The Buddha of Suburbia

Kureishi carefully constructs characters from a variety of backgrounds, political leanings and socioeconomic groups. 

Terry, the Welsh Marxist actor whom Karim befriends while working in The Jungle Book play, represents a middle class person’s idealization of the working class and socialist revolutionary ideology. Terry forces Karim to think about social class and politics, which Karim does not do on his own. Firmly apolitical, Karim avoids adding any more complexity to his search for identity. However, by the end of the novel, Karim sees the flaws in Terry’s inflexible, negative view of humanity and the social class system.

Eleanor represents the upper classes. Through socializing with her, Karim sees the defects in his own education and social class. For example, he envies the upper class’ knowledge of the way the world works.

Kureishi critiques social class in India through Haroon. He is helpless in the world, with no knowledge of practicalities such as bus routes, tea-making, or diaper-changing. Karim comes to view of both his father and Eleanor’s upper class friends similarly. They may know a lot, which Karim admires, but they accomplish little.

At the same time, Kureishi does not glamorize the working class or middle class. Karim describes the middle class as despising all those below them. He adores his Uncle Ted for his ability to teach him useful life skills, such as how to fix things, but has to listen to him use racial slurs toward other Indians.

Kureishi’s portrayals of race and class are complex and realistic, attempting to show the full range of humanity where no one, no individual or group, holds all the goodness or virtue, or all of the evil and hatred. 

The variety of sexual preferences and experiences depicted in this novel mirror ongoing societal transformation regarding gender and sexuality. The novel portrays many examples of sexual experimentation.

Karim and Jamila both experiment with opposite sex and same sex relationships with a variety of partners. Karim never identifies himself as either a heterosexual or a homosexual. Pyke and his wife Marcella demonstrate an extreme in sexual experimentation as deliberate collectors of sexual partners. Changez resorts to a prostitute, develops a relationship with her, and revels in his sexual discoveries. Charlie also participates in a variety of different types of relationships, even paying for sexual torture.

In addition to sexual promiscuity and experimentation, Kureishi illustrates changes in gender roles and equality. Jamila, though she bows to her father’s wishes in accepting an arranged marriage, goes on to live in an egalitarian commune, where gender roles are deliberately and consciously made equal. Changez’s role as Leila’s primary caretaker speaks to the commune’s dedication to living out their principles.

A critique of patriarchal culture also appears in Anwar’s pathetic death and Haroon’s inability to survive on his own. Karim witnesses Haroon’s exploitation of his mother and then Eva; he criticizes his father’s uselessness on multiple occasions. However, Changez’s transformation from an upper class Indian parasite into a productive citizen of the commune demonstrates hope for the future and fulfilling roles for all classes and both genders in an increasingly egalitarian society.