anil summary of headman

One of the big themes in Anil is the clash between the characters: the powerful men who run the village and the scared men and women who work for them. The biggest contrast, however, is between the adults and the child, Anil.

Anil

Anil is seven. Both his parents work as servants of the headman of a small Indian village. His future is therefore likely to be very poor, with no education and no prospects. But as he lies awake, looking at a star through a hole in the thatched roof, "he found the star fascinating. His parents would not even stop for a second to gape at a star. But he did. Because he believed in the magical wonders of life. Because his dreams were bigger than him."

This tells us that Anil, as a small child, is not limited by his humble birth; he is limited by the compromises that his parents and other adults make.

When the headman urges the villagers to agree to a cover-up of the woman's murder, the adults whisper and mutter about the woman being abused but do not openly oppose the authority of the headman. But star-gazing Anil finds himself openly telling the terrible truth.

At the end of the story, when Anil is being sent away, he is confused and upset and he cries out in protest. But his last words show that he understands what is being done. He cries out, "I will never forget you Appa, or forget Amma. I will never forget this town and the sin that it buries today."

In the first paragraph there is a sentence that is chilling. "In a few years, he would also be working for the headman, though he had no knowledge of this." Does this mean that, despite his education, despite his knowledge of the village's guilt, despite his "star" and his dreams, he will in fact return to the village and to the cycle of servant obeying master?
The headman

During the night of the murder, we have no idea of the identity of the second killer. But it is pretty obvious by the end of the story that it is the headman. He is Marimuthu's brother and it is