Heat and Dust: Analysis of Major Characters
"Heat and Dust" explores the complexities of intercultural relationships through its major characters, set against the backdrop of colonial India. Olivia Rivers, a young Englishwoman, grapples with isolation and cultural dissonance in 1923 as she becomes romantically entwined with the Nawab, a local ruler. Her journey is marked by personal turmoil, culminating in a pregnancy that leads to an abortion, reflecting her conflicted loyalties to her husband, Douglas Rivers, and her lover.
Anne, the narrator and Olivia's granddaughter, seeks to uncover Olivia's story in the 1970s while navigating her own experiences in India. Unlike Olivia, Anne opts to keep her child after initially considering abortion, demonstrating a shift in perspectives regarding motherhood and cultural identity. The Nawab, captivating yet self-centered, illustrates the allure and contradictions of power, while characters like Douglas and Harry reflect the struggles of British officials in a changing political landscape.
Supporting characters, such as the Begum, Major Minnies, and Inder Lal, reveal the varying degrees of influence and cultural conflict faced by both British and Indian individuals. Through these interconnected stories, "Heat and Dust" invites readers to consider themes of love, betrayal, and the search for identity within the complexities of cultural exchange.
Heat and Dust: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
First published: 1975
Genre: Novel
Locale: Satipur and Khatm, India
Plot: Philosophical
Time: A year in the 1970's for Anne's narrative and 1923 for Olivia's story
Olivia Rivers, a young Englishwoman recently married, living in Satipur in 1923. Bored with the company of other English officials and their wives and neglected by Douglas, her hardworking husband, Olivia is also uncomfortable with the foreignness of India itself. Over a period of several months, she becomes romantically involved with the Nawab, the local native Indian ruler. When she becomes pregnant, she has an abortion because she is not sure whether her husband or the Nawab is the father of the child. After leaving her husband, she remains in India as the mistress of the Nawab, dying in the late 1950's without ever returning to England.
Anne, an Englishwoman in her late twenties who narrates Olivia's story. The granddaughter of Douglas Rivers and his second wife, Tessie, Anne goes to India in the 1970's to discover the story of her grandfather's first wife. Through her diary, Anne also relates her own life in India. Like Olivia, Anne becomes pregnant, but after initially choosing an abortion, she decides instead to have the child. She follows Olivia's life to the house in the Himalayas bought for her by the Nawab. At the close, Anne, nearing the time for her own delivery, has decided to join an ashram even higher in the mountains.
Douglas Rivers, a young, dedicated English official serving in India as his ancestors had done before him. Upright and controlled, taking a paternal attitude toward the Indians, Douglas is the pillar around which Olivia's changing feelings revolve. After Olivia's desertion, Douglas obtains a divorce and marries Tessie, a sister of Beth Crawford. After Indian independence, he retires to England, where he dies.
The Nawab, a local Indian prince and ruler of Khatm. About thirty-five years old, the Nawab is married, but his wife suffers from mental illness. Although outwardly generous, the Nawab is self-centered, and he generally gets whatever he desires. He becomes for Olivia the romantic, all-consuming figure that her nature needs. He lavishes attention on her and enjoys her company in the knowledge that it embarrasses the British. Later, he loses both political and economic power, and he dies in his mother's arms in New York in the early 1950's.
The Begum, mother of the Nawab, an elusive but powerful influence on her son. Her presence in the palace at Khatm is always implicit, and it is to her that Olivia turns when she decides to get an abortion. The Begum seems to be the most influential woman in the Nawab's life.
Harry, an Englishman who had met the Nawab in London and had accompanied him back to India. He is a houseguest of the Nawab and is fond of him and grateful for his indulgences, making it difficult to leave. He is ill and does not like the food and climate of India. Weak and vacillating, Harry often expresses a desire to escape the seductiveness of the Nawab and his palace and return to his mother in England, but he is able to do so only after Olivia commits herself to the Nawab.
Beth Crawford, the wife of the chief British official of Satipur in 1923. As with most of the English, her family has deep roots in India. Sure of herself and her situation, she has mastered the life required of her position. Her sister, Tessie, becomes Douglas Rivers' second wife.
Major Minnies, the official political adviser to the Nawab. Sympathetic to the Nawab, he also paternally perceives him as a child who has not grown to his responsibilities. More understanding of Olivia's changing feelings than are the others, he later writes a book warning Westerners about allowing India to seduce them and their different values.
Dr. Saunders, the chief British medical official in Satipur in 1923. Less sympathetic and more judgmental than Minnies, he treats Olivia for complications from her abortion and condemns her for allowing India to corrupt her. His wife, Joan, is the English figure most brought down by India: Her environment has lost the battle to Indian foreignness.
Inder Lal, Anne's Indian landlord in Satipur, about twenty-five years old. A mid-level bureaucrat, frustrated and fearful of his position, feeling that India is inferior to the West, and unhappy with his illiterate and traditional Indian wife, he allows himself to be seduced by Anne, thus fathering her child.
Inder Lal's mother, who, like the Begum, is a strong influence on her son. She chose his wife, runs his home, and even decides the proper treatment for her daughter-in-law's mental problems.
Ritu, the young and uneducated wife of Inder Lal. Dominated by her mother-in-law, Ritu suffers, as did the Nawab's wife, from mental illness.
Chidananda (Chid), a young Englishman who has converted to Hinduism. He stays with Anne briefly, and she becomes his reluctant lover. Although initially he appears to have stripped himself of his Western past, ultimately India proves too much for him; he becomes ill and desperately wishes to return to England.
Maji, a holy woman in Satipur. It is to her that Anne turns when she decides to get an abortion. Anne changes her mind, however. Later, she believes that her decision was a result of Maji's influence.