indian ink essay questions

Tom Stoppard

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Tom Stoppard’s play Indian Ink interweaves two storylines set more than 50 years apart. In 1930, the fiery, controversial English poet Flora Crewe goes to the fictional city of Jummapur, India, where she meets Nirad Das , a brilliant, passionate local painter. Das paints portraits of Flora as she writes poetry about sex, love, and India; it’s never entirely clear whether they become lovers. Meanwhile, two other men also court Flora: a chauvinistic young English official, David Durance , and the elegant and extravagantly wealthy Rajah (king) of Jummapur. In the other timeline, in the 1980s, Flora’s elderly sister, Eleanor Swan , meets with two men interested in Flora’s legacy: Eldon Pike , a literary critic who is compiling Flora’s letters and writing her biography, and Nirad Das’s son Anish , who wants to learn more about his father.

The play begins with Flora Crewe arriving in Jummapur to speak at the local Theosophical Society , which accommodates her in a sparse but functional old bungalow. While Flora acts out the letters she wrote to Eleanor in 1930, Eleanor and Eldon Pike read the letters and discuss Flora’s legacy in the 1980s. Coomaraswami , the Theosophical Society president, gives Flora a tour of Jummapur and hosts her lecture at his house. She is surprised to learn that her Indian audience knows almost everything about the London literary scene. She strikes up a conversation with the painter Nirad Das, who asks if he can paint her portrait. She agrees, and he starts biking to her bungalow to paint her as she writes. (Eldon Pike is astonished when he learns this: there are no known portraits of Flora. But Eleanor Swan nonchalantly mentions that Modigliani once painted Flora, too.) Flora and Das struggle to communicate at first because of cultural barriers, but soon, they hit it off. Das even gifts Flora a copy of Emily Eden’s colonial travelogue about India, Up the Country .

Later, Anish Das visits Eleanor and explains that his father, a little-known artist who was imprisoned for supporting Indian independence in 1930, painted the portrait on the cover of Eldon Pike’s Collected Letters of Flora Crewe . Anish and Eleanor get into a heated political argument: he believes that the British Empire exploited and impoverished India, while she views it as the best thing to ever happen there—and thinks that Anish’s father deserved jail time for opposing it. (In fact, Eleanor’s husband was a British army officer who was long stationed in India.) Anish explains that he’s a painter, just like his father, and Eleanor agrees to let him sketch her.

Fifty years before, Flora and Das also discuss the budding Indian nationalist movement—Das supports it but is afraid to say too much and incriminate himself to an Englishwoman. The same day, Captain David Durance visits Flora’s house unannounced and asks her to dinner at the official British Residency. She finds him pompous and distasteful, but she agrees. Meanwhile, during their painting sessions, Das and Flora chat about politics, the Hindu story of Radha and Krishna ’s love affair, and the concept of rasa (or the emotional “essence” of a work of art).

In the 1980s, Eleanor Swan tells Anish Das that Eldon Pike’s footnotes to Flora’s poems and letters are highly unreliable. Meanwhile, Pike and his friend Dilip show up in Jummapur in search of information about Flora—especially a lost watercolor portrait of her in the nude by Das.

Back in 1930, Das tears up his pencil sketch of Flora because he’s insulted that she didn’t say anything when he showed it to her. When he tries to destroy his canvas portrait, too, he and Flora start fighting over it—but she quickly collapses in exhaustion. She admits that she has come to India because she is dying (likely of tuberculosis). She wants to shower, but the running water is broken, so Das helps her bathe with a jug of water. She asks if he wants to paint her in the nude, and she requests that he paint her in his own authentic, Indian artistic style rather than continuing to imitate the Western styles that the British have imposed on him. He agrees.

Act Two of Indian Ink begins with Flora and David Durance dancing after dinner at the Jummapur Club in 1930, while Dilip and Pike go to the same club—which is largely unchanged—five decades later. They finally find a connection to Flora: Subadar Ram Sunil Singh , an elderly man who was Flora’s punkah (fan) operator as a young boy and remembers her meetings with Das. In 1930, David Durance takes Flora out for a drive and horseback ride, but he strikes all the wrong notes. He awkwardly brings up the obscenity lawsuit that her publisher faced for printing her erotic poetry and stupidly insists that only the English can rule India effectively. He asks her to marry him, and she says absolutely not.

In the 1980s, after visiting the Jummapur Club, Dilip and Pike go to the Rajah’s palace—which is now a luxury hotel. They discuss Indian politics and debate whether Das and Flora were lovers. In 1930, the Rajah visits Flora and impresses her by having just a few of his 86 luxury cars drive by her bungalow. He warns that India must not become independent and agrees to show her his art collection, on the condition that he can gift her a painting. Back in the 1980s, Dilip and Pike meet the new Rajah of Jummapur—who is the original Rajah’s grandson. He no longer has any formal powers, but he is a member of India’s parliament. Meanwhile, back in England, Anish Das and Eleanor Swan admire Nirad Das’s two paintings of Flora—the oil portrait and the nude watercolor, both unfinished—as well as the Rajah’s painting of Krishna and Radha.

In 1930, after Flora’s date with the Rajah, Das and Coomaraswami visit her and explain that the Rajah is shutting down the Theosophical Society over its support for the independence movement. Fed up, Flora decides to leave Jummapur for better weather. She and Das share a tearful goodbye: he gives her his watercolor and she reads him an erotic poem. Later, David Durance visits Flora and grows furious when she tells him that the Rajah visited her—he doesn’t think she should be involved with Indian men, least of all “politically sensitive” ones.

In one of her final letters to Eleanor, Flora reports that she has finished her poetry book, Indian Ink , and admits that Eleanor “won’t approve” of the man she is involved with. Years later, Anish Das assumes that this man was his father, but Eleanor thinks it may have been David Durance or the Rajah. She also reveals why Nirad Das ended up in prison: he threw mangos at a British official’s car—which David Durance was probably driving on one of his dates with Flora.

Flora dies just a few weeks after her departure from Jummapur, and when Eleanor visits her grave a year later, she meets her husband Eric, an official who works for the British government. The play closes with Flora reading from her letters and Up the Country , in which Emily Eden wonders why Indians don’t just band together and murder their British overlords.

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indian ink essay questions

Indian Ink: Literary Insights into Colonialism and Identity

I am excerpting an article from my personal blog.

I originally wrote this essay in May 2009 and it was published on The South Asian Idea. It’s interesting to me how long I have been thinking about some of the same issues.  I have always been fascinated by the Raj.  In fact, in my Directing class as part of my Dramatic Literature major, I directed a scene from “Indian Ink”. This play has been with me throughout much of my life.

Flora: You are an Indian artist, aren’t you? Stick up for yourself. Why do you like everything English? Das: I do not like everything English. Flora: Yes, you do. You’re enthralled. Chelsea, Bloomsbury, Oliver Twist, Goldflake cigarettes, Winsor and Newton
 even painting in oils, that’s not Indian. You’re trying to paint me from my point of view instead of yours—what you think is my point of view. You deserve the bloody Empire! (Tom Stoppard, Indian Ink , pg. 43)

Great works of art often reveal insights about history in ways that are more accessible than academic historical accounts.  One work that was especially powerful in doing so for me is Tom Stoppard’s play Indian Ink . Ever since I first read this play some years ago, it has provoked me to think about the colonial experience in India as well as issues of identity and nationalism more generally.

In the tradition of Forster’s A Passage to India and Scott’s The Raj Quartet, Indian Ink examines the colonial experience through focusing on the relationship between one particular couple.   Set in two time periods (1930s India and 1980s England), the play tells the story of Flora Crewe, an English poet visiting India, and Nirad Das, an Indian artist who is painting her portrait.   Over the course of the play, Flora and Nirad’s relationship changes from a formal, distant one to a more intimate one. However, their relationship also reveals major points of tension and of culture clash.  Nirad constantly feels the need to impress Flora with his knowledge of England and of English culture, while Flora wants him to be himself. As the quote that I started this post with shows, she wants him to paint her from his own point of view.  He eventually does so, painting a nude portrait of her in the style of a Rajput miniature. Flora recognizes that he is working in his own tradition and has stopped trying to ape the English.  She tells him “This one is for yourself
 I’m pleased. It has rasa ” (74).

The play also makes interesting points about the reinterpretation of history, something that is a part of national and ethnic conflicts even today, both in South Asia and in other parts of the world. For example, in the modern portion of the play, Anish (Nirad’s son) and Mrs. Swan (Flora’s sister) discuss the events of 1857, which Anish refers to as “the first War of Independence” and Mrs. Swan insists on calling the Mutiny (17). History is written by the victors and later reinterpreted by various political groups to suit their own agendas. For example, in modern India, the BJP reinterprets the Mughals as a foreign occupying force, religiously motivated by their negative feelings towards Hinduism. Other historians argue that this perspective is not an appropriate way to view the Mughals, many of whom assimilated and became “Indian.” History remains a powerful force that can be used for various politically motivated ends. Stoppard’s play forces the audience to question the truth of any of these interpretations….

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I am Pakistani-American. I hold a B.A. degree from George Washington University, where I majored in Dramatic Literature and minored in Western Classical Music. During my undergraduate education, I spent two years at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) where I studied Social Sciences, including Anthropology, Sociology and Political Philosophy. I have studied Hindustani Classical Vocal from a young age. Currently I am teaching an undergraduate course on the history of music in South Asia at LUMS. At BP, I intend to write on art, music and literature. View all posts by Kabir

sbarrkum

Colonialism good and bad has happened and the clock cant be turned back. Now we the colonized are left with a legacy of colonialism the good and bad.

My opinion, instead of trying to completely erase the colonial legacy, we take the good and bad, and build upon that legacy (make lemonade out of lemons) . Of course now the question, what are the good legacies and will differ from person to person.

Stoppard recalls meeting “elderly Indian people who had regret for the days of the Raj.

You get that in Sri Lanka. For the middle and upper classes it was a assured future with servants and nice pension for the middle class. For the poorer also it was safe. Not informed/educated enough to aspire and be competitive, a blissful ignorance.

Free education for the masses (after independence), mass communication (radio) changed society and its aspiration. Colonial society was a relatively fixed stratified society i.e. everyone knew their place. Now with more information, aspirations are “greater” accompanied by stress and angst.

Christianity makes a virtue out of poverty, i.e. blessed are the poor etc. Buddhism implies its easier for the rich (knowledgeable/wise) to renounce desire and attain Nirvana. Once one has lots of “stuff”, it may make you happy but also brings much fear to maintain and protect the stuff. So possible at that point to walk away from the desire for “stuff”.

Also see https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Tea-Leaves/Sri-Lanka-weighs-colonial-ballast

Kabir

Thanks for your comment. I am endlessly fascinated by the Raj (after the Mughals it’s my favorite period of “Indian” history). My particular interest in this play came from the fact that in some ways it is a reworking of “A Passage to India”, where instead of the Englishwoman accusing the “native” of rape, she ends up falling in love with him (even seducing him). That is the whole point of him painting her as Radha.

If you are familiar with “The Raj Quartet” (there was a TV adaptation of it made in the 1980s I think), it also begins with the rape of Miss Manners in the Bibighar Gardens and the accusation of her lover, Hari Kumar (Harry Coomer as he prefers to be called since he grew up in England).

I am interested in the psychological effects of colonialism on the colonizer as well as the colonized. What was it like for white people to come out to India and suddenly lord it over all the “natives”? What happened if a relationship developed outside of the normal “master servant one”? These are all issues that these novels and plays examine. As you say, it was a society in which everyone knew their place. So what if someone stepped out of line?

Also, as highlighted in this post, the desire of a certain kind of Indian to ape the master and try to act English is also interesting. It reminds me of Fanon’s “Black Skin, White Masks” (not that I knew that back in 2009 when I wrote this short essay).

Kabir, I saw at least a few episodes of the Jewel in the Crown (TV adaptation) of the Raj Quartet. Maybe it was on PBS in the US. Definitely saw the Miss Manners episodes., and has stuck in my mind.

I stopped watching TV I think around 2007. Stopped reading novels around 1995.

Stepping out of line is still here. The boundaries are wider but changes with location. What OK in NY would be out of line in the mid-west. Bounadries are narrower in Sri Lanka, and whats OK in Colombo is not OK in a village.

Teenagers like to ape the whats in fashion, and fashion is dictated by the West. On and off the fashion in the west, include ethnic styles. I wore bell bottoms, long hair in the late 70’s early 80’s (not appropriate for a short guy when I see photos). Now the rage seems tattoos, and spread even among urban Sri Lankan women.

The whole “aping” business is about acceptance, moving up the social ladder (preppie look) and not being seen as an country hick. How often do you see South Asians eating rice and curry with their fingers, in the US and upper end restaurants in South Asia.

In the US, in ethnic neighborhoods people wear their native dress. In that case I would think they are “aping” and looking for acceptance by their compatriots. When they move out of that neighborhood most often adapt.

It is hard work to be different. When in Rome do as the Romans makes life more easier.

Yes, it was “The Jewel in the Crown” I was talking about. I love that series.

I don’t think wearing mainstream American clothes in the US counts as “aping” the master. That is part of assimilation. I was talking about “aping the master” in a very specific colonial context: Mr. Das trying to act “white” to impress Miss Crewe.

Jeans and shirts are pretty much mainstream everywhere now. Many Pakistani guys of my age and social class wear shalwar kameez only for jumma prayers or for weddings or Eid. Even I wear shalwar kameez only for weddings, funerals, Eid or when I am performing Hindustani music. Jeans and shirts are much easier in daily life.

Kabir I did not imply it was wrong to “ape”.

A hundred or more years ago some individuals, including the last kings in SL started “aping” the west (see links to images below). Pre European invasion Kings are shown, bare bodied and sarong. Even in the mid 70’s in a village it was rare to see men in trousers/pants. When working the fields, farmers wore the Amude, essentially a thong with cloth in front.

Fast forward and it was not upper class “cultur” to wear a sarong. My father (born 1917) would only wear a sarong just before he went sleep in the night. A few decades later, politicians started wearing sarong again, the upper body kurta like shirt is Indian (as is the saree). Now (some) upper class have reverted to wearing sarong for parties and weddings.

In grad school Apts (in the US) I wore a sarong. Not the South Indian, white and blue variety. These were multi colored batik. During summer bare bodied too and walk around and laundry runs. One summer did a barbecue (I was a RHD) and managed to burn the sarong. Sarongs were hard to come by in early 90’s, so no more wearing sarongs to barbecues.

When I started working for a Wall Street startup (weather derivatives) one of the partners was going to be married in Riverside Cafe, Brooklyn NY (extremely posh). I (and wife) were asked not to wear traditional dress, as it would take away attention from the bride. My wife and I were both fat middle aged people!!.

When traveling to and fro from US, would carry a sarong and flip flops in carry on luggage. In the long leg mid-east/once from delhi to/from US after take off, get into sarong and flip flops. Comfort for a long flight.

Used to get asked questions like what is that skirt called. Do you wear any thing underneath (I dont, thats the whole purpose). My answer, you can check it out if you wish, no one did.

Parakrama Bahu, King around 10 century https://www.flickr.com/photos/wathsalav/1598194239

comment image

Amude http://archive2.srilankamirror.com/news/item/7845-farmers-in-amude-commence-protest-pics

AnAn

Thanks for sharing sbarrkum.

The sarong is awfully immodest since males can show off 😉 If Islamists had conquered Sri Lanka would they have banned to sarong?

Most Iranian, South Asian and South East Asian conceptions of modesty were heavily influenced by muslims. Before Islam my understanding is that Hindustani Bharatiya woman didn’t wear blouses. Modesty was in the mind and heart versus external–as I think it should be. If anyone else has an issue they can choose not to stare.

Can you describe woman’s apparal in ancient pre English Vannimai Sri Lanka?

Can you also describe what Sri Lanka was like during Dutch Ceylon? Did Sri Lanka have 5 kingdoms allied to the Dutch with some parts of Sir Lanka ruled directly by the Dutch? How did the arrangement work?

The ghoongat is very much a Hindu thing. Covering your head with your sari pallu is very much a Hindu thing. I’ve seen enough Bollywood movies and Indian soaps to know that.

Not everything can be blamed on Islam.

Not wearing underwear is just gross (in my opinion). I wear it even with shalwar kameez. Some (most) guys don’t. I think that is really unhygienic.

what is a ghoongat.

Underwear: we are 5 degrees from the equator. If we wear underwear all the time then fertility decreases (probably a good thing).

Environment (in the past) decided what was modest/appropriate dress code.

Hygiene: When its custom to bathe 2 to times a day. Even in villages where there is no running water (almost none) there is a river or reservoir nearby (1 km max).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9756281

Ghoongat is a veil type thing that Hindu women use to cover their heads/ faces when in the presence of men they are not related to.

Maybe it’s a North Indian thing.

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Identity in the Indian Ink - Essay Example

Identity in the Indian Ink

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  • Pages: 5 (1250 words)
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  • Author: geraldgorczany

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Indian Ink Study Guide

Nulla facilisi. Quisque pulvinar neque porttitor ligula dignissim sed tempus est laoreet. Nunc tempor sollicitudin erat, et vestibulum est vulputate non. Nulla viverra mattis pretium. Vestibulum dictum malesuada sodales. Sed hendrerit leo quis lectus rhoncus tempor.

Indian Ink

Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard

Indian ink themes.

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Among the play's themes is the contrast of Indian and European styles of poetry and visual art. Nirad explains to Flora the classical Indian theory of nine rasas , which are tonal schemes uniting all forms of art. Each rasa is associated with a colour, a mood, and a musical scale. The play's title refers to Shringara , the rasa of erotic love, which is associated with an inky blue-black colour and the god Krishna, who is always painted with dusky blue skin. Flora is at first puzzled by this artistic tradition, but on falling in love with Nirad she realizes, "It is the colour he looked by moonlight."

Love and Loss

The play shares with other Stoppard plays of the 90s the theme of nostalgia and romantic loss, with Flora as the lost beloved corresponding to Thomasina in Arcadia and Moses in The Invention of Love . And like those two plays, it cuts back and forth between characters in two time periods sharing the same set. Stoppard has given director Peter Wood partial credit for developing the structure of the play with its two intertwined storylines.[1]

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indian ink essay questions

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Indian Ink Short Answer Test Questions

Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard

1. What country is Flora traveling around in the opening scene?

2. What method of communication does Flora use to narrate her journey?

3. What is the name of the town where Flora met Mr. Coomaraswami?

4. For which society is Mr. Coomaraswami the President?

5. What does Mr. Coomaraswami promise to take Flora on the following day?

6. What is the name of Flora's sister?

7. What is Flora describing in the letter Pike and Mrs. Swan are reading?

8. What decade is Flora's part of the play set in?

(read all 180 Short Answer Questions and Answers)

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COMMENTS

  1. Indian Ink Questions and Answers

    What is your critical appreciation of Flora in Indian Ink? What is the significance of intellectuals and artists' achievements in Indian Ink? What are the literary allusions in Indian Ink and...

  2. Indian Ink Study Guide

    Summary Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides. Indian Ink: Introduction A concise biography of Tom Stoppard plus historical and literary context for Indian Ink. Indian Ink: Plot Summary

  3. Indian Ink Test

    Essay Topic 2. Choose one of the characters in the novel and discuss how he or she would cope in one of the following scenarios: 1. The Indian nationalists declare war against the British. 2. The Rajah is assassinated. 3. Das fathers Flora's child. 4.

  4. Indian Ink Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

    Do they achieve their motive? Do they share similar goals and motives with other characters? Do their goals clash with other characters? How do the characters' goals and motives affect their interaction with each other? Pick two characters from the novel and discuss their goals and motives. Do they achieve their motive?

  5. Indian Ink Past essay questions Flashcards

    Indian Ink Past essay questions Discuss Stoppard's dramatic presentation of cultural differences in Indian ink. Click the card to flip 👆 ... Click the card to flip 👆 1 / 13 Learn Test Match Created by ShirleyT2005 Terms in this set (13) Discuss Stoppard's dramatic presentation of cultural differences in Indian ink. ...

  6. Indian Ink Essays and Criticism

    The original source of discontent among Indian soldiers in the British army was over the grease used on rifle cartridges that soldiers were required to bite in order to open; the grease was made...

  7. Indian Ink Teaching Guide

    What style or school of painting is he associated with? What are some of the key elements of his artistic style? What are some of his major works? Indian characters in Stoppard's play attempt to...

  8. Indian Ink Discussion Questions

    This section contains 259 words (approx. 1 page at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample More summaries and resources for teaching or studying Indian Ink. Browse all BookRags Study Guides. Copyrights Indian Ink from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved. BookRags Need help with your homework?

  9. Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard Plot Summary

    Act 1 Tom Stoppard's play Indian Ink interweaves two storylines set more than 50 years apart. In 1930, the fiery, controversial English poet Flora Crewe goes to the fictional city of Jummapur, India, where she meets Nirad Das, a brilliant, passionate local painter.

  10. Indian Ink Critical essay

    Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Stoppard calls Indian ink a "Very cosy play" but perhaps "worryingly cosy sometimes", Indian Ink reveals a cultural shift from a society obsessed with personal propriety, overly concerned with how people may act, to a society obsessed with possession, concerned about who may own that., The debate about the true ownerships of ...

  11. Indian Ink Summary

    Mrs. Swan and Anish come into some conflict in discussing their differing perspectives on British colonization of India, but they remain polite and respectful of one another. In India in the...

  12. Indian Ink Quiz

    Take our free Indian Ink quiz below, with 25 multiple choice questions that help you test your knowledge. Determine which chapters, themes and styles you already know and what you need to study for your upcoming essay, midterm, or final exam. Take the free quiz now! Directions: Click on the correct answer. Questions 1-5 of 25: 1.

  13. Indian Ink: Literary Insights into Colonialism and Identity

    I originally wrote this essay in May 2009 and it was published on The South Asian Idea. ... Indian Ink examines the colonial experience through focusing on the relationship between one particular couple. Set in two time periods (1930s India and 1980s England), the play tells the story of Flora Crewe, an English poet visiting India, and Nirad ...

  14. Identity in the Indian Ink

    Level: College Pages: 5 (1250 words) Downloads: 5 Author: geraldgorczany Extract of sample "Identity in the Indian Ink" Identity in the Indian Ink Just as is with most of the plays written by Stoppard, many questions can arise regardingwhat is Indian Ink is all about.

  15. Indian Ink Analysis

    India was a colony of the British Empire for almost a century, from 1858-1947. The history of India during this period, therefore, is one of expansion of British power in conflict with...

  16. Indian Ink

    Indian Ink deals with history on a large scale but mostly the play is concerned with history on a very personal level. As Stoppard said in a 1995 interview with Mel Gussow, "Indian Ink is actually a very intimate play. It's a play of intimate scenes.". Details of Flora's sex life become the mystery Pike wants to solve.

  17. "Indian Ink": Colonialism and the Figurative Strategy of Jane Eyre

    Abstract: The chapter "Indian Ink: Colonialism and the Figurative Strategy of Jane Eyre" of the book "Bloom's Modern Critical Views: Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre" is presented. The chapter discusses the metaphorical role of the American colonies in Brontë's novels. Included are examples such as the heroines of "Villette" and "Shirley," both ...

  18. Indian Ink Multiple Choice Test Questions

    1. What country is Flora traveling around in the opening scene? (a) Cuba. (b) Pakistan. (c) Britain. (d) India. 2. What method of communication does Flora use to narrate her journey? (a) Letters. (b) Postcards. (c) Emails.

  19. Indian Ink Critical Essays

    An introduction to the printed version of the play explains its central themes and major stylistic elements: '' Rosencrantz and Guildenstern depicts the absurdity of life through these two...

  20. Indian Ink Themes

    Art Among the play's themes is the contrast of Indian and European styles of poetry and visual art. Nirad explains to Flora the classical Indian theory of nine rasas , which are tonal schemes uniting all forms of art. Each rasa is associated with a colour, a mood, and a musical scale.

  21. Indian Ink

    (approx. 1 page at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample Indian Ink Summary & Study Guide Description Indian Ink Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections: Introduction Author Biography Plot Summary Chapters Characters Themes Style

  22. What are the themes in Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink?

    Expert Answers Amy Troolin, M.A. | Certified Educator Share Cite The themes of Tom Stoppard 's play Indian Ink include the nature and purpose of art, memory, cultural conflict, colonialism, and...

  23. Indian Ink Short Answer Test Questions

    1. What country is Flora traveling around in the opening scene? 2. What method of communication does Flora use to narrate her journey? 3. What is the name of the town where Flora met Mr. Coomaraswami? 4. For which society is Mr. Coomaraswami the President? 5. What does Mr. Coomaraswami promise to take Flora on the following day? 6.