Why america ?

« Why america ? The text is entitled … written in 1967 by..

and taken from ….

The story is set in a small town in India.

The three main characters are an elderly shopkeeper, jagan, his cousin, a college teacher, and Mali, Jagan’s son, a twenty-year -old arts student who is mentioned in the text but not actually present.

At the beginning of the text, Jagan learns from his cousin that Mali intends to leave in India to continue his studies in America.

We’ll first see how Jagan is both heavy -hearted and shocked when he learns about Mali’s decision ; then, we’ll see that Jagan’s feelings and reactions are dictated by deeper motives and that he and his cousin have a very stereotyped vision of America.

From the title and the introduction, we can imagine that Mali has decided to leave India and go to America.

He may have met an American girl who was on holyday in India, fallen in love with her and decided to follow her to the states.

He may also have made up his mind to continue his studies in the states.

The title “Why America?” clearly indicates that Jagan won’t understand Mali’s decision to leave India… He’ll probably be taken aback and try to prevent his son from leaving India.

We can suppose that he’ll do everything he can to talk Mali o ut of leaving India.

Jagan is an elderly man who is probably afraid of being left alone.

He may worry about his own future, without his son to take care in he is older .

He may also fear his son will not manage to integrate well into the American society, w here the way of life, customs, values and culture are too different from those of the Indian society.

American and Indian societies are poles apart and jagan fears Mali will be an outcast and won’t be happy in America.

Jagan is both shocked and petrified by the news because he can’t understand Mali’s reasons not only for leaving his country, but also for going to America.

Mali’s first reason, which is mentioned in the text, is that there Are far more opportunities to learning novel -writing in America than in India .

According to Jagan’s cousin , the United States are “the only country where they teach such things” (1.33).

However, we can easily imagine that there are deeper reasons motives behind Mali’s decision… Mali is a young, modern ma who has had to live with a traditional and old- fashioned father since he was born and who certainly dreams of escaping from the sti fling way of life imposed on him by his father and his country.

He must be tired of having to comply wi th rules; customs, traditions which he thinks belong to the past and not to 21 st century India.

He probably yearns to broaden his horizons, meet other people, another culture and America definitely offers brighter future prospects than India , both from a professional and personal point of view.

Mali wants to be independent, self -reli ant and looks forward to go away.

Jagan is both heavy -harted and shoked when he learns about Mali’s decision.

At first he is petrified, totally unable to react (‘the first sho ck of the impact blanked out jagan’s mind for a time” l.8).

Later on, he feels “completely crushed” (…adverse forces seemed to … all sides” l.28).

However it’s obvious that Jagan’s feelings and reactions are dictated by both selfish and unselfish reasons.

First and foremost, jagan is a very conservative man, a man of the past for whom Indian traditions, culture and history are primordial, of vital importance.

This is quite noticeable in the way he keeps referring either to india’s glorious cultural past (Did valmiki … Ramayana? L23) or to india superiority (he should… granny l19).

Ha can’t understznd mali’s reasons because he is a narrow -minded man, unable to understand another culture and above all to understand what happens in young people’s minds (strange notions… l24).

Jagan has blinkers and is convinced that not sticking clinging to traditions necessarily implies the end of the world he knows and the values he lives by.

He believes that mali’s decision to leave means that his son is not only rejecting, b etraying his father’s and country’s values, but also his father and country themselves.

Jagan is so gui ded by his “patriotic feelings” that he can’t accept i dea that an American university is the best way for Mali to succeed and write his book.

Secondly, it can’t be denied that jagan loves his son dearly and worries about his future.

He is scared, apprehensive because he doesn’t know what the future holds in store for Mali.

Jagan certainly believes that his son is not aware of the problems to com e, the impending difficulties.

He thinks Mali is bound to be torn between two cultures and will. »