surface textures

Question 1

Themes: family and duty

Answer 1

“How am i to go to market and buy vegetables for dinner?…What am i to feed the boys tonight?… The washerwoman is asking for her bills to be paid. Do you hear?… He listened— or didn’t…”
- expectations to be met in marriage
- harish becomes more selfish and begins to distance himself from others, especially his own family
- abandons commitment to wife, family and even country
- leaves his wife stranded domestically and ignores his duty to his family

Question 2

Themes: pressure of modern living / work and marriage

Answer 2

“What is my shame to you?”
->due to harish disinterest in his job, he got fired. he is drawn to surfaces, textures and the unimportant.
- desires for more and feels broken by everyday living
- feels unashamed for neglecting his family and work
- ironically takes delight in “unimportant” things in life to give him meaning and purpose

Question 3

Theme: escapism

Answer 3

“amongst such things, his eyes rove and hunted…continued to slide about”
- lost interest in mundane things; job and family
- prefers immaterial aspects of life like surface textures of melon, it fruit
- he is distracted. uninterested and wants to escape from his normal life

Question 4

Literary device: use of symbolism

Answer 4

“apple of knowledge for harish… look had been enough.”
the apple symbolises the temptation and sins.
- “The apple of knowledge” is an allusion to the biblical reference of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit.
- Harish’s awakening realisation of burdens of duty, obligation and expectations of everyday life.
- The melon gives him the ability to escape from the pressures from everyday living.
- he develops epiphany that transforms his life forever

Question 5

Literary device: tactile imagery

Answer 5

“Fingering the small silver box.”
emphasises the lack of attention to his wife’s ranting. Insensitive and uncaring husband and father. Instead he is focused on the kumkum box. He was “sorry, very sorry” when the wife leaves with it. he was sad and distraught by it.

Question 6

Literary devices: divine imagery of the swami

Answer 6

“Nor had they seen a swami who looked holier, more inhumane than Harish”
- melon makes him realise burdens of this earthly life.
- he leave family due to epiphany
- becomes a Swami - indian religious God
- eventually his alienation from human interaction elevates his status in the eyes of the people
- Desai portrayal of Harish as an earthly spiritual leader leaves reader with impacts of one who separates himself from human relationships and wordly possessions.
- Family and country suffers, yet this mystical spiritual awakening transforms Harish in the eyes of the community
- disgusting , uncomfortable that man can descent to this quality, becoming a creature
- shocking that society not only still accepts him, but also worships him.