heat

In //Heat and Dust// by Ruth Prawar Jhabvala heat represents tension in the form of lust and suffering. The way characters react to heat shows how they are dealing with the tensions at the time.

“Shortly before the monsoon, the heat becomes very intense. It is said that the more intense it becomes the more abundantly it will draw down the rains, so one wants it to be as hot as it can be. And by that time one has accepted it – not got used to but accepted; and moreover, too worn-out to fight against it, one submits and endures. There are compensations too. The hotter it is, the sweeter are the mangoes and the sugar melons, the more pungent the smell of the jasmine” pg 107
 * HEAT **

Anne and Inder Lal “getting more romantic every moment as the sun began to set” pg 110
 * LUST**

Olivia and Nawab “Very strong physical sensations. The vast simmering plain of heat surrounding the grove trickled here and there through the leaves” pg 116 SUFFERING - Some characters are not as affected by the heat as others. The heat makes them sick and uncomfortable. Olivia - "The sun was beating down of course - the gold dome of the Nawab's mosque gave out blinding beams - but the lawns were sparkling green and the fountains, refracting the sun's rays, dazzled with light and water. In the distance, beyond the pearl- grey Palace walls, lay the town in a miserable stretch of broken roofs, and beyond that the barren land: but why look that far?" pg 89 "She hadn't asked herself that before, had vaguely thought it was too hot or she just didn't feel like it." pg 111

Harry - "What else can you do in this hideous terrible heat. Have you looked outside? Have you //seen// what its like? "He said he could not stand the heat or the food from the Nawabs kitchen" pg 88 Ritu-  “As the heat and dust storms continue, Ritu’s condition has become worse” pg 70  “possessed by an evil spirit which had to be driven out by applying a red-hot iron” pg 71 Journeys- "we were sitting, soaked with perspiration, in the bus and rattling through the broiling landscape" pg 107 "The journey was uncomfortble, and not only because of the heat and dust" pg 113

Notes: The way the characters behavior is directly connected to the way they react to heat.