it as a normal event in

their societies. When Adit's friend, for example, asks Mrs. Roscommon-James

about a riot that takes place in a factory, she replies, rather unconcernedly:

"Heavens, one of those racial things" (136). Desai reminds us of the treatment

that Asian immigrants have been receiving from the imperialists. To the

imperialists the immigrants have been outsiders and the latter often protest

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which lead to riots and acts of xenophobia. The immigrants are a threat to the

natives and rather than passing laws for peaceful co-existence, they indulge in

acts which have no justification in a civil society.

However, it is significant that Desai doesn't permanently distrust the

possibility of a proper multiculturalism even in the racially ravaged England.

Sarah's marriage to Adit illustrates this point. By marrying Adit, a coloured

Indian, Sarah has violated certain unwritten codes and conventions of the

colour-conscious white society. At the surface level, the validity of such a

marriage will not be challenged even by the rabid racists. They might remain

silent for the sake of social propriety. But the silence is no indication of an

approval of the marriage. Indeed nobody questions the validity of Adit-Sarah

marriage. But once the marriage is over, she is humiliated not only by her

colleagues at her school, where she is a secretary, but also by the pupils of the

school. In this regard N.R Gopal (1996:175) says: " Sarah incurs the anger of

the white society by marrying a brown Asian as she had broken the social code

of England. Hence, she is always subject to taunts and comments of not only

her colleagues but even of young pupils of the school." Her colleagues ask her

about Adit and his family background. Julia, for instance, asks: "Your

husband isn't going to stay here forever, is he?" (36). Her students pretend not

to have seen her. When they see her, they warn one another, "Hurry, Hurry,

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Mrs. Curry" (34). Her colleagues want to know Adit's future plans, too. Thus,

in her own country, which has had its dominion over many countries and

cultures in the world including India, she cannot find any sign of mutual trust

and cooperation. As Meenakshi Mukherjee (1978:228) says: " Sarah is an

unusual character who is displaced in her own country, whose crisis of identity

will perhaps never be solved although she believes that going to India will be

the final resolution of her ambiguous existence."

And this kind of humiliating existence has created in her a sense of alienation.

The loneliness that she feels in her own white society becomes complete when

even her parents extend a cold welcome to her and her husband on their first

visit to her house after marriage. For the parents, it seems, the issue is that their

daughter has married an Asian, the Other, with whom they cannot establish a

heart-to-heart relationship. In fact, they maintain a feeling of aversion to him.

Consider, for example, the father-in-law's reaction, which confuses Adit:

Adit could not comprehend a parental relationship so cool that

the parent did not rush out and embrace the daughter whom he
had not seen since last Christmas, but kept himself out of her way
as though he were avoiding her. He did not say this aloud - he
had, in the past, sometimes mentioned his astonishment and
disapproval of their colourless, toneless, flavourless relationship
only to have Sarah say impatiently, 'Oh we can't stand cuddling
and netting and all that!' to which Adit had protested, 'But your

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 mother loves it when I give her a hug and a kiss,' and then was
offended when Sarah gave a small snort of scorn. (142)

The father gives no sign of recognizing them or of being pleased by their visit.

He has retired not only from his job but also from 'Sarah's life'. Such

discriminatory treatment has made her feel marginalized. The taunts of

colleagues, the contempt of students and the standoffishness of her own parents

have had a weakening impact on her psyche. She doesn't dare to meet people

like a normal human being. Like an outcaste, she avoids meeting people. Even

for shopping she goes to distant places so that she can escape the accusing,

jeering looks of her own people:

She walked out into the soft, muzzling rain with her packages,
reassured to find herself an unidentifiable, unnoticed and
therefore free person again. The bus came and she found herself
a seat next to the door so that she did not need to push past or
touch anyone, and she turned her face to the blurred window,
observing the melting greys and greens of the common with that
fixed expression of stark loneliness that had so stirred her
husband on another rainy afternoon. (39)

The irony is that she can't feel at home in the company of her own white

fellow beings. Further she can feel her identity and freedom when she is amidst

strangers. In a sense she is homeless in her own native land, and that itself is a

commentary on England's idea of multiculturalism.

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However, what is striking about Sarah's character is that she does not like to be

a passive sufferer for long. She faces marginalization at every place - home,

school and society. In fact these places are institutions, which are supposed to

maintain human values and relations. Ironically, they have become places of

hatred, spite, discrimination and contempt. They have cleaved Sarah's self and

shattered all her sense of belonging. Any woman could become a nervous

wreck in such a situation. Indeed she is shattered but she makes an earnest

effort to piece together her shattered self She realizes that unity of self can be

achieved only by renouncing and denouncing her own culture and society,

which are white and hegemonic. She wants to get back to her own identity as

Sarah, although she is not unhappy with her identity as Mrs. Sen. The problem

is Mrs. Sen is nobody, she is only a mask:

Who was she - Mrs. Sen who had been married in a red and gold
benares brocade sari one burning, bronzed day in September, or
Mrs. Sen, the Head's secretary, who sent out the bills and took in
the cheques, kept order in the school and was known for her
efficiency? ... She was nobody. Her face was only a mask, her
body only a costume. Where was Sarah? (34-35).

Surprisingly, unlike the typical white (wo)man, Sarah has great faith in the

institution of marriage and the bond of love that has sustained it over centuries.

For recreating her own identity and also for maintaining the validity of

marriage, she decides to move out of her own country. She takes the path

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breaking decision of settling down in India, the land of her husband. It is a

land; she seems to have understood, that still holds some respect for marital

relationship. It is a land that has accommodated people of diverse backgrounds,

cultures and religions for centuries. Further, it is a land that has been a shelter

for the alien and the exile. Weakness though it may appear, the land was

friendly even to the invaders (the Europeans) who were wolves in sheep's

clothing.

Sarah's decision to adopt India as her homeland is an outcome of her feeling

that "she had become nameless" (31). What she seeks is a land where she will

not have to live with the silent fear of being indirectly ostracized. Since she has

already "her ancestry and identity" (31), she needs a place where she can find

humanity, kindness, fellow feeling and self-respect. As B.R Parmar (2005:36)

says: " Sarah is homeless in her own homeland on account of her marriage

with an oriental immigrant. Sarah is firm and fair in her commitments. She

tries to be a sincere and loving wife to her husband. She does not want to

destroy her conjugal life for the sake of her different cultural identity. She is so

calm and composed that she never complains about anything either to her

husband or to her parents. She does not like to remember her past. She wants to

enjoy present with self identity and self respect."

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It is significant that Sarah's decision matches Adit's disillusionment and

disenchantment with English culture and manners. Bitter experiences in

England teach him to respect his own country with all its weaknesses and

drawbacks. If England has advanced civilizationally, it has failed to recognize

human worth. What India's multiculturalism underscores, at least in principle,

is the worth of a human being. In spite of all his 'love and regard for England

and self-hatred, England does not accept him (Adit). This realization of

exclusion really hurts him.

Sarah's decision to move to India with her Indian husband has an element of

protest in it. She is moving to a country that was ruled by her country in the

recent past. As such her own people, with their hegemonic spirit, has been

looking down upon the country and its people. But Sarah quite challengingly

establishes a blood relation with an Indian and further adopts a British colony

as her own motherland. When her own country disowns her, she makes her

home in a country that England subjugated. In this she is joining the ally of the

Other and thus rises in revolt against the white assumptions of hegemony and

superiority. Thus her marriage is a challenge while at the same time it is her

means to blend the Occident with the Orient and thus suggest the possibility of

multiculturalism that crosses the artificial boundaries of colour and creed laid

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by white hegemonic/dominant structures. These structures are represented by

her own parents, her colleagues, students and the society at large.

There may be problems of adjustment awaiting Sarah in her new avatar as an

Indian wife. But it is definitely more tolerable than the humiliations she

experiences in her own country. Therefore, she has decided to face the

problems with utmost coolness. She decides to play her role as a wife who can

validate the merits of marriage. She leaves the theatre of artificialities

(England) and enters the real world. Anita Desai has effectively developed

Sarah's image as an Indian wife who accepts her husband with all his cultural,

religious, social and ideological diversities. Though Sarah has her roots in

British soil, her decision to embrace Indian culture is worth noting. By

marrying an Asian immigrant, she has tried to convey a message to the plural

world that the time has come to respect and value different cultures because the

world is becoming a global village where everybody has his/her own

significance and relevance. Therefore, Sarah's marriage symbolically

underscores the need to accept and respect all kinds of diversities - cultural,

religious, social and ideological and develops a sense of tolerance, patience,

open-mindedness and forbearance.

Adit's disenchantment with English way of life is timely. Desai uses his

frustration to emphasize the value of one's own cultural identity. Sarah loses

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her identity in her own homeland, while Adit loses it in an aUen land. The

mistake he commits is to create a false foreign identity in a hostile surrounding.

The shocks he receives from various sources in England save him from

damaging his self under the pressure of racial discrimination. His visit to his

wife's house and the cold treatment he receives there is unbearable. He

discovers that his mother-in-law hates and despises him. He feels "depression

pouring into him like lead, hot when it entered in the form of Mrs.

Roscommon-James' sniffs and barks..."(176). At one of the gatherings, Bella

calls him an 'Indian', a 'foreigner' and a 'dirty Asian'. He realizes that he

cannot be a normal human being in England. He even asks:

Why does everything have to come to this - that we're Indians

and you're English and we're living in your country and
therefore we've all go to behave in a special way, differing from
normal people? (187-88)

So Adit's problem is living an artificial life in the midst of standardized mores

and manners. When he behaves in the most natural way he is branded as a dirty

Asian. The values of his own culture do not get any respect among the white

men. Confrpating toHhe pretentious and unreal way of English life is a serious

problem. The sense of alienation and marginalization becomes so acute in him

that he realizes his mistake of being an anglophile all these years. The

transformation now is from anglophilia to anglophobia. The latter feeling finds

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expression in his decision to leave England for good with his wife. He informs

her and asks her if she will follow him:

I can't live here any more. Our lives here - they've been so
unreal, don't you feel it? Little India in London. All our records
and lamb curries and sing-songs, it's all so unreal. It has not
reality at all; we just pretend all the time. I'm twenty-seven now.
I've got to go home and start living a real life. I don't know what
real life there will mean. I can't tell you if it won't be war, Islam,
communism, famine, anarchy or what. Whatever it is it will be
Indian, it will be my natural condition, my true circumstance. I
must go and face all that now. It's been wonderful here. Sarah,
you know I've loved England more than you, I've often felt
myself half-English, but it was only pretence, Sally. Now it has
to be a real thing. I must go. You will come? (203-4)

It is heartening to witness this transformation of Adit. Desai carefiiUy

politicizes his experience by bringing it in the broad context of colonization.

Thus, she wishes that Adit's shaking off of a hegemonic impact should be

ideally the move that every Indian should take. The novelist thus moves from

the particular to the general. England is presented as ' an aggressor' who has

'tried to enmesh, subjugate and victimize him with the weapons of Empire'.

The significance of Adit's transformation lies in his successfijl attempt to break

away from all bondages of the Empire. England, Adit's 'once-golden Mecca'

has now taken the form of the proverbial colonizer who is opportunistic, brutal

and cold. Adit's decision is the revolt of the colonized. What is commendable

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is Sarah's willingness to share his decision to wriggle out of the clutches of the

colonizer. Both have suffered on account of their skin colour and inter-racial

marriage. Sarah warmly sympathizes with him because she has seen his whole

personality cracking "apart into an unbearable number of disjointed pieces,

rattling together noisily and disharmoniously"(200). She takes up the

painstaking responsibility of piecing together his crumbling personality. Yes,

she has her apprehensions about her new life in an alien land. Yet she is

optimistic: "I think when I go to India, I will not find it so strange after all. I

am sure I shall feel quite at home very soon" (219). She consolidates her hope

practically by suggesting, "Let's have an Indian meal tonight" (179). Even

before reaching India she can compare the life in England with that of India. In

her own country, "everyone is a stranger and lives in hiding. They live silently

and invisibly. It would happen nowhere in India" (56).

Adit still has doubt about her willingness to leave her country and hence he

poses the question, "Could you really leave all this, Sally, and go away to India

to live?" (83). And her answer is an emphatic 'yes'. So Adit finds a partner in

his revolt and the purpose of their rebellion is the establishment of true

multiculturalism, which has international dimensions. With her. Adit is going

to carry a message:

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 And how he was going to carry the message of England to the
East - not the old message of the colonist, the tradesman or the
missionary, but the new message of the free convert, the
international citizen, a message of progress and good cheer,
advance and good will. (225-26)

Their new message bears the multicultural principle of peaceful co-existence.

Significantly, Adit who returns to India as a cultural ambassador has no grudge

against the country of the white. And that indeed is a Gandhian attitude.

Anita Desai does not wish to suggest that multiculturalism is impossible in

England. The activities of the character Emma, an English lady, illustrate this

fact. She is an ardent fan of Indian culture. Very early in the novel, we read

about her decision to start a club:

A little Indian club to which my Indian friends could come on

Wednesday afternoons - I choose Wednesday because it always
rains and strangers would be happy to have somewhere to go and
have something to do. They could meet some really interested,
intelligent English people and tell them, teach them about India.
(41-42)

She is able to address Indians as her friends. She has recognized the value of

Indian spirituality and has decided to "give lessons in Yoga too" (42). The club

has no materialistic concerns because, according to Emma, "there will be no

money transactions at all in my club" (42). She wants the club members to

learn from famous Indians: "Then, when famous Indians visit London -

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philosophers or painters or musicians - we shall invite them to come and

address the Little India club"(42-43). Emma is at least making an attempt to

recognize the value of another culture - the culture of a former colony of her

own imperialist country.

Matriarchal value system is not something that is not well appreciated in India.

Yet Anita Desai's Sikh lady upholds the merits of matriarchy. The lady is

generous and munificent. Her prime intention is to enable the immigrants from

India to feel at home in the strange land of England. She is well aware of the

pains of the rootless immigrants. Her matriarchal dominance is positive and

encouraging. On one occasion she admonishes Dev for not seeking her help:

And you did not come to us for help? What is this - are we not
neighbors? Am I not like your own mother? It is bad you have
not thought of coming to me and calling me mother. I am here to
be mother to all our poor Indian boys lost and alone in this cold
country. And my sons - such strong young men - can't they help
you? Each one of them has a good job, a good pay. Every week
they bring their full salary to me. I divide it into three parts - one
for their own pockets for they are my sons and I must keep them
happy, one for the household, and the third, the largest, for our
family and our land in Punjab. (118)

The warmth and love she exudes have wiped out the authoritarianism of the

matriarch. While seclusion, privacy and fear of the other characterize western

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life, here is a lady who encourages people to maintain fellow feeling and

mutual concern. She, too, upholds the merits of cultural accommodation.

Indeed we come across such instances through which Desai underscores the

greatness of multiculturalism, which is essentially Indian. Yet she has no

illusory belief that the fabric of Indian multiculturalism is strong. Rather, she

seems to assert that multiculturalism is possible only when the parties involved

have the readiness to forget and forgive. She also seems to believe that

multiculturalism can be maintained only with difficulty. The picture of India

outside is rosy and romantic, but it is not really so. Desai makes Adit say it for

the knowledge of Sarah who is going with him to India with much hope:

... that romantic India in which all flowers were perfumed, all
homes harmonious and every day a festival. 'She's not going to
live in a maharaja's palace, you know. She's going to live in a
family of in-laws, a very big one, and learn their language and
habits. (213)

The family she is going to is a microcosm of the culturally diverse India. It is

large, there are people with conventional and modem viewpoints and there are

also chances of friction. Yet such large families still survive; they show how

this difficult balance of diversity/differences is maintained. Like these families,

India too has maintained the balance of cultures, religions, sects, beliefs and

opinions although it has been occasionally made upset by intolerant groups.

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Shedding of ego, adjustment to unknown setups and respecting others'

sentiments are the essential factors that have contributed to the continued

existence of muhicuhuralism in India. Desai says as much. The Sikh lady, for

instance, tells Sarah that if the latter has to be happy in India, she has to be "an

Indian wife, an Indian daughter-in-law" (218). The old lady perceives typical

Indian qualities in Sarah: "When I look at you, when I see you going out in the

morning and coming home, always so quiet with your head bent, not looking at

anyone, then I think you are one of our own.... You will see it is your own

country" (218). Sarah has already shed her English ego to adjust herself to a

society that has certain cultural norms. Certainly, this kind of submission

suggests colonial tendencies, yet they are necessary for the maintenance of

harmony and unity.

True, such Indian setup, where submission is a pre-condition, has its

drawbacks. Yet there is an air of informality and freedom in the Indian way of

life. Many things which are too formal (including family relations) and time-

bound in the West are pleasantly loose and carefree in India. Violations of time

do not always invite the wrath of others. There is a kind of timelessness in

India, which may be irritating to the west, but forgetting the clock often

strengthens human ties. Infringing the dictat of the clock is a way of culturally

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distinguishing the Oriental from the Occidental. Entering a bar late in the night,

with Dev, for a bottle of beer, Adit succinctly puts it across to the barman:

You must admit that it is the trouble with Orientals - we don't

really believe in watches and clocks. We are romantics. We want
time to fit in with our moods. It should be drinking time when we
feel like a drink, and sleeping time when we feel like sleeping.
How is the Englishman to understand that? He's been a clock-
watcher since the day he was bom. Do you know, English
mothers even feed their babies and put them to bed according to
the clock? (162)

With the help of this passage, Anita Desai has properly compared two different

cultures - Oriental and Occidental. The Orientals do not believe too much in

watches, whereas the Occidentals are too punctual in their visiting hours and

prompt in doing their work. As Adit says that Orientals are romantics who

believe in mood rather than timings. By supplementing some factual examples.

Adit appreciates the good habits of the Occidentals who live their lives in

accordance with a clock. On the contrary, he passes negative remarks on the

Orientals who consider no time constraint. Here the comparison of two

cultures is not important, but cultural differences should be considered

positively for maintaining social health and strength. After all, there is no one

culture, which is perfect, but each culture has something novel to share.

Multiculturalism not only supports cultural pluralism but also respects

uniqueness and distinctiveness of each culture. Therefore, cultural clashes have

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no place on the agenda of multiculturalism. The present analytical study of this

novel simply shows how multiculturalism functions in different forms to

resolve some socio-cultural problems that create waves of friction and hostility

in the world.

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