The suttee April 28, 2008

In my opinion, the author of the thesis interpretated Olivias behavior wrong. I don’t think that she is in favour for this ritual, as she isn’t interested in the indian culture in general. She pretends to be, because she is looking for attention. Anybody, especially Douglas, is interested in her opinion. They seem to ignore her, because she isn’t involved in the indian, daily life. With her comment on the suttee, she provocates and gets the attention of the others. In addition to that, Olivia feels untended by Douglas. He is working the whole day and they havn’t much time to talk to each other.

So with her comment, she reaches her goal and is attended by the others and Douglas.

Plotting the Story (pp.24-49) April 19, 2008

Explain why it is difficult (p. 30, l. 11) for Olivia in Satipur.

I think there are several circumstances, which make it difficult for Olivia to live in Satipur.

She is married with Douglas for just four months. This is not too long, so I’m sure that she misses him a lot. Douglas works the whole day and Olivia and he see each other only in the morning and in the evening. And in the evening, Douglas works, too. Olivia doesn’t know about Douglas’ work, so she doesn’t really understand what is on his mind and I think this is not helpful in a relationship. In addition to that, Olivia hasn’t got many other friends. When she’s together with the other British women like Beth Crawford and Mary Minnies, she feels like an outsider. She hasn’t got much in common with the other women, because they’re older and had surely went through hard times together, so they are best friends and have no real ambition to get to know Olivia better. We can see this, when they only talk about superficial subjects.

Besides, Olivia isn’t a very open-minded character. She prefers to be at home, where she feels protected and where she is reminded to her home. She isn’t interested in other cultures and doesn’t want to explore her new home, India. I’m sure she would prefer to live in Great-Britain, but for Douglas’ sake she stays in India.

Plotting the Story (pp. 24-49) April 19, 2008

Outline the experiences of the „odd trio“(p. 26, l. 3), describing their motivation for coming to India and their feelings now.

The “odd trio” contains a couple and another young man. They are British. The couple got interested in the Hindu religion, when they visited a swami in London. The atmosphere and his words about love influenced them strongly, so they decided to visit India, searching for spiritual enrichment. When they finally reached India, they experienced a whole lot of misadventures during their journey through the country. They were robbed, cheated; the girl had been molested and so on. They also got ill. Now they seem to feel disappointed and embittered. Especially the girl is very indignant and disappointed of the people, who are all “dirty and dishonest”.

The other man came to India, after he had read some Hindu scriptures. In India, he had found a guru, who had given him initiation. From that point on, he lives as an ascetic, without any possession. He also travels through the country, to visit several temples. His food, he has to collect in a bowl, but this doesn’t work very well, so his family has to send him money. He had some illnesses too. At first, he wasn’t disappointed of India, like the couple, but now he had “renounced the world”. Nevertheless, he still lives as an ascetic and doesn’t seem to feel as disappointed as the couple.

Biography of the unkempt European (Diary entry No. 1) April 2, 2008

Biography of the unkempt European (Diary entry No. 1)

If I had known what was waiting for me in India, I would have stayed at home. My aim was to let the old, boring world behind me and settle down in India, this marvellous country. Some friends of mine, who had already visited India, had told me about it and I became totally enthusiastic about it. They reported on the beautiful countryside, the friendly people and the spiritual experiences they had made. I started dreaming about it, about the life I would live there. The reason for my dream has probably been my knowledge about reality. My whole family was arguing. My parents splitted up with my grand-parents, because my grandfather had been a party member of the NSDAP and has still been a Nazi. I hated them too, but this conflict was not the only reason for my escape from Europe. It has been the whole, western society. The most important matter was: Money! All they cared about was money. Money and how to earn it. No place for feelings and dreams. For love and friendship. This had been my image of my home, before I left it. One day I had the chance to flee: My best friend and his sister decided to leave home for travelling all over the Asian continent. Immediatly I saw my perfect image of India in front of my eyes and without thinking another second about it, I decided to join them. The first months, all of us were really happy and content. We had n’t much, but we didn’t need much to eat. We had all these impressions to digest. Six months after our departure, we finally reached Bombay and decided to stay there for some time. Our plan was to search jobs and to look for a spiritual community, we could join. Unfortunately, we failed. Slowly we realized that it wasn’t that easy to live in this strange country. We missed our families and friends, the familiar environment, the german food and our whole, comfortable life. At the same time, our money seemed to flow away. My best friends’ sister was the the first who wanted to go back home. She became more and more frightened every day. Three months after our arrival in Bombay, my best friend got ill. He became a victim of the smallpox epidemic. That was the final argument for them to leave India. But I hadn’t finished with my dream, I wanted to stay. I wondered, how they planned their return journey, both of them hadn’t enough money. When I asked them about this subject, they told me that they wanted to collecht some money and leave as early as possible. This was the last conversation. The next day they had gone, not without taking my whole money with them. This was the turning point. I had nothing, only the clothes on my body. I wasn’t able to pay the hostel and lived on the streets, begging for food and something to drink. Of course, I became ill, too. I have no idea what to do; I havn’t got anybody who helps me. India, especially Bombay, possesses enough of these stranded, homeless, illusionated Europeans, who have no place in life. And I’m no exception.