Previous
Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corruption, Political Violence, and Capitalism
Resilience and Hope
Gender Identity, Social Division, and Coexistence
Social Hierarchy vs. Social Inclusivity
Religion and Power
Summary
Analysis
When the “Baby Seal” grows older, will she remember the truth about her infancy? Her childhood? Would she get a whiff of “ripe Mahua” and remember the forest where she was born? Would she remember the texture of the “dry leaves on the forest floor, or the hot-metal touch of the barrel of her mother’s gun that had been held to her forehead with the safety catch off?” Or is she destined never to know, nor remember, anything about her past?
The questions raised in this paragraph seek to address not only whether the baby herself will remember her own history, but whether India on a whole will remember the histories of brutality, oppression, and violence that continue to influence its politics today.
Themes
