Whilst reading "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard," by Kiran Desai, and "Midnight's Children," by Salman Rushdie, I noticed a few aspects of Indian literature that differ from American Literature.
For one thing, they refer to weather conditions that do not exist here, such as the yearly monsoons. "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard" uses vid contrast between the conditions before and after the monsoon arrives. Before it, it is hot, dry, and gloomy. When it arrives, the sky immediately goes dark, and the streets are flooded with cool, clean water. In America, we associate rain with sadness, suffering, or even death, whereas this book clearly displays it as a celebration of life.
The differences do not end there. In America, we live in a mostly Christian society. That's just how it is. In India, most people are either Hindu or Muslim. That creates a very different culture and atmosphere. At the beginning of "Midnight's Children," the narrator recalls a funny anecdote of a time his grandfather got a bloody nose when he tried to pray on a particularly cold day. He recites the part where he spreads out his prayer mat and begins to pray as if that is nothing out of the ordinary. He recites this as if it were commonplace, and in fact, it is in India.
These are just a couple of the many cultural aspects of India that influenced its culture, but they take an important role in truly understanding this particular genre of novel.
This is my little blog where I discuss books that I have recently read. Feel free to express your disagreements in the comments section of my posts. Keep in mind that this is a school blog, so what I write has, to some extent, strings attached. Regardless, these are my real, personal opinions.
