774 Mistry, Rohinton
and taking on the “lowly” identity of a human—even
a reviled and a murdered one.
Before the Fall, human religion shares many
similarities with angelic religion, because it is unen-
cumbered by sin. The narrator’s glimpse of unblem-
ished human worship includes language reminiscent
of the description of the angel’s adoration of God in
Heaven. Before Adam and Eve hasten to work in
the “field,” the poet observes that “Lowly they bow’d
adoring, and began / Thir Orisons, each Morning
duly paid / In various style” (5:144–146). Unlike
the angels, Adam and Eve are not in the immediate
presence of God’s throne, so they must adore God
through prayer. But the couple’s posture is identical
to the angels: It is both humble (“Lowly”) and char-
acterized by a bow. Further, the poet connects the
types of worship offered to God by the angels and
prelapsarian humanity with the term “adoration.”
But after the Fall, human religion shares the
divided nature of demonic religion, because it is
encumbered by depravity. The Fall marks the point
at which Satan redirects Adam and Eve’s religious
devotions away from God and toward himself. In
a dream, God warns Adam not to eat “of the Tree
whose operation brings / Knowledg of good and ill,
which I have set / The Pledge of thy Obedience and
thy Faith” (8:323–325). Thus, when he eats of this
tree, Adam destroys the “Pledge” between himself
and God, joining the ranks of the disobedient and
the faithless.
In the destruction of one “Pledge,” however,
Adam unknowingly sets up another, characterized
by obedience and faith in a new “God”: Satan. And
though he
learne[s], that to obey is best,
And love with feare the onely God, to walk
As in his presence, ever to observe
His providence, and on him sole depend,
(12:561–564)Adam and his progeny do not always do what “is
best.” Adam’s loss of Paradise, his “fall” into sin,
leads humanity, for the poet, into a struggle between
doing what is “best” (obeying God) and doing what
is worst (obeying Satan).
Jereme Wade Skinner
miSTry, roHinTon A Fine Balance
(1995)
Rohinton Mistry’s third novel, A Fine Balance, sur-
veys India’s social landscape during the mid-1970s
when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi instituted a
state of emergency. In particular, Mistry illustrates
how Gandhi’s sweeping policies of discipline, forced
sterilization, and beautification impacted the lives of
ordinary Indians.
Throughout the novel, Mistry weaves together
the life stories of four main characters: Dina Shroff
Dalal, Maneck Kohlah, and Ishvar and Omprakesh
Darji. Mistry portrays how, due to a combination
of economic circumstances and fate, these four
characters come together serendipitously to form
an impromptu family. Dina, a widow of 42, needs
money to pay rent, and so leases her room to Man-
eck, a young college student from the mountains.
Because Dina’s eyesight has grown poor, she can no
longer sew and so decides to hire the two tailors,
Ishvar and Omprakesh Darji. Following a straight
narrative over the course of a year, Mistry spins a
tale that develops relationships among these charac-
ters and delves sporadically into the past to develop
their individual histories, blending in along the way
a colorful cast of minor characters: Ashraf Chacha,
Ibrahim, Monkey Man, Rajaram, Shankar, and Beg-
garmaster, among others.
A panoply of themes emerges as the novel
progresses; foremost among these are identity,
community, and oppression. As bleak as their
circumstances are, Mistry depicts “a fine balance
between hope and despair” (228–229) as his char-
acters face social and economic vulnerabilities with
personal fortitude and dignity. A Fine Balance won
the Giller Prize (1995), was short-listed for the
Booker Prize (1996), and was an Oprah’s Book Club
(2001) title.
H. Elizabeth Smithcommunity in A Fine Balance
Mistry creates and sustains multiple communities
throughout the novel: the community of slum dwell-
ers, the community of Chamaars in the rural villages,
the community in the northern Indian mountain
village where Maneck is from, the jhopadpatti (slum)
communities in the City by the Sea, and the aca-