How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"I have the usual encumbrances that men have—wife, children, home—that would have put chains about me but I resisted, and so I am alone. As for coming and going, I do as I please, for am I not my own master?" (12.77)
Kenny, interestingly, will be echoed by Puli, who will later say he has no mother to worry over him or to worry him. With Kenny, there’s always the tendency to interpret his words thinking about race or colonialism. When we think about what it means that Kenny and Puli share some of the same tendencies, we might recognize that both are just boys with wanderlust – they have no sense of home, maybe because they never could, or maybe because they didn’t want it.
Quote #5
"We can do without these, but if the land is gone our livelihood is gone, and we must thenceforth wander like jackals." (13.25)
When the land actually is sold much later in the novel, Rukmani takes the time to reflect on all the memories she’s had in her home. Nathan, by contrast, shows here that he’s perhaps more practical and less romantic. Nathan’s first concern is a roof and a livelihood – the home means a different thing to him than to Rukmani.
Quote #6
"…You live and work here, and there is in your heart solicitude for us and love for our children. But this is not your country and we are not your people. If you lived here your whole life it still would not be."
"My country," he said. "Sometimes I do not know which is my country. Until today I had thought perhaps it was this." (18.56)
The only thing that changed today was that Kenny actually arrived back in the village. It seems deep down, he has a tendency towards romantic optimism, as evidenced by his undying hope about building the hospital. Kenny likely thought of India as his home while he was away in his England because he didn’t fit in there either. Kenny is perhaps too judgmental of every place to really comfortably fit in anywhere. He’s at home in his own dislocation.