Examining Middle Class Mindset in Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey

Abstract

The paper examines how the middle class mindset is reflected in Rohinton Mistry’s novel Such a Long Journey, by viewing the pleasures and problems, worries and anxieties of a middle class Parsi family portrayed by Mistry in the novel. The Indian middle class composed of people who are educated, but neither rich nor poor, emerges during the British rule in the mid-nineteenth century and has been offering significant contributions in many fields including nation building. This class of people is enormously swelling with the progress of time and is shaping the society itself. The examination of the mindset of this class of people includes their way of thinking and their opinions, their responses to and interpretations of particular situations, their mental attitude or disposition, and their inclinations or habits. It appears that these people always prefer to take the middle path – they are neither too extravagant nor too miserly, neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic, their hopes and aspirations are neither too high nor too low. They attach importance to moral values and ideals, they are very much conscious of their image and prestige in the society. But it also appears that their idealism or ideology of adhering strictly to some values sometimes puts them in trouble and creates problems seemingly artificial and avoidable.