The Creative Process: The Arts of War (Spring 2017)

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Spring 2017 The Arts of War than starting-points, which if followed into actual experience for only a moment are quickly left behind. Imperialism consolidated the mixture of cultures and identities on a global scale. But its worst and most paradoxical gift was to allow people to believe that they were only, mainly, exclusively, white, or Black, or Western, or Oriental.’ This theme resonates throughout the novel, throughout, in fact, the course of colonial history. War and colonialism brought about a sense of hybridity among races of the world- reflecting, in a way, the fact that no race is pure; yet, this purity of race was highly emphasized upon by the colonizers. In this novel, similarly, readers find that all the relationships made throughout the three generations go beyond the narrow-mindedness of maintaining a pure race. The opposite, in fact, is where the basis of the novel lies on- a homogenized global culture arising out of heterogeneity, yet targeted by the ‘superior White’ race. The novel also focuses on the journey of life and the process of growing. One watches all the characters grow in their opinions. Arjun, a soldier himself, is later disillusioned about the British, finds an anti-colonial consciousness and seeks to join the movement towards India’s independence. Thus follows a ‘decolonization of the mind’ (Ngugi wa Thiong’o, 1986) of Arjun as well as his fellow soldiers. Similarly, Uma, while initially prone to an almost aggressive sense of nation and community, later develops the nonviolent view. She admits to the need of attaining reform of the Indian society along with its independence. Thus, this novel is essentially an amalgamation of war, dislocation, love and death, exile, and helplessness. It reflects on the point of view of the colonized, and in doing so, never leaves South Asia. Ghosh, speaking about his novels, said, “My fiction has always been about places that are states in the process of coming unmade or communities coming unmade or remaking themselves in many 22
The Creative Process ways.” While focusing on the modus operandi of colonization in Burma, the focus in India is on how colonialism unified the country in an anti-colonial embrace, and how it evolved an anti-colonial psyche in Malaya. The three nations have a shared history of being born out of an anti-imperialist struggle, and being torn, shaped, and reformed by the consequences brought about by the wars fought in those decades. The Glass Palace questions the very essence of war by being ruthless in its description of war’s reality, and refuses to cater to a notion that euphemizes the adversity it brings about. Indeed, the question posed by Ghosh can be summed up by a line from the novel itself- “Was this how a mutiny was sparked? In a moment of heedlessness, so that one became a stranger to the person one had been a moment before? Or was it the other way around? That this was when one recognized the stranger that one had always been to oneself; that all one’s loyalties and beliefs had been misplaced?” -- Rashika Desai is pursuing Arts at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. She is a bibliophile and enjoys reading and writing poetry, who wants to learn as many languages as she can. 23
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The Creative Process: The Arts of War (Spring 2017)

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