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Chapter 10
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 spends an entire morning shutting off his part of the house from Mali and Grace’s. After he leaves the house by the back door, he takes a side lane toward the main street and recalls how he and his older brother used to catch grasshoppers in this lane, while their sister threatened to snitch on their animal-harming behavior. Jagan believes that his siblings disliked him: his sister married a rich, rural moron while his brother stopped speaking to him after their father’s death and the parceling out of the inheritance.
Jagan follows through on avoiding Grace and Mali rather than confronting them—a decision that shows how his attempts to communicate directly with them have backslid since he learned of their unmarried status. Meanwhile, Jagan’s reminiscences about his estrangement from his siblings hints that if he loses Grace and Mali, he will lose all the remaining family with whom he has a relationship.
Themes
Now all Jagan’s relatives are shunning him because of Grace: his sister sent him a nasty postcard about having a “beef-eating Christian girl for a daughter-in-law” while his brother has reportedly been speaking ill of Jagan, blaming him for how Mali has turned out. In truth, Jagan is happy to be the black sheep of the family—it allows him to avoid family obligations.
While the cousin may tolerate the different moral values of the younger generation, others of Jagan’s older generation clearly do not. When Jagan’s sister calls Grace a “beef-eating Christian girl,” she is expressing intense displeasure that Mali has entered an interreligious relationship, and Jagan’s brother seems to have a similarly negative reaction to Mali’s secularism. Interestingly, Jagan doesn’t mind his sibling’s disapproval because it helps him dodge family responsibilities; this attitude suggests that he is at least partially to blame for the siblings’ estrangement.
Themes
As Jagan walks to the sweets shop, Mali and Grace drive up in the green car and stop. Grace asks whether Jagan wants a ride. Jagan refuses. Grace asks whether he was “spring-cleaning” earlier, and Jagan says meaningfully that he was trying to “clean [his] surroundings.” Mali stays silent; noting his tired appearance, Jagan wishes he could solve their conflict by writing a check for the story-writing machine business—but then he thinks that even if he did, Grace and Mali would still be unmarried and driving around together.
Earlier in the novel, Mali’s purchase of the green car represented his materialism and desire for a commercial status symbol. Given that Mali and Grace are riding around in the car together while estranged, the car now seems to symbolize how Mali and Grace’s shared materialism won’t keep them together or make them happy. Jagan is deeply upset with Grace and Mali for their unmarried cohabitation in his house, but rather than tell them so directly, he makes a snide comment about needing to “clean [his] surroundings”—implicitly, of their sexual impurity—that shows how inept he remains at frank, open communication.
Themes
Two weeks later, Jagan realizes he hasn’t seen or heard Grace in a while. One day, Mali hears Jagan sneaking by, calls to him, and asks why he’s “prowling around like this.” They meet in the garden, and Jagan says he’d like to talk to both Mali and Grace. Mali brusquely explains that Grace is staying with friends and asks why Jagan has locked the door between the two sides of the house. Before Jagan replies, Mali announces that locking the door won’t prevent Mali from pursuing his venture—and he wants to know what Jagan will do.
It takes another two weeks of silence for Mali and Jagan to talk to each other again, even though Jagan has been “prowling around,” avoiding Mali in a way that Mali couldn’t help but notice. Though Mali does ask why Jagan has locked the door between the two sides of the house, he doesn’t wait for Jagan’s response; instead, he demands an answer about his business venture. Mali’s refusal to wait for Jagan’s response shows his single-minded focus on his business idea and underscores that Mali as well as Jagan is at fault for their poor communication.
Themes
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Jagan announces that Mali and Grace need to get married. When Mali shouts that Jagan has been talking behind his back, Jagan says that he has arranged for a fast wedding. Mali says that Grace has developed “funny notions,” which is why he told Jagan to “pack her off”—but Jagan was too cheap to pay for her travel. He claims that Grace needs to see a psychiatrist. When Jagan asks what a psychiatrist is, Mali expresses contempt at his ignorance, calls the town a “back wood,” and leaves. A neighbor greets Jagan at the garden fence, and Jagan flees before the neighbor can ask him about his “daughter-in-law.” He’s not sure whether Grace or Mali told him the truth.
In this scene, Mali says that he told Jagan to send Grace away, shifting responsibility for Grace onto Jagan even though Mali brought her to India in the first place. By claiming that Jagan was too cheap to pay for Grace’s travel back to the U.S., meanwhile, Mali falsely implies that he and Jagan are having another commercial dispute rather than a serious generational conflict over moral values. The contemptuous phrase “pack her off” suggests Mali’s lack of respect or affection for Grace.
Themes
