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ANIL’S GHOST

ANIL’S GHOST. ~ Grove of the Ascetics. Outline. General Introduction & Plot Summary Questions . General Introduction: Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009).

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ANIL’S GHOST

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  1. ANIL’S GHOST ~ Grove of the Ascetics

  2. Outline • General Introduction & Plot Summary • Questions

  3. General Introduction: Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009) • Conflicts between Tamils and Sinhalese, escalating till the civil war erupted in 1983. (e.g. Black July [depicted in Funny Boy] started with the killing of 13 Sinhalese, followed by the riot in Colombo against Tamils) • Warbetween the government and LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island. • Author’s note – + antigovernment insurgents in the south. • pp. 17; 42 • [later] -- a suicide bomber's assassination of a fictional Sri Lankan president

  4. General Introduction: Central Issues • Anil’s Past experience in Sri Lanka • Anil’s Relations with Sarath, and with Cullis—both as an outsider (to Sri Lanka and to a marriage) • The role of Sri Lankan “teachers” (monk and academic), historical sites and landscape • [Later] Sarath’s Brothers, Sri Lankan artists • Archaeology and Forensic – implied meanings • Facts vs. Fiction, Power vs. Law • Destruction by the War; Life and Death

  5. Fragments in Italics • Miner's folk song • Anil with forensic team in Guatemala • P. 12 Cave 14, one of the Buddhist cave temples, was desecrated. • P. 31 *A government official is murdered on a train. • P. 39 The National Atlas of Sri Lanka: what it includes and leaves out; pp. 41 list of people who disappeared • p. 91-A day in the life of Ananda, a miner.

  6. Sarath • pp. 9- 11 Anil lands in Sri Lanka. Anil and her homeland. • pp. 13 - Anil at work: she examines victims of political violence, hands trembling when realizing how close the time of death was. • Anil in Serath’s lab (a ship): she examines skeletons from an ancient sacred cave and finds a fragment of bone which is recent. • pp. 22- Anil and her homeland: Anil visits Lalitha, an elderly Tamil woman she knew as a child. • Anil vs. Sarath: 27, 29, 44, 53, 63-64 • pp. 33 Anil and her past lover: Cullis 99,102

  7. Sarath • pp. 44 Anil at work: driving to Bandarawela with Sarath, talking about their family members, and also about Sarath’s teachers--Palipana and Narada • pp. 50 as they excavate deep in the caves, Anil finds a whole skeleton which is new; they name it Sailor. • pp. 57 -- Anil at the rest house: about Sarath’s wife, about Anil’s illness, dreams, talks long distance to her friend Leaf; pp. 64- returns to Colombo and she continues to examine the skeleton. • pp. 66- Anil at work and her homeland: her name and swimming, pp. 70- Anil at work: gets Chitra to help find the first location of Sailor

  8. Sarath • pp. 74-- Sarath at work: puts plastics on the skeleton and cuts off Sailor's skull. Knows that they need help.

  9. Grove of Aesthetics • pp. 79 Palipana: Sarath’s teacher, the most respected, and then after an academic scandal, he retired into the forest to live in the ruins of an ancient monastery • pp. 84- blind, and cared for by a young girl, Lakma, his niece (90). Sarath and Anil go there, bringing the skull.

  10. Grove of Aesthetics • pp. 96-99 To identify the skeleton, Palipana says they should find a ritual painter; he describes Netra Mangala (the ritual of painting eyes on statues). • Experience of loss pp. 99-101 Cullis • Experience of loss and gain: pp. 103- Lakma's story: as a 12-year-old, she saw her parents killed and became frightened of everything; the mutual support of Palipana and Lakma • Pp. 106: ritual of Palipana's death-- Lakma will carve an inscription for him at the edge of the water as he is dying. Palipana tells the visitors that the ritual painter he has in mind became a drunk now works in the mines. • pp.109 - murder again – On the road back to Colombo, they find a truck driver (Gunasena) crucified alive on the road, and bring him to the hospital.

  11. rock graffiti in Sigiriya (pp. 81- • Image source: http://www.lanka.com/sri-lanka/guide-to-sigiriya.html

  12. Discussion Questions • Where do you see influences of both colonialism and the civil war? (e.g. 12; 55-56; the hospital scene 38, on Lakma, and a truck driver) • How does Anil relate to Sri Lanka and her past (ghost 53 and pp. 22, 47, 67)? • What is Anil’s emotional status like as she goes back to Sri Lanka? e.g. Cullis and Leaf (63) • The work of forensic and archaeology and their connections with history, truth and power: 54-56, 65-66; 69 • What can be the purposes of Anil’s work?

  13. Discussion Questions • The other related themes: • Sri Lankan “spiritual teachers” (the monk and academic), 80-81; 104-105 • historical sites and landscape, • Trauma and embodiment of grief, and • continuation of life after death

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