According to the Dalai Lama, “all religions attempt to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, of justice and honesty, for contentment. The need for love, compassion, justice, honesty and above all contentment is highlighted in Moving Forward Sideways Like A Crab by Shani Mootoo, and characters with various religious beliefs affirm this. Several different religions are mentioned in this novel, including Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, but the significance of the characters' religious beliefs seems to lie beneath the surface (Mootoo, 36). One scene I found particularly striking is one in which Pundit and Anta discuss Sydney's funeral arrangements with Johnathan, and Pundit asks Johnathan, "He...didn't raise you as a Hindu, did he?" (Mootoo, 246). Before reading this scene, I had not thought about the importance of religious beliefs in character development, but by the end of the novel I found myself thinking more about the manifestation of Sydney's Hindu upbringing in his character and the visible lack of spiritual development in Johnathan. In this essay, I intend to examine how religion shapes Sydney's character and how its absence shapes Johnathan. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Sydney's character is not overtly religious, but as Hinduism is frequently brought up after her death, the manifestation of her Hindu beliefs in her life becomes more evident. . When considering the importance of Sydney's Hindu education to its character, it is important to first consider the pillars of Hinduism. The four Purusarthas are the Hindu goals of human life: Dharma is morality, Artha is prosperity, Kama is flourishing, and Moksha is liberation (Flood, 14-18). Although some of these goals seem more important to Sydney, consciously or unconsciously, than others, all four appear in the novel. First, Sydney's search for Dharma appears in his notebook, when he writes that "Johnathan himself...was at the heart of our fierce struggle, and soon I was no longer willing to subject our struggle to him" (Mootoo, 5). . Sydney's choice to leave Johnathan when he left India is questioned throughout the novel, but this anecdote reveals that although her abandonment was hurtful to Johnathan, it was not selfish: subjugating a child to a custody battle and trying to take him away from his biological mother would have been detrimental. Although each character in the novel is imperfect, this commentary on his choices confirms his search for morality. His search for Artha is obscured by more overt parts of his story, but it is always present: when he moves to Toronto, he allows himself to struggle as an artist in an attempt to find a professional career and prosperity without his parents (40-41). Although Sydney's search for financial freedom from her parents is in the background of her story, her search for freedom from gender constraints is not. Sydney may not have been raised as a man, but he was, in fact, a man, and the choice to live as who he truly is can be seen as his search for both Kama and Moksha . To be both happy and liberated, Sydney must be able to live freely as a man, which is why he chooses to begin living as a man after the death of his parents. Speaking of Sydney's life, Johnathan says that "if he didn't tell me his stories about his., 2004.