Short Story Response to `At the Great Durbar`

Short Story Response to At the Great Durbar

The occasion at great Durbar was the coronation of King George V as emperor of India in 1911 . The official proclamation of Queen Victoria 's assumption of the title as the Empress of India was also held at the Great Durbar , of Delhi , India (Halsall ,

. 1998 , par . 1

The author 's message about the social realities in India under British rule rings loud and clear . He has beautifully used the occasion to dramatize the social condition in which the author personified India with

the character of a typical Indian farmer named Nanuk Singh , and the British rule with the brown rats that were deliberately climbing up a swaying stem to seat themselves on a cob and begin breakfast systematically (Steel , F . A . 2005 ,

. 114 . The author 's of Singh 's economic condition depicts a social reality about the impact of British rule . They were helpless and cannot do anything against the brown rats robbing them their foods . The author must be pointing this statement to the economic exploitation of the Indian economy . Their helplessness against this exploitation was depicted by the fact that he losses his three sons

As Singh was contemplating about the failure of his harvest , he thought to bring the matter to the authorities to explain his failure was due to the reason that Purameshwar had sent rats instead of rain (Steel ,

br 119 . This allegorical statement reflects their frustration of their inability to resolve their social , political , and economic miseries under British

The author 's use of personification and allegories was a technique that beautifully fit to the occasion of the story . It did not only add clarity to the author 's intent , but it also reveals cultural insights in the story . India is known in their religion which considers animal life as also sacred . Despite of the economic losses Nanuk incurred because of those brown rats , yet he did not devise a plan to destroy them . He simply thought that Purameshwar had sent them . He was even willing to give them share

This insights are must have anchored on Indian religious concept of reincarnation . Under this concept , the rats could also be the souls of people who had reincarnated in the form of the rats

Halsal ,

(1998 ) Indian History Sourcebook : Field Marshal Lord Roberts When Queen Victoria

Became Empress of India , 1887

HYPERLINK "http /www .fordham .edu /halsall /india /1877empressvictoria .html http /www .fordham .edu /halsall /india /1877empressvictoria .html

Steel , F . A (2005 ) In the Permanent Way New York : Kessinger Publishing...