Student Question
In A River Sutra, excluding Master Mohan's loss with Ashok, who experiences the greatest loss?
Quick answer:
In "A River Sutra," the daughter of the courtesan experiences profound loss. She is taken from her mother by the bandit Rahul Singh, whom she later loves. Singh's death at the hands of the police and the subsequent loss of her unborn child compound her grief. Her experiences lead her to behave like a trapped animal, reflecting the depth of her suffering and the cumulative impact of losing her mother, lover, and child.
The answer to this question will be completely subjective based upon the fact that readers of A River Sutra may relate to one character over another. Outside of that, some readers may look at loss in very different ways. Given these facts, my answer is a suggestion, a personal interpretation, of who I believe to have suffered the most losses over the course of the text.
That being said, I believe that the daughter of the courtesan loses the most over the course of A River Sutra. The daughter is taken from her mother by a bandit, Rahul Singh. The two, eventually fall in love. Later, Singh is killed by the police and the daughter loses the child she is carrying.
In trying to justify this, I would suggest that her loss of her mother, her lover, and her child is so disheartening that one can only feel sorry for her. Later, given all of her loss, she begins to act like a trapped animal. Given her history, one cannot expect any less.
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