Bust out the iced coffee (and a beret if you have on handy)—the long philosophical discussions of right, wrong, and living a principled life can get a little bit overwhelming in Shantaram. On the bright side, it's a great cure for insomnia (j-k'ing). Lin, the narrator, is very concerned about making principled choices, and he chooses his friends for the way that they live according to their values. His father figure, Khaderbhai, has a very clear idea of how to apply principles to daily life—which is kind of unusual, given that he's a notorious crime lord.
Questions About Principles
- Who is a model of principled living in the novel? Would you like to model yourself after any of the characters in Shantaram?
- What is Khaderbhai's philosophy when it comes to right and wrong? How does that fit in with Lin's own conception?
- Is there "honor among thieves" in the novel? If so, where do you see it at work? If not, why not?
Chew on This
Nice try, but Khaderbhai's principle of doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, and vice versa, is just an excuse for bad behavior.
Khaderbhai's principle of doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, and vice versa, shows that we must always think about the context and results of an action, not just the action itself.