Cracking India

At the beginning of the novel, the Hindu Ayah—whose real name is Shanta—is 18 years old, although through Lenny’s eyes, she seems much older and wiser. Ayah enjoys her beauty, sexuality, and youth. She has suitors from all different religions, and Lenny sees her as a sort of equalizer, bringing together Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus who see each other as brothers and bask in her presence.

Ayah sees India’s religious and political tensions as separate from her daily life until this becomes impossible. In the aftermath of violence during India’s independence and partition, Ice-candy-man has Ayah kidnapped and raped so that no one will want to marry her—all so he can marry her, rename her Mumtaz (he is Muslim and after the partition, the novel takes place in newly created Pakistan), and force her into prostitution. When Godmother and Lenny find her again, Ayah is traumatized and miserable. Though they rescue her from Ice-candy-man’s clutches and send her to her family in India, this is far from an unambiguously happy ending: It is likely that her family will reject her for having been raped, and we know that Ice-candy-man follows her across the border.

Through Ayah, Lenny learns about love and sensuality, and the way women are vulnerable to violent men. Metaphorically, Ayah represents India. She is enticing and loved by all who gather around her, whether they are Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh. But when the men fight over her, each determined to claim her, she, like India, is cracked.

Ice-candy-man is one of Ayah’s many suitors—Lenny gives him this nickname because he sells popsicles. He is also a conman, selling fake fertility pills and pretending to be a holy man.

Ice-candy-man represents the way the partitioning of India affects the average citizen. At first, he insists that the Sikhs and the Hindus are his brothers, helping the zookeeper evict his Muslim tenants with what seems at first to be an off-color prank.

But when Ice-candy-man sees the brutal anti-Muslim violence on the train that was carrying his family, his hidden violent streak emerges. We learn that after he exposed himself to the tenants to evict them, he raped one of the women in zookeeper’s family as payback for his own actions. Later, when Ice-candy-man grows jealous because Ayah loves Masseur, the novel strongly implies that Ice-candy-man is likely involved in Masseur’s death and dismemberment. Ice-candy-man is unwilling to let Ayah go. Instead, he brings a mob to kidnap and rape her so that marrying him is her only option. After marriage, he renames Ayah, keeps her captive, and forces her into prostitution. Even when she finally gets away, he pursues her across the border.

Although Ice-candy-man is the closest thing the novel has to a villain, he is also complex and human. His rage after he sees the train of massacred Muslims is understandable. Ice-candy-man demonstrates the effects and escalating nature of traumatic violence.

Lenny bonds with Godmother, whose real name is Roda, more than she does with her own mother: For example, Godmother is the only person who can console Lenny when she is in pain after surgery. Moreover, Godmother has no children of her own, and Lenny sees their relationship as something that goes beyond mother-and-child.

Godmother doesn’t hesitate to teach Lenny right from wrong or to hold her to a higher standard. But although she is very affectionate with Lenny, Godmother is also very stern and matter-of-fact. She can be cruel to her sister, a habit that Lenny internalizes so much that she refers to Godmother’s sister as Slavesister.

Although Godmother rarely leaves the house, she also wields somewhat inexplicable power in the community: She secures a place for Ranna in a convent, saving him from life as an orphan on the street. When Lenny catches a glimpse of the abducted Ayah, Godmother locates her and puts the machinations in place to extract her and take her to a safe location. 

Lenny believes that her Cousin, who is never named in the novel, is much worldlier than she is although they seem to be about the same age. In particular, he knows more than Lenny about sex and sexuality. Lenny sees Cousin as someone who teaches her things, but from the reader’s perspective, Cousin’s insistence on demonstrating things of a sexual nature rather than explaining them through words comes across as boundary-pushing at best and borderline assaultive at worst.

As they grow older, Cousin is determined to marry Lenny and is upset that she does not seem to want to marry him. Cousin would be a logical match for Lenny, as they are of the same religion and social class, but Lenny realizes that she wants to grow up and experience more before settling.

Through Cousin, Lenny learns about her personal boundaries; however, even as she decides that she has a right to decide who touches her body, the novel reveals that the heavily patriarchal culture around her neither acknowledges nor respects this right for most women. 

Lenny speaks about her brother Adi as if he simply appeared one day or was adopted. Though he is only a year younger than she is, she doesn’t seem to have noticed him until she was five, and has no memories of his early childhood. As a young child, Adi seems to be a force of nature and Lenny cannot keep up with him.

Adi’s presence in Lenny’s life highlights how deeply-rooted gender disparities are in their universe—sexism begins early and at home. Although Lenny and Adi have a typical adversarial sibling relationship, because Adi is a boy, he gets special treatment (like getting to go to school) and has more liberties and less punishment. Through Adi, the novel also addresses the concepts of colorism (the idea that people of color are treated differently depending on how relatively dark their skin is) and passing: Adi is so extraordinarily beautiful, attracting attention for his light skin and red lips, that he is allowed to play with English children in the park. 

Lenny’s development and growth allows her to eventually see her mother not just as a warm caregiver, but a feminist activist with a life outside the Sethis’ household. Lenny’s first understanding of Mother’s social justice work is small: Lenny marks the time when Mother takes her to meet Gandhi, despite the essentially disappointing nature of that encounter from Lenny’s perspective. Lenny also watches Mother attack Imam Din with a fly swatter to stop him from killing a stray cat—preventing one drop of violence in the midst of a sea of carnage. Most importantly, Lenny learns that Mother and Electric-aunt have been spending nights rescuing kidnapped women like Hamida, a “fallen woman” from the camp across the street. Bolstered by her mother’s example, Lenny shows signs that she will also grow up an activist.