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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Vendor of Sweets, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Communication vs. Fear
Generational Difference
Commerce, Taste, and the Good Life
Religion
India vs. the U.K. and the U.S.
Summary
Analysis
Jagan wants to talk to Grace, but though he hears her moving about the house, she hasn’t come into his section of the house for 10 days. He wonders whether she was only kind to him while she thought he might invest in the story-writing machines, and he feels as though an impenetrable wall has arisen between him on the one hand and Grace and Mali on the other.
Jagan’s inaction here shows both how his fears prevent him from communicating effectively and how the story-writing machines symbolize failures of communication between Jagan and the younger generation.
Themes
At the sweets shop, when Jagan asks the cousin whether he has run into Mali lately, the cousin says he ran into Mali at an acquaintance’s house. Mali told the cousin that Grace would be returning to America on a business trip. The cousin praises the gumption of modern women, traveling alone for business—and Jagan, keeping quiet about the real nature of Grace’s trip, asks the cousin to distract Mali so that he can talk to Grace alone. The cousin goes along with the plan, though he’s aware Jagan isn’t telling him something.
Once again, Jagan uses the cousin as a go-between or buffer in his communications with Mali and Grace. This time, however, Jagan is at least planning to talk to Grace. His resolve to discuss problems with Grace directly shows how important he believes her marriage to Mali is and how undesirable her leaving would be.
Themes
Two days later, while Mali is showing the cousin the land where he plans to build the factory for his business, Jagan goes into the puja room and prays for guidance. Then he goes and knocks on Grace’s door. While he waits, he remembers how decisive he used to be—for example, when as a young man he climbed the bungalow of the British Collector to replace the Union Jack with the Indian flag. He moved so fast the nearby police couldn’t stop him—though afterwards they beat him unconscious and put him in jail. Jagan thinks that he still has his Satyagrahi training but that it’s receded into the background of his personality somehow.
When Jagan prays for guidance before talking to Grace, it shows both how much he fears direct confrontation and how his religious devotion sometimes gives him strength and courage. “Satyagrahi” is a term that refers to political activists who practiced nonviolent resistance during the Indian independence movement. When Jagan contrasts his decisiveness as a Satyagrahi with his current vacillations and timidity, it suggests that his political activism gave him strength while his many years in business made him soft and indecisive.
Themes
Grace opens her door, greets Jagan, and invites him in. After Jagan makes some introductory comments, he tells himself not to dither and “lose [his] daughter” Grace as he feels he’s nearly lost Mali. He asks why he doesn’t see her around the house anymore. When she blushes and stays silent, he tells her not to answer and asks instead whether she wants to return to America. A crow caws outside, and rather than answering Jagan, Grace goes to feed it. Jagan suddenly intuits that Grace is fragile and might break down if he interrogates her. Feeling afraid of her, he announces he must return to the shop.
Jagan refers to Grace as his “daughter,” which indicates that he feels familial responsibility and affection for her due to her relationship with Mali. Yet even though Jagan has resolved not to “lose” his “daughter” Grace, a few moments of silence from Grace strike terror into him and cause him to give up. Jagan’s quick defeat here shows how seriously his interpersonal fearfulness damages his ability to communicate and foster relationships.
Themes
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Grace, walking Jagan out, says that “Mo”—Mali—wants her to return to America. Jagan, shocked, asks why. Grace explains that Mali says he can’t pay for her to stay in India anymore; she has used up the $2,000 she came with, and Mali has “no more use” for her. Jagan says that he cared for his wife whether or not he had “use” for her and that according to the puranas, wives and husbands should stay together.
Grace’s explanation strongly implies that Mali has been using Grace for her money to fund his commercial ventures: now that she has no more money and there is no business for her to work in, he has “no more use” for her. Jagan’s response suggests that he finds the infiltration of commercial “use” into marriage repulsive. By mentioning the puranas, Hindu scriptures, he also suggests that Mali’s commercial attitude toward marriage is irreligious.
Themes
Grace admits that she and Mali aren’t married, though Mali promised to marry her according to Indian cultural traditions when he brought her. Jagan asks whether the marriage took place after they arrived, and Grace says Jagan would know if it had. Jagan exclaims in shock. Grace asks Jagan to stay and hear her explain—but Jagan, thinking Grace is sinful though seemingly virtuous, says he can’t stay.
Jagan’s utter shock that Mali and Grace have been living together while unmarried suggests a major difference in sexual mores between Jagan’s generation on the one hand and Mali and Grace’s on the other. Yet again, Jagan flees rather than listening to Grace’s explanations or even criticizing her, emphasizing his difficulties with frank communication.
Themes
When the cousin enters the shop, Jagan tells him that Mali isn’t married. The cousin asks whether Jagan talked with Grace, and Jagan repeats that she and Mali aren’t married. The cousin suggests that she should be allowed to return to America, then, and adds that the younger generation lives “in a different world”—so elders shouldn’t be outraged by their behavior. Jagan retorts that even his infamously depraved great-uncle never lied about being married when he wasn’t and—thinking about all the sin that may have occurred under his roof—says that his “home is tainted.”
When the cousin says that Grace and Mali live “in a different world,” he seems to mean that they have grown up in such a different cultural context than people of Jagan and the cousin’s generation that the older generation cannot properly judge the younger’s actions or morals. Jagan is unconvinced by the cousin’s generational relativism, and his declaration that his “home is tainted” implies that he feels a spiritual disgust at cohabiting with an unmarried couple.
Themes
The cousin suggests that Jagan ask Mali’s “side of the story.” Jagan points out that Mali told him he wanted Grace to return to America. When the cousin claims that this is because Mali is occupied with his business, Jagan exclaims, “What business!” The cousin suggests that Grace and Mali’s relationship is “their business” and that Jagan should take the Gita’s teachings on detachment seriously. Jagan bemoans that he is always seeking detachment but never finds it.
Due to the cousin’s relativism about generational mores, he is willing to accept that Mali might have a legitimate “story” to tell about why he’s trying to send Grace away. He even suggests that it’s reasonable for Mali to neglect Grace if Mali is occupied with his business. Jagan’s exclamation, “What business!”, implies both that Jagan is contemptuous of Mali’s story-writing machines and that he doesn’t think business is a good reason to neglect or destroy interpersonal relationships. Meanwhile, Jagan and the cousin’s conversation about learning detachment from the Gita suggests how difficult it is for even a devout man like Jagan to put religious beliefs into practice.
Themes
Jagan asks the cousin how he can continue living in his house. The cousin suggests he use the back entrance to avoid Grace and Mali; Jagan agrees and asks the cousin not to tell anyone about the situation. The cousin swears. When Jagan asks what he should do about Grace and Mali, the cousin suggests he can get them a fast marriage. Jagan expresses effusive gratitude.
Though Grace and Mali have scandalized Jagan’s morals, he and the cousin ultimately decide that Jagan should avoid them rather than confronting them—an unproductive tack characteristic of timid Jagan. Meanwhile, though the cousin has defended Grace and Mali’s premarital cohabitation as natural for people of the younger generation, he quickly promises to help Jagan marry them off. This flip-flopping indicates that the cousin, a busybody, is more interested in being involved in the family drama than he is in defending particular principles.
Themes
