Analysis Of Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad And The...

In the novels Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Mystic Masseur by V.S Naipul the structures of gender and class are represented through the effects of imperialism and education. Through the lenses of, The Beginnings of English Literary Study in British India by Gauri Viswanathan and Soft-Soaping Empire by Anne McClintock, readers can relate the importance of imperialism back to the novels. Imperialism is the foundation for which gender and class are constructed. The protagonist, Ganesh Pundit in The Mystic Masseur, begins as a failing teacher. Throughout the novel Ganesh networks with people of different gender, culture, and class. What ties them all together is their level of education. As a Trinidad native, His father insisted on sending Ganesh off to college in Spain where he does not fit in. The students tease him for his rural accent and clothes. Ganesh struggles with finding his place in society; He does not know whether to adopt the British culture or remain in Indian culture. His transformation throughout the novel is caused by his rise in social class. Initially, he is low class until he learned English. Even with this education, Ganesh does not fully embrace the British culture or expectations and remains at a stand still for a large portion of his life. Once he starts meeting the British expectations of Indians, Ganesh starts succeeding. The British have superficial expectations of Indians; Masseurs meet these expectations through their mythical and lowShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness And The The Mystic Masseur 1544 Words   |  7 Pages In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and V.S. Naipaul’s The Mystic Masseur, the concept of modernism is established through two supporting characters, both of which have only brief physical interactions with our protagonists. Kurtz, from Heart of Darkness, and Mr. Stewart, from The Mystic Masseur, both represent the idea of modernism through both their beliefs and their actions, in a time when modernism was finding its footprints and was viewed differently to those foreign to the movement