The Glass Palace
Amitav Ghosh
Contributed by Thurman Rieser
Chapter 28-30
Summary

Dinu borrows a bicycle and returns to the ruins where he’d been photographed alongside Alison. He photographs the site each day, eventually finding another ruin deeper into the jungle. After Alison confirms that there are more ruins, he travels further into the jungle. The two have hardly seen one another since Dinu arrived and he is struggling to tell her that Rajkumar wishes her to sell the rubber plantation. When Alison asks Dinu if she can watch him photograph the ruins, he stumbles and accidently offends her.

Arjun and Hardy prepare for their battalion’s departure. They catch a train to Bombay and Arjun finds that he has been assigned his own cabin on the ship. When he boards, he watches Hardy become entangled in an argument with a British sergeant on the docks. Arjun races to help, but by the time he arrives, a British officer has intervened and sided with his fellow countryman, humiliating Hardy.

Onboard the ship, Hardy comes to Arjun’s cabin and tells him that he is seeking revenge. When Arjun calls for calm and reason, Hardy storms out of the cabin. After two days waiting in the docks, their ship sails west. The officers gather to open a sealed envelope containing their orders: they are to head to Singapore, so the ship slowly changes direction.

Manju is enjoying her pregnancy, though the house in Rangoon is often empty and is falling into a state of disrepair. Her relationship with Dolly grows stronger, though the letters from Dinu seem to have stopped. After a spell of dizziness, Manju is confined to her bed and Dolly dotes on her, reading to her from Buddhist scriptures. Neel is at home when Manju’s labor starts and he drives her to the hospital, where she gives birth to a girl named Jaya.

Arjun is in Singapore, where he has read about rebellious incidents occurring. They meet Kumar and visit a pool; when they swim, the Europeans exit the water. The opulence of the Malayan countryside impresses the battalion, though they are often mistaken for coolies when out of uniform. The shock forces them to confront their own assumptions about India. On one occasion, Kishan is called a mercenary. Though Arjun fumbles an explanation, he and Hardy stay up late discussing why the pejorative stings.

Dinu continues to photograph the ruins in the jungle. He hopes Alison will return to the ruins and forgive him for his previous offence. One day, he sees her dangling her feet in a stream and feels compelled to photograph her. The sound of the shutter compels Alison to call out and Dinu approaches. He goes to her and, barely speaking, she leads him to a clearing in the forest.

Arjun’s battalion arrives in Sungei Pattani, where a mutiny took place a few months before. On base, there are palpable tensions between the British and Indian officers. Arjun has no idea how close Dinu is living to the base until Manju writes to him. When she says that Dinu’s parents had not heard from him in months, Arjun decides to help.

Borrowing a car, Arjun drives to Morningside. He sees Alison in the nearby town but she leaves before he can introduce himself. Dinu is waiting, the jungle’s sounds alerting him to his lover’s arrival. He takes photos of her among the ruins and, through the lens, comes to understand Alison better. They have discussed marriage; though Dinu loves Alison, she is reticent.

Dinu has also met Ilongo and understands, instinctively, that a bond exists between them. After meeting Ilongo’s mother, he confesses his suspicions to Alison after a restless night. They talk and Dinu admits that, while he is not angry, the revelation reaffirms his desire never to return home. A few days later, Dinu receives a letter from his father and rips it up. When Alison enquires about its contents, he tells her bluntly that Rajkumar wishes to sell his share of Morningside.

Analysis

The ruins where Alison and Dinu spend so much time together become a fitting metaphor for their families’ pasts. While Morningside itself is more of a living ruin at this point in the book–barely making money and in danger of being abandoned– the ruins in the jungle are becoming steadily forgotten. Alison and Dinu come together in the bones of forgotten cultures and villages, just like they have come together following the death of Alison’s parents and the fractured relationship Dinu shares with his own family. They are more comfortable when they are surrounded by this physical manifestation of collapse, their bond formed in the place where people once lived but have now forsaken.

The constant tensions Arjun recognizes as he travels closer to the front represent his growing awareness of political realities. Thus far in his life, he has lived only in sheltered environments. He lived in the house of his parents, wanting for nothing. Then he moved immediately to the military training facilities, where he was locked away from wider society and molded into the Indian army’s idea of an ideal officer. Only when he has to venture out into the real world is he confronted with racism and mutinous attitudes, directly contradicting what he has been taught. As a member of the Indian army, he assumed he would be welcomed throughout the Empire. But this is not so. His men are labelled mercenaries and distrusted by both sides. When he sees a sergeant favored over the higher-ranked Hardy, he is forced to confront his notion of the military as a meritocracy. As he witnesses, the realities of empire are inseparable from racism.

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