ICI Writing

In "The Free Radio," how does the narrator, the teacher sahib, embody some of the ideas posed in Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed?

By Eliana Bentivega

‘The Free Radio’ is a short story written by Salman Rushdie which problematizes the Indian State of Emergency (1975-1977). The story is about Ramani, a poor rickshaw driver who voluntary undergoes a vasectomy under the false promise of a free transistor radio. The narrator of the story is a teacher sahib, an old European educator. He portrays Ramani as a ‘donkey’s child,’ an ignorant young man who is doomed by his ignorance to lead an unhappy life. In the light of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, it can be noticed that the teacher sahib embodies the figure of the former colonial oppressor in the story.

The teacher sahib is an educated old man who cannot understand Ramani’s decisions. He is highly critical of the young man’s acquaintances and also disapproves of the thief’s widow the boy married. The old man is outraged to learn that Ramani agreed to be sterilized and deprived of his manhood. Even if the sahib opposes such restriction of human rights, he does not intervene to help Ramani. The teacher does not seem to realize that Ramani has actually no choice in taking part in the Family Planning Program. However, instead of promoting Ramani’s reflection on this issue, the European educator becomes angry and criticizes him for making such a foolish decision. In Freire’s words, such people ‘instead of nurturing life, they kill life; instead of searching for life, they flee from it, and these are oppressor characteristics.’

By claiming that ‘you can’t teach such people,’ the teacher sahib implies that uneducated people as Ramani are conditioned by their lack of education, and, thus, condemned to a vicious circle of ignorance, poverty, and suffering. In this way, the teacher sahib is far from what Freire would call a revolutionary educator, whose efforts coincide with those of the students to engage them in critical thinking. Such educator has a sincere trust in people and their creative power. However, the teacher sahib does not trust Ramani’s capacity to think, question, and transform his present oppressive situation. The educator’s hopelessness can be related to the former imperial discourse of domination which determined that backward nations needed to be subjugated because they were unable to govern themselves. Poor and uneducated, formerly colonized people are oppressed and have no choices in a society which does not encourage them to develop critical thinking and awareness of their oppressed condition.

In conclusion, Freire’s work poses an interesting framework to analyze the role of the teacher sahib. The old man fails to understand Ramani’s oppressed condition when the former chooses to condemn the latter for undergoing a vasectomy rather than guide the young man towards reflecting critically about the implications of such decision. Moreover, the educator acknowledges he is hopeless as he believes Ramani is not capable of thinking critically and making the right decisions to succeed in life. His failure in understanding and trusting Ramani places him in the position of an oppressor who expects poor Indian people to be doomed to an eternal state of subjugation.

In "Imaginary Homelands" Rushdie states that "description is a political act." Why can we claim that "The Free Radio" is a political description?

By Mara Arias

Salman Rushdie´s story "The Free Radio" is about a young naive rickshaw driver, Ramani, who is compelled to and deceived into undergoing sterilization. Previously, in his collection of essays “Imaginary Homelands,” Rushdie had stated that literature does not only seek to portray reality but that every narrative description is itself a political act. According to Rushdie’s words, “The Free Radio” can be considered a political text because it deals, first of all, with public affairs. Rushdie tells Ramani’s story against the background of India’s political scene in the mid 1970s.

First, the State of Emergency is a crucial event in "The Free Radio." This twenty one-month period in 1975 is one of the blackest phases in Indian history during which the security of the country was deemed to be threatened by internal disturbances. During the State of Emergency civil rights were suppressed, elections were banned, and people were imprisoned without charges and tortured. Likewise, the Youth Movement, a government ally, was resurrected and a Family Planning Program was launched which attempted to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. All these measures, an intrinsic part of the historical context of India, had a great impact on Ramani´s life.

At the beginning of the story, Ramani fell for a woman ten years his senior who had five children of her own. Because of his submissive personality, Ramani was easily deceived by this older woman and by his friends as well to have a vasectomy done. Forced sterilization in exchange for payment, food, clothing, or other valuable items was one of the governmental policies intended to control population in India. First, Ramani was persuaded by his wife to be sterilized because she had already raised five children and did not wish to have another one. Second, Ramani was forced by his friends, members of the Youth Movement, to have the vasectomy done under the Government´s false promise of obtaining a reward, in this case, a new transistor radio which Ramani was never given.

To conclude, "The Free Radio" can be deemed a political narrative because it deals with public life in India in 1975 through Ramani’s life. During the State of Emergency, a large percentage of the Indian population, especially young poor uneducated people like Ramani, underwent sterilizations. They gave away their ability to start a family because they had been indoctrinated into believing it was their duty as citizens to help the Government limit birth control and contribute to a more prosperous country. Sadly, although they were guaranteed valuable items in exchange, these were only rarely given.