When cultural encounters happen, the differences between those cultures is usually drawn with contrast. The results of the collision impacts both individuals psychologically. Stories of immigrations and travelers have given voice to those who go through identity issues or lose the feeling of belonging, when encountering a different culture. (Prescot.L.2008)
“Cultural encounters signals our focus on the ways in which cultures interact, overlap and are transformed by these encounters”(Brown.D.R.2008)
In “One out of Many” V.S Naipaul is aware of the cultural encounter that the character faces in the story. Naipaul gets his readers to manifest into the characters chain of thoughts and he allows us to understand why the protagonist would or wouldn’t do certain actions. This technique is referred to as (Stream of Consciousness)Interior monologue ( Baldick.c,2004)
Which elaborates and gives many indications of the characters actions. Naipaul himself is an immigrant from India, so his awareness of the transformation that Santosh (protagonist) had to go through is very applicable.
The story begins with the narrator’s present situation or in other words the end. The protagonist (Santosh) himself, first person narrator, telling his journey from Bombay to Washington and the personal transformation he had gone through. He begins with reminiscing his old life as a servant in Bombay, when his life was utterly simple, without any identification to his surroundings, living life by the day. One day Santosh receives the exciting news that he is going to accompany his employer to America. From this turning point, Santosh’s life encounters a new world that he discovers in Washington and within himself. (V.S. Naipaul, 1971)
Santosh sees this as an opportunity not knowing how life changing it will be. He is a simple Bombay servant, he knows and carries too little.
Santosh discovers a new reality when he arrives to Washington, the feeling of a different civilisation shocks him. Doubts about his decision to go to Washington start to raise, he gets anxiety from all the cultural differences he encounters and how much he will need to adjust to suit the same manners. The burden develops through out the journey and when he finally finds a place where he can sleep he feels safe “And after all the upset, I was. It was nice to crawl in that evening spread my bedding and feel protected and hidden.” (Naipaul V.S, 1971)
There are striking differences between the American and the Indian culture. The cultural differences can be analyzed in how an Indian individual could rely completely on his employer. Whereas in America any individual is dependent on himself. The land of freedom, where all children are brought up to have an independent life. (Prabhat S. 2014).
Santosh may have carried the burden of being self reliant, which later made him feel like a prisoner. Even sooner in the airplane, Santosh have already felt misplaced and he almost did not want this journey to continue “I hoped this plane would crash” (V.S. Naipaul, 1971) He judges people appearances as they judge his looks and actions too. His employer warns him that he must maintain a certain behaviour, it did not matter what he was doing in Bombay anymore, he represented his country and his employer.
The discrimination that Santosh experienced made him want to isolate himself from the world, and neither wanted to adjust to these norms.
This makes him feel that he would rather hide to be protected from the escalating thoughts of adapting to this completely different world.
From this point Santosh gets a feeling of alienation. When he takes a walk in the city, people look down on him and judge his appearance. However racial discrimination happened on both sides. To Santosh these people are overly dressed and must always look their best, which is not the norm for a barefooted man, he criticized the American culture. It can be seen how cultural norms are so deeply seated in Santosh when this leads him to isolate himself later.
After realizing he had spent most of his salary, he feels he is restricted and bound to serve his employer, he gets the gist that he does not have the luxury to even explore or even turn back to Bombay.
“I understood I was a prisoner. I accepted this and adjusted. I learned to live within the apartment and I was even calm” (V.S. Naipaul, 1971)
Eventually the development of the character began to take a different course to find a new identity and to blend in with the new world, affects of the cultural encounter start to form a rooted issue in the heart of Santosh’s identity. Analyzing the American behaviour through television and compliments from the Hubshi’s (An Urdu reference to the African Americans) (Prescot.L.2008) makes him aware of his appearance.
As he starts looking in the mirror repetitively, indicating that he began searching for any identification to his current status, the need to reshape himself in order to fit in the framework.
The employer himself had a sense of the cultural gap, the employer judged his American guest for his ignorance to the religious significance to the sculpture. Later he began ranting to Santosh about how racially inferior their race is viewed according to a civilized country such as America.
However this does not determine the inferiority of the Indian culture; it shows that on both sides races lack knowledge, respect and appreciation to the hybridity of cultures that they encounter.
Racial discrimination is a negative rejection based on ignorance, the story demonstrates a circle of prejudice towards different races. Santosh himself judges the “Hubshi” maid she is intolerable to him because of her appearance and smell. On the other hand, she represented the key to freedom to him at the end, this could represent how he could have built a healthier relationship without judging her at first and not viewing her as a different figure.
As well as Priya (Santosh second employer) who viewed the Mexicans as disloyal because they escape after being granted the green card, in the mean time they’re working as servants for him and keeping up with a harsh treatment.
The racial background each character holds towards the other is what mainly causes these clashes; the title may not even apply to Santosh alone but how this is a universal human reaction to the cultural collision.
After deciding to leave his first employer, Santosh battles within himself. He goes through an inner conflict to define his purpose as an individual, he considers himself lucky to find a well payed job but he feels does not deserve it because he did not work hard for it. The conflict goes on and opens more doors of questioning.
Finally, he tells Priya his secret but he receives an unexpected response which contributes to the theme of the story. Santosh gets an epiphany, he is indeed one out of many. The concept of the identity crisis evolved from his perception of himself, realizing he is not the center of attention, people don’t look at him, but the cultural encounter made him criticize himself to be defined among strangers.
It is due to this cultural encounter that developed Santosh’s awareness to find an identity and a cause for living. Pyira makes this clear when he advices him to marry the Hubshi woman, he is alone therefore a freeman to make his own choices regardless of what people think. This sort of realization struck Santosh “I was one part of the flow, never thinking of myself as a presence. Then I looked in the mirror and decided to be free.” (V.S. Naipaul, 1971)
In conclusion, in this cultural encounter, the massive transformation that the readers are allowed to witness through the protagonist’s stream of consciousness, the development of the inner conflict, the quest for identity and the epiphany. Show the negative impacts of harsh discrimination, the devastating psychological split that is caused by the encounter with different cultures and the feeling of seeking an identity in order to belong. The theme of the story carries and presents a common feature of seeking identity and freedom within one context, providing a conclusion that this is just one out of many people who may be going through the same experience.
References
Brown.D.R. (2008) Cultural Encounters: The Arts of Past and Present. Walton Hall. The Open University.
Baldick.c, (2004) Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York. Oxford University Press.
Naipaul V.S..(1971) A World of Difference: An Anthology of Short Stories from Five Continents. In Prescot.L. (Editor) Walton Hall. Palgrave Macmillan.
Topics, Sample Papers & Articles Online for Free. (2016). “One Out of Many” by V.S. Naipaul. [Online]. Available at: https://studymoose.com/one-out-of-many-by-v-s-naipaul-essay[Accessed: 29 Oct. 2018]
Prabhat S.(2014) Difference Between American and Indian culture.miscellaneous Difference Between American and Indian culture | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-american-and-indian-culture/#ixzz5X8e00c3e [Accessed: 29 Oct. 2018]
Prescot.L. (2008) A World of Difference: An Anthology of Short Stories from Five Continents. Walton Hall. Palgrave Macmillan.
