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Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Absurdity and Chaos
Nature vs. Modernity
Traditions, Customs, and Expectations
Exploitation of Spirituality
Summary
Analysis
The town begins preparing to follow Mr. Chawla’s plan, though it isn’t always clear how exactly they should be preparing. The Brigadier pushes his men to their limits as they march around town, while the police force assembles the nets for capturing the monkeys. Meanwhile, the air in the orchard is tense as Sampath continues to feel that everything is closing in around him. He’s so sick with worry that he hardly eats anymore, despite Kulfi’s attempts to keep cooking for him. Nonetheless, she holds onto her secret plan to cook a monkey for him soon, believing that such an exotic dish will surely revive his spirits. Sampath stares into the mountains and once again dreams of escaping his circumstances. The monkeys chatter and groom each other in the tree, seemingly ignorant of what’s to come.
The novel’s tensions and conflicts begin to come to a head, and Sampath can feel the anticipation in the air. It’s clear to him that, one way or another, everything will have to change soon. In this uncertain moment, Sampath turns to what he’s always sought for comfort: nature. Even after running away to live in a tree, he still longs to escape deeper and deeper into the wilderness, where none of the noise and troubles of modernity can ever find him. But as Mr. Chawla’s plan is set in motion, Sampath’s dream seems less and less hopeful.
Themes
