Colonization as iron chains

A quote that absolutely struck me when I read it was: “Today it was this very Delhi which was being despoiled by a Western race who had no sympathy with India or her sons, thought Mir Nihal. Already they had put the iron chains of slavery round their once unbending necks.”(106) As a Westerner, when you learn about colonization you generally understand that bad comes with good for the culture that is being colonized. However, in our society we generally like to highlight the good, and it is rare, at least in my educational experience, that you get to hear the voices of despair of those being colonized. It struck me even more astounding that the women in this book hated the British as well. They spoke with such disgust about them and my initial reaction was shock because, as a Westerner, I have generally had the idea that women in places like Delhi must be so thrilled with their new opportunities and freedoms. I hadn’t been able to see what those freedoms were actually doing to the personal identity that women already partake in. It throws their whole lives in disarray, on the one hand there is opportunity, on the other it comes at the cost of their families, their faiths, and at times said opportunity may or may not be of real value to them at all.