When Ram confronts him with a gun, Prem Kumar is terrified. He never would have expected something like this from an impoverished waiter. He thought he was on the show to dabble at winning money. He had just finished taunting Ram by saying he would come to his restaurant and leave him a thousand-rupee tip. Ram, however, is there for revenge. He goes through a flashback of all the horrible times he has been through. From Maman's orphanage to watching Shankar die from rabies, Ram has been through quite the adventure. Even when he earns money, he ends up losing it. He cannot come out on top and seems destined to remain that poor and lowly. As he recounts all this, he becomes sad not angry. The fact that the poor hopeless orphan cannot shoot the corrupt middle class abuser romanticizes poverty.
Ram's winning the show adds further romance to the novel. In fact, the whole ending gives off the appearance that poverty is only temporary. Not only does Ram stay moral, he wins. He has money, he has the girl, and he even gets a sister, Gudiya. After seeing all the tragic events of Ram's life, we are left with him winning. Although it makes for a feel-good, happy ending, it turns poverty into a romance. Unfortunately, this is generally only possible in a novel.
I thought it was interesting that you looked at the way people of the upper class view the poor, because we see that the people who are poor are looked down upon with such disgust by people of higher class how could they not become self-conscious about their position in life. Moreover, the rich do not want the poor to rise from their lowly condition because then this presents a threat to the stability of the upper class. If the wealth was more equally balanced then perhaps not as many people would suffer, but the rich would suffer the loss of extravagance and entitlement. This is very striking because it is so prevalent in most parts of the world. A sad tale of winner takes all. And now that Ram is the winner? How could he become someone who lives in extravagance while others suffer as he once did? The story is romantic but it also leaves some very disturbing questions unanswered.
ReplyDelete