Sample Scholarly Analysis Paper (not full):
This sample includes a full introduction with thesis and redaction and then outline of supporting paragraphs (commentary in the site notes).
While Sanjay Sircar's arguments against the presence of racism in the story seem problematic and contradictory, his essay importantly invites us to consider the source and power of pleasure in (even racist) children's literature. Rather than refuse and completely throw out these racist stories, we might do well to ask what is so captivating about them? In particular building on
Sircar's brief mention of barter and consumption, I argue that what is particularly pleasurable here is the terror and titillation of consumption which the story invites its middle class British,
American, and (apparently when they exist) Indian readers to adopt. This pleasure is particularly fitting for middle class children whose class existence depends upon a market economy and the increasing globalization of capitalism.
As a whole Sanjay Sircar sets out to make a case for The Story of Little Black Sambo a story which he, an Indian man very much liked as a child. Sircar's defense for the story seems to have two main thrusts: 1) Assuming that the problem with the story is its alleged racism towards black peoples of African descent, Sircar sets out to debunk the idea that the story is racist namely by proving that it was never about black peoples of African descent. 2) Much of his argument relies on the intense fondness for the story he had as a young Indian child (and what seems to be equally intense nostalgia about that experience). Announcing the joy the book brought him and his sister is something the essay comes back to again and again, and it is also part of Sircar's argument that though Bannerman's story might not have been wholly accurate in its depictions of
India, it did not portray a character with whom Sircar and his sisters negatively identified.
Interestingly though if we explore the pleasure of consumption which Sircar mentions but does not elaborate on, we might begin to see that while indeed these above reasons are the stated trust of his argument, what Sircar is really bringing to light here is a fantasy about consumption that’s pleasing to middle class children (even to the point of making them immune to any potential racist identifications). Both the story and Sircar’s essays seem to generate and revolve around a pleasure of consumption.
Possible Paragraph Break Down
1.
In the text we see the pleasures of consumption in Sambo’s acquiring new garment
2.
We see the pleasure of consumption in the Tiger’s desire to consume first Sambo but then his clothes which they accept as a more edifying material for consumption.
3.
Perhaps arguably we can see a desire to consume that is unrealized in the Tiger’s running at equal pace around and around with no one ever catching anyone.
4.
We see again more overtly the desire to consume with the Tiger’s turning to ghee and
Sambo’s family’s elaborate collection of the ghee and use of the ghee to produce a fantastical amount of pancakes.

5.
That this consumption speaks to (if not largely so) notions of economic consumption can be seen by the fact that we start off first with the market (the bazaar), then by the fact that bartering is not a satisfactory solution. Yes it does allow Sambo his life, but the story can’t end with him going home safe proud of being shrewd but learning not to walk in the jungle with new clothes. It has to come up with the ending where his commodities are properly returned to him. And then also the numbers in the pancake again suggest that the pleasure of consumption here is deeply tied to economics.
6.
So too with Sircar’s account of his attachment to the books. He talks about not wanting
7.
8.
to let the book go even to charity, even after he himself is growing into other literature.
He is also particular in his fondness not for the story per say (even though purportedly he is making a case for Bannerman’s original) but he is really clear that his fondness comes from the particular edition of the story which he received through BLANK.
Especially when we consider that Sircar’s claim that the text isn’t racist b/c it’s not referring to people of African descent and because he didn’t negatively identify with it are fraught (the first because there are plenty reference which he say are not African but are, and the latter because he ultimately lets us know the reason he doesn’t negatively identify is b/c he doesn’t identify at all), this notion of the story as a middle class fantasy of consumption becomes even more clearly part of what animates both the story and
Sircar’s desire.
Conclusion