What are the pressures that force Hari to leave the village and how does Desai keep the readers sympathy for the boy?
'These webs were small and thickly matted and stretched across the grass, each with a hole in the centre to trap passing insects'. Hari, the ordinary, poor and helpless Indian boy was in the same position as the insects and the web was nothing but poverty.
Hari has a lot of problems and there is only one root for the problems which is poverty. His mother is extremely sick which can be cured but for which they don't have money. He and his sisters can continue their studies because they can't even afford the books. His family can't even afford to have an ordinary cup of tea in the morning with milk. They don't have any source of money as their drunken prince paid his debts off by selling everything.
Hari Malaysia/Merdeka 2011
Hari Kathe -Live
Hari Malaysia/Merdeka 2011Hari looses interest in his work because he thinks that he is not doing enough and he needs to do more than he is doing at the present moment.
"What can I do?" "I'm doing what I can." (pg 16)
"What if he did clear and dig the field and sow some aubergines and marrows? The vegetables would be eaten. There would be nothing. It was simply not enough." (pg 18)
He imagines Bombay as a paradise; thinks if he can somehow go to Bombay he can earn a lot and dazzle people with his wealth.
"Bombay is a great city, a rich city, a city crowded with people who have jobs, earned money and made fortunes." (pg 68)
He also has another option of staying and working on Biju's ship which will be a diesel engine ship which can go across the limits which the present...