Brick Lane: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

The narrative returns to Tower Hamlets in London and Nazneen’s point of view. It is February 2001, and Chanu is on the floor (he rejects chairs now) teaching Shahana and Bibi, his and Nazneen’s youngest daughter, the poem “My Golden Bengal” in preparation for the family’s trip home to Bangladesh. Bibi does her best to recite her lines, but Shahana has no patience for this activity. She rejects everything about Bangladesh, favoring Western things instead. Her attitude infuriates Chanu, who often ends up beating her. Nazneen, who strives to keep busy with housework, notices that Chanu is the one in the family most upset by the beatings and Shahana the least.

Chanu’s methods for beating are almost always ridiculous. He can always formulate a plan but can never execute, and Shahana often gets away, saying the same thing over and over: “I didn’t ask to be born here!” Later, Nazneen is trimming Chanu’s nose hairs. He tells her it is important that they go home to Bangladesh while the girls are still young, before they are rotten through with Western influence. Every part of Nazneen’s body and heart is straining toward her sister, but she worries that if they moved to Dhaka, Shahana would never forgive her. She trusts their future to God—he will see that everything is taken care of.

When Hasina was still working at the garment factory, Nazneen went to Chanu to ask if they might bring her to London. Chanu mocks the idea, telling her, sure, why not bring the entire village? Nazneen reminds him that she only has one sister, and he, in turn, reminds her that it would be ridiculous to bring Hasina to London since they are going to Bangladesh, and once he decides something, the subject is finished.

But they didn’t leave London because they didn’t have the money. They move instead to a two-bedroom apartment in the Rosemead block of Tower Hamlets, and Chanu remains unemployed, lounging around the apartment where Nazneen tries to keep herself busy, tidying and straightening. She would have liked to begin sewing from home like Razia as a way to make a little money, but Chanu disapproves and she lets the subject drop.

Chanu is no longer pursuing any academic degrees. He teaches more than learns now, and the girls and Nazneen are often his pupils. Today, he is telling Nazneen about a book he’s reading about Bangladesh’s history as an international textile manufacturer. He then begins quietly rehearsing a lesson he will later impart to the girls. Nazneen knows how it will go—Bibi will try her best to learn, while Shahana will sigh impatiently, running for the television the moment Chanu sets them free.

Chanu wants his daughters to have a sense of Bangladesh’s history so that they can feel proud of where they’ve come from, a country that was fought over by four European countries and provided England with one third of its Indian empire revenues. Nazneen, meanwhile, thinks of Shahana’s habit of turning inward. Such moments always end in tantrums and in Shahana kicking the furniture, or her sister. She saves her hardest kicks for her mother.

Nazneen gets up in the middle of the night and eats curry cold over the kitchen sink, thinking of Hasina and the letter she sent about the both of them living under the same moon. Nazneen has her doubts; the London moon is too cold and far away. Bibi interrupts her thoughts. She asks for some curry and they eat together, both pretending not to look at the other.

Razia has come to visit. She complains of arthritis in her hands and aches in her joints, all from the sewing she’s been doing. And she complains that her kids get the money while all she gets is older. Tariq always needs twenty pounds for books or for his computer. Shefali is in her final year of high school and wants to take a year off before entering university. Razia smokes and complains and makes fun of Chanu. Nazneen giggles and worries she won’t be able to get the smell out of the apartment before her husband gets home.

When Chanu returns, he is burdened by two large packages. The box is for Nazneen, an early birthday present. The bag is for him. The girls start unwrapping the box. It contains a sewing machine. The bag holds a computer. Nazneen tries not to wonder too much about where the money came from, and they spend the evening experimenting with both, everyone in good humor until Shahana notices that her father has spoken to her mother in English. Shahana complains that Chanu won’t let them speak English in the house. Nazneen, who has learned English from the girls, tries to defuse the situation by telling Shahana that Chanu was right about her not taking English lessons at the college. Chanu, Nazneen says, is right about most things, but Shahana screams that she hates him, all the while kicking at Nazneen’s shins as hard as she can.

Nazneen practices on the sewing machine, getting better all the time. She uses almost every bit of cloth in the apartment, applying different stitches and experimenting with patterns. One day, while Chanu is out buying groceries, Mrs. Islam drops by. She still carries her big black bag with her. Older now, Mrs. Islam fills it with medicines of every variety. She slumps down on Nazneen’s couch and notices her new sewing machine, calling it a “gold mine.” Then she asks when Nazneen and Chanu are going to send their children to the madrash, or Muslim school, she has founded. Nazneen says soon, but Chanu does not wish to send his daughters to her school. The fact that Bangladesh is a majority Muslin country is a matter of chance, he says.

Mrs. Islam then tells Nazneen to open her bag and put the money in the pocket. Misunderstanding, Nazneen roots around in the cavernous black bag, finding mostly broken cough drops. Gradually, it dawns on her that Mrs. Islam is asking Nazneen to give her money—fifty pounds, to be exact—and that Chanu must have taken out a loan to pay for the sewing machine and computer. The problem is, she doesn’t have the money. Mrs. Islam gets up and tells her it’s okay. She can pay her when she’s able. And next time she comes to visit, she says, she’ll bring her sons. They would like to see Chanu again.