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The In-Between World of Vikram Lall Essay example

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Divided in four parts – “The Year of Our Loves and Friendships”, “The Year of Her Passion”, “The Years of Betrayal”, and “Homecoming- The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a bold attempt at telling the epic of Asian people in Africa. It is a novel concerning themes of love, passion, commitment and more importantly, identity. The narrator, Vikram Lall, is a Kenyan born Indian who grows up in an era where rebellion, confusion, and disruption were all prevalent. In this journal, you will learn about the characters, themes, and settings in the first half of this book.

Part One: The Year of Our Loves and Friendships
In the first section we are introduced to the Lall family, who are residents of Kenya. At once the reader is introduced to the …show more content…

It is rare to see blacks hanging out with Indians or whites, for segregation is still common. On the other hand, Vassanji did an impressive job of developing these relationship and used outside figures, such as Vic’s mom, to depict the un-accepting aspect of their friendships. These children were clearly ignoring racial barriers that were in place in that time but their bonds and love for one another was real and truly genuine for the relationships which are formed in the beginning of the novel are intact throughout the entire of the story.

Part Two: The Year of her Passion
Vic tells his story in small snippets of recollection. For example, his encounter with Seema at the library creates some curiosity for what had occurred in East Africa that opened him to migrate to Canada. It is obvious that Vikram has committed some sort of crime which forced him to flee, but were not told much more beyong that. This technique at times can be frustrating but more often than not just urges the reader to read further in hope to gain some more insight on the past and there is therefore successful. After briefly touching upon the present, Vic then proceeds with telling the story of his past. After returning to Kenya from Dar-es-salaam, Njo and Deepa’s love is indeed rekindled. Unfortunately, this entire section is basically a battle between love and politics, and politics

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