Colonialism, Exploitation, and Poverty Theme Analysis

“Of White Hairs and Cricket” takes place 17 years after India gained its independence from British colonial rule, but the damage that Britain caused to India’s economy is still evident. For one, the narrator’s family is poor enough that they can’t afford to move out of their apartment building with crumbling plaster walls. In addition, there are hints throughout the story that India as a whole is similarly in economic decline, at least in part because British companies previously exploited India’s natural resources and continue to compete with Indian companies. As a result, the narrator’s father, whom he calls Daddy, continually tries and fails to lift his family out of their current financial state by finding a new job. Through the family’s dire financial straits, the story shows how colonial powers wreak economic havoc on the places they colonize. Moreover, Daddy’s fruitless aspirations to be wealthy and successful suggest that even after a country is no longer under colonial rule, formerly colonized people may be left disenfranchised and powerless to improve their lives.

Both the British company calendars and the British kerosene stove in the family’s home represent colonialism’s detrimental impact on India’s economy. The Murphy Radio calendar in the family’s apartment advertises the British-made radios, and it features a photo of a baby with a wide-eyed smile. This ad is meant to associate the radio it’s selling with the ideas of youth, happiness, and prosperity—things that the narrator’s family is running short on. So, although the narrator’s parents say that the Murphy Baby brightens the place up, it’s also darkly ironic in that it reminds them of what they don’t have—at least in part as a result of how Britain has crippled India’s economy. The Lifebuoy Soap calendar (from another British-owned company that makes medicated soap) likewise reminds the family of what they lack: a lifebuoy, something that will suddenly appear to save them or keep them healthy. The fact that both of these calendars are advertising British companies suggests that this sort of advertising in an offshoot of Britain’s former colonial control of India, as Britain still plays a large part in Indian culture and commerce. Yet Britain has not brought the sort of prosperity that the companies promise in these advertisements. Instead, Indian families like the narrator’s are struggling to survive in the aftermath of nearly a century of oppression under colonialism. Similarly, Daddy aligns the family’s British-made Criterion kerosene stove with the British themselves, casting it as an inadequate interloper in their family home—particularly since the stove is now old and barely functional. When he declares that he will replace it with an Indian-made Bombay Gas Company stove, his statement further links the economic strife his family (and India as a whole) is experiencing with Britain’s former colonization.

Because the effects of British colonialism still linger, Daddy is largely powerless to raise his family up out of poverty, even though India has ostensibly achieved independence. Notably, the narrator characterizes Daddy’s search for a better job as a kind of ritual that he repeats every week. His lack of success despite continuous effort suggests that India as a whole is in decline, and that there aren’t many jobs available. This is likely because India’s economy is crippled as a result of Britain exploiting the country’s labor and resources for so long, and because British companies are now competing with Indian companies (as evidenced by the ads on the calendars in the family’s apartment). And given Daddy’s weathered appearance and defeated demeanor, it seems that he has lost hope for earning more money and bettering his family’s situation. Nevertheless, Daddy feigns enthusiasm over his job prospects and declares that he will buy the family a new stove as soon as he gets hired. While this purchase would perhaps make the family appear and feel wealthier than they are, it wouldn’t actually change the family’s class status or meaningfully help their money problems (nor would replacing their British stove with an Indian one make India as a whole any more prosperous). Daddy’s impulse to consume is similar to how the family hangs calendars on the wall to cover up the crumbling plaster, or how Daddy plucks white hairs from his head to cover up the fact that he’s getting older. In each case, the family is superficially covering up a problem because they are helpless to solve the root issue. Together, Daddy’s fruitless search for a job and resultant self-destructive impulse to buy nicer appliances suggest that even after a colonized country has achieved independence, formerly colonized people still suffer and have few viable options to improve their lives. In this way, although the India of the story is an independent nation, it is not truly free, as the country is still paralyzed by the after-effects of colonialism.