The Glass Palace
Amitav Ghosh
Contributed by Thurman Rieser
Chapter 25-27
Summary

Three months after the wedding, Britain declares war on Germany. While Rangoon prepares for war, the city’s inhabitants seem ambivalent to the idea that it might affect them. Rajkumar and Dinu bond unexpectedly while involving themselves in the civil defense preparations. During one such patrol in the rain, Rajkumar contracts pneumonia. He is placed into the same hospital–indeed, the same room–as the one that housed Dolly and Dinu twenty-four years prior. He lays in the bed, listening to war updates on the radio. The updates help Rajkumar come to terms with his failings as a businessman. Though his pneumonia begins to heal, he seems overcome with sadness. He tells Dolly that, finally, he agrees with her: they should leave Burma. But the business has many debts and they must carefully extricate themselves from the country.

Arjun is stationed in Afghanistan. He spends a great deal of his time reading anything he can. Hardy visits en route to his own posting and brings news of mutinies across India. When Arjun moves back to Delhi, he discovers the army rapidly expanding and losing many of its traditions and customs at the same time. Both Arjun and Hardy are promoted rapidly, helping train the next generation. As months pass, they remain unsure whether they will be called up to the front.

Rajkumar is discharged from hospital and lays in bed, listening to the radio and planning. He tells Dolly of his plan: to make as much money as possible during the war so that he will be able to secure his family’s future. She accuses him of war profiteering. That night, she receives a phone call from Alison, whose parents have died in a car crash. Dolly promises to send Dinu to support her.

Arjun and Hardy drive to Delhi where they meet a friend, Kumar. At lunch, Kumar tells them of unrest in his battalion. After a number of incidents, the High Command is shocked at the cooperation between Hindu and Muslim troops. The officer punished for the incident was a friend of theirs, leaving Arjun and Hardy unsure of their futures. They visit a dancer to celebrate Arjun’s twenty-third birthday. The dancer picks Arjun out of the crowd and leads him upstairs, where they make love.

Alison reveals her parents’ deaths to Saya John. Now in his mid-eighties, Saya John smiles and Alison flees the room, unable to watch her grandfather’s face. The news greatly accelerates the deterioration of his mind and he occasionally seems to forget that his son has died. His dementia feels like another loss and Alison is alone.

The only other presence in the house is Ilongo, whom Saya John has adopted in the past months. Saya John paid for Ilongo’s training as an electrician and now the 20-year-old spends much time caring for the old man. 

Dinu arrives from Rangoon; Alison is not expecting him. She goes to meet him at the station, his arrival a momentary relief from her all-consuming grief.

Dinu’s arrival in Morningside is delayed by war-related submarine activity. Alison greets him, Dinu tells her that his father is recovering well and that Neel and Manju are expecting a baby. While driving back to the house, they pass a newly-installed military base. As she explains her grief, Alison nearly crashes the car and Dinu has to steady the wheel. As she cries, Dinu comforts her.

Arjun and Hardy receive their orders, though Hardy is beginning to have doubts. As Kishan prepares Arjun for a formal dinner, he recounts the rumors he has heard of where the battalion will be sent. When Kishan reveals that he has told his mother that Arjun will keep him safe, Arjun is struck by the bond that he has formed with the men under his command.

Analysis

The slow decline in Rajkumar’s business activities becomes a key issue in these chapters. Over the course of the novel, Rajkumar has built his own small empire. It has been funded by the transportation of people and made profit through the sale of wood. It has helped him win the woman that he obsessed about for decades. But he no longer possesses the material wealth he once owned and his marriage to Dolly has steadily deteriorated. The collapse of Rajkumar’s own empire—caused by his failure to comprehend a changing world and his alien presence in a city that is not his own—reflects the travails of the British Empire, though neither are quite finished yet.

The theme of memories is important in these chapters, especially with Saya John’s fading mental faculties. Alison, haunted by the memories of her parents, finds her life overwhelmed by their loss. Her grandfather, on the other hand, lives in a forgetful state and has become trapped in a saccharine past, lost in the memories he still has left. Unable to form new memories, he is unable process loss and Alison finds herself bearing the burden of another loss in the family. Memories provide both the biggest pain in her life and the biggest sense of gratification; without the memories she has, she would be next to nothing, even though those memories are painful. That she should meet Dinu is also important. Dinu’s skill as a photographer allows him to preserve moments in time, physical manifestations of memories. As Saya John’s mental condition deteriorates, the memories and photographs that Alison and Dinu create will endure beyond the mind of any one individual.

info_outline
Have study documents to share about The Glass Palace? Upload them to earn free Studypool credits!