Paul Scott's treatment of class in The raj quartet

Abstract

In the first part of my introduction I will try to show how Paul Scott's life in England as well as his visits to India influenced his writing. In the second part I will explain how and why a discussion of social class within a colonial setting must also include other divisions, such as race and colour. Hilary Spurling's excellent biography entitled Paul Scott A L[fe1gives us an insight into Scott's writings on India. We see in his experiences the seeds of what was to become The Raj Quartet. In Chapter 1 that tells of his life at 130 Fox Lane in the North London suburb of Southgate we are told that 'Paul Scott drank in with his mother's milk a sense of being on the outside looking in' (Spurling, p. 2). Spurling maintains that he could not have written The Raj Quartet if he had not remained essentially an outsider till the day he died. It is no accident that the first chapter of his biography is called 'Half close your eyes here - and you're in Mayapore'. We see parallels being drawn between the London in which Scott lived and the India he describes in his novels. Social class in England was dictated by where one lived, the clubs one joined and the schools one chose for their children. South of Fox Lane 'you passed out of cantonment limits into working-class territory' (Spurling, p. 4). Scott says that social distinctions were as important in Palmers Green when he lived there as they were in Mudpore.