“One Out of Many” by V.S. Naipaul Essay

Read One Out of Many by V.S. Naipaul (in the Anthology, A World of Difference, pp. 261-94). Discuss the ways in which the reason explores the concept of independence in the account.One Out of Many, a pitiful reputation by the famous Trinidad-born British writer V. S. Naipaul, first published in his anthology In a Free State in 1973, is a story which concerns a young Indian man from Bombay who starts a new intent and struggles with his throw individualal identity in the urban center of chapiter D.C. through and through news report structure indoors the short story Naipaul seems to question the centre of freedom, and what constitutes freedom on both a societal, and soulal level.In establish to fully explore the theme of freedom at bottom the plot and the story of One Out of Many, it is worthwhile to mention a hardly a(prenominal) of its key elements, and how they fit into a wider political, and social context. There are a number of important events that happen to th e main lifter, Santosh, that help to shape his possess sense of self identity and thus bring him to question the freedom which he has in his own life. The first of these events is Santoshs emigration to cap D.C. with his employer, which causes Santosh to leave his wife and two children behind. Even at this early focus in the story Santosh is divided.Was there a job for me in Bombay? Santosh questions himself, masking a reluctance to stay on in his primal city with come in the security that has been provided for him by his vocation and his employer. Sometime into his stay in cap D.C., Santosh seems to agnize a greater sense of self-identity (which will be looked at in more depth later), and a sexual adjoin with a hubshi woman at the time of the race riots in Washington D.C. leads him to toss out the life he has with his employer and to become a more independent citizen.This leads our protagonist on to what could be seen as one of his most important realisations in terms of his own sense of personal freedom within a wider context. Having met an Indian restaurant owner named Priya, Santosh discovers that a lot of his fellow employees within the restaurant areindeed Mexicans who wear turbans in high society to fox a faade of being Indian men. Their talk amid the biryanis and the pillaus was all of cover and green separate, notes Santosh, They were always about to get green cards or they had been cheated out of green cards or they had vindicatory got green cards. It is this talk of legal and extrajudicial citizenship that leads Santosh to question his own freedom within US society, and eventually make a very important finis that will bring him a certain amount of freedom. Naipaul uses first person narrative effectively in order to bring the referee close-hauled to the main protagonist, Santosh. Through this first person narrative the reader gains an perceptivity into Santoshs naivety within his new surroundings in Washington D.C., and his init ial experiences within it.At times, therefore, it could be said that it is necessary for Naipaul to confront Santosh as a rather simplistic graphic symbol in order to show just how little Santosh knows of the USA and the cultural differences between it and his native Bombay. Naipaul manages to achieve a much more, it could be said, personal experience for the reader through these means, with the reader also also being able to smelling the same fish out of water feeling that is portrayed passim Santoshs travels and the adventure which unravels before him. Naipaul really emphasises the theme of freedom when Santosh seems to deliver directly to the reader, and this is no more evident than when Santosh, upon realising his living space is a cupboard, says, I understood I was a prisoner. I accepted this and set I was even calm.He is a prisoner not just of circumstance, but of his place on the class ladder. Later, upon leaving the marge of the cupboard and going on his adventure, he pursues what some would exclaim the American Dream, and it is effective how Naipaul seems to allow the reader to question themselves with regards to just how free Santosh becomes. Another example of this effective use of first person narrative is when Santosh describes his guilt and desire for repentance directly after what he sees as a shameful sexual encounter with a hubshi woman. Incidentally, this is a key event in Santoshs eventual pursuit of freedom. end-to-end the story Santosh seems to gain a greater sense of identity, and a stronger cognizance himself. On his flight to Washington D.C. Santosh, thrust into an environment which is entirely foreigner to any aspect of his lifein Bombay (which is described thoroughly and in a heartfelt way at the beginning of the story), Santosh immediately begins to note the reactions that people have to him. He especially notices an tonal patternline girl, and notes that she didnt like me at all. The girl then proceeds to ignore Santo sh, and this first cultural encounter with Western people who look have upon his somewhat shabby bearing teaches him to question the way he comes across to others. This is reflected throughout the story in Santoshs various mentions of mirrors, and his own reflection within them.It is later on when Santosh has his first walk through the streets of Washington D.C. that he himself finds himself looking down on other people the hubshi people, or African Americans, whom he has neer encountered in his own life until then. Even though Santosh himself has been looked down upon by many people on his journey west, for example the aforementioned girl on the plane, he still percieves the hubshi people to be below him, an popular opinion which was held very widely at the time the short story is set. Meanwhile, Santosh seems to perpetually fight an internal battle between his old spiritual identity, and the more materialistic, consumerist American way of life. By writing in the first person , the author really outs this suggest across as the reader is given a deep insight into the inner turmoil that Santosh experiences as a termination of his own culture shock. A key incident in the short story which makes Santosh think about the differences in these two cultures is when a squiffy man comes to dinner, and seems to insult his employer by describing an incident in which he pay a servant to cut off a statues stage within a temple in India.Santoshs disagreement with this sacreligious, illegal act is heightened by the readers existing knowledge of Santoshs own spirituality, which is derived from a previous incident in which Santosh described praying to cosmetic Eastern statues which have been erected in his employers apartment. From a political point of view, it could be said that it is somewhat crucial that Santosh arrives in Washington D.C. during the courtly rights movement in the US, shortly before the race riots of the 1960s, which occur one-time(prenominal) int o the story, with Santosh describing the city on fire. Even though Santosh is looked down upon by many people he encounters on his journey west, for example the air hostess on the plane there, he still percieves the hubshi people he finds inWashington D.C. as below him. This is highlighted by many of Santoshs statements throughout the short story, and indeed when he questions if his punishment for having sex with the hubshi wetnurse may be being reincarnated as a hubshi himself. It could be argued that the character Santoshs lack of freedom in his own life is shown by Naipaul by the number of things that happen to him in his life that are out of his control.However, this seems to be altered towards the end of the story with Santoshs final decisiveness to marry the hubshi woman who has sought him out in order to gain legal US citizenship. This piece of advice is ultimately suggested to Santosh by Priya, who has seen Santosh living with anguish in the knowledge that he is an illegal immigrant and could be deported. On a purely societal level therefore, Santosh has gained a superficial form of freedom through his marriage to the hubshi maid. The power that the short story has, as a medium, to convey many ideas and concepts within a relatively short narrative space is, it could be said, proven by the many concepts and themes that V.S. Naipaul explores within the story. whole of these themes seem to relate back to the concept of freedom. In the first a few(prenominal) paragraphs of the story alone, Santosh brings up many of the ideas that are explored throughout his change of pose and his struggles brought on by it. He describes the respectable people as foreign to riff raff, and then, while observing the workings of fate, mentions the importance of his employer. This could be seen as a metaphor for the question that the whole story centres around, and that is, how much freedom does the character Santosh have, and how much of his life is ultimately in his own control?