Shantaram Revenge Quotes

The Indian prison guards are going to take revenge for all of British colonial rule on poor Lin's back. This collective grudge, of all Indians against all British or English-speakers, comes from the mistreatment that the guard describes. But is it really fair to take revenge after the fact, on a new generation?

Lin's prison buddy is trying to save his hide, by telling him never to defend himself or take revenge for the cruelty he receives. It's kind of interesting the way he winds down his advice though, with the idea that they're all dead men. It's as though the right to take revenge were one of the things that make us alive.

It's a never-ending chain of revenge. Big Rahul is a prisoner himself, but after twelve years has been promoted to overseer. He was mistreated during all that time, and so now he turns his rage on the prisoners under him. He can't take revenge on the guards or the system, so he takes it out on Lin, who then wants to get revenge… see where we're going?

Lin's known for his maniac actions in the prison, biting one guy's face and punching himself when he's cornered. So it's no surprise that he might offend some people. And if you've got siblings, you know that, while you might be allowed to pick on them, no one else can. He's gotten himself into the sights of a brother who wants revenge, and that's a scary place to be.

Vikram is obsessed with western movies and cowboy culture, so his way of seeing the world is tinged with shootouts and gunfights. His advice to Lin, when he finally gets out of jail, is to find out who put him there and get violent, bloody revenge, like the cowboys in his favorite movies.

Revenge can be sweet, but just like a delicious ice cream sandwich, if you're on a diet it can drive you crazy. Since Lin doesn't know who he's mad at, his desire for revenge can't be satisfied. It's as bad as being trapped in a donut shop with no money, or watching the last cupcakes in the vending machine get caught on a coil on its way down.

Lin's not really sure why he got put into jail, but for some reason he assumes that the person responsible was doing it to pay him back for something. It's kind of a strange assumption, because as far as we know he really hasn't done anything too terrible to anyone. Maybe this default revenge motive shows us something about Lin's own character.

Most of the guys who work with Khaderbhai are angry men with violent pasts. Many of them have lost their families in gruesome acts of war. Every crime they commit is a stand-in for the revenge they wish they could take on those responsible.

Deep. Many of Shantaram's characters are motivated by anger and revenge, but Lin knows that all that resentment they carry won't really change anything. Even if they were to kill all of their enemies, it wouldn't bring back the dead. So the drive for revenge really only ends up hurting the one who carries it around inside.

Here's that point again about collective versus individual revenge. Just like the Indian prison guard who wants to take revenge on the British via Lin, Khaled would like to kill all Israelis for what their army did to his Palestinian community. It's a difficult philosophical position.