When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day.
V. S. NaipaulRead
How could people like these, without words to put to their emotions and passions, manage? They could, at best, only suffer dumbly. Their pains and humiliations would work themselves out in their characters alone: like evil spirits possessing a body, so that the body itself might appear innocent of what it did.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the struggles of those who cannot express their emotions and how it affects their character.
V. S. Naipaul emphasizes the profound challenges faced by individuals who lack the language to articulate their feelings and experiences. He suggests that without the ability to voice their pain and passions, these individuals may cope silently, leading to a duality in their character where their true struggles are obscured. The idea of 'evil spirits' possessing a body illustrates how repressed emotions can manifest in harmful behaviors, even while the outward appearance may seem innocent.
Themes
EmotionExpressionSufferingCharacterCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be fitting in a discussion about mental health awareness.
More from V. S. Naipaul
All quotes βIt is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
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If you decide to move to another country and to live within its laws you don't express your disregard for the essence of the culture. It's a form of aggression.
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One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
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His ignorance seemed to widen with everything he read.
V. S. NaipaulRead
I think when you see so many Hindu temples of the 10th century or earlier disfigured, defaced, you realise that something terrible happened. I feel the civilisation of that closed world was mortally wounded by those invasions the old world is destroyed. That has to be understood. Ancient Hindu India was destroyed.
V. S. NaipaulRead
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