The Shadow Lines By Amitav Ghosh Analysis

After seeing this house, Ila and the narrator qurrel about the importance of radical politics. Ila considers the death of Alan, Mike and Dan who raised their voices against war-mongering as sad because they were casualties of a ruthless nationalism. She also thought that Alan and his friends, who were witness to the war and the fight against fascism, must have been happy as she was in her political activism. The quarrel about courage and political activism continues between Ila and the narrator. Finally the narrator does admit that some form of commitment reflects involvement and political activism which he and his middle – class friends would never have dared to do. He says, “for I had been with Ila once, when she had
While in Calcutta, Tridib used to tell the narrator about his experiences. Tridib was his mentor and alter ego. He taught the narrator to use his imagination precisely and accurately. The narrator met Ila, his cousin in Delhi and they became good friends. Here the narrative shows the psycho – sexual growth of Illa and the narrator. In the second part of the novel, the narrator along with other family members is shown visiting Dhaka to visit their ancestral house. The narrator’s grandmother and her sister were excited to visit their house. Their old uncle still lived ther with a Muslim mechanic but he had become senile and
In this section, the narrator as chronicler tries to understand the various nuances and meanings political freedom. Nationalism and political freedom acquired different shades of meaningafter Independence and partition. Earlier Indian nationalism was a weapon utilized by the freedom fighters in their struggle against foreignrulers. However, this struggle could not even ensure the territorical integrity of India. Partition was viewed as the price for political freedom from British colonial rule. After partition, nationalism in the Indian context changed its meaning to exclude people on the other side of the border, both in East and West Pakistan. So different viewpoints of Partition, nationalism and political freedom emerge in this section. It may be recalled that in Indian English fiction there are several novels that belong to the genre of the partition