Anita Desai has brought out the culture of the village through her description of the attire of the village. She brings out the culture of the women in the village beautifully. “That’s why they have all those gold bangles.” A lot of importance is given to the sari as it is the ideal Indian dress. Anita Desai has used sari as a tool to show how deeply the villagers were rooted to their culture and traditions. “It was pink and had a pattern of brown flowers on it, and a border of violet” Anita Desai’s description of the saris show that the villagers deeply honored their customs. We see her descriptive writing styles when she describes the details of the medicine man. “He was a sharp looking man and he kept all kinds of powders and pills in packets tied into the folds of his white dhoti and pink turban”
The villager’s livelihood was earned through fishing. The simplicity of the village
is shown as they depend on fishing for their income. ”The fishing fleet was
coming in.” The village depended on these fishermen for food. As this was the means of income even young children were made to work on the boats for some money for food. ”The only boy in the village with no boat and no job on the fishing boats.” Anita Desai beautifully, through her linguistic styles, shows how important it is for a person in the village to earn an income. The words ”only boy” shows how each person relied on fishing. The village’s culture is portrayed as they depend on nature for survival.
The villagers themselves bring out culture and traditions. Their behavior clearly shows the mores of the villagers. The village is far away from the modern world. In the village they follow the customs which were followed by their ancestors. one of the customs of the village was that men were looked up to. Men dominated the society. “No one dared tell him, least of all their mother.” Through her language, Anita Desai portrays a society where women were afraid of standing up to men. The women are portrayed as delicate and are afraid of risking an argument with the men. Women were just restricted only to do their housework. ”On the farther bank women were washing their clothes.” The children were expected to help with the running of the house. “She had given up going to school long ago, so that she could stay home and do the cooking and washing and look after the others.” Anita Desai has beautifully shown how a society works where each person follows the path which was set by their ancestors.
To bring out the culture of the village, Anita Desai shows how marriage I the village was performed and how it contrasted to the weddings in the urban life. The simplicity is shown as the girls depend on the their parents to seek a life partner for them. “Her parents were trying to find her a husband.” The culture is seen as they rely on their parents to find them a life partner. Their respect and obedience to their parents is shown which reflect on their culture. Anita Desai even shows how weddings were conducted through the ways of their ancestors. “The bridegrooms might demand a dowry.” Dowry was a custom followed in villages, in the olden days, where the people from the bride’s side had to give a gift to the bridegroom. This tradition is followed shows how deeply rooted the villagers are in their culture and tradition. Anita Desai, through her writing skills, portrays the trauma a young boy faces trying to get his sisters married. “Buy them their wedding finery – silk saris and gold jewellery – and arrange their wedding to which the whole village would have to be invited.” The tone used is a tensed one as she conveys to the reader the fact that even if the villagers are poor, they still have to provide the basic necessities.
Villages are not effected by the televisions and video games. They rely most on their customs and traditions. The villagers led straightforward lives. Culture shines brightly through the behavior of the villagers. “Automatically adjusted the fold of her purple sari over her grey head as women always did when visitors arrived.” The villagers’ culture has been shown throughout the novel by Anita Desai. She has focused on how the villagers behave to different things. Their respect for other people, obedience towards their parents, and truthfulness towards religion is all clearly brought out by Anita Desai. ”Dressed in an outlandish costume unlike anything worn by the women in Thul.” Anita Desai put her skillful writing skills to work as she shows the confusion of a simple boy who has never seen any other type of clothes on a women except a sari. The phrase “outlandish costume unlike anything worn by women” shows the reader their simplicity. Anita Desai has traveled to great depths into an Indian village to portray their culture and traditions. “Now the wife stepped forward to break a coconut open on its prow were a pair of eyes had been painted black and white.” Here narrative tone use of phrases like “break a coconut open” and “eyes had been painted” gives the reader a clear insight into the Indian culture. Anita Desai’s language has truly mad the novel more interesting to read. “Folded her hands and bowed.” She shows how deeply the villagers were connected to their traditions. She even shows how they used nature in their rituals. “Lila took a flower from her basket and scattered them about the rock” Anita Desai shows the strength of Indian culture through the phrase, “I feel wealthy when I see all of you beside me.” This phrase is used by a mother to her children. Anita Desai’s language creates an emotional wave in the reader after this phrase.
Religion and festivals play an important part in the life of a villager. Anita Desai has used these aspects to truly bring out culture of the villagers. The villagers’ have a lot of faith in their religion. ”Leave it to the gods – that is all we can do, leave it to the gods.” Anita Desai uses linguistic devices to show how devoted the villagers are towards their religion. “It was a sacred rock, a kind of temple in the sea”. Anita Desai has cleverly compared the rock to a temple as it plays religious importance to the villagers. She also shows that just as how a person goes to a temple to pray, the villagers frequently visit the rock. The villagers often associated nature with religion. “Offered them the garland with a prayer of thanksgiving.” The religious aspect is also shown through plays acted in the village. “It will be the Radha-Krishna story, or the Rama-Sita , or the Nala-Damayanti” Festivals are also used by Anita Desai to show how deeply rooted the villagers are to their culture. Her descriptive style is clearly shown as she describes Diwali. “A rangoli had been drawn on the veranda floor with colored powders, yellow and magenta and white, and a big red paper lantern hung from the beams, its streamers rustling in the wind.” The bright colors are purposely used by Anita Desai to show to the reader that even though they were poor, the festive season bought happiness to the village. She continues to demonstrate her skill as she describes the food. “Friend dumplings stuffed with shredded coconut and chunks of crystallized pumpkin and marrow.” She even gives details as to why the festival takes place. ”They had returned to Ayodhya to find the whole city lit up to receive them.”
Their simplicity is shown as Anita Desai show how the villagers believe in superstitions. This also reflects on their culture. The children’s’ belief in the medicine man if a proof if their simplicity. They thought that because he could help people get better, he used magic. ”All this gave him the air of a magician, of witchcraft.” Their belief in demons also shows their innocence and simplicity. “Holy ash, purified ash. It will purify you within. It will drive away the demons that create the fever.” Anita Desai has used the supernatural element to give the reader an idea of how the children led simple lives.
One more aspect of the Indian culture is their unity which has been boldly shown in the novel. Anita Desai has used unity to replicate the villages’ culture. They support one another and stand by each other during problems. “No, no, no, the people roared back.” Anita Desai uses repetition to show the unity of the villagers when they go to Bombay. “But it was the men from his village who went out fishing” Anita Desai uses language to show that even though the villagers are in trouble, they support each other.
Anita Desai again portrays the Indian culture when the village is faced up with industrialization. Their culture is shown is they want to preserve the land their ancestors left them for their children. “No one can take our land.” They are afraid that industrialization may have negative effects on the village. “How can the government choose without asking us?” Anita Desai shows how much the villagers honor their land that they decide to go up against the government. “Then come with us to Bombay to tell the Chief Minister Sahib what we think of his plans.” This show how deep the villagers’ culture is.
