written by Anita Desai. Literarture

1. Melissa Choong
Siti Anati
Wan Noor Amira
Jazlie Jaffar

2. THEMES

3. Hardships in Life
• Lila struggles for the survival of their family in the
absence of their drunken father and ill mother.
• As portrayed in the beginning of the novel, the
opening scene is described to be an unstable
environment.
• The mother, who has been chronically ill and
is bed-ridden. Their father is an alcoholic, which
forces Hari and Lila to manage the family.
• There is much stress on them due to the constant
demand of meeting the need of money. Although
their father was earning money, he used to spend
it to buy alcoholic materials. He doesn’t work
anymore after he sold his boat to pay debts.

4. Kindness
• Jagu takes pity on Hari and welcomes him to work in
his restaurant (Sri Krishna Eating House)
• Mr Panwallah (owner of Ding-Dong watch shop, beside
Jagu’s restaurant) instills confidence in Hari and
comforts him when he is terribly home sick
• Mr. Panwallah gives Hari a vivid and inspiring future by
teaching him on watch mending

5. Rich and Poor
• The rich, the city man and an educated stand in one
category and the poor, a villager and an uneducated stand
in an other category, the rich has a distinguished feature,
a city man is supposed to be smart and an educated
person intelligent, and the other category is just the
opposite of them.
• Many a times the first category of the people fools and
ridicules the second category of the people, which is
unfair.
– Mr Pinto fooled the villagers
– Mr de Silva’s insulting words towards Hari’s father
– Dark man wearing blue shirt over white pyjamas conversation
with Hari

6. Adaption to Changes
• Hari went to Bombay all alone and were
able to work there without changing and forgetting his
family and origin.
• He never spent anything there - not even go to cinema
or buy cigarette when he was in Bombay in order to
save money.
• Thul’s people able to adapt to the new development
occurs in their village and still maintaining the
environment, e.g the hills, still topped by the small
white cube of the temple.

7. Adaption to Changes
• . The villages and their lands, groves and deserts have
been replaced by great companies.
• The natural environment does not exist anymore as it was
earlier. These changes are profitable in the short-run but
destructive in long-run.
• The villagers are opposing but who will listen to their
yelling.
• The government is implementing its master plans with
force and in result the small farm and land owners
become the labors and workers of the various companies
established in the area or start doing some thing else.
• Their calm, relaxed and joyful life turns to a hardworking
and restless lobar life.

8. Responsibility towards others
• Lila, as the eldest, took the responsibility of
taking care of her family as both of her
parents are incapable to do so.
• Hari went all the way to Bombay to find better
job and earn money for his family

9. PLOT

10. Introduction
- The exposure of the characters in the novel including the six members of the family
- Lila, Hari, the Mother, the Father, Bela and Kamal
Rising action
- The government wants to build a big factory at their village
- The family becomes the victim of the industrialism
Climax
- Hari decides to follow the demonstration with the fishermen and the villagers to object the
government plan.
- Hari goes to the Metro city, Bombay to meet the politicians
But it ends with nothing
At there, he meets many people exactly same like him but they already changed their life better

11. Falling action
- Hari meets Jagu and he takes Hari as his worker in the restaurant
- Hari also works with Mr. Panwallah, a watch repairer
- The rich family, DeSilva helps Lila’s mother and brings her to the
hospital and supports the bills
Resolution
- Hari goes back to the village by the bas from Bombay with money
to help his family.
- The family becomes more stable with the help from the rich family
- The father turns into a new leaf as he stops from drinking toddy
and pays all his debts
- They celebrates Diwali happily together

12. Characters
Hari
• The ONLY son
• 12 years old
• Migrated to Bombay
liLA
• Eldest child
• 13 years old
• has to take care of the family
Mother
• An anemic
• Grows weaker and weaker everyday
• Permanently bed-ridden

13. Father
• A drunken stupor
• Visit the local toddy shop daily
Rich DeSilva
• The rich person in the metro city, Bombay
• Helps the poor family
Jagu
• The owner of the Sri Krishna Eating House
• Takes Hari to work with him
• Hari found out that Jagu also a drunker like his father

14. CHARACTERS WHICH DEVELOP THE
PLOT
HARI
LILA
JAGU & MR
PANWALLAH
THE FATHER