The Dark Side of Migration In Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss

ABSTRACT

The Inheritance of Loss is a story of the four individuals being turned into pawns due to political turmoil, Sai, Gyan, Biju and the Cook, Pannalal. Through the character of Biju, son of the Cook, Kiran Desai illustrates one of the major themes of the novel that is how illegal migration has brought in new immigrant culture. The novel analyses how in the post-colonial era, people from colonized countries face terrible hardships in America which is a land of liberty. To fulfill the desire of his father, Biju, using fake documents and false recommendations, goes to America for a better livelihood. He works in various restaurants such as Gandhi Cafe, the Stars and Stripes Diner, the Baby Bistro, Le Colonial, the Queen of Tarts, and Freddy’s Wok etc. Though he works for long hours, he is given only a meager salary and has to bear with terrible insults and ill-treatment. Like the judge, who has suffered a lot at the hands of the Whites in England; Biju is humiliated and marginalized due to racial prejudice. Social and cultural alienation, rootlessness, frustration and his longing for his father finally force him to leave America for India. Through the story of Biju, Kiran Desai provides the reader with the dark side of the migration when she describes the customer - receiving areas of an up market restaurant flying an advertised, authentic French flag, while in the kitchen the flags are Indian and Honduran.

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