How Author Jamila Gavin Presents Different Types of Discrimination in ‘The Wheel of Surya

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Recommended: Women oppression in literature

Jamila Gavin presents a wide range of discrimination in ‘ The Wheel of Surya’. She portrays an accurate and realistic use of discrimination during the post and pre partition of India, the time period in which the book is set. This essay explores the different types of discrimination and the ways in which they are presented.

When Marvinder and Jaspal arrive in England they are met with a “ bleak and blasted landscape ”. Not only do they find themselves in an unfamiliar land alone and surrounded by strangers they also encounter unprovoked discrimination.

Racial discrimination becomes a very common and dominant part of Marvinder and Jaspal’s life when they move to England. Racists comments such as “ Why don’t you wash blacky! Or are you so dirty it won’t come off ” and “ It’s all God’s fault. He left them blackies in the oven too long and they got burned ” taunt them during their time in England. Gavin shows in her writing how these more obvious types of discrimination were used in this time to bully the person and to make them feel small and vulnerable. In this case comments such as these made the children feel isolated and even more cut off from their ‘family’. Gavin presents these racist comments mostly through verbal communication but sometimes through actions such as. “ They giggled and pointed and stuck out there tongues ”. This suggests that people in England were so unused to seeing Indian children that they found them funny to look at because they looked different so they made fun out of them. Gavin also shows in her writing that discrimination occurred during this time due to ignorance. Examples of this include “ shouldn’t think they’ve ever sat on chairs at a table before ”. People during this time believed that be...

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...ng into a heathen, no doubt about it, poor child. ” This is a discriminating comment about the native people in India. The word heathen in this context suggests that they are uncultured, uncivilized or even savage.

Gavin has explored discrimination in such detail that makes it seem more realistic than a firsthand account of this time. She explores in ‘The Wheel of Surya’ the idea that many people during this time held. This was that anything different was inferior and not to be trusted. ` She has presented it in a knowledgeable, effective way as by including subtle discrimination, such as the way people treat the children, to the more obvious discrimination, such as unjust words said to Jhoti. Through the way she presents small slights and slurs in the everyday lives of her characters, she builds up a well-rounded picture of inequality, prejudice and bigotry.

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