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Chapter 8
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 returns home and begins spinning yarn—a practice that Gandhi recommended both for economic reasons and for bringing psychological calm. He feels as though he has undergone a metamorphosis through divine intervention thanks to the bearded man—yet he wonders whether he should help the man on his mission and what he would do afterwards. Would they live in the remote shrine together? Would the bearded man expect Jagan to take over his hair dye business and “ruin Mali further” with wealth? Jagan tells himself that he is no longer a sweet-shop owner and Mali’s father but wonders what, in that case, he is—a patron or follower of the bearded man?
The juxtaposition of Jagan’s religious experience and his political commitments suggests that for Jagan, Hindu piety and Indian patriotism are closely related. Yet Jagan is worried that the bearded man may have ulterior motives. Specifically, he worries that the bearded man may want Jagan to run his business. Jagan fears that if he accrues any more wealth, it will “ruin Mali further”; this fear shows that Jagan believes his own business acumen poisoned Mali’s character, making Mali too interested in money. In deciding that he is no longer Mali’s father, however, Jagan chooses once again to avoid Mali rather than confront him and discuss their different values.
Themes
Mali enters and asks Jagan to stop spinning the wheel so they can talk. When Jagan nervously asks what Mali wants, Mali tells him that he’s received a cable from his “associates.” The word “associates” no longer intimidates Jagan. Feeling gentle toward his son, he asks what the cable says. Mali says it asks about the business venture’s “status” and demands to know whether Jagan plans to join it. Jagan, sorry about Mali’s distress and about the “barrier” between them, offers to give Mali the sweet shop. Mali says he should be able to offer India the knowledge he learned in America—and anyway, the sweet shop has no value anymore, as all the food vendor people in town are gossiping.
The word “associates” used to frighten Jagan, which indicates that he avoided discussing business with Mali in part because he was intimidated by Mali’s foreign partners. After his religious experience, Jagan no longer feels this fear, which shows how religion can buffer the devout against worldly cares. Since the cable was about the business venture’s “status,” readers can infer that Mali has no backup plan: despite the contempt he shows Jagan, he needs Jagan to invest in his business or it cannot go forward. Mali’s rationale for refusing the sweet-shop reveals that he thinks the business is too Indian and that he longs to Americanize India, in sharp contrast with Jagan’s patriotism and anti-Western sentiments.
Themes
Mali launches into another pitch for his business. When Jagan asks what will happen if he says no to the business, Mali says Grace will return to America. Jagan asks why, and Mali says Grace has no occupation in India. Jagan, baffled, asks to talk to Grace directly. Mali says she’s out. When Jagan asks where, Mali retorts that Grace is free to go where she likes, and Jagan—feeling that miscommunication is sadly inevitable between him and Mali—asks where Grace goes and whether she’s “unhappy.” Mali says again says that she is free, “not like the daughters-in-law in our miserable country.”
Whereas Jagan assumes that Mali and Grace’s marriage is separate from their business interests, Mali makes clear that his continued cohabitation with Grace depends on their ability to work together, an idea Jagan finds foreign. Unusually, Jagan attempts to ask Mali direct questions in this scene, but rather than respond directly, Mali criticizes Indian gender politics and calls India a “miserable country.” Mali’s evasiveness shows that while Jagan exacerbates the communication problems between him and his son, the problems aren’t all Jagan’s fault.
Themes
When Jagan asks again whether Grace is unhappy, Mali says that she has nothing to be happy about because she has no work. Jagan wants to say that she has housework, but he keeps quiet. Instead, he says that wives have to stay with their husbands. Mali says that was true in Jagan’s generation and leaves. Jagan spends the rest of the night worrying about Grace.
Mali assumes that Grace’s happiness depends on her participation in the commercial sphere—an interesting assumption given how often the novel questions whether commerce and capitalism contribute to a good, happy life. Mali also strongly implies here that Jagan’s commitment to traditional marriage is characteristic of his older generation but not of Mali’s younger one.
Themes
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