The Potter's Thumb

"The Potter's Thumb" by Flora Annie Webster Steel is a story set in colonial India, presenting the lives of British men, George Keene and Dan Fitzgerald, stationed in Hodinuggur. It deals with cultural differences and relationships between the British and the local people, digging into topics such as identity, responsibility, and the impact of imperialism. The book starts by showing the hard conditions of life in Hodinuggur, and what the British men think about it when they find a dying child. Dan Fitzgerald is shown as imaginative and acts without thinking too much and George Keene has a hard time understanding his new surroundings. Their talks suggest problems with the local people, mainly about a potter's work and his daughter, leading to personal and cultural clashes in the story.