Castaway by Rabindranath Tagore
The most basic themes of the Tagore short story is the reality of abandonment. Tagore plays with this theme quite a bit. The final scene between Kiran and Nilkanta is one where each experiences their own form of abandonment. On one hand, she abandons her initial belief in Nilkanta's innocence and sees the ink stand amongst his things, she is convinced that he is a thief. The abandonment of her initial feelings towards him and her unfettered love for him becomes a significant part of her characterization.
Whereas for Nilkanta, his own experience of emotional abandonment is complete at this moment. As the narrative has advanced, he had been feeling estranged from her with the presence of her brother. The competition for love with such an embedded part of her life as opposed to him essentially being an orphan had taken its toll. This became evident when he sees Kiran's eyes look at him as if he is a thief. His abandonment becomes...
“Castaway” is mainly a story about a poor young boy named Nilkanta and a married woman named Kiran. Kiran’s husband’s name was Sharat. This boy had been in a boat with his theatre troop and he reached near Kiran’s house because the boat capsized. Kiran pitied the boy and kept him in her house. Soon both Nilkanta and Kiran were very fond of each other. One day Sharat’s brother, Satish came to spend his college vacations. Kiran, being almost of the same age as Satish, started to spend more time with him and Nilkanta soon started to feel jealous. To take revenge he stole Satish’s precious inkstand. Kiran and her family was soon about...