THEMES

• The status of women in rural India
• Family Relationships
• Relationships between different races/cultures/religions - including Assimilation vs. Maintenance of culture in exile; and Racism

• Fate/Destiny

MAIN CHARACTERS

• Marvinder, a Punjabi Sikh girl
• Jaspal, her younger brother
  (They stow away on a ship to England in search of their father, Govind)
• Govind, father of Marvinder and Jaspal; husband of Jhoti; assisted by a benevolent English teacher, he gains a university place in England with the intention of returning to serve his newly independent country, but lingers on.

• Jhoti, Govind's wife; the central character in the first 10 chapters; humble, maltreated by her in-laws.

POINTS TO DISCUSS

• Jhoti's status in Govind's home (young, poor, female); the status of women (only boys are educated; Marvinder's birth is a disappointment; men play cards, women work; etc.)
• Jhoti & Dora - similarities and differences
• What does the snake (Chp. 6) symbolize? (WW2, inter-communal conflict in the Punjab, Govind's failure to return, the death of the Chadwick twins ...)
• Govind (in exile) assumes the status of a saint as time passes
• Conflict among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs (enflamed by politicians?) ... Friendship too (Nazakhat's Muslim family and Jaspal's Sikh family; the old Hindu man on the train who befriends Marvinder and Jaspal even though Sikhs murdered his whole family)
• Contrasts: India/England
• Why did Govind abandon his family and culture?
• Compare the O'Gradys with the middle class missionaries in Bombay; compare them with Govind's family ... (Culture/Class vs. universal values such as compassion - see also p.218)

Frankie Meehan