The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey begins in British India, 1930, with a main character who adopts many names. While running an errand, a young girl by the name of Pom narrowly survives a tidal wave––her family is not so lucky. Pom wanders as a vagabond for years, working temporary jobs as a servant to the prestigious Lockwood School and a child prostitute for the luxurious Rose Villa. During this period, she learns of the burgeoning freedom movement. She eventually finds herself at Calcutta. She takes on the name Kamala Mukherjee and becomes involved in freedom fighting while falling in love with Briton Simon Lewes. She finally settled down with Mr. Lewes in 1947.
There are a lot of themes that permeate this text at different points throughout the story, but a few sustained themes that I want to focus on for the sake of this checkpoint are kinship––or lack thereof––displacement, and education.
Kinship:
We see very little of Pom’s biological family save for memories and reminiscences. After Pom's whole family is killed by a tidal wave, she spends the rest of the book sifting through impermanent moments of “found family” or kinship, until the very end. This is best seen through both her friendship with Bidushi, as well as her relationship with the girls of the Rose Villa, particularly Bonnie. Pamela’s experiences here mirror many of the experiences of the South Asian diaspora that find themselves in communities that were not made with them in mind. A keystone of South Asian culture is deep familial and communal bonds; in the individualistic West, South Asian adults and families struggle to find community outside of their own.
Displacement:
I believe that our main character’s shifting identity and lack of long-term kinship represent the feeling of displacement. She goes by Pom, Sarah, Pamela, and finally Kamala once she reaches Calcutta. Kamala acknowledges that she treats these names as separate identities or phases of her life, and expresses a desire to grow from her past without leaving it behind. Only when she meets Mr. Lewes and the freedom fighters in Calcutta is she able to feel long-term and permanent kinship.
Education:
Balancing these feelings of displacement and needing street smarts is Kamala’s long-standing enthrallment with education (the book smarts), which guides the plot forward and leads her to her resolution. Education is the means of the freedom movement, as well, as it gives the freedom fighters the tools to organize themselves and distribute information. Decontextualized over time, hard work and prioritizing education have become keystones of South Asian culture, both inside and outside the diaspora. Of course, this contrasts with Kamala’s upbringing as a simple village girl whose parents originally never intended an education for her. In this sense, education is not just a testament to Indian progress but also an influence of the West on India. In the most traditionalist sense, a low-caste girl would not have the same opportunities for education as those in the Western South Asian diaspora in the 21st century.
Conclusion:
Throughout this story, Kamala is acting as both an agent of her own destiny, and a vagrant working the best with what she has. The things she experiences as they pertain to kinship and education are very circumstantial, and if not for her occasional strokes of luck, this story may have turned out very differently.
Simon Lewes:
One character I would like to describe is Simon Lewes. He begins the story as a benevolent man, although somewhat ignorant to the atrocities committed by the British Empire in India––and the role he plays in it. Through his relationship with Kamala, he becomes more sympathetic to the Indian freedom movement, and begins to aid Kamala and her accomplices in the decolonization of India. I believe that, despite his wealth and authoritative position, Mr. Lewes means well, and his arc through the story reflects him unlearning the beliefs that have been conditioned into him as a white man in colonial India.
Setting:
There are multiple settings in the story and I would have trouble describing them all. However, I can describe India as a whole during the time in which the story takes place. We see through Kamala's interactions with the other characters that racial divide and prejudices are rampant between the Europeans and Indians. The precedent set is that Indians are subjugated by the Europeans, particularly the British. However, as Kamala inches closer to Calcutta, she meets Indians that do not see themselves as subject to a system, but rather capable of transcending the system altogether. Through the freedom movement, Kamala learns how to become more confident in her own identity, as well as make meaningful friendships and connections. The setting of this story becomes more progressive as you get closer to the cities, however, India as a whole is socially, economically, and politically, affected by European prescence within its borders.
Catalyst:
It is hard to pick the biggest event in this novel, but I would say that it is likely when Kamala finds out she is pregnant. Before then, she was just going with the flow; this kind of complacency is exactly what kept India subjugated. After her baby is brought into the world, she realizes that she wants better for herself––and her child. This is the catalyst for her decisions throughout the rest of the novel; through her affiliation with the freedom movement, she gains her autonomy. Once her child is back in her hands at the very end of the novel, she finds that feeling of restful community she has been looking for ever since the beginning.
My opinion:
I loved this novel! I was actually kind of surprised that it ended as well as it did; I was not expecting Mr. Lewes to be a good guy in the end, nor was I expecting Kamala to be reunited with her child. I give the novel 5 stars! (However, I am admittedly not the best critic, as it's hard for me to NOT like a novel or movie).