The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh: Definition, Introduction, Summary, Theme, and Conclusion -- englit.in

One of Amitav Ghosh’s Historical novel, ‘The Shadow Lines’ (1988), is “The Ananda Puraskar” and “Sahitya Akademi Award-winning” novel. It is set against the backdrop of historical events like the Swadeshi movement. It conveys  World War II, Partition of India and Communal riots of 1963-64 in Dhaka and Calcutta. The book was praised for its ingenious structure and challenging style. In the novel, the narrator’s Tha’mma was one of the youngest women in British india who wants to fight against the British Government. The novel focuses on the national and geographical boundaries that alienate individuals. 

The Shadow Lines does not pretend to have a concrete plot, but it depicts the violence that erupted in 1964. The story recounts the message of the narrator’s coming of age in Calcutta and the sweeping impact of political violence on his life. The novel is told from a single point of view, but does not follow a straightforward chronology. The shadow lines explores India’s political and economical growth through lives of Three generations – two families – one Bengali and one English.

At the beginning of the novel, an unnamed narrator says, “In 1939, thirteen years before I [he] was born.” His great-aunt Mayadebi went to London with her husband and her young son Tridib. Mayadebi’s husband needed to undergo a medical procedure there. The family was hosted by an English man called, Price, who “had a daughter, who was called May”. However,  the two families formed a long-term bond, and they occasionally corresponded even after Mayadebi and her family returned to India.

When the narrator was a child, May Price—the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Price—visited Calcutta. She spent time with Tridib and with the narrator. She falls in love with Tridib, and blames herself for her death. On the other hand, the narrator expresses, “I was in love with Ila so long Before I dared to admit it to myself.”

The narrator’s, Tha’mma, despised Ila for supposedly ‘abandoning’ India in this way. Tha’mma was an often harsh and angry woman. She relocated to Calcutta after her marriage but she was born in the city of Dhaka. When Dhaka became part of East Pakistan, she thought she would never return there. However, one day she realizes that her Jethamoshai was still alive and living in Dhaka. She considered it that her duty is to visit and possibly bring him to Calcutta. When they go to Dhaka, in a Hindu-Muslim riot, Tridib and Jethamoshai die. In this regard, Tha’mma grew angrier than ever at Pakistan, and she hoped that India would eliminate Pakistan permanently.

Throughout the novel, it examines the complex nature of individual and collective identities, which highlight how they are shaped by personal experiences, cultural influences and historical events. The concept of borders is explored in various forms including physical, cultural, and psychological boundaries. In the novel, Tha’mma belongs to a generation that has witnessed the creation of nation-states and the subsequent shifting of borders.

In conclusion, Ghosh’s fiction ‘The Shadow Lines’ was written on the background of holocaust partition of Bengal, which has made a well portrayal of identical conflicts that have arisen out of different settings of culture.  As regards the identity, the characters can be divided into several groups- localized, globalized and universalized. Ultimately, the novel suggests that true understanding and empathy can only be achieved by looking beyond divisive boundaries and recognizing the commonalities of the human experience.