2/2: Naipaul: more questions!

NOTE: on Wednesday we will only discuss to the end of Chapter 8 (p. 140). We'll catch up on Monday. 1. Can anyone write an imitation of Naipaul's style? A couple short paragraphs will do. 2. The most important theme in Book One appears to be issues of power and hierarchy. Most of the relationships illustrate shifts in power relationships. In Book Two, Ferdinand gains more prestige and the Domain creates a new source of prestige. Is there a philosophy behind Naipaul's presentation of ever-shifting power relations? 3. On pages 88-89 and after we learn about Mahesh's business scheme and uses for western products. Can you relate these developments to i) the earlier discussion of math and/or the discussion of African use of products on p. 40? Have Salim and Mahesh become "mathematicians" as Nazruddin warned against? 4. From the beginning of the book to where we are now find some passages in which Naipaul characterizes "Africa" and "Africans"? With the boom and changes after the rebellion, is there any change in the narrator's concept of the "African"? 5. On page 95 Salim reveals, "I began to see the town as ordinary for the first time." We know that ordinariness and otherness are a continuing theme in the novel. Why does Salim's view of the town change? What is the significance of the change? 6. In the second part, the theme of "real" versus "unreal" becomes dominant. Compared to the earlier chapters, there are a lot more philosophical discussions. Look at the passage beginning "I became confused myself..." on page 124-125. What is "the Africa of words and ideas" and how does it differ from other representations of Africa in the novel? 7. Indar, during his long speech in chapter 9, describes the Domain as a "construct," but adds "all men live in constructs." Discuss the significance of the Domain as a comment on development in postcolonial Africa. 8. Salim gets to know a writer in the new world, Raymond, who is something of an official writer for the Big Man. On 136-137 Raymond talks about the difficulties of writing. Is this a Naipaul figure? What is the significance of the writer figure to the themes of the book (truth vs. falsity; being "nothing" vs. being something etc.)? 9. If tradition and religion underwrite many of the events in the first part, politics seems to be the active force in the second. On p. 133 Raymond, the white historian who "runs the show," praises the Big Man, the new African president. Comment on this passage in light of the imporatnce of history in the novel? How is Naipaul commenting on post-liberation African politics here? 10. While he initially felt like an outsider in the Domain, Salim finds himself accepted within it to some extent. After a night of music and a dance with Yvette, Salim declares that "I had found the kind of life I wanted; I never wanted to be ordinary again." (129) Explain this change in light of Salim's character through the novel up to this point. 11. On p. 97+, we read about Mahesh's Bigburger shop; it is obviously a satirical detail. Discuss the character of the Indian Mahesh as a symbol of an outsider's relationship to Africa. 12. A shift is described on p. 96: "We had been the intruders, the ordinary men... Without effort we had become, in a real way, the masters..."  How and why did "we" become the masters, and how was this shift brought about by the death of Father Huisman?