ADALYA JOURNAL ISSN NO: 1301-2746

The Clash of Class in The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

V.Muruganandham, Dr. L. Rajesh,

Research Scholar, Research Advisor / Asst. Professor,

Dept. of English, Rajah Serfoji Govt. Dept. of English, Rajah Serfoji Arts College, (Autonomous) Govt. Arts College, (Autonomous) (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University) (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University) Thanjavur. Thanjavur.

Abstract

As the world is encountering the highly sensitive issues of racial discrimination, it is, in India, the class discrimination based on socioeconomic status haunting a great danger to its marvelous multicultural setting. The rich and the upper middle class relish dominance in all matters and seize every opportunity over the wealth that should fairly fall to the share of all the people of a society. They spend this wealth on the enhancement of the means of physical comfort and personal glorification. The poor working class and lower middle class, on the other hand, are obliged to live from hand to mouth in spite of their industriousness and hard work. So, the rich grow richer and the poor get poorer. Every aspect of the lives of the characters is directed by their social and economic class. This novel, The Inheritance of Loss quite clearly and constantly manifests Indian socio-economic class system. This paper attempts to exhibit the emotional tension of the lower class and the high handedness of the rich upper class in the Indian society.

Keywords:lower-middle-class, discrimination, socioeconomic system, upper class, dominance, emotional strain, humiliation etc.

The term ‘class’ is etymologically derived from the Latin ‘classis’ that means a system or mechanism that divides members of the society into sets based on social and economic status once. In the Eighteenthcentury the term replaced the classifications such as estates, ranks and orders as the basics means of classifying society into hierarchical divisions. The common social class categorisessociety into simple hierarchy of working class and upper class. The consciousness of class is not simply a mindful of one’s own class interest. It is a set of shared

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views concerning how society should be structured legally, culturally, socially, economically and politically.Generally, a class is distinguishedfrom other classes based on a person’s economic position in a society. A person’s prestige, social honour, the power and popularity areattributed to one’s economic success.

Today, the general idea of social class usuallyassumes the three common categories: A very wealthy and powerful upper class; a middle class of professional workers and small business owners; and a lower class that depends on low wages for their livelihood and often experiences poverty and economic precariousness.The middle class is the extensive group of people who fall both socially and economically between the lower and upper classes.The clash of class means emotional strain between socially and economically uneven groups or different sets of people with different customs and beliefs.

Kiran Desai, aremarkable Indiandiasporic writer, is familiar in the English-speaking world. She, as an immigrant writer, has successfully delineated the drama of conflicts of class and culture that causes tussle and trauma, pain and suffering, alienation and anxieties, in the minds of all the Diasporas settled in west lands, far away from the original native countries. Kiran Desai could feel the conflict of class in the minds of all the people and hasexhibited their spirits in her literary works. Her second novel, The Inheritance of Loss, is a work of multicultural setting as well as class conflict based on economic inequality. In this novel, Desai comprehensively touches upon many different issues, such as globalisation, multiculturalism, cultural conflict, and things that touch even the love-life of her characters.The Inheritance of Loss is about class discrimination. India’s stringent class system is the main theme of the novel.

Desai calls attention to the social differences that notonly exist betweenthe East and the West, but also within every small unit in the society. Both the physical and psychological impacts of class systems are present in her novels. The hierarchical distinctions between individuals and groups are evident in this second novel. The feeling of class and cultural differences plays its parts in destroying the individual lives. Class discrimination is not only leading the characters into the barrenness of human relations and emotions, but also into a sense of despair and decay.

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At the beginning of the novel, Jemubhai Patel, the judge plays chess, Sai, his granddaughter, reads an article, and the dog, Mutt sleeps leisurely but the old cook tries hard to light some damp wood to make tea for them. Through this scene, Desai illustrates the privileged and pleasurable moments of Sai and the judge. The magazine Sai is reading, suggests an intellectual atmosphere, education and a connection to the West. Here, the judge and Sai are the representation of sophisticated upper-class people. The cook represents the powerless and lower-class servitude. It is obvious that the cook is the servant and the judge, the master. By demonstrating these characters, Desai wants to emphasize the social class difference between them. The judge has been the authoritative master, and the cook the submissive all-around servant doing his best to fulfil the demanding tasks of the judge. He is a powerless man, with barely enough learning to read and write. He has worked like a donkey all his life and lives only to see his son, Biju.

The clash between the retired judge,and his cook starts when the judge’s granddaughter, Sai comes to live with him. As a live-in servant to the judge, the cook's prestige is connected closely to that of the judge. As far as the cook is concerned, a servant anticipates to his employers not just for money but also for a lift in social status. However, the judge fails to meet the expectations of him, as he does not pay the cook well enough, nor does he grant him enough personal respect. The communication between the judge and the cook is limited to strictly necessary information and instructions. When the police arrive to investigate the robbery, the cook interrupts to be a part of the conversation. This irritates the judge, and he says: “Go sit in the kitchen. Bar barkartarehtahai’’(11).

This statement is clearly patronising and corroborates the difference in rank between them. The judge talks bilingually to maintain the class distinction between them and to make sure that the cook has understood the message. At one point, when the cook appeals for raise in salary, he is told that his expenses are paid for housing, clothing, food, and medicines more than his salary. This incident displays how easy it is for educated people of high rank to tackle and take advantage of people from lower classes in society. There is no good-natured relationship between them, only master giving orders and a servant obeying his commands.

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The inner feeling of class identity is also portrayed in the case of the cook. His low social class and his view of himself as an inferior person prompt him to accept disgrace and unjust treatment. When the police come to investigate the robbery, they search the cook’s hut, exposing his poverty and privacy. The cook justifies this treatment because they need to search everything and it is the servant who usually steals:

‘‘Well, they have to search everything,’’ he said. ‘‘Naturally. How are they to know that I am innocent? Most of the time it is the servant that steals.’’ (IL. 18)

Desai makes it clear with this fact that he is treated with prejudice and insulted.It shows the cook’s humble attitude towards the authorities and how he feels inferior compared to them. Thus, in this scene the cook becomes the victim of prejudice due to his social class and profession. This is exercised to some extent to treat others as inferiors if they are from a lower class. The two classes do not have trust on each other.The upper class always suspects and accuses the lower class of stealing. They also believe that the lower classes do not experience emotions that are experienced by the civilized.

In this novel, the most humiliating scene takes place when the dog, Mutt disappears at the end of the novel. The judge sees the cook as nothing more than a servant. He threatens to kill the cook unless he finds out the missing dog. The cook, heartbroken at this treatment, gets drunk and comes home, admitting every sin that he has committed against the judge in the past:

‘I’ve been bad,’’ the cook said, ‘‘I’ve been drinking I ate the same rice as you not the servant's ricebut the Dehradun rice I ate the meat and lied I ate out of the same pot I stole liquorfrom the army I made chhang I did the accounts differently for years I have cheatedyou in the accounts each and every day my money was dirty it was false sometimes Ikicked Mutt I didn't take her for walks just sat by the side of the road smoked a bidiand came home I'm a bad man I watched out for nobody and nothing but myself. (Kiran Desai. 320)

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In the face of a wealthy employer who underpaid his only servant, the cook's actions do not seem unforgivable. At the same time, the cook exhorts startlingly to the judge. "Beat me! . . . It's your duty to discipline me. It's as it should be" (IL. 320)

This statement is about deeper psychological feelings than the punishment connected to the missing dog. It alsodepicts the differences between them and their lack of respect for each other. This visualises that the cook has always felt guilty about his petty thefts, and particularly that he wants the social order reinstated between himself and the judge. The cook believes, as a matter of fact, that the judge deserves to be rich while he is destined to be poor. The social status of lower middle class and a sense of inferiority complex drive him aloof from the bonds of love. Regardless of his low social status, ill-treatment and humiliation by his master, he is one of the few poor people in the area who finally manages to send his son to America. The cook could have made much more out of his life, if he was given the opportunity. The novelistbrings out how hard it is for a person who belongs to a low social class to improve his or her situation. The concept of class is therefore a restriction in itself, as it prevents any real development or upward social mobility.

The life of the judge has been a deep contrast to that of the cook. After his return to India, based on his education, his membership in the ICS and his profession as a judge, he is able to enjoy a privileged life in upper class Indian society. He travels around in his districts with opulent facilities. The judge’s sophisticated way of life naturally required hardworking servants. He thinks that his wealth and class identity are important in order to maintain the power he has gained through his profession. Though the wealth and the luxury of the judge gradually decline, his status and position remain the same. This shows, how stable and rigid the system of social classes is, and how difficult it is to alter one’s basic position. However, the differences between the cook and the judge are more complex than outwardly apparent. From the judge’s outlook, the cook represents everything he hates. He dislikes him for the cook is an Indian, uneducated, submissive and belongs to a low class in society. The judge feels superior to him both professionally and personally, and feels it is his right to take advantage of the situation.

Being the granddaughter of the judge, Sai is able to enjoy what is left of his wealth and high position in society. She gets an expensive private education and does not have any serious

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financial worries. However, unlike her grandfather, she is not class conscious. She proves to be herself, regardless of her social class. Though they both sense that they are different in terms of class and cultural background, Sai remains kind with the cook and shows great understanding with regard to his situation. When the police come to investigate the incident, they proceed to the cook’s hut where they look through his belongings. Sai feels sad at the cook’s plight. While Sai and the cook seem, at first, to have a close relationship, by the end of the novel their relationship has been weakened and then gets broken by their economic inequality.

The conflict of class came in the form of Sai’s love affair with her young tutor Gyan. While Sai is among the financially privileged, Gyan and his family are struggling to survive. At first, naturally, they are only vaguely aware of their social differences. It is when she goes to find him after a serious fight, that she realizes how different they really are and how little she knows about his background. When she finally discovers his real class origin, she is introduced to a world entirely different from her own and surprised to a great extent. She has a condescending attitude when she pays her first visit to his house, the usual poor man’s house found in slums all over the world. Gyan hates her for being an upper middle-class girl. Thus, through the description of Gyan’s betrayal of Sai, Desai emphasizes what poverty, financial inequality and discrimination can lead to, both on the personal level and in a universal perspective.

In this novel, Lola and Noni are the representatives of a postcolonial middle-class, and they discard their own cultures for the sake of success. These women represent all the middle-class people from poorer nations whose eyes are blurred with the dollar dream. Sai and her neighbouring aunties Noni, Lola are interested to discourse on the matter of highbrow, literary taste than be buried in the earthly reality of worsening crisis, poverty and political turmoil stirring around them. They enjoyed the comfortable and pleasant Indian middle-class lives while the lower-classpeople live in danger.

They have consciously enforced this class divide between the cook and Sai. They advised Sai to interact with people of her status. To them, the cook, belonging to a lower class should refrain from answering back to his benefactors except taking orders. It is important to draw the lines properly between classes, otherwise, it harms everyone on both sides of the great divide. On their part, Lola and Noni keep their distance from their maid,Kesang. Lola believes that there is a

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strict division between classes. The lower orders cannot experience the same feelings as the upper crust, because their relationship is economic, practical and far more sensible. Cultural imperialism creates class differences as it is evident from Lola and Noni’s story. The sisters do not trust their watchman, Budhoo because he is an uncultured, lower class.

Kiran Desai is keenly aware of the inequality among immigrants on the basis of economic status. Biju represents the poor class people from the Third World. He manages to go to America with firm hopes of escaping poverty and making abundant money and finally to rescue his father from servitude. But he leads a wretched life as an illegal immigrant, shifting from one ill-paid job to another in the basement kitchens as a cook, waiter and delivery boy. He ultimately joins one Gandhi Cafe in New York. There, he slips on rotten spinach and breaks his leg. But his Indian employer, Harish-Harry, refuses him any medical help because it is expensive and also because Biju is an illegal immigrant. Instead, he asks Biju to go back to India, get his treatment and return to America. He is deprived of his basic rights as a worker. He feels both depressed and angry about this situation. He feels there is no future for him in America. In spite of his hard work, he is exposed to poor living condition and humiliations. Here, race is not a matter of issue but class surmounts race.

Theupper-class men and women of the same race who migrated to U.S.A. are also as oppressive and exploitative as the white ruling classes that they aspire to imitate. Desai clearly exposes the contradiction between surface appearances of luxury and grandeur and the behind- the-scenes reality of exploitation. The situation in which Biju tries to make a life in the U.S.A. is paralleled bythe judge’s experience studying in England. In both situations, it is obvious that young Indian men setting off with full idealism about the cultural and material opportunities of the west, only to find themselves ground down by the reality of being only the second-class citizens. The disparity in prosperity levels creates its own conflict as is evident in the characters of the cook, Biju, and Gyan in this novel. The conflicts mainly arise because of the mingling of different characters from different countries as well as mingling of characters within the same community having different mindsets.

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References

1. Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. New Delhi: Penguin Books.2006. Print 2. Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1994. 3. Mishra, Pankaj. Wounded by the West. Rev. of the Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai: The New York Times Book Review, 2006. 4. Ahmad, Aijaz. In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. New Delhi: Oxford UP. 1994.

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