On pages 103-109 the first person narrator finds a dying beggar woman named Leelavati at a garbage heap. She is the only person who notices her. All the Indians around just don’t care about the woman.
She lies there on her own and nobody helps her. But when she is found by the first person narrator she finally receives help. The first person narrator wants to do something but everyone she asks doesn’t want to touch the beggar woman. They all seem to be scared of the pollution of a dying person. Inder Lal is also afraid of her and he wants to keep the narrator away from touching her. In this situation she can feel the fear of pollution, too. This shows the change in her mind. She and her behavior is becoming more and more like the Indians.
Because she cannot find anybody who wants to help her she has to look for some other help. Therefore she goes to the hospital to ask for it. But this seems to be completely overfilled with people. Even the Medical Superintendent seems to be swamped with his situation. He needs more staff and more room for the invalids but he won’t get it because of India’s poverty.
So it sounds as if she is the only one who wants to help Leelavati. But when the narrator leaves the hospital, she finds Maji and talk to her about the dying beggar woman. She knows her and so she wants to help.
In this scene you can see a difference between the Europeans’ and the Indians’ behavior. The Indians don’t want to help the dying beggar woman, although she really needs it. They are afraid of touching a sick person and the just don’t care about others. Maybe they act like that because the people in India are very poor. First of all they have to take care of themselves and of their own problems. They have no time for others and they haven’t got money to do so.
The European, however, wants to help the dying person. She cannot face the fact that there is nobody else who wants to take care of Leelavati so she looks for help but cannot find it. She feels responsible for the beggar. I think the reason for this is the different European mentality from the Indian’s. Also our religion tells us that everybody is equal and that we have to help others who cannot take of themselves or who need help.
Good thoughts on this situation, Stefan. Have a look at Ricarda’s blog also as she worked on the same task. It might also be an idea to dwell further on the idea of religion having an influence in this matter. Especially the caste system might be a valuable aspect here.
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