The Ideal And The Real: Characters As Foils And Complements In The Lowland

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to analyze the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland as foils as well as complements. Subhash and Udayan, the principal protagonists of the novel, are poles apart when it comes to their political ideologies and worldviews. One is a radical Marxist and the other is a more balanced and politically neutral person who is skeptical of sudden revolution. One is an admirer of Subhash Bose and Mao while the other practices the Gandhian values of humanity, kindness and tolerance. The paper tries to analyze the contradiction between violent political activism and a pragmatic and humane approach through Udayan and Subhash respectively. Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland which covers a span of almost 60 to 65 years, shows the various political and social changes which the middle and lower middle class family of Calcutta pass through. The novel depicts clashes of various ideologies as they shape the political discourse particularly in the aftermath of independence. The novel tells the story of two brothers who belong to a lower-middle class family of Tollygunge in South Calcutta. Subhash and Udayan are the two brothers who right from the beginning are brilliant students with enquiring minds. Out of them, Udayan is the rebel who, in his quest to change the society, is so blinded by ideology that he destroys his own world. For the ordinary people like Udayan’s parents he might appear to be brave but Lahiri questions such notions of bravery which looses anarchy on the