Brick Lane: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Chanu is at the computer showing the girls the world wide web, but Shahana is unimpressed. They have the internet at school. Bibi asks to see a kadam, a kind of prickly pink flower that grows in Bangladesh. Chanu looks it up and tells the girl to come take a peek, but Shahana won’t, saying that it’s boring. Furious, Chanu lunges at his daughter, who hides behind the couch. He forbids her to use his computer, managing to slap her wrist. The girls go to bed and Nazneen tells him that Mrs. Islam came by for the money. He says he will get it to her next week.

After the girls go to bed, Nazneen and Chanu watch their daughters sleep. Nazneen sees that Chanu, tenderly moving hair out of Shahana’s face and kissing Bibi’s cheek, is not only baffled by his daughter’s presence, but even afraid. They leave the room, leaning on each other.

Nazneen recalls a period of time—weeks, she thinks, maybe months, although it felt like an infinity—when Chanu took to his bed and did nothing. He no longer made plans because all of his plans had failed him. Every new business he hoped to start, every new suit and briefcase and pair of shoes bought, ended in absolutely nothing, and even when he did succeed in getting a job, he soon quit over some small offense. He shrank in front of Nazneen’s eyes. His large belly became an empty sack. Finally, what pulled him out was reading. He employed the girls as page turners and they sat at the end of the bed, trying to anticipate when their services were needed.

Nazneen finds navigating the triangle of daughter-father-daughter nearly impossible. Bibi is always trying, futilely, to gain her father’s attention and regard. Chanu is always getting offended. Shahana is mostly embarrassed and angry. To Nazneen, trying to meet everyone’s needs is like walking through a field of snakes. It exhausts her, and she sometimes wonders if maybe she doesn’t love her daughters as she should. Maybe she loved Raqib more. She tries not to think of that. She tries, instead, to trust in the power of prayer to keep her strong.

One day, Nazneen is making tea and thinking about the gossip she heard at the gate while waiting to pick Bibi up from school. A local imam is being questioned by police. Meanwhile two English women discussed how best to get their dogs to slim down. Nazneen doesn’t know what to think about any of it. Then Chanu comes home with a parcel and interrupts her. He has a batch of pants that need to be hemmed—and that’s not all. For two months, he keeps her sewing. She lines dresses and sews buttons on shirts and attaches catches to bras. Chanu adds up their earnings, telling her not to worry about any of it. He will take care of everything.

Chanu’s mood improves and he begins reading again and lecturing the family on the history of Bengal. He starts shaving, too, and humming. Nazneen recognizes these as good signs. She eventually runs out of sewing and that day, Chanu gathers the family together and announces that they will be moving home soon. Thanks to Nazneen’s work on the sewing machine, they can soon afford to move back to Bangladesh. Also, he has become an employee of Kempton Kars, a cab company. He will now do his part to help them get home. Nazneen is shocked that he can drive a car. She never knew.

Chanu stops being Nazneen’s middleman and becomes a cab driver. One hot day a new middleman shows up, armed with a bale of jeans over one shoulder. This is how Karim comes into her life.