Hitesh S. Vaghani
Roll no. - 21
SEM - II
Paper no. – 07
Year – 2010-11
Topic: Time and Space in The Shadow Lines
Submitted to Mr. Devarshi Mehta
Department of English,
Bhavnagar University.
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Gosh paints a landscape of symbolism and realism that spans both time and space. The concepts of distance and time are uniquely portrayed in both the physical borders that divide countries and the imaginary borders that divide human beings. From the image-conscious character of the grandmother to the riots that explode in the streets, Gosh takes the reader on a fascinating journey of exploration, dissecting the characters of the story while simultaneously dissecting the human race.
The title of the novel is perhaps the most philosophical statement Gosh makes, asserting that 'The Shadow Lines', or the lines that not only define our human shape but our inner struggles to choose between darkness and light, are an intricate part of all human existence. Shadows, like time, are both tangible and intangible at any given moment or realm of perspective. They are a fleeting, generically depicted, generally distorted representations of ourselves, and they can only be viewed in the proper light. Gosh uses shadow lines as a way of telling us that the way we view ourselves is not always the way that others view us, and until we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves we will remain in the shadows of our own enlightenment.
Gosh manages to speak excessively of shadows, darkness and light, weaving them subtly into the context of what he is trying to convey. He uses the terms both realistically and metaphorically to show that the shadow we cast, the one other people can see, is not always an accurate reflection of which we really are. Nick was not the hero he seemed to be and when May reveals this to the boy, they are in the process of moving from light to dark, both in physical environment and knowledge of the truth. In a way, a shadow is like a "fair weather friend" in that it appears to us only when the sun is directly overhead. While every human being casts a unique shadow, a common theme can be seen in them all, namely that they are just as much a part of us as they are detached from us. This is another realm in which Gosh metaphorically uses the elements of shadow lines to tell his story.
Throughoutliterature’s long history, shadows have been used as metaphors for secrets. Things hidden in the shadows, things which we cannot see though we can vaguely make out their outlines…These are the traditional metaphors which Gosh cannot avoid. Gosh demonstrates that when secrets come out from behind the shadows and are exposed to the stark, revealing brilliance of daylight, they do not immediately evaporate. Secrets tend to linger long after they've been exposed because the fact that they were hidden in the first place casts strong shadows of doubt upon the person keeping the secret. The revelation of these secrets can have severe consequences, such as being kicked out of school or being labeled a liar. Though the grandmother's "letter from the grave" is eventually dismissed, its mere existence taught the boy some valuable lessons.
The narrator's secret love for his cousin Ila was forced to remain in the shadows because the feeling itself, was dark in nature. Anything that is considered taboo, such as sexual relations between members of the same family, automatically quivers in the shadows of its own dark truths. Both of the major truths that the grandmother exposed was laden with sexual taboos, which raises the question, should they ever have been exposed at all? In light of the pain they caused, one would think not, but in a world in which truth is the foundation of evolution into maturity, how can one claim that any truth should remain unilluminated?
On the one hand, Ila's enlightenment to her cousin's feelings for her was good in that it marked a promise of change in her behavior towards him which she hoped would help to dissipate his obsession. On the other hand, from the narrator's viewpoint, this revelation and his cousin's subsequent rejection caused him a great deal of emotional distress. Should his feelings have remained in the shadows, he may not have endured this sharp, heart-stabbing pain, yet he may have been subjected a long, slow torture instead. The answer to whether this truth should have been revealed lies in which kind of pain the narrator finds less troubling.
While the title’ The Shadow Lines' can be read a thousand different ways, and the significance of shadows throughout the novel can be interpreted with vast distinctions, one thing remains clear. The shadows that all human beings reflect are as unique to the individual as each written word is to a talented author like Amitav Gosh.
Amitav Gosh chooses to tell a story that pervades through the seams of reality and fiction, of time and space, of memories and beliefs. The Shadow Lines is Gosh’s second novel, who has overtime secured his place as one of the India’s most celebrated authors in English. Gosh’s work is known to be imbued with intricate details of the given time and situation, which he writes about and his words are filled with a wealth of meaning. Having penned several novels gosh’s seen to reinvent himself with his every work but The Shadow Lines undoubtedly remains one his best.
The Shadow Lines is a story told by a nameless narrator in recollection. It’s a non linear tale told as if putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in the memory of the narrator. This style of writing is both unique and captivating; unfolding ideas together as time and space coalesce and help the narrator understand his past better. Revolving around the theme of nationalism in an increasingly globalized world, Gosh questions the real meaning of political freedom and the borders which virtually seem to both establish and separate. The novel traverses through almost seventy years through the memories of people, which the narrator recollects and narrates, giving their viewpoint along with his own. Though the novel is based largely in Kolkata, Dhaka and London, it seems to echo the sentiments of whole South-east Asia, with lucid overtones of Independence and the pangs of Partition.
It is a story of a middle class Indian family based in Calcutta. The boy narrator presents the views of the members of his immediate and extended family, thus, giving each a well defined character. However, Tha’mma, narrator’s grandmother is the most realized character in the novel, giving a distinct idea of the idealism and the enthusiasm with which the people worked towards nation building just after independence. It is chiefly through her character that Gosh delivers the most powerful message of the novel; the vainness of creating nation states, the absurdity of drawing lines which arbitrarily divide people when their memories remain undivided. All the characters are well rounded. In Tridib, the narrator’s uncle, Gosh draws one of the most unique characters of our times. Narrator’s fascination with him is understandable as Tridib travels the world through his imagination. Gosh subtly tries to undo the myth that boundaries restrict as there are no barriers in imagination. Though Gosh is a little mean to narrator’s cousin and childhood love, Ila, but her thus portrayal is crucial to showcase the confusions which the people who live away from their native place, harbour and the prejudices they face. Gosh gives adequate space to the British Price family and unlike most authors, he doesn’t stereotype them.
Amitav Gosh has to say about “The Shadow Lines”: a book that led me backward in time to earlier memories of riots, ones witnessed in childhood. It became a book not about any one event but about the meaning of such events and their effects on the individuals who live through them.
It is difficult to describe the book any better this. While the central, climactic event – that of a single riot which changed the lives of several people unwillingly pulled into its vortex – is only revealed in the end, the narrator’s journey through the “shadow lines” of geopolitical boundaries, through the past and present, is really an attempt to find some meaning of such meaningless violence.
At one level, it is all about personal relationships. There are a surprising number of characters, given the relatively short length less than 250 pages in the first hardcover American edition, and I found myself fumbling between family hierarchies. Essentially there’s the narrator’s family, and the family of their close English friends.
As evident, the characters span three generations. I have highlighted the ones of central interest. Grandmother and Mayadebi are sisters, who grew up in Dhaka before the partition. While Mayadebi, the more gregarious of the two, marries a diplomat and enjoys a life of stature abroad, Grandmother loses her husband in Kolkata and has to fend for herself and her only son, the narrator’s father. She’s a fighter, refuses any charity, and manages to raise her son, the narrator’s father, who eventually becomes a successful executive.
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