In+the+novel+Heat+and+Dust,+Ruth+Jhabvala+uses+the+presence+of+heat+and+dust+to+represent+the+stress+and+effects+India+has+on+characters+and+the+relationships+between+characters.

//TS is overloaded: all characters and all relationships? Seems like a topic of this size should offer much more textual evidence. Go beyond simply identifying literary features.

//Thesis: In the novel Heat and Dust, Ruth Jhabvala uses the presence of heat and dust to represent the stress and effects India has on characters and the relationships between characters and culture. Introduction: the presence of heat and dust acting as a motif to represent the stress and effects India has on characters and the relationships between characters. Heat and Dust is a very important factor in the story not only is it the title of the book but it is also a symbol in the novel which is frequently used by Jhabvala. Dust: <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">The purpose of dust is to represent the frustrating effect of India on the characters through the setting. Dust has an annoying characteristic and is often seen as a polluting element. <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';">"Especially dust: the sides of the bus are open with only bars across them so that the hot winds blow in freely, bearing desert sands to choke up ears and nostrils and set one's teeth on edge with grit" (9-10). Anne describes dust as the major element present in an old town which has been left behind, and is the factor which is uncomforting to her. The writer uses the diction such as <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';">choke, on edge, grit, <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';">and the distressing tone to create an unpleasant imagery illustrating troubles and hardships of everyday locals in India. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Dust storms have started blowing all day, all night. Hot winds whistle columns of dust out of the desert into the town; the air is choked with dust and so are all one's senses. Leaves that were once green are now ashen, and they toss around as in a dervish dance. Everyone is restless, irritable, on the edge of something. It is impossible to sit, stand, lie, every position is uncomfortable; and one's mind too is in turmoil" (69). The extract describes the dust storm in India and how it causes everyone to be uncomfortable and restless. And it further supports the unpleasant imagery created using the diction and tone. This further promotes the motif for dust and how it symbolizes the irritating effects of India’s environment on people. <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In another extract in the story, Jhabvala uses dust again to illustrate to the readers, Olivia’s bad perspective towards the Indian environment and how she feels discomfort from the dust as seen in the quote. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The landscape which, a few weeks earlier, had been blotted out by dust was now hazy with moisture" <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Not only is dust used to represent the frustrating effects of India on characters, it helps shows the cultural displacement and the discomfort the British experienced in India. The dust helps to illustrate to readers the overall negative and bad perceptions from the British towards India. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Heat: <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">The heat acts a motif to symbolize the tension in the relationships between characters in the novel. It is often mentioned as a type of suffering where the characters are unable to stand it. “As the glow faded and sky and air and water turned pale silver and the birds fell asleep in the dark trees and now only soundless bats flitted black across the silver sky at the lovely hour she died” (100) Jhabvala also uses words such as pale silver, dark, soundless, silver sky to create an imagery which Is contrasting heat to emphasize more on the absence of it and to create the pleasant and calm tone. The absence of heat also builds the pleasant and relax mood of Leelavati’s death because heat represents the tension and without heat it illustrates that there is no strain during her death. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Jhabvala uses the heat to illustrate the character’s love and hate relationship with India, its people and its culture. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">“She hadn’t asked herself that before, had vaguely thought it was too hot or she didn’t feel like it. But there was something more and she tried to think what could be” The author uses juxtaposition to draw a connection between heat and Olivia’s feelings of negativity. In this quote the writer implies heat as one of the factors contributing to why Olivia hasn’t played the piano. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">In conclusion Jhabvala employs the motif of heat and dust in conjunction to illustrate the stress and effect of India has on characters and character relationship with the culture. Jhabvala creates a more pleasant and peaceful imagery and mood in the absence of heat and dust, to help illustrate the bonding of culture and characters in the novel. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Perpetua','serif';">