ANIMAL'S PEOPLE

BY INDRA SINHA​
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT AUTHOR
Title
Major characters
Major themes
Narrative structure
 INTRODUCTION
An Indra Sinha novel, Animal's People. It won the 2008
Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book From Europe &
South Asia and was on the Man Booker Prize shortlist in
2007. The protagonist of Sinha's story is a 19-year-old
Khaufpur orphan who was born just before the Bhopal
tragedy in 1984 and whose spine has gotten so twisted that
he has to walk on all fours. He's been on all fours since he
can remember. Everyone calls him Animal, and he's known
for his obsessive sex, profanity, and rejection of empathy.
He shares a home with his dog Jara and an eccentric
elderly French nun named Ma Franci. He also develops
feelings for Nisha, the daughter of a local musician.
Animal, the primary character, himself recorded the
story in Hindi on a number of cassettes, and it has
also been translated into English. The author
employs peculiar terms like "kampani" (business),
"jarnalis" (journalist), and "jamisponding" (spying, a
la James Bond) that are a strange blend of Hindi,
French, and Indianized English.
ABOUT AUTHOR

Born in Colaba, Mumbai, Sinha is the son of an English writer

Maharashtra, India in 1950, Indra and an Indian Navy officer.[6] He
Sinha is a British writer with English
received his education at Oakham
and Indian ancestry.[2] His most
recent book, Animal's People, won the School in Rutland, England; Mayo
2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize College in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India;
for Europe and South Asia and was and Pembroke College in Cambridge,
on the shortlist for the 2007 Man England, where he majored in
Booker Prize[3][4]. English literature. He resides in the
The University of Brighton granted
Lot valley in southwest France with
Sinha an honorary doctorate in
literature in July 2015 in recognition his spouse.[7] They are parents of
of "his major contribution to three adult children.
literature and demonstrating the
power of words in changing people's
lives."
 TITLE
Since it shows us how the people of Khaufpur identified
themselves, the title Animal's People provides intriguing
context for the book. This unity of the Khaufpur people is
demonstrated by the chorus of kids imitating Elli, who
later admits she doesn't comprehend Animal's People.
"We can hear the chorus of small voices gradually
falling behind, ‘Hey Animal’s People!’"[1] People normally
come together amid a calamity, and this is what
happened during and after the Khaufpur incident. The
novel's title serves to both identify this grouping of
people and hint at the challenges Elli will encounter in
attempting to launch the clinic.

The phrase "Animal’s People" also alludes to Kaufpur residents'

differing ideas and behaviours from those of Elli, the American
physician. This is made clear on page 183 when Elli exclaims,
"HEY ANIMAL'S PEOPLE!" out of frustration with everyone's
attitude towards her clinic. I'm not sure I understand you. She
had no idea how the villagers had suffered when she arrived at
Kaufpur. That was all she understood about humans; she knew
they were sick and it was her responsibility to nurse them back
to health. She was never able to completely understand the
tragedy and fallout from the gas leak, or the ongoing poverty
that afflicted the city, because of her better circumstances.
She was also unaware of the causes for the inhabitants'
extreme distrust of outsiders. Elli the doctress was an outsider
among Kaufpur's Animal's People, since she had not personally
experienced it.
 MAJOR CHARACTERS
1. Animal - The protagonist of this tale is Animal. He is portrayed as a youngster with a twisted
spine who wanders Khaufpur on both of his hands and feet like a dog. Kampani is the one who
caused the explosion of the chemical facility that killed him. He consistently asserts that he is an
animal and rejects his humanity. Following the factory disaster, Ma Franci places Animal in an
orphanage and takes care of him. He doesn't remember his parents at all. Although Animal freely
expresses his hate for people, there is a part of him that longs to be a person.
2. SOMRAJ - Nisha's father, Pandit Somraj Tryambak Punekar, is a music instructor. He is said to be
tall, with long fingers and a pointed, long nose. Animal characterizes him as melancholy and
solitary, demonstrating his stoic temperament. The most significant aspect of Somraj's biography
is that he was once a well-known vocalist in India who was called the Voice of Khaufpur.
3. Ma Françi - Ma Françi, a French nun, was employed in the orphanage where Animal was raised.
She serves as Animal's mother figure and is amiable despite her moderate senility. Her inability to
understand Hindi and English is one of the accident's side effects. She can't comprehend that people
are speaking a different language and aren't just making noises because she thinks everyone else
is talking gibberish. Because of her insanity, she also sees prophetic angels.
4. Zafar - Zafar is Nisha's boyfriend. He is described as a man in his late thirties, tall, good-looking,
and thin with a jutting beard, curly black hair and glasses which makes him appear wise.
5. NISHA - Daughter of Somraj, girlfriend of Zafar, friend of Animal. Nisha sees Animal in the
gutter and introduces him to Zafar. She is the object of his affection, yet sees him as a friend
only.
 MAJOR THEMES
Westernization
Westernisation is important to the plot of the book because it
establishes important character relationships, illustrates Sinha's
perspective on the effect of the West, and provides a more realistic
portrayal of "distant sufferers." The chemical accident in this novel
happened in India as a result of an American company's actions. In
support of this assertion, Sinha demonstrates the same company's
total denial of any accountability for its deeds. The different
manifestations of fear of strangers
LOVE
Throughout the book, various manifestations of love are seen. The

Identity mother-son bond between Animal and Ma Françi is arguably the

Westernisation is important to the plot of the book because it
establishes important character relationships, illustrates Sinha's
perspective on the effect of the West, and provides a more
realistic portrayal of "distant sufferers." The chemical accident
in this novel happened in India as a result of an American
company's actions. In support of this assertion, Sinha
demonstrates the same company's total denial of any
accountability for its deeds. The different manifestations of fear
of strangers
most basic example of love ever shown. Even though Animal spends
the majority of his day apart from his elderly "mother," he always
makes an effort to stay in touch—especially when mayhem erupts i
Khaufpur. The need for tactile affection in animals is evident right
from the opening of the book. Animal is frequently quite direct
about what he wants, especially in front of the ladies he desires.
He uses coarse language and crass humour when speaking. Early in
the book, it is clear that Animal is physically in love with Nisha,
especially when he shows intense jealousy towards Zafar, her
boyfriend. Animal's affection for Nisha clearly evolves into a more
sympathetic kind of love as the story goes on, one that makes it
clear to the reader that Animal now views Nisha as family.
 NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Animal uses his cassette recordings to tell the story of the book. The Kakadu Jarnalis demands that Animal
narrate his tale. Animal records the cassettes in Hindi, and the journalist translates them into English.
Similar to earlier foreign journalists, Animal believes that his account of Khaufpur will become interwoven
with that of every other survivor, creating a single, sad story. Animal consents to share his experience in
order to prevent this from happening, provided that it is presented precisely as it is on his cassettes. Animal
focuses on and speaks directly to the audience in his second tape. Jarnalis writes to Animal in a letter, saying,
"You have to think of yourself as speaking to only one person, Animal. You'll start to believe that person is
genuine. Consider them a buddy. You have to put your trust in them and let them into your heart because no
matter what you say, they won't judge you negatively." "You are that person, reading my words," says Animal in
a conversation with the reader. I'll call you Eyes since I don't know what to name you." The editor's note
opens Animal's People by Indra Sinha, who writes, "A nineteen-year-old boy in the Indian city of Khaufpur
recorded this story in Hindi on a series of tapes." The narrative is given only in the boy's words as they are
captured on the tapes, in accordance with the agreement made between the youngster and the journalist who
became his friend." Despite the fact that the entire plot is made up, Sinha intended to tell the tale in a way
that offered credibility and a unique voice to the actual but little-known consequences of the Bhopali
disaster, an Indian gas leak that is regarded as the greatest industrial disaster in history. The "recorded
tapes" are arranged primarily in a sequential fashion, interspersed with present-tense and past-focused
flashbacks. They tell the story little by bit, adding current events in between and building Animal's past's
setting and characters. Animal repeats events to Jarnalis through the cassettes, so he delivers his story in
the past tense. In the first and second tapes, Animal is presented as the storyteller, and the audience is
introduced as nothing more than abstract "eyes." Animal leaps back to when he was six years old in the middle
of the second recording, describing the agony of his apparent "human to animal" transformation as his spine
twisted to the point where he had to walk on all fours.
THANK YOU
VERY MUCH!
PRESENTATION BY GURSEJAL KAUR
ENG/21/78