Burning the ‘Other’: Colonial and Racial Crimes in Kamala Markandaya’s The Nowhere Man

Abstract

Murder, the unlawful crime of killing another person without justification with malice aforethought is a manifestation of extreme indifference to the value of human life. It deserves harsh punishment for the purpose of retribution. Murder by burning is a crime of exceptional brutality and cruelty. As a form of capital punishment, murder by burning was formally abolished in Britain in 1676 by King Charles II; execution by burning is forbidden to members of the Council of Europe by the European Convention on Human Rights, yet murder by burning still occurs. In The Nowhere Man (1972), the Indo-English novelist Kamala Markandaya clearly manifests the impact of colonial and racial crimes on different levels. Set in 1968, a member of the British society living in a South London suburb deliberately sets fire to the home of an old man of Indian origin in the same neighborhood in a cruel attempt to exterminate him and his race. The novel is a direct warning of the drastic outcome of fatal racial prejudice which is still lurking behind in the metropolis and which disrupts the peace of innocent people’s lives and brings about devastating crimes towards humanity. Burning the ‘Other’ acquires ironic meanings when committed by a descendent of former colonizers who claimed to ‘civilize’ the victim’s ancestors under the guise of the ‘culture mission’ during the British Raj. History of the colonial strategies in the empire is investigated with reference to colonial and racial crimes committed against the people of India. The novel is analyzed with reference to colonial discourse and postcolonial theories of Homi Bhabha and Aimé Cesaire.