The Storyteller's Secret

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Part 17: “Jaya” and EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 17, Chapter 52 Summary

Jaya now understands Lena’s personality as the result of the years she spent with Omi telling her that she was a curse: “Her refusal to get close to anyone for fear that her energy would hurt them” (377) finally makes sense to Jaya. Ravi doesn’t know why Deepak made Lena promise to never return to India, but guesses that it was a way to make sure his reputation in the village would be preserved.

Ravi concludes the story with one last revelation. Before Amisha was bitten by the mosquito, Stephen came to the house looking for her. Ravi begged him to leave, lying that Amisha was happy. If Stephen had seen the baby, he would have immediately recognized Lena as his daughter and tried to take the two away. Ravi believed he was protecting Amisha from being forced to choose between her sons and her newborn daughter, but now he blames himself for Amisha’s death. Though Jaya attempts to persuade him otherwise, Ravi insists that it is his fault that Jaya grew up never knowing her grandmother.

Jaya calls her mother and tells her she loves her. She knows that Lena “was destined to live a life without the presence of guidance of a mother” (380) and that she carried her worries silently so as to not bother anyone. Jaya is inspired by the example of her mother and grandmother. Their resilience, love, and compassion become the themes of her next blog post, in which she discusses the concept of fate in the lives of Indian women.

Patrick finds Jaya as she’s finishing the blog post. Jaya explains that Lena “feared getting too close because she was sure that anything that went wrong in my life was somehow her fault” (383). Jaya and Patrick discuss the concept of destiny in relation to their own lives and Jaya’s miscarriages; Jaya reveals that she wants to adopt a child from the village orphanage. Patrick immediately agrees.

Part 17, Chapter 53 Summary

Ravi finally reveals what Deepak has left for Lena: the letters that Amisha exchanged with Stephen. Deepak “wanted your mother to know she was loved and wanted” (385) despite her childhood under Omi’s control. Jaya promises to pass them on to her mother.

Now that she has heard Amisha’s story and reconnected with Patrick, Jaya is ready to return to America and start a family with him. She gifts Ravi the house, mill, and school, which she has had transferred under his name. Ravi is astonished. He expected Jaya to feel betrayed about the lie he told to keep Stephen from seeing Lena. But Jaya recognizes the kindness and loyalty behind his actions.

Jaya proposes that Ravi’s great-grandchildren Amit and Misha come to America to pursue their education. There, Misha can receive advanced medical care. Jaya’s decision to invite the children and adopt one of her own was inspired by Amisha’s story, which taught her that “life isn’t always about what I want to be but instead what I can be” (388).

Epilogue Summary

The Epilogue opens with Ravi’s perspective. He studies the ticket for Amit’s and Misha’s trip to America, overwhelmed by memories and gratitude. He sees a vision of Amisha standing next to his bed. Amisha thanks him for keeping her story until he could tell it to the right person. Amisha holds out her hand and Ravi joins “his friend of lifetimes” (390).

The Epilogue then switches to the perspective of Jaya, who has received a letter detailing Ravi’s peaceful death. Her gratitude toward him is immense: “Because of him, my mother and I found our way toward each other” (390). Ravi is finally resting after carrying the burden of Amisha’s story until Jaya could hear it.

Part 17 and Epilogue Analysis

Understanding Amisha’s story opens Jaya up to understanding her culture and therefore the trauma her mother experienced as a child. Jaya has learned compassion for her mother, whom she has long blamed for being too emotionally distant. It is only when Jaya can fully accept her mother for who she is that Jaya herself can become a mother. In turn, Jaya’s change allows Lena to develop a more open and outwardly loving attitude that is not impeded by fear of harming others. Jaya acts as the bridge between the female characters of this novel, as she embraces Amisha’s legacy, helps her mother to heal, and readies herself to welcome a new child into her family. Thoughts of motherhood as destiny run through Jaya’s thoughts in these chapters, in particular how the belief in destiny can damage an individual’s enjoyment of life. Lena was convinced by others that her destiny was to harm others, so she never managed to get emotionally close to her daughter. Similarly, Jaya’s expectations of motherhood and a destiny in carrying a child with her own body isolated her from Patrick. Both women reacted by isolating themselves from the people they loved most, but through Jaya’s work in India, both have arrived at connection and reintegration. Family and kindness, the virtues taught by Amisha’s story, secure for them a future of happiness.

In the Epilogue, Amisha leads Ravi into the afterlife; their intense friendship, which culminated in Ravi using his body to protect hers during the whipping, now binds them together after death. Because of his guilt over the lie he told Stephen and his insistence on carrying Amisha’s story, Ravi was unable to accept death until both issues were resolved. In telling Jaya Amisha’s story, Ravi believes he has fulfilled his purpose. The storyteller is released from his narrative, allowing the next generation to move forward with the inspiration of their elders.