According to the Dalai Lama, “all religions seek to benefit people, with the same fundamental message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment. The need for love, compassion, justice, honesty and above all contentment is emphasized in Shani Mootoo's Moving Forward Sideways Like A Crab, and characters with a variety of religious beliefs affirm this. Several religions are mentioned in this novel, including Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, but the meaning of the characters' religious beliefs seems to lie beneath the surface (Mootoo, 36). One scene I found particularly striking is when Pundit and Anta discuss Sydney's funeral arrangements with Johnathan, and Pundit asks Johnathan, "He... didn't raise you as a Hindu, huh?" (Mootoo, 246). Before reading this scene, I had not considered the significance of religious beliefs in the character's development, but as the novel concluded I found myself thinking more about the manifestation of Sydney's Hindu upbringing in her character and the visible lack of spiritual development in Johnathan character. In this essay I intend to examine how religion shapes Sydney's character and how the lack of it shapes Johnathan. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Sydney's character is not overtly religious, but since Hinduism is often discussed after her death, the manifestation of her Hindu beliefs in her life becomes more apparent. 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 for human life: Dharma is morality, Artha is prosperity, Kama is fulfillment and Moksha is liberation (Deluge, 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 quest for Dharma appears in his notebook, when he writes that "Johnathan himself... was at the center of our tug-of-war, and soon I was no longer willing to subject him to our struggle" (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 painful for Johnathan, it was not selfish: subjecting a child to a custody battle and try to take him away from his family. the biological mother would have been harmful. Although each character in the novel has flaws, this comment on his choices serves to confirm his quest for morality. His search for Artha is obscured by more obvious parts of his story, but it is still present: when he moves to Toronto, he allows himself to struggle as an artist in an attempt to find professionalism and prosperity without his parents (40-41). .While Sydney's search for financial freedom from her parents is 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 choosing to live as who he truly is can be considered his pursuit of both Kama and Moksha. To be happy and liberated, Sydney must be able to live freely as a man, which is why he chooses to start living as a man after his parents die. When talking about Sydney's life, Johnathan says that "If he wasn't telling me his stories about his high school friend Zain, who never left Trinidad, he would tell and tell the story of a walk he took, 2004.