THE UMBRELLA MAN Siddhartha Gigoo PDF

THE UMBRELLA MAN- Siddhartha Gigoo

 

Focus

·        The need for hope in the face of adversity. 

 

 

The Umbrella Man Synopsis 

“A thing which had been discarded and instead of having been disposed off with other useless things, had found refuge in the solitary ward of Number 7”

The Umbrella Man by Siddartha Gigoo is a story of a mentally ill patient confined to the depressingly dull and bleak life of an asylum. The main character has lost identity due to insanity and is simply referred to as Number 7. This is a story about having hope in a colourless, bland world of patients in a mental facility. 

Due to his calm disposition and compliance, Number 7 is allowed to wander out of the asylum gates and spend time in the street nearby. Other inmates could only stroll within the walls of the asylum.

“Beyond that brick and stone wall was vast darkness, oblivion”

Although rain had evaded the place for months, Number 7 hopes that it would rain that evening. He has an umbrella with yellow and red stripes which has become his playmate. No one knows how he acquired the umbrella. Like the other inmates, he has not received any visitors for years. The umbrella has become his inextricable companion.  

“It was the most beautiful thing in the entire asylum; more beautiful than the bed of wild flowers along the wall of the compound. The very sight of it in the mornings brought a smile on his lips.”

The inmates have no worldly possessions. The other inmates look at Number 7 with amazement, admiring his beautiful umbrella. “But no one was attracted to the dazzling beauty of his dainty yellow-and-red stripped umbrella as Number 7.”

“Not many in the asylum knew what beauty was.”

The gloomy nights in the solitary wards are lonesome. Number 7 imagines he is not alone but with an illusory child. He would wake up from his apprehensive sleep to comfort the child and lull him to sleep. He would pray in silence, convinced that some power would answer his prayer. He tells the child, “You are not alone my child”. As much as he seemingly lives in a world of hopelessness and sheer despair , he still clings on to hope and even offers his imaginary young friend companionship. He knows that with hope there is power and that is why he prays hoping for help from the infinite universe.

“For years during his life in isolation in the asylum, the child never grew up. The man grew old”

Number 7 grows old but remains hopeful like a child. His face is covered with white strands of hair and he has little strength in his bones but he keeps hope alive. It does not fade.

Number 7 also spends time beyond the gates of the asylum conversing with his other friend, a puny little fellow. They talk about the hope brought about by the bountiful nature, the bees, the flowers, the beehive, and the bees. The puny little fellow reminds number 7 of hope and nature’s miracles.

“Do you believe that someday it will rain here and that the earth will turn moist and smell of wild flowers?”

It does not rain for several days after that. Some months later, Number 7 is discharged from the facility. He receives the news from two smiling doctors. The doctors never smiled. They tell him the committee had agreed that he be set free. Their efforts had borne fruit, they say. After careful examination, evidence and facts, Number 7 is deemed fit to leave. Keeping hope alive finally pays off. This is his last night in confinement. This is an ordinary night for him. He narrates a story to his imaginary child companion who falls asleep. He also falls asleep.

It rains on the day of his release.

 “He woke up to a strange smell that wafted into his cell from the compound. A strange fragrance flooded the ward. Outside, a wet puddle greeted him. The wild flower drooped in the wet soil.”

After a long wait clinging on to nothing but hope, it finally rains on the day he is released from the grim forbidding walls of the asylum. Finally his umbrella is useful.

“What good was an umbrella if it had not been used in the rain? The dance of the raindrops on the nylon cloth held together by slender aluminum strips was a distant dream.”

Without rain, an umbrella is surely worthless. It has no real value or use. The same can be said about a man living without hope.

In life, the wait may be lengthy and the path lacerating but one needs to stay hopeful no matter how bleak and murky the future seems.

Challenges facing the inmates at the asylum

1.     Restricted movement/ Limited liberty (Pg46)

 

·       Allowed to go out of their wards only in the evening

·       Could only stroll within the compound of the asylum

·       Due to his obedience and calm disposition, Number 7 is the only inmate allowed to saunter out of the gate to the nearby street but the 90-something yards narrow avenue also ends at a wall

·       Thus, he earned this limited liberty. It had taken months

·       Restricted by a wall enclosing the 120 square metres asylum

·       Nowhere to go beyond the wall – their life ended at the wall

·       Beyond the brick-and-stone wall was vast darkness, oblivion.

·       Booming siren to return to the cell (Pg49)

·       Number 7 seems to envy the puny little fellow when he says, “But you are free to do whatever you want to do and roam around without any restrictions” (Pg 50)

·       Rely on a committee of “serious people who never concurred” (Pg50)

 

2.    No visitors or worldly possessions (Pg48)

 

·       Number 7 has not had any visitors for many years

·       None of the inmates had visitors

·       Had no worldly possessions – just two sets of clothes (woolen and cotton)

·       The umbrella is number 7’s only companion

·       He lives in a solitary ward

·       His umbrella makes him smile – it is beautiful

·       Not many in the asylum knew what beauty was

 

3.    Loneliness (Pg 48)

 

·       On lonesome nights, number 7 imagines he’s not alone in the cell

·       He would see the image of a child

·       He had nervy sleeps

·       He comforts the child, “It is just a dream”

·       Strokes the child's hair tenderly, “Go back to sleep, I’m by your side.”

·       Talk to the child night after night

·       Worries about the child every single night

·       Prays for it

·       He has become a father and a mother

·       The child never grows up, Number 7 grows old

 

4.    Doctors

 

·       Two attending doctors beaming with smiles give Number 7 good news

·       The doctors don’t smile on most days

·       The good news – Number 7 is free to go now

·       According the doctors, “Our efforts have yielded fruit”. The committee agreed to their assessment. They assess evidence,  facts and conduct a careful examination.

·     Committee had serious members, never concurred, never signed any discharge papers  - the inmates freedom is in other people’s hands.

·       Day of his release and permanent freedom

 

 
Number 7’s conduct earns him a better life at the asylum compared to other inmates

 

·       Given limited liberty by the doctors (Pg46)
·       The umbrella may be a gift from one of the asylum orderlies or doctors (Pg48)
·       He has leisurely walk on sunny afternoons – other inmates watch from windows of their wards (Pg48)
·       He’s released by the doctors, committee unanimously (Pg50)

·       When he is released, orderly says, “ I will miss you” (Pg50)

 

 

 

Moral lessons

• Hope is essential (absolutely necessary) for man's survival. 
• One who clings on to hope in the face of affliction sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  

 

Next: Window Seat by Benjamin Branoff 

See analyses of all stories in Memories we Lost here