Skip to main content

How does Major Sholto's house represent 19th century society?

"Major Sholto's house" is Pondicherry Lodge. In what way does do this residence evoke themes representative of 19th century society? In answering this question, I will focus on elements of the home -- physical and social -- that pertain to themes that were especially important to the 19th century, as opposed to other historical periods:


  • The house as a fortress to protect treasures stolen from native peoples

  • A social system in the house that reflects 19th central ideals of master-servant relationships

  • An exterior appearance that evokes industrialism

  • Surrounding grounds that have been dug up in order to find treasure -- evoking the theme of destroying the environment for economic rewards

Note that Major Sholto is already dead before the novel begins, but we are provided with background information from his son and Jonathan Small.


1. Major Sholto, who was hoarding in his house a vast treasure that had been stolen from an Indian rajah, was fearful of his British competitors, and took steps to turn that house into a kind of fortress.  


The years between 1815-1915 have been called Britain's "Imperial Century." Empire -- and the exploitation of native peoples -- defined British society as never before. In this story, Major Sholto is a guilty participant in this exploitation, and his moral concerns and worries don't concern native peoples, but the other British men he has competed with and cheated. He doesn't fear reprisals from the Indian rajah, or any Indians. He fears that another Englishman -- the man who originally stole the treasure -- is going to come after him.


So he hires prizefighters to act as house porters and body guards. His grounds are protected by a gate. He himself has shot at a trespasser. The reader is left with the picture of a fortress that protects a privileged, anxious imperialist against threats from other imperialists.


2. The social system in the house reflects 19th central ideals of master-servant relationships: Sholto's own servant believed him to be guilty of murder, yet was willing to serve him faithfully.


Nineteenth century society depended on strict hierarchical relationships between servants and masters, and it was no longer just aristocrats who employed servants. Middle class families did too, so loyal servant-master relationships were a concern for a much larger part of the population than ever before.


Major Sholto didn't actually kill the man. He tries and fails to convince his servant of this fact, but ultimately it doesn't matter to the servant. He doesn't mind, and is ready to Sholto him dispose of the body. The servant tells Major Sholto:



"I heard it all, Sahib," said he. "I heard you quarrel, and I heard the blow. But my lips are sealed. All are asleep in the house. Let us put him away together."



Thus, the running of Pondicherry lodge evokes the theme of intense loyalty from servants -- a theme of great concern for a sizeable part of 19th century society.


3. The exterior of the house evokes the utilitarian ugliness of the industrial age.


During the 19th century, society was greatly affected by the Industrial Revolution. Crafts were no longer done by individuals at home, but instead in huge, centralized factories. And the factories themselves were designed for efficiency, not aesthetics. In this context, the house's exterior could be considered representative of the industrial forces that have been transforming the 19th century world, particularly given the expectations a reader might have for a story of this kind.


After passing through the gate, we might expect to see an ornately decorated house that fits with our expectations of a gothic mystery -- something suggestive of medieval architecture. Or, failing that, we might expect to see a stately, Georgian home from a Jane Austen novel. Instead, we are presented with a building that is notable for its extreme plainness:



"…a huge clump of a house, square and prosaic, all plunged in shadow save where a moonbeam struck one corner and glimmered in a garret window. The vast size of the building, with its gloom and its deathly silence, struck a chill to the heart."



This is a big, ugly box, characterless except for its immensity, gloom, and lack of character.


4. The grounds of the house have been dug up and blighted in order to find the treasure.


The people of 19th century Britain were accustomed to the transformation of the natural environment in order to further economic aims. After his death, Sholto's sons are frantic to find the hidden treasure. In their greed they transform the land around the house into a sight that looks "resembles a gravel pit" and looks as though prospectors have mined it. This reinforces the impression of a domestic world that reflects the primacy of industry and economic exploitation of the environment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more