Fireflies: Analysis of Major Characters
"Fireflies: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate dynamics within the Lutchman family and their interactions with the influential Khoja family. Central to the narrative is Vimla "Baby" Lutchman, who navigates the complexities of her arranged marriage to Ram Lutchman, a man marked by insecurity and brutality. Despite the challenges she faces, including her husband's infidelities and violence, Baby remains devoted to her family until his sudden death prompts her to seek independence.
The couple's sons, Bhaskar and Romesh, embody contrasting paths; Bhaskar is quiet and studious but ultimately succumbs to cynicism after failing to enter medical school, while Romesh, charismatic yet volatile, grapples with anger and criminal tendencies, ultimately rejecting his family's values. Govind Khoja, the ambitious cousin, seeks to assert his superiority through political aspirations but becomes increasingly isolated as family tensions rise. This character analysis delves into themes of identity, familial loyalty, and the struggle for personal agency against societal expectations.
Fireflies: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Shiva Naipaul
First published: 1970
Genre: Novel
Locale: Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
Plot: Social satire
Time: The 1960's
Vimla “Baby” Lutchman, the protagonist, a cousin to the Khojas and the least important member of the Khoja family. A visionary but passive woman, with a taste for commerce, she is not a deep thinker. She relies instead on instinct and suspicion. Never a very pretty girl, though she does have a beautiful, aristocratic nose, she grows fat soon after being married. Her marriage is arranged, and she immediately moves from being controlled by her family to being physically dominated by her husband. Despite her husband's occasional brutality, his lack of interest in their marriage, and his affair with Doreen James, Baby remains devoted to him and their sons, and she never really questions the role into which she has been placed; hence, the marriage is relatively happy. Of limited intelligence and insight, she tends to accept the advice of Govind Khoja without thought. After her husband's sudden death, however, she starts to rebel a bit, cherishing her newfound independence and freedom. Baby remains quite superstitious throughout her life, always attempting to interpret her dreams and looking for signs and portents. Slowly losing control, she is forced to sell her house. Rather than go back to the domination of living with one of the Khojas, Baby chooses to live with an old friend and help run a country store. After finally getting the opportunity to run a business, she finds that she has lost interest in this dream.
Ram Lutchman, Baby's husband, first a bus driver and then an employee in the ministry of education. Not a particularly good-looking man, Ram is poorly educated and comes from a poor background; therefore, he was glad to make such a good marriage. He does not find his wife very attractive, however, and during the early years of their marriage he visits prostitutes and beats his wife regularly. Through the aid of Govind Khoja, his situation begins to improve, but Ram only grows to hate the Khojas, both for their interference in his own life and for their influence on his wife. Ram tends to develop obsessions (such as Doreen, gardening, swimming, photography, and Christmas) on which he thrives for a while and then, with their inevitable failure, abandons. Ram is suspicious of other people's motives and has a tendency to be sneaky and to steal things. As he ages, he realizes that he is not very close to his family and makes some futile attempts to bring them all closer together, but he finds it to be too much of an effort. He dies of a heart attack rather suddenly, while tending his garden, the only one of his obsessions that ever grew into anything.
Bhaskar Lutchman, the Lutchmans' firstborn son. An ugly, quiet, and obedient boy, he is in no way extraordinary. Solitary and not at all close to either of his parents or to his brother, he is very well behaved in the classroom and studies hard, but he is not much of a student. After struggling to get into medical school, he suffers a nervous breakdown and is sent home in failure. His repeated failures drive him to a mocking cynicism and make him unwilling to put much effort into anything. He eventually marries and moves to England.
Romesh Lutchman, the Lutchmans' secondborn son. A handsome and lively boy who suffers from his nerves and tends to have violent and hysterical fits of rage and weeping, he is quite unpredictable. Despite his high intelligence, Romesh hates school, preferring to spend his time either hanging out with friends or going to the cinema. Early in life, he separates himself from the rest of his family, coming to despise their weaknesses. Eventually, he leaves school and home. Developing criminal tendencies and carrying on his father's hatred of Govind Khoja, he campaigns enthusiastically against Khoja in the election. One night, he gets drunk and breaks into the Khojas' house, terrorizing them both and showing Govind to be the coward he really is. After serving his time in jail, he moves to New York City and, eventually, marries a Puerto Rican heiress.
Govind Khoja, the head of one of Trinidad's most important families and Mrs. Lutchman's cousin. The only son of the family, Govind takes himself and his position quite seriously. Being fairly well-read and a disciple of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, he has managed to convince himself that he is highly intelligent, much more so than the rest of his relatives and friends, and hence is the only person capable of leading the family. The dissension within the family grows after his mother's death and his rather miserly distribution of the inheritance. He decides that it is time to separate himself from the family and take his message to the people. He futilely runs for political office, forming his own political party. After losing the election and being attacked by Romesh, he retires once more to his library, where he can remain insulated from the real world.