Aravind Adiga's Between the Assassinations

Living in Class

Aravind Adiga's Between the Assasination's is a compilation of short stories taking place in Kittur, South Africa. Kittur is a fake town located "between Goa and Calicut" (1). The stories within the novel occur between the 1980's and 1990's; they hone in on the years following Indira Gandhi's assasination in 1984. The stories in Between the Assasination's are about the societal struggles and corruption brought on by, or coinciding with, the caste system. Each story paints a rather morose, bleak picture of of India in these years. Some stories follow a main character who temporarily triumphs the caste-system but falls back down in the end, while most other stories follow character's who remain pinned by the caste-system, either economically or socially. The novel reveals that the caste system spurred corruption and only separated society by creating a hierachy that ended up pinning people, even those from higher castes, into corners that were impossible to navigate out of. 

 

In Valencia: To the First Crossroads, Adiga portrays a Brahmin woman who is treated lesser than the lowest of castes. The story follows Jayamma, a Brahmin woman by birth, whose family had nine children and could only afford to marry off the first six of them; Jayamma was one of the unlucky children they couldn't afford. Most of the story follows Jayamma staying with the Panchinalli family as one of two servants; the other servant is a Hoyka named Shaila. Jayamma and Shaila do not get along at first because they think less of one another due to their caste-mindsets. "It's not me making the noise, master – it's that Hoyka girl! She doesn't know our Brahmin ways" (227). The advocate, Mr. Panchinalli, tells Jayamma, "She may be a hoyka...but she is clean, and works well" (227). Mr. Panchinalli seems to be outside of the caste-mindset. He treats Jayamma and Shails as equals. But interestingly, Adiga had the Hoyka, Shaila, get married off. Jayamma has no economic freedom and the caste system is pinning her down so she's stuck; she cannot be married nor have sex nor do as she pleases. There's no way for her to move around because all her earnings are sent back to her family who refuse to let her stay with them, and are constantly sending her off to other households to continue working. Shaila is a lower caste and she is far happier than Jayamma. Jayamma is a higher caste but she didn't reap the benefits of being it. The caste system seems to have failed here. The Christian neighbor girl, Rosie, is a minority and probably considered even lower than everyone else yet she is happy. At the end, "a strange thought came to her: maybe, if she sinned enough in this life, she would be sent back as a Christian in the next one" (242). She could be carefree and do as she pleases; she'd be free of the caste system. Jayamma is an example of someone who has no means to wriggle out of the constraints of the caste-system. 

 

In Market and Maidan, Adiga follows Keshava and his brother, Vittal, whose parents are no longer taking care of them and they team up to face society together. They're not actually brothers,"The two of them had been brothers for only a few days" (111). They are in the same boat and this bonds them together as much as any blood ties would. They go to the market place in search of a relative, an uncle, they heard lived there. When they arrive they are told "no Hoykas [live] in this market (112). It's as if they are implying the village is too good to have any Hoykas in it. Their uncle is a shoemaker in the village who initially puts both Keshava and Vittal to work but later he realizes he doesn't have enough work for both boys and he sends Keshava to work with the barber. Meanwhile, the boys are living in an alleyway and get visited by the town "brother" who comes around randomly to collect money for their sleeping arrangements. This portrayal of life in India shows how lowly those in lower castes have to live; they have to pay to sleep on the street. When they couldn't pay, Brother went to hit Vittal but Keshava stopped him and Brother appreciated his bravery by offering him work on the bus. Keshava already had an interest in the buses and jumped at the oppurtunity, which Vittal and the barber did not like. The way Keshava jumped at the opportunity is interesting because it shows the depseration of individuals seeking to better their lives. He was ready to pounce and leave his support group behind, portraying an 'every man for himself' mentality. Keshava excelled and got promoted when another bus driver was injured. For awhile Keshava does well as the bus driver but he still isn't happy and by the end he gets injured and kicked out of his hostel. When he tries to turn to Brother for help, Brother and those in the hostel turn their back on him and say, "This Hoyka is mad! And he stinks! Get him out of here" (141). Then the bus driver, who was injured before Keshava took his job, arrived and offered Keshava food which he rejected because it stank. In this story, the lower caste was able to rise up momentarily but in the end he is just as stuck as anyone within the caste system. His happiness was never met, even as he excelled, perhaps because he knew that eventually he would drop right back down to his Hoyka-level.

In the first three stories of the book, Adiga shows plainly how hard it is for someone of a lower caste to rise up. In The Railway Station, The Bunder, and Lighthouse Hill, the character's are naive and vulnerable to being taken advantage of. Corruption found them all but each one overcomes the obstacle, in a way, at the end of each story yet remains pinned down by their place in society. In The Railway Station, Zaiuddin, who is a Muslim, bounces from job to job and is always accused of theft. He stumbles upon a job getting paid to watch trains but realizes later that he doesn't know why he's collecting the information and decides he can't be a part of it. 

In The Bunder, Abassi is the manager of a factory in Bunder which "has the highest crime rate in Kittur, and is the scene of frequent stabbings, police raids, and arrests" (23). He discovers his employees are going blind because the stitching they're required to do is too detailed. While sitting with a group of thugs one night, Abassi says: "Corruption. It's like a demon sitting on my brain and eating it with a fork and knife" (31). They discuss how they're all being gipped and conned, and he starts to wonder if there's nothing anyone can do to fight back. He feels guilt about the women in the factory going blind and sends them home, with full pay, at the end. 

In Lighthouse Hill, Xerox wants everyone to have the freedom to read this book that is banned. Xerox, like the banned book, is shunned from society because he is the son of an untouchable. At the end of the story, even after being beaten up in prison by a lawyer and policeman, he goes back to the station to warn them he is going to sell the book and at the end he treks up a hill to try sell it. He tells the policeman, "You can break my legs, but I can't stop selling books. I'm destined to do this" (47). Xerox figures whatever the country is trying to hide by banning the book should be revealed to everyone; as the officials beat him he was awakened to the reality of corruption and he hopes others can read this banned book and be awakened to the corruption, as well. 

In each of Aravind Adiga's stories, corruption and economical struggles run rampant in the lives of those in lower castes. All are unable to move from their appointed place in life. The caste system in the novel is viewed as counter-productive and detrimental to many. If anyone is ever able to shift their roles, albeit momentarily, they remain unhappy and discontent; they know inevitably something will happen to push them back into their roles. Adiga's sonorous depiction of the caste-system is accurate and quite telling of how life changed between the assassinations. 

 ©October 2012