Salmon Rushdie's 'In The South'

While the story “In the South” takes place in a different country, a different time, and a different environment, Salmon Rushdie makes it relatable to everyone. Rushdie makes the concept easy to grasp as he demonstrates his theme through a friendship between two old men. Rushdie wants the reader to realize to cherish and be grateful for what they have. In the story “In the South”, by Salmon Rushdie, the theme illustrated of being grateful, is depicted through relationships, irony, and symbolism.
In Junior and Senior’s relationship, Junior was a much more openly grateful person. Junior and Senior share many similarities. They shared the same name, “V”, they were only 17 days apart in age, they lived in the same apartment, and they always got

The first point is that Senior was the one who wanted to die. The story states, “Each morning [Senior] regretted that he had not died in the night,” showing that Senior felt that he had lived his life and was ready for it to be over (Rushdie). In contrast, when Junior woke up in the morning, he said, “Be thankful we are men of the south,” which showed his gratitude for his life (Rushdie). Ironically, Junior would be the one who died. The thing Senior failed to realize is the impact that his death would have had on Junior. Senior had a large family and a wife while all Junior had in his life was D’Mello and Senior. When Junior died, Senior realized that Junior was all that had mattered to him in life. Senior said, “He who knew me knows nothing now, and therefore I am not known” (Rushdie). Senior clearly regrets not cherishing their relationship more and showing gratitude for their friendship. In another aspect, if Senior would have died instead of Junior, Junior would have been left with nothing since he had no family and D’Mello had either went home to Mumbai or died. The final scenario of irony in Junior’s death is his ankles. Junior told Senior that “when I get out of bed I do not think that [my ankles] will bear my weight” and Junior’s ankles are what ended up being the result of his death in the Vespa incident (Rushdie). After Junior died, Senior realized that he should have cherished his last moments with him

D’Mello symbolizes two different things in this story. The first thing he symbolizes is the life Junior wished that he had always had. The story states that “Junior always tried to hide from Senior how much he looked forward to D’Mello’s comings; the younger man bubbled with a kind of cosmopolitan brio that Junior found inspirational” (Rushdie). Even though Junior loved to hear and experience D’Mello’s stories, Junior never complained about his own life and was grateful for his life so far. D’Mello lived the life that Junior always wanted and when he visited and told Junior stories it made Junior feel as if he was there experiencing it all happen. The second thing D’Mello’s life symbolizes is Senior’s life when he was younger. Although it isn’t clearly stated in the text, Junior seems to have wished that he had Senior’s life when he was younger. D’Mello and Senior’s life share many similarities in the fact that they were both full of excitement, while Junior’s life seems to be dull. Senior was clearly jealous as he remained silent every time D’Mello visited. On one occasion, Senior gets irritated and interrupts him to ask why he doesn’t return to Mumbai since he loves it so much. This shows that Senior is jealous of the relationship that Junior and D’Mello have, while Senior had a successful life, all he has is Junior, while Junior has D’Mello as well as him.