Island

“I’m the man who won’t take yes for an answer.”

Will refers to himself this way throughout the novel. He implies that nothing is ever good enough for him. He is characterized by bitterness and despair throughout the novel, which is juxtaposed with Dr. Robert’s view that—in spite of human ignorance throughout history—one should maintain hope. Will’s worldview begins to transform with exposure to Pala’s culture, particularly its emphasis on awareness and the present.

“Only an infatuated lover would have entrusted himself, not to mention his guest, to such a chauffeur.”

Unlike the Rani, Will notices that Murugan, who drove Colonel Dipa around, is likely gay. Will is perceptive even if he lacks vision for most of the novel, blinded as he is by his own despair.

“Amputation was no excuse for self-pity and, for all that Dugald was dead, the birds were as beautiful as ever and her children, all the other children, had as much need to be loved and helped and taught.”

Susila sees the death of her husband as akin to an amputation. Once the limb is gone, there is no replacing it. However, one must transcend grief and get on with the business of living. In this way she differs from Will, who stays mired in loss and sadness.

“‘Floating at the same time on that other surface between here and far away, between then and now.’” And between happiness, she was thinking, and this insistent, excruciating presence of an absence.”

The narrative provides Susila’s direct words as well as an omniscient look into her thoughts. Susila refers to the death of her husband, Dugald; she often floats between the happiness of her life with him, and the grieving that comes from his absence. The language implies that time is loose and can be bent, even if only on an emotional level: Dugald is dead, but by remembering him, Susila can experience the joy of their relationship.

“Nobody needs to go anywhere else. We are all, if we only knew it, already there.”

Will reads these words in the first part of the Old Raja’s treatise on the Pala way of life, Notes on What’s What, and on What It Might be Reasonable to Do about What’s What. The passage suggests that there is no such thing as greener pastures. Utopia and paradise are dependent on one’s state of mind rather than an actual location. This parallels Susila’s feelings in quote five; though she can’t be with her husband physically, she can still derive happiness from memory.

“Faith is something very different from belief. Belief is the systematic taking of unanalyzed words much too seriously.”

Another passage from Notes on What’s What… Here the Old Raja distinguishes between faith and belief. Faith is something innate to the individual, while belief is a result of someone else’s articulation of that which can’t be proven. In other words, belief is external and not as authentic than faith, which is intrinsic.

“Top priority: get this place modernized. Look at what Rendang has been able to do because of its oil royalties.”

Murugan tells Will this as they discuss the possibility of a deal once Murugan becomes the Raja. Murugan favors modernity in the Western sense, which exists in Rendang, but does not see the negative consequences that will ensue, such as rampant poverty.

“So long as it remains out of touch with the rest of the world, an ideal society can be a viable society.”

Bahu, the ambassador of Rendnag-Lobo, explains the origins of Palanese governance. Huxley explores the theme of Greed and the End of Utopia through these lines. In suggesting that there is no way for societies to remain fully disconnected from modernity, Bahu is rationalizing a possible takeover of the island.

“One can’t have power without committing oneself.”

Will says this in reply to Bahu, who’d asked him if he ever wanted power. For Will, the issue is one of personal investment: Because of his apathy toward life, he doesn’t desire power.

“‘But cure,’ said Will, ‘is so much more dramatic than prevention. And for the doctors it’s also a lot more profitable.’”

Will contrasts Western medicine and the Palanese approach, highlighting his cynicism. At the end of the novel, he will take the Moksha medicine, symbolizing his embrace of Pala’s culture.

Ranga replies to Will, who’d asked a thinly veiled question about how gay individuals are viewed in Pala. As Ranga makes clear, being gay is respected in Pala because it is an expression of love between people. 

“‘But one kind of love doesn’t exclude the other.’”

“‘Also no whisky, no Calvinism, no syphilis, no foreign administrators. We were left to go our own way and take responsibility for our own affairs.’”

Here, Ranga explains how Pala was able to pursue its own governance. Having escaped colonization, it also escaped its trappings and disease. It was free to choose its own path.

“The remaining two thirds of all sorrow is homemade and, so far as the universe is concerned, unnecessary.

Will returns to Notes on What’s What…. According to the Old Raja, the first third of suffering is inherent in the human condition; therefore, it is inevitable and must be accepted. However, the Old Raja suggests that suffering is a result of perception; therefore, if one learns how to alter one’s perception, one will in turn lessen suffering. This aligns with Pala’s emphasis on awareness; by embracing sensory experience, one transcends the kind of abstract thoughts that lead to angst.

“One has no right to inflict one’s sadness on other people. And no right, of course, to pretend that one isn’t sad.”

Susila recalls this comment of Dr. Robert’s. Throughout Lakshmi’s ordeal, Dr. Robert manages to navigate a balance; he does not allow his sadness to spill onto others, but he is indeed sad about his wife’s dire condition. He suggests that one act authentically—not pretending to be anything but sad—while also being mindful of other people.

“Perfect faith is defined as something that produces perfect peace of mind. But perfect peace of mind is something that practically nobody possesses. Therefore practically nobody possesses perfect faith.”

Dr. Robert discourses on the nature of faith in the West. He concludes that the West is experiencing a crisis of faith because, collectively, it cannot find peace of mind.

“Having had the misfortune to be brought up in Europe, Murugan calls it dope and feels about it all the disapproval that, by conditioned reflex, the dirty word evokes.”

Dr. Robert speaks of Murugan’s contempt for the hallucinatory mushroom, otherwise known as Moksha medicine. Dr. Robert feels that Murugan’s views are shaded by Western conservatism, which views hallucinogens as threatening rather than potentially liberating.

Dr. Robert speaks of Murugan’s contempt for the hallucinatory mushroom, otherwise known as Moksha medicine. Dr. Robert feels that Murugan’s views are shaded by Western conservatism, which views hallucinogens as threatening rather than potentially liberating.

Dr. Robert highlights another fundamental difference between Western and Palanese thought. He suggests a non-egotistical role for the human brain. Instead of being the originator of consciousness, the brain may be the vessel for consciousness that comes from elsewhere, such as from a collective or the universe.

“(We) have always chosen to adapt our economy and technology to human beings—not our human beings to somebody else’s economy and technology.”

Contrary to Western consumerism, the Palanese economy is primarily centered on the benefit it provides human beings. In Pala, individual actualization comes first—not money.

“We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is to learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.”

Notes on What’s What…espouses the view that humans are irrational. Instead of fighting this, it’s best to accept it and learn how to live well and responsibly as an irrational being.

“Given the nature of spiders, webs are inevitable. And given the nature of human beings, so are religions. Spiders can’t help making flytraps, and men can’t help making symbols. That’s what the human brain is there for—to turn the chaos of given experience into a set of manageable symbols.”

Vijaya tells Will the above as they watch a child offer orchids to a Bodhisattva statue in a temple. In Vijaya’s estimation, religion is as natural to human life as a web is to a spider—it is how humans try to make sense of the nonsensical, to navigate entropy.

“Distance reminds us that there’s a lot more to the universe than just people—that there’s even a lot more to people than just people. It reminds us that there are mental spaces inside our skulls as enormous as the spaces out there.”

Vijaya and Will have been intensely discussing a landscape painting. Vijaya suggests that as much as the universe is infinite, the human psyche is likewise a universe.

“Only God can make a microcephalous idiot.”

Will recalls childhood memories—the death of his dog, Tiger, and of his Aunt Mary. At the heart of Will’s comment is his inability to come to terms with death. Instead, he blames God for not just death, but for the apparent irrationality of an innocent child being born with a congenital disability. He embodies the Western view of death, which is that death is lonely and miserable. In contrast, the people of Pala accept death and make it a communal experience.

“‘Believing in eternal life never helped anybody to live in eternity. Nor, of course, did disbelieving.’”

Susila tells Will that spending too much time worrying about what happens after death ultimately detracts from living life.