Name _______________________________________________

The Calcutta Chromosome Notes

This packet is meant to provide you with a structure for exploring some of the ideas, questions, and paradoxes within the novel and to help you prepare notes that will help you review for the in-class essay (and the IB exam, if you are taking it).

Each of the following pages has a topic and a series of questions. I encourage you to discuss these topics with other students, but do not divide them up—the point of the activity is for each student to have the experience of deeply considering these topics and working through them with other students.

On some days we will discuss, as a whole class, specific scenes or topics, but in general, you may choose any order to work through the packet.

For each topic:

1. Work back through the novel, discussing and answering the questions as you go.2. Respond to the topic and questions with notes, questions, and/or diagrams, in a

form that will work for your own brain. Include specific word choice (think in terms of brief quotations of one to four words that would be easy to remember on the test) in your notes.

3. I highly encourage you to include questions you have about each topic.4. At the bottom of each page, record a clear sentence or two that synthesizes your

most important thinking about the style element or concept that the page addresses.

Scoring: This is a 40-point assignment, graded holistically on the thoroughness of your notes and the extent to which they show thoughtful engagement with the novel.

Characters

Use this page for notes on characters (or, if you’ve already started a character notes page on your own paper, attach that paper here). At a minimum, your notes should include Antar, Murugan, Sonali, Urmila, Romen, Phulboni, Mrs. Aratounian, the boy in the “Pattaya Beach” T-shirt, Ronald Ross, D.D. Cunningham, Farley, Grigson, Lutchman/Laakhan, Mangala, Lucky, Tara, Maria, Mme. Salminen, Countess Pongracz.

Trains and technologyTrains: How does Ghosh use the motif of trains in this novel? How do trains and train stations form points of connection and departure? How do they reflect the theme of technological development? What characters are associated with trains or train stations?

Technology: What other examples of technology or technological development appear in the novel? (Think about microscopes, computers, phones, TVs) How do they relate to the “Calcutta chromosome”?

Be sure to identify specific scenes related to this topic, and write down their page numbers.

Ritual, Religion, and the Supernatural

How do the sacred and the supernatural figure in this work? What are the objects, places, and characters associated with religion or the supernatural? What religious traditions (such as Hinduism, Spiritualism, Gnosticism) are hinted at or referred to, and to what effect? What is the relationship between religion/spirituality and science? Be sure to identify specific scenes related to this topic, and write down their page numbers.

The Silence

Use this page for your overall ruminations on the central mystery of the novel. Who are Laakhan and Mangala, and where do they show up in each time period? What are they trying to do with the malaria parasite? What other characters are part of the group associated with them—and which are excluded? What happens to Farley? What is Phulboni’s connection? What happens at the end? What gaps or blank spots does Ghosh leave?

Power and Postcolonialism

What are the power relationships in the novel? How do social status, race/ethnicity, gender, language, and economics affect perceived or actual power? What forces subvert conventional power structures in the novel? Which characters represent British colonialism? What legacies of colonialism remain in the “modern” (1995) India of the novel—in infrastructure, architecture, language, economy, or culture? What forces, characters, or other elements stand in contrast to colonialism? How does the novel question western assumptions about knowledge, privilege, progress, individualism, identity—in other words, how does the novel critique or subvert the western world view?

Conventions of the Novel and 1984 Connections

On the top half of this page, record notes about point of view, plot structure, techniques of character development, significance of settings, chronological structure, use of motifs or symbols, themes, etc.

On the second half of this page, record notes about possible points of comparison to 1984.