Read as much of the next three chapters as possible, but don't worry if you don't quite finish Chapter 6. We'll spend the entire week finishing the book, so you'll have plenty of time before the Reading Exam the week after next.
Answer two of the following…
Q1: As the hero of our tale, Ganesh undertakes the most heroic task of all: to become a writer of books. What obstacles does Ganesh face on his path? Why is writing a book all that more difficult in a postcolonial country than, say, in England or America (where it's hard enough!)?
Q2: In Chapter Four, Naipaul writes, “It was their first beating, a formal affair done without anger on Ganesh’s part or resentment on Leela’s; and although it formed part of the marriage ceremony itself, it meant much to both of them. It meant that they had grown up and become independent.” What do you make of this scene and others like it? Is this simply part of the "Indian” culture of Trinidad ...or does this result from the conflict of East and West on the island?
Q3: Defending his book to Beharry, Ganesh exclaims, “Is a damn good book, you hear.” Why does Ganesh so overestimate the quality and importance of his book? What do we see (thanks to the narrator) that he is blind to? How might this reflect the colonial limitations of this world as Naipaul sees them?
Q4: In Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place (a non-fiction work about the Caribbean island of Antigua), she writes that “people in a small place cannot give an exact account, a complete account of events…The people in a small place can have no interest in the exact, or in completeness, for that would demand a careful weighing, careful consideration, careful judging, careful questioning.” Why are the people of Trinidad so unwilling to judge and question their world? Is Ganesh the exception to this—or is he just as “small” as the rest of them?
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