When your narrator's an escaped convict who falls right into a counterfeiting and money-laundering ring, you know that criminality will be an important aspect of the novel. And Shantaram doesn't disappoint. We get looks at prisons in both Australia and India and glimpses of the international crime operations. Readers are also privy to the narrator's guilty conscience, and his relationship to his criminal past. It's not just about legal guilt and innocence; criminality in Shantaram is a philosophical question. The characters wrestle with the way their actions impact others.
Questions About Criminality
- What are Lin's crimes in Australia? How do they affect his life in India?
- Are there any characters who aren't criminals? Why does Lin fall into such a lawless crowd?
- When Lin decides to join Abdullah, why do his slum friends warn him not to? What are they afraid of?
- Why is Lin chosen to work for Khaderbhai? What qualities does he have that make him a good candidate?
Chew on This
Shantaram shows that, in a corrupt system, it is almost impossible to live completely lawfully.
In Shantaram, the fact that Lin was once a criminal means that he will never escape the life of crime.