Imperialism: The Fist and the Storm

In my reading of Pearls and Swine I couldn't help but notice a comparison between the state of the oyster fishery and that of Mr. White. The fishery is described as a hideous and stinking place, full of flies and rotting oyster flesh, whereas Mr. White is said to be red faced, watery eyed, unhealthily fat, and a heavy drinker. For the sake of my argument, I will consider the fishery as a kind of character meant to behave almost as the Indian doppleganger for Mr. White. Both share an element of decay and both appear to be governed almost totally by chaos. Mr. White, after his illness sets in, begins to talk of the terrible acts he has committed. I cannot help but feel that Mr. White's actions act as a British parrallel to the near eruption of roit by Indians over oyster shares described by the commissioner. These elements of decay and violence on the part of both the British and the Indians are meant to reflect the overall destructiveness of Imperialism on both parties.

White, on the one hand, has attempted to assume a more Indian lifestyle. Yet, it truely ruined him - a fact proven by his eruption into insanity and eventual death. On the flip side, the Indians have been forced into a kind of European system which both operates outside thier traditional methods and leeches away whatever wealth they can accumulate. A near riot over a paltry sum of oysters could only be caused by a severe level of impovrishment, as even a small amount can mean the difference between eating and starving. Whereas the plight of the indians is more obvious, Mr. White is a symbol for the whole empire. He stands for an iron handed superpower that has reached too far and attempted to grip its subjects too tightly. White is the physical example of the iron hand losing its grip, all the little bits and pieces slipping between its fingers. Leonard Woolf's message is clear. The British Empire has bitten off vastly more than it can chew, and Mr. White is the result. The unruly nature of the Indians is the result. The English could not hope to control India any more than theMonsoon season, which the British had to work thier oyster farming around.

As I write this, I've reached yet another conclusion. I believe that the Indian people and the Monsoon are one in the same. Perhaps they are even part of the whole idea of India, the idea the English failed to comprehend in thier counterproductive pride. Perhaps Woolf's other message was that the storm wasn't on its way. The storm was already there and it was ripping the English a new one. An interesting idea eh?