Plotting the story

pp. 127- 143: Assess the reaction of Douglas and the Nawab to Olivia’s pregnancy.

Olivia found out that she was pregnant and tried first to tell Douglas but it occured that she first told the Nawab to show him her affection when he left the room. His reaction was very positive and he was even nicer and lovelier than before. The relationship between both was no secret anymore in palace and they were closer to each other than before. Moreover, the Nawab wanted her to stay with him. That also means that he never doubted that the baby was his and that he also was the opinion that Douglas already had been disapproved. The most important gesture in his reaction was that he often stroked her small hips and belly asking her “Really you will do this for me? [...] You are not afraid? Oh how brave you are!” (p. 141, ll. 12-13)

Douglas showed a similar reaction. He and Olivia visited the graveyard again and this time he advised her of the gravestone engraved “Kind and indulgend Father” and showed his feelings of joy and admiration for Olivia by talking about his future son. Douglas also stroked her waist and hips and whispered “You’re not afraid? [...] You’ll really do this for me? How brave you are.” (p. 143, ll. 8-9)

The reactions show obvious parallels. Both are sure to be the father and admire Olivia for her pregnancy. They also are both happy about it but Olivia is torn between both and also in a big moral dilemma which is strengthened by the similar reactions.

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pp. 143- 149: Explain what taboo the narrator broke in the hospital.

The Hindu have a great “fear of pollution” (p. 104, l. 28). Ill and infected people quickly become a danger for healthy people- nearly a disaster in the bad Indian health care system. But the main reason for ignoring the sick persons is the Hindu belief of the own guiltiness for any condition including diseases. Foul deeds and mistakes from former lives appear as afflictions in the current life.

The narrator offends against the Hindu principle when she helps a poor men by removing his bedpan. This man has a broken leg and is unable to walk to the toilet and so he is dependent on th hospital sweepers. Because of his poverty he is not able to pay them for their services and so he often lies in bed with his bedpan for hours. So the narrator wanting to do a good deed empties the bedpan in a latrine. Coming back she already feels that she broke a taboo.

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pp. 154- 165: What do we know of Olivia’s life after her elopement?

After her initiated miscarriage Olivia left the hospital and went directly to the palace in Khatm. The Nawab bought a house near the small town named X right at the steep side of the Himalaya mountains. She adapted her house again in her own style: yellow curtains and cushions, tasselled lampshades, a gramophone and of course the tuned piano from Khatm. Like in Satipur she has a chair and embroidery frame. The view over the mountains was gorgeous. Moreover, outside there were stables just used to store the Nawab’s sedan chair. Most of the time Olivia lived alone because the Nawab often viseted Harry and his wife Sandy. Their exact relationship is not clear because the Nawab did not speak about her just like he never spoke about the Begum as a private topic and also Olivia’s letters to Marcia decreased. Furthermore, Olivia never met Douglas again and she also never visited England again. She survived the Nawab by six years and was cremated on the Hindu cremation ground like her neighbour being a German buddhist although there also was a British cemetry where her other neighbours being a Norwegian widow and two ex-missionaries were buried.

All things considered Olivia led a similar life as she lived before with Douglas. Her dreams of living in a luxurious palace like a princess loved and admired by the “terrifically handsome” (p. 137. l. 32) man did not come true. Rather she must have been even more alone and bored.

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