The Slave's Control over the Master

Indianapolis, IN

Fredric Jameson's controversial essay, Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism,  still applies in today's society. My essay analyzes Salman Rushdie's novel Shame and Kiran Desai's novel The Inheritance of Loss using Jameson's theory of the Slave and Master in postcolonial literature. I analyzed several characters based on the characteristic of The Slave and The Master. In both of these novels there are characters that seem to be disempowered, when truly they are the most powerful. These characters are closer to reality, and this empowers them with knowledge that the others lack. There is a distinct difference between Shame and The Inheritance of Loss; one is focused on gender while the other is focused on home. Shame takes place in an alternate  country; only those who are female truly know reality. Inheritance of Loss takes place in a real country, but the only way to obtain the true reality is by finding a home: only those who commit themselves to a place, sacrifice for it, and belong to it can get out of fantasy and into reality. In both novels, it is the most oppressed characters who have access to this real  home.