logo
Adrift in Conscience: ‘Small Boat' Navigates Guilt and Apathy, But Finds No Just Shore

Adrift in Conscience: ‘Small Boat' Navigates Guilt and Apathy, But Finds No Just Shore

The Wire30-05-2025
Menu
हिंदी తెలుగు اردو
Home Politics Economy World Security Law Science Society Culture Editor's Pick Opinion
Support independent journalism. Donate Now
Top Stories
Adrift in Conscience: 'Small Boat' Navigates Guilt and Apathy, But Finds No Just Shore
Suvanshkriti Singh
14 minutes ago
Vincent Delecroix's Booker-shortlisted novel probes bureaucratic cruelty and moral fatigue. Yet, its vision remains troublingly narrow, haunted more by moral posturing than ethical clarity.
Illustration via Canva.
Real journalism holds power accountable
Since 2015, The Wire has done just that.
But we can continue only with your support.
Contribute now
For a book that was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, French philosopher Vincent Delecroix's Small Boat seems to have flown almost completely under the literary radar. Translated by Helen Stevenson, the novel is a fictional account of the drowning of 27 migrants attempting to cross the English Channel from France into England. It is inspired from a real event, and reconstructed from the forensic data produced as part of its public investigation.
Despite its politically relevant subject – or, perhaps because of it – hardly a handful of major English language media outlets, including those in India, have spared it any considerable thought. Those that have, have commended Small Boat for its moral stance; few have interrogated its ethically ambiguous politics on the racialised violence migrants experience.
Vincent Delecroix's
Small Boat
Small Axes (2025)
The novel is narrated from the point of view of the unnamed French coast guard officer who received distress calls from those attempting the ultimately failed crossing. She is being held accountable for their deaths due to her refusal to send help despite receiving 14 calls in the span of two hours.
She insists her inaction was based on the simple, concrete fact of territorial jurisdiction: the dinghy with the migrants had crossed over into British waters, and all she could do was to inform her English counterparts of the situation, which she did.
The first part of the novel sees the narrator being interviewed by a policewoman, strikingly like herself in appearance, demeanour, and tone of voice – later revealed to be the former's own conscience. This externalisation of internality is a deft narrative device; it allows Delecroix to paint the portrait of a weary, haunted woman through his political and philosophical arguments.
Bubbles in her coffee appear to the narrator as sinking boats, and yet out loud she asks if the true cause for the dead migrants dying was not 'their inability to stay sitting quietly in a room.' And, surely, she cannot be held responsible for their choice to migrate. Or, perhaps, the cause was the under-funding of rescue services, necessitating difficult decisions about resource allocation. All the narrator did was her job in the way she was trained to do, she insists – without the professional handicap of emotions or opinions. A true and mere functionary, but one unable to rid herself of visions of African construction workers sinking in a sea that has encroached inland.
Delecroix is clinical and unsparing in his condemnation of the banality of evil, the bureaucratic production of inhumanity, and its psychological toll. But, the primary aim of Small Boat is to take to task the ubiquity of apathy, and the complicity of Every(wo)man in the making of what we end up calling a tragedy.
The novel uses the figure of the narrator as the insider who calls out society on its indifference, both through the novel's indictment of her own impassivity and her narratorial defence of it. Delecroix resolutely portrays the narrator as a burdened, enervated woman whose inaction, in a different context, could perhaps be forgiven. She is not so much vile as pathetic; no more a monster than anyone – which is everyone – who deems themselves a neutral, unobligated party to crises happening to other people.
However, the novel's moral posture is its greatest limitation, for it gets in the way of its ability to take an ethical stance. Significant portions of the novel read like liberal fantasy, where the admission of guilt relieves one of any reparatory obligations: absolution through self-flagellation.
The plot's resolution involves the narrator committing suicide. Unable to bear her guilt or to rationalise it away, she walks into the English Channel. Violence begets violence, but justice is nowhere in sight, nor is any notion of what it might look like.
The moment of resolution is presaged by one of Delecroix's sharpest insights. The narrator concludes it is not her actions but her words that have condemned her: it is in the expectation that she would reassure the migrants they will be saved – and not in their actual survival or death – that society had unsuccessfully sought its redemption. But, coming as it does after repeated attempts on the part of the narrator to deflect responsibility, reaching for every explanation other than her own racial antipathy, the critique loses some of its bite.
Then, there is the novel's second part: a detailed, but trite description of the hours-long drowning. Delecroix writes – or Stevenson translates – his migrants as featureless, racialised bodies. They are human only insofar as the bruising experience of closely witnessing their suffering. This is trauma porn barely disguised as liberal humanism. The novel is prey to the same tendency of which its narrator is accused – an inability to conceptualise migrants as individuals outside of their victimhood.
These perversities reveal further frailties. Despite its philosophical nature, the novel often misses opportunities for original, innovative critique. Consider the narrator's claim that her 'judgment has…no fissures, but it does have boundaries, which correspond exactly to the boundaries of territorial waters.' Minimally, it offers an occasion for examining individual responsibility against structural forces. At best, it is an opportunity to reckon with the validity of the structure itself. But, having glimpsed the possibility, Delecroix forgoes it, focusing instead on rhetorical empathy.
Similarly, for all its erudite musings about racial violence, the novel never really asks why it is so that the experience of migrants arouses concern only when their victimisation finds its completion in death. This, despite such a line of inquiry being amply indicated in the narrator's assertion that 'these people were sunk long before they sank.'
Its flaws are not insignificant, and for many, Small Boat won't be a book that moves – it wasn't for me. It may even be one that incites pessimistic helplessness, if not cynicism. This may have something to do with its intended audience being primarily White. But, literature has the great advantage of being universal; it can always be read in the context of one's own circumstances. If the fates of those crossing the Channel seem too distant as a subcontinental reader, one can always recall the Rohingya refugees India abandoned in the Bay of Bengal.
Despite its imperfections, this is still a well-written novel that warrants reflexive conversation through its own questioning, quietly suggesting that we hold both ourselves, and the political structures we legitimise, accountable for our complicity in the suffering of our others.
Suvanshkriti is a journalist and researcher. She has a master's in European Studies from the University of Göttingen, Germany, where she specialised in the literature and politics of migration and citizenship. She writes about books, gender, sexuality, democracy, and global justice.
Make a contribution to Independent Journalism
Related News
An Open Letter: 'I Have Small Eyes, Mr Prime Minister'
Banu Mushtaq's 'Heart Lamp' – Translated By Deepa Bhasthi – Is 2025 International Booker Prize Winner
Humour, Scepticism and the Realities of the Familial in Banu Mushtaq's 'Heart Lamp'
Most Indians Can't Even Afford Entry-Level Cars. Maruti Suzuki Chairman Explained Why
'Heart Lamp' Wins International Booker: Banu Mushtaq's First Reaction
The Politics of 'Heart Lamp' Is Profound, Urgent and Reflects the Lived Reality of Millions
SIPs, Usually Popular, See Decline in New Registrations
'Completed' on Paper, But Missing in Key Border Areas: J&K Authorities Probe Centre-Funded Bunker Project
Choksi Abduction Complaint Shines Light on Modi Government's Attitude to Global Passport Business
View in Desktop Mode
About Us
Contact Us
Support Us
© Copyright. All Rights Reserved.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Meet actress who allegedly dated star cricketer, later married into a royal family, sparked controversy due to..., she is...
Meet actress who allegedly dated star cricketer, later married into a royal family, sparked controversy due to..., she is...

India.com

time2 hours ago

  • India.com

Meet actress who allegedly dated star cricketer, later married into a royal family, sparked controversy due to..., she is...

While most heroines were told their careers ended with motherhood, Moon Moon Sen did the exact opposite. She married into royalty, had two daughters, and then made her big-screen debut at 30. With her first film Andar Baahar in 1984, she raised eyebrows. But it wasn't just her looks that made headlines; it was her confidence and bold choices, both onscreen and off. She later shared screen space with Madhuri Dixit in 100 Days and acted in a string of notable films like Kuch Toh Hai, Zakhmi Dil, Mohabbat Ki Kasam, and Sheesha opposite Mithun Chakraborty. Across Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films, she appeared in over 60 films and 40+ TV shows. Where did she come from? Born into privilege, Moon Moon was the daughter of Bengali legend Suchitra Sen and granddaughter of a wealthy businessman, Adinath Sen. She was an English literature teacher in Kolkata and studied at Oxford before Bollywood found her. She married Bharat Dev Varma, from a royal lineage, in 1978. The couple has two daughters, Riya and Raima, both of whom tried their hand at acting. What about the Imran Khan connection? The buzz around Moon Moon wasn't limited to her films. Over the years, she was linked to several high-profile names, from Saif Ali Khan and Romu Sippy to Victor Banerjee. But the most talked-about was her alleged affair with former Pakistani cricketer and PM, Imran Khan. The media claimed the two dated and even shot for a magazine together, while Moon Moon was married. In a 2019 interview with PTI, she addressed it, 'I like spending time with Imran. If my husband doesn't have a problem, why should others?' She added that they were just friends. But the buzz never quite died down. Did she stop at films? Nope. Moon Moon later joined politics, becoming a member of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and winning a Lok Sabha seat. Politics, like cinema, welcomed her late, but she made it count. Moon Moon Sen's story is one of charm, controversy, and breaking conventions. From teaching English to starring in 6 languages and facing political elections, her script was anything but ordinary.

J&K: Army Official Allegedly Beats Up Nomadic Tribals Accused of Aiding Militants
J&K: Army Official Allegedly Beats Up Nomadic Tribals Accused of Aiding Militants

The Wire

time2 hours ago

  • The Wire

J&K: Army Official Allegedly Beats Up Nomadic Tribals Accused of Aiding Militants

Srinagar: The army allegedly beat up a group of nomadic tribals on Saturday (July 26) in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir's capital Srinagar on charges of shielding suspected militants, The Wire has learnt. At least four victims, identified as Mohammad Liyakat, Mohammad Azam, Showkat Ahmad and Abdul Qadir, all residents of Rajouri district, suffered injuries of various degrees in the thrashing, which was allegedly led by an army official of the 50 Rashtriya Rifles. The official is in charge of a new base camp that has come up in the Dhagwan area in the higher reaches of Srinagar in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Terming the incident a 'grave violation of human rights', ruling National Conference lawmaker from Rajouri's Budhal constituency and tribal leader Javed Choudhary, who is in contact with the victims, demanded action against the guilty. 'The administration should immediately register an FIR and rein in the forces responsible for these recurring atrocities against innocent tribal people. This pattern of intimidation and violence against tribal communities must stop,' Choudhary told The Wire, adding that the community will launch a mass agitation if the perpetrators are not punished. The Wire could not immediately verify the name of the army official who, according to the description provided by the victims, sported long hair and used a heavy wooden cane to beat up the tribal people. The army's Srinagar-based spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel M.K. Sahu could not be reached for comment. Srinagar's senior superintendent of police G.V. Sundeep Chakravarthy said that the police were trying to get in touch with the alleged victims, who are reportedly on the way to the capital city. 'It is a very far-off area. Once our team gets in touch with them, we will have clarity on the matter,' he said. Dhagwan is a high-altitude geographical barrier where Srinagar's Zabarwan range of mountains and the Lidder valley of Anantnag district meet. It has dense vegetation comprising pine and cedar forests, glacial water streams, deep ravines and steep mountains spread over thousands of hectares of land. The area serves as a summer home for nearly 200 families of the nomadic Gujjar and Bakkerwal communities, the poorest of the poor in Jammu and Kashmir, who graze their herds of sheep, goats and other livestock in the mountain pasturelands circling Kashmir during the summer and migrate to Jammu before the onset of winter. Three victims who spoke with The Wire over phone alleged that they were segregated into two groups, of which one group comprising 10-15 men were 'beaten up like animals', while others received minor thrashing. The victims claimed that two army soldiers held the victims by their arms while the superior official thrashed them 'without showing any mercy'. Recalling the ordeal, Liyakat said that a group of soldiers came to his seasonal home on Saturday morning, saying that 'sahab' was looking for him. He said that when he reached the camp at around 1 pm, around 40 other male residents had gathered outside it. The army official accused the tribal men of having information about militants and providing them food. He also issued an ultimatum to the residents to vacate their homes within two days. Speaking with The Wire over phone, Liyakat said that the officer accused him of sheltering militants who have turned the higher reaches of Kashmir into a dangerous battleground by inflicting heavy casualties on security forces in the years after the reading down of Article 370. Security agencies have been carrying out massive searches in the girdle of mountains surrounding Kashmir amid fears of infiltration by militants after the four-day-long Indo-Pakistani conflict in May this year. 'When I rejected his allegations, he said 'Go to Pakistan and get them [militants] from there'. Why will I go to Pakistan? He said 'our people have died in Pahalgam', but what have we got to do with it?' Liyakat said in a weak voice over the phone. Muhammad Yusuf, who received a minor beating, claimed that he pleaded with the army official to let go of Liyakat as he was going to be surgically operated on next week. He said that the officer didn't listen and thrashed him anyway. 'Now my second leg is also broken,' a distraught Liyakat said. 'I can't even stand up and go to the bathroom. They should have shot me there instead of putting me through this ordeal.' Dhagwan is also a haven for trekking enthusiasts and mountaineers as it connects Srinagar with the Dachigam national park, the Wasturwan meadow, the Overa wildlife sanctuary and Pahalgam. According to security agencies, the area has been used as a transit route by militants in recent years to move from south Kashmir into Srinagar. Following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, the victims said that the army set up a new base camp in the area. 'We carried the wooden logs and other materials on our backs for the base camp. We do their work and serve them tea whenever they like. This is how we have been paid back,' said Yusuf. This is not the first incident where the army has faced accusations of using violence against the tribal people of Jammu and Kashmir, who have come under an intensifying political and security spotlight following the reading down of Article 370 in 2019. In December 2023, three members of the Gujjar community were allegedly tortured to death, while many others suffered grave injuries when the army launched an operation in the Poonch district of Jammu division, which has emerged as a militancy hotspot since 2019. The army had set up a court of inquiry with regard to the torture allegations. A brigadier and three other officers were removed from the command of the army camp where the tribal civilians were tortured. On November 20 last year, four civilians were detained for questioning in connection with a militant attack in the Kishtwar district of the Chenab valley in the Jammu region; they were allegedly tortured in custody. The army had ordered a probe into this matter also, but it wasn't immediately known whether any action was taken against the alleged culprits. Zafar Choudhary, a Jammu-based senior political analyst, said that the Gujjar community was having a 'strong feeling of either being specifically targeted or not being factored in as worthy of consideration as a human stock'. 'If the authorities think the exclusion of this community with a strong feeling of alienation and injustice was their political objective, then they have almost achieved it. If there is a case of rogue elements colluding with political interests at isolated smaller levels, then an all encompassing legal, administrative and political process must take place towards confidence-building, keeping in view overall strategic and security interests as specific to Jammu and Kashmir,' he said in a post on X.

Long before Magna Carta, Cholas had ‘ballot pots': What is the ancient voting system PM Modi lauded?
Long before Magna Carta, Cholas had ‘ballot pots': What is the ancient voting system PM Modi lauded?

Indian Express

time3 hours ago

  • Indian Express

Long before Magna Carta, Cholas had ‘ballot pots': What is the ancient voting system PM Modi lauded?

Standing before the thousand-year-old stone temple built by Rajendra Chola I, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Chola empire carried forward India's ancient democratic traditions. 'Historians talk about Britain's Magna Carta in the name of democracy,' he said, referring to the 1215 English charter. 'But many centuries ago, elections were held in the Chola Empire through a democratic method.' Long before the Enlightenment in Europe birthed the ideals of representative governance, the Cholas had etched out rules for local self-rule, literally inscribed into stone. The inscriptions of Uttaramerur, a village in present-day Kanchipuram district, offer some of the world's earliest surviving evidence of a formal electoral system. As chronicled by K A Nilakanta Sastri in The Cholas (1935), the Chola administrative framework was built on two foundational units: the Sabha for Brahmin settlements and the Ur for non-Brahmin villages. These were not symbolic councils but elected bodies with real powers over revenue, irrigation, temple management, and even justice. 'It was democracy at the grassroots — built into the fabric of Tamil civic life,' Sastri wrote in Chapter VIII, 'Local Self-Government'. But what made the system particularly striking was the method of voting, a process called the Kudavolai system or 'ballot pot' election. Under this method, as detailed in the Uttaramerur Inscriptions documented in Epigraphia Indica Vol. XXII (1933–34), the names of eligible candidates were inscribed on palm leaves and placed inside a pot. A young boy, typically chosen for his impartiality, would draw the lot in full public view. This randomised draw was not a game of chance but a civic ritual rooted in transparency, fairness, and collective consent. While many historians say it as one designed to combine divine will and civic integrity, essentially to ensure that power was not monopolised by dynastic elites, eligibility criteria under the system were strict. Candidates had to own tax-paying land, be between 35 and 70 years old, possess knowledge of Vedic texts or administration, and have no record of crime or domestic abuse. Debt defaulters, alcoholics, and close relatives of sitting members were disqualified. 'The disqualifications were perhaps even more revealing than the qualifications, laying out a moral vision of public service,' Sastri wrote. Accountability was embedded. Annual audits were mandatory. Misappropriation of funds or dereliction of duty could lead to disqualification from future office, a radical mechanism even by modern standards. Inscription no. 24 from Epigraphia Indica details the dismissal of a treasury officer over embezzlement, followed by a fine. These weren't isolated experiments. As Anirudh Kanisetti notes in Lords of the Earth and Sea (Penguin, 2023), the Chola model of statecraft relied heavily on decentralised administrative systems. By empowering merchant guilds such as the Manigramam and Ayyavole, and sustaining local assemblies, the Cholas expanded both trade and legitimacy. 'Imperial rule,' Kanisetti wrote, 'was constructed not just through conquest, but by engineering sustainable civic systems'. This is the vision Modi looked to tap into when he said, 'We hear about kings who brought gold, silver, and livestock after conquests. But Rajendra Chola brought Gangajal', a reference to the emperor's symbolic act of bringing Ganga water to his new capital, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, in 1025 CE. The act, memorialised in copper plates (as cited in Sastri's The Cholas), was described as building a 'liquid pillar of victory (ganga-jalamayam jayastambham)', merging military triumph with ritual statecraft. However, the Chola system was far from egalitarian in the modern sense. It excluded women, labourers, and landless groups. But as historian Tansen Sen wrote in The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola, the Cholas were masters of strategic signalling, not just through naval conquests but in governance structures that prefigured electoral thought.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store