[Child of God]: 416.Essays.The Collectors
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In the realm of literature, the question of where am I often leads the reader to think about the setting in which the story takes place. In this respect, “The Collectors” takes place in India, more specifically in “Firozsha Baag” (p. 334). Throughout the story, the description of culture and the use of words native to the country all provide evidence as to the story’s setting. The story however, does not just address its own setting, but also the setting of that to the current world; where we, the characters are in not only the physical setting, but also the personal, interpersonal, spiritual, emotion and psychological settings. Jehangir finds himself in a world in which he is a “melancholy, watching presence” (p. 337), not participating but rather watching the cruelty of those around him. Though he does not join in, he also does nothing to stop the other boys from their cruel game of “stoning-the-c
expense stoically accepted” and though minor losses occurred “business was good despite the losses” (p. 341). Jehangir finds himself not in a world of confidence,
progress, prosperity and hope which characterizes the modernist period, but rather in a broken world of melancholy and cruelty, where losses and wrong doings are only acknowledged and dealt with if they are sever. Such a world characterizes the post-modernist worldview, in which the answer to the question of where am I is often one of pessimism and despair.
In asking who am I, it is not just meant the physical being, but rather, who is the individual and humanity as a whole. The individual is a part of, yet also different from, but represents humanity. In discovering who the individual is, the discovery of who humanity is also emerges. By asking who Jehangir is, who Dr. Mosy or Pesi is, the story is also asking society and humanity who they are. Who is the character Jehangir, or Mosy, or Pesi? Each character provides answers to that question. Dr. Mosy represents the creature without much hope left, “there was something painfully empty about his eyes” (p. 337). Just as he beings to find hope again in Jehangir, that hope is once again dashed and the small object of hope, the Spanish dancing-lady stamp (which he attempts to share and pass on), is taken from him along with all the promised future happiness in stamp collecting. What Dr. Mosy had spent his life collecting, establishing and creating was now meaningless as the prize object had been lost. All purpose and enjoyment in the activity was now gone. Dr. Mosy’s son, Pesi, is cynical of his father’s prize accomplishment
In the fallen world of “The Collectors”, what’s wrong is strongly evident. Just as “Fate denied fruition to all of Dr. Mosy’s plans.” (p. 336), so too is the world disillusioned and denied the fruition of its past hopes. The plans and dreams of passing on
the legacy from father to son is broken, all that the father has hoped and worked for has proved fruitless and unimportant to the son. The future has disappointed the plans and hopes of modernist, just as “Pesi disappointed [Dr. Mosy] in all his plans” (p. 348). There is no longer justice in the world, as Jehangir discovers when he feels “the punishment deriving from it [his actions] so inconsequentia
If there is something wrong, there must be something which will fix it. In answer to what is wrong though, the story offers no remedy. “It was doubtful if anything of value remained in the trunk.” (p. 351) It is doubtful that anything, from the past or the present, can redeem the future. Modernists held that there was hope for a better future, even if that hope was lost sometimes, it was still always there and that whatever was wrong in the world could be remedied. This story demonstrates how, just as with the Spanish dancing-lady stamp, “He did not loose it. I destroyed it.” (p. 350) Hope, remedy, is not lost; it has been destroyed. There is no remedy for the world and no hope for the future. The future is uncertain, unredeemable as is the world in its present desperate and fallen state. Such is the answer of a post-modernist
The story of Rohinton Mistry’s “The Collectors” is a strong post-modernist story. It answers the four foundational worldview questions with negativity and despair, giving little hope for the characters, the world or the future. In contrast to the modernist optimism and faith in humanity, “The Collectors” portrays pessimism, doubt and injustice, saying that though not all are guilty to what has been charged to them, they are still guilty of something which leads to the depravity of the world.