4/27 Ghandi & "Beyond a Boundary"

Ghandi’s teachings for the Indians to free itself from its parent colony and establish a home rule is a prime example of an everyday form of resistance. He never called for a violent uprising, but instead advocated for a more passive resistance by freeing oneself “mentally and spiritually from Western machines and materialism,” and by breaking the “classic economic dependency” by stopping trade with England. Silently reasserting their own Indian culture is a more peaceful mean of gaining their freedom without having to encounter a violent reaction by the English. Britain’s control over India can also be connected to the Philippines when it was under Spanish rule. In both instances, the suppressed countries were not entirely independent, and had to fight for their own home rule. In “Beyond a Boundary” James lived in a clear hegemonic culture while under Britain’s colonization. For the most part, he did not question the society he was placed in, and recognized that his education was primarily influenced by English teachings. This is not surprising because typically the country under control by another country is easily susceptible to seeing the parent colony’s way of seeing the world.