The status of Deeti’s hut is emblematic of the opportunity costs of Opium farming: “She stopped to glance in the direction of their hut, which was just visible in the distance: it looked like a tiny raft, floating upon a river of poppies. The hut's roof was urgently in need of repairs, but in this age of flowers, thatch was not easy to come by: in the old days, the fields would be heavy with wheat in the winter, and after the spring harvest, the straw would be used to repair the damage of the year before. But now, with the sahibs forcing everyone to grow poppy, no one had thatch to spare –"The hut’s condition is not impressive because it has not been repaired. The poppies divert time and resources from wheat which is utilized in thatching the roofs. Despite the extraordinary market value of the poppies, they do not mend the farmer’s housing situations because poppies can neither be consumed as food nor be used in hut repairs. The sahibs enrich themselves from the poppies to the detriment of the poor farmers.
Hukam Singh is an archetypal opium enthusiast for he tells Deeti on their foremost night: “You should know that this is my first wife. She's kept me alive since I was wounded: if it weren't for her I would not be here today. I would have died of pain, long ago.” Hukam Singh is absolutely dependent on the opium due to its sedating capacity; hence, equating it to his premier wife is an indicator that his connubial to Deeti would not separate him from the opium. Although opium possesses some therapeutic properties, obsession with it can be detrimental because of the potential of harmfully impacting marriage. Perhaps, if Deeti had a voice to choose her husband she would not have definitely selected an opium addict. However, their nuptial which is arranged compels her to put up with a discouraging addict who is committed to opium more than his wife.
Deeti exploits the retribution philosophy when she elects to drug her mother-in-law: “Next morning Deeti mixed a little trace of opium into her mother-in-law's sweetened milk. The old woman drank it thirstily and spent the rest of the morning lazing in the shade of a mango tree. Her contentment was enough to dispel whatever misgivings Deeti may have had: from that day on she began to slip traces of the drug into everything she served her mother-in-law; she sprinkled it on her achars, kneaded it into her dalpuris, fried it into her pakoras and dissolved it in her dal. In a very short time, the old woman grew quieter and more tranquil, her voice lost its harshness and her eyes became softer; she no longer took much interest in Deeti's pregnancy and spent more and more time lying in bed.”Deeti’s methodology empowers her to verify the thesis concerning how she was intoxicated then raped. Seemingly, the mother-in-law was part of the scheme to objectify Deeti to safeguard that she would fall pregnant and bear heirs for her impotent son. Therefore, Deeti’s is vindicated for applying the same drug to the scheming and malevolent woman because it qualifies her to learn about secrets which the woman would not have divulged if she were clear-headed. Through drugging, Deeti manages to control her harsh mother-in-law and averts another drugging scene that would elicit another uncanny second pregnancy because she literally moderates after ingesting foods spiked with the opium.
Jodu’s father utterly commoditizes his family: “Without anything ever being formally arranged, Jodu's mother became Paulette's wet-nurse, and the two children spent their infancy lying head-to-head in her arms. Such objections as Jodu's father might have had disappeared when the assistant curator bought him a new and much better boat, a bauliya: he soon went off to live in Naskarpara, leaving behind his wife and child, but taking his new vessel with him. From that time on, Jodu and his mother saw him but rarely, usually at the beginning of the month, around the time when she was paid; with the money he took from her, he married again and sired a great number of children.” The boat is a clandestine inducement which prompts Jodu’s father to cease from demanding that his wife stops working with Pierre Lamberts. If he had treasured his family unconditionally, he would have strived to remain close to them even after receiving the boat. Jodu’s father regards Jodu’s mother as an ideal ‘cash cow’ based on his predictable appearances which would guarantee him finances from his wife.
Amitav Gosh probes the ubiquity of white supremacism through Paulette particularly when she arrives at Bethel: “Paulette had discovered that at Bethel, the servants, no less than the masters, held strong views on what was appropriate for Europeans, especially memsahibs. The bearers and khidmutgars sneered when her clothing was not quite pucka, and they would often ignore her if she spoke to them in Bengali – or anything other than the kitchen-Hindusthani that was the language of command in the house.”The scorns allude to internalized racism which implies that the servants do not hold the Indian clothing in high regard although they are Indians. Furthermore, the servant’s ignorance of Bengali validates their conviction about the subsidiarity of Bengali. It would be unbearable for a servant who is convinced about his inferiority to appreciate whites, such as , who sabotage the notion of white pre-eminence. The Indian servants proliferate white supremacism ideals as if they were typical whites through their undercover endorsement of their inferiority.
