SWIMMING
LESSON || INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH || Rohinton Mistry:
INTRODUCTION
TO SWIMMING LESSON:
“Swimming
Lesson” is last short story in the collection of Rohinton Mistry. “Swimming
Lesson” makes us focus to the issues of racism, loneliness and cultural
adjustment.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR OF SWIMMING LESSON:
Rohinton
Mistry was born 1952 in Bombay, India. His father worked in advertising and his
mother was housewife. He studied a British-style education at the university of
Bombay receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975. Then he immigrated to
Canada with his wife, Freny Elavia, a teacher. He settled in Toronto and he
worked as banker while taking night course at the University of Toronto and
completed his second baccalaureate degree in 1984, majoring in Philosophy and
literature.
SUMMARY
OF SWIMMING LESSON:
“Swimming
Lesson” is told from the author’s viewpoint except some potion were third
person depict Kersi’s parents’ response to mail he send from Toronto. In the
opening scene the narrator describes “the old man” who waits for people in the
apartment lobby in order to make small talks. As he plays one of his favourite
game, asking people to guess his age, Kersi is reminded of his own grandfather
who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The narrator
begins to reveal thing about himself. He is frank about his sensual urges as he
describes spotting two women sunbathing in bikinis and looking very attractive so
he attempts to get closer to look. When he closer to the two lady they turn out
to be less attractive, he remembers the swimming lesson he has signed up
for.
He then had
a conversation with the attendant at the pool registration desk explaining his non-swimming
status and she is telling him about why she never learned to ride a bicycle. After
this there is a long massage of memory based on the incidences of swimming,
water and religious festival relating to water in narrator’s life before
immigrating to Canada. He also tells her about his new swimming trunk and communicates
a sexual fantasy about them that indicates his high hopes for a sensual
encounter at the upcoming swimming lesson.
This is followed
by another turn to India where narrator’s parents chat about their son in Canada
as they write to him. The first section of the story closes with the
introduction of Bertha. The building superintendent, who is yelling at her son
as he messes around with his van in parking.
The second scene
opens with the narrator describing his first swimming lesson. There are
some prejudiced comment from teenagers as he leaves the locker room. He describes
his excitement as a woman in the group demonstrate floating face up and he
watches her public hair wafting in the water around the edges of her suit. The low
point come when he is asked to paddle to the deep end and he is too terrified and
goes under.
The second
lesson was great disappointment as women didn’t reveals anything sexual/erotic
to Kersi’s imagination. Kersi’s parents received a tract from Canada. It is a
copy of the manuscript of stories that Kersi has written. His parents were
surprise as he is now living in Toronto and all of his stories were related to
Bombay. The last story was “Swimming Lesson” itself. Meanwhile time
passes in Toronto. Brethha rakes leaves her son stops working on his van when
it gets too cold, the bikini ladies flirt with Kersi in laundry room. The old
man is given a ride in an Oldsmobile by his son, and the Portuguese
woman keeps watch over all the happening.
After Kersi’s
parents completed their reading they were too proud of him. His mother thinks
that he is homesick as he only writes about Bombay not about Toronto. As they
wanted to know about the old man’s name but just as he is looking on mailbox
labels, Portuguese woman informs him that the old man died last night. The story
ends with an italicized passage, an Kersi’s parent are writing to tell him how
proud they are and looking forward to his next book.
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