Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

work at an “...all-Hindu establishment” (Desai 155). Even though he expects the work conditions to be
better than the other restaurants, he soon finds out that America changes even the most “authentic Hindu.”
The employers decide to room their employees in the basement so that they could “cut the pay to a quarter
of the minimum wage, reclaim the tips for the establishment, keep an eye on the workers, and drive them
to work fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-hour donkey days” (162).
The life Biju is living is a far cry from the life that his father imagines his son is experiencing. The
father believes that in America his son is swiftly moving up in society, and this makes him feel more
important than other people and his own living conditions tell him that he is. He is constantly telling others
about his son in America and beaming with pride. By delving into Biju’s and his father’s lives
independently, the narrator opens up the reader to the emotional and perceptual divide between the
characters.
The same is true with Sai and the judge. Desai explores each of them separately, moving rapidly
from story to story in a way that is omniscient but again seems limited. As the narrator spends time with
Sai’s character, readers realize that she can see the actions of the judge but cannot know his thoughts and
motivations. Because of this, Sai cannot see the judge’s inability to relate to her as well as his extreme
loneliness. Instead of being able to sympathize or relate to him, she sees only the coarse side of the judge
and assesses him as a crass old man instead of one who has suffered immensely from his time spent in
England.
As the narrator spends time with the judge’s perspective, the narrator seems unable to see the
thoughts and desires of his wife, Nimi. After having been alone in England for so long and shunning the
company of others, the judge is no longer able to truly relate to another human being as he was able to
relate to his wife before he left India for his schooling. In fact, he is barely able to relate to his fellow
Indians and even felt that “An Indian girl could never be as beautiful as an English one” (185). By the time
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