Ashoke: What impact does the train wreck have on him? Why does he marry? Why does he not want to return to India? What does he enjoy about his life? What motivates him?
Ashoke is an admirably dedicated scholar with a profound fondness of Russian literature. All his life he has found joy in the stories brought to life while reading the books his grandfather gave to him. He loved those books so much that "Nothing roused him. Nothing distracted him. Nothing caused him to stumble" (12). On that day of his unfortunate train wreck, Ashoke talks to a fellow passenger named Ghosh who gives Ashoke some advice. "You are still young. Free. Do yourself a favor. Before it's too late, without thinking too much about it at first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late" he tells Ashoke, but he in turn replies to Ghosh: "My grandfather always says that's what books are for; to travel without moving an inch" (16). The deep traumatizing experience of the train wreck has left Ashoke with a sense of just how fragile human life is. At any moment he can fall dead from unfortunate sequence of events. From that moment on Ashoke feels the inspiration and motivation to live life and take in all that it has to offer. Ashoke thus falls victim of that common cliché that preaches: "You only live once. Fulfill your dreams," etc. Marriage is something many people want to achieve in life and Ashoke feels accordingly so he deems that as one of many goals he wants to accomplish before the end of his life.
After moving to the United States, Ashoke feels as if he has also accomplished another goal of his life; to experience the other parts of the world that are described so vividly in the books he reads. As we see in page 20, Ashoke refused at one point to read the Russian novels that belonged to his grandfather because "those books, set in countries he had never seen, reminded him only of his confinement". Ashoke wanted more than to spend his life in India. Since after the train wreck and until he finally departed his country, "he imagined not only walking, but walking away, as far as he could from the place in which he was born and in which he had nearly died" (20).
What Ashoke enjoys most about his life is the fact that he teaches at a University. "The job is everything Ashoke has ever dreamed of. He has always hoped to teach in a university rather than work for a corporation. What a thrill, he thinks, to stand lecturing before a roomful of American students" (49). Ashoke has achieved a better way of life than he deemed possible in India.
No comments:
Post a Comment