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Biju
The judge’s cook and Biju’s father. The cook had worked for the judge since he was fourteen years old, and his servant status is very much ingrained in him. He does whatever the judge asks, though the judge often abuses him verbally, and at the end of the novel, physically. While he understands his own place, the cook also works hard to make sure that his son Biju can have a better life in America. He has a minor illegal business selling liquor on the side in order to make a small sum of additional money. He is proud hearing from his son hopping from job to job, knowing that his own hard work has paid off. Even though the cook is often humiliated by other characters, he has a streak of vanity as well. He exaggerates his position as well as the judge’s wealth and kindness in order to make himself feel better about working for the judge. The primary characterization of the cook, however, is as a servant. The judge and the cook, though they have spent more time with each other than with anyone else, have no personal familiarity. This is reinforced in the novel’s writing as the cook’s name, Panna Lal, is not revealed until the second to last page of the novel, when his son returns. He does not become a fully realized person, then, until he is reunited with his son.
The Cook Quotes in The Inheritance of Loss
The The Inheritance of Loss quotes below are all either spoken by The Cook or refer to The Cook. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
His lines had been honed over centuries, passed down through generations, for poor people needed certain lines; the script was always the same, and they had no option but to beg for mercy. The cook knew instinctively how to cry.
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Chapter 2
Quotes
An accident, they said, and there was nobody to blame—it was just fate in the way fate has of providing the destitute with a greater quota of accidents for which nobody can be blamed.
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Chapter 12
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It was important to draw the lines properly between classes or it harmed everyone on both sides of the great divide.
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Chapter 17
Quotes
The more pampered you are the more pampered you will be the more presents you receive the more presents you will get the more presents you receive the more you are admired the more you will be admired the more you are admired the more presents you will get the more pampered you will be—
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The Cook Quotes in The Inheritance of Loss
The The Inheritance of Loss quotes below are all either spoken by The Cook or refer to The Cook. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
His lines had been honed over centuries, passed down through generations, for poor people needed certain lines; the script was always the same, and they had no option but to beg for mercy. The cook knew instinctively how to cry.
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Chapter 2
Quotes
An accident, they said, and there was nobody to blame—it was just fate in the way fate has of providing the destitute with a greater quota of accidents for which nobody can be blamed.
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Chapter 12
Quotes
It was important to draw the lines properly between classes or it harmed everyone on both sides of the great divide.
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Chapter 17
Quotes
The more pampered you are the more pampered you will be the more presents you receive the more presents you will get the more presents you receive the more you are admired the more you will be admired the more you are admired the more presents you will get the more pampered you will be—
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