In Bharati Mukherjee’s The Holder of the World, the main character Hannah Easton Essay Example

Ruler. At the end of The Holder of the World Hannah returns to Salem, Massachusetts and lives with her long lost mother.Hannah Easton felt that she was never meant to live in the Puritan world, because she witnessed her mother abandon her for an Indian lover (DELETE)>(, she never felt worthy). She tried desperately to keep this dark secret from the people of Salem. Hannah always looked at herself as a ".

..worthless sinner and the daughter of Satan's lover" (Mukherjee 42). The torment she felt fueled her yearning to leave New England and seek a new life elsewhere.

"Orphaned when her widowed mother ran off with her Native American lover under the cover of massacre, Hannah nearly goes mad keeping her mother's secret from her Puritan rescuers and is happy to escape with the only sort of man who would marry her: a one eyed buccaneer" (Seaman). Hannah and her new husband Gabriel Legge go to England and begin their life together.While in England Hannah Easton feels a void as well. Being a Puritan American in England fueled her sense misplacement. Eventually the reader is put under the impression that Hannah is beginning to develop a sense of identity and a sense of happiness after her first few months in England, Mukherjee states,(WHERE DOES THIS QUOTE END?)"..

.Hannah polished her correspondence, observed the world that passed outside her cottage, tended her garden, content, too, with the harmonious arrangement of houses and gardens all around her and with the tidiness of the meadows and the shallow placidity of the little ponds just beyond-and fell, briefly in love (78). This attitude of contentment departed with the death of

Gabriel. The affect is monumentous upon Hannah, "She confined herself to the bleak society of her fellow Stepney brides..

." (Mukherjee 79). Hannah goes on to withdraw completely from society (Mukherjee 79)(WHERE IS THE QUOTE<YOUR HAVE THE PG NUMBER). Hannah's feeling of contentment in England was short lived.

As stated earlier Gabriel returns to England after being,(;DON'T NEED COMMA I THINK) "Swallowed by a whale of Grand Comoro and deposited on the Portugee shore" (Mukherjee 87). After Gabriel's sudden return to England, he joins the East India Company and Hannah leaves for India.Hannah is bewildered by this odd customs she encounters on the Coromandel Coast. She has a particularly hard time accepting the fact that the English men casually have affairs with local women called bibis.

This odd factor is responsible for her questioning of the English society. While in India Gabriel leaves the East India Company and becomes a pirate and Hannah is once again left alone. To fill this void Hannah Easton becomes the mistress of a Hindu king.During a massive storm Hannah and her maid Bhagmati nearly drown in a flooded river. Luckily she is saved by (DON'T NEED A "THE">)the King Jadav Singh's soldiers.

Hannah and the king form a deep friendship and she eventually becomes his mistress,(;TRY A SEMI COLON HERE) this is how Hannah earns the name the Salem Bibi. The reader now sees that Hannah attempts to develop her identity by becoming a Bibi.King Jadav Singh fights a war with a Muslim king. While fighting this war he is severely wounded and Hannah uses herb treatments,(;DON'T NEED A COMMA) that her mother taught her(HERE TOO, NO COMMA>), to save

the kings life. Even though Hannah's intentions were noble, she fails in restoring the king back to normal. He becomes a (WHAT THE HELL IS THIS;)vegetable, and can no longer defend his country.

At this point(COMMA!) Hannah realizes that India is not meant for her(SEMI COLON!;). "This is not country for Christians" (Mukherjee 213), is what Hannah begins to think.(;TRY A COMMA INSTEAD OF A PERIOD) And she returns to New England.It is at this point were the character of Hannah Easton is able to develop her true sense of identity. The fact is this, Hannah is able to finally comprehend that she is not British or Indian, but rather she is a New Englander. She is able to understand that she is no ordinary person rather that she has led an extremely unique and special life.

Mukherjee states, "Jasmine [a character from another book by Mukherjee] or Hannah Easton aren't passive women, by anyone's measure. They quite literally cross oceans, transform their worlds, and in the process leave behind a heap of bruised hearts and bleeding bodies!" (Mukherjee, Bharati). K. Appiah Anthony speak of Hannah as a ".

.. a woman whose triumph is one of courage, unyielding passion, of the obstinate will to survive" (Appiah, K.). Hannah Easton's courage shapes her discovery of identity.

"Mukherjee's focus continues to be an immigrant women and their freedom form relationships to become individuals" (Bharati-Emory). This is what occurs in the Holder of the World, Hannah Easton discovers herself by the end of this novel as a result of her travels around the globe. Her relationship with the various people she meets affects the way she looks at life.

She observes other peoples trials and tribulations and then examines her own.

Hannah Easton leads an extraordinary life and her experiences in New England , England and India all work to help her answer the question-Who is she and what has she done to make her life worthwhile? Hannah Easton leads an extraordinary life of courage, passion, and will power. She finds herself by combining these three vital aspects. At the commencement of this book Hannah was just a young girl ashamed of her past and her heritage by the end she is a grown women who accepts her life and develops a sense of identity as well as courage.