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Rich Man Country - Coggle Diagram

- - - - "their shack sat in a corner of a large malodorous clearing. Straw mats stood propped in a corner." - a shack, not even a house. with barely anything furnished.
      - "Tok handed them a plastic bag in which were bread, biscuits, and a jar of jam. He pointed to some kerosene lamps, matches, a nest of buckets beside them and a gas tank standing in a dim corner"- bare essentials, barely any proper food for them. Should the electricity go out they have lamps and matches. Buckets to wash clothes (no washing machine), gas tank (to cook). Nothing more. (119)
      - "the shack belonged to a fish farm that hd neither electricity nor plumbing. Carp moved lethargically in fetid water. The reek of manure spooled around the place. mosquitoes made sleep impossible until in desperation they rolled bundles of grass and set it alight. In the morning chickens woke them up." - they literally live not just in a village but in a farm, on a farm, no care for humanity at all, their atmosphere smells and feels horrible, it is not fit for living conditions. Yet they have to put up with it (119)
  - - - this entire last section all the way till the end of the story tells what happens when he is injured. The reader is not told what happens - but we can infer that
      - they dragged his body on the road instead of taking him to a hospital - thud of his body hitting the ground - infer using sounds
      - he is being pushed down something: "pitched forward, released and kicks against all this but rolls down like a log and comes to a halt with a splash in water smelling of rotting grass and loam and mould" - it feels like a drain or a moat that he is thrown into? we only hear sounds and sensations,
      - "he gasps, choking, on knowledge" - there is a double meaning here, he chokes on the water that he is thrown into. But he also chokes with a realisation that he is "now a nameless and faceless that slips through the cracks"
      - the scene ends with "something else is needed from him now by Ah Lai and the super" - this refers to death. they need him to die. "something that depends on the night the rain, his injuries, to achieve" - they need him to die. to end all these problems.
- - - - Vulnerable, helpless and in pain, also embarrassed
        
        ‘SHAMED himself’ (112) – the word ‘shamed’ is used to show that he had made an embarrassment of himself as he is a grown man but unable to control his bladder. His vulnerability is exposed for all of them to see. Pee is synonymous with shame, embarassment
        
        Simile used: ‘like many people yelling at once in a crowded room’(112)
        
        Another simile: the sound continues to intensify  ‘a runway town hall meeting: a cacophony of raised, angry voices’
        
        Screaming went unheard as he couldn’t even say it due to pain, ‘he screamed with pain. Stop stop…’, ‘the only sounds, after the thud of his body hitting the ground, are the scrape and rasp of flesh against rubble… road surface tears at him, the sickly smell of loam and humus gags him’ – dragging him to a drain/waterbody to drown him, so excruciating and agonising pain. (126)
      - Terrified and insecure - Not sure if he will recover from the accident
        
        ‘the yelling was like a calm hand to his racing heart, a sign of normality’ (114)
        
        Afraid that he wouldn’t ever wake up (111)
        
        Examples of Hari and Ashok: Hari’s example: to reassure himself that this is ‘Rich Man Country’ – good medical facilities, Ashok’s example: makes him worry that he will die instead of recover.
      - Envious of his richer counterparts and thus longing for more. But also somehow feeling much more low-status than them due to difference in socio-economic status. Inferiority complex to his friend Arul.
        
        One guy becomes a success story in the village, the other one ends up dead and forgotten.
        
        He promises his wife the dream life, as seen from, ‘one day they would all pile into a car…’, and his family many luxurious items, ‘bolt of cloth for Ammu…’. This is compared to Arul who HAS attained the dream life.
        
        Protagonist is poor and uneducated, family poor. Arul takes loan from family and goes on to be a ‘young man with prospects’
        
        Arul is able to provide for family, has proper house and flushing system etc, he has luxuries: TV, tiled floor…2 phones. Etc.
        
        Arul uses a condescending tone on him
        
        ‘Prospects, Arul murmured, self-importance in his tone’
        
        ‘seigneurial air…Arul puffed out his cheeks and made an arc with his arm’ – like a king…’ – seem to want to help the person but you are just bragging. Ulterior motive, show off.
        
        ‘it can happen to you too’ – Arul is hinting that the protagonist doesn’t have what he has.
        
        ‘a rush of warmth filled him, his old friend had not forgotten him’ – he was really touched as he didn’t expect that his friend who had obtained wealth and success would still remember him.
  - - - their employers need them but bully them
      - safety wasn't followed at the site - it tells you that the employers don't care what happens to their workers.
        it is easier to dump the body than own up
  - - - Buys things / thinks of what he can and will buy for his family
        
        "his heart leaped like the meen he had caught: a bolt of cloth for Ammu, a gold bracelet for Sita, a cell phone for his brother Ahbijeet..." - this list here is not just a typical shopping list, but it represents his dreams and goals that he wants to eventually achieve.
      - He refuses to be with another woman though he is so far from home and no one would know
        
        "How could he dishonour Sita with a few easy moments in another's arms? Just once he had done it and the regret was intolerable. Being able to afford it was beside the point: who could be as beautiful as Sita, with her smile, her way of looking at him? It was an insult to think that her body, her comfort, could be had for a few dollars" - the way he holds his wife not just in high regard, but priceless, says a lot about his motivations to come overseas to work. He intends to treat her like a queen and make a life that they will eventually enjoy.
- - - - Flashback and foreshadow - the story is odd because it opens at the end and concludes back where it started
      - flashback/forth technique produces a few motifs
      - coconut -- (112, 124) Coconut (112) – he hit his head because he slipped/ground slipped/drill slipped. Coconut is a metaphor for his head. Just as the coconut split in halves, his head also opened up when he fell and got injured. Contrast between what he expected – protection, and what he got – death.
        
        ‘but the coconut had split well’ – (imagery) shows that his head had split
        ‘same pain different meanings’ – same pain because both times he hit his head. But different meanings – now is a matter of life and death. The first time – p124, 125 – the coconut split against his head and covered him with coconut water as a sacrifice to pray for protection
        The second time is fatal injury. (foreshadow: “like a bad joke”)
      - Use of short sentences - he doesn’t really know English – ‘crash course in English’.
        ‘generator. Hydraulic pump. Good morning sir. Please show me’. (125)