Resumo de The Inheritance Of Loss

Loss of a World

IN a subtle scene at the beginning of the novel, Kiran Desai
describes Sai?s tryst with her grandfather?s house and its surrounding environs
thus: ?? the smoke mingled with the mist that was gathering speed, sweeping in
thicker and thicker, obscuring things in parts ?.When she looked back, the
house was gone; when she climbed the steps back to the veranda, the garden
vanished? (The Inheritance of Loss, 2). This apparent lack of a clear
perspective permeates the tone of the book. Things are confused and confusing.
The characters do not seem to have a clear idea of what actually happens around
them, and their efforts to deal with the situation are based neither in an
understanding of what is left behind or of what lies ahead. This is what
heightens the theme of loss and its wonderfully evocative depiction in The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai?s
Booker winning novel.

?Could fulfillment ever be felt as deeply as loss?? (The
Inheritance of Loss, 2). There is no fulfillment in the narrative. It leaves
you with a sense of loss. Within the narrative, loss acts itself out in various
ways, on various levels, and yes, the sense of loss and the way it affects the
characters and their lives is much deeper than their sense of fulfillment ever
was. The judge has had no sense of fulfillment. Yet his losses engulf him. Sai
knew no fulfillment in her love affair with Gyan, neither in her emotions for
him, but it is her loss of his companionship and affection that drives her mad.
The Gorkhas who are up in arms have risen up because of a sense of loss, yet
fulfillment seems eons away for them or their cause. Biju and his father are
trapped in a sense of loss while yet yearning for a better future. Their
loss?of homeland, of respect, of a decent life, of respect, and of money?is far
more acute, more heartfelt than any thing they may have gained from life. The
anglophile sisters Lola and Noni, secure in their perceived haven at Mon Ami understand
its value or lack of it only after they have lost it totally to the insurgents.

Loss is predominant, and Desai?s skill lies in the way she
uses these various strands of the story with their inherent aura of loss to
weave a wonderful narrative that encompasses a myriad ideas. Homelessness and a
lack of rootedness seem central to the narrative, and most of the loss arises
out of this lack of belonging-ness, either one?s own or perceived. This is best
perceived in Gyan and his indecisiveness and in Biju?s wanderings through an
alien country and its culture. In Biju?s case, the author uses language
primarily to capture this aimlessness and lack of security. Disjointed
sentences, short, staccato phrases, and a mingling of various feelings and
impressions create a smorgasbord of emotions in which Biju stands transfixed. In
a brilliant sequence in Chapter fourteen, Desai lists perceived western
attitude to Indians:

?In Tanzania,
if they could, they would throw them out like they did in Uganda.

?.

In China,
they hate them.

In Hong
Kong.

In Germany.

?.

In Guadeloupe?they
love us there?

No?

(The Inheritance
of Loss, 77).

In Gyan?s case, it is an overflow of words, impressions, and
expressions of feeling that reflect his growing sense of loss in his personal
and cultural existence. He is situated in a twilight area that does not make
any lasting sense to him. His loss is one that continues through his existence
in the novel; he is never at peace with himself, never in grip of the
situations in which he places or finds himself.

The narrative spans continents and lives, and yet, there is
something missing from it. Perhaps it does not have a soul, only intellect.
This is due in large measure to the writer?s neglect of the characters. They
are not complete, but sketches that help the novel?s theme. Their depiction
gives readers a feeling of losing out on the actual character, of groping in
the dark for what lies beyond the narrative?s framework. They are as fleeting
as Saeed Saeed?s appearances in the novel, yet he is the one character who is
easy to understand and provides much of the book?s balanced viewpoint.

Kiran Desai?s language seems to overpower the narrative
itself at times. The reader gets caught in the whirlpool of this language that
describes nature, emotions, events, violence, fraud, loss, and romance in a
breathlessly exciting manner, yet leaves much to the imagination when it comes
to the human beings that dot the landscape of this narrative.

At the end of the day, however, The Inheritance of Loss scores because the language is evocative, the
story, whatever there is of it, poignant, and the issues contemporary and
disturbing. If characters have to be sacrificed for it, so be it.

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