The Use of Allegory and Wordplay to Camouflage History in a Work of Fiction – as Seen in Shashi Tharoor’s the Great Indian Novel

1357 Words6 Pages
The use of Allegory and Wordplay to camouflage History in a work of fiction – as seen in Shashi Tharoor’s The Great Indian Novel Allegory and Wordplay have been the greatest weapons in the hands of a writer, especially when critiquing historical events in their works. Shashi Tharoor is neither the first nor the best in using this weapon. However, his work – The Great Indian Novel (1989) presents the reader with a comparison of one of the two epics of India, the Mahabharata and (if one may use the colloquial expression) the ‘epic’ era of Indian Politics, using allegories and wordplays to the maximum. Evidence drawn from The Great Indian Novel show that Tharoor lacks faith in the intellect of the reader, this is what makes the use of the figures of speech, mentioned above, lesser effective. The author feels the need to clarify every analogy drawn between the characters of Mahabharata and the historical personalities of Indian Politics. For instance one may look at how Tharoor draws analogy between Pandu and Subhash Chandra Bose – “ Pandu never lacked in strength or courage. (Nor, unlike his half-brother in eyesight, though he did take to wearing curious little roundish glasses that gave him the appearance of a Bengali teacher or a Japanese admiral.) What Pandu never had much of was judgement…[H]e was expelled from one of the country’s best colleges for striking a teacher, an Englishman, who called Indians ‘dogs’.” (Tharoor, The Great Indian Noveli 42) One may notice how Tharoor mentions “roundish glasses” and “Bengali” to supplement and direct the imagination of the readers towards the appearance of Bose when thinking of Pandu, then reaffirming it with ideas like “Japanese admiral” – since Bose formed the Azad Hind Fauj with the help of Japan, and finally to leave no doubt in the reader’s mind about whom he is talking – the incident of “striking a teacher, an

More about The Use of Allegory and Wordplay to Camouflage History in a Work of Fiction – as Seen in Shashi Tharoor’s the Great Indian Novel

Open Document