one could wash away the comic Ifsatire from Naipaul's first novel, it would be seen as a story of the rise of Ganesh Ramsumair from humble beginnings to Member of the British Empire. Such a story, as long as the hero and the society are viewed as admirable, serves as a model for readers to emulate (much like the American Dream). However, in The Mystic Masseur neither the hero, Ganesh, nor the culture, Indian settlements in Trinidad around the time of World War II, are admirable.

The years depicted in the novel were critical for Ganesh and for Trinidad.

They mark a transition from a traditional, almost feudal, colonial culture of large sugar plantations to a more capitalist, Western oriented culture.

Ganesh is a product of both the Indian Hindu tradition in which he was raised and the Western values he learns at Queens Royal College...