Dec 24, 2009
In a Free State | In a Free State
At a glance:
- Author: V. S. Naipaul
- First Published: 1971
- Type of Work: Social criticism
- Time of Work: 1954-1969
- Setting: Bombay, Washington, D.C., the West Indies, London, and an African country, possibly
Uganda
- Principal Characters: Santosh, Sahib, Priya, The Narrator, Bobby, Linda
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, Culture, 1960’s, United States or Americans, Africa or Africans, Caribbean, Power, personal or social, Politics, Racism, Blacks, Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Education or educators, Class consciousness, Asia or Asians, Washington, D.C., India or East Indian people, London
- Locales: Africa, West Indies, Washington, D.C., London, England, Bombay, India
The Novel
In a Free State is a collection of three stories: “One out of Many,”
“Tell Me Who to Kill,” and the title piece, “In a Free State.” When the
first story, “One out of Many’ begins, Santosh is in Bombay working for a middle-level
government official. When his employer is reassigned to Washington, D.C., Santosh faces the
prospect of dismissal and having to return to his village in the hills. Rather than face this loss of
prestige and comfort, he presses his employer to take him to the United States.
He soon regrets coming to the United...
[The entire page is 2204 words long]
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