plot

Narrator introduces herself as Tessie’s granddaughter, who was Douglas first wife.

While working in India his first wife Olivia left him for the Nawab in September 1923.

Because no one really wants to talk about how it came so far, the narrator decides to go to India intending to discover the story of Olivia. She takes some letters with her written from Olivia to her sister Marcia, which the narrator became from Harry:

2^nd February

· Narrator arrives in Bombay, India

· Spends her first night in missionary hostel sharing a room with seven other women

· They give the narrator some advices how to live/behave in India und tell about their bad impression of India

16^th February

· Rents a room above a cloth shop from Inder Lal in Satipur

o Very Spartan furnished room (sleeping bag and a small desk, on which she has placed her Hindi grammar book, her journal and Olivia’s letters)

· Out of her room she can watch the bazaar through her window

20^th February

· Inder Lal’s mother and his wife Ritu

o Tries to speak Hindi, but her skills were not high enough to keep a conversation with them

· Buys Indian clothes

· Indians call her hijra

24^th February

· Visits together with Inder Lal the former palace of the Nawab in Khatm

· Khatm is a very dirty and its streets are filled with beggars

· No one but the narrator really cares about the story of the Nawab and his scandals because all that happened long ago

· The watchman leads her and Inder Lal through the empty and lonesome palace

1923

· Olivia is in Satipur a few months and begins to get bored

o She doesn’t know a lot people and her husband Douglas is always busy working

· Goes to a dinner party with the Crawfords after the Nawab invited them

o Harry, Major Minnies and his wife Mrs. Minnies are also there

o Is impressed by the Nawab and his palace

· Four days after the dinner party the Nawab came to visit Oilivia

o He invites Olivia and Douglas to another dinner party

o Douglas and Olivia are arguing whether to go or not

28^th February

· Meets Chid and some companions trying to find a room to rest for the night

· Additional information to Chid:

o Was given an Indian name by a Hindu guru: Chidananda “Chid”

o Was bullied by Indians, so he rents rooms for the nights

o The guru stripped him of all of his possessions

o Began a pilgrimage through India to the holy cave of Amarnath as instructed by his guru

o Found it impossible to live under trees so he rented shelters for the nights, although it was forbidden by the guru

· From here they can see the gravestone of the Saunders’ baby, a huge Italian angel which lost his head an several other parts of his body by now

1923

· After Olivia saw the grave of the Saunders baby, she fears to have a child which would die like the Saunders’ baby did

· She visits Mrs. Saunders

· Mrs. Saunders, Mrs. Crawford and Olivia went to the Nawab’s palace after his mother, the begum, invited them

· Nawab invited Olivia to a picnic

o She seems to know that she likes him very much but fears these feelings

8^th March

· The first letter to Marcia:

o Wanted to tell Douglas form the picnic with the Nawab but she hadn’t

· Inder Lal becomes a friend for the narrator

· He tells that he has a bad relationship to his wife

o Has many unfulfilled desires

10^th March

· Worked on her basic Hindi, so that she can keep a conversation with Ritu

· It is so hot that everybody sleeps outside on the courtyard

o Narrator enjoys this peaceful time

· One night Ritu began to scream à Begum tries to stopper her screamings

20^th March

· narrator and Inder Lal’s mother have become friends

· takes the narrator to the suttee shrine, for widows who had thrown themselves on their husbands’ burning funeral pyres

1923

· there was a suttee incident, where a widow burned herself

o Douglas tried to stop it, but he came to late

· Olivia still did not tell Douglas from the picnic

· Nawab comes every two or three days, now, with his full retinue

· One time he stays with Olivia until Douglas came home from his job

30^th March

· Narrator and Inder Lal found Chid near to death

10^th April

· Chid has recovered from his fever but lingers in the narrator’s room

o He doesn’t care of the narrator‘s possessions

à Takes whatever he needs

· narrator is unsure why she indulges him since she could easily fight him off

15^th April

· the Baba Firdaus shrine:

o Was built on the palace grounds by one of the Nawab’s ancestors

o Later it became sacred, for one day a year, to women wanting to become pregnant

· Narrator started on the Husband’s Wedding Day a pilgrimage with Inder Lal’s mother and some of her friends

1923

· season of summer heat was just beginning

· “Husband’s Wedding Day”

o Shrine was on the land of the Nawab

o Muslims, the Nawab among them, dom’t like that the shrine was taken over by Hindus

· There was a riot which the Nawab couldn’t bring in control

o Mrs. Crawford and Mrs. Minnies blame him, but Olivia defends him, because to her he was a friend. For the others he was just an Indian ruler

· Harry spends a few days with Olivia (and Douglas)

· Harry wants to leave India to visit his ill mother

o Nawab doesn’t tolerate that, so that Harry stays

25^th April

· The narrator and Chid now blend into Satipur

· Dust storms have begun blowing day and night

· Chid though is unaffected by the weather, but, for the narrator, it is too hot

· Chid does his mantra practices for hours \

· Chid doesn’t care a lot for his hygiene |à narrator wants to throw him out

· Chid doesn’t have consideration to the narrator /

30^th April

· Talking about psychiatric treatment for Ritu because she becomes mad more and more

· Chid says, Ritu is obsessed by evil spirits

2^nd May

· Ritu goes on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, accompanied by her mother-in-law—and Chid

1923

· Crawford and Mrs. Minnies have already left for Simla

· Olivia stays with Douglas à spend many nice evenings together

· Harry comes daily in the morning after Douglas leaves to take Olivia to the Nawab

à Their friendship becomes very deep

· Olivia and Douglas talking about having a child

· One evening Mr. Crawford and Major Minnies came to talk with Douglas about the Nawab

o Nawab seems to be bankrupt and the dacoit chief

12^th June

· Many letters from Chid

à Comparison to Olivia’s letters

· Inder Lal doesn’t understand why the narrator came to live in India

· Karim

1923

· Harry is not in good health

· Douglas doesn’t want to talk with Olivia about the dacoits

15^th June

· The incident with the beggar woman

1923

· Wants Dr. Saunders to help the ill Harry

20^th June

· narrator and Inder Lal travel to Baba Firdau’s shrine on the palace grounds for a picnic

o become intimate here

1923

· Olivia and the Nawab went to Baba Firdau’s shrine

o become intimate here

31th July

· Narrator is pregnant

· Maji, a midwife, offers her a abortion

15^th August

· Chid is back and changed completely into a typical western “Christian boy”

· Relationship between narrator and Inder Lal becomes more deep und intimate (I.L. comes up every night)

· Narrator does not want to tell Inder Lal from her pregnancy at this moment

1923

· Olivia is pregnant, but doesn’t tell Douglas

· she told the Nawab first after a dispute

· after that she also told it Douglas

20^th August

· narator’s father had spent his first decade in India and then, upon Indian Independence, returned to England

o later became an antique dealer

· Chid is now the one anxious to return to England, but his health is not improving

o Chid gets a bed in the hospital

27^th August

· Narrator visits Chid daily in the hospital

· Wrote Chid’s family to ask for a return ticket for him

· “Chid can’t stand the smell”

1923

· Monsoons

· Olivia wants a abortion

31th August

· Doesn’t want a abortion anymore

1923

· Abortion of Olivia’s child

· Olivia leaves Douglas

· Harry leaves for England

· Olivia never ever returned to England àlives in a house in the mountains, which the Nawab bought for her

· Harry sometimes returned to India for a trip

o Met the Nawab changed

o The Nawab’s circumstances has changed much

Narrator’s story

· Narrator will be leaving India soon

Information on the characters

Douglas:
- hard-working administrator
- Englishman
- conservative
- feels superior to the Indians
- dislike Indian customs
- like sati
- can speak and likes Urdu
- strict
- intelligent
- “Oxbridge” (means that he has got an education at a school in England
- cannot show emotions
- says what the Nawab has to do

Nawab:
- prince/ruler
- not hard-working; just do the things what a prince has to do
- sentimental when he spend time with Olivia
- emotional
- possessive
- egoistic
- dominant
- Muslim
- against Hindu culture
- educated in India
- inferior to the Englishmen
- dislike the British
- Doesn’t like people leaving him

Harry:
- never has a girlfriend
- does everything what the Nawab says to him

- Just wanted to stay with the Nawab for 6 months (now it were 3 years)

Olivia:
- lonely, feels worthless

- likes to walk across graveyards
- inexperienced
- unprepared for India
- attracted by the Indian Palace
- very young
- has an affair with the Nawab
- gets pregnant and abort the child

the narrator:
- interested in her past in India
- open to other cultures
- tolerant
- open-minded
- likes adventures
- young
- has an affair with Inder Lal
- gets pregnant and wants an abortion at first, but later she decides to get the child

Chid is “going native”

Page 27: 28 February

· Was given an Indian name by a Hindu guru: Chidananda “Chid”

· Was bullied by Indians

· The guru stripped him of all of his possesions

· Began a pilgrimage through India as instructed by his guru

· Found it impossible to live under trees so he rented shelters for the nights, although it was forbidden by the guru

 

Page 61f: 30 March

· Was found near to death by the narrator & Inter Lal

 

Page 62f: 10 April

· Doesn’t care of other people’s possessions

à Takes whatever he needs

· People nearly get used to him

àSometimes Indians put some donations in his begging bag

· Shaved his head and wears Indian dresses

· Talks a lot of some spiritual and religious stuff

 

Page 77f: 25 April

· Is now completely accepted

· Isn’t affected by the weather

· Does his mantra practices for hours

· Doesn’t care a lot for his hygiene

· Doesn’t care for the narrator’s feelings etc

 

Page 80f: 2 May

· Continues the pilgrimage when told by Maji

· Behaves well when people he admires are around (e.g. Maji)

 

Page 90f: 12 June

·   Just mentions some spiritual and religious stuff in his letters to the narrator

Plotting the story

Plotting the story (pp. 61–76)

30 March: Describe the state in which Chid is.

Chid was in a very bad physical state. His body was so weakened by disease that he was not able to move. Suffering from fever, thirst and hunger, he was just lieing in a corner of a building groaning. He even could not re-enact on a dog coming and sniffing him. It made the impression as if he was lieing there waiting for dead.

His mental state was rather trance-like, so that he did not speak a lot.

Plotting the story (pp. 77–90)

25 April: Describe the relationship between the narrator and Chid.

The relationship between the narrator and Chid developed into something special.

After the narrator took Chid with him home, when she found him near to dead, she cared for him.But when he was healthy again, he did not intend to leave. He further drove the narrator with his behaviour like being dirty because he did not bath himself as Hindus usually do. He also stole things from the narrator because he did not believe in possessions, so that she had to hide her money, which he unfortunenatly found anyway, and he uttered Hindu sounds to his Hindu mediatations. Along with that it should be mentioned that the narrator was besides bad-tempered because of the hot weather, but it drove her crazy, so that a dislike against this Hindu rituals developed in her. All this lead one day to the event, that she threw him out, but he used the next opotunity to get into the flat again.

The relationship reminds of two parties who fight for the dominance without regard to the other persons.

Plotting the story (pp. 90-102)

pp.100-102: Why does Olivia so eagerly wish to have a baby?

The one thing, why Olivia wishes so eagerly to have a baby, is that she wants to be sure that everything is fine with her because she worries that anything could not be right with her body.

The other much more importand thing is that she is worried that her sympathy to the Nawab could develope into a affair. A baby with her husband would strengthen the relationship to her him immensely. So the baby is like a symbol for the shelter from the love to the Naway and therefor is is a garanty for the continued existence of her and Douglas marriage.

American Beauties

When I heard that we will go to see an exhibition named „American Beauties“, I did not really know what to expect – perhaps some pictures and paintings dealing with the beauty of American landscape as it was described in Moon Palace and has been shown in Easy Rider or perhaps some other kind of American beauty.

Arriving I saw my expextations fulfilled partly. There were pretty pictures of American landscape made by Wim Wenders I think. One of these was a picture of a room with a sofa in the middle with a huge painting of landscape above and a Coca Cola refrigerator next to it. This is the one I found suitable for my expectations mentioned above and the one I liked best. There was a beautiful atmosphere which springs from this picture.

But there were not only nice objects like the one mentioned above. I also had to make out that I could have understood the title in a wrong way or rather the title has a double entendre. When I look back on the the exhibition I remember more exhibits which showed a bad or cruel content like some pictures of Larry Clark and Nan Goldin. So in a way the title is meant ironically because I think if one hears the term American beauties, he does not think of drug addicts or women having black eyes. Nevertheless the title fits well because it shows us that there is not only the good and perfect world. Artists like Larry Clark showed us this „not-only-good-world“ in a shocking picture series. In this series there was one picture that shocked me most. A drug addicted man had a commissure around his whole arm. It looked really cruel.

In my opinion this series of pictures was most interesting because it showed a life in stages and how drugs destroyed it when I understood it right. Nevertheless this series fits well to the ironically meant title „American Beauties“.