80 pages • 2 hours read
Amitav GhoshThe Calcutta Chromosome
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Unknown
In The Calcutta Chromosome, the unknown is both theme and symbol. It symbolizes the secret and elusive truths many of the book’s characters seek. The unknown, then, overlaps with silence. Silence is always about what remains untold and unspoken. Silence is the truth not seen. Phulboni talks about the secrets each city carries. Murugan speaks about unknown influences manipulating the research on malaria that Ross was undertaking in 1895. Laakhan is spoken of many times throughout the story, yet his character always remains elusive, ghost-like, and mainly silent. It's not what you know that counts, according to Murugan, but what you don't know , that's where the truth lies. Phulboni had written a story and later wondered if it was truly he who had created the story, for its story seem not to have been created by him but crafted out of the silence of mud and clay.
The Microscope
The microscope is a symbol that is used periodically throughout the novel. On the one hand, the microscope symbolizes discovery; on the other, it is depicted as subservient to mystic powers of the demiurge. The microscope was a significant instrument that was used by Ross, Farley, and others to determine how malaria is transmitted. Without the microscope, those discoveries would have been impossible. However, the microscope also symbolizes the conflict between science and faith.
Time
In the novel, time is seen as fluid, dependent, and subject to manipulation by most characters. Time symbolizes fate and the inevitable unfolding of events and ideas. Yet Time is not what causes this unfolding; rather, it is merely the stage across which stories evolve. Ghosh has the narrative dancing back and forth, enabling characters and events to appear and disappear from the story, only to suddenly re-appear without warning. Time is used to forge links between people, such as when Murugan takes Urmila back to the late 19th century, or when Antar drifts back to his days growing up in Egypt. Time is even used by Mangala to shape the course of events and to manipulate people as a means to a later goal.
Related Titles
By Amitav Ghosh
