NOTE: Try to finish the book or get as close as you can for Monday's class. We'll have a Book Exam over the novel on Wednesday, so at least finish for then (and bring your book to class). Answer two of the following:
Q1: How does Naipaul satirize democratic elections in a ‘brand
new’ postcolonial nation like Trinidad? How does
the system not work—and how is the very idea of democracy often misunderstood
by Ganesh and others?
Q2: Once the American soldiers arrive in Trinidad, America begins
to have a much more profound influence on Trinidadian life than Britain.
Where do we see the “American” influence in its day-to-day life? How does
Ganesh himself try to institute “American” popular culture?
Q3: Once Ganesh enters politics he emulates the reforms and
ideals of Gandhi, who liberated India from
British control. But is his mimicking sincere or somewhat
hypocritical? Gandhi followed the teachings of the Gita as his polestar:
does Ganesh? In general, what kind of political leader does he make?
Q4: How do you understand the end of the book, when the Narrator,
now a grown man, encounters Ganesh in London? Why
does he change his name to “G.Ramsay Muir”? How does he respond to the
Narrator’s advances?
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