What Is The Problem In The Squatter Mistry

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In the story “Squatter,” by Rohinton Mistry, Nariman Hansotia tells the story of Sarosh, a struggling Indian immigrant that finds himself in conflict as he tries to adapt to a different culture. Sarosh encounters many problems and faces struggles that leads to the question of finding his new identity, as a Canadian. The story follows Sarosh’s experiences as an immigrant, and how he conquers these problems and struggles. In the end, Sarosh did find himself in the new culture he was part of. Putting a time limit to his immigrant experience, Sarosh returns to India because of his unsurety of “becom[ing] completely Canadian” (221), and the promise he made to his mother, in spite of having overcome the obstacle that blocked him from “becom[ing]…show more content…
At the farewell party organized by his family and friends, Sarosh had made an announcement and told everyone that “if [he does not] become completely Canadian in exactly ten years from the time [he lands] there, then [he] will come back” (221). Sarosh lived in Canada for ten years, struggling and faced with many problems. Although he lived in Canada, Sarosh continued to practice his Indian way of catharsis, climbing up the toilet seats just to ease his difficulty. Sarosh, completely aware of his actions, wanted to change, and did not give up trying. He “grunt[ed], and push[ed]...squirm[ed] and writh[ed]...” (222) everyday but still ended up hopping on top of the white plastic oval. It was constant exhaustion for Sarosh. Life “suffocated” him. Sarosh was “depressed and miserable,” his western life “began to torment and haunt” (220) him, all because he was struggling with catharsis. That problem alone created even more as he continued to struggle with it. He almost lost his job because “he was late going to work on several occasions” (222). And when he was presented a solution, he chose to ignore it. All the time he spent in Canada, Sarosh “remained dependent on the old way… strengthened afresh every morning of his life in the new country” (220). Sarosh’s everyday life was a big and constant struggle and eventually, he decided to not make that a part of his life. He said so himself, “if [he] could not be westernized in all respects, he was nothing but a failure...not just in washrooms but of the nation everywhere” (228). Sarosh never saw himself a Canadian, nonetheless a “complete Canadian” (221) so why would he choose to stay? Back when he was at the plane shortly after succeeding, he did say, “everything is all right… [he didn’t ] have to go anymore…” (230). But did he really mean that? Or did he only say
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