“I am beginning to understand some things about her and I think that that she does not like things in nature to be hurt. To her, the flower and the plant would both be suffering because they were separated from each other… It would be as if its arm had been cut off or something. I think it would upset her greatly and set her back.” (69)
This quote is the response Tyler gives to the gardener Mr. Hector after he asked Tyler to ask Miss. Ramchandin if she would be interested in gardening. I found this quote very ambiguous. In one instance Tyler displays how protective he is over Miss. Ramchandin and how much he truly cares for her mental and well-being but in another instance this can be interpreted as Tyler considering Miss. Ramchandin’s past and how current things affect her.
In the begging of the quote Tyler says “I am beginning to understand some things about her.” I think Tyler feels he is slowly but surely beginning to understand Miss. Ramchandin’s through her body language, noises, and their eye contact interactions. Along with their interactions I think that by Tyler narrating Miss. Ramchandin’s story he is getting to know a part of her that no one else can understand nor identify with. With that said Tyler feels he is obligated to be Miss Ramchandin’s voice and speak for her. In his mind if he no one anyone else will.
Further along in the passage he says “…the flower and the plant would both be suffering because they were separated.” I think the word separate is they key word in this sentence. When he refers to the flowers being separated I think Tyler was also alluding to Miss Ramchandin’s being abandoned and separated from her mother as young girl. He then says “I think it would upset her greatly and set her back.” I think he said that because Miss. Ramchandin has been through a great deal of trauma in her life and he doesn’t want her to overthink of gardening to bring back up old feeling that she experienced as a child.
What is the reason for so much ambiguity in not only this quote, but in the novel itself? Is is possible it is because Tyler is so ambiguous himself?
I wonder if separation in this quote also alludes to Mala being separated from her sister Asha, as she keeps asking for her. Furthermore, I think you could even go as far and say that it is about herself. The separation from the adult Mala and the innocent girl Pohpoh. She calls out for pohpoh when finding the cat and I can only imagine that she feels separated from those early years of her life, and from that part of herself.
It also connects back to her saving the snails with Boyie (although that happens later in the story, Tyler already knows about it when writing it down).