Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, Nandedwife share at night with a cow. Theoverworked Kachheru is on call at any timeof the day for any odd job, and in return, hehas been allowed a small plot of land tosharecrop whenever his master did notrequire his time. Kachheru has never raisedhis head in rebellion, appropriate for thesubservient caste to which he belonged. He,however, does not stand in his son’s waywhen he desires to get out of the casteridden,poverty-stricken, back-breaking life,to which he and his forefathers had beencondemned to live.” [531] This shows theclass- discrimination in that society. MaheshKapoor was indirectly responsible forKachheru’s reduction to the status of alandless labourer. Indirectly, the higherclassdepressed the lower-class.The reader cannot help but be struckby the ‘invisibility’ of Arun’s obedient peonwho patiently waits for his ‘brown Sahib’in the pouring Monsoon rain. The peon isattributed no speech, and his presence ishardly acknowledged by his boss : “[Arun’s]peon who had been standing in the porch ofthe building, started when he saw hismaster’s little blue car. It has been raining sohard that he had not seen it until it hadalmost stopped. Agitated, he opened theumbrella and rushed out to protect theSahib. The peon, though several inchesshorter than Arun Mehra, contrived to holdthe umbrella over the sacred head as Arunsauntered into the building.” [420] This isthe scene, the significant picture of theupper-class domination of lower-class.It is true that themes of a majorityof novels fall under the realism. The realityof that 1951’s society is depicted in thenovel as the materialistic society,materialistic attitude of characters, and theclass-discrimination. This novel makes usaware of the fact, with a vast range ofcharacters, some of totally influenced bymaterialism. Arun, Meenakshi, Amit,Kakoli, Dipankar, Lata, Haresh, Kabir, Mrs.Rupa Mehra, Maan , Firoz, Nawab Sahib,Mr. Sahgal are perfect examples of such amaterialistic attitude and life-style. Thismaterialistic attitude brings progress, newdimension in some characters’ life - asLala’s decision to marry Haresh maybrought the stable life. Haresh’s decision towork at Czech Shoe Company. Dipankar’sdecision of taking up banking as aprofession instead run behind spiritualism. Itbrought stable life for him.Lata, Haresh, Dipankar, Mrs. RupaMehra get nice fruit of their materialisticattitude whereas Mr. Sahgal, Arun,Meenakshi, Varun, Kakoli, all these, thematerialistic attitude takes them on thewrong path of the life. Due to thesecharacter’s materialistic attitude, societybecomes polluted. This materialistic attitudeis responsible for the demoralization of thesociety. Materialism takes the place ofidealism and spiritualism in this industrialand modern world. Today, the whole worldis influenced by materialism. Materialismhas some merits and some demerits. As itsmerits, it brings the comforts, prosperity andprogress in the human life and in the societytoo. As its demerits, it is responsible fordemoralization, corruption. These demeritsof materialism pollutes the society and takesthe society towards its worst position astoday’s high-class society.References:Chakravarty, Joya. 2003. Indian Writing InEnglish Perspectives. New Delhi : AtlanticPublishers.479 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1
Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, NandedMohanty, Seemita. 2007. A CriticalAnalysis of Vikram Seth’s Poetry andFiction. New Delhi : Atlantic.Pandurang, Mala. 2001. Vikram Seth’sMultiple Locations : MultipleAffiliation. New Delhi : Rawat.Seth, Vikram. 1993. A Suitable Boy.New Delhi : Penguin. [All theparenthetical references hereafter aretaken from the same publication.]480 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1
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