The Collectors

October 2005

Just as every person holds a Worldview, so to do stories. Rohinton Mistry’s short story “The Collectors” tells of a journey to realization of self and the world, of a young boy named Jehangir and his experiences surrounding stamp collecting, the story holds a very distinct post-modernist Worldview. The stamps provide a representation of the promises of modernism, something which will be organized, catalogued and finished in the future, and the disappointment and disillusionment of those promises which found the basis of post-modernism, while the characters themselves represent the people within both ages. The way by which the story answers the four foundational worldview questions of where am I, who am I, what’s wrong, and what’s the remedy, gives evidence to the post-modernist worldview which the story holds.


In the realm of literature, the question of where am I often leads the reader to think about the setting in which the story takes place. In this respect, “The Collectors” takes place in India, more specifically in “Firozsha Baag” (p. 334). Throughout the story, the description of culture and the use of words native to the country all provide evidence as to the story’s setting. The story however, does not just address its own setting, but also the setting of that to the current world; where we, the characters are in not only the physical setting, but also the personal, interpersonal, spiritual, emotion and psychological settings. Jehangir finds himself in a world in which he is a “melancholy, watching presence” (p. 337), not participating but rather watching the cruelty of those around him. Though he does not join in, he also does nothing to stop the other boys from their cruel game of “stoning-the-cats” (p. 335). He is in a world in which “loss was an operating
expense stoically accepted” and though minor losses occurred “business was good despite the losses” (p. 341). Jehangir finds himself not in a world of confidence,
progress, prosperity and hope which characterizes the modernist period, but rather in a broken world of melancholy and cruelty, where losses and wrong doings are only acknowledged and dealt with if they are sever. Such a world characterizes the post-modernist worldview, in which the answer to the question of where am I is often one of pessimism and despair.

In asking who am I, it is not just meant the physical being, but rather, who is the individual and humanity as a whole. The individual is a part of, yet also different from, but represents humanity. In discovering who the individual is, the discovery of who humanity is also emerges. By asking who Jehangir is, who Dr. Mosy or Pesi is, the story is also asking society and humanity who they are. Who is the character Jehangir, or Mosy, or Pesi? Each character provides answers to that question. Dr. Mosy represents the creature without much hope left, “there was something painfully empty about his eyes” (p. 337). Just as he beings to find hope again in Jehangir, that hope is once again dashed and the small object of hope, the Spanish dancing-lady stamp (which he attempts to share and pass on), is taken from him along with all the promised future happiness in stamp collecting. What Dr. Mosy had spent his life collecting, establishing and creating was now meaningless as the prize object had been lost. All purpose and enjoyment in the activity was now gone. Dr. Mosy’s son, Pesi, is cynical of his father’s prize accomplishments and acquirements as “Pesi laughed and mocked . . . [Dr. Mosy’s] beloved hobby.” (p. 337) The source of joy and happiness, of satisfaction and pride for his father is a source of scorn and mockery to Pesi. Where Dr. Mosy took years collecting his stamps, through dedication and hard work, Jehangir attempted short-cuts and easy, corrupted means of getting his stamps. Rather than “making lots of friends, tell[ingerid] them about your hobby . . . do[ingerid] something for them, they will do something for you” (p. 341), Jehangir attempts to take the fast and easier way of stealing the stamps. In the end, he is forced to give the stamps back for he received them through theft and deceit, not honest hard work. Just as the stamps loose their appeal and purpose without the Spanish dancing-lady stamp, so too does life loose it’s meaning when it’s purpose it taken from it. Whereas the modernist had a goal, a future vision for which they continually strove for and had confidence in, the post-modernist is unsure and unconfident about the future. Like Pesi, humanity is now cynical about past goals and visions, mocking those visions and heading only towards misfortune in the future. Jehangir demonstrates how rather than achieving a goal through perseverance and hard work, humanity attempts to cut-corners, to lie and steal; whatever is necessary to gain what we desire though in the end it is taken from us. The story answers the question of who am I in a negative and cynical way, answering that we are creatures without hope, who are cynical of the past and uncertain about the future save for the inevitable hardships and destructive forces that await. We are willing to do anything to achieve our desires though it is never truly gained for what is stolen to achieve those desires is always taken away. Such cynicism, uncertainty, uncomplimentary and despairing answers which the story provides encompasses the negative post-modernist belief of who we are.


In the fallen world of “The Collectors”, what’s wrong is strongly evident. Just as “Fate denied fruition to all of Dr. Mosy’s plans.” (p. 336), so too is the world disillusioned and denied the fruition of its past hopes. The plans and dreams of passing on
the legacy from father to son is broken, all that the father has hoped and worked for has proved fruitless and unimportant to the son. The future has disappointed the plans and hopes of modernist, just as “Pesi disappointed [Dr. Mosy] in all his plans” (p. 348). There is no longer justice in the world, as Jehangir discovers when he feels “the punishment deriving from it [his actions] so inconsequential, almost non-existent” (p. 347). He is not held accountable for his actions and faces no consequences save that of his own conscious. Though it is known the happenings of the world, people choose to ignore those happenings, as they do with Eric and his public masturbation. Though it was known what he was doing “When he grinned at them they looked away, pretending not to have noticed anything” (p. 342). None confronted him about the issue or tried to change it; they rather sat back and watched it continue. The once hidden, or masked, miseries of the world are now exposed. Just as “Dr. Mosy was careful not to make a public spectacle of his despair” (p. 337), so too did humanity cover the world’s miseries and desperate condition. But though he had strived for so long to mask, those miseries “which he had tried so hard to keep private all long, and had succeeded, but was now visible for all to see.” (p. 347). The answer the story provides for the question of what is wrong then, is that everything has become disillusioned and all promises and hopes denied. The world is a disappointment to all the plans and hopes of our fathers, where justice and consequence are notions thought of and expected, though not experienced. It is known what is wrong, though none are willing to acknowledge and face the issue, instead watching as they continue and attribute it to the miserable and fallen state which is no longer hidden and now so clearly evident in the world. Again, such pessimism, despair and accusations are strong characteristics of the highly negative post-modernist answer to this question.

If there is something wrong, there must be something which will fix it. In answer to what is wrong though, the story offers no remedy. “It was doubtful if anything of value remained in the trunk.” (p. 351) It is doubtful that anything, from the past or the present, can redeem the future. Modernists held that there was hope for a better future, even if that hope was lost sometimes, it was still always there and that whatever was wrong in the world could be remedied. This story demonstrates how, just as with the Spanish dancing-lady stamp, “He did not loose it. I destroyed it.” (p. 350) Hope, remedy, is not lost; it has been destroyed. There is no remedy for the world and no hope for the future. The future is uncertain, unredeemable as is the world in its present desperate and fallen state. Such is the answer of a post-modernist, which hold that, as does the story, there is nothing which can remedy what is wrong in the world and redeem the future.

The story of Rohinton Mistry’s “The Collectors” is a strong post-modernist story. It answers the four foundational worldview questions with negativity and despair, giving little hope for the characters, the world or the future. In contrast to the modernist optimism and faith in humanity, “The Collectors” portrays pessimism, doubt and injustice, saying that though not all are guilty to what has been charged to them, they are still guilty of something which leads to the depravity of the world.

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