The role of the narrator in ‘The Shadow Lines’
‘The Shadow Lines’ is one of Amitav Ghosh’s most outstanding novels and may be regarded as one of the masterpieces in the field of Indo-Anglican fiction. The novel focuses on the meaning of political freedom and the force of nationalism as well as the personal experiences of the narrator of the novel. Told in first person, the story of ‘The Shadow Lines’ is of a growing boy who lives in the shadow of the man he idolizes and of an individual drawn into history as well as social and political turbulence. Tridib gives the boy who is the narrator of the novel “worlds to travel in and ……. eyes to see them with”. The narrator’s grandmother, Tha’mma, is the third central character to the structure of the novel. As an eight-year-old child, the narrator sees England through the eyes of Ila and Tridib. As a twenty six year old, he realizes the truth when he merges from the shadows of Ila, Tridib and Tha’mma. The anonymous narrator who refers to himself as ‘I’ is apparently relating the...