Review Of The Middleman

On  Sankar's  novel  The Middleman (Jana Aranya)

Sankar’s The Middleman is the moving story of a man torn between who he is and who he wants to be. The middleman is about the rampant corruption ,unemployment and their effects on our society and particularly youth in peculiar fast-paced writing style of Shankar. Shankar’s writing in itself is smooth , easy reading , simple and not so literary in true sense.

‘The Middleman’, set in Calcutta in the 70s, narrates the  story of a young man , Somnath Banerjee's search for job when thousands of educated young men and women were desperate for jobs. Somnath comes from a well- to- do family. Both his elder brothers  are well-educated and nicely paid. Being the youngest son of a distinguished family , there has not been any pressure to earn on him still he has an inner yearn to get settled in his life as his brothers are. His struggle is personal. So he tries really hard to get a job but in vain. On the advice of an acquaintance , Somnath tries his hands as a middleman in the order-supply business.

The novel  through the story of a young unemployed Somnath , carries a very important message . It sarcastically attacks on our education system , bereft of any logic in its system of cut-throat competition . It rightfully and extensively   tells us about the cause of rampant corruption in our country. India is a country where its citizens are brought up making them believe that their culture is the best possible that any country , any civilization can have . They are simply the best. The novel derides this fact not fully , but to an extent.  It makes the reader believe that we have too much to learn and improve. Recently, we have been bogged down by rampant corruption. We have seen struggles against corruption. But most importantly the novel brings to our concern the causes of this virus of corruption. Surely , the novel does not tell us all the factors leading to corrupt Indian humanity but it tries to explain one of the most important factor.

The Important Factor : Cut-throat competition in our education system produces some very talented individuals .But in the process produces a large number of average people. The problem is that no one seems to care about the average ones. They continue lagging behind in the race for getting a good job in turn getting a good income.  Hence, a good life. Somnath and Sukumar are the two examples Shankar provide in his novel. Somnath’s friend Sukumar , being in dire need for a job , being the sole capable bread-earner for his family , can’t overcome the pressure and goes insane.  Somnath , on the other hand, gets into business.

The story can be thought of as divided into two parts. One in which Shankar depicts the struggles of unemployed while on the other it depicts the degradation of moral character of a youth , his continuous infighting with his inner self and consequently  a corrupt businessman comes out  triumphant but not before deriding his own image in front of himself.” Slowly , as Somnath grows from an innocent young man to a corrupt  Businessman , the book becomes a disturbing image of the price the city extracts from its youth.” This is depicted by the request  Somnath makes to Boudi when he says her not to wear the sari he brought for her with his own money. The writer by this request also brings out another important message.

Message :  Money earned by corrupt means  can make you richer by few cents but can’t make you happy. Spending hard-earned money can only make you happier.

The novel is written in so detailed way that one will have to draw the diagram of the plot to see how Somnath’s encounters with the different people in his life, his shuttling between home and the world, are laid out. Not only Shankar provides the interactions and encounters of its protagonist but it also make the readers feel the family emotions , father’s concern for his son , son’s responsibility for his family . So , it can be easily said for the novel that it reminds us of family values and emotions. Shankar through the character of Somnath makes us consider various aspects of life. Earning income is one of them. After Somnath thinks of business , the novel swiftly moves to the world of business class from the class of salaried. Here , while attempting to establish himself as a middleman in order-supply business , Somnath realizes that to succeed  in such a world , he will have to compromise his values , suppress his inner  voice and ignore his conscience. And  Somnath does that and finally establishes himself as a middleman.

“Although Sankar’s language is naturally something that would not lose much in translation, Sinha’s skill is especially evident when it comes to his magisterial rendering of dialogue, which Sankar prefers to third-person narration as his narrative motor.”