Through "The Shadow Lines "Ghosh unfold various notion of freedom represented by

the characters in different time span.Ghosh's Brilliance is manifested, as the

Readers experiences different places and time. The "Sahitya Akademi award" Winne
r has Done justice to the novel as the characters are well-defined and hold diff
erent notion of freedom.Divided into two parts "Going Away" And "Coming Home" Wh
ich has its own tangible Significance. The Protagonist, Tridib Is the narrator's
uncle,his Impact on "Undefined" narrator's life is Significant.It Is through tr
idib's Eccentric,rational And detached eyes "Undefined" narrator get the picture
of outside world.Narrator was trained to look through the eyes of Tridib's,Evid
ently highlighting Narrator's dependence on Tridib. The narrator was enveloped i
n the protective shell of his Hero tridib.
"I was Grateful for the small privile
ges his presence secured on me on those street"
Narrator was bulldozed by the intellect and the knowledge that the protagonist h
old's.Contrasting to this,Tha'mma had her own view on tridib;
".... Working on Ph.D in Archaeology-so
mething to do with sites associated with the Sena dynasty of Bengal.But this ear
ned him very little credit in my grandmother's eyes.Being a school teacher herse
lf,she had an inordinate respect for academic work of any kind:she saw research
as a lifelong pilgrimage which ended with a named professorship and a marble bus
t in the corridors of Calcutta University or the National Library"
For Tha'mma Tridib was merely "a loafer and wastrel"; For her "His Tim
e Did Stink " .But Narrator had a pure child-like love for his hero, his pride d
id expand when tridib treated him equally sharing him his secrets.Tridib success
fully cultivates and builds Narrator mind to perceive things,to develop a "sense
of imagination", Behold places and things from tridib's eye,to be always above
the mundane,the common and the ordinary.
Ila "Victim of Cosmopolitanism",daughter of Indian diplomat who "was
always away too,somewhere in Africa or South-East Asia".Its was "Complexity " t
hat was deep-rooted in Narrator which Unabled him to take Ila as his cousin, Eve
ntually Stricken with infatuation towards her.Narrator was exposed as futile bef
ore Ila's charms.Ila's controlled the emotion of the narrator making him feel co
mpletely insignificant and good-for-nothing.
" Notice Neptune,through,Taming a sea-horse..." (My Last Duchess)
[Here a comparison can be drawn, Neptune with Ila and latter with "Undefined" N
arrator ]
It was Certainly an "Unequal Re
lationship " With the origin very much lies in the narrator's middle class backg
round.
"I knew she had taken my
life hostage yet again"
Ila longed for "Liberalism", Liberty from the restrictive customs that delimits
individual activities.Ila,Free from indian Custom and culture,apparently leads a
n exciting life abroad. Contrasting to the character sketch of Narrator, Ila Rem
ains Unimaginative and static,as she fails to comprehend the emotion and passion
in Narrator.Ila,devoid of "roots", attempts to find herself in insignificant po
litical activities in london, trying "harder" to be a part of European history r
ather then being a part of her own country.Ila,a product of colonialism,rejects
her roots,past and community which farther makes her "..Greedy little slut" in
the eyes of tha'mma.
"She's gone there because she's greedy;s
he's gone there for money"
"Lack of Rootedness" and "Cultural Contradiction " in
Ila ,Latter makes her pay the price as she was cheated by Nick price.She Shrugs
off the past with her notion of freedom that was Merely Viable in Her own "make
belief" world.
"...... I've chosen to live in london?Do you s
ee?Its's only because I want to be free.
free of what ? I Said
Free of you! she shouted back.Free of your b
loody culture and free of all of you."
In Contrast,Tha'mma belongs to the generation that uprooted itself in 1947.Gho
sh's Juxtaposition of History Realism with the Notion of Freedom is brilliantly
manifested through the character of Tha'mma.Going back to the partition of benga
l,Ghosh showcases tha'mma character who was torn between her place of birth and
her place of living.For Tha'mma Freedom is something to be won through bloodshed
and violence.
"Do you really mean Tha'mma,I said,that you would have killed him?"
"I would have been frightened,she said.But I would have prayed for s
trength,a and god willing,yes,I would have killed him.It was for our freedom:I w
ould have done anything to be free."
Tha'mma imagination enslaved to the notion of National
ism.To be noted,Tha'mma failed to see that Nationalism and its her own notion o
f freedom that has destroyed her home.
"We have to kill them before they kill us"
Unfortunately,Tha'mma failed to carry this out,as Tridib,an idealist,who thought
"reality as fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial"
,who dreamt world without boundaries, was killed.For,Tridib barbed Boundaries an
d Barrier were "Shadowy",a mere construction of mind,"delusionality".This view w
as farther supported by lunatic Ukil-babu, who "..Don't Believe in india-shindia
.It's all very well,you're going away now,but suppose when you get there they de
cide to draw another line somewhere?.... " A brilliant relation can be drawn bet
ween Saadat Hasan Manto's "Toba Tek Singh" And Amitav Ghosh's "The Shadow Lines"
; A Madman who fail to recognize Boundaries and barriers.
"Over There behind barbed wir
e fence lay Hindustan and over here behind barbed wire lay pakistan.In the middl
e on a strip of no man's land lay toba tek singh "
Raising a question
"Does one has to pay the price of living in a world
free of boundaries and barriers? "