Reflecting on A Fine Balance and the ISU Process...

 

            By the time I put down my copy of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, I had been deeply affected emotionally and intellectually by the experience of reading a book that was so riveting and tragic, and which delved into subject matter entirely foreign to my experience. I have always known that I tend to become highly invested in what I am reading, writing or otherwise engaging intellectually in. The direction that my ISU took allowed me to look deep inside my own human nature and allowed my understanding of this novel to be shaped by the ideologies of the profound characters I encountered in this story. The experience of writing this ISU has allowed me to harness my tendency of strong personal investment and transfer it into deep thought and consideration in terms of what this novel means in context to Canada and to the greater world of literature as well.

            At first the though of conferencing with other students and having to share my writing with them was slightly daunting, as I have always considered my writing a very personal thing.  I began to wonder at first if I might put restrictions on myself. I was afraid that I would write in a more subdued fashion in order to not reveal intimate details about how this book had affected me, and by those means keep the personal details of my writing to myself. However, soon I realized that this was not possible; this book had impacted me far too extensively for me to contain my thoughts about it. This process of letting go, and fully allowing myself to learn and experience through others reading my writing, has definitely assisted my academic and intellectual development-I no longer fear the judgment of others, but welcome their comments and insights with the belief that they will only further my understanding of the task at hand. My personal evolution that has occurred in conjunction with this assignment, follows closely with what I have learned about my novel. My understanding of the Canadian literary scene and humanity in its entirety has progressed deeply through this project, as the ISU requires a much more focused look at literature than I have ever experienced before. A Fine Balance is unlike anything I have ever read previously by a Canadian author, and for a good reason- it takes on the perspective of a Canadian who was not born in our country, but rather India. Nonetheless, Rohinton Mistry now resides in Canada, and writes with just as much intelligence on the human condition as any other Canadian author. I had always known the importance that multiculturalism brought to the Canadian identity, but never before had I encountered the vast impact it has had on Canada’s literary works. Not only did reading and writing about this novel educate me on an issue of great importance- the history of Indian people and The Emergency of 1975- but it made me realize that the nature of the human spirit spans beyond the definition of countries and borders. I was able to connect with this story on a very personal level, and I realize upon reflection that Rohinton Mistry was able to connect each prominent issue of the story to the reader because he effectively harnessed the intrinsic qualities of the human spirit. This has become excellent direction for my own writing as well, as I have seen how to create a story with great emotional impact. Humans all over the world experience the same conditions of emotional life, no matter their background, and it was this aspect of the human condition that Mistry relied upon in order to communicate the emotion of his story. 

            Through the experience of writing this ISU I have become acquainted with my own ability to take a story and examine exactly how it has affected me, and have also discovered how much I enjoy that process. Had I simply read this book independent from this assignment, I do not believe I would have as clear an understanding of its complexity and its value as a piece of Canadian literature. I am therefore grateful for the insight this ISU has brought me in terms of self and literary discovery. In conclusion, I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who desires a compelling and though-provoking read and is also prepared to be thoroughly moved by its content. 

Explication: Truly Falling Prey to Cruelty and Misfortune

            The brutality of life in India is skillfully painted by Rohinton Mistry in A Fine Balance and evokes trauma and pain in the reader on a scale that not even Polti’s classification could attest to. This leaves the very essence of the novel’s cruel dramatic situations engrained in one’s consciousness for a time that extends beyond the book. It’s drama is not the kind concocted only of clever prose and heightened imagery, but of the very essence of the human condition, and the ultimate pain that one can experience in the raw and fragile state of cruelty. I strongly believe that the horrors the characters in this novel face transcend conventions, for these horrors are not limited to a few specific events, but rather are represented by their entire lives. The lives of Maneck, Dina, Ishvar and Om are larger than their two dimensional existence on paper, however in the confines of their literary home, they become defined at the end of the novel by the seventh dramatic situation- what George Polti calls “Falling Prey to Cruelty or Misfortune.” Polti explains this situation with the elements of a master, an unfortunate and a misfortune, all of which are displayed through the complex lives of the main characters. There are two central ways in which the characters of this novel begin their consuming relationship with life’s unfortunate cruelties; through losing the status of what Polti calls “the master” of their lives and secondly by falling from an already meager existence. Both of these aspects create an incredibly dynamic portrayal of the ways in which people live through the dramatic situation of misfortune.

            All of the characters in this book are left in a state that promises no recovery at the end of their stories, but of those who have lived with some measure of benevolence in their lives beforehand, we as readers are able to experience their capture by cruelty with a greater sense of tolerance, rather than dismay. We believe in this way that they may still have the strength to regain control of their lives, and can be affected more deeply as we anticipate the outcome. This is the case for three characters I will address, Maneck, Dina and Beggarmaster. Dina takes on a quieter sense of equilibrium than the other two, showing a facet of dealing with suffering that is different than the other two in this category. Instead of giving up her life to explicit misery, she simply continues silently forward, and is able to demonstrate the resilience that we as humans are capable of in the face of misfortune. She has lived a life of great pain and great uprising, arriving at her place in threshold of the story by living through the death of her husband killed on his way to buy ice cream. ‘ “A bastard lorry driver,” said the sub-inspector. “Hit and run. No chance for the poor man I think. Head completely crushed.” ’(Mistry, 51).  Throughout her days she rose out of the confines of her brother’s care, opened up shop by employing the two tailors Ishvar and Om, and fiercely fought her oppressive landlord, and was able to keep her flat for much of her life. But as all of the characters in this book do, she met the master of cruelty in the end, having the land lords “goondas” evict her when she realized the “the law works just like a lemon and spoon race,”(Mistry, 657)-she was simply unable to walk fast enough to beat the inevitable tragedy. Yet in the end she finishes the book without a trace of regret, opening her arms to the misfortune that has enveloped her. The last line of the book captures the essence of her ability to cope with tragedy and portrays the way in which she was forced into a eerie calm, for after everything that had transgressed she simply “dried her hands, and decided to take a nap before the evening meal.”(Mistry, 713)

            Maneck and Beggermaster are subjected to a far crueler end by their misfortunate fall from the apparent mastery of their lives. Yet they become just as defined by what Polti calls “falling prey to cruelty and misfortune” as they allow it to dictate the outcome of their lives. Maneck has existed throughout this story, with the ability to maintain a moderate level of complacency given the turmoil the goes on all around him. He has the support of his background and mostly loving family where “he would hear the familiar sounds from downstairs as his father opened up the store and stepped outside to sweep the porch.”(Mistry, 231) However this is not enough to keep him within the reaches of happiness. He crumbles into a pitiful state of existence after his second mother, Dina, is evicted, and his dear friends Ishvar and Om are forced to become beggars when the government forcibly castrates them. He takes his last leap into the arms of misfortune at the end of the book- “Now the express tracks could be seen in the distance…when the first compartment had entered the station, he stepped off the platform and onto the gleaming silver tracks….Maneck’s last thought was that he still had Avinash’s chessmen.”(Mistry, 710) This is the last image of Maneck that we as readers are left with, and it engrains us with the impression of someone who has succumbed to the cruelties of life, defining his character by the situation of misfortune. We are given a much more confined glimpse into the life of Beggarmaster, yet as readers we can gather that he has been able to rise up from the slums he was born into and become the master of the “unfortunates”, hence his title. Yet he meets a horrific end and is murdered by someone he has previously tried to give assistance to- “When Beggarmaster entered, he jumped upon his back and tried to stab him…He who had lived by the beggings of helpless cripples, died by those beggings, rooted by their heaviness.”(Mistry, 643) In the end of this book, the characters who had been hanging onto the wisps of tangled hope that Mistry hid in the confines of their stories, were left without any means of surviving life’s cruelties, therefore defining their lives by Polti’s seventh dramatic situation.

            As painful as it is to observe characters fall prey to cruelty and misfortune from an initially contrasting state of existence, nothing evokes more pain in a reader than helplessly watching those who have nothing, fall into a deeper state of lack and misfortune. This was the epitome of Ishavar and Om’s circumstance, for without a doubt they experienced a more difficult life, on a more unprecedented scale than I have ever encountered before in a literary composition. They lived their life simply trying to get by and dwell comfortably in their horrendously meager circumstances. At times they would pay a man to sleep in the doorway of his shop with the constant notion that “If a customer comes for medicine you will have to move. Then don’t say I spoiled your sleep. No refund for spoiled sleep.”(Mistry, 358) These two tailors as I mentioned in my previous writings have risen out of the village when there entire family was murdered, but in the end are castrated and disabled by the very same man that ended the lives of their loved ones. Ishvar cries out, “I have let down your dead father! Our family will die without children, it is the end of everything-everything is lost!” (Mistry, 620) when “with a swift incision, the doctor removed the testicles.”(Mistry, 622) A Fine Balance literally becomes the embodiment of the next course in their lives as they are reduced humiliatingly to roam the streets as beggars in search for the human kindness that they have not encountered in all of their lives, except by Dina’s generosity. However they are alive if nothing else, and this balances out the heaviness of death that pervades the ends of the other character’s stories. They are nonetheless defined by the dramatic situation of cruelty and misfortune as is the motivating forced of each challenge Ishvar and Om must face and tragedy becomes their most memorable companion for the reader.  Their lives are completely demolished in one fell swoop of fate and they become the ultimate prey of misfortune with cruelty’s master as Thakur Dharamsi the man who killed their family and took away their hope.

            By the end this story I was left in a state of absolute shock and even personal agony from having experienced vicariously, the truly honest fall from mercy that these characters exemplified. The dramatic situation of cruelty and misfortune was able to evolve, by Mistry’s prolific telling of a remarkable story, into not only the identity of the central characters, but into the entire scope of life and the human condition that was presented. By reading A Fine Balance I had the opportunity to experience the absolute pain of tragic suffering, but also the remarkable beauty that comes when you realize misfortunes are part of the fine balance of all our lives. 

 

Apologia of A Fine Balance

On Friday November 7^th at seven o’clock, The River Run centre in Guelph housed an annual event know as a Lecture on “What it means to be Canadian”, where a collection of Canadian writers, artists and other culturally motivated individuals presented varying facets of their life’s work in front of an audience, who sought an answer to the timeless question-what is a Canadian and what do they have to offer to the world? Yet upon closing of the evening this significance was not explicitly remarked upon even once. This left many members of the audience at a loss for any feeling of solidarity in regards to the significance of what exactly these people had contributed to the canon of Canada’s identity. At first, one might consider this a deep flaw within the structure of such an event, but at a closer glance it can be concluded ironically that this reflects the exact nature of the complexity behind the Canadian identity. Rohinton Mistry becomes a symbol of this complex identity when we discover he is a Canadian author, originally of Indian dissent. A Fine Balance as a piece of literature also epitomizes the quality of complexity that Canadian literature upholds as a standard of authenticity. Canada cannot be represented by one face, one story or any idea of a homogeneous nature and its boundaries do not lie in the defining landforms of Canadian geography. Canada is the meeting place for the world’s people and the histories, stories, and cultures of those individuals. This ultimately makes our nation indefinable by a single means, and displays it as being  reflected by the multicultural intricacy of what becomes a canon of Canadian thought and eventually literature.

            By writing A Fine Balance, a powerful piece of historical fiction from a land out side Canada’s physical boundaries (India), Rohinton Mistry has made a highly significant contribution to the diversity, that Canadian literature like its people, have come to associate an identity with. He has drawn attention to his book in this way, with a fervor that cannot avoid attention. By these means he has enlightened all who read his book by giving them a portrayal of the truths of humanity, a reflection of the Canadian condition, and an affirmation that the importance of all cultures and world histories continue to be reflected undeniably in the fabric of Canadian literature.

            Canada has been known for decades as a multicultural mosaic of global identities.  By writing as a Canadian citizen on the issues of India that affected his personal history, Ronhinton Misrty has made A Fine balance a work of fiction that should be paid attention to for the profound way it portrays our Canadian connection to the global situation. ‘Like Dina, the widow in his story, Mistry grew up in a Parsi family in an Indian city by the sea in his case, Bombay, though he is careful not to identify the city in ''A Fine Balance.''’(Mazzacco, Mary) A Fine Balance is written with such an intimate tone, aptly describing not only the lives of Dina, Ishvar, Om and Maneck in a way that illuminates their fully life like characterizations, but also gives them an intricate past and a history that could only have been created with Mistry’s personal connection to his own life in India. In this case the fact that he was not born as a Canadian citizen was not an impediment to his ability to write like one. He moved to Toronto, shortly after the Indian Emergency of 1975 began, and for this reason was able to write A Fine Balance with the integrity of an affected observer, but without the intense and sometimes overpowering emotion that would have been present had he still be an Indian citizen. In this situation being a Canadian citizen allowed him to blossom as a writer. It gave him the objectivity required to write a deeply honest story, one that could touch Canadians, and also be seen as a piece of the ever growing cultural puzzle that Canadian literature has grown into.  Yet this was not how it was originally received. Many critics and readers alike could not decipher the connection that a story about four characters struggling through the Emergency, could possibly have to Canadian literature. Upon it being nominated for the Canadian Booker Prize, Germaine Greer an Australian critic for the BBC remarked on the nature of this seemingly apparent conflict of interest. ‘"I absolutely hate it." Laughingly she said, "It's a Canadian book about India. What could be worse? What could be more terrible?"’(Richards, Linda) Yet this only assisted Mistry on his journey of breaking free from any constrictions that were conceived about Canadian Literature as he went on to win the Giller prize, and the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Prize for this amazingly poignant novel. (Richards, Linda) These remarkable acknowledgements that were given to A Fine Balance, despite resistance from many citizens who had a different idea of what Canadian Literature should be, reflect once more the contribution this book and author have made to shape our understanding of Canadian lit. This book should be given credit not because it is controversial in a nationalistic sense, but because it brings all Canadians from different backgrounds together on a common cause- accepting that Canada and its literary work is shaped by all cultural forces.  Embracing the histories of all nationalities not only ties us together within our own country but educates us on the universal nature of all of our lives.

            Maragaret Atwood has written an essay concerning the nature of Canadian literature, called the Victim Theory, and by choosing for the plot of A Fine Balance to play out in a tragic manner, Rohinton Mistry has become an example of this truly Canadian identity. He has accurately reflected the condition that Maragaret Atwood says means ‘hanging on, staying alive. Canadians are forever taking the national pulse like doctors on a sickbead. Mistry also reflects with complete accuracy idea that in the canon of Canadain lit ‘Canadian authors spend a disproportionate amount of time making sure that their heroes die or fail. Much Canadian writing suggests that failure is required because it is felt.” Perhaps Mistry ha the courage to completely annihilate the future of every single one of his characters for the reason that Canada upholds and supports this tragic identity and is neutral to the story in a way that India never could be. With a firmer sense of nationalism to India, Mistry might have made the mistake of creating a happy, rewarding ending that made the struggle of his characters worth the effort. Instead he was able to find in his writing the courage to narrate from the place of the victim and truly portray the hardship that his characters faced. By writing A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry has added a new level of honesty to the Canadian literary scene. Canadians have been shown the ways in which a story so foreign to our own, in every sense of the word, can have a deep impact our impression of the human condition and its unlimited capacity for overcoming resistance. This allows each person who reads this story to see how the Canadian identity is shaped by each and every culture, and that is truly a cause for recognition and attention.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. "The Victim Theory." ¶ 4,5.

Mazzocco, Mary. "Rohinton Mistry became an author almost by chance." Knight-Ridder Newspapers. 8 Nov. 2008 .

Richards, Linda. "January Profile on Rohinton Mistry." January Magazine. Mar. 2003. 8 Nov. 2008 .

 

Mistry, Rohinton. A Fine Balance. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland and Stewart Inc., 1995.

 

Sheppard, Tim. "Polti's 36 dramatic situations." Tim Sheppard's Storytelling Resources.                            15 Nov. 2008 .

Welcome!

 With all discussions of literature, a great deal can be gained by way of enhanced knowledge and broader understanding, when thoughtful ideas are shared amongst a group of interested individuals. I invite you to share with me the highly memorable experience I have had by reading, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, as it has left a lasting impression on my view of great Canadian Literature. I anticipate that you will either be sparked to eventually read this novel yourself or to simply comment on my entries and engage in the exchange of thought about its content and its place as an acclaimed piece of fiction. It is my purpose to not only enrich your lives with the concepts that Rohinton Mistry presents, but to glean a deeper awareness of the books many facets for myself, by writing and discussing any entries I have made. As this collaborative process continues to unravel, I believe that each person who visits not only my blog but the others throughout the class, will have their understanding of Canadian Literature shaped in a very purposeful way. For the novel I had selected, does not present content of a topic situated within the country, and is also not written by a Canadian born author. Both of these elements revolve around India, but ultimately reflect the perspective of a man who now lives in Canada. I hope that this will allow my blog to represent the nature of Canada's diversity when it comes to authors, and on a whole act as a piece of the puzzle that will be established through exploring each others blogs. 

The power in Rohinton Mistry's writing choices

Journal #1

 

On Rohinton Mistry’s writing style

 

            When considering literary significance in a piece of writing, one might delve into an enthralling moment whereby the characters of a story are faced with the utmost in an emotional conflict, or subject matter that presents its self as a test against the very core of our morality as readers, in an instance of a horrible twist of fate. However this is difficult to do when what you are presented with is not a story of that caliber but rather a complete, unabridged portrayal of a series of lives, and everything in amongst them that shapes their reality. When I began reading Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, I was immediately captivated, not necessarily by the way in which the plot’s events unraveled, but his writing style; employing a refreshing unpretentious manner. This a story, well more than a story, of the lives of four people, who through life’s synchronicities, came into each others lives and changed the courses of their futures forever. The author sets his characters in India during a time of great political turmoil- the tailor Ishvar and his nephew Omprakash, their employer Dina, and a college student Maneck, who end up living altogether in a in a tiny flat in the heart of India. When dealing with subject matter so beyond what we a Canadian audience can relate to, it would seem as though the author should take on an authoritative, instructive tone, in order for us to be effected by subject matter so beyond our realm of experience, yet he is able to achieve exactly the opposite.  Rather than being the all-knowing, overbearing dictator that many authors on foreign subject matter tend to end up as, he presents his story in a style that is merely sharing a window into the lives of his characters; an invitation to take what we can, be effected how we may and continue on in our lives with what ends up being an intensely powerful impression. The reason that I noticed this in particular was due to the fact that I personally had no previous knowledge of and could never have dreamed to imagine the struggles these people faced, yet as the first few chapters flew by I felt as though I became as involved in their lives as if they were present in my day to day.

            In a very compelling way the author acknowledges the fact that we most likely are completely unaware of the context of this story. He does not expect us to be scholars on the history of political chaos in India, or the caste violence that has been perpetrated for centuries. He realizes that the audience cannot just pick up wherever the author chooses, but that he must gradually expose us to every facet of his characters lives, starting from the fist few moments of their existence, and that is primarily for me what made this story so easy to read and so effective. In a very natural way, as characters wander in and out of the author’s descriptive scope, we are gradually given their entire background, going back as far as to the stories of their parents. When we meet Ishvar and Om on the train in the very first few lines of the book, we join them at a point in their lives when their pasts have merged to bring them to their present situation. They grew up in a small village, dominated by caste violence, with them residing on the lower end of society. They subsequently rose out of their confines when the parents of Ishvar and Narayan (Om’s father) sent them to learn the trade of tailoring so they could escape from the legacy of chamaars that they had been born into. Narayan was murdered along with the entirety of their remaining family members after Om was sent to pursue the same profession, as a sign from the uppers of their caste that they were too far out of line with their successes. We learn details of the equally tragic lives of Dina Shroff, widowed at an early age, left to recompense about her husbands brutal death and faced once again with haunting past of abuse from her brother who had also been her primary caregiver. It is impossible for me to convey the to you the same degree of intensity that I experienced from reading this book, for in order for that to be possible, you would have to know every aspect of their lives. It was this style that the author took in his process that made the people come alive in a way that I have never experienced as strongly from any other story. As I relived their lives throughout this novel, I came to a profound realization, not only about the content of this story but also about the vastness of our lives in general. Very rarely are we given the opportunity to see completely into the soul of another human being or given their memories in a way that makes them come as a second nature to our own. As you look around at the people in your life you must admit to yourself that you will never be given the power to understand them fully in the way that you can understand yourself. For if we could, we would realize their motives and reasoning in the way that we can on a personal level. When Rohinton Mistry chose to approach this story in the way that I have just described, he allowed me to, as completely as I can, understand the inner workings of his characters on a shockingly personal level. After I knew them intimately, understood their lives and their struggles, their choices, everything about them seemed to be wonderfully succinct on a level that I find difficult to comprehend even from those who are flesh and blood around me. A Fine Balance to me was so much more than just a story, it was a life perspective…….

Mr. Valmik and Beggarmaster

 

……...            I believe that when humans consider life, and the lives of those around them, that it becomes a fairly internal process. We seek to define ourselves by our perceptions of awareness, our personal experiences, morals, values and how we are affected by the way in which we react to life. In this story life is only partly what you make of it, and largely what others make of you. As much as the characters in this book are affected by their pasts, the way that they have an effect each upon other and proceed through their interactions has the greatest impression upon the reader. The individuals in this book cannot always evoke epiphany out of their regular state of independence, and I found that it was usually through the synchronicities of their interactions with others that we are brought to a state of immediate recognition. The reason that I personally felt these interactions to be so meaningful is for the reason that strangers at random could create impressions in a sudden way that were very different from the gradual realizations that arose from the relationships of the main characters. Dina, Maneck, Ishvar and Om eventually became the closely-knit family that they never had, but it took me until nearly the end of the story to feel the full affect of their union. There were two people in particular; characters that simply entered the story for a moment that seemed fleeting, but that ended up presenting me with a lasting sentiment. The first is expressed through Maneck’s encounter with an old lawyer, turned proofreader, turned public speaker who sat beside him on one of his earlier train rides. He ends up revealing one of the most heavily dominating themes and the novel’s title- a fine balance:

 

“ ‘Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.’ He paused, considering what he had just said.  ‘Yes,’ he repeated. ‘ in the end its all a question a question of balance.’ “

(page 268)

 

For me personally this statement really allowed me to perceive the book in an altered light; for all of the overwhelming despair that I felt for the characters, as their’s were lives filled mainly with hardship and sufferings, a new sense of optimism, and a fresh lens arose out of this statement. The characters appeared more luminous in their moments of subtle joy, with the smallest things that they would gain the greatest appreciation for, in turn presenting the audience with the possibilities for the scope of human joy. It is really just a question of balance!

            The second upheaval of our understanding comes through a much darker character, Beggarmaster. He rescues Ishvar and Om from one of the many government scandals, an intense “legal” labour camp, in exchange for a monthly payment, which he visits them at Dina’s flat afterwards for collection. I never suspected to find such a memorable sentiment in so harsh a character, yet after Beggarmaster (that is the only name you ever know him by) is faced with his own set of life altering tragedies, his misfortunes cause him to make a statement that stands true for the lives of many in the story. He reveals a symbolic drawing of what I’ve taken to be an illustration of the conflicts Dina, Om, Ishvar, Maneck, as well as Beggarmaster himself all must come to terms with in their lifetime:

 

             “A man with a briefcase chained to his wrist was standing on four spidery legs. His four feet were splayed towards the four points of the compass, as though in a permanent dispute about what was the right direction. His two hands each had ten fingers, useless bananas sprouting from the palms. And on his face were two noses, adjacent yet bizarrely turned away, as though neither could bear the smell of the other.

            They stared at the drawing, uncertain how to respond to Beggarmaster’s creation. He saved them the embarrassment by offering his own interpretation. ‘Freaks, that’s what we are-all of us.’

            Ishvar was about to say that he should not take Shankar and Nosey’s fates entirely upon his own person when Beggarmaster clarified himself. ‘I mean, every single human being. And who can blame us? What chance do we have, when our beginnings and endings are so freakish? Birth and death-what could be more monstrous than that? We like to deceive ourselves and call it wondrous and beautiful and majestic, but it’s all freakish let’s face it.’ “

 

Each person in this story is pulled in all directions of their faith. Challenged by the world they must reckon with their old ways and beliefs in order to continue on their journey from life to death. In spite of the gloom that this message carries, it also allows us to consider that if we are all affected by the flaws of the human condition, then nothing is wrong, and we are in turn limitless in what we take away from life’s lessons. However grim Beggarmaster’s outlook is, I chose to take from it not the negative connotations, but the idea that in the end the constriction and restrictions we place on existence are irrelevant because we all go out the same way. This is a prominent theme throughout the novel, as morals and family values are rooted at the core of all of Ishvar’s, Dina’s and Om’s decisions, but in the end they must come to terms with letting that go. 

Government?

 

…..In light of recent issues with our government and the ridiculous scandals that have been overwhelming the media, I was drawn to and recognized more distinctly the degree to which every country’s government dominates the lives of each individual in society, especially the characters in A Fine Balance. The source of almost all conflicts, sorrows and losses for the tailors, Dina and Maneck come at the hand of the Indian government. As I mentioned previously, this story is set during what I presume was the middle of the last century, when India declared a state of Internal Emergency. Beggar were swept off the streets by order of the Beautification Laws, huts were destroyed leaving millions homeless, and the homeless were then seen as beggars, so they were rounded up and forced to work in intensive labour camps for no pay. The worst part of government destruction and insanity came in the form of sterilization enforcements, where in order to promote the reduction of India’s population, people were first tricked into the medical inferitlization process with hefty cash bribes, and when that failed to be successful enough, teams of unqualified doctors would round up an unfortunate group of individuals from a marketplace for example, and against their will shame them for the rest of their existence so they were unable to have children. The corruption that went on, and was promoted and enforced under a crooked Prime Minister, shocked me to an indescribable degree. The lives of Ishvar and Om, still a young man, were mutilated carelessly; all the while authorities praised the government for the prosperity that they were bestowing upon the country.  The tragedies that were presented openly in this story evoked sorrow comparable to the magnitude of the Holocaust, yet I can almost guarantee that very few people worldwide are aware of the sufferings that went on. The people living within Dina’s flat at this time in India were kept within the sanctions of safety and subdued happiness only by maintaining a fine balance. Beggarmaster played an increasingly important role in maintaining the balance of their lives as political tensions heightened. As was part of his agreement to collect a memorandum from the tailors, he made his visitations regularly, and on one fateful night when the henchmen of the property hungry landlord threateningly destroyed their flat, he made it his duty to protect them. This is for the reason that the government, and in due course the police and other keeper of the “peace” can be paid side with whomever offers the largest bribe. I discovered that at a closer glance the government had greater symbolic representation- they are the chaotic catalyst for change, the fate with the power of movement, able to scatter lives at will. It would seem that only by unfortunate twists of fate are these characters brought to their knees for mercy, however it is actually by the skillful and intelligent hand of life itself. Just as the people of this story must learn to be wary of an irrational government so too must they strengthen themselves for life’s challenges, hence completing the governments symbolic purpose as we become aware of the parallels. As the characters learned, so did I alongside them, that life’s hardships only strengthen us, even at our weakest moments. The government ruined the lives of these characters, but it never had the power to control how they responded to life’s disparities……..

An amazing ending

            As the last few pages of this book flew through my fingers, fatigue drying my eyes, in a desperate attempt to finish this book in time, I was brought back to earth, and could never have been prepared for an ending like the one Rohinton Mistry wrote. It left me feeling heartbroken for the next few days.  I was honestly expecting ‘a happy ending’, whatever that might be for Dina, the tailors and Maneck-a glimpse into the joy and prosperity that life would bestow them after surviving an eternity so filled with hardship. It came as an overwhelming shock to me when fulfillment was nowhere in sight, and as the book ended the bleakness of their pain overwhelmed every single character. I was so confounded, so overwhelmed that the author could leave me with absolute hopelessness and an apparent absence of any redemption. If anything, their sufferings that had come to a head in the last few chapters with their lives on the brink of ruination, were left in complete and irreparable devastation. Without completely giving away the end of the book, I will simply state ambiguously that it ends with a suicide for one character, deaths of almost every related family member, and the other characters are left to struggle through the remainder of their days with all their hope removed due to the government-stimulated castration. I am still struggling desperately to find the author’s reasoning for leaving the book this way-it seems completely contradictory. It is not a fine balance if death has mastery over their lives, and if the book is so heavily dominated by events that completely diminish all hope. I wanted to see it this way at first, as it was easier to get lost in the ocean of despair that flooded the end of this novel, yet I know now that this was not the author’s intention. Through feeling the culmination of this absolutely intense pain, we became aware of the truth of their reality. It is the balance of life and death, and pain and joy, that leaves us with a lasting impression- through the sufferings we are exposed to we experience just how real their seemingly small doses of happiness are and at the same time become aware of the balance the must be maintained when approaching a story in general. Every now and again we need to be jolted awake by the potency that IS real life, and to experience truths we are unaccustomed to. In turn we are left with “a fine balance of hope and despair” concerning all circumstances, for the remarkable individuals within this story and in our lives beyond.