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Chapter 16
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
Now it’s August, and India’s Independence Day (August 15) has passed without a single booking for Lakshmi. Kumar writes to Lakshmi, letting her know that Radha has becoming increasingly attached to the idea of keeping her baby. Panicked, Lakshmi puts the thought of such a thing out of her head.
Ironically, as India’s ninth anniversary of political Independence passes, Lakshmi has less and less material independence. Lakshmi’s panic also prohibits her from communicating frankly with Radha about the pros (and necessity) of adoption.
Themes
The monsoon rains usually help Lakshmi feel like she has a fresh start, but this time, they only bring more sadness. As Lakshmi grinds henna paste no clients are asking for, water pools in the dirt where she had planned to grow a garden. Though Lakshmi wants to confront Parvati, she knows that no such thing would ever work. For the first time, she begins to understand how demoralized her father felt after his private rebellion against the British failed.
In this neat symbolism, Lakshmi’s garden—intended to be a place where she could grow plants for her healing and henna paste—has become a puddle, as her art has become consumerist and then damaged and damaging. In this critical section, Lakshmi also acknowledges that there is always some pain in achieving independence, whether on the national level (as it was for her father) or more personally.
Themes
Though Malik still brings treats from the royal chef, Lakshmi has no appetite, so she is getting skinnier and skinnier. One day, when Malik arrives, he brings Parvati with him, soaking wet from the rain. Lakshmi is shocked, but she allows Parvati to come in. Malik tells her to take off her shoes, and to Lakshmi’s surprise, Parvati obliges.
Parvati’s willingness to go to Lakshmi’s house (instead of the other way around), to walk through the rain, and then to take off her shoes all suggest a newfound humility and vulnerability. Just like Hari, Parvati seems to be capable of more than her bad behavior.
Themes
Parvati surveys the house as if she owns it, admitting that she had expected Lakshmi to seek her out. As Lakshmi lights a candle, Parvati recalls how much Lakshmi has always relied on her—for money, for connections, and for status in Jaipur. Parvati notes Lakshmi’s ambition, and though Lakshmi accuses Parvati of spreading lies, Parvati claims that the rumors “didn’t start with me.” While she speaks, Parvati reaches into her pocket, pulling out the pocket watch Samir gave Lakshmi.
Despite her surprising humility in coming to Lakshmi’s house, Parvati cannot quite shake her upper caste mannerisms; she also refuses to take responsibility for the rumors that Lakshmi knows originated with her.
Themes
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To Lakshmi’s horror, Parvati explains that Geeta told her the whole thing: how Lakshmi and Samir had had sex, leaving behind the watch. “Just how humiliating would it be for you,” Parvati asks, “to have your husband’s mistress come to you for comfort?” Parvati accuses Lakshmi of betraying her and of lying to her directly. Privately, Lakshmi prides herself on holding out for 10 years, but she knows there is nothing she can say to make this right.
The splintering forces of patriarchy are particularly evident in this passage: Parvati, Geeta, and Lakshmi have all been wounded by the same man, but instead of finding real “comfort” in each other, they cannot find solidarity because they feel they are in competition. Yet even as Lakshmi acknowledges this, she must also accept that she did real harm—and that the hierarchical order of caste does not mean that lower-status people cannot deeply hurt those higher up.
Themes
It is a surprise, then, when Parvati gives Lakshmi 10,000 rupees for the marriage commission—all in silver, and more than they had agreed on. Lakshmi again thinks of her father. “Accustomed to subservience” to the British, he was more “comfortable reverting to that role, however humiliating.” Parvati assures Lakshmi that if she stops selling sachets to Samir and stays away from him forever, the rumors will stop. Lakshmi asks if Parvati has talked to Samir about any of this, and painfully, Parvati admits that she hasn’t.
Lakshmi began her narration by reflecting that “independence changed everything" and “changed nothing”; now, she finds that there is comfort in “subservience.” In other words, true independence (on any scale) is difficult not only materially but also because it disrupts familiarity, adding new isolation and uncertainty in addition to new freedom. Parvati’s lack of communication with Samir shows how damaged their marriage is, and reiterates how essential communication is to healthy relationships.
Themes
Lakshmi eyes the money, but she realizes that if she accepts Parvati’s deal, her reputation will still be tarnished—and she will become even more dependent on Parvati. In doing so, Lakshmi will follow in her pitaji’s footsteps, reduced to a shadow of herself and dependent on the cruelest forces. So, instead, Lakshmi tells Parvati to keep her money—and “in return, [she] won’t tell the ladies of Jaipur how many of your husband’s bastards I’ve kept from this world.”
Even knowing all of the challenges of independence, Lakshmi parallels her country and insists on her freedom. This cruel comment to Parvati is a necessary part of severing that relationship—as someone who once promised to make Parvati attractive to Samir (and, implicitly, to stop him from straying), Lakshmi will never salvage the relationship from this confession.
Themes
Parvati lunges to fight Lakshmi, and the two end up in a headlock. Lakshmi continues her taunts, saying that Ravi has impregnated others besides Radha. Parvati tries to respond, but she can only cry, reaching her sari to her face and staining it with her makeup.
Parvati’s stiff propriety has vanished in her shame—like Lakshmi, she internalizes the actions of her loved ones as a “stain” on herself.
Themes
Finally, Parvati gets up to leave, telling Lakshmi that “he does tire of all of you, eventually.” As Lakshmi looks at this wealthy woman, drenched from the monsoons outside, it is hard for her to feel that she has any moral high ground. Just then, the postman interrupts with a telegram from Radha—Kanta is in trouble, and Lakshmi needs to go to Shimla immediately.
Parvati’s spiteful phrase “all of you” once again groups Lakshmi with a nameless, “replaceable” mass of “servant girls.” However, the presence of the monsoons seems to literally wash away class lines: Lakshmi has no moral power, but Parvati, drenched and messy, has none of her status symbols anymore.
Themes
