Examine the role of suttee in this section.
Suttee, also known as the Sati practice, is an old Hindi ritual in which a recent widow sacrafieses herself by ascending her husband’s funeral pyre. The practice is officially voluntary but there exist records that show how many woman had been physically forced to go through with the cruel act.
Since the suttee has been outlawed in 1829, it was the duty of British admimistrators (like Douglas) to do everyting in their power to stop those procedures. In the beheld section, Douglas has tried to avert a suttee but had arrived to late and so he could just arrest the responsable people. Everyone praised Douglas for the way he handled things in that difficult situation. This shows that the Europeans but also the Nawab despise the Hindu practice and they respect Douglas for having the energy to deal with it. The incident was of course soul-destroying for Douglas, which is why he tries to spare Olivia the stories about it. But the his wife is different from the other English women. She would like to dispute with Douglas on the subject and is interested in the ancient Hindu ways of thinking. This becomes obvious on page 59 in line 8: “But Olivia resented being spared.” To Olivia it is not just a matter to gossip about, like it is to Mrs. Crawford or Mrs. Minnie. Those women have found another argument that confirms them in their position that the Indian culture and the Hindi religion is underdeveloped and unprogressive, not adapted to the modern times. Olivia on the other hand even shows sympathy for the women who do the practice voluntarily because they don’t want to go on with their life after having lost the one they loved the most. This understanding shows that Olivia is able to identify herself with other people, even if their backrounds are completely different and strange for her. On top of that it is a sign for her increasing greenness which becomes more and more intense and exhausting for the other people.
