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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Henna Artist, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Choice, Independence and Women’s Freedoms
Family and Responsibility
Societal Hierarchy vs. Unordered Intimacy
Care and Communication
Creativity vs. Possession
Summary
Analysis
It’s now March, and the business is thriving so much that there is a waiting list. Malik, Radha, and Lakshmi are too exhausted to talk about anything except logistics, though one day, Lakshmi overhears Malik telling Radha to “be careful” about something. Fortunately, money is no longer a stressor: Lakshmi has paid off Naraya and hired another builder for her house (which is almost finished).
In addition to her time with Kanta, Radha seems to be developing a secret life that only Malik has access to: first she wore lipstick at the polo grounds, and now the novel foreshadows something so risky (and mysterious) that even carefree Malik feels anxiety about it.
Themes
Though Lakshmi still attends the maharani once a week, she is in much better spirits. In fact, Latika is so cheerful that once, she cancels her appointment to go teach the schoolgirls the fox trot. With her newfound free time, Lakshmi goes to visit Kanta, who is bonding with her mother-in-law over baby prep and their mutual frustration with Baju, their mustachioed servant. When Lakshmi arrives, Kanta’s saas is recommending rose milk for the baby’s cheeks and cool temperatures so that the baby comes out calm.
Latika’s improvement signals that when applied to people who truly need it, Lakshmi’s art has tremendous, transformative healing power. The shift in the relationship between Kanta and her mother-in-law also shows just how much a woman’s fertility (or the lack thereof) could shape her place in her family’s life.
Themes
Just then, Radha bursts in with a black eye. Lakshmi panics and wants to call the police, but Radha refuses, saying only that Sheela Sharma is at fault. They were partnered for the fox trot, and Sheela, sneering that Radha was “dark as an eggplant,” had elbowed her in the eye. Radha reveals that she is self-conscious about her relative lack of privilege, something that had never occurred to Lakshmi.
One of the legacies of British colonialism in India is pervasive colorism, or racism based on skin tone; in fact, Lakshmi often makes money by selling skin-lightening creams for her clients. Radha knows such prejudices are illogical, but she also suffers the spiritual (and physical) wounds of Sheela’s colorism and classism.
Themes
Kanta’s saas is horrified that all the girls at school are so Westernized, but Kanta wants to help Radha fit in. So, she schedules her appointments to get a pageboy haircut and English dresses. Radha embraces Kanta, and Lakshmi can’t help feeling that Kanta always knows how to help her sister, while she herself has “no clue.”
The generational tension between Kanta and her mother-in-law emphasizes Lakshmi’s very first line: that independence simultaneously “changed everything” and “changed nothing.” Lakshmi’s cluelessness around Radha is a sort of dramatic irony: readers know that Lakshmi never asks her sister what she is feeling, though Lakshmi herself can’t recognize that her lack of a “clue” is directly linked to her lack of questions.
Themes
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