Underscoring Events in Pather Panchali with the Environment Anonymous College

Satyajit Ray’s movie Pather Panchali follows the story of Apu during his childhood in a small village in rural India. Apu grows up under the influences of his sister, Durga, his mother, Sarbajaya, his father, Harihar, and his Auntie. Apu faces a great deal of adversity in his younger years such as poverty, the absence of his father while working in the city, the death of his aunt and sister, and a move away from his ancestral home. The movie focuses a great deal on relationships and setting. The most profound idea Ray is able to develop is the use of the environment to underscore both the important events of the movie and the familial relationships and ties (such as the ancestral home) associated with Indian traditions.

The tradition of the ancestral home is important because it establishes a sense of family pride and honor. Here, the home is considered almost as an extension of family ideals and should be treated with respect. It is also a place in which the family should be happy because generations have grown up and prospered there. Ray emphasizes the importance of ancestry by having three generations of the family living in the home: Auntie, Sarbajaya and Harihar, and Durga and Apu. The presence of three generations shows...